Unbelief
Bunyan tells us that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat:” if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee.
– Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
A woman I badly want to meet
(in a mirror)
Once being at an honest woman’s house, I, after some pause, asked her how she did? She said, Very badly. I asked her if she was sick? she answered, No. What then, said I, are any of your children ill? She told me, No. What, said I, is your husband amiss, or do you go back in the world?
No, no, said she, but I am afraid I shall not be saved.
And broke out with heavy heart, saying, ‘Ah, Goodman Bunyan! Christ and a pitcher; if I had Christ, though I went and begged my bread with a pitcher, it would be better with me than I think it is now!’ This woman had her heart broken, this woman wanted Christ, this woman was concerned for her soul. There are but few women, rich women, that count Christ and a pitcher better than the world, their pride, and pleasures. This woman’s cries are worthy to be recorded; it was a cry that carried in it, not only a sense of the want, but also of the worth of Christ. This cry, ‘Christ and a pitcher, ‘ made a melodious noise in the ears of the very angels!
But, I say, few women cry out thus; few women are so in love with their own eternal salvation, as to be willing to part with all their lusts and vanities for Jesus Christ and a pitcher. Good Jacob also was thus: ‘If the Lord, ‘ said he, ‘will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, then he shall be my God.’ Yea, he vowed it should be so. ‘And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; so that I come again to my father’s house in peace: then shall the Lord be my God’ (Gen 28:20).
– John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice: The Excellency of a Broken Heart
Bunyan Bit No. 8: Grace in Prayer
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” Psalm 14: 1. I used to be that fool. I am not that fool now, but sometimes I act like it. It has been a while since I posted some John Bunyan, but more comes below. God’s grace is so, so good, so sweet, so rich and fine. Go to Him with confidence today! Accept it!
The godly have found all other places, the throne of grace excepted, empty, and places that hold no water. They have been at mount Sinai for help, but could find nothing there but fire and darkness, but thunder and lightning, but earthquakes and trembling, and a voice of killing words.
They have sought for grace by their own performances; but, alas, they have yielded them nothing but wind and confusion; not a performance, not a duty, not an act in any part of religious worship, but they, looking upon it in the glass of the Lord, do find it specked and defective.
They have sought for grace by their resolutions, their vows, their purposes, and the like; but alas, they all do as the other, discover that they have been very imperfectly managed, and so are such as can by no means help them to grace.
They have gone to their tears, their sorrow, and repentance, if perhaps they might find some help there; but all has fled away like the early dew.
They have gone to God as the great Creator, and have beheld how wonderful his works have been; they have looked to the heavens above, to the earth beneath, and to all their ornaments; but neither have these, nor what is of them, yielded grace to those that had sensible want thereof.
They have gone with these pitchers to their fountains, and have returned empty and ashamed; they found no water, no river of water of life.
Paul, not finding it in the law, despairs to find it in any thing else below, but presently betakes himself to look for it where he had not yet found it: he looked for it by Jesus Christ, who is the
throne of grace, where he found it, and rejoiced in hope of the glory of God.O, when a God of grace is upon a throne of grace, and a poor sinner stands by and begs for grace, and that in the name of a gracious Christ, in and by the help of the Spirit of grace, can it be otherwise but such a sinner must obtain mercy and grace to help in
time of need?All the sorrow that is mixed with our Christianity proceeds, as the procuring cause, from ourselves, not from the throne of grace; for that is the place where our tears are wiped away, and also where we hang up our crutches: the streams thereof are pure and clear, not muddy nor frozen, but warm and delightful, and they make glad the city of God.
– The Riches of Bunyan
Bunyan Bit No. 8: Happiness and the Glory of Heaven
If the sight of sin and the love of God accomplishes such an effect in the soul that still experiences doubt, blindness, distrust, and forgetfulness, what will the sight of sin do in the soul that has been swallowed up by love, the soul that is no longer selfish, not even tempted to be, because all the faculties of both soul and body have been passed through the sieve of love and grace. Now they are strained so fine that they have reached perfection. They have hit the center of glory’s target.
Oh, what wisdom and goodness God has, for on the day of judgment He uses even the worst of our qualities, those things that would naturally tend to sink us and damn us, to our advantage. All things really do work together for good for those who love God. The very sins that brought a curse on the world, that split the heart-blood of our dearest Savior, that separated His innocent soul from God, these same sins will, through His wisdom and love, exalt His grace–and they will set our hearts on fire with love for Him forever and ever.
– John Bunyan, The Riches of Bunyan (p. 378)
Bunyan Bit No. 7: Watchfulness
The person who tries to keep water in a sieve must be extremely careful. Our heart is also a leaky container and therefore we need to pay close attention to the things we have heard, so they will not slip away when we aren’t noticing.
– John Bunyan, The Riches of Bunyan (p. 196)
Bunyan Bit No. 6: Encouraging the Weak
If those who are first coming to Jesus Christ are often frightened along the way, then this should teach older Christians to have compassion on younger ones and pray for them. You know the hearts of these strangers, for you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. You know the fears and doubts and terrors that grip them, for they used to grip you also. Therefore, have compassion for them, pray for them, encourage them. They need all this.
– John Bunyan, The Riches of Bunyan (p. 160)
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