FOOTNOTES:
[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.
***
THE HOLY CITY; OR, THE NEW JERUSALEM:
WHEREIN ITS GOODLY LIGHT, WALLS, GATES, ANGELS, AND THE MANNER OF THEIR STANDING, ARE EXPOUNDED: ALSO HER LENGTH AND BREADTH, TOGETHER WITH THE GOLDEN MEASURING-REED EXPLAINED: AND THE GLORY OF ALL UNFOLDED.
AS ALSO THE NUMEROUSNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS; AND WHAT THE TREE AND WATER OF LIFE ARE, BY WHICH THEY ARE SUSTAINED.
'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.'-Psalm 87:3
'And the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS
THERE.'-Ezekiel 48:35
London: Printed in the year 1665