[20] See 2 Samuel 2:23, 3:27. To smite under the fifth rib is to give a mortal blow.—Ed.
[21] Human laws we must obey, unless they infringe upon the prerogative of God and upon conscience; to such we must refuse obedience, and count it an honour to suffer as Daniel and the Hebrew youths. These laws we may strive to get repealed or amended; but the laws of God are immutable and eternal—they must be obeyed, or we perish.—Ed.
[22] How striking an exemplification is this of our utter helplessness and the unbounded love of God. O my soul, it is impossible to number or recollect all his mercies, but take heed lest thou forget them all.—Ed.
[23] The reader will easily understand this passage if he considers ‘these folks’ to mean those who were deterred from making a public profession of faith, by the fear of ‘the enemies,’ or persecutors, properly called the devil’s scarecrows. ‘Today,’ refers to the time in which this encouraging treatise was written. Then persecutors and informers were let loose upon the churches, like a swarm of locusts. Many folks were terrified, and much defection prevailed. But for such a time God prepared Bunyan, Baxter, Owen, Howe, and many others of equal piety. Thus, when the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.—Ed.
[24] The word ‘virtuous’ is now very rarely used in this sense; it means, ‘efficacious by inherent qualities,’ or having great or powerful properties, as, ‘By virtue of our Lord’s intercession’; see Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.
[25] ‘Tang’; a strong sense, flavour, or relish.—Ed.
[26] ‘O the unthought of imaginations, frights, fears, and terrors that are affected by a thorough application of guilt, yielded to desperation! This is the man that hath his dwelling among the tombs.’—Bunyan’s experience in Grace Abounding, No. 185.—Ed.
[27] This is not merely an exhortation to diligence in the Christian calling, but it is meant to convey to all the certain fact, that the prayer of faith in the merits of the Redeemer will and must be followed by renewed speed in running the race that is set before us.—Ed.
[28] There is something about the word blood at which the mind recoils, as if intended to impress upon us the evils of sin and its awful punishment—the death, spiritual and eternal, of the sinner. ‘Without shedding of blood is no remission.’ Blessed are those who were in Christ when his precious blood was shed as an atoning sacrifice.—Ed.
[29] See the character of Ignorance in the Pilgrim’s Progress.—Ed.