Works of John Bunyan — Complete

by John Bunyan

I say, this is the reason, therefore, why men come no faster, and close no more readily, with the Son of God, but stand halting and indenting 16 about the terms they must have Christ upon; for, saith the drunkard, I look on Christ to be worth the having; but yet I am not willing to lose ALL for him; all but my pot, saith the drunkard; and all but the world, saith the covetous. I will part with anything but lust and pride, saith the wanton. But if Christ will not be had without I forsake all, cast away all, then it must be with me as it was with the young man in the Gospel, such news will make me sorry at the very heart.

But now, when a man is soundly killed to all his sins, to all his righteousness, to all his comforts whatsoever, and sees that there is no way but the devil must leave him, but he must be damned in Hell if he be not clothed with Jesus Christ; O, then, saith he, give me Christ on any terms, whatsoever He cost; though He cost me friends, though He cost me comforts, though He cost me all that ever I have; yet, like the wise merchant in the Gospel, they will sell all to get that pearl. I tell you, when a soul is brought to see its want of Christ aright, it will not be kept back; father, mother, husband, wife, lands, livings, nay, life and all, shall go rather than the soul will miss of Christ. Ay, and the soul counteth Christ a cheap Saviour if he can get him upon any terms; now the soul indents17 no longer. Now, Lord, give me Christ upon any terms, whatsoever He cost; for I am a dead man, a damned man, a castaway, if I have not Christ. What say you, O you wounded sinners? Is not this true as I have said? Would you not give ten thousand worlds, if you had so many, so be you might be well assured that your sins shall be pardoned, and your souls and bodies justified and glorified at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?

3. The Lord goeth this way for this reason also, that it might make the soul sensible what it cost Christ to redeem it from death and Hell. When a man cometh to feel the sting and guilt of sin, death and Hell upon his conscience, then, and not till then, can he tell what it cost Christ to redeem sinners. O! saith the soul, if a few sins are so terrible, and lay the soul under such wrath and torment, what did Christ undergo, who bare the sins of thousands and thousands, and all at once?

This also is one means to make souls tender of sin (it is the burned child that feareth the fire), to make them humble in a sense of their own vileness, to make them count everything that God giveth them a mercy, to make much of the least glimpse of the love of God, and to prize it above the whole world. O sinners, were you killed indeed [to sin], then Heaven would be Heaven, and Hell would be Hell indeed; but because you are not wrought upon in this manner, therefore you count the ways of God as bad as a good man counteth the ways of the devil, and the ways of the devil and Hell as good as a saint doth count the ways of God.

4. Again, God is fain to go this way, and all to make sinners make sure of Heaven. So long as souls are senseless of sin, and what a damnable state they are in by nature, so long they will even dally with the Kingdom of Heaven and the salvation of their own poor souls; but when God cometh and showeth them where they are, and what it is like to become of them if they miss of the crucified Saviour, O, then, saith the soul, would I were sure of Jesus; what shall I do to get assurance of Jesus? And thus is God forced, as I may say, to whip souls to Jesus Christ, they being so secure, so senseless, and so much their own enemies, as not to look out after their own eternal advantage.

5. A fifth reason why God doth deal thus with sinners it is, because He would bring Christ and the soul together in a right way. Christ and sinners would never come together in a beloved posture, they would not so suitably suit each other, if they were not brought together this way, the sinner being killed. O, when the sinner is killed, and indeed struck dead to everything below a naked Jesus, how suitably then doth the soul and Christ suit one with another. Then here is a naked sinner for a righteousness Jesus, a poor sinner to a rich Jesus, a weak sinner to a strong Jesus, a blind sinner to a seeing Jesus, an ignorant, careless sinner to a wise and careful Jesus. O, how wise is God in dealing thus with the sinner! He strips him of his own knowledge, that He may fill him with Christ's; He killeth him for taking pleasure in sin, that he may take pleasure in Jesus Christ, etc.

6. God goeth this way with sinners, because He would have the glory of their salvation. Should not men and women be killed to their own things, they would do sacrifice unto them, and instead of saying to the Lamb, "THOU ART WORTHY," they would say their own arm, their own right hand hath saved them; but God will cut off boasting from ever entering within the borders of eternal glory; for He is resolved to have the glory of the beginning, the middle, and the end; of the contriving, and saving, and giving salvation to them that enter in to the joys of everlasting glory (Rom 3:27; Eph 2:8,9; Titus 3:5; Rev 5:9). "That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified" (Isa 61:3). I might have run through many things as to this; but I shall pass them, and proceed.

Second. Now, the soul being this killed to itself, [The soul that hath the right work of God upon its heart, is not only killed to itself, but also made alive to Christ]. its sins, its righteousness, faith, hope, wisdom, promises, resolutions, and the rest of its things which it trusted in by nature; in the next place, it hath also given unto it a most glorious, perfect, and never-fading life, which is—

1. A life imputed to it, yet so really, that the very thought of it in the soul hath so much operation and authority, especially when the mediation of it is mixed with faith, as to make it, though condemned by the law, to triumph, and to look its enemies in the face with comfort, notwithstanding the greatness of the multitude, the fierceness of their anger, and the continuation of their malice, be never so hot against it.

This imputed life—for so it is—is the obedience of the Son of God as His righteousness, in His suffering, rising, ascending, interceding, and so consequently triumphing over all the enemies of the soul, and given to me, as being wrought on purpose for me. So that, 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 counted the conqueror, nay, more than a conqueror, through Him that hath loved me. And I do count this a most glorious life; for by this means it is that I am, in the first place, proclaimed both in Heaven and earth guiltless, and such an one who, as I am in Christ, am not sinner, and so not under the law, to be condemned, but as holy and righteous as the Son of God Himself, because He Himself is my holiness and righteousness, and so likewise having by this all things taken out of the way that would condemn me.