The Life of John Bunyan [26]
I dishonour my fair sumptuous and
gay house with such a scabbed creephedge as he? The Lazaruses are
not allowed to warn them of the wrath to come, because they are not
gentlemen, because they cannot with Pontius Pilate speak Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. Nay, they must not, shall not, speak to them,
and all because of this."
The fourth production of Bunyan's pen, his last book before his
twelve years of prison life began, is entitled, "The Doctrine of
Law and Grace Unfolded." With a somewhat overstrained humility
which is hardly worthy of him, he describes himself in the title-
page as "that poor contemptible creature John Bunyan, of Bedford."
It was given to the world in May, 1659, and issued from the same
press in the Old Bailey as his last work. It cannot be said that
this is one of Bunyan's most attractive writings. It is as he
describes it, "a parcel of plain yet sound, true, and home
sayings," in which with that clearness of thought and accuracy of
arrangement which belongs to him, and that marvellous acquaintance
with Scripture language which he had gained by his constant study
of the Bible, he sets forth the two covenants - the covenant of
works, and the covenant of Grace - "in their natures, ends, bounds,
together with the state and condition of them that are under the
one, and of them that are under the other." Dr. Brown describes
the book as "marked by a firm grasp of faith and a strong view of
the reality of Christ's person and work as the one Priest and
Mediator for a sinful world." To quote a passage, "Is there
righteousness in Christ? that is mine. Is there perfection in that
righteousness? that is mine. Did He bleed for sin? It was for
mine. Hath He overcome the law, the devil, and hell? The victory
is mine, and I am come forth conqueror, nay, more than a conqueror
through Him that hath loved me. . . Lord, show me continually in
the light of Thy Spirit, through Thy word, that Jesus that was born
in the days of Caesar Augustus, when Mary, a daughter of Judah,
went with Joseph to be taxed in Bethlehem, that He is the very
Christ. Let me not rest contented without such a faith that is so
wrought even by the discovery of His Birth, Crucifying Death,
Blood, Resurrection, Ascension, and Second - which is His Personal
- Coming again, that the very faith of it may fill my soul with
comfort and holiness." Up and down its pages we meet with vivid
reminiscences of his own career, of which he can only speak with
wonder and thankfulness. In the "Epistle to the Reader," which
introduces it, occurs the passage already referred to describing
his education. "I never went to school to Aristotle or Plato, but
was brought up at my father's house in a very mean condition, among
a company of poor countrymen." Of his own religious state before
his conversion he thus speaks: "When it pleased the Lord to begin
to instruct my soul, He found me one of the black sinners of the
world. He found me making a sport of oaths, and also of lies; and
many a soul-poisoning meal did I make out of divers lusts, such as
drinking, dancing, playing, pleasure with the wicked ones of the
world; and so wedded was I to my sins, that thought I to myself, 'I
will have them though I lose my soul.'" And then, after narrating
the struggles he had had with his conscience, the alternations of
hope and fear which he passed through, which are more fully
described in his "Grace Abounding," he thus vividly depicts the
full assurance of faith he had attained to: "I saw through grace
that it was the Blood shed on Mount Calvary that did save and
redeem sinners, as clearly and as really with the eyes of my soul
as ever, methought, I had seen a penny loaf bought with a penny. .
. O let the saints know that unless the devil can pluck Christ out
of heaven he cannot pull a true believer out of Christ." In a
striking passage he shows how, by turning Satan's temptations
gay house with such a scabbed creephedge as he? The Lazaruses are
not allowed to warn them of the wrath to come, because they are not
gentlemen, because they cannot with Pontius Pilate speak Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. Nay, they must not, shall not, speak to them,
and all because of this."
The fourth production of Bunyan's pen, his last book before his
twelve years of prison life began, is entitled, "The Doctrine of
Law and Grace Unfolded." With a somewhat overstrained humility
which is hardly worthy of him, he describes himself in the title-
page as "that poor contemptible creature John Bunyan, of Bedford."
It was given to the world in May, 1659, and issued from the same
press in the Old Bailey as his last work. It cannot be said that
this is one of Bunyan's most attractive writings. It is as he
describes it, "a parcel of plain yet sound, true, and home
sayings," in which with that clearness of thought and accuracy of
arrangement which belongs to him, and that marvellous acquaintance
with Scripture language which he had gained by his constant study
of the Bible, he sets forth the two covenants - the covenant of
works, and the covenant of Grace - "in their natures, ends, bounds,
together with the state and condition of them that are under the
one, and of them that are under the other." Dr. Brown describes
the book as "marked by a firm grasp of faith and a strong view of
the reality of Christ's person and work as the one Priest and
Mediator for a sinful world." To quote a passage, "Is there
righteousness in Christ? that is mine. Is there perfection in that
righteousness? that is mine. Did He bleed for sin? It was for
mine. Hath He overcome the law, the devil, and hell? The victory
is mine, and I am come forth conqueror, nay, more than a conqueror
through Him that hath loved me. . . Lord, show me continually in
the light of Thy Spirit, through Thy word, that Jesus that was born
in the days of Caesar Augustus, when Mary, a daughter of Judah,
went with Joseph to be taxed in Bethlehem, that He is the very
Christ. Let me not rest contented without such a faith that is so
wrought even by the discovery of His Birth, Crucifying Death,
Blood, Resurrection, Ascension, and Second - which is His Personal
- Coming again, that the very faith of it may fill my soul with
comfort and holiness." Up and down its pages we meet with vivid
reminiscences of his own career, of which he can only speak with
wonder and thankfulness. In the "Epistle to the Reader," which
introduces it, occurs the passage already referred to describing
his education. "I never went to school to Aristotle or Plato, but
was brought up at my father's house in a very mean condition, among
a company of poor countrymen." Of his own religious state before
his conversion he thus speaks: "When it pleased the Lord to begin
to instruct my soul, He found me one of the black sinners of the
world. He found me making a sport of oaths, and also of lies; and
many a soul-poisoning meal did I make out of divers lusts, such as
drinking, dancing, playing, pleasure with the wicked ones of the
world; and so wedded was I to my sins, that thought I to myself, 'I
will have them though I lose my soul.'" And then, after narrating
the struggles he had had with his conscience, the alternations of
hope and fear which he passed through, which are more fully
described in his "Grace Abounding," he thus vividly depicts the
full assurance of faith he had attained to: "I saw through grace
that it was the Blood shed on Mount Calvary that did save and
redeem sinners, as clearly and as really with the eyes of my soul
as ever, methought, I had seen a penny loaf bought with a penny. .
. O let the saints know that unless the devil can pluck Christ out
of heaven he cannot pull a true believer out of Christ." In a
striking passage he shows how, by turning Satan's temptations