Doth, as it were, some holy word of God give a glance upon thee, cast a
smile upon thee, let fall, though it be but one drop of its savour upon
thy spirit; yea, though it stays but one moment with thee? O then the
day of grace is not past! The gate of heaven is not shut! nor God’s
heart and bowels withdrawn from thee as yet. Take heed, therefore, and
beware that thou make much of the heavenly gift, and of that good word
of God of the which he has made thee taste. Beware, I say, and take
heed; there may be a falling away for all this; but, I say, as yet God
has not left thee, as yet he has not cast thee off (Heb 6:1-9).
2. With respect to thy desires, what are they? Wouldst thou be saved?
Wouldst thou be saved with a thorough salvation? Wouldst thou be saved
from guilt and filth too? Wouldst thou be the servant of thy Saviour?
Art thou indeed weary of the service of thy old master the devil, sin,
and the world? And have these desires put thy soul to the flight? Hast
thou, through desires, betaken thyself to thy heels? Dost fly to him
that is a Saviour from the wrath to come, for life? If these be thy
desires, and if they be unfeigned, fear not! Thou are one of those
runaways which God has commanded our Lord to receive, and not to send
thee back to the devil thy master again, but to give thee a place in
his house, even the place which liketh thee best. ‘Thou shalt not
deliver unto his master,’ says he, ‘the servant which is escaped from
his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that
place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him
best: thou shalt not oppress him’ (Deu 23:15,16).
This is a command to the church, consequently to the Head of the
church; for all commands from God come to her through her Head. Whence
I conclude, that as Israel of old was to receive the runaway servant
who escaped from a heathen master to them, and should not dare to send
him back to his master again; so Christ’s church now, and consequently
Christ himself, may not, will not, refuse that soul that has made his
escape from sin, Satan, the world, and hell, unto him, but will
certainly let him dwell in his house, among his saints, in that place
which he shall choose, even where it liketh him best. For he says, in
another place, ‘And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.’
In no wise, let his crimes be what they will, either for nature,
multitude, or the attendance of aggravating circumstances. Wherefore,
if thy desires be firm, sound, and unfeigned to become the saved of
Christ, and his servant, fear not, he will not, he will in no wise put
thee away, or turn thee over to thy old master again.
3. As to thy fears, whatever they are, let that be supposed which is
supposed before, and they are groundless, and so of no weight.
Objection. But I am afraid I am not [of the] elect, or chosen to
salvation, though you called me fool a little before for so fearing.
Answer. Though election is, in order, before calling, as to God, yet
the knowledge of calling must go before the belief of my election, as
to myself. Wherefore, souls that doubt of the truth of their effectual
calling, do but plunge themselves into a deeper labyrinth of confusion
that concern themselves with their election; I mean, while they labour
to know it before they prove their calling. ‘Make your calling, and so
your election sure’ (2 Peter 1:4-10).
Wherefore, at present, lay the thoughts of thy election by, and ask
thyself these questions: Do I see my lost condition? Do I see salvation
is nowhere but in Christ? Would I share in this salvation by faith in
him? And would I, as was said before, be thoroughly saved, to wit, from
the filth as from the guilt? Do I love Christ, his Father, his saints,
his words, and ways? This is the way to prove we are elect. Wherefore,
sinner, when Satan, or thine own heart, seeks to puzzle thee with
election, say thou, I cannot attend to talk of this point now, but stay
till I know that I am called of God to the fellowship of his Son, and
then I will show you that I am elect, and that my name is written in
the book of life.
If poor distressed souls would observe this order, they might save
themselves the trouble of an unprofitable labour under these
unseasonable and soul-sinking doubts. 41
Let us, therefore, upon the sight of our wretchedness, fly and
venturously leap into the arms of Christ, which are now as open to
receive us into his bosom as they were when nailed to the cross. This
is coming to Christ for life aright; this is right running away from
thy [old] master to him, as was said before. And for this we have
multitudes of Scriptures to support, encourage, and comfort us in our
so doing.
But now, let him that doth thus be sure to look for it, for Satan will
be with him tomorrow, to see if he can get him again to his old
service; and if he cannot do that, then will he enter into dispute with
him, to wit, about whether he be elect to life, and called indeed to
partake of this Christ, to whom he is fled for succour, or whether he
comes to him of his own presumptuous mind. Therefore we are bid, as to
come, so to arm ourselves with that armour which God has provided; that
we may resist, quench, stand against, and withstand all the fiery darts
of the devil (Eph 6:11-18). If, therefore, thou findest Satan in this
order to march against thee, remember that thou hadst this item about
it; and betake thyself to faith and good courage, and be sober, and
hope to the end.
Objection. But how if I should have sinned the sin unpardonable, or
that called the sin against the Holy Ghost?
Answer. If thou hast, thou art lost for ever; but yet before it is
concluded by thee that thou hast so sinned, know that they that would
be saved by Jesus Christ, through faith in his blood, cannot be counted
for such.
1. Because of the promise, for that must not be frustrate: and that
says, ‘And him that cometh to Christ, he will in no wise cast out.’ And
again, ‘Whoso will, let him take of the water of life freely’ (John
6:37; Rev 21:6; 22:17).
But, I say, how can these Scriptures be fulfilled, if he that would
indeed be saved, as before said, has sinned the sin unpardonable? The
Scripture must not be made void, nor their truth be cast to the ground.
Here is a promise, and here is a sinner; a promise that says he shall
not be cast out that comes; and the sinner comes, wherefore he must be
received: consequently, he that comes to Christ for life, has not,
cannot have sinned that sin for which there is no forgiveness. And this
might suffice for an answer to any coming soul, that fears, though he
comes, that he has sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost.
2. But, again, he that has sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot
come, has no heart to come, can by no means be made willing to come to
Jesus Christ for life; for that he has received such an opinion of him,
and of his things, as deters and holds him back.
(1.) He counteth this blessed person, this Son of God, a magician, a
conjuror, a witch, or one that did, when he was in the world, what he
did, by the power and spirit of the devil (Matt 9:34; 12:24,25,&c.;
Mark 3:22-30). Now he that has this opinion of this Jesus, cannot be
willing to cast himself at his feet for life, or to come to him as the
only way to God and to salvation. And hence it is said again, that such
an one puts him to open shame, and treadeth him under foot; that is, by
contemning, reproaching, vilifying, and despising of him, as if he were
the vilest one, or the greatest cheat in the world; and has, therefore,
as to his esteem of him, called him accursed, crucified him to himself,
or counted him one hanged, as one of the worst of malefactors (Heb 6:6;
10:29; 1 Cor 12:3).
(2.) His blood, which is the meritorious cause of man’s redemption,
even the blood of the everlasting covenant, he counteth ‘an unholy
thing,’ or that which has no more virtue in it to save a soul from sin
than has the blood of a dog (Heb 10:29).42 For when the apostle says,
‘he counts it an unholy thing,’ he means, he makes it of less value
than that of a sheep or cow, which were clean according to the law;
and, therefore, must mean, that his blood was of no more worth to him,
in his account, than was the blood of a dog, an ass, or a swine, which
always was, as to sacrifices, rejected by the God of heaven, as unholy
or unclean. Now he who has no better esteem of Jesus Christ, and of his
death and blood, will not be persuaded to come to him for life, or to
trust in him for salvation.
(3.) But further, all this must be done against manifest tokens to
prove the contrary, or after the shining of gospel light upon the soul,
or some considerable profession of him as the Messiah, or that he was
the Saviour of the world.
(a.) It must be done against manifest tokens to prove the contrary; and
thus the reprobate Jews committed it when they saw the works of God,
which put forth themselves in him, and called them the works of the
devil and Beelzebub.
(b.) It must be done against some shining light of the gospel upon
them. And thus it was with Judas, and with those who, after they were
enlightened, and had tasted, and had felt something of the powers of
the world to come, fell away from the faith of him, and put him to open
shame and disgrace (Heb 6:5,6).
(c.) It must also be done after, and in opposition to one’s own open
profession of him. For if, after they have escaped the pollution of the
world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning; for it had been better for them not to have
know the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment, which is the word of faith delivered unto
them.
(d.) All this must be done openly, before witnesses, in the face,
sight, and view of the world, by word and act. This is the sin that is
unpardonable; and he that hath thus done, can never, it is impossible
he ever should, be renewed again to repentance, and that for a double
reason; first, such an one doth say, he will not; and [second] of him
God says, he shall not have the benefit of salvation by him.
Objection. But if this be the sin unpardonable, why is it called the
sin against the Holy Ghost, and not rather the sin against the Son of
God?
Answer. It is called ‘the sin against the Holy Ghost,’ because such
count the works he did, which were done by the Spirit of God, the works
of the spirit of the devil. Also because all such as so reject Christ
Jesus the Lord, they do it in despite of that testimony which the Holy
Ghost has given of him in the holy Scriptures; for the Scriptures are
the breathings of the Holy Ghost, as in all other things, so in that
testimony they bear of the person, of the works, sufferings,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
Sinner, this is the sin against the Holy Ghost. What sayest thou? Hast
thou committed it? Nay, I know thou hast not, if thou wouldst be saved
by Christ. Yea, it is impossible that thou shouldst have done it, if
indeed thou wouldst be saved by him. No man can desire to be saved by
him, who he yet judgeth to be an impostor, a magician, a witch. No man
can hope for redemption by that blood which he yet counteth an unholy
thing. Nor will God ever suffer such an one to repent, who has, after
light and profession of him, thus horribly, and devil-like, contemned
and trampled upon him.
True, words, and wars, and blasphemies, against this Son of man, are
pardonable; but then they must be done ‘ignorantly, and in unbelief.’
Also, all blasphemous thoughts are likewise such as may be passed by,
if the soul afflicted with them, indeed is sorry for them (1 Tim
1:13-15; Mark 3:28).
All but this, sinner, all but this! If God had said, he will forgive
one sin, it had been undeserved grace; but when he says he will pardon
all but one, this is grace to the height. Nor is that one unpardonable
otherwise, but because the Saviour that should save them is rejected
and put away. Jacob’s ladder; Christ is Jacob’s ladder that reacheth up
to heaven; and he that refuseth to go by this ladder thither, will
scarce by other means get up so high. There is none other name given
under heaven, among men, whereby we must be saved. There is none other
sacrifice for sin than this; he also, and he only, is the Mediator that
reconcileth men to God. And, sinner, if thou wouldst be saved by him,
his benefits are thine; yea, though thou art a great and Jerusalem
transgressor.43
FOOTNOTES:
1 Having preached many times, and from various texts, upon this
subject, the whole substance of many sermons is here published.—Ed.
2 The Jews, and their sacred city, are standing monuments of God’s
dreadful vengeance against unbelief in rejecting the Lord Christ, in
whom alone is salvation. The Lord give us grace to prize and improve
gospel privileges, lest we also be cut off, through unbelief.—Mason.
3 The higher a people rise under the means, the lower will be their
fall if they slight them. O highly-favoured England! Tyre and Sidon,
Sodom and Gomorrah, will have a milder hell than thy carnal,
hypocritical, Christless children.—Mason.
4 All the objections are on the sinner’s side, through unbelief. Christ
answers them all in one word, ‘Whosoever will, let him come and take of
the water of life freely’; and, ‘Whosoever cometh, I will in no wise
cast out.’ Lord, put forth thy power, and give the will.—Mason.
5 In this quotation, Bunyan has followed the reading in the Genevan or
Puritan version.—Ed.
6 An arrow, dipped in the blood of Jesus, will subdue the most obdurate
heart it reaches, even those bitter enemies to Christ, the
priests.—Mason.
7 This quotation is from the Genevan or Puritan version—Ed.
8 ‘Death was swallowing of them down.’ How very striking and full of
truth is this expression! For, in proportion as the sinner violates the
Divine law, so he rushes into the jaws of death and destruction.
Obedience to the Divine law preserves health, bestows happiness, and
prolongs life.—Ed.
9 ‘Rowl in his bowels’; intense affection: see Philemon 12.—Ed.
10 ‘Wheals’; pimples, or small swellings filled with matter.—Ed.
11 ‘As physicians do’ can now hardly be understood. In Bunyan’s days,
all physicians put forth their bills of ‘wonderful cures.’—Ed.
12 ‘Hedge-creepers’; footpads.—Ed.
13 O sinner, beseech the Lord to enable you to welcome the grace that
is welcoming you; then you shall find it, in the Lord’s time, that you
shall be made as kindly welcome as ever a sinner was that is now a
glorified saint.—Mason.
14 This idea is most ingeniously and admirably displayed in Bunyan’s
beautiful allegory, ‘The Holy War.’—Ed.
15 ‘A muse’; deep thought. Vulgo` vocatum, ‘a brown study.’ Bunyan used
this word in the same sense in the first edition of ‘The Pilgrim’s
Progress,’ at the Interpreter’s house: ‘Now was Christian somewhat in a
muse.’ It was afterwards altered, but not improved, by substituting the
words, ‘in a maze.’—Ed.
16 Among all the wondrous sights that angels witness, one gives them
peculiar joy—it is the poor penitent prodigal returning to God, Luke
15:10.—Ed.
17 This was printed in the first edition, ‘the biggest sin.’—Ed.
18 How strongly does this dialogue bring to our recollection that
between Christian and Apollyon in the ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress?’—Ed.
19 ‘I stunck,’ in the original edition, probably meant, ‘I stuck’; but
all the later editions have, ‘I stunk.’—Ed.
20 ‘Clouts’; patches, Joshua 9:5
21 I cannot discover in what book Bunyan read this legend; it is not in
the “Golden Legend,” or any of my monkish authors. It was a generally
received opinion, among the ancients, that Mary Magdalene was sister to
Lazarus; but the means of her conversion is not known. The story here
related is possible, and even probable; but it has no foundation in the
inspired writings, nor in ancient authors.—Ed.
22 Thus Zaccheus said: ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man, by false
accusation, I restore fourfold.’ The law of God requires us,
dim-sighted as we are, to see our sins in their real magnitude, but the
perversity of man turns the telescope to diminish them.—Ed.
23 ‘The friends thereof in their reason’ were the words used in the
first three editions by Bunyan. After his decease, they were altered,
in 1697, in a second third edition, and this correction has been
continued in every subsequent impression.—Ed.
24 Bunyan has some striking observations upon this word Go, in his work
on the day of judgment. Those who refused the invitation to ‘come’ and
receive life, when in the world, now irresistibly obey the awful
mandate, ‘Go,’ and rush into eternal woe.—Ed.
25 How pointed and faithful are these words? How natural it is for a
poor sinner to compare himself with his fellow-worm, and say, ‘Lord, I
thank thee that I am not as this publican,’ or as that murderer—instead
of viewing himself in the gospel glass, in the presence of infinite
holiness, and feeling that in his flesh there is no good thing, but
putrefying sores, that he is vile and hell-deserving, and must fall
into the arms of Divine mercy, crying, Lord, save, or I perish.—Ed.
26 ‘Swoop’; to seize as a hawk does his prey.—Ed.
27 The convinced sinner is not content with the cry, ‘Deliver me from
the wrath to come,’ but, feeling sin to be his greatest enemy, he
earnestly cries for deliverance from its dominion in this world (Psa
143).—Ed.
28 ‘At the catch.’ See the dialogue between Faithful and Talkative in
‘The Pilgrim’s Progress.’—Ed.
29 Printed, ‘far,’ in the first and second editions; altered to ‘fast,’
in third and subsequent editions.—Ed.
30 The blind men, who implored the mercy of Jesus, would not be checked
even by the multitude, but cried so much the more. When a true sense of
misery urges, neither men nor devils can stop the cry for mercy, till
Jesus has compassion and heals their spiritual maladies.—Mason.
31 Quoted from the Puritan or Genevan version of the Bible; our
translation has, ‘He that covereth.’—Ed.
32 ‘Long of Jesus Christ’; a provincial expression, meaning ‘all this
belongs to us by Jesus Christ.’—Ed.
33 How admirable an illustration is this of the Slough of Despond, into
which Christian and Pliable fell in ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress.’—Ed.
34 This illustrates Bunyan’s meaning of the Giant of Sophistry, named
Maul, whose head was cut off by Great-heart, in the Second Part of ‘The
Pilgrim’s Progress.’—Ed.
35 The treasures of this bank are inexhaustible and unsearchable. Oh
for faith, that we may draw largely upon its infinite riches!—Ed.
36 ‘Incidence’; the direction with which one body strikes another; now
obsolete.—Ed.
37 A sour, crabbed Christian, is a contradiction in terms. The precept
is, ‘Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you’ (Eph 4:31).—Mason
38 The true branches in Christ, the heavenly vine, are made fruitful in
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. By these it will appear that Christ is formed
within us. Mere ‘lick of the tongue’ love, without these, is an
unsubstantial shadow.—Ed.
39 ‘Be so taunted’; in editions previous to 1697.—Ed.
40 ‘At least wise’; to say the least.—Ed.
41 This is the proper test for a perplexed soul, when troubled about
his election. If I love Christ, and am desirous to obey him, it is
because he first loved me; and this is the surest proof of election.
Hear the voice of God, ‘Whosoever believeth in me shall not perish, but
have eternal life’; and so Paul, ‘As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed’ (Acts 13:48).—Ed.
42 How very forcible is this appeal to those who profess to believe the
inspiration of the Bible, but yet reject the atonement of Christ. It is
to make the typical sacrifice of the clean beasts, under the law, of
greater value than that of the great antitype—the Son of God.—Ed.
43 The reason why those who are guilty of the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost are never forgiven, is not for want of any sufficiency in
the blood of Christ, or in the pardoning mercy of God, but because they
never repent of that sin, and never seek to God for mercy through
Christ, but continue obstinate till death.—Mason.
THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL,
AND
UNSPEAKABLENESS 0F THE LOSS THEREOF;
WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT.
FIRST PREACHED AT PINNER’S HALL and now ENLARGED AND PUBLISHED FOR
GOOD.
By JOHN BUNYAN,
London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the
Poultry, 1682
Faithfully reprinted from the Author’s First Edition.
ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.
Our curiosity is naturally excited to discover what a poor, unlettered
mechanic, whose book-learning had been limited to the contents of one
volume, could by possibility know upon a subject so abstruse, so
profound, and so highly metaphysical, as that of the Soul—its
greatness—and the inconceivableness of its loss. Heathen philosophers,
at the head of whose formidable array stand Plato and Aristotle, had
exhausted their wit, and had not made the world a whit the wiser by all
their lucubrations. The fathers plunged into the subject, and increased
the confusion; we are confounded with their subtle distinctions,
definitions, and inquiries; such as that attributed to St. Aquinas, How
many disembodied spirits could dance upon the point of a fine needle
without jostling each other? Learned divines had puzzled themselves and
their hearers with suppositions and abstract principles. What, then,
could a travelling brasier, or tinker, have discovered to excite the
attention of the Christian world, and to become a teacher to
philosophers, fathers, and learned divines? Bunyan found no access to
the polluted streams of a vain philosophy; he went at once to the
fountain-head; and, in the pure light of Revelation, displays the human
soul—infinitely great in value, although in a fallen state. He portrays
it as drawn by the unerring hand of its Maker. He sets forth, by the
glass of God’s Word, the inconceivableness of its value, while
progressing through time; and, aided by the same wondrous glass, he
penetrates the eternal world, unveils the joys of heaven and the
torments of hell—so far as they are revealed by the Holy Ghost, and are
conceivable to human powers. While he thus leads us to some kind of
estimate of its worth, he, from the same source—the only source from
whence such knowledge can be derived, makes known the causes of the
loss of the soul, and leads his trembling readers to the only name
under heaven given among men, whereby they can be saved. In attempting
to conceive the greatness and value of the soul, the importance of the
body is too often overlooked. The body, it is true, is of the earth;
the soul is the breath of God. The body is the habitation; the soul is
the inhabitant. The body returns to the dust; while the soul enters
into the intermediate state, waiting to be re-united to the body after
its new creation, when death shall be swallowed up of life. In these
views, the soul appears to be vastly superior to the body. But let it
never be forgotten, that, as in this life, so it will be in the
everlasting state; the body and soul are so intimately connected as to
become one being, capable of exquisite happiness, or existing in the
pangs of everlasting death. He who felt and wrote as Bunyan does in
this solemn treatise, and whose tongue was as the pen of a ready
writer, must have been wise and successful in winning souls to Christ.
He felt their infinite value, he knew their strong and their weak
points, their riches and poverty. He was intimate with every street and
lane in the town of Man-soul, and how and where the subtle Diabolians
shifted about to hide themselves in the walls, and holes, and corners.
He sounds the alarm, and plants his engines against ‘the eye as the
window, and the ear as the door, for the soul to look out at, and to
receive in by.’ He detects the wicked in speaking with his feet, and
teaching with his fingers. His illustration of the punishment of a
sinner, as set forth by the sufferings of the Saviour, is peculiarly
striking. The attempt to describe the torments of those who suffer
under the awful curse, ‘Go ye wicked,’ is awfully and intensely vivid.