Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences from Thus Coming to God by Christ, 223.

 

1. Faith is of a strong and forcible quality, whether true or false.

(1.) A false faith has done great things; it has made men believe lies, plead for them, and stand to them, to the damnation of their souls. 'God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,' to their damnation. (2 Thess 2:11, 12) Hence, it is said, that men make lies 'their refuge.' Why? Because they 'trust in a lie.' (Jer 28:15) A lie, if believed, if a man has faith in it, it will do great things, because faith is of a forcible quality. Suppose thyself to be twenty miles from home, and there some man comes and possesses thee that thy house, thy wife, and children, are all burned with the fire. If thou believe it, though there should be nothing of truth in what thou hast heard, will this lie 'drink up thy spirit,' even as if the tidings were true? How many are there in the world whose hearts Satan has filled with the belief that their state and condition in another world are good? and these are made to live by lying hope that all shall be well with them, and so they are kept from seeking for that which will indeed make them happy. Man is naturally apt and willing to be deceived, and therefore, a groundless faith is more taking and forcible. Fancy will help to confirm a false faith, and so will conceit and idleness of spirit. There is also in man a willingness to take things upon trust, without searching into the ground and reason for them. Nor will Satan be behind the hand to prompt and encourage you to believe a lie, for that he knows will be a means to bring you to the end to which he greatly desires you to come. Wherefore let men beware, and, oh, that they would, of a false and lying faith!

(2.) But if a false faith is so forcible, what is a truth? What force, I say, is there in a faith that is begotten by truth, managed by truth, fed by truth, and preserved by the truth of God? This faith will make invisible things visible; not fantastically so, but substantially so—"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' (Heb 11:1) True faith carries along with it evidence of the certainty of what it believes and that evidence is the infallible Word of God. There is a God, a Christ, a heaven, saith the good faith, for the Word of God doth say so. The way to this God and this heaven is by Christ, for the Word of God doth say so. If I run not to this God by this Christ, this heaven shall never be my portion, for the Word of God doth say so. So, then, thus believing makes the man come to God by him. His thus believing, then, it is that carries him away from this world, that makes him trample upon this world, and that gives him the victory over this world. 'For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth.' (1 John 5:4-6)