‘And it came to pass,
when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look
not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain,
lest thou be consumed.’—Genesis 19:17.
London:
Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch Street, 1698.
About
forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my pilgrimage, and
who had joined me in communion with a Baptist church, about four years
previously, came to my house one Monday morning, greatly delighted with the
sermon which our pastor had preached on the previous day, while I was engaged in
superintending the Sunday school. It had caused a very remarkable sensation,
which, if properly followed up, bid fair to occasion an extraordinary revival of
religion in the neighbourhood. He, with the deacons, had begged of our minister
to fill up his outline, and prepare the sermon for publication, to which he had
consented. He wished to ascertain from me, as a publisher, the expense of
printing five thousand copies, being sure that the sale of it would be
unprecedented, not only throughout the kingdom, but as far as the English
language was spoken. In about a week, the copy fairly written was left with me.
The text was Hebrews 12:1, ‘Let us run with patience the race that is set
before us.’ After the introduction that all men desire heaven, but all do not
run for it—the word run was explained as a flying, pressing, persevering. Then
seven reasons, and nine directions, were followed by nine motives and nine uses.
This, and the striking ideas and language of the sermon, brought Bunyan to my
recollection, and, on comparison, it proved to be the Heavenly Footman, with
very slight alterations. Having then very recently purchased a neat edition of
the book, at a very low price, my inquiry was, whether they would not prefer
having the book in its genuine state, especially as it was ready for delivery. I
need not add, that all thoughts of circulating the sermon was at once abandoned.
In conversation with my excellent pastor, who afterwards for many years bore the
honour of a D.D., he acknowledge his obligation to me for detecting the
plagiarism before the sermon was published, and explained to me that, when very
young, he had read Bunyan’s Heavenly Footman with intense interest, and made a
full analysis of it, in the shape of notes, which, having committed to memory,
he preached to a very delighted and deeply impressed congregation; that after a
lapse of many years, looking over the outlines of his early sermons, he was
struck with it, and believing it to be his own composition, had again used it
with such extraordinary success, as led his deacons and members to request him
to print it. Doubtless Bunyan being dead has often similarly spoken—may his
voice never be lost in silence or be forgotten.
The
title of ‘Heavenly Footman’ was probably suggested by the words of the
prophet Jeremiah, ‘If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied
thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And in the land of peace thou
trustedst, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?’ (12:5), and ‘Let
us run with patience the race that is set before us’ (Heb 12:1). The word
footman does not refer to that class of servants who are badged and dressed in
livery to gratify the pride of their masters, nor to that description of
foot-soldiers or infantry, whose business is designated by the blood-stained
colour of their clothes. But it refers to those who are travelling on foot to a
distant country, engaged on a pilgrimage from earth to heaven. It is worthy of
remark, that the whole of the children of God, of every age and clime, class and
kindred, the richest and the poorest, all are upon terms of perfect equality in
running the race set before them. No wealth, nor grade, can procure a horse to
carry them, or a carriage to ride in; all must run on foot. The only carriage
for the foot-sore, weary pilgrim is the bosom of Christ; he carries the lambs in
his bosom, and there is room enough for all; the poorest labourer and the
noblest aristocrat meet there upon a level with each other; there is no first
class for the rich, and parliamentary train for the poor. It is all first class.
In the varied adventures of Christian and his associates, and of Christiana, her
children, and her lovely friend Mercy, they never ride. The little one is led by
the hand up the steep and rough hill Difficulty, but his own feet carry him
throughout the wearisome road. The only carriage was the fiery chariot which
carried the soul of the martyred Faithful to the Celestial City; there is no
riding to heaven while in the body. Wealth may procure many pleasures to clog
the soul in its journey. It may purchase indulgencies; it may incline some
disciples to look at sinful imperfections through the wrong end of the
telescope; it may purchase prayers—but devotional exercises, bought by gold,
will freeze the soul. It is the poor disciple that receives the faithful
admonitions of his equally poor fellow-saints. The rich have more ceremony,
while the labourer enjoys more richly, more free from restraint, the warm
outpourings of a devotional spirit. Still there is nothing to prevent the
greatest nobleman or monarch from running to heaven in company with the
disciples of our lowly Master. If he refuses this road and this company, he must
pursue his downward course to destruction.
The
order in which the allegorical works of Bunyan were written, very naturally
suggest itself from his own narratives, and from the dates of their publication.
It was thus, while suffering his tedious and dangerous imprisonment for Christ’s
sake, he was led to write an account of the dealings of God with his soul, which
work he published in 1666, under the title of Grace Abounding to the Chief of
Sinners. While engaged in writing this remarkable narrative, the almost
unbounded allegorical powers of his mind were brought into exercise—
‘And
thus it was: I writing of the way
And
race of saints, in this our gospel-day,
Fell
suddenly into an allegory
About
their journey, and the way to glory.’
Having
finished his Grace Abounding, he allowed his fertile imagination its full scope,
and again wrote the result of his experience in the form of an allegorical
narrative, called the Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to
Come. At first the thoughts pressed upon him as fast as he could write them, yet
he says—
‘I
did not think
To
show to all the world my pen and ink
In
such a mode.’
And
it was several years before he ventured to publish his beautiful allegory. He
was released from prison in 1672, having been chosen in the previous year to be
the pastor, or ministering elder of the church at Bedford. His time was then
much occupied in re-organizing the church, after years of tempest and fiery
persecution. At length, having overcome his own and his friends’ reluctance to
publish so solemn a work on the conversion of a sinner and his way to heaven, in
the form of an allegory, the Pilgrim’s Progress was printed in 1678. The
wonderful popularity of this book, and the great good it produced, led him again
to turn his Grace Abounding into a different form of narrative, in the more
profound allegory of the Holy War; this was published in 1682, and in two years
afterwards he completed the Pilgrim by a delightful second part. His long
incarceration, followed by sudden and great activity, probably brought down his
robust constitution; and as the end of his course drew nigh, he was doubly
diligent, for in 1688, before his death-day, which was in August, he published
six important treatises, and had prepared fourteen or fifteen others for the
press. Among these were his final and almost dying instructions to the pilgrim,
under the title of The Heavenly Footman, the man whom he describes in the
poetical apology to the Pilgrim’s Progress, as he that
‘Runs
and runs,
Till
he unto the gate of glory comes.’
This
treatise sheds a lustre over the latter days of our immortal allegorist. It is
evidently the production of a mind expanded and chastened with the rich
experience of sanctified age. In it we are reminded of those important
directions to heavenly footmen, contained in his most admired books. Is there a
Slough of Despond to be passed, and a hill Difficulty to be overcome? Here the
footman is reminded of ‘many a dirty step, many a high hill, a long and
tedious journey through a vast howling wilderness’; but he is encouraged, ‘the
land of promise is at the end of the way.’ Must the man that would win eternal
glory draw his sword, put on his helmet, and fight his way into the temple—the
heavenly footman must press, crowd, and thrust through all that stand between
heaven and his soul. Did Ignorance, who perished from the way, say to the
pilgrims, ‘You go so fast, I must stay awhile behind?’ He who runs to heaven
is told that the heavy-heeled, lazy, wanton, and foolish professor will not
attain the prize. The wicket-gate, at the head of the way, is all-important;
none can get to heaven unless they enter by Christ, the door and way, so the
footman is reminded that it matters not how fast he runs, he can never attain
the prize, if he is in the wrong road. Did the pilgrims so severely suffer from
entering upon Byepath-meadow, and even after that bitter experience were they
again misled into a bye path, by a black man clothed in white raiment? Our
footman is warned—Beware then of bye and crooked paths that lead to death and
damnation; the way to heaven is one, still there are many well-beaten bye paths
that butt or shoot down upon it, and which lead to destruction. To prevent vain
and foolish company from calling you out of the path, or from loitering in it,
say, I am in haste, I am running for a prize; if I win I am made, I win ALL; if
I lose I lose all, and am undone. So it was with Faithful when even Christian,
who saw him before, cried Ho ho, so ho. Faithful answered, ‘No, I am upon my
life, the avenger of blood is behind me.’ In the same way the pilgrims refused
the invitations of Demas with his silver mine. No, says the heavenly footman, I
am running for heaven, for my soul, for God, for Christ, from hell and
everlasting damnation. Did the poor pilgrims go grunting, puffing, and sighing,
one tumbleth over a bush, another sticks fast in the dirt, one cries out, I am
down, and another, Ho! where are you? Pilgrim’s Progress. So the footman is
told that he will ‘meet with cross, pain, and wearisomeness to the flesh, with
briars and quagmires, and other encumbrances,’ through all which he must
persevere. Did Formalist and Hypocrite turn off into bye ways at the foot of the
hill Difficulty, and miserably perish? Did Mistrust and Timorous run back for
fear of the persecuting lions, Church and State? So the man that runs for heaven
is cautioned—’Some when they come at the cross can go no further, but back
again to their sins they go, stumble and break their necks, or turn aside to the
left or to the right, and perish.’ Be not ready to halt, nor run hobbling and
halting, but, like my Lord Will-be-will in the Holy War, when fighting against
Diabolus, get thy will tipt with heavenly grace, and go full speed for heaven.
These quotations tend to prove that this invaluable treatise is a summary of the
guide books which Bunyan had before written. It was doubtless one of the last
productions of his prolific pen.
Two
passages in the Heavenly Footman appear to favour the idea, that a period in
life is, in some cases, fixed, beyond which there is no repentance; thus in a
solemn warning against procrastination he says, ‘Dost thou know whether the
day of grace will last a week longer or no? For the day of grace is past with
some before their life is ended’; and ‘sometimes sinners have not heaven
gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a
man, they are so heavy that all the men in the world, nor all the angels in
heaven, can open them. Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to stay till the
gate of mercy be quite shut.’ It becomes an interesting inquiry as to who
Bunyan means by the ‘some’ of whom he says, ‘that the day of grace is past
before their life is ended.’ This cannot refer to those who, neglecting the
Saviour, are in a perishing condition. No minister felt a more ardent desire to
rouse them to a sense of their danger and to guard them against despair than
John Bunyan. In his Jerusalem Sinner Saved he thus argues ‘Why despair? thou
art yet in the land of the living.’ ‘It is a sin to begin to despair before
one sets his foot over the threshold of hell gates.’ ‘What, despair of bread
in a land that is full of corn? Despair of mercy when our God is full of mercy,
thou scrupulous fool; despair when we have a redeeming Christ alive. Let them
despair that dwell where there is no God, and that are confined to those
chambers of death which can be reached by no redemption.’ In Bunyan’s Come
and Welcome, he proves that it would be ‘high blasphemy and damnable
wickedness’ to imagine that Christ would cast out any that come to God by him.
He cannot mean the backslider, for Bunyan was such. David also, to an awful
extent, and Peter to the denial of his Lord. No, he may mean those who, while
neglecting the Saviour, are overtaken by madness, or more probably to such as
Judas, Spira, and others who sell their Master, or renounce him. If a man
abandons the Saviour, there is no other name under heaven whereby he can be
saved; ‘there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin’; he is a despiser of God’s
way of salvation, and tramples under foot the Son of God. While such a career
continues, fiery indignation must be his wretched destiny. They who contemn the
heavenly gift—the Holy Ghost—the word of God—the powers of the world to
come—if they persevere unto death in such sentiments, the day of grace is
past. There have been some who, like Esau, having sold their birthright, sought
repentance even with tears, but found it not—they sought it not in God’s
appointed way. All hope depends upon such sinners coming unto Christ, humbled
and broken-hearted. He is willing, He is able to save even then to the
uttermost, but they will not. He has promised, and will perform his word, ‘him
that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out.’ The volume of inspiration is
crowned at its close with the same cheering encouragement, ‘And the Spirit and
the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And WHOSOEVER WILL, let
him take the water of life freely.’ I cannot imagine that any man would have
sung with greater pleasure than Bunyan that hymn of Dr. Watts’—
‘Life
is the time to serve the Lord,
The
time to insure the great reward;
And
while the lamp holds out to burn,
The
vilest sinner may return.’
They
only who reject the counsel and mercy of God, shut heaven’s gates against
their own souls, and rush upon Jehovah’s buckler like Judas, or Spira, or like
one of Bunyan’s early friends, John Childs, who apostatized for fear of
persecution, and perished by his own hand. To such only the day of grace is
past; they have set themselves in the scorner’s seat, from which they will be
hurled into unutterable wretchedness.
Bunyan
well knew that idleness engenders poverty and crime, and is the parent of every
evil; and he exhorts his runner to the greatest diligence, not to ‘fool away
his soul’ in slothfulness, which induces carelessness, until the sinner is
remediless. Our first care is to get into the right way, and then so to run that
‘the devil, who is light of foot,’ may not overtake and trip us up. Running
to heaven does not prevent the true, the real enjoyment of earthly blessings,
but sanctifies and heightens them. The great impetus in our course is love to
the prize—to Christ, to heaven; ‘having our affections set upon things
above.’ Looking unto Jesus. His righteousness imputed unto us by the shedding
of his blood, marks all the road, and while we keep that in sight we cannot err.
In all earthly things we anticipate too much—but in the glories of heaven, our
anticipations are feeble indeed, compared with eternal realities. Could the
saints in glory impart to us a sense of their indescribable happiness, with what
activity and perseverance we should run. The case of Lot, when flying from
destruction, is put by Bunyan with peculiar force—he dared not to look back
even to see what had become of his wife, lest death should overtake his own
soul. O, my reader, may we be stimulated so to run as to obtain that crown of
glory which is imperishable, immortal, and eternal.
Charles
Doe, one of Bunyan’s personal friends, having purchased the copyright of this
work, kept it for some years, in hope of publishing it with other treatises, as
a second folio volume, to complete his works; but failing in this object, he
printed it separately in 1698, and appended an interesting list of Bunyan’s
works, with thirty cogent reasons why these invaluable labours should be
preserved and handed down, to bless succeeding ages.
An
earnest desire to preserve, in their perfect integrity, all the treatises as
they were originally published, will induce me, at the end of the works, to
reprint those interesting additions.
GEO.
OFFOR.
Friends,
Solomon
saith, that ‘The desire of the slothful killeth him’; and if so, what will
slothfulness itself do to those that entertain it? (Prov 21:25). The proverb is,
‘He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame’ (Prov 10:5). And
this I dare be bold to say, no greater shame can befall a man, than to see that
he hath fooled away his soul, and sinned away eternal life. And I am sure this
is the next way to do it; namely, to be slothful; slothful, I say, in the work
of salvation. The vineyard of the slothful man, in reference to the things of
this life, is not fuller of briars, nettles, and stinking weeds, than he that is
slothful for heaven, hath his heart full of heart-choaking and soul-damning sin.
Slothfulness
hath these two evils: First, To neglect the time in which it should be getting
of heaven; and by that means doth, in the Second place, bring in untimely
repentance. I will warrant you, that he who shall lose his soul in this world
through slothfulness, will have no cause to be glad thereat when he comes to
hell.
Slothfulness
is usually accompanied with carelessness, and carelessness is for the most part
begotten by senselessness; and senselessness doth again put fresh strength into
slothfulness, and by this means the soul is left remediless.
Slothfulness
shutteth out Christ; slothfulness shameth the soul (Cant 5:2-4; Prov 13:4).
Slothfulness,
it is condemned even by the feeblest of all the creatures. ‘Go to the ant,
thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise (Prov 6:6). The sluggard will not
plow by reason of the cold’ (20:4); that is, he will not break up the fallow
ground of his heart, because there must be some pains taken by him that will do
it; ‘therefore shall he beg in harvest,’ that is, when the saints of God
shall have their glorious heaven and happiness given to them; but the sluggard
shall ‘have nothing,’ that is, be never the better for his crying for mercy,
according to that in Matthew 25:10-12.
If
you would know a sluggard in the things of heaven, compare him with one that is
slothful in the things of this world. As, 1. He that is slothful is loth to set
about the work he should follow: so is he that is slothful for heaven. 2. He
that is slothful is one that is willing to make delays: so is he that is
slothful for heaven. 3. He that is a sluggard, any small matter that cometh in
between, he will make it a sufficient excuse to keep him off from plying his
work: so it is also with him that is slothful for heaven. 4. He that is slothful
doth his work by the halves; and so it is with him that is slothful for heaven.
He may almost, but he shall never altogether obtain perfection of deliverance
from hell; he may almost, but he shall never, without he mend, be altogether a
saint. 5. They that are slothful, do usually lose the season in which things are
to be done: and thus it is also with them that are slothful for heaven, they
miss the season of grace. And therefore, 6. They that are slothful have seldom
or never good fruit: so also it will be with the soul-sluggard. 7. They that are
slothful they are chid for the same: so also will Christ deal with those that
are not active for him. Thou wicked or slothful servant, out of thine own mouth
will I judge thee; thou saidst I was thus, and thus, wherefore then gavest not
thou my money to the bank? &c. (Luke 19:22). Take the unprofitable servant,
and cast him into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth
(Matt 25:26-30).
WHAT
SHALL I SAY? Time runs; and will you be slothful? Much of your lives are past;
and will you be slothful? Your souls are worth a thousand worlds; and will you
be slothful? The day of death and judgment is at the door; and will you be
slothful? The curse of God hangs over your heads; and will you be slothful?
Besides, the devils are earnest, laborious, and seek by all means every day, by
every sin, to keep you out of heaven, and hinder you of salvation; and will you
be slothful? Also your neighbours are diligent for things that will perish; and
will you be slothful for things that will endure for ever? Would you be willing
to be damned for slothfulness? Would you be willing the angels of God should
neglect to fetch your souls away to heaven when you lie a-dying, and the devils
stand by ready to scramble for them?[1] Was Christ slothful in the work of your
redemption? Are his ministers slothful in tendering this unto you? And, lastly,
If all this will not move, I tell you God will not be slothful or negligent to
damn you—whose damnation now of a long time slumbereth not—nor the devils
will not neglect to fetch thee, nor hell neglect to shut its mouth upon thee.
Sluggard,
art thou asleep still? art thou resolved to sleep the sleep of death? Wilt
neither tidings from heaven or hell awake thee? Wilt thou say still, ‘Yet a
little sleep, a little slumber,’ and ‘a little folding of the hands to
sleep?’ (Prov 6:10). Wilt thou yet turn thyself in thy sloth, as the door is
turned upon the hinges? O that I was one that was skilful in lamentation, and
had but a yearning heart towards thee, how would I pity thee! How would I bemoan
thee! O that I could with Jeremiah let my eyes run down with rivers of water for
thee! Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart have I that I cannot
mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a limb, a child, or a friend, it would
not be so much, but poor man it is THY SOUL; if it was to lie in hell but for a
day, but for a year, nay, ten thousand years, it would (in comparison) be
nothing. But O it is for ever! O this cutting EVER! What a soul-amazing word
will that be, which saith, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into EVERLASTING fire’!
&c.[2]
Object.
But if I should set in, and run as you would have me, then I must run from all
my friends; for none of them are running that way.
Answ.
And if thou dost, thou wilt run into the bosom of Christ and of God, and then
what harm will that do thee?
Object.
But if I run this way, then I must run from all my sins.
Answ.
That is true indeed; yet if thou dost not, thou wilt run into hell-fire.
Object.
But if I run this way, then I shall be hated, and lose the love of my friends
and relations, and of those that I expect benefit from, or have reliance on, and
I shall be mocked of all my neighbours.
Answ.
And if thou dost not, thou art sure to lose the love and favour of God and
Christ, the benefit of heaven and glory, and be mocked of God for thy folly, ‘I
also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh’; and if
thou wouldst not be hated and mocked, then take heed thou by thy folly dost not
procure the displeasure and mockings of the great God; for his mocks and hatred
will be terrible, because they will fall upon thee in terrible times, even when
tribulation and anguish taketh hold on thee; which will be when death and
judgment comes, when all the men in the earth, and all the angels in heaven,
cannot help thee (Prov 1:26-28).
Object.
But surely I may begin this time enough, a year or two hence, may I not?
Answ.
1. Hast thou any lease of thy life? Did ever God tell thee thou shalt live half
a year, or two months longer? nay, it may be thou mayst not live so long. And
therefore, 2. Wilt thou be so sottish and unwise, as to venture thy soul upon a
little uncertain time? 3. Dost thou know whether the day of grace will last a
week longer or no? For the day of grace is past with some before their life is
ended: and if it should be so with thee, wouldst thou not say, O that I had
begun to run before the day of grace had been past, and the gates of heaven shut
against me. But, 4. If thou shouldst see any of thy neighbours neglect the
making sure of either house or land to themselves, if they had it proffered to
them, saying, Time enough hereafter, when the time is uncertain; and besides,
they do not know whether ever it will be proffered to them again, or no: I say,
Wouldst thou not then call them fools? And if so, then dost thou think that thou
art a wise man to let thy immortal soul hang over hell by a thread of uncertain
time, which may soon be cut asunder by death?
But
to speak plainly, all these are the words of a slothful spirit. Arise man, be
slothful no longer; set foot, and heart, and all into the way of God, and run,
the crown is at the end of the race; there also standeth the loving fore-runner,
even Jesus, who hath prepared heavenly provision to make thy soul welcome, and
he will give it thee with a willinger heart than ever thou canst desire it of
him. O therefore do not delay the time any longer, but put into practice the
words of the men of Dan to their brethren, after they had seen the goodness of
the land of Canaan: ‘Arise,’ say they, &c., ‘for we have seen the
land, and behold it is very good; and are ye still,’ or do you forbear
running? ‘Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land’ (Judg
18:9). Farewell.
I
wish our souls may meet with comfort at the journey’s end.
JOHN
BUNYAN
‘So
run, that ye may obtain.’—1 Corinthians 9:24.
Heaven
and happiness is that which every one desireth, insomuch that wicked Balaam
could say, ‘Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like
his’ (Num 23:10). Yet for all this, there are but very few that do obtain that
ever-to-be-desired glory, insomuch that many eminent professors drop short of a
welcome from God into his pleasant place.
The
apostle, therefore, because he did desire the salvation of the souls of the
Corinthians, to whom he writes this epistle, layeth them down in these words,
such counsel, which if taken, would be for their help and advantage. First, Not
to be wicked, and sit still, and wish for heaven; but TO RUN for it. Second, Not
to content themselves with every kind of running; but, saith he, ‘So RUN, that
ye may obtain.’ As if he should say, Some, because they would not lose their
souls, they begin to run betimes (Eccl 12:1), they run apace, they run with
patience (Heb 12:1), they run the right way (Matt 14:26). Do you so run? Some
run from both father and mother, friends and companions, and thus, that they may
have the crown. Do you so run? Some run through temptations, afflictions, good
report, evil report, that they may win the pearl (1 Cor 4:13; 2 Cor 6). Do you
so run? ‘So run that ye may obtain.’
These
words, they are taken from men’s running for a wager: a very apt similitude to
set before the eyes of the saints of the Lord. ‘Know ye not that they which
run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.’
That is, do not only run, but be sure you win as well as run. ‘So run, that ye
may obtain.’
I
shall not need to make any great ado in opening the words at this time, but
shall rather lay down one doctrine that I do find in them; and in prosecuting
that, I shall show you, in some measure, the scope of the words.
The
doctrine is this: THEY THAT WILL HAVE HEAVEN, MUST RUN FOR IT; I say, they that
will have heaven, they must run for it. I beseech you to heed it well. ‘Know
ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So
run ye.’ The prize is heaven, and if you will have it, you must run for it.
You have another scripture for this in the 12th of the Hebrews, the 1st, 2d, and
3rd verses: ‘Wherefore seeing we also,’ saith the apostle, ‘are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us.’ And LET US RUN, saith he. Again, saith Paul, ‘I therefore so
run, not as uncertainly, so fight I,’ &c.
But
before I go any further, observe,
First—FLYING—That
this running is not an ordinary, or any sort of running, but it is to be
understood of the swiftest sort of running; and therefore in the 6th of the
Hebrews it is called ‘a fleeing’; that ‘we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us.’
Mark, ‘who have fled.’ It is taken from that 20th of Joshua, concerning the
man that was to flee to the city of refuge, when the avenger of blood was hard
at his heels, to take vengeance on him for the offence he had committed;
therefore it is a RUNNING or FLYING for one’s life. A running with all might
and main, as we use to say. So run!
Second—PRESSING—this
running in another place is called a pressing. ‘I press toward the mark’
(Phil 3:14); which signifieth, that they that will have heaven, they must not
stick at any difficulties they meet with; but press, crowd, and thrust through
all that may stand between heaven and their souls. So run!
Third—CONTINUING—this
running is called in another place, ‘a continuing in the way of life. If ye
continue in the faith grounded, and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel’ of Christ (Col 1:23). Not to run a little now and then, by fits
and starts, or half-way, or almost thither; but to run for my life, to run
through all difficulties, and to continue therein to the end of the race, which
must be to the end of my life. ‘So run, that ye may obtain.’
And
the reasons for this point are these,
First.
Because all or every one that runneth doth not obtain the prize; there be many
that do run, yea, and run far too, who yet miss of the crown that standeth at
the end of the race. You know that all that run in a race do not obtain the
victory; they all run, but one wins. And so it is here; it is not every one that
runneth, nor every one that seeketh, nor every one that striveth for the
mastery, that hath it (Luke 13). Though a man do strive for the mastery, saith
Paul, ‘yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully’; that is, unless he
so run, and so strive, as to have God’s approbation (2 Tim 2:5). What, do you
think that every heavy-heeled professor will have heaven? What, every lazy one;
every wanton and foolish professor, that will be stopped by anything, kept back
by anything, that scarce runneth so fast heaven-ward as a snail creepeth on the
ground? Nay, there are some professors do not go on so fast in the way of God as
a snail doth go on the wall; and yet these think, that heaven and happiness is
for them. But stay, there are many more that run than there be that obtain;
therefore he that will have heaven must RUN for it.
Second,
Because you know that though a man do run, yet if he do not overcome, or win, as
well as run, what will he be the better for his running? He will get nothing.
You know the man that runneth, he doth do it that he may win the prize; but if
he doth not obtain, he doth lose his labour, spend his pains and time, and that
to no purpose; I say, he getteth nothing. And ah! how many such runners will
there be found at the day of judgment! Even multitudes, multitudes that have
run, yea, run so far as to come to heaven gates, and not able to get any
further, but there stand knocking, when it is too late, crying, Lord, Lord, when
they have nothing but rebukes for their pains. Depart from me, you come not
here, you come too late, you run too lazily; the door is shut.[3] ‘When once
the master of the house is risen up,’ saith Christ, ‘and hath shut to the
door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,
Lord, open unto us, I will say, I know ye not, Depart,’ &c. (Luke 13:25).
O sad will the estate of those be that run and miss; therefore, if you will have
heaven, you must run for it; and ‘so run that ye may obtain.’
Third,
Because the way is long (I speak metaphorically), and there is many a dirty
step, many a high hill, much work to do, a wicked heart, world, and devil, to
overcome; I say, there are many steps to be taken by those that intend to be
saved, by running or walking, in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham.
Out of Egypt thou must go through the Red Sea; thou must run a long and tedious
journey, through the vast howling wilderness, before thou come to the land of
promise.
Fourth,
They that will go to heaven they must run for it; because, as the way is long,
so the time in which they are to get to the end of it is very uncertain; the
time present is the only time; thou hast no more time allotted thee than that
thou now enjoyest. ‘Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a
day may bring forth’ (Prov 27:1). Do not say, I have time enough to get to
heaven seven years hence; for I tell thee, the bell may toll for thee before
seven days more be ended;[4] and when death comes, away thou must go, whether
thou art provided or not; and therefore look to it; make no delays; it is not
good dallying with things of so great concernment as the salvation or damnation
of thy soul. You know he that hath a great way to go in a little time, and less
by half than he thinks of, he had need RUN for it.
Fifth,
They that will have heaven they must run for it; because the devil, the law,
sin, death, and hell, follow them. There is never a poor soul that is going to
heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, make after that soul. ‘Your
adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour’ (1 Peter 5:8). And I will assure you, the devil is nimble, he can run
apace, he is light of foot, he hath overtaken many, he hath turned up their
heels, and hath given them an everlasting fall. Also the law, that can shoot a
great way, have a care thou keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten
commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself further than
you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot, Take heed, ‘look not behind
thee, neither tarry thou in all the plain,’ that is, any where between this
and heaven, ‘lest thou be consumed’ (Gen 19:17).[5] So say I to thee, Take
heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell, death, or the fearful curses of
the law of God, do overtake thee, and throw thee down in the midst of thy sins,
so as never to rise and recover again. If this were well considered, then thou,
as well as I, wouldst say, They that will have heaven must run for it.
Sixth,
They that will go to heaven must run for it; because perchance the gates of
heaven may be shut shortly. Sometimes sinners have not heaven-gates open to them
so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a man, they are so
heavy, that all the men in the world, nor all the angels in heaven, are not able
to open them. I shut, ‘and no man openeth,’ saith Christ. And how if thou
shouldst come but one quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee, it will cost
thee an eternity to bewail thy misery in. Francis Spira can tell thee what it is
to stay till the gate of mercy be quite shut; or to run so lazily, that they be
shut before thou get within them.[6] What, to be shut out! what, out of heaven!
Sinner, rather than lose it, run for it; yea, and ‘so run that thou mayst
obtain.’
Seventh,
Lastly, Because if thou lose, thou losest all, thou losest soul, God, Christ,
heaven, ease, peace, &c. Besides, thou layest thyself open to all the shame,
contempt, and reproach, that either God, Christ, saints, the world, sin, the
devil, and all, can lay upon thee. As Christ saith of the foolish builder, so
will I say of thee, if thou be such a one who runs and missest; I say, even all
that go by will begin to mock at thee, saying, This man began to run well, but
was not able to finish (Luke 14:28-30). But more of this anon.
Quest.
But how should a poor soul do to run? For this very thing is that which
afflicteth me sore, as you say, to think that I may run, and yet fall short.
Methinks to fall short at last, O, it fears me greatly. Pray tell me, therefore,
how I should run.
Answ.
That thou mightest indeed be satisfied in this particular, consider these
following things.
The
First Direction. If thou wouldst so run as to obtain the kingdom of heaven, then
be sure that thou get into the way that leadeth thither. For it is a vain thing
to think that ever thou shalt have the prize, though thou runnest never so fast,
unless thou art in the way that leads to it. Set the case, that there should be
a man in London that was to run to York for a wager; now, though he run never so
swiftly, yet if he run full south, he might run himself quickly out of breath,
and be never the nearer the prize, but rather the further off. Just so is it
here; it is not simply the runner, nor yet the hasty runner, that winneth the
crown, unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto.[7] I have observed, that
little time which I have been a professor, that there is a great running to and
fro, some this way, and some that way, yet it is to be feared most of them are
out of the way, and then, though they run as swift as the eagle can fly, they
are benefitted nothing at all.
Here
is one runs a-quaking, another a-ranting; one again runs after the Baptism, and
another after the Independency. Here is one for free-will, and another for
Presbytery; and yet possibly most of all these sects run quite the wrong way,
and yet every one is for his life, his soul, either for heaven or hell.[8]
If
thou now say, Which is the way? I tell thee it is CHRIST, THE SON OF MARY, THE
SON OF GOD, Jesus saith, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man
cometh unto the Father but by me’ (John 14:6). So then thy business is, if
thou wouldst have salvation, to see if Christ be thine, with all his benefits;
whether he hath covered thee with his righteousness, whether he hath showed thee
that thy sins are washed away with his heart-blood, whether thou art planted
into him, and whether thou have faith in him, so as to make a life out of him,
and to conform thee to him. That is, such faith as to conclude that thou art
righteous, because Christ is thy righteousness, and so constrained to walk with
him as the joy of thy heart, because he saveth thy soul. And for the Lord’s
sake take heed, and do not deceive thyself, and think thou art in the way upon
too slight grounds; for if thou miss of the way, thou wilt miss of the prize;
and if thou miss of that, I am sure thou wilt lose thy soul, even that soul
which is worth more than the whole world.
But
I have treated more largely on this in my book of the two covenants, and
therefore shall pass it now; only I beseech thee to have a care of thy soul, and
that thou mayest so do, take this counsel: Mistrust thy own strength, and throw
it away; down on thy knees in prayer to the Lord for the spirit of truth; search
his word for direction; fly seducers’ company; keep company with the soundest
Christians, that have most experience of Christ; and be sure thou have a care of
Quakers, Ranters, Freewillers; also do not have too much company with some
Anabaptists, though I go under that name myself. I tell thee this is such a
serious matter, and I fear thou wilt so little regard it, that the thoughts of
the worth of the thing, and of thy too light regarding of it, doth even make my
heart ache whilst I am writing to thee. The Lord teach thee the way by his
Spirit, and then I am sure thou wilt know it. SO RUN.
Only
by the way, let me bid thee have a care of two things, and so I shall pass to
the next thing.
I.
Have a care of relying on the outward obedience to any of God’s commands, or
thinking thyself ever the better in the sight of God for that. 2. Take heed of
fetching peace for thy soul from any inherent righteousness; but if thou canst
believe that as thou art a sinner, so thou art justified freely by the love of
God, through the redemption that is in Christ; and that God for Christ’s sake
hath forgiven thee, not because he saw any thing done, or to be done, in or by
thee, to move him thereunto to do it; for that is the right way; the Lord put
thee into it, and keep thee in it.
The
Second Direction. As thou shouldst get into the way so thou shouldst also be
much in studying and musing on the way. You know men that would be expert in any
thing, they are usually much in studying of that thing, and so likewise is it
with those that quickly grow expert in any way. This therefore thou shouldst do;
let thy study be much exercised about Christ, which is the way; what he is, what
he hath done, and why he is what he is, and why he hath done what is done; as,
why ‘He took upon him the form of a servant,’ why he ‘was made in the
likeness of men’ (Phil 2:7). Why he cried; why he died; why he bear the sin of
the world; why he was made sin, and why he was made righteousness; why he is in
heaven in the nature of man, and what he doth there? (2 Cor 5:21). Be much in
musing and considering of these things; be thinking also enough of those places
which thou must not come near, but leave some on this hand, and some on that
hand; as it is with those that travel into other countries, they must leave such
a gate on this hand, and such a bush on that hand, and go by such a place, where
standeth such a thing. Thus, therefore, thou must do: Avoid such things which
are expressly forbidden in the Word of God. ‘Withdraw thy foot far from her,
and come not nigh the door of her house, for her steps take hold on hell, going
down to the chambers of death’ (Prov 5, 7). And so of every thing that is not
in the way, have a care of it, that thou go not by it; come not near it, have
nothing to do with it. SO RUN.
The
Third Direction. Not only thus, but, in the next place, thou must strip thyself
of those things that may hang upon thee to the hindering of thee in the way to
the kingdom of heaven, as covetousness, pride, lust, or whatever else thy heart
may be inclining unto, which may hinder thee in this heavenly race. Men that run
for a wager, if they intend to win as well as run, they do not use to encumber
themselves, or carry those things about them that may be a hindrance to them in
their running. ‘Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
things’ (1 Cor 9:25), that is, he layeth aside every thing that would be any
ways a disadvantage to him; as saith the apostle, ‘Let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us’ (Heb 12:1). It is but a vain thing to talk of
going to heaven, if thou let thy heart be encumbered with those things that
would hinder. Would you not say that such a man would be in danger of losing,
though he run, if he fill his pockets with stones, hang heavy garments on his
shoulders, and great lumpish shoes on his feet?[9] So it is here; thou talkest
of going to heaven, and yet fillest thy pocket with stones, i.e., fillest thy
heart with this world, lettest that hang on thy shoulders, with its profits and
pleasures. Alas, alas, thou art widely mistaken! If thou intendest to win, thou
must strip, thou must lay aside every weight, thou must be temperate in all
things. Thou must SO RUN.
The
Fourth Direction. Beware of by-paths; take heed thou dost not turn into those
lanes which lead out of the way. There are crooked paths, paths in which men go
astray, paths that lead to death and damnation, but take heed of all those (Isa
59:8). Some of them are dangerous because of practice (Prov 7:25); some because
of opinion, but mind them not; mind the path before thee, look right before
thee, turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but let thine eyes look
right on, even right before thee (Prov 3:17). ‘Ponder the path of thy feet,
and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left.
Remove thy foot far from evil’ (Prov 4:26,27). This counsel being not so
seriously taken as given, is the reason of that starting from opinion to
opinion, reeling this way and that way, out of this lane into that lane, and so
missing the way to the kingdom. Though the way to heaven be but one, yet there
are many crooked lanes and by-paths shoot down upon it, as I may say. And again,
notwithstanding the kingdom of heaven be the biggest city, yet usually those
by-paths are most beaten, most travellers go those ways; and therefore the way
to heaven is hard to be found, and as hard to be kept in, by reason of these.
Yet, nevertheless, it is in this case as it was with the harlot of Jericho; she
had one scarlet thread tied in her window, by which her house was known (John
2:18). So it is here, the scarlet streams of Christ’s blood run throughout the
way to the kingdom of heaven;[10] therefore mind that, see if thou do find the
besprinkling of the blood of Christ in the way, and if thou do, be of good
cheer, thou art in the right way; but have a care thou beguile not thyself with
a fancy, for then thou mayst light into any lane or way; but that thou mayst not
be mistaken, consider, though it seem never so pleasant, yet if thou do not find
that in the very middle of the road there is writing with the heart-blood of
Christ, that he came into the world to save sinners, and that we are justified,
though we are ungodly; shun that way; for this it is which the apostle meaneth
when he saith, We have ‘boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the
vail, that is to say, his flesh’ (Heb 10:19,20). How easy a matter is it in
this our day, for the devil to be too cunning for poor souls, by calling his
by-paths the way to the kingdom! If such an opinion or fancy be but cried up by
one or more, this inscription being set upon it by the devil, ‘This is the way
of God,’ how speedily, greedily, and by heaps, do poor simple souls throw away
themselves upon it; especially if it be daubed over with a few external acts of
morality, if so good.[11] But this is because men do not know painted by-paths
from the plain way to the kingdom of heaven. They have not yet learned the true
Christ, and what his righteousness is, neither have they a sense of their own
insufficiency; but are bold, proud, presumptuous, self-conceited. And therefore.
The
Fifth Direction. Do not thou be too much in looking too high in thy journey
heavenwards. You know men that run in a race do not use to stare and gaze this
way and that, neither do they use to cast up their eyes too high, lest
happily,[12] through their too too much gazing with their eyes after other
things, they in the meantime stumble and catch a fall. The very same case is
this; if thou gaze and stare after every opinion and way that comes into the
world; also if thou be prying overmuch into God’s secret decrees, or let thy
heart too much entertain questions about some nice foolish curiosities, thou
mayst stumble and fall, as many hundreds in England have done, both in Ranting
and Quakery, to their own eternal overthrow; without the marvellous operation of
God’s grace be suddenly stretched forth to bring them back again. Take heed
therefore, follow not that proud and lofty spirit, that, devil-like, cannot be
content with his own station. David was of an excellent spirit where he saith,
‘Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise
myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and
quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a
weaned child’ (Psa 131:1,2). Do thou SO RUN.
The
Sixth Direction. Take heed that you have not an ear open to every one that
calleth after you as you are in your journey. Men that run, you know, if any do
call after them, saying, I would speak with you, or go not too fast, and you
shall have my company with you, if they run for some great matter, they use to
say, Alas, I cannot stay, I am in haste, pray talk not to me now; neither can I
stay for you, I am running for a wager: if I win I am made, if I lose I am
undone, and therefore hinder me not. Thus wise are men when they run for
corruptible things, and thus should thou do, and thou hast more cause to do so
than they, forasmuch as they run but for things that last not, but thou for an
incorruptible glory. I give thee notice of this betimes, knowing that thou shalt
have enough call after thee, even the devil, sin, this world, vain company,
pleasures, profits, esteem among men, ease, pomp, pride, together with an
innumerable company of such companions; one crying, Stay for me; the other
saying, Do not leave me behind; a third saying, And take me along with you.
What, will you go, saith the devil, without your sins, pleasures, and profits?
Are you so hasty? Can you not stay and take these along with you? Will you leave
your friends and companions behind you? Can you not do as your neighbours do,
carry the world, sin, lust, pleasure, profit, esteem among men, along with you?
Have a care thou do not let thine ear now be open to the tempting, enticing,
alluring, and soul-entangling flatteries of such sink-souls[13] as these are.
‘My son,’ saith Solomon, ‘if sinners entice thee, consent thou not’ (Prov
1:10).
You
know what it cost the young man which Solomon speaks of in the 7th of the
Proverbs, that was enticed by a harlot, ‘With her much fair speech she’ won
him, and ‘caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him,’
till he went after her ‘as an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the
correction of the stocks’; even so far, ‘till the dart struck through his
liver, and knew not that it was for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore,’
saith he, ‘O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth, let not thine
heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down
many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her,’ that is, kept out
of heaven by her, ‘her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of
death.’ Soul, take this counsel and say, Satan, sin, lust, pleasure, profit,
pride, friends, companions, and everything else, let me alone, stand off, come
not nigh me, for I am running for heaven, for my soul, for God, for Christ, from
hell and everlasting damnation: if I win, I win all, and if I lose, I lose all;
let me alone, for I will not hear. SO RUN.
The
Seventh Direction. In the next place, be not daunted though thou meetest with
never so many discouragements in thy journey thither. That man that is resolved
for heaven, if Satan cannot win him by flatteries, he will endeavour to weaken
him by discouragements; saying, thou art a sinner, thou hast broke God’s law,
thou art not elected, thou comest too late, the day of grace is past, God doth
not care for thee, thy heart is naught, thou art lazy, with a hundred other
discouraging suggestions. And thus it was with David, where he said, ‘I had
fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of
the living’ (Psa 27:13,14). As if he should say, the devil did so rage and my
heart was so base, that had I judged according to my own sense and feeling, I
had been absolutely distracted; but I trusted to Christ in the promise, and
looked that God would be as good as his promise, in having mercy upon me, an
unworthy sinner; and this is that which encouraged me, and kept me from
fainting. And thus must thou do when Satan, or the law, or thy own conscience,
do go about to dishearten thee, either by the greatness of thy sins, the
wickedness of thy heart, the tediousness of the way, the loss of outward
enjoyments, the hatred that thou wilt procure from the world, or the like; then
thou must encourage thyself with the freeness of the promises, the
tender-heartedness of Christ, the merits of his blood, the freeness of his
invitations to come in, the greatness of the sin of others that have been
pardoned, and that the same God, through the same Christ, holdeth forth the same
grace free as ever. If these be not thy meditations, thou wilt draw very heavily
in the way to heaven, if thou do not give up all for lost, and so knock off from
following any farther; therefore, I say, take heart in thy journey, and say to
them that seek thy destruction, ‘Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I
fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me’
(Micah 7:8). SO RUN.
The
Eighth Direction. Take heed of being offended at the cross that thou must go by,
before thou come to heaven. You must understand, as I have already touched, that
there is no man that goeth to heaven but he must go by the cross. The cross is
the standing way-mark by which all they that go to glory must pass by. ‘We
must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22). ‘Yea,
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2 Tim
3:12). If thou art in the way to the kingdom, my life for thine thou wilt come
at the cross shortly—the Lord grant thou dost not shrink at it, so as to turn
thee back again. ‘If any man will come after me,’ saith Christ, ‘let him
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me’ (Luke 9:23). The
cross it stands, and hath stood, from the beginning, as a way-mark to the
kingdom of heaven.[14] You know if one ask you the way to such and such a place,
you, for the better direction, do not only say, this is the way, but then also
say, you must go by such a gate, by such a style, such a bush, tree, bridge, or
such like. Why, so it is here; art thou inquiring the way to heaven? Why, I tell
thee, Christ is the way; into him thou must get, into his righteousness, to be
justified; and if thou art in him, thou wilt presently see the cross, thou must
go close by it, thou must touch it, nay, thou must take it up, or else thou wilt
quickly go out of the way that leads to heaven, and turn up some of those
crooked lanes that lead down to the chambers of death.
How
thou mayest know the cross by these six things. 1. It is known in the doctrine
of justification. 2. In the doctrine of mortification. 3. In the doctrine of
perseverance. 4. In self-denial. 5. Patience. 6. Communion with poor saints.
1.
In the doctrine of justification; there is a great deal of the cross in that: a
man is forced to suffer the destruction of his own righteousness for the
righteousness of another. This is no easy matter for a man to do; I assure to
you it stretcheth every vein in his heart before he will be brought to yield to
it. What, for a man to deny, reject, abhor, and throw away all his prayers,
tears, alms, keeping of sabbaths, hearing, reading, with the rest, in the point
of justification, and to count them accursed;[15] and to be willing, in the very
midst of the sense of his sins, to throw himself wholly upon the righteousness
and obedience of another man, abhorring his own, counting it as deadly sin, as
the open breach of the law; I say, to do this in deed and in truth, is the
biggest piece of the cross; and therefore Paul calleth this very thing a
suffering; where he saith, ‘And I have SUFFERED the loss of all things,’
which principally was his righteousness, ‘that I might win Christ, and be
found in him, not having,’ but rejecting, ‘mine own righteousness’ (Phil
3:8,9). That is the first.
2.
In the doctrine of mortification is also much of the cross. Is it nothing for a
man to lay hands on his vile opinions, on his vile sins, of his bosom sins, of
his beloved, pleasant, darling sins, that stick as close to him, as the flesh
sticketh to the bones? What, to lose all these brave things that my eyes behold,
for that which I never saw with my eyes? What, to lose my pride, my
covetousness, my vain company, sports, and pleasures, and the rest? I tell you
this is no easy matter; if it were, what need all those prayers, sighs,
watchings? What need we be so backward to it? Nay, do you not see, that some
men, before they will set about this work, they will even venture the loss of
their souls, heaven, God, Christ, and all? What means else all those delays and
put-offs, saying, Stay a little longer, I am loth to leave my sins while I am so
young, and in health? Again, what is the reason else, that others do it so by
the halves, coldly and seldom, notwithstanding they are convinced over and over;
nay, and also promise to amend, and yet all’s in vain? I will assure you, to
cut off right hands, and to pluck out right eyes, is no pleasure to the flesh.
3.
The doctrine of perseverance is also cross to the flesh; which is not only to
begin, but for to hold out, not only to bid fair, and to say, Would I had
heaven, but so to know Christ, to put on Christ, and walk with Christ as to come
to heaven. Indeed, it is no great matter to begin to look for heaven, to begin
to seek the Lord, to begin to shun sin. O but it is a very great matter to
continue with God’s approbation! ‘My servant Caleb,’ saith God, is a man
of ‘another spirit, he hath followed me,’ followed me always, he hath
continually followed me, ‘fully, he shall possess the land’ (Num 14:24).
Almost all the many thousands of the children of Israel in their generation,
fell short of perseverance when they walked from Egypt towards the land of
Canaan. Indeed they went to the work at first pretty willingly, but they were
very short-winded, they were quickly out of breath, and in their hearts they
turned back again into Egypt.
It
is an easy matter for a man to run hard for a spurt, for a furlong, for a mile
or two; O, but to hold out for a hundred, for a thousand, for ten thousand
miles: that man that doth this, he must look to meet with cross, pain, and
wearisomeness to the flesh, especially if as he goeth he meeteth with briars and
quagmires, and other incumbrances, that make his journey so much the more
painfuller.
Nay,
do you not see with your eyes daily, that perseverance is a very great part of
the cross? why else do men so soon grow weary? I could point out a many, that
after they have followed the ways of God about a twelvemonth, others it may be
two, three, or four, some more, and some less years, they have been beat out of
wind, have taken up their lodging and rest before they have got half-way to
heaven, some in this, and some in that sin; and have secretly, nay, sometimes
openly said, that the way is too strait, the race too long, the religion too
holy, and cannot hold out, I can go no farther.
4,
5, 6. And so likewise of the other three, to wit, patience, self-denial,
communion, and communication with and to the poor saints. How hard are these
things? It is an easy matter to deny another man, but it is not so easy a matter
to deny one’s self; to deny myself out of love to God, to his gospel, to his
saints, of this advantage, and of that gain; nay, of that which otherwise I
might lawfully do, were it not for offending them. That scripture is but seldom
read, and seldomer put in practice, which saith, ‘I will eat no flesh while
the world standeth, if it make my brother to offend’ (1 Cor 8:13). Again, ‘We
that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please
ourselves’ (Rom 15:1). But how froward, how hasty, how peevish, and
self-resolved are the generality of professors at this day! Also, how little
considering the poor, unless it be to say, Be thou warmed and filled! But to
give is a seldom work; also especially to give to any poor (Gal 6:10). I tell
you all things are cross to flesh and blood; and that man that hath but a
watchful eye over the flesh, and also some considerable measure of strength
against it, he shall find his heart in these things like unto a starting horse,
that is rid without a curbing bridle, ready to start at everything that is
offensive to him; yea, and ready to run away too, do what the rider can.
It
is the cross which keepeth those that are kept from heaven. I am persuaded, were
it not for the cross, where we have one professor, we should have twenty; but
this cross, that is it which spoileth all.
Some
men, as I said before, when they come at the cross they can go no farther, but
back again to their sins they must go. Others they stumble at it, and break
their necks; others again, when they see the cross is approaching, they turn
aside to the left hand, or to the right hand, and so think to get to heaven
another way; but they will be deceived. ‘Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus SHALL,’ mark, shall be sure to ‘suffer persecution’ (2 Tim
3:12). There are but few when they come at the cross, cry, ‘Welcome cross,’
as some of the martyrs did to the stake they were burned at. Therefore, if thou
meet with the cross in thy journey, in what manner soever it be, be not daunted,
and say, Alas, what shall I do now! But rather take courage, knowing, that by
the cross is the way to the kingdom. Can a man believe in Christ and not be
hated by the devil? Can he make a profession of this Christ, and that sweetly
and convincingly, and the children of Satan hold their tongue? Can darkness
agree with light? or the devil endure that Christ Jesus should be honoured both
by faith and a heavenly conversation, and let that soul alone at quiet? Did you
never read, that ‘the dragon persecuteth the woman?’ (Rev 12). And that
Christ saith, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation’ (John 16:33).
The
Ninth Direction. Beg of God that he would do these two things for thee: First,
Enlighten thine understanding. And, Second, Inflame thy will. If these two be
but effectually done, there is no fear but thou wilt go safe to heaven.
[First,
Enlighten thine understanding.] One of the great reasons why men and women do so
little regard the other world, it is because they see so little of it.[16] And
the reason why they see so little of it is because they have their
understandings darkened. And therefore, saith Paul, do not you believers ‘walk
as do other Gentiles, even in the vanity of their minds, having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance,’ or foolishness ‘that is in them, because of the blindness of
their heart’ (Eph 4:17,18). Walk not as those, run not with them: alas, poor
souls, they have their understandings darkened, their hearts blinded, and that
is the reason they have such undervaluing thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the salvation of their souls. For when men do come to see the things of another
world, what a God, what a Christ, what a heaven, and what an eternal glory there
is to be enjoyed; also when they see that it is possible for them to have a
share in it, I tell you it will make them run through thick and thin to enjoy
it. Moses, having a sight of this, because his understanding was enlightened, he
feared not the wrath of the king, but chose ‘rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.’ He
refused to be called the son of the king’s daughter; accounting it wonderful
riches to be counted worthy of so much as to suffer for Christ, with the poor
despised saints; and that was because he saw him who was invisible, and ‘had
respect unto the recompence of the reward’ (Heb 11:24-27). And this is that
which the apostle usually prayeth for in his epistles for the saints, namely,
‘That they might know what is the hope of God’s calling, and the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints’ (Eph 1:18). And that they might
‘be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge’
(Eph 3:18,19). Pray therefore that God would enlighten thy understanding: that
will be very great help unto thee. It will make thee endure many a hard brunt
for Christ; as Paul saith, ‘After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great
fight of afflictions. You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in
yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance’ (Heb
10:32-34). If there be never such a rare jewel lie just in a man’s way, yet if
he sees it not, he will rather trample upon it than stoop for it, and it is
because he sees it not. Why, so it is here, though heaven be worth never so
much, and thou hast never so much need of it, yet if thou see it not, that is,
have not thy understanding opened or enlightened to see it, thou wilt not regard
at all: therefore cry to the Lord for enlightening grace, and say, Lord, open my
blind eyes: Lord, take the vail off my dark heart, show me the things of the
other world, and let me see the sweetness, glory, and excellency of them for
Christ his sake. This is the first.
[Second,
Inflame thy will.] Cry to God that he would inflame thy will also with the
things of the other world. For when a man’s will is fully set to do such or
such a thing, then it must be a very hard matter that shall hinder that man from
bringing about his end. When Paul’s will was set resolvedly to go up to
Jerusalem, though it was signified to him before what he should there suffer, he
was not daunted at all; nay, saith he, ‘I am ready,’ or willing, ‘not to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus’
(Acts 21:13). His will was inflamed with love to Christ; and therefore all the
persuasions that could be used wrought nothing at all. Your self-willed people
nobody knows what to do with them; we used to say, He will have his own will, do
all what you can. Indeed to have such a will for heaven, is an admirable
advantage to a man that undertaketh the race thither; a man that is resolved,
and hath his will fixed, saith he, I will do my best to advantage myself; I will
do my worst to hinder my enemies; I will not give out as long as I can stand; I
will have it or I will lose my life; ‘though he slay me yet will I trust in
him’ (Job 13:15). ‘I will not let thee go except thou bless me’ (Gen
32:26). I WILL, I WILL, I WILL, O this blessed inflamed will for heaven! What is
like it? If a man be willing, then any argument shall be matter of
encouragement; but if unwilling, then any argument shall give discouragement;
this is seen both in saints and sinners; in them that are the children of God,
and also those that are the children of the devil. As,
1.
The saints of old, they being willing and resolved for heaven, what could stop
them? Could fire or faggot, sword or halter, stinking dungeons, whips, bears,
bulls, lions, cruel rackings, stoning, starving, nakedness, &c. (Heb 11).
‘Nay, in all these things they were more than conquerors, through him that
loved them’ (Rom 8:37); who had also made them ‘willing in the day of his
power.’
2.
See again, on the other side, the children of the devil, because they are not
willing [to run to heaven], how many shifts and starting-holes they will have. I
have married a wife, I have a farm, I shall offend my landlord, I shall offend
my master, I shall lose my trading, I shall lose my pride, my pleasures, I shall
be mocked and scoffed, therefore I dare not come. I, saith another, will stay
till I am older, till my children are out of sight, till I am got a little
aforehand in the world, till I have done this and that, and the other business;
but alas, the thing is, they are not willing; for were they but soundly willing,
these, and a thousand such as these, would hold them no faster than the cords
held Samson when he broke them like burned flax (Judg 15:14). I tell you the
will is all: that is one of the chief things which turns the wheel either
backwards or forwards; and God knoweth that full well, and so likewise doth the
devil; and therefore they both endeavour very much to strengthen the will of
their servants. God, he is for making of his a willing people to serve him; and
the devil, he doth what he can to possess the will and affection of those that
are his, with love to sin; and therefore when Christ comes close to the matter,
indeed, saith he, ‘Ye will not come to me’ (John 5:40). ‘How often would I
have gathered you as a hen doth her chickens, and ye would not’ (Luke 13:34).
The devil had possessed their wills, and so long he was sure enough of them. O
therefore cry hard to God to inflame thy will for heaven and Christ: thy will, I
say, if that be rightly set for heaven, thou wilt not be beat off with
discouragements; and this was the reason that, when Jacob wrestled with the
angel, though he lost a limb, as it were, and the hollow of his thigh was put
out of joint, as he wrestled with him, yet, saith he, ‘I will not,’ mark,
‘I WILL NOT let thee go except thou bless me’ (Gen 32:24-26). Get thy will
tipt with the heavenly grace, and resolution against all discouragements, and
then thou goest full speed for heaven; but if thou falter in thy will, and be
not found there, thou wilt run hobbling and halting all the way thou runnest,
and also to be sure thou wilt fall short at the last. The Lord give thee a will
and courage!
Thus
have I done with directing thee how to run to the kingdom; be sure thou keep in
memory what I have said unto thee, lest thou lose thy way. But because I would
have thee think of them, take all in short in this little bit of paper.
1.
Get into the way. 2. Then study on it. 3. Then strip, and lay aside everything
that would hinder. 4. Beware of bye-paths. 5. Do not gaze and stare too much
about thee, and be sure to ponder the path of thy feet. 6. Do not stop for any
that call after thee, whether it be the world, the flesh, or the devil; for all
these will hinder thy journey, if possible. 7. Be not daunted with any
discouragements thou meetest with as thou goest. 8. Take heed of stumbling at
the cross. 9. Cry hard to God for an enlightened heart, and a willing mind, and
God give thee a prosperous journey. Yet before I do quite take my leave of thee,
let me give thee a few motives along with thee. It may be they will be as good
as a pair of spurs to prick on thy lumpish heart in this rich voyage.[17]
The
First Motive. Consider there is no way but this, thou must either win or lose.
If thou winnest, then heaven, God, Christ, glory, ease, peace, life, yea, life
eternal, is thine; thou must be made equal to the angels in heaven; thou shalt
sorrow no more, sigh no more, feel no more pain; thou shalt be out of the reach
of sin, hell, death, the devil, the grave, and whatever else may endeavour thy
hurt. But contrariwise, and if thou lose, then thy loss is heaven, glory, God,
Christ, ease, peace, and whatever else which tendeth to make eternity
comfortable to the saints; besides, thou procurest eternal death, sorrow, pain,
blackness, and darkness, fellowship with devils, together with the everlasting
damnation of thy own soul.
The
Second Motive. Consider that this devil, this hell, death and damnation,
followeth after thee as hard as they can drive, and have their commission so to
do by the law, against which thou hast sinned; and therefore for the Lord’s
sake make haste.
The
Third Motive. If they seize upon thee before thou get to the city of Refuge,
they will put an everlasting stop to thy journey. This also cries, Run for it.
The
Fourth Motive. Know also, that now heaven gates, the heart of Christ, with his
arms, are wide open to receive thee. O methinks that this consideration, that
the devil followeth after to destroy, and that Christ standeth open-armed to
receive, should make thee reach out and fly with all haste and speed! And
therefore,
The
Fifth Motive. Keep thine eye upon the prize; be sure that thy eyes be
continually upon the profit thou art like to get. The reason why men are so apt
to faint in their race for heaven, it lieth chiefly in either of these two
things:
1.
They do not seriously consider the worth of the prize; or else if they do, they
are afraid it is too good for them; but most lose heaven for want of considering
the price and the worth of it. And therefore, that thou mayst not do the like,
keep thine eye much upon the excellency, the sweetness, the beauty, the comfort,
the peace, that is to be had there by those that win the prize. This was that
which made the apostle run through anything; good report, evil report,
persecution, affliction, hunger, nakedness, peril by sea, and peril by land,
bonds and imprisonments. Also it made others endure to be stoned, sawn asunder,
to have their eyes bored out with augurs, their bodies broiled on gridirons,
their tongues cut out of their mouths, boiled in cauldrons, thrown to the wild
beasts, burned at the stakes, whipped at posts, and a thousand other fearful
torments, ‘while they looked not at the things which are seen,’ as the
things of this world, ‘but at the things which are not seen; for the things
which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal’ (2
Cor 4:18). O this word ‘eternal,’ that was it that made them, that when they
might have had deliverance, they would not accept of it; for they knew in the
world to come they should have a better resurrection (Heb 11:35).
2.
And do not let the thoughts of the rareness of the place make thee say in thy
heart, This is too good for me; for I tell thee, heaven is prepared for
whosoever will accept of it, and they shall be entertained with hearty good
welcome. Consider, therefore, that as bad as thou have got thither; thither went
scrubbed,[18] beggarly Lazarus, &c. Nay, it is prepared for the poor: ‘Hearken,
my beloved brethren,’ saith James, take notice of it, ‘Hath not God chosen
the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?’ (James 2:5).
Therefore take heart and RUN, man. And,
The
Sixth Motive. Think much of them that are gone before. First, How really they
got into the kingdom. Secondly, How safe they are in the arms of Jesus; would
they be here again for a thousand worlds? Or if they were, would they be afraid
that God would not make them welcome? Thirdly, What would they judge of thee if
they knew thy heart began to fail thee in thy journey, or thy sins began to
allure thee, and to persuade thee to stop thy race? would they not call thee a
thousand fools? and say, O, that he did but see what we see, feel what we feel,
and taste of the dainties that we taste of! O, if he were here one quarter of an
hour, to behold, to see, to feel, to taste and enjoy but the thousandth part of
what we enjoy, what would he do? What would he suffer? What would he leave
undone? Would he favour sin? Would he love this world below? Would he be afraid
of friends, or shrink at the most fearful threatenings that the greatest tyrants
could invent to give him? Nay, those who have had but a sight of these things by
faith, when they have been as far off from them as heaven from earth, yet they
have been able to say with a comfortable and merry heart, as the bird that sings
in the spring, that this and more shall not keep them from running to heaven.
Sometimes, when my base heart hath been inclining to this world, and to loiter
in my journey towards heaven, the very consideration of the glorious saints and
angels in heaven, what they enjoy, and what low thoughts they have of the things
of this world together, how they would befool me if they did but know that my
heart was drawing back; [this] hath caused me to rush forward, to disdain these
poor, low, empty, beggarly things, and to say to my soul, Come, soul, let us not
be weary; let us see what this heaven is; let us even venture all for it, and
try if that will quit the cost. Surely Abraham, David, Paul, and the rest of the
saints of God, were as wise as any are now, and yet they lost all for this
glorious kingdom. O! therefore, throw away stinking lusts, follow after
righteousness, love the Lord Jesus, devote thyself unto his fear, I’ll warrant
thee he will give thee a goodly recompense. Reader, what sayst thou to this? Art
[thou] resolved to follow me? Nay, resolve if thou canst to get before me. ‘So
run, that ye may obtain.’
The
Seventh Motive. To encourage thee a little farther, set to the work, and when
thou hast run thyself down weary, then the Lord Jesus will take thee up, and
carry thee. Is not this enough to make any poor soul begin his race? Thou,
perhaps, criest, O but I am feeble, I am lame, &c.: well, but Christ hath a
bosom; consider, therefore, when thou hast run thyself down weary, he will put
thee in his bosom: ‘He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in
his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young’ (Isa 40:11). This
is the way that fathers take to encourage their children, saying: Run, sweet
babe, while thou art weary, and then I will take thee up and carry thee. ‘He
will gather his lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.’ When they
are weary they shall ride.[19]
The
Eighth Motive. Or else he will convey new strength from heaven into thy soul,
which will be as well—’The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be
weary, they shall walk and not faint’ (Isa 40:30,31). What shall I say besides
what hath already been said? Thou shalt have good and easy lodging, good and
wholesome diet, the bosom of Christ to lie in, the joys of heaven to feed on.
Shall I speak of the satiety and of the duration of all these? Verily to
describe them to the height it is a work too hard for me to do.[20]
The
Ninth Motive. Again methinks the very industry of the devil, and the industry of
his servants, &c., should make you that have a desire to heaven and
happiness to run apace. Why, the devil, he will lose no time, spare no pains,
also neither will his servants, both to seek the destruction of themselves and
others: and shall not we be as industrious for our own salvation? Shall the
world venture the damnation of their souls for a poor corruptible crown; and
shall not we venture the loss of a few trifles for an eternal crown? Shall they
venture the loss of eternal friends, as God to love, Christ to redeem, the Holy
Spirit to comfort, heaven for habitation, saints and angels for company, and all
this to get and hold communion with sin, and this world, and a few base,
drunken, swearing, lying, covetous wretches, like themselves? And shall not we
labour as hard, run as fast, seek as diligently, nay, a hundred times more
diligently, for the company of these glorious eternal friends, though with the
loss of such as these, nay, with the loss of ten thousand times better than
these poor, low, base, contemptible things? Shall it be said at the last day,
that wicked men made more haste to hell than you did make to heaven?[21] That
they spent more hours, days, and that early and late, for hell, than you spent
for that which is ten thousand thousand of thousands times better? O let it not
be so, but run with all might and main.
Thus
you see I have here spoken something, though but little. Now I shall come to
make some use and application of what hath been said, and so conclude.
The
first use. You see here, that he that will go to heaven, he must run for it;
yea, and not only run, but so run, that is, as I have said, to run earnestly, to
run continually, to strip off every thing that would hinder in his race with the
rest. Well then, do you so run? And now let us examine a little.
1.
Art thou got into the right way? Art thou in Christ’s righteousness? Do not
say yes in thy heart, when in truth there is no such matter. It is a dangerous
thing, you know, for a man to think he is in the right way, when he is in the
wrong. It is the next way for him to lose his way, and not only so, but if he
run for heaven, as thou sayst thou dost, even to lose that too. O this is the
misery of most men, to persuade themselves that they run right, when they never
had one foot in the way! The Lord give thee understanding here, or else thou art
undone for ever. Prithee, soul, search when was it thou turned out of thy sins
and righteousness into the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I say, dost thou see
thyself in him? and is he more precious to thee than the whole world? Is thy
mind always musing on him? Dost thou love to be talking of him—and also to be
walking with him? Dost thou count his company more precious than the whole
world? Dost thou count all things but poor, lifeless, empty, vain things,
without communion with him? Doth his company sweeten all things—and his
absence embitter all things? Soul, I beseech thee, be serious, and lay it to
heart, and do not take things of such weighty concernment as the salvation or
damnation of thy soul, without good ground.
2.
Art thou unladen of the things of this world, as pride, pleasures, profits,
lusts, vanities? What! dost thou think to run fast enough with the world, thy
sins and lusts in thy heart? I tell thee, soul, they that have laid all aside,
every weight, every sin, and are got into the nimblest posture, they find work
enough to run; so to run as to hold out. To run through all that opposition, all
these jostles, all these rubs, over all these stumbling-blocks, over all the
snares from all these entanglements, that the devil, sin, the world, and their
own hearts, lay before them; I tell thee, if thou art agoing heavenward, thou
wilt find it no small or easy matter. Art thou therefore discharged and unladen
of these things? Never talk of going to heaven if thou art not. It is to be
feared thou wilt be found among the many that ‘will seek to enter in, and
shall not be able’ (Luke 13:24).
The
second use. If so, then, in the next place, what will become of them that are
grown weary before they are got half way thither? Why, man, it is he that
holdeth out to the end that must be saved; it is he that overcometh that shall
inherit all things; it is not every one that begins. Agrippa gave a fair step
for a sudden, he steps almost into the bosom of Christ in less than half an
hour. Thou, saith he to Paul, hast ‘almost persuaded me to be a Christian’
(Acts 26:26). Ah! but it was but almost; and so he had as good have been never a
whit; he stept fair indeed, but yet he stept short; he was hot while he was at
it, but he was quickly out of wind. O this but almost! I tell you, this but
almost, it lost his soul. Methinks I have seen sometimes how these poor wretches
that get but almost to heaven, how fearfully their almost, and their but almost,
will torment them in hell; when they shall cry out in the bitterness of their
souls, saying, I was almost a Christian. I was almost got into the kingdom,
almost out of the hands of the devil, almost out of my sins, almost from under
the curse of God; almost, and that was all; almost, but not altogether. O that I
should be almost at heaven, and should not go quite through! Friend, it is a sad
thing to sit down before we are in heaven, and to grow weary before we come to
the place of rest; and if it should be thy case, I am sure thou dost not so run
as to obtain. But again,
The
third use. In the next place, What then will become of them that some time since
were running post-haste to heaven, insomuch that they seemed to outstrip many,
but now are running as fast back again? Do you think those will ever come
thither? What, to run back again, back again to sin, to the world, to the devil,
back again to the lusts of the flesh? O! ‘It had been better for them not to
have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn,’
to turn back again, ‘from the holy commandment’ (2 Peter 2:22). Those men
shall not only be damned for sin, but for professing to all the world that sin
is better than Christ; for the man that runs back again, he doth as good as say,
‘I have tried Christ, and I have tried sin, and I do not find so much profit
in Christ as in sin.’[22] I say, this man declareth this, even by his running
back again. O sad! what a doom they will have, who were almost at heaven-gates,
and then run back again. ‘If any draw back,’ saith Christ [by his apostle],
‘my soul shall have no pleasure in him’ (Heb 10:38). Again, ‘No man having
put his hand to the plough,’ that is, set forward, in the ways of God, ‘and
looking back,’ turning back again, ‘is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke
9:62). And if not fit for the kingdom of heaven, then for certain he must needs
be fit for the fire of hell. And therefore, saith the apostle, those that ‘bring
forth’ these apostatizing fruits, as ‘briars and thorns, are rejected, and
nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned’ (Heb 6:8). O there is never
another Christ to save them by bleeding and dying for them! And if they shall
not escape that neglect, then how shall they escape that reject and turn their
back upon ‘so great a salvation?’ (Heb 2:3). And if the righteous, that is,
they that run for it, will find work enough to get to heaven, ‘then where will
the ungodly’ backsliding ‘sinner appear?’ or if Judas the traitor, or
Francis Spira the backslider, were but now alive in the world to whisper these
men in the ear a little, and tell them what it hath cost their souls for
backsliding, surely it would stick by them and make them afraid of running back
again, so long as they had one day to live in this world.
The
fourth use. So again, fourthly, how unlike to these men’s passions[23] will
those be that have all this while sat still, and have not so much as set one
foot forward to the kingdom of heaven. Surely he that backslideth, and he that
sitteth still in sin, they are both of one mind; the one he will not stir,
because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world; the other he runs back
again, because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world: is it not one
and the same thing? They are all one here, and shall not one and the same hell
hold them hereafter! He is an ungodly one that never looked after Christ, and he
is an ungodly one that did once look after him and then ran quite back again;
and therefore that word must certainly drop out of the mouth of Christ against
them both, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels’ (Matt 25:41).
The
fifth use. Again, here you may see, in the next place, that is, they that will
have heaven must run for it; then this calls aloud to those who began but a
while since to run, I say, for them to mend their pace if they intend to win;
you know that they which come hindmost, had need run fastest. Friend, I tell
thee, there be those that have run ten years to thy one, nay, twenty to thy
five, and yet if thou talk with them, sometimes they will say they doubt they
shall come late enough. How then will it be with thee? Look to it therefore that
thou delay no time, not an hour’s time, but speedily part with all, with
everything that is an hindrance to thee in thy journey, and run; yea, and so run
that thou mayest obtain.
The
sixth use. Again, sixthly, You that are old professors, take you heed that the
young striplings of Jesus, that began to strip but the other day, do not outrun
you, so as to have that scripture fulfilled on you, ‘The first shall be last,
and the last first’; which will be a shame to you, and a credit for them.
What, for a young soldier to be more courageous than he that hath been used to
wars! To you that are hindmost, I say, strive to outrun them that are before
you; and you that are foremost, I say, hold your ground, and keep before them in
faith and love, if possible; for indeed that is the right running, for one to
strive to outrun another; even for the hindmost to endeavour to overtake the
foremost, and he that is before should be sure to lay out himself to keep his
ground, even to the very utmost. But then,
The
seventh use. Again, How basely do they behave themselves, how unlike are they to
win, that think it enough to keep company with the hindmost? There are some men
that profess themselves such as run for heaven as well as any; yet if there be
but any lazy, slothful, cold, half-hearted professors in the country, they will
be sure to take example by them; they think if they can but keep pace with them
they shall do fair; but these do not consider that the hindmost lose the prize.
You may know it, if you will, that it cost the foolish virgins dear for their
coming too late—’They that were ready went in with him, and the door was
shut. Afterward,’ mark, ‘afterward came the other,’ the foolish, ‘virgins,
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; but he answered, and said,’ Depart, ‘I know
you not’ (Matt 25:10-12). Depart, lazy professors, cold professors, slothful
professors. O! methinks the Word of God is so plain for the overthrow of you
lazy professors, that it is to be wondered men do take no more notice of it. How
was Lot’s wife served for running lazily, and for giving but one look behind
her, after the things she left in Sodom? How was Esau served for staying too
long before he came for the blessing? And how were they served that are
mentioned in the 13th of Luke, ‘for staying till the door was shut?’ Also
the foolish virgins; a heavy after-groan will they give that have thus staid too
long. It turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26). It made Esau
weep with an exceeding loud and bitter cry (Heb 12:17). It made Judas hang
himself: yea, and it will make thee curse the day in which thou wast born, if
thou miss of the kingdom, as thou wilt certainly do, if this be thy course. But,
The
eighth use. Again, How, and if thou by thy lazy running shouldst not only
destroy thyself, but also thereby be the cause of the damnation of some others,
for thou being a professor thou must think that others will take notice of thee;
and because thou art but a poor, cold, lazy runner, and one that seeks to drive
the world and pleasure along with thee: why, thereby others will think of doing
so too. Nay, say they, why may not we as well as he? He is a professor, and yet
he seeks for pleasures, riches, profits; he loveth vain company, and he is
proud, and he is so and so, and professeth that he is going for heaven; yea, and
he saith also he doth not fear but he shall have entertainment; let us therefore
keep pace with him, we shall fare no worse than he. O how fearful a thing will
it be, if that thou shalt be instrumental of the ruin of others by thy halting
in the way of righteousness! Look to it, thou wilt have strength little enough
to appear before God, to give an account of the loss of thy own soul; thou
needest not have to give an account for others; why, thou didst stop them from
entering in. How wilt thou answer that saying, You would not enter in
yourselves, and them that would you hinder; for that saying will be eminently
fulfilled on them that through their own idleness do keep themselves out of
heaven, and by giving of others the same example, hinder them also.
The
ninth use. Therefore, now to speak a word to both of you, and so I shall
conclude.
1.
I beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that none of you do run so
lazily in the way to heaven as to hinder either yourselves or others. I know
that even he which runs laziest, if he should see a man running for a temporal
life, if he should so much neglect his own well-being in this world as to
venture, when he is a-running for his life, to pick up here and there a lock of
wool that hangeth by the way-side, or to step now and then aside out of the way
for to gather up a straw or two, or any rotten stick, I say, if he should do
this when he is a-running for his life, thou wouldst condemn him; and dost thou
not condemn thyself that dost the very same in effect, nay worse, that loiterest
in thy race, notwithstanding thy soul, heaven, glory, and all is at stake. Have
a care, have a care, poor wretched sinner, have a care.
2.
If yet there shall be any that, notwithstanding this advice, will still be
flaggering and loitering in the way to the kingdom of glory, be thou so wise as
not to take example by them. Learn of no man further than he followeth Christ.
But look unto Jesus, who is not only ‘the author and finisher of faith,’ but
who did, ‘for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God’ (Heb 12:2). I say,
look to no man to learn of him no further than he followeth Christ. ‘Be ye
followers of me,’ saith Paul, ‘even as I also am of Christ’ (1 Cor 11:1).
Though he was an eminent man, yet his exhortation was, that none should follow
him any further than he followed Christ.
Now
that you may be provoked to run with the foremost, take notice of this. When Lot
and his wife were running from cursed Sodom to the mountains, to save their
lives, it is said that his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a
pillar of salt; and yet you see that neither her practice, nor the judgment of
God that fell upon her for the same, would cause Lot to look behind him. I have
sometimes wondered at Lot in this particular; his wife looked behind her, and
died immediately, but let what would become of her, Lot would not so much as
look behind him to see her. We do not read that he did so much as once look
where she was, or what was become of her; his heart was indeed upon his journey,
and well it might: there was the mountain before him, and the fire and brimstone
behind him; his life lay at stake and he had lost it if he had but looked behind
him. Do thou so run: and in thy race remember Lot’s wife, and remember her
doom; and remember for what that doom did overtake her; and remember that God
made her an example for all lazy runners, to the end of the world: and take heed
thou fall not after the same example. But, if this will not provoke thee,
consider thus,
1.
Thy soul is thy own soul, that is either to be saved or lost; thou shalt not
lose my soul by thy laziness. It is thy own soul, thy own ease, thy own peace,
thy own advantage, or disadvantage. If it were my soul that thou art desired to
be good unto, methinks reason should move thee somewhat to pity it. But alas, it
is thy own, thy own soul. ‘What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul?’ (Mark 8:36). God’s people wish well to
the souls of others, and wilt not thou wish well to thy own? And if this will
not provoke thee, then think again,
2.
If thou lose thy soul, it is thou also that must bear the blame. It made Cain
stark mad to consider that he had not looked to his brother Abel’s soul. How
much more will it perplex thee to think, that thou hadst not a care of thy own?
And if this will not provoke thee to bestir thyself, think again,
3.
That if thou wilt not run, the people of God are resolved to deal with thee even
as Lot dealt with his wife, that is, leave thee behind them. It may be thou hast
a father, mother, brother, &c., going post-haste to heaven, wouldst thou be
willing to be left behind them? Surely no. Again,
4.
Will it not be a dishonour to thee to see the very boys and girls in the country
to have more wit than thyself? It may be the servants of some men, as the
horsekeeper, ploughman, scullion, &c., are more looking after heaven than
their masters. I am apt to think sometimes, that more servants than masters,
that more tenants than landlords, will inherit the kingdom of heaven. But is not
this a shame for them that are such? I am persuaded you scorn, that your
servants should say that they are wiser than you in the things of this world;
and yet I am bold to say, that many of them are wiser than you in the things of
the world to come, which are of great concernment.
Well
then, sinner, what sayest thou? Where is thy heart? Wilt thou run? Art thou
resolved to strip? Or art thou not? Think quickly, man, it is no dallying in
this matter. Confer not with flesh and blood; look up to heaven, and see how
thou likest it; also to hell—of which thou mayst understand something by my
book, called, A few Sighs from Hell; or the Groans of a damned Soul; which I
wish thee to read seriously over—and accordingly devote thyself. If thou dost
not know the way, inquire at the Word of God. If thou wantest company, cry for
God’s Spirit. If thou wantest encouragement, entertain the promises. But be
sure thou begin by times; get into the way; run apace and hold out to the end;
and the Lord give thee a prosperous journey. Farewell.
1.
It was the commonly received opinion that, at the moment of death, the angels
and devils strove to carry away the soul. If the dying man had received the
consecrated wafer, the devils were scared at it, and lost their victim. Hence
the prayer—’From lightning, battle, murder, and sudden death, good Lord,
deliver us’; a curious contrast to, ‘Thy will be done’! Were they sinners
above all men upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them? (Luke 13:4). O
that men would rely upon the righteousness of Christ stimulating them to run for
glory, as heavenly footmen, and not upon the nostrums of Antichrist!—Ed.
2.
In a very beautifully ornamented Liturgy of the Church of England, prior to the
Reformation, after the Salisbury use, printed in 1526 (in the Editor’s
library), is this direction—’These iii. prayers be wrytten in the chapel of
the holy crosse in Rome, who that deuoutly say them they shall obteyne ten
hundred thousand years of pardon for deadly sins graunted of oure holy father
Jhon xxii pope of Rome.’ The three prayers only occupy twenty-six short lines,
and may be gravely repeated in two minutes. Such was and IS Popery!! But at the
end of all this promised pardon for a million of years—what then? Will eternal
torments commence?—Ed.
3.
How awfully is this pictured to the soul in that solemn account of the day of
death and judgment in Matthew 25; and how strikingly applied in the Pilgrim’s
Progress in the character of Ignorance.—Ed.
4.
‘When the bell begins to toll,
Lord
have mercy on the soul.’
The
Papists imagine that there is an extraordinary power in the bell hallowed by
baptism to drive away the spirits of darkness, so that the departing soul may
take its journey without molestation!! It was also intended to rouse the
faithful to pray for the dead person’s soul. This, and other superstitious
practices, were suspended during the Protectorate in some parishes, if not
generally, but were revived at the Restoration, because the omission injured the
revenues of the church.—See Brand’s Popular Antiquities.—Ed.
5.
This quotation, probably made from memory, is a mixture of the Genevan and the
present version.—Ed.
6.
Francis Spira, in 1548, being a lawyer in great repute in Italy, professed
gospel principles, but afterwards relapsed into Popery, and became a victim of
black despair. The man in the iron cage, at the Interpreter’s house, probably
referred to Spira. The narrative of his fearful state is preceded by a poem:—
‘Here
see a soul that’s all despair, a man
All
hell, a spirit all wounds. Who can
A
wounded spirit bear?
Reader,
wouldst see what you may never feel,
Despair,
racks, torments, whips of burning steel?
Behold
this man, this furnace, in whose heart
Sin
hath created hell. O! in each part
What
flames appear?
His
thoughts all stings; words, swords;
Brimstone
his breath;
His
eyes, flames; wishes, curses; life, a death,
A
thousand deaths live in him, he not dead—
A
breathing corpse in living scalding lead.’—Ed.
7.
How plain and important is this direction. Saul the persecutor ran fast, but the
faster he ran in his murderous zeal the further he ran from the prize. Let every
staunch sectarian examine prayerfully his way, especially if the sect he belongs
to is patronized by princes, popes, or potentates, and endowed with worldly
honours. He may be running from and not to heaven.—Ed.
8.
He that trusts in the sect to which he belongs is assuredly in the wrong way,
whether it be the Church of Rome or England, Quaking, Ranting, Baptists, or
Independents. Trust in Christ must be all in all. First be IN Christ, then run
for heaven, looking unto Christ. Keep fellowship with those who are the purest,
and run fastest in the ordinances of the gospel which are revealed in the Word.
Follow no human authority nor craft, seek the influence of the Holy Spirit for
yourself, that you may be led into all truth, then you will SO run as to obtain.—Ed.
9.
How plain is this direction, and how does it commend itself to our common-sense;
lumpish shoes, and pockets filled with stones, how absurd for a man who is
running a race!! Stop, my dear reader, have you cast away all useless
encumbrances, and all easily besetting sins? Is your heart full of mammon, or
pride, or debauchery? if so, you have no particle of strength to run for heaven,
but are running upon swift perdition.—Ed.
10.
This is one of those beautiful ideas which so abound in all Bunyan’s works.
Our way to the kingdom is consecrated by the cross of Christ, and may be known
throughout by the sprinkling of his blood, his groans, his agonies. All the
doctrines that put us in the way are sanctified by the atonement; all the spurs
to a diligent running in that way are powerful as motives, by our being bought
with that precious price, the death of Emmanuel. O! my soul, be thou found
looking unto Jesus, he is THE WAY, the only way to heaven.—Ed.
11.
Strange infatuation, desperate pride, that man should reject the humbling
simplicity of Divine truth, and run so anxiously, greedily, and in hosts, in the
road to ruin, because priestcraft calls it ‘the way of God’; preferring the
miserable sophistry of Satan and his emissaries to the plain directions of Holy
Writ. O! reader, put not your trust in man, but, while God is ready to direct
you, rely solely on his Holy Word.—Ed.
12.
‘Happily,’ or haply, were formerly used to express the same meaning.—Ed.
13.
‘Sink-souls’ is one of Bunyan’s strong Saxonisms, full of meaning, ‘Sink’
is that in which filth or foulness is deposited.
‘She
poured forth out of her hellish sink,
Her
fruitful cursed spawn.’—Spencer.—Ed.
14.
This is one of Bunyan’s most deeply expressive directions to the heaven-ward
pilgrim; may it sink into our hearts. Christ is the way, the cross is the
standing way-mark throughout the road, never out of sight. In embracing the
humbling doctrines of grace, in sorrow for sin, in crucifying self, in bearing
each other’s burdens, in passing through the river that will absorb our
mortality—from the new birth to our inheritance—the cross is the way-mark.—Ed.
15.
Our holiest, happiest duties, IF they interfere with a simple and exclusive
reliance upon Christ for justification, must be accursed in our esteem; while,
if they are fulfilled in a proper spirit of love to him, they become our most
blessed privileges. Reader, be jealous of your motives.—Ed.
16.
This is very solemn warning. But is it asked how are we to see that that is
invisible, or to imagine bliss that is past our understanding? The reply is,
treasure up in your heart those glimpses of glory contained in the Word. Be
daily in communion with the world of spirits, and it may be your lot, with Paul,
to have so soul-ravishing a sense of eternal realities, as scarcely to know
whether you are in the body or not.—Ed.
17.
How characteristic of Bunyan is this sentence, ‘the rich voyage.’ God
environing us about with his presence in time, and eternal felicity in the
desired haven: ‘the lumpish heart’ at times apparently indifferent to the
glorious harvest: ‘a pair of spurs’ to prick us on in the course. The word
voyage (from via, a way) was in Bunyan’s time equally used for a journey by
sea or land, it is now limited to travelling by sea.—Ed.
18.
‘Scrubbed’; worthless, vile, insignificant in the sight of man, who judges
from the outward, temporal condition; but, in the case of Lazarus, precious in
the sight of God.—Ed.
19.
What an inexhaustible source of comfort is contained in this passage. Blessed
carriage, in which the poorest, weakest of Christ’s flock shall ride. Millions
of gold could not purchase the privilege thus to ride in ease and safety,
supported and guarded by Omnipotence, and guided by Omniscience.—Ed.
20.
Summed up by the Psalmist, ‘Happy is that people that is in such a case. Happy
is that people whose God is the Lord’ (Psa 144:15).—Ed.
21.
How severe and cutting, but how just, is this reflection upon many, that wicked
men, for the gratification of destructive propensities, should evince greater
zeal and perseverance to light up the fire of hell in their consciences, than
some professing Christians do in following after peace and holiness, ‘Go to
the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.’—Ed.
22.
How awful a warning is this to the backslider. A wicked professor is a practical
atheist and a contemptible hypocrite. But the backslider is worse, he proclaims,
in his downward course, the awful blasphemy that ‘sin is better than Christ’;
‘hell is preferable to heaven.’ O! that some poor bewildered backslider may,
by a Divine blessing upon the voice of Bunyan, be arrested in his mad career.—Ed.
23. ‘Passions’; the old English term for sufferings. It is used in Acts 1 emphatically, to express the last sufferings of the Saviour; as also in what is called ‘passion week.’—Ed.