the “strait gate” mentioned in the text, as this passage is frequently
introduced into exhortations to the unconverted. It is addressed
exclusively to professors of religion—to those who profess to have set
out for the Celestial City, and seems to say, Beware of the form of
godliness without its power—of the profession without the possession!
For, as old Mason truly said, “They fall deepest into hell that fall
backward.” The “striving” here alluded to refers to the whole course of
the believers’ life, with its end in view—“We labour to be accepted of
him” “Give diligence,” by adding to faith virtue, &c., “to make your
calling and election sure; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-11)
4 How well does our unlettered author give the meaning of strive,
agonize.—Ed.
5 Reader, while we bless God for being mercifully relieved from those
bodily privations and sufferings through which our pilgrim fathers
passed, forget not that Satan plies all his arts to allure our souls
from the narrow path. If we are saved from tedious imprisonments in
damp dungeons—if Antichrist has lost much of his power, the flatterer
is ever at hand to entangle us in his net—the atheist is ever ready, by
his derision and scorn, to drive us back to the City of
Destruction.—Ed.
6 In the edition printed 1692, “an holiday saint” is used. Saints’ days
were holidays upon which the gayest dress was put on; but the outward
affectation of religion in pious company is better expressed by
“holiday suit,” and I have followed all the modern editors in
concluding that the word “saint” is a typographical error.—Ed.
7 See the character of By-ends and his companions in the “Pilgrim’s
Progress.”
8 O how few professors feel that the judgment of man is as nothing in
comparison with that of a heart-searching God. Thousands would tremble
at the thought of outwardly committing these great crimes, but who
inwardly, in spirit, are daily guilty of them before God. He who is
kept by Divine power from spiritual sins, is alone safe from the
commission of carnal sins.—Ed.
9 It is an awful fact that in every age of the church these “blundering
raw-headed preachers” have abounded. It is a singular appellation to
make use of to those who strut in black, and vainly pride themselves
upon being descended from the apostles. Alas! how many are those whose
hearts and heads are raw indeed as to any influences of vital religion,
and whose whole ministry is calculated to mislead the souls of their
fellow-sinners as to their eternal hopes. Reader, how solemn is our
duty to examine what we hear by the unerring Word—to try all things,
and hold fast that only which is good.—Ed.
10 More particularly in the “Jerusalem Sinner Saved”—“He that would be
saved by Jesus Christ, through faith in his blood, cannot be counted
for such,” &c. The sin against the Holy Ghost is an abandonment of
Christianity—“to crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame.” (Heb 6:6) Poor trembler, wouldst thou crucify the Son of God
afresh? If thy conscience says, Never! never! thou hast not committed
this unpardonable sin.—Ed.
11 The wedding garments being provided by the host, this man must have
refused it, and insults his King by sitting among the guests in his
ordinary apparel. O reader, before you take a seat at the Lord’s table,
take prayerful care to be clothed with the robe of righteousness,
otherwise you will eat to your utter condemnation and may, after all,
be cast into outer darkness.—Ed.
12 May these searching words make an indelible impression upon the
heart of every reader. How striking, and alas! how true, is this
delineation of character. Religious when in company with
professors—profane when with the world; pretending to be a Christian on
a Sunday; striving to climb with Christian the Hill Difficulty—every
other day running down the hill with Timorous and Mistrust. Such may
get to the bottom of the hill, and hide themselves in the world; but
they can never lie concealed from God’s anger, either in this world, or
in the bottomless pit, whither they are hurrying to destruction.
“Sinner, O why so thoughtless grown? Why in such dreadful hast to
die?”—Ed.
13 “Tend it,” or attend to it. What madness does sin engender and
foster! The trifles of time entirely occupy the attention, while the
momentous affairs of eternity are put off to a more convenient
opportunity.—Ed.
14 Lowth’s translation of this passage in Isaiah 6:13 not only confirms
Bunyan, but exhibits his view in a more prominent light:—“And though
there be a tenth part remaining in it, even this shall undergo a
repeated destruction; yet as the ilex and the oak, though cut down,
hath its stock remaining, a holy seed shall be the stock of the
nation.”—Ed.
15 How solemn the thought—there is but little wheat in comparison with
all the grass and vegetable produce of the earth; and in the harvest
how much chaff and straw, which grew with the wheat, will be cast out!
Well may it be said, Look to it, professors.—Ed.
16 The word “faith” was changed in 1737 for “repentance,” which has
been continued in subsequent editions; “faith” is right. Awakenings and
repentance are classed together under the first head, and faith under
the second.—Ed.
17 Many readers will cry out, Who then can be saved? Without charity,
or the love of Christ in the heart, all faith and works are but dross.
Love is the touchstone of faith and works—not to glorify ourselves, but
him who has bought us with his own most precious blood. Carry the
solemn inquiry to the throne of grace, Have I passed from death unto
life? for whosoever thus liveth believeth in Christ, and amidst the
fatal wreck of professors, he shall never die.—Ed.
18 “To doubt”; to suspect, make a question of, reconsider.—Ed.
19 When Talkative asked Faithful what difference there is between
crying out against and abhorring sin, he answered, “O! a great deal; a
man may cry out against sin of policy, but he cannot abhor it but by
virtue of a godly antipathy against it. I have heard many cry out
against sin in the pulpit, who yet can abide it well enough in the
heart, house, and conversation.”—Pilgrim’s Progress.
20 Similar to By-ends who never strove for heaven against wind or
weather; was most zealous when religion walked in his silver slippers,
and walked with him in the streets, while the sun shone, and people
applauded him.—Pilgrim’s Progress.
21 The striving inculcated in this treatise reminds us of Hopkins’ bold
appeal to conscience. He says, “There must be a holy roughness and
violence, to break through all that stands in our way; neither caring
for allurements, nor fearing opposition, but by a pious obstinacy and
frowardness, we must thrust away the one and bear down the other. This
is the Christian who will carry heaven by force, when the whining
pusillanimous professor, who only complains of difficulty, but never
attempts to conquer it, will be for ever shut out!”—Ed.
LIGHT FOR THEM THAT SIT IN DARKNESS;
OR,
A DISCOURSE OF JESUS CHRIST:
AND THAT HE UNDERTOOK TO ACCOMPLISH BY HIMSELF THE ETERNAL REDEMPTION
OF SINNERS:
ALSO, HOW THE LORD JESUS ADDRESSED HIMSELF TO THIS WORK; WITH
UNDENIABLE DEMONSTRATIONS THAT HE PERFORMED THE SAME.
OBJECTIONS TO THE CONTRARY ANSWERED.
‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us.’—Galatians 3:13.
by John Bunyan—1674
ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.
This solemn and searching treatise was first published in 1674, a copy
of which is in the Editor’s possession. The author’s object is to
correct some fatal errors which then peculiarly abounded, and to
recommend the gospel in its purity to the acceptation of his
fellow-sinners. Possessing that inward peace, serenity, happiness, and
safety, arising from a scriptural knowledge of Christ and him
crucified, he proclaims, ‘I have ventured my own soul thereon with
gladness,’ and ‘if all the souls in the world were mine, I would
venture them all.’ His prayer is that others may receive the same light
and life by faith.
Every age has had its peculiar delusions for the trial of the
spirit—mysticism in Bunyan’s time, Puseyism in our days. Prior to the
Reformation, the clergy, called the church, claimed implicit obedience
from the laity as essential to salvation, and taught that inquiry was
the high road to eternal ruin. After the Bible had been extensively
circulated, many regarded it as the letter which killeth—that it was of
no importance, compared with the light within, which alone was
essential. These were not the notions of any one or two sects, but had
spread their influence to a considerable extent over the Christian
church. To check the growth of these errors, and to recover those who
had been misled by them, Bunyan published this ‘Light for them that sit
in darkness.’ His object is to prove that all our knowledge of the
Saviour must be received directly from the written Word—that to
understand these holy oracles, we must seek and obtain Divine light. By
this light we shall find that Christ took upon himself our nature, and,
by his holy and perfect obedience to the law, and sacrifice of himself
as a sin-atoning offering, he redeemed all his saints, paid the FULL
price of their redemption, and will present them unblameable,
unreprovable, and acceptable to him that is of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity. Their robes are washed and made white in the blood of
the Lamb; they are perfect as Christ is perfect; there is no
condemnation to them; their salvation is sure. To those whose spirits
are dismayed under a fear that they have sinned the unpardonable sin,
the arguments on the following pages are most consoling. Those who are
under that awful curse are sunk in a deathly state of insensibility,
while they sit in the seat of the scorner. To be alarmed with the fear
of having so offended the Saviour, is the best evidence that no such
sin can have been committed. The closing chapter is full of striking
solemnity. May its beneficial effects be felt, to the glory of God and
the reader’s solid peace.
GEO. OFFOR.
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER.
Gentle Reader,
It was the great care of the apostle Paul to deliver his gospel to the
churches in its own simplicity, because so it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth. And if it was his care so to
deliver it to us, it should be ours to seek so to continue it; and the
rather, because of the unaptness of the minds, even of the saints
themselves, to retain it without commixture. For, to say nothing of the
projects of hell, and of the cunning craftiness of some that lie in
wait to deceive even the godly themselves, as they are dull of hearing,
so much more dull in receiving and holding fast the simplicity of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. From their sense, and reason, and unbelief, and
darkness, arise many imaginations and high thoughts, which exalt
themselves against the knowledge of God and the obedience of Jesus
Christ, wherefore they themselves have much ado to stand complete in
all the will of God. And were they not concerned in electing love, by
which they are bound up in the bundle of life, and blessed with the
enjoyment of saving grace, which enlighteneth their souls and
maintaineth their fath and hope, they would not only be assaulted and
afflicted with their own corruptions, but, as others, overcome thereby.
Alas! how ordinary a thing is it for professors to fall from the
knowledge they have had of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and
to be turned unto fables, seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,
through the intoxications of delusions and the witchcraft of false
preachers.
Now, this their swerving from the gospel ariseth, 1. Either from their
not having, or, having, not retaining, the true knowledge of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ; or, 2. From their not believing the true
causes of his coming into the world, with his doing and suffering
there. Upon one or both these accounts, I say, it is that they
everlastingly perish; for if they have not, and do not also retain the
knowledge of his person, they want the HE, on whom, if they believe
not, they must die in their sins; and if they know not the reason of
his coming, doing, and suffering, they are in the same condition also.
Now, those professors that have had some knowledge of these things, and
yet have lost them, it hath come thus to pass with them because they
first lost the knowledge of themselves and of their sins. They know not
themselves to be such nothing ones as the Scriptures reporteth them to
be, nor their sins to be so heinous as the law hath concluded;
therefore they either turn again with the dog to his vomit, or adhere
to a few of the rags of their own fleshly righteousness, and so become
pure in their own eyes, yet are not purged by blood from their
filthiness.
For the person and doings of Jesus Christ are only precious to them
that get and retain the true knowledge of themselves, and the due
reward of their sins by the law. These are desolate, being driven out
of all; these embrace the rock instead of a shelter. The sensible
sinner receiveth him joyfully.
And because a miscarriage in this great truth is the most dangerous and
damning miscarriage, therefore should professors be the more fearful of
swerving aside therefrom. The man that rejecteth the true knowledge of
the person of the Lord Jesus, and the causes of his doing and suffering
in the world, takes the next way to be guilty of that transgression
that is not to be purged with sacrifice for ever; that fearful
transgression for which is left no offering at all, nor anything to be
expected by the person transgressing but fearful judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversary.
Now, for their sakes that have not sinned this sin, for their sakes
that are in danger thereof, but yet not overcome, for their sakes have
I written this little book, wherein is largely, and yet with few words,
discovered the doctrine of the person, and doings, and sufferings of
Christ, with the true cause thereof, also a removal of those objections
that the crafty children of darkness have framed against the same.
And I have been the more plain and simple in my writing, because the
sin against the Holy Ghost is in these days more common than formerly,
and the way unto it more beautified with colour and pretence of truth.
I may say of the way to this sin, it is, as was once the way to
Jerusalem, strewed with boughs and branches; and by some there is cried
a kind of hosanna to them that are treading these steps to hell. O the
plausible pretences, the golden names, the feigned holiness, the demure
behaviours, mixed with damnable hypocrisy, that attend the persons that
have forsaken the Lord Jesus, that have despised his person, trampled
upon him, and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing! They have crucified him to themselves, and
think that they can go to heaven without him; yea, pretend they love
him, when they hate him; pretend they have him, when they have cast him
off; pretend they trust in him, when they bid defiance to his
undertakings for the world.
Reader, let me beseech thee to hear me patiently; read, and consider,
and judge. I have presented thee with that which I have received from
God; and the holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost, do bear me witness. Thou wilt say, All pretend to this. Well,
but give me the hearing, take me to the Bible, and let me find in thy
heart no favour if thou find me to swerve from the standard.
I say again, receive my doctrine; I beseech thee, in Christ’s stead,
receive it; I know it to be the way of salvation. I have ventured my
own soul thereon with gladness; and if all the souls in the world were
mine, as mine own soul is, I would, through God’s grace, venture every
one of them there. I have not writ at a venture, nor borrowed my
doctrine from libraries. I depend upon the sayings of no man. I found
it in the Scriptures of truth, among the true sayings of God.
I have done, when I have exhorted thee to pray, and give heed to the
words of God as revealed in the Holy Writ. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself give thee light and life by faith in him; to whom, with the
Father and the good Spirit of grace, be glory and dominion, now and for
ever. Amen.
JOHN BUNYAN.
LIGHT FOR THEM THAT SIT IN DARKNESS.
‘OF THIS MAN’S SEED HATH GOD, ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE, RAISED UNTO
ISRAEL A SAVIOUR, JESUS.’—ACTS 13:23.
These words are part of a sermon which Paul preached to the people that
lived at Antioch in Pisidia, where also inhabited many of the Jews. The
preparation to his discourse he thus begins—‘Men of Israel, and ye that
fear God, give audience’ (v 16); by which having prepared their minds
to attend, he proceeds and gives a particular relation of God’s
peculiar dealings with his people Israel, from Egypt to the time of
David their king, of whom he treateth particularly—
That he was the son of Jesse, that he was a king, that God raised him
up in mercy, that God gave testimony of him, that he was a man after
God’s own heart, that he should fulfil all his will (v 22).
And this he did of purpose both to engage them the more to attend, and
because they well knew that of the fruit of his loins God hath promised
the Messiah should come.
Having thus therefore gathered up their minds to hearken, he presenteth
them with his errand—to wit, that the Messiah was come, and that the
promise was indeed fulfilled that a Saviour should be born to
Israel—‘Of this man’s seed,’ saith he, ‘hath God, according to his
promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.’
In this assertion he concludeth—1. That the promise had kept its due
course in presenting a Saviour to Israel—to wit, in David’s loins—‘Of
this man’s seed.’ 2. That the time of the promise was come, and the
Saviour was revealed—‘God hath raised unto Israel a Saviour.’ 3. That
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, was he—‘He hath raised unto
Israel a Saviour, Jesus.’
From these things we may inquire, for the explication of the words,
First. What this Jesus is? Second. What it was for this Jesus to be of
the seed of David? Third. What it was for Jesus to be of this man’s
seed according to the promise? And, Fourth, what it was for him to be
raised unto Israel? These things may give us light into what shall be
spoken after.
Quest. First. What this Jesus is?
He is God, and had personal being from before all worlds; therefore not
such an one as took being when he was formed in the world; he is God’s
natural Son, the Eternal Son of his begetting and love—‘God sent forth
his Son.’ He was, and was his Son, before he was revealed—‘What is his
name, and what is his Son’s name, if thou canst tell?’ (Prov 30:4; Eze
21:10). He hath an eternal generation, such as none can declare, not
man, not angel (Isa 53:8). He was the delight of his Father before he
had made either mountain or hill. While as yet he had not made the
earth or the fields, or the highest part of the dust of the world, all
things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was
made, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. It is
he with whom the Father consulted when he was about to make man, when
he intended to overthrow Babel, and when he sent Isaiah to harden the
hearts of Israel (Prov 8:26; John 1:3; Heb 1:2,3; Col 1:17; Gen 1:26,
11:7; Isa 6:8). This is the person intended in the text. Hence also he
testifies of himself that he came down from the Father; that he had
glory with him before the world was. And ‘what and if ye shall see the
Son of man ascend up where he was before?’ (John 6:62, 16:28, 17:5).
Quest. Second. What was it for Jesus to be of David’s seed?
To be of David’s seed is to spring from his loins, to come of his race
according to the flesh; and therefore as he is David’s God, so likewise
is he David’s Son; the root and also the offspring of David. And this
the Lord himself acknowledgeth, saying, ‘I am the root,’ or God, ‘and
the offspring,’ and Son, ‘of David, and the bright and morning star’
(Rev 22:16). This is indeed the great mystery, the mystery of
godliness. ‘If David then call him Lord, how is he his Son?’ (Matt
22:45; Luke 2:4; Rom 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8). And hence it is that he is said
to be ‘wonderful,’ because he is both God and man in one person—‘Unto
us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful’ (Isa 9:6).
Wonderful indeed! Wonderful God, Wonderful man, Wonderful God-man, and
so a Wonderful Jesus and Saviour. He also hath wonderful love, bore
wonderful sorrows for our wonderful sins, and obtained for HIS a
wonderful salvation.
Quest. Third. What was it for Jesus to be of this man’s seed according
to the promise?
This word ‘promise’ doth sometimes comprehend all the promises which
God made to our fathers, from the first promise to the last, and so the
Holy Ghost doth call them—‘The promise made unto the fathers, God hath
fulfilled the same unto us their children’ (Acts 13:32,33). But the
word ‘promise’ here doth in special intend that which God made to David
himself—‘Men and brethren,’ said Peter, ‘let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his
sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of
his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on
his throne; he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ,’ &c. (Acts 2:29,30).
Quest. Fourth. What was it for Jesus to be raised thus up of God to
Israel?
Here we have two things to consider of—1. Who Israel is. 2. What it was
for Jesus to be raised up unto them.
1. Who Israel is. By ‘Israel’ sometimes we should understand the whole
stock of Jacob, the natural children of his flesh; for that name they
have of him, for he obtained it when he wrestled with the angel, and
prevailed, and it remained with his seed in their generations (Gen 32).
By ‘Israel’ we are to understand all those that God hath promised to
Christ—‘The children of the promise are counted for the seed,’ the
elect Jews and Gentiles. These are called ‘the Israel of God,’ and the
seed of Abraham, whom Jesus in special regarded in his undertaking the
work of man’s redemption (Rom 9:8; Gal 6:16; Heb 2:14-16).
2. What it was for Jesus to be raised up unto them. This word ‘raised
up’ is diversely taken in the Scripture. (1.) It is taken for
‘sending’; as when he saith he raised them up judges, saviours, and
prophets, he means he sent them such, and thus he raised up Jesus—that
is, ‘he sent him’ (Judg 2:16,18, 3:9,15; Amos 2:11). ‘I have not spoken
of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment’
(John 12:49). (2.) To be raised up, intimateth one invested with power
and authority. Thus he raised up David to be the king of Israel, he
anointed him and invested him with kingly power (1 Sam 16:13; Acts
13:22). And thus was Jesus Christ raised up. Hence he is called ‘the
horn of salvation’—‘He hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in
the house of his servant David’ (Luke 1:69). (3.) To be raised up,
intimateth quickening and strengthening, to oppose and overcome all
opposition. Thus was Jesus raised up from under sin, death, the rage of
the world, and hell, that day that God raised him out of the grave.
Thus, therefore, was Jesus raised up to Israel—that is, he was sent,
authorized, and strengthened to, and in the work of, their salvation,
to the completing of it.
The words thus opened do lay before us these two observations—FIRST.
That in all ages God gave his people a promise, and so ground for a
believing remembrance, that he would one day send them a Saviour.
SECOND. That when Jesus was come into the world, then was that promise
of God fulfilled.
[OBSERVATION FIRST.]
To begin with the first, THAT IN ALL AGES GOD GAVE HIS PEOPLE A
PROMISE, AND SO GROUND FOR A BELIEVING REMEMBRANCE, THAT HE WOULD ONE
DAY SEND THEM A SAVIOUR.
This Zacharias testifies when he was filled with the Holy Ghost; for,
speaking of the Messiah or the Saviour, he saith that God spake of him
by the mouth of all the prophets which have been since the world began;
to which I will add that of Peter, ‘Yea, and all the prophets from
Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have
likewise foretold of these days’ (Luke 1:69,70; Acts 3:24).
From these texts it is evident that in every generation or age of the
world God did give his people a promise, and so ground for a believing
remembrance, that he would one day send them a Saviour; for indeed the
promise is not only a ground for a remembrance, but for a believing
remembrance. What God saith is sufficient ground for faith, because he
is truth, and cannot lie or repent. But that is not all; his heart was
engaged, yea, all his heart, in the promise which he spoke of sending
us a Saviour.