“And they shall come, which were ready to perish.”—Isaiah 27:13.
“Come and welcome to Jesus Christ,” is a subject peculiarly fitted to the deep and searching experience of John Bunyan. He knew all the wiles of sin and Satan, in placing stumbling blocks in the way of a sincere penitent; all the human craft employed in keeping the soul from a simple and entire reliance upon Christ for salvation. This little work soon became most deservedly popular, passing through four large editions during the last seven years of the author’s life. It is an enlightened display of the dealings of the Father in giving sinners to Christ; the Son in saving them by his atonement, mediation, and intercession; and the Holy Spirit in sanctifying and fitting them for glory. Here is no Calvinism, Lutheranism, or Arminianism; no Episcopacy, Presbytery, or Independence; nothing but Christism and Bibleism.
The gracious invitation is addressed to all who feel their misery, Come unto me, and I will make you happy and blessed. All who feel the leprosy of sin are invited to this spiritual physician, and he only can and will heal them. For all who suffer under the slavery of sin and Satan, Christ alone can make you free. Come to him, and you will indeed be free. The analysis of Bunyan’s treatise shows that all mankind is born in sin. All sinners are invited to Christ. None will come but such as feel the plague, and see the leprosy of sin. Those who come are drawn in a variety of ways—some terrified by the horrors of hell, others allured by the gracious voice of the Saviour, and others by the prospects of heavenly felicity. All who sincerely come, attain the same end, a sincere and total reliance upon the Savior as the only refuge from the roaring lion.
Every other way to life is guarded by the flaming swords of the cherubim. Christ opens his golden arms wider than all our miseries. But he suffers no rival on his throne, no partnership with Moses or John Baptist. The personification of “shall come,” and of “ignorance,” is strikingly illustrative; as is “sin, the winding sheet of the soul;” “unbelief, the white devil;” the sinner being a counsellor for Satan; and the two ways of taking our own likeness. His appeal to persecutors is most forcible. But I must not deter the reader from the pleasure and profit he will receive from an attentive perusal of these pages.
A little before, in this chapter, you may read that the Lord Jesus walked on the sea to go to Capernaum, having sent his disciples before in a ship, but the wind was contrary, which means the ship was hindered in her passage. Now, about the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came walking upon the sea, and overtook them; at the sight of whom they were afraid.
No comments:
Post a Comment