But, brave soul, pray tell me what the things are that discourage thee, and that weaken thy strength in the way?
Why, the amazing greatness of this my enterprise, that is one thing. I am now pursuing things of the highest, the greatest, the most enriching nature, even eternal things; and the thoughts of the greatness of them drowned me; for when the heat of my spirit in the pursuit after them is a little returned and abated, methinks I hear myself talking thus to myself: Fond fool! canst thou imagine that such a gnat, a flea, a pismire as thou art, can take and possess the heavens, and mantle thyself up in the eternal glories?
If thou makest first a trial of the successfulness of thy endeavours upon things far lower, more base, but much more easy to obtain, as crowns, kingdoms, earldoms, dukedoms, gold, silver, or the like, how vain are these attempts of thine; and yet thou thinkest to possess thy soul of heaven! Away, away! by the height thereof thou mayest well conclude it is far above out of thy reach; and by the breadth thereof it is too large for thee to grasp; and by the nature of the excellent glory thereof, too good for thee to possess. These are the thoughts that sometimes discourage me, and that weaken my strength in the way.
Answer. The greatness of thy undertaking does but show the n.o.bleness of thy soul, in that it cannot, will not, be content with such low and dry as the baseborn spirits that are of the world can and do content themselves withal. And as to the greatness of the things thou aimest at, though they be, err they are indeed, things that have not their like, yet they are not too big for G.o.d to give, and He has promised to give them to the soul that seeketh Him; yea, He hath prepared the kingdom, given the kingdom, and laid up in the kingdom of heaven, the things that thy soul longeth for, presseth after, and cannot be content without (Luke 7:32; Matt 25:14; Col 1:5; 1 Peter 1:4). As for thy making a trial of the successfulness of thy endeavours upon things more interim and base, that is but a trick of the old deceiver. G.o.d has refused to give His children the great, the brave, and glorious things of this world, a few only excepted, because He has prepared some better thing for them (1 Cor 1:27; Heb 11:36-40). Wherefore faint not, but let thy hand be strong, for thy work shall be rewarded (Gal 6:9). And since thy soul is at work for soul-things, for divine and eternal things, G.o.d will give them to thee; thou art not of the number of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul; thou shalt receive the end of thy faith, the salvation of thy soul (Heb 10:39; 1 Peter 1:8,9).
Objection 2. But all my discouragement doth not lie in this. I see so much of the sinful vileness of my nature, and feel how ready it is to thrust itself forth at all occasions to the defiling of my whole man, and more. Now this added to the former, adds to my discouragement greatly.
Answer. This should be cause of humiliation and of self-abas.e.m.e.nt, but not of discouragement; for the best of saints have their weaknesses, these their weaknesses. The ladies as well as she that grinds at the mill, know what doth attend that s.e.x; and the giants in grace as well as the weak and shrubs, are sensible of the same things, which thou layest in against thy exercising of hope, or as matter of thy discouragement. Poor David says (Psa 77:2) "My soul refused to be comforted," upon this very account, and Paul cries out under sense of this, "O wretched man that I am!" and comes as it were to the borders of doubt, saying, "Who shall deliver me?"
(Rom 7:24). Only he was quick at remembering that Christ was his righteousness and price of redemption, and there he relieved himself.
Again; this should drive us to faith in Christ; for therefore are the corruptions by Divine permission still left in us; they are not left in us to drive us to unbelief, but to faith--that is, to look to the perfect righteousness of Christ for life. And for further help, consider, that therefore Christ liveth in heaven, making intercession, that thou mightest be saved by His life, not by thine, and by His intercessions, not by thy perfections (Rom 5: 6-9; Col 1:20). Let not therefore thy weaknesses be thy discouragements; only let them put thee upon the duties required of thee by the gospel--to wit, faith, hope, repentance, humility, watchfulness, diligence, etc. (1 Peter 1:13; 5:5; 2 Cor 7:11; Mark 13:37; 2 Peter 1:10).
Objection 3. But I find, together with these things, weakness and faintness as to my graces; my faith my hope, my love, and desires to these and all other Christian duties are weak; I am like the man in the dream, that would have run, but could not; that would have fought, but could not; and that would have fled, but could not.
Answer 1. Weak graces are graces, weak graces may grow stronger; but if the iron be blunt, put to the more strength (Eccl 10:10).
2. Christ seems to be most tender of the weak: "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isa 40:11). And again, "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick" (Eze 34:16). Only here will thy wisdom be manifested--to wit, that thou grow in grace, and that thou use lawfully and diligently the means to do it (2 Peter 3:18; Phil 2:10,11; 1 Thess 3:11-13).
USE SIXTH, I come, in the next place, to a use of terror, and so I shall conclude. Is it so? is the soul such an excellent thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great? Then this showeth the sad state of those that lose their souls. We use to count those in a deplorable condition, that by one only stroke, are stript of their whole estate; the fire swept away all that he had; or all that he had was in such a ship, and that ship sunk into the bottom of the sea; this is sad news, this is heavy tidings, this is bewailed of all, especially if such were great in the world, and were brought by their loss from a high to a low, to a very low condition; but alas! what is this to the loss about which we have been speaking all this while? The loss of an estate may be repaired, or if not, a man may find friends in his present deplorable condition to his support, though not recovery; but far will this be from him that shall lose his soul. Ah! he has lost his soul, and can never be recovered again, unless h.e.l.l fire can comfort him; unless he can solace himself in the fiery indignation of G.o.d; terrors will be upon him, anguish and sorrow will swallow him up, because of present misery; slighted and set at nought by G.o.d and His angels, he will also be in this miserable state, and this will add to sorrow, sorrow, and to his vexation of spirit, howling.
To present you with emblems of tormented spirits, or to draw before your eyes the picture of h.e.l.l, are things too light for so ponderous a subject as this; nor can any man frame or invent words, be they never so deep and profound, sufficient to the life to set out the torments of h.e.l.l.
All those expressions of fire, brimstone, the lake of fire, a fiery furnace, the bottomless pit, and a hundred more to boot, are all too short to let forth the miseries of those that shall be d.a.m.ned souls. "Who knoweth the power or G.o.d"s anger?" (Psa 90:11). None at all; and unless the power of that can be known, it must abide as unspeakable as the love of Christ, which pa.s.seth knowledge.
We hear it thunder, we see it lighten; yea, eclipses, comets, and blazing stars are all subject to smite us with terror; the thought of a ghost, of the appearing of a dead wife, a dead husband, or the like, how terrible are these things! 36 But alas, what are these?
mere flea bitings, nay, not so bad, when compared with the torments of h.e.l.l. Guilt and despair, what are they? Who understands them unto perfection? The ireful looks of an infinite Majesty, what mortal in the land of the living can tell us to the full, how dismal and breaking to the soul of a man it is, when it comes as from "the power of His anger," and arises from the utmost indignation? Besides, who knows of all the ways by which the Almighty will inflict His just revenges upon the souls of d.a.m.ned sinners? When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he heard words that were unspeakable; and he that goes down to h.e.l.l shall hear groans that are unutterable.
Hear, did I say? they shall feel them, they shall feel them burst from their wounded spirit as thunderclaps do from the clouds. Once I dreamed that I saw two (whom I knew) in h.e.l.l, and methought I saw a continual dropping from heaven, as of great drops of fire lighting upon them, to their sore distress. Oh! words are wanting, thoughts are wanting, imagination and fancy are poor things here; h.e.l.l is another kind of place and state than any alive can think; and since I am upon this subject, I will here treat a little of h.e.l.l as the Scriptures will give me leave, and the rather because I am upon a use of terror, and because h.e.l.l is the place of torment (Luke 16).
1. h.e.l.l is said to be beneath, as heaven is said to be above; because as above signifieth the utmost joy, triumph, and felicity, so beneath is a term most fit to describe the place of h.e.l.l by, because of the utmost opposition that is between these two; h.e.l.l being the place of the utmost sorrow, despair, and misery; there are the underlings ever trampled under the feet of G.o.d; they are beneath, below, under (Prov 15:24)!
2. h.e.l.l is said to be darkness, and heaven is said to be light; light, to show the pleasureableness and the desireableness of heaven; and darkness, to show the dolesome and wearisomeness of h.e.l.l; and how weary, oh! how weary and wearisomely, as I may say, will d.a.m.ned souls turn themselves from side to side, from place to place, in h.e.l.l, while swallowed up in the thickest darkness, and griped with the burning thoughts of the endlessness of that most unutterable misery (Matt 22:13)!
3. Men are said to go up to heaven, but they are said to go down to h.e.l.l; up, because of exaltation, and because they must abound in beauty and glory that go to heaven; down, because of those sad dejections, that great deformity and vile contempt that sin hath brought them to that go to h.e.l.l (Eze 32:18).
4. Heaven is called a hill or mount, (Heb 12); h.e.l.l is called a pit, or hole, (Rev 9:2); heaven, a mount, the mount Zion, (Rev 14); to show how G.o.d has, and will exalt them that loved Him in the world; h.e.l.l, a pit or hole, to show how all the unG.o.dly shall be buried in the yawning paunch and belly of h.e.l.l, as in a hollow cave.
5. Heaven! It is said of heaven, the height of heaven, (Job 22:12).
and of h.e.l.l, the bottomless pit, (Rev 9:2; 20:3). The height of heaven, to show that the exaltation of them that do ascend up thither is both perfect and unsearchable; and h.e.l.l, the bottomless pit, to show that the downfall of them that descend in thither will never be at an end--down, down, down they go, and nothing but down, down still!
6. Heaven! It is called the paradise of G.o.d, (Rev 2:7); but h.e.l.l, the burning lake (Rev 20:15). A paradise, to show how quiet, harmless, sweet, and beautiful heaven shall be to them that possess it, as the garden was at the beginning of the creation; h.e.l.l, the burning lake, to allude to Sodom, that since its destruction is turned into a stinking lake, and to show that as their distress was unutterable, and to the highest amazement, full of confusion and horror, when that tempestuous storm of fire and brimstone was rained from the Lord out of heaven upon them, so, to the utmost degree, shall it be with the souls that are lost and cast into h.e.l.l.
7. It is said that there are dwelling houses, or places in the kingdom of heaven (John 14: 1-3; Zech 3:7; Isa 57:1,2). And also that there are the cells or the chambers of death in h.e.l.l (Prov 7:27). There are mansions or dwelling places in heaven, to show that every one of them that go thither might have his reward, according to his work; and that there is h.e.l.l, and the lowest h.e.l.l (Deu 32:22; Psa 86:13). And the chambers of death in h.e.l.l to show there are places and states in h.e.l.l too, for sinners to be imprisoned in, according to their faults; hence it is said of some, These shall receive greater d.a.m.nation, (Luke 20:47); and of others, That it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for them, etc. (Luke 10:12, 14).
The lowest h.e.l.l. How many h.e.l.ls there are above that, or more tolerable tormenting places than the most exquisite torments there, G.o.d, and they that are there, know best; but degrees without doubt there are; and the term "lowest" shows the utmost and most exquisite distress; so the chambers of death, the second death in h.e.l.l, for so I think the words should be understood--"Her house is the way to h.e.l.l, going down to the chambers of death" (Prov 7:27). These are the chambers that the chambers in the temple, or that the dwelling places in the house in heaven, are opposed to: and this opposition shows, that as there will be degrees of glory in heaven, so there will of torments in h.e.l.l; and there is all reason for it, since the punishment must be inflicted by G.o.d, the infinitely just. Why should a poor, silly, ignorant man, though d.a.m.ned, be punished with the same degree of torment that he that has lived a thousand times worse shall be punished with? It cannot be; justice will not admit it; guilt, and the quality of the transgression, will not admit it; yea, the tormenting fire of h.e.l.l itself will not admit it; for if h.e.l.l fire can kindle upon nothing but sin, and the sinner for the sake of it, and if sin be as oil to that fire, as the Holy Ghost seems to intimate, saying, "Let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones" (Psa 109:18). Then as the quant.i.ty of the oil is, so will the fire burn, and so will the flaming flame ascend, and the smoke of their torment, for ever and ever. Suppose a piece of timber a little bedaubed with oil, and another that has been soaking in it many a year, which of these two, think you, would burn fiercest? and from whence would the flaming flame ascend highest, and make the most roaring noise? Suppose two vessels filled with oil, one containing the quant.i.ty of a pint, the other containing the quant.i.ty of a hogshead, and suppose that in one place they were both set on fire, yet so that they might not intermix flames; nay, though they did, yet all would conclude that the most amazing roaring flame would be upon the biggest vessel, and would be the effect of the greatest quant.i.ty of oil; so it will be with the wicked in h.e.l.l. The lowest h.e.l.l is for the biggest sinners, and theirs will be the greater d.a.m.nation, and the more intolerable torment, though he that has least of this oil of sin in his bones, and of the kindlings of h.e.l.l fire upon him, will find he has h.e.l.l enough, and will be weary enough thereof, for still he must struggle with flames that are everlasting; for sin is such a thing, that it can never be burned out of the soul and body of a d.a.m.ned sinner.
But again; having treated thus of h.e.l.l, we will now speak a word or two of sin, for that is it upon which h.e.l.l fire seizes, and so on the soul by that. Sin! it is the sting of h.e.l.l--the sting of death is sin (1 Cor 15:56). By "death" in this place we must not understand that which is natural, but that which is in h.e.l.l, the second death, even everlasting d.a.m.nation; for natural death the saints die, yea, and also many sinners, without the least touch of a sting from that; but here is a death that has a sting to hurt, to twinge, and wound the sinner with, even then when it has the utmost mastery of him. And this is the death that the saved are delivered from; not that which is natural, for that is the end of them as of others (1 Cor 15:55; Eccl 2:15, 16). But the second death, the death in h.e.l.l, for that is the portion of the d.a.m.ned, and it is from that that the saints have a promise of deliverance--"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (Rev 2:11).
And again, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power" (Rev 20:6).
It is this death, then, that hath the chambers to hold each d.a.m.ned soul in: and sin is the twining, winding, biting, poisoning sting of this death, or of these chambers of h.e.l.l, for sinners to be stricken, stung, and pierced with. "The sting of death is sin." Sin, the general of it, 37 is the sting of h.e.l.l, for there would be no such thing as torment even there, were it not that sin is there with sinners; for, as I have hinted already, the fire of h.e.l.l, the indignation and wrath of G.o.d, can fasten and kindle upon nothing but for or because of sin; sin, then, as sin, is the sting and the h.e.l.l of h.e.l.ls, of the lowest and upmost h.e.l.ls. Sin, I say, in the nature of it, simply as it is concluded both by G.o.d and the d.a.m.ned to be a breach of His holy law, so it is the sting of the second death, which is the worm of h.e.l.l. But then, as sin is such a sting in itself, so it is heightened, sharpened, and made more keen and sharp by those circ.u.mstances that as concomitants attend it in every act: for there is not a sin at any time committed by man, but there is some circ.u.mstance or other attends it, that makes it, when charged home by G.o.d"s law, bigger and sharper, and more venom and poisonous to the soul than if it could be committed without them; and this is the sting of the hornet, the great sting. I sinned without a cause to please a base l.u.s.t, to gratify the devil; here is the sting! Again, I preferred sin before holiness, death before life, h.e.l.l before heaven, the devil before G.o.d, and d.a.m.nation before a Saviour; here is the sting! Again, I preferred moments before everlastings, temporals before eternals, to be racked and always slaying before the life that is blessed and endless; here is the sting! Also, this I did against light, against convictions, against conscience, against persuasion of friends, ministers, and the G.o.dly lives which I beheld in others; here is the sting! Also, this I did against warnings, forewarnings, yea, though I saw others fall before my face by the mighty hand of G.o.d for committing of the same; here is the sting!
Sinners, would I could persuade you to hear me out! A man cannot commit a sin, but, by the commission of it, he doth, by some circ.u.mstance or other, sharpen the sting of h.e.l.l, and that to pierce himself through and through, and through, with many sorrows (1 Tim 6:10) Also, the sting of h.e.l.l to some will be, that the d.a.m.nation of others stand upon their score, for that by imitating of them, by being deluded by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, they perish in h.e.l.l for ever; and hence it is that these princ.i.p.al sinners must die all these deaths in themselves, that those d.a.m.ned ones that they have drawn into h.e.l.l are also to bear in their own souls for ever. And this G.o.d threatened to the prince of Tyrus, that capital sinner, because by his pride, power, practice, and policy, he cast down others into the pit; therefore saith G.o.d to him, "They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas." And again; "Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncirc.u.mcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord G.o.d" (Eze 28:8,10).
Ah! this will be the sting of them, of those that are princ.i.p.al, chief and, as I may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners.
Vipers will come out of other men"s fire and flames, and settle upon, seize upon, and for ever abide upon their consciences; and this will be the sting of h.e.l.l, the great sting of h.e.l.l to them.
I will yet add to all this; how will the fairness of some for heaven, even the thoughts of that, sting them when they come to h.e.l.l! It will not be so much their fall into the pit, as from whence they fell into it, that will be to them the buzzing noise and sharpened sting of the great and terrible hornet. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!" there is the sting (Isa 14:12). Thou that art exalted up to heaven shalt be thrust down to h.e.l.l, though thou hast made "thy nest among the stars," from thence I will fetch thee down; there is a sting (Matt 11:23; Oba 4). To be pulled, for and through love to some vain l.u.s.t, from the everlasting gates of glory, and caused to be swallowed up for it in the belly of h.e.l.l, and made to lodge for ever in the darksome chambers of death, there is the piercing sting!
But again, as there is the sting of h.e.l.l, so there is the strength of that sting; for a sting though never so sharp, or venom, yet if it wanteth strength to force it to the designed execution, it doth but little hurt. But this sting has strength to cause it to pierce into the soul; "the sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor 15:56). Here then is the strength of the stings of h.e.l.l; it is the law in the perfect penalty of it; "for without the law, sin is dead" (Rom 7:8). Yea, again he saith, "where no law is, there is no transgression" (Rom 4:15). The law then followeth, in the executive part of it, the soul into h.e.l.l, and there strengtheneth sin, that sting of h.e.l.l, to pierce by its unutterable charging of it on the conscience, the soul for ever and ever; nor can the soul justly murmur or repine at G.o.d or at His law, for that then the sharply apprehensive soul will well discern the justness, righteousness, reasonableness, and goodness of the law, and that nothing is done by the law unto it, but that which is just and equal. 38
This, therefore, will put great strength and force into sin to sting the soul, and to strike it with the lashes of a scorpion. Add yet to these the abiding life of G.o.d, the Judge and G.o.d of this law, will never die. When princes die, the law may be altered by the which at present transgressors are bound in chains; but oh! here is also that which will make this sting so sharp and keen, the G.o.d that executes it will never die. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living G.o.d" (Heb 10:30, 31).
FOOTNOTES:
1 "Gospellers," a term of reproach given to our reformers under Henry VIII; changed to "Puritan" under Elizabeth and the Stuarts; and to "Methodist," or "Evangelical" in more recent times. All these terms were adopted by the reformers as an honorable distinction from the openly profane.--Ed.
2 Having the most solemn warnings mercifully given to us by G.o.d, whose word is truth itself, how strange it is, nay, how insane, to neglect the Saviour. Our author, in his "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners," gives a solemn account of his own distracted feelings, when he, by Divine warnings, contemplated the probable loss of his never-dying soul; and, believing in the truth of G.o.d"s revealed will, he felt, with inexpressible horror, his dangerous state. He describes his mental anguish, by comparing it with the acute bodily sufferings of a criminal broken on the wheel. Can we wonder that he was in "downright earnest" in seeking salvation. Oh!
reader, may we be thus impelled to fly from the wrath to come.--Ed.
3 Many have been the attempts to define the qualities, nature, and residence of the soul. The sinful body is the sepulchre in which it is entombed, until Christ giveth it life. The only safe guide, in such inquiries, is to follow Bunyan, and ascertain "what saith the Lord" upon a subject so momentous and so difficult for mortal eyes to penetrate.--Ed.
4 The poor soul, under the irresistible constraints of conscience, bears witness against itself; sits in judgment upon, and condemns itself; and goeth, without a jailor, to conduct it, into the dread prison, where it becomes its own tormentor. "A wounded spirit (or conscience) who can bear?"--Ed.
5 My Lord Will-be-will was a very eminent captain in the town of Mansoul, during the Holy War: wherefore Diabolus had a kindness for him, and coveted to have him for one of his great ones, to act and do in matters of the highest concern. Bunyan represents him as having been wounded in the leg, during the seige. "Some of the prince"s army certainly saw him limp, as he afterwards walked on the wall."--Ed.
6 To the unregenerate, unsanctified soul, the language of the Saviour in John 6:48-58, must appear, as it did to the Jews, perfectly inexplicable--" He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Blessed mystery! to be one with Christ, in obedience to His will, and in partaking of His inheritance. To be enabled to say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."--Ed.
7 Nothing short of a Divine influence can direct the pa.s.sions of the soul to a proper use of their energies. "G.o.dly sorrow worketh repentance--carefulness--indignation--fear--a vehement desire--zeal--revenge," (2 Cor 7:11). Reader, has thy spirit been thus excited against sin?--Ed.
8 This is perfectly true, but is only felt by those who are taught of the Holy Spirit rightly to appreciate Divine worship. How many pay undue respect to buildings in which public prayer is offered up? It is the worship that consecrates the place and solemnizes the mind. Very remarkably was this the case with Jacob while wandering in the open wilderness. He put stones for his pillow, and in a dream saw the angels visiting the earth, and said, THIS is the house of G.o.d, and the gate of heaven.--Ed.
9 If the body, which is to return to dust, "is fearfully and wonderfully made," past our finding out in its exquisite formation, how much more so must be that immortal soul which we can only contemplate by its own powers, and study in the Bible. It never dies, although it may be dead in sin, in time; and be ever dying--ever in the agonies of death, in eternity. Solemn consideration! May our adorning be "the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible; a meek and quiet spirit; that which is in the sight of G.o.d of great price" (1 Peter 3:4).--Ed.
10 One of the first revelations to our race was, that "G.o.d breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."
And this great and important fact has, by tradition, extended over the whole of the human family.--Ed.
11 "An old horse shoe" must be mentioned, to throw utter contempt upon a custom, then very prevalent, and even now practised, of nailing an old horse shoe over the door of the house, to prevent a witch from entering. When will these absurd heathenish customs cease in Christian England?--Ed.
12 "A point," the tag at the end of a lace.--Ed.
13 Nothing can more fully display the transcendant worth and excellency of the soul, than these two considerations:--first, That by the operation of the Eternal Spirit, it is made a habitation for G.o.d Himself, and susceptible of communion and converse with G.o.d, nay, of being even filled with all the fulness of G.o.d; and, second, The infinite price that was paid for its redemption from sin and woe--the precious blood of the Son of G.o.d.--Mason.
14 "A Relation of the Fearful Estate of Frances Spira." He had been a Protestant, but, for some unworthy motives, became a Papist, and was visited with the most awful compunctions of conscience. A poetical introduction thus describes the guilty wretch:--
"Reader, wou"dst see what, may you never feel, Despair, racks, torments, whips of burning steel?
Behold this man, this furnace, in whose heart, Sin hath created h.e.l.l. Oh! In each part What flames appear; His thoughts all stings; words swords; Brimstone his breath; His eyes flames; wishes curses; life a death; A thousand deaths live in him, he not dead; A breathing corpse, in living scalding lead."
It is an awful account, and has added to it a narrative of the wretched end of John Child, a Bedford man, one of Bunyan"s friends, who, to avoid prosecution, conformed; was visited with black despair, and hung himself. A copy of this curious little book is in the editor"s possession.--Ed.