Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Come and Welcome To Jesus Christ, 244.

 

[Second, Those intended as the gift.]—The gift, therefore, in the text, must not be taken in the largest sense, but even as the words will bear, to wit, for such a gift as he accepted, and promised to be an effectual means of eternal salvation to. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Mark! they shall come that are in special given to me, and they shall by no means be rejected. This is the substance of the text.

Those, therefore, intended as the gift in the text, are those that are given by covenant to the Son; those that in other places are called “the elect,” “the chosen,” “the sheep,” and “the children of the promise,” &c. These are they that the Father hath given to Christ to keep them; those that Christ hath promised eternal life unto; those to whom he hath given his word, and that he will have with him in his kingdom to behold his glory.

“This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man can pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28). “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Thine they were, and thou gave them me, and they have kept thy word; I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.” “Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou loves me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:1,6,9,10,24).

All these sentences are of the same import with the text; and the

all and many, those, they, &c., in these several sayings of

Christ is the same with all the given in the text. “All that the

Father giveth.”

So that, as I said before, the word ALL, as also other words, must not be taken in such sort as our foolish fancies or groundless opinions will prompt us to, but do admit of an enlargement or a restriction, according to the true meaning and intent of the text. We must therefore diligently consult the meaning of the text, by comparing it with other the sayings of God; so shall we be better able to find out the mind of the Lord, in the word which he has given us to know it by.

Tagged And 

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Come and Welcome To Jesus-Christ, 243.

 

First, ALL cannot be intended in its largest sense. That ALL that is given to Christ, if you take the gift of the Father to him in the largest sense, cannot be intended in the text, is evident.

1. Because, then, all the men—yeah, all the things in the world—must be saved. “All things,” saith he, “are delivered unto me of my Father” (Matt 11:27). I think, no rational man in the world will conclude this. Therefore, the gift intended in the text must be restrained to some, like a gift that is given by the Father to the Son through specialty.

2. It must not be taken for ALL, that in any sense are given by the Father to him, because the Father has given some, yea, many to him, to be dashed in pieces by him. “Ask of me,” said the Father to him, “and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” But what must be done with them? Must he save them all? No. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa 2). This method he used not with them that he saved by his grace, but with those that he and saints shall rule over in justice and severity (Rev 2:26–27). Yet, as you see, “they are given to him.” Therefore, the gift intended in the text must be restrained to some, like a gift that is given by the Father to the Son through specialty.

In Psalm 18, he says plainly, that some are given to him that he might destroy them. “Thou hast given me the necks of my enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me” (verse 40). These, therefore, cannot be of the number of those that are said to be given in the text; for those, even ALL of them, shall come to him, “and he will in no wise cast them out.”

3. Some are given to Christ, that he might bring about some of his high and deep designs in the world. Thus Judas was given to Christ, to wit, that by him, even as was determined before, he might bring about his death, and so the salvation of his elect by his blood. Yea, and Judas must so manage this business that he must lose himself forever in bringing it to pass. Therefore the Lord Jesus, even in his loss of Judas, applies himself to the judgment of his Father, if he had not in that thing done that which was right, even in suffering of Judas so to bring about his Master’s death, as that he might, by so doing, bring about his own eternal damnation also.

“Those,” said he, “that thou gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). Let us, then, grant that Judas was given to Christ, but not as others are given to him, not as those made mention of in the text; for then he should have failed to have been so received by Christ, and kept to eternal life. Indeed, he was given to Christ; but he was given to him to lose him, in the way that I have mentioned before; he was given to Christ, that he by him might bring about his own death, as was before determined; and that in the overthrow of him that did it. Yea, he must bring about his own death, as was before determined, and it was his overthrow that did it. Yeah, he must bring about his dying for us in the loss of the instrument that betrayed him, that he might even fulfill the Scripture in his destruction and in the salvation of the rest. “And none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Ted 

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Come and Welcome To Jesus-Christ, 242.

 

"All that the Father giveth me." This word is often used in Scripture and is to be taken more largely, or more strictly, even as the truth or argument, for the sake of which it is made use of, will bear. Wherefore, that we may better understand the mind of Christ in the use of it here, we must consider, that it is limited and restrained only to those that shall be saved, to wit, to those that shall come to Christ, even to those whom he will "in no wise cast out." Thus, also, the words all Israel, are sometimes to be taken, although sometimes they are taken for the whole family of Jacob. "And so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom 11:26). By all Israel here, he intended not all of Israel, in the largest sense; "for they are not all Israel which are of Israel;" "neither because they are of the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they, who are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed" (Rom 9:6–8).

This word ALL, therefore, must be limited and enlarged, as the truth and argument, for the sake of which it is used, will bear; else we shall abuse Scripture, and readers, and ourselves, and all. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth," said Christ, "will draw ALL men unto me" (John 12:32). Can any man imagine, that by ALL, in this place, he should mean all and every individual man in the world, and not rather that all that is consonant to the scope of the place?

And if, by being "lifted up from the earth," he means, as he should seem, his being taken up into heaven; and if, by "drawing ALL men after him," he meant drawing them unto that place of glory; then must he mean by ALL men, those, and only those, that shall in truth be eternally saved from the wrath to come. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32). Here again you have all and all, to all; but yet a greater disparity between the all made mention of in the first place, and that all made mention of the second. Those intended in this text are the Jews, even all of them, by the first all that you find in the words. The second all doth also intend the same people, yet only so many of them as God will have mercy upon. "He hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." The all also in the text, is likewise to be limited and restrained to the saved, and to them only. But again;—

The word "giveth," or "hath given," must be restrained, after the same manner, to the same limited number. "All that the Father giveth me." Not all that is given, if you take the gift of the Father to the Son in the largest sense; for in that sense there are many given to him that shall never come unto him; yea, many are given unto him that he will "cast out." I shall, therefore, first show you the truth of this; and then in what sense the gift in the text must be taken.

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Come and Welcome To Jesus-Christ, 241.

 

“ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME SHALL COME TO ME; AND HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT.”—JOHN 6:37.

Note, When providences are black and terrible to God’s people, the Lord Jesus shows himself to them in a wonderful manner, which sometimes they can as little bear, as they can the things that were before terrible to them. They were afraid of the wind and the water; they were also afraid of their Lord and Savior when he appeared to them in that state.

But he said, “Be not afraid, it is I.” Note, that the end of the appearing of the Lord Jesus unto his people, though the manner of his appearing is never so terrible, is to allay their fears and perplexities. Then they received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at land, where it went.

Note, When Christ is absent from his people, they go on, but slowly, and with great difficulty; but when he joins himself unto them, oh! how fast they steer their course! How soon are they at their journey’s end!  The people now among whom he last preached when they saw that both Jesus and his disciples were gone also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they had found him, they wonderingly asked him, “Rabbi, when came thou hither?” but the Lord Jesus, slighting their compliment, answered, “Verily, verily, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”

Note: A people may follow Christ far for base ends, as these went after him beyond the sea for loaves. A man’s belly will carry him a great way in religion; yes, a man’s belly will make him venture far for Christ.

Note again, They are not feigning compliments, but gracious intentions, that crown the work in the eye of Christ; or thus, it is not the toil and business of professors, but their love for him, that makes him approve of them.

Note again, When men shall look for friendly entertainment at Christ’s hand, if their hearts be rotten, even then will they meet with a check and rebuke. “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”

Yet observe again, He doth not refuse to give, even to these, good counsel: he bids them labor for the meat that endured to eternal life. Oh! How willingly would Jesus Christ have even those professors who come to him with pretenses only, come to him sincerely, that they may be saved?

The text, you will find, is, after much more discourse with and about these people, and it is uttered by the Lord Jesus as the conclusion of the whole and intimates that, since they were professors in pretense only, and therefore such as his soul could not delight in, as such, that he would content himself with a remnant that his Father had bestowed upon him. As who should say, I am not like to be honored in your salvation; but the Father has bestowed upon me a people, and they shall come to me in truth, and in them will I be satisfied. The text, therefore, may be called Christ’s repose; in the fulfilling whereof he rests himself content, after much labor and many sermons spent, as it were, in vain. As he saith by the prophet, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain” (Isa 49:4).

But as there he saith, “My judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God;” so in the text, he saith, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” By these words, therefore, the Lord Jesus comforted himself under the consideration of the dissimulation of some of his followers. He also thus betook himself to rest under the consideration of the little effect that his ministry had in Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida: “I thank thee, O Father,” said he, “Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt 11:25; Luke 10:21).

The text, in general, stands in two parts and has a special respect for the Father and the Son; as well as for their joint management of the salvation of the people: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The first part of the text, as is evident, respects the Father and his gift; the other part is about the Son and his reception of that gift.

FIRST, for the gift of the Father, there is this to be considered, to wit, the gift itself; and that is the gift of certain persons to the Son. The Father giveth, and that gift shall come: “And him that cometh.” The gift, then, is of persons; the Father gives persons to Jesus Christ.

SECOND, you have the Son’s reception of this gift, and that showed itself in these particulars: 1. In his hearty acknowledgment of it as a gift: “The Father giveth me.” 2. In his taking notice, after a solemn manner, of all and every part of the gift: “All that the Father giveth me.” 3. In his resolution to bring them to himself: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” 4. And in his determination that not anything shall make him dislike them in their coming: “And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

These things might be spoken to at large, as they are in this method presented to view: but I shall choose to speak to the words, FIRST, BY WAY OF EXPLICATION. SECOND, BY WAY OF OBSERVATION.

T

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Come and Welcome To Jesus-Christ, 240.

 

“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.

Tagg

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ's Intercession, 239.

 

USE SECOND, As I would press you to an earnest study and search after this great truth, I would press you to diligently improve it for yourselves and others. To know the truth for knowledge sake is short of a gracious disposition of soul, and to communicate the truth out of a desire for praise and vain glory for so doing is also a swerving from godly simplicity, but to improve what I know for the good of myself and others is true Christianity. Now truths received may be improved concerning myself and others, and in several ways—

1. To myself, when I search for the power that belongs to those notions I have received of truth. There belongs to every true notion of truth a power; the notion is the shell—the power is the kernel and life. Without this last truth, I do no good, nor do those to whom I communicate it. Hence Paul said to the Corinthians, ‘When I come to you again, I will know not the speech of them that is puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.’ (1 Cor 4:19–20) Search, then, after the power of what thou knowest, for it is the power that will do thee good. Now this will not be got but by earnest prayer, and much attending to God; also, there must not be admitted by thee that thy heart be stuffed with cumbering cares of this world, for they are of a choking nature.

Take heed of slighting that little that thou hast; a good improvement of little is the way to make that little thrive, and the way to obtain additions to it: ‘He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.’ (Luke 16:10)

2. Improve them to others, and that, (1.) By laboring to instill them in their hearts with good and wholesome words, presenting all to them with the authority of the Scriptures. (2.) Labor to enforce those instilling on them by showing them by thy life the peace, the glorious effects that they have upon thy soul.

Lastly, let this doctrine give you the boldness to come to God. Shall Jesus Christ be interceding in heaven? Oh, then, be thou a praying man on earth; yea, take courage to pray. Think thus with thyself—I go to God, before whose throne the Lord Jesus is ready to hand my petitions to him; yea, ‘he ever lives to make intercession for me.’ This is a great encouragement to come to God through prayers and supplications for ourselves, and by intercessions for our families, our neighbors, and our enemies. Farewell.

Tagged And Un

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ's Intercession, 238.

 

THE USE. I come now to make some use of this discourse; and,

USE FIRST, Let me exhort you to study this, as well as the other truths of our Lord Jesus Christ. The priestly office of Christ is the first and greatest thing that is presented to us in the gospel—namely, how he died for our sins, and gave himself to the cross, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us through him. (1 Cor 15:1-6, Gal 3:13-16) But now that this priestly office of his is divided into two parts, and because one of them—to wit, this of his intercession—is to be accomplished for us within the veil, therefore, as we say among men, out of sight, out of mind, he is too much as to be forgotten by us. We satisfy ourselves with the slaying of the sacrifice; we look not enough after our Aaron as he goes into the holiest, there to sprinkle the mercy seat with blood upon our account. God forbid that the last syllable of what I say should be intended by me, or construed by others as if I sought to diminish the price paid by Christ for our redemption in this world. But since his dying is his laying down his price, and his intercession is the urging and managing of its worthiness in the presence of God against Satan, there is glory to be found therein, and we should look after him in the holy place. 

The second part of the work of the high priests under the law had great glory and sanctity put upon it; forasmuch as the holy garments were provided for him to officiate in within the veil, also it as there that the altar stood on which he offered incense; also there was the mercy-seat and the cherubims of glory, which were figures of the angels, that love to be continually looking and prying into the management of this second part of the priesthood of Christ in the presence of God; for although themselves are not the persons so immediately concerned therein as we, yet the management of it, I say, is with so much grace, and glory, and wisdom, and effectualness, that it is a heaven to the angels to see it. Oh! to enjoy the odorous scent and sweet memorial, the heart-refreshing perfumes, that ascend continually from the mercy seat to the ‘above’ where God is; and also to behold how effective

it is to the end for which it is designed, is glorious; and he that is not somewhat let into this by the grace of God, there is a great thing lacking in his faith, and he missed of many a sweet bit that he might otherwise enjoy. 

Therefore, I say, be exhorted to study this part of Christ’s work in managing our salvation for us. And the ceremonies of the law may be a great help to you as to this, for though they be out of use now as to practice, yet the signification of them is rich, and that from which many gospellers have got much. Wherefore I advise that you read the five books of Moses often; yea, read, and read again, and do not despair of help to understand something of the will and mind of God therein, though you think they are fast locked up from you. Neither trouble your heads though you do not commentaries and expositions; pray and read, and read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from men. Also, what is from men is uncertain, and is often lost and tumbled over and over by men; but what is from God is fixed as a nail in a sure place. I know there are [peculiar] times of temptation, but I speak now as to the common course of Christianity.  There is nothing that so abides with us as what we receive from God; and the reason why Christians this day are at such a loss as to some things is that they are content with what comes from men’s mouths, without searching and kneeling before God, to know of him the truth of things. Things that we receive at God’s hand come to us as things from the minting house, though old in themselves, yet new to us. Old truths are always new to us if they come to us with the smell of heaven upon them. I speak not this because I would have people despise their ministers, but to show that there is nowadays so much idleness among professors that hinders them from a diligent search after things, and makes them take up short of that that is sealed by the Spirit of testimony to the conscience. Witness the great decays at this day among us, and that strange revolting from truth once professed by us.

Tagged And Uns

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ's Intercession, 237.

 

Oh, how unworthy are we of this love! How little do we think of it! But, most of all, the angels may be astonished to see how little we are affected by that which we pretend to know. But neither can this prevail with him to put us out of the scroll in which all the names of them are written for whom he doth make intercession to God. Let us cry, Grace, Grace unto it.

Fourth, Hence again I infer that they shall be saved that come to God by Christ, when the devil and sin have done what they can to hinder it. This is clear, for that the strife is now, who shall be lord of all, whether Satan, the prince of this world, or Christ Jesus, the Son of God; or which can lay the best claim to God’s elect, he that produces their sins against them, or he that laid down his heart’s blood as a price of redemption for them? Who, then, shall condemn when Christ has died, and doth also make intercession? Stand still, angels, and behold how the Father divided his Son ‘a portion with the great; and how he divided ‘the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bared the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.’ (Isa 53:12) The grace of God and the blood of Christ will, before the end of the world, make brave work among the sons of men! They shall come to a wonderment to God by Christ, and be saved by a wonderment for Christ’s sake—’Behold these shall come from far: and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.’ (Isa 49:12)

Behold, these, and these, and these shall come, and lo, these, and these, and these from the land of Sinim! This is to denote the abundance that shall come into God by Christ towards the latter end of the world—namely when Antichrist is gone to bed in the sides of the pit’s mouth; then shall nations come in and be saved, and shall walk in the light of the Lord. But, I say, what encouragement would there be for sinners thus to do if the Lord Jesus, by his intercession, were not able to save ‘even to the uttermost’ them that come unto God by him.

Fifth, hence again, I infer that there is ground for confidence in those who come to God through Christ. Confidence to the end becomes us who have such a High Priest, such an Intercessor as Jesus Christ; who would dishonor such a Jesus by doubting that all the devils in hell cannot be discouraged by all their wiles? He is a tried stone, he is a sure foundation; a man may confidently venture his soul into his hand, and not fear, but he will bring him safely home. Ability, love for the person, and faithfulness to trust committed to him will do all; and all these are with infinite fullness in him. He has been a savior these four thousand years already—two thousand before the law, two thousand in the time of the law—besides the sixteen hundred years he has in his flesh continued to make intercession for them that come unto God by him. Yet the day is to come, yea, will never come, that he can be charged with any fault, or neglect of the salvation of any of them that at any time have come unto God by him. What ground, then, is here for confidence that Christ will make a good end with me since I come unto God by him, and since he ever lived to make intercession for me. Let me, then, honor him, I say, by setting on his head the crown of his undertakings for me, by the believing that he can save me ‘even to the uttermost, seeing he ever lived to make intercession for me.’

Sixth, Hence also I infer that Christ ought to bear and wear the glory of our salvation forever. He has done it, he has wrought it out. ‘Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.’ Do not sacrifice your own inventions, do not give glory to the work of your own hands. Your reformations, your works, your good deeds, and all the glory of your doing, cast them at the feet of this High Priest, and confess that glory belongs unto him—’Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.’ (Rev 5:12) ‘And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father’s house, and offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.’ (Isa 22:24) Oh! the work of our redemption by Christ is such as wanted, not provocation to us to bless, praise, and glorify Jesus Christ. Saints, set to the work and glorify him in your body and in your souls; him who has bought us with a price, and glorify God and the Father by him. (1 Cor 6:20)

Tagged An

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ's Intercession, 236.

 

2. When he ascended to God, and so was out of his reach, yet how busily went he about to make war with his people? (Rev 12) Yea, what horrors and terrors, what troubles and temptations, has God’s church met with from that day till now! Nor is he content with persecutions and general troubles; but oh! how doth he haunt the spirits of the Christians with blasphemies and troubles, with darkness and frightful fears; sometimes to their distraction, and often to fill the church with outcries.

3. Yet his malice is in pursuit, and now his boldness will try what it can do with God, either to tempt him to reject his Son’s mediation or to reject them that come to God by him for mercy. And this is one cause among many why ‘he ever liveth to make intercession for them that come to God by him.’

4. And if he cannot overthrow, if he knows he cannot overthrow them, yet he cannot forbear but vex and perplex them, even as he did their Lord, from the day of their conversion to the day of their ascension to glory.

Third, Hence I infer that the love of Christ to his, is an unwearied love, and it must need to be so; an undaunted love, and it must needs be so. Who but Jesus Christ would have undertaken such a task as the salvation of the sinner is, if Jesus Christ had passed us by? It is true which is written of him, ‘He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth,’ &c. If he had not set his ‘face like a flint,’ the greatness of this work would surely have daunted his mind. (Isa 42:1, 50:6-7)

For do but consider what sin is from which they must be saved; do but consider what the devil and the curse are from which they must be saved; and it will easily be concluded by you that it is he that full rightly deserves to have his name called Wonderful, and his love such as verily passed knowledge.

Consider, again, by what means these souls are saved, even with the loss of his life, and, together with it, the loss of the light of his Father’s face. I pass by here and forbear to speak of the matchless contradiction of sinners which he endured against himself, which could not but be a great grief, or, as himself doth word it, a breaking of heart unto him; but all this did not, could not, hinder.

Join to all this, his everlasting intercession for us, and the effectual management thereof with God for us; and, withal, the infinite number of times that we by sin provoke him to spew us out of his mouth, instead of interceding for us, and the many times also that his intercession is repeated by the repeating of our faults, and this love still passes knowledge, and is by us to be wondered at. What did, or what doth, the Lord Jesus see in us to be at all this care, and pains, and cost to save us? What will he get of us by the bargain but a small pittance of thanks and love? for so it is, and ever will be, when compared with his matchless and unspeakable love and kindness towards us.

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ's Intercession, 235.

 

I have now done what I intend on this subject, and I have drawn a few inferences from it as well.

First, then, I infer that the souls saved by Christ are themselves in a most deplorable condition. Oh, what ado, as I may say, is here before one sinner can be eternally saved! Christ must die, but that is not all; the Spirit of grace must be given to us; but that is not all; Christ must also ever live to make intercession for us. And as he doth this for all, so he doth it for each one. He interceded for me, before I was born, that I might, in time, at the set time, come into being. After that, he also made intercession for me, that I might be kept from hell in the time of my unregenerate state until the time of my call and conversion. Yet again, he then intercedes that the work now begun in my soul may be perfected, not only to the day of my dissolution but unto the day of Christ; that is until he comes to judgment. (Phil 1:6) So that, as he began to save me before I had been, he will go on to save me when

I am dead and gone, and he will never leave to save me until he has set me before his face forever.

But, I say, what a deplorable condition has our sin put us into, that there must be all this ado to save us. Oh, how hard is sin got out of the soul when once it is in! Blood takes away the guilt; inherent grace weakens the filth; but the grave is the place, at the mouth of which, sin, as to the being of sin, and the saved, must have a perfect and final parting. (Isa 38:10) Not that the grave of itself is of a sin-purging quality, but God will follow Satan home to his own door; for the grave is the door or gate of hell, and will there, where the devil thought to have swallowed us up, even there by the power of his mercy make us, at our coming thence, shine like the sun, and look like angels. Christ, all this while, ever lived to make intercession for us.

Second, Hence, also, I infer that as Satan thought he struck home at first, when he polluted our nature, and brought our souls to death, so he is marvelous loath to lose us and to suffer his lawful captives now to escape his hands. He is full of fire against us, full of the fire of malice, as is manifest 1. Not only by his first attempt upon our first parents but behold, when the Deliverer came into the world, how he roared. He sought his death while he was an infant; he hated him in his cradle; he persecuted him while he was but a bud and blossom. (Matt 2) When he was come to riper years, and began to manifest his glory, yet, lest the world should be taken with him, how politicly did this old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, work? He possessed people that he had a devil, and was mad, and a deceiver; that he wrought his miracles by magic art and by the devil; that the prophets spoke nothing of him, and that he sought to overthrow the government which was God’s ordinance. And, not being contented with all this, he pursued him to the death, and could never rest until he had spilled his blood upon the ground like water. Yea, so insatiable was his malice, that he set the soldiers to forge lies about him to the denial of his resurrection, and so managed that matter that what they said has become a stumbling block to the Jews to this very day. (John 10:20, 7:12, Matt 9:34, John 7:52, Luke 23:2, Matt 28:11-15).