Works of John Bunyan Volume I Part 28

+ 'To truck'; to barter or exchange.

31. That persons called Quakers held these heresies, there can be no doubt; but they were never held by that respectable and useful body of Christians, the Society of Friends, is equally clear.

Barclay, in his Theses, 1675, says of the Scriptures:--'They are the doctrine of Christ, held forth in precious declarations, spoken and written by the movings of G.o.d's Spirit.' He goes on to say, that the same Spirit can alone guide man into these sacred truths.

In all important doctrines, the difference between the Quakers and evangelical professors is in terms and not in things. Their distinguishing difference relates to the work of the ministry.--Ed.

32. How natural is it for man to build up vain hopes of long life!

Bunyan's vigorous const.i.tution, had he enjoyed the free air of liberty, might have prolonged his pilgrimage to extreme old age.

But his long imprisonment shortened his valuable life: it almost amounted to legal murder.--Ed.

33. Bunyan, in his treatise on 'Jesus Christ the Advocate,' admirably shows the a.n.a.logy between the year of jubilee and the Christian's reversion to his inheritance, although deprived for a time of the comfort of it during his pilgrimage, by reason of sin.--Ed.

34. He is a restless, powerful, and malicious enemy; ever striving to drive the sinner to desperation. Let the tempted look to Jesus the serpent-bruiser to shield him, so that the fiery darts of the wicked one may be quenched.--Mason.

35. Printed 'did hear' in first edition.--Ed.

36. Altered to 'indeed' in later editions.--Ed.

37. 'Racked or broken upon the wheel,' was a horrid mode of torturing a criminal to death, formerly used in France. The sufferer was stretched and made fast upon a large wheel, when the executioner, with a heavy iron bar, proceeded to break every bone in his body; beginning with the toes and fingers, and proceeding to crush those bones that the least affected life, and ending by crushing the skull into the brains. How piercing must have been the convictions of sin upon Bunyan's soul, to have led him to such a simile!--Ed.

38. 'A Relation of the Fearful Estate of Francis Spira.'

'Here see a soul that's all despair; a man All h.e.l.l; a spirit all wounds.

Reader, would'st see what may you never feel, Despair, racks, torments, whips of burning steel?

Behold this man, this furnace, in whose heart, Sin hath created h.e.l.l.'

From the address to the reader, in a copy of this awful narrative in possession of the Editor. Spira was filled with remorse and despair for having been induced, by improper motives, to become a papist.--Ed.

39. No Christian minister ever dwelt more richly on the 'Saint's Knowledge of Christ's Love' than Bunyan. See vol. ii. p. 1. It was the result of this soul-harrowing experience. He there shows its heights exceeding the highest heavens, depths below the deepest h.e.l.l, lengths and breadths beyond comprehension. That treatise ought to be read and cherished by every trembling believer.--Ed.

40. Alter, in later editions, to 'flying fits.'--Ed.

41. Internal conflicts, dreams, or visions ought not to be the source of peace or of bitterness to the soul. If they drive us to Christ, we may hope that they are from heaven for our relief; but if their tendency is to despair, by undervaluing the blood of atonement, or to lasciviousness, they are from Satan. Our real dependence must be upon 'a more sure word of prophecy': if we are well-grounded in the promises, it will save us from many hara.s.sing doubts and fears which arise from a reliance upon our feelings.--Ed.

42. That a poor penitent should perish at the feet of Jesus is an utter impossibility. G.o.d, when manifest in the flesh, decreed, that 'Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' 'I will give him rest.' His Word must stand fast for ever.--Ed.

43. How soul-rending a thought! but it can only be the case with those who continue to their death despising the Saviour. Those who love him are kept by almighty power, everlasting love, and irresistible grace.--Ed.

44. Happy would it be for tempted souls, in their distress, to look simply to the declarations and promises of G.o.d in the Word; we there find salvation completed by Christ. Our duty is to look in faith and prayer to the Spirit of G.o.d for the application and comfort of it.--Mason.

45. However humbling, this is a truth not to be disputed. The wisest philosopher and most illiterate peasant are upon a level, fallen from G.o.d. None will be excluded who come to Christ, whose gracious invitation is general, 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely' (Rev 22:17).--Mason.

46. This is the proper source of comfort--the records of infallible truth. There is found mercy for the miserable, redemption for the captive, salvation for the lost, heaven for the h.e.l.l-deserving sinner.--Mason.

47. Though we may wait long for mercy, yet the hand of faith never knocked in vain at the door of heaven. Mercy is as surely ours as if we had it, if it be given us in faith and patience to wait for it.--Mason.

48. To sin against light and knowledge, received in and by the gospel, is a very heinous aggravation of sin. The condition of persons simply ignorant is not so sad by far, as theirs who have been enlightened and yet afterwards apostatized. Let the formalist and lukewarm professors read this and tremble.--Mason.

49. The Holy Spirit is the candle of the Lord, by whose light the awakened conscience is brought to see something of the mystery of iniquity lurking in the heart. He first convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and then points to Jesus as the only security: 'Behold the Lamb of G.o.d.'--Mason.

50. This is very beautifully expressed; nothing can be more descriptive of a poor pilgrim who has been toiling through the valley of the shadow of death, and upon whose soul the day-spring from on high has arisen.--Ed.

51. 'Cracked groats and fourpence-halfpennies.' The humility of our author is here most un.o.btrusively apparent. He had some treasure in his 'earthen vessel'; but, in comparison with his store in Christ, it was like a few cracked groats by the side of ma.s.sive pure gold.

What he meant by 'fourpence-halfpennies' somewhat puzzled me, there never having been any piece of English money coined of that value.

I found that a proclamation was issued shortly before Mr. Bunyan's time (April 8, 1603), to save the people from being deceived with the silver harp money of Ireland, purporting to be twelve and sixpenny pieces. It fixed the value of the Irish twelvepence to be ninepence English; so that the Irish sixpence was to pa.s.s current for fourpence-halfpenny in England. That accomplished antiquary, Mr. Hawkins, the curator of the coins in the British Museum, shewed me this Irish silver money; and agreed with me in believing that Bunyan alludes to these Irish sixpences, placing them in company with cracked groats, depreciated in value. Mr. Hawkins was not aware that they had been in common circulation in England.--Ed.

52. 'Common or public,' belonging equally to many. Christ is the federal or covenant head of his church, each member claiming an equal or common right to all his merits as a Saviour, Mediator, and Advocate.--Ed.

53. This retort, or rebuke, is inserted twice in the first edition, probably a typographical error.--Ed.

54. See note on No. 152. The feelings of Bunyan must have been exceedingly pungent.--Ed.

55. This is a view of the power given to the apostles to forgive or retain sins worthy of our serious consideration. That mysterious power, under the pretence of possessing which merchandise is made of souls, if it was not limited to the apostles personally, was intended to be used by all those whom G.o.d sends to preach the gospel; an authority to proclaim salvation or condemnation to those who receive or reject the Saviour. Bunyan considers it a similar power to that given to the governors of the city of refuge; to admit the terror-stricken soul that 'shall declare his cause'--or confess his guilt--into the city, there to abide the judgment upon him, as in Christ the Refuge. This is very different to turning G.o.d out of his judgment-seat; as is the case when a poor worm says to his fellow-worm, 'I absolve thee from all thy sins.' See the visitation of the sick, in the Book of Common Prayer.--Ed.

56. The mode of admitting members into the church, among the Baptists, appears to have been the same in Bunyan's days as it is now practiced. It is, first to be introduced to the minister, who endeavours to ascertain whether there is an earnest desire to flee from the wrath to come, sincere repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If so, he mentions it to the church; and visitors are appointed, to encourage the young convert, and to scrutinize into moral character. If they are satisfied, he is invited to attend a private church meeting; and if the members have a good hope that he is a decided believer in Jesus, they receive him into their fellowship; and if he requests it, he is publicly baptized in water, and communicates with the church at the Lord's table. This appears to have been the mode in which Bunyan was admitted into the church at Bedford. Most of the Baptist churches now agree with Bunyan, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or inward spiritual regeneration, is, alone, the essential pre-requisite to the Lord's table; and they leave members to their own conclusions as to the validity of their having been sprinkled in infancy, or the necessity of immersion in water upon a profession of faith.--Ed.

57. Many will be surprised that Bunyan, who was so ready a writer, should be unable to tell what he saw and felt when in these holy enjoyments; but all who have had similar feelings will unite with him in saying, they are inexpressible, great, and full of glory.--Ed.

58. This is a very correct view of the excellent mode in which dissenting ministers are generally called to their important work.

First, their gifts in prayer and conversation upon Divine things, and aptness in ill.u.s.trating and confirming what they advance from the Scriptures, is noticed; and, secondly, they are encouraged to pray with and address the poor children in a Sunday school. If they manifest an aptness to teach, they are, thirdly, invited to give an exhortation to the church privately; and then, fourthly, they are encouraged to pray and preach among the poor in country villages and in work-houses. The G.o.d who gave the wish and the talent, soon opens a way to still more public usefulness. In most cases, they enter upon a course of study, to fit them for their momentous labours; but many of our most valuable ministers have, like Bunyan, relied entirely upon their prayerful investigation of the Scriptures. his college was a dungeon, his library the Bible; and he came forth with gigantic power to grapple with the prince of darkness. No human learning could have so fitted him for this terrible and mysterious warfare.--Ed.

59. 'With great sense,' means with great feeling, arising from his own acute experience.--Ed.

60. In the first edition Bunyan says, 'I have lain as long,' (five years). This was in 1666.--Ed.

61. When G.o.d sends forth a zealous amba.s.sador to publish the glad tidings of salvation to perishing sinners, he will be sure to meet with the fiercest opposition from proud pharisaical professors: so it was from the beginning, and will be to the end of time; but the Lord will work, and none shall hinder. Experimental preaching will always be offensive to the carnal and profane.--Mason.

62. It is impossible to identify the sect to which Bunyan belonged by reading his works. He rises above all sectarian bias in his earnest efforts to win souls to Christ, and to keep them in a heavenly frame of mine.--Ed.

63. 'Other men's lines,' other men's compositions. Bunyan went himself to the fountain head of Divine truth, and was not taught by the wisdom of his fellow-men in the things that pertained to salvation. He spoke as he felt; and, while he copied no sentence from others, no man that ever wrote has been so copied from by others.

Application was once made to the Editor, to publish an admirable sermon which had been taken in short hand from the lips of a D.D.; when, to the surprise of the applicant, he was shown the whole sermon in Bunyan's Heavenly Footman.--Ed.

64. Altered, in later editions, to 'searching.'--Ed.

65. Gifts are no evidence of G.o.d's favour; they are like the gold which adorned the temple, but grace, the saving grace of the Spirit, is like the altar which sanctifies the gold.--Mason..

66. In this paragraph is displayed that modest genuine humility which shone so conspicuously in Bunyan. He possessed that popular natural eloquence, by which he could deliver himself like an angel; but when pride began to rise, he knocked it on the head with that severe maul, 'Is it so much to be a fiddle' that Satan once so played upon?--Ed.

67. One circ.u.mstance from which these vile slanders were raised, is narrated in the thrilling narrative of G.o.d's gracious dealings with Mrs. Agnes Beaumont. She was waiting in hopes of attending a meeting, when 'at last, quite unexpectedly, came Mr. Bunyan. The sight of him caused a mixture of joy and grief. I was glad to see him, but afraid he would not be willing to take me up behind him, and how to ask him I knew not. At length my brother did; but Mr.

Bunyan answered, with some degree of roughness, "No, I will not carry her." These words were cutting indeed, and made me weep bitterly.

My brother, perceiving my trouble, said, "Sir, if you do not carry her, you will break her heart"; but he made the same reply, adding, "Your father would be grievously angry if I should." "I will venture that," said I. And thus, with much entreaty, he was prevailed on; and O how glad was I to think I was going. Soon after we set out, my father came to my brother's, and asked his men whom his daughter rode behind? They said, Mr. Bunyan. Upon hearing this, his anger was greatly inflamed; he ran down the close, thinking to overtake me, and pull me off the horse, but we were gone out of his reach.

'I had not ridden far, before my heart began to be lifted up with pride at the thoughts of riding behind this servant of the Lord; and was pleased if any looked after us, as we rode along. Indeed, I thought myself very happy that day: first, that it pleased G.o.d to make way for my going; and then, that I should have the honour to ride behind Mr. Bunyan, who would sometimes be speaking to me about the things of G.o.d. My pride soon had a fall; for, in entering Gam'gay, we were met by one Mr. Lane, a clergyman who lived at Bedford, and knew us both, and spoke to us, but looked very hard at us as we rode along; and soon after raised a vile scandal upon us, though, blessed be G.o.d, it was false.'

No Christian should be without that deeply interesting volume of Christian experience, James' Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of G.o.d with several Eminent Christians. The persecutions that Mrs.

Beaumont went through were like a dreadful tempest, yet was she joyfully delivered out of them all.--Ed.