Works of John Bunyan Volume I Part 182

USE SIXTH. Lastly, If a broken heart be a thing of so great esteem with G.o.d as has been said, and if duties cannot be rightly performed by a heart that has not been broken, then this shows the vanity of those peoples' minds, and also the invalidity of their pretended Divine services, who wors.h.i.+p G.o.d with a heart that was never broken, and without a contrite spirit. There has, indeed, at all times been great flocks of such professors in the world in every age, but to little purpose, unless to deceive themselves, to mock G.o.d, and lay stumbling-blocks in the way of others; for a man whose heart was never truly broken, and whose spirit was never contrite, cannot profess Christ in earnest, cannot love his own soul in earnest; I mean, he cannot do these things in truth, and seek his own good the right way, for he wants a bottom for it, to wit, a broken heart for sin, and a contrite spirit.

That which makes a man a hearty, an unfeigned, a sincere seeker after the good of his own soul, is sense of sin, and a G.o.dly fear of being overtaken with the danger which it brings a man into.

This makes him contrite or repentant, and puts him upon seeking of Christ the Saviour, with heart-aching and heart-breaking considerations. But this cannot be, where this sense, this G.o.dly fear, and this holy contrition is wanting. Profess men may, and make a noise, as the empty barrel maketh the biggest sound; but prove them, and they are full of air, full of emptiness, and that is all.

Nor are such professors tender of G.o.d's name, nor of the credit of that gospel which they profess; nor can they, for they want that which should oblige them thereunto, which is a sense of pardon and forgiveness, by the which their broken hearts have been replenished, succoured, and made to hope in G.o.d. Paul said, the love of Christ constrained him. But what was Paul but a broken-hearted and a contrite sinner? (Acts 9:3-6; 2 Cor 5:14). When G.o.d shows a man the sin he has committed, the h.e.l.l he has deserved, the heaven he has lost; and yet that Christ, and grace, and pardon may be had; this will make him serious, this will make him melt, this will break his heart, this will show him that there is more than air, than a noise, than an empty sound in religion; and this is the man, whose heart, whose life, whose conversation and all, will be engaged in the matters of the eternal salvation of his precious and immortal soul.

[VIII. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.]

Object. First. But some may object, that in this saying I seem too rigid and censorious; and will, if I moderate not these lines with something milder afterward, discourage many an honest soul.

Answ. I answer, Not a jot, not an honest soul in all the world will be offended at my words; for not one can be an honest soul, I mean with reference to its concerns in another world, that has not had a broken heart, that never had a contrite spirit. This I will say, because I would be understood aright, that all attain not to the same degree of trouble, nor lie so long there under, as some of their brethren do. But to go to heaven without a broken heart, or to be forgiven sin without a contrite spirit, is no article of my belief. We speak not now of what is secret; revealed things belong to us and our children; nor must we venture to go further in our faith. Doth not Christ say, 'The whole have no need of a physician'; that is, they see no need, but Christ will make them see their need before he ministers his sovereign grace unto them; and good reason, otherwise he will have but little thanks for his kindness.

Object. Second. But there are those that are G.o.dly educated from their childhood, and so drink in the principles of Christianity they know not how.

Answ. I count it one thing to receive the faith of Christ from men only, and another to receive it from G.o.d by the means. If thou art taught by an angel, yet if not taught of G.o.d, thou wilt never come to Christ; I do not say thou wilt never profess him. But if G.o.d speaks, and thou shalt hear and understand him, that voice will make such work within thee as was never made before. The voice of G.o.d is a voice by itself, and is so distinguished by them that are taught thereby (John 6:44,45; Psa 29; Habb 3:12-16; Eph 4:20,21; 1 Peter 2:2,3).

Object. Third. But some men are not so debauched and profane as some, and so need not to be so hammered and fired as others; so broken and wounded as others.

Answ. G.o.d knows best what we need. Paul was as righteous before conversion as any that can pretend to civility now, I suppose; and yet that notwithstanding he was made to shake, and was astonished at himself at his conversion. And truly I think the more righteous any is in his own eyes before conversion, the more need he has of heart-breaking work, in order to his salvation; because a man is not by nature so easily convinced that his righteousness is to G.o.d abominable, as he is that his debauchery and profaneness is.

A man's goodness is that which blinds him most, is dearest to him, and hardly parted with; and therefore when such an one is converted, that thinks he has goodness of his own enough to commend him in whole or in part to G.o.d, but, but few such are converted, there is required a great deal of breaking work upon his heart, to make him come to Paul's conclusion, 'What! are we better than they? No, in no wise' (Rom 3:9). I say, before he can be brought to see his glorious robes are filthy rags, and his gainful things but loss and dung (Isa 64; Phil 3).

This is also gathered from these words, 'Publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of G.o.d before the Pharisees' (Matt 21:31).

Why before them? But because they lie fairer for the Word, are easier convinced of their need of Christ, and so are brought home to him without, as I may say, all that ado that the Holy Ghost doth make to bring home one of these to him.

True; nothing is hard or difficult to G.o.d. But I speak after the manner of men. And let who will take to task a man debauched in this life, and one that is not so, and he shall see, if he laboureth to convince them both that they are in a state of condemnation by nature, that the Pharisee will make his appeals to G.o.d, with a great many G.o.d, I thank these; while the Publican hangs his head, shakes at heart, and smites upon his breast, saying, 'G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner' (Luke 18:11-13).

Wherefore a self-righteous man is but a painted Satan, or a devil in fine clothes; but thinks he so of himself? No! no! he saith to others, Stand back, come not near me, I am holier than thou. It is almost impossible, that a self-righteous man should be saved. But he that can drive a camel through the eye of a needle, can cause that even such a one shall see his lost condition, and that he needeth the righteousness of G.o.d, which is by faith of Jesus Christ.

He can make him see, I say, that his own goodness did stand more in his way to the kingdom of heaven than he was aware of; and can make him feel too, that his leaning to that is as great iniquity as any immorality that men commit. The sum then is, that men that are converted to G.o.d by Christ, through the Word and Spirit--for all this must go to effectual conversion--must have their hearts broken, and spirits made contrite; I say, it MUST be so, for the reasons showed before. Yea, and all decayed, apostatized, and backslidden Christians must, in order to their recovery again to G.o.d, have their hearts broken, their souls wounded, their spirits made contrite, and sorry for their sins.

Come, come, conversion to G.o.d is not so easy and so smooth a thing as some would have men believe it is. Why is man's heart compared to fallow ground, G.o.d's Word to a plough, and his ministers to ploughmen? if the heart indeed has no need of breaking, in order to the receiving of the seed of G.o.d unto eternal life (Jer 4:3; Luke 9:62; 1 Cor 9:10). Who knows not that the fallow ground must be ploughed, and ploughed too before the husbandman will venture his seed; yea, and after that oft soundly harrowed, or else he will have but a slender harvest?

Why is the conversion of the soul compared to the grafting of a tree, if that be done without cutting? The Word is the graft, the soul is the tree, and the Word, as the scion, must be let in by a wound; for to stick on the outside, or to be tied on with a string, will do no good here. Heart must be set to heart, and back to back, or your pretended ingrafting will come to nothing (Rom 11:17,24; Jer 1:21).

I say, heart must be set to heart, and back to back, or the sap will not be conveyed from the root to the branch; and I say, this must be done by a wound. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia, as a man openeth the stock to graft in the scions, and so the word was let into her soul, and so the word and her heart cemented, and became one (Acts 16:14).

Why is Christ bid to gird his sword upon his thigh? and why must he make his arrows sharp, and all, that the heart may with this sword and these arrows be shot, wounded, and made to bleed? Yea, why is he commanded to let it be so, if the people would bow and fall kindly under him, and heartily implore his grace without it?

(Psa 45; 55:3,4). Alas! men are too lofty, too proud, too wild, too devilishly resolved in the ways of their own destruction; in their occasions, they are like the wild a.s.ses upon the wild mountains; nothing can break them of their purposes, or hinder them from ruining of their own precious and immortal souls, but the breaking of their hearts.

Why is a broken heart put in the room of all sacrifices which we can offer to G.o.d, and a contrite spirit put in the room of all offerings, as they are, and you may see it so, if you compare the text with that verse which goes before it; I say, why is it counted better than all, were they all put together, if any one part or if all external parts of wors.h.i.+p, were they put together, could be able to render the man a sound and a rightly made new creature without it? 'A broken heart, a contrite spirit, G.o.d will not despise'; but both thou, and all thy service, he will certainly slight and reject, if, when thou comest to him, a broken heart be wanting; wherefore here is the point, Come broken, come contrite, come sensible of, and sorry for thy sins, or thy coming will be counted no coming to G.o.d aright; and if so, consequently thou wilt get no benefit thereby.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This is beautifully and most impressively described in the Pilgrim's Progress, when the bitter feelings of poor Christian under convictions of sin, alarm his family and put it quite 'out of order.'--Ed.

[2] This quotation is from the Genevan or Puritan version of the Bible.--Ed.

[3]. 'Fish-whole' is a very striking and expressive term, highly ill.u.s.trative of the feelings and position of David when he was accosted by the prophet. The word 'whole' is from the Saxon, which language abounded in Bunyan's native county of Bedford--first introduced by an ancient colony of Saxons, who had settled there.

It means hale, hearty, free from disease, as a fish is happy in its native element--'They that are WHOLE, need not a physician, but they that are sick,' Luke 5:31. David had no smitings of conscience for his cruelty and enormous guilt; he was like a 'fish whole,' in the full enjoyment of every providential blessing; while, spiritually, he was dead in sin. G.o.d loved and pitied him, and sent a cunning angler. Nathan the prophet there in the bait, which David eagerly seized; the hook entered his conscience, and he became as a fish wounded, and nigh unto death.--Ed.

[4] The words of Tindal are, 'The sacrifice of G.o.d is a troubled sprete, a broken and a contrite hert, O G.o.d, shalt thou not despise.'

The same Hebrew word occurs in the original, both as to the spirit and the heart. Bunyan is quite right in preferring our authorised version of this verse. Coverdale, Tindal, Taverner, and Cranmer, all agree. The Genevan uses 'a contrite spirit,' and the Bishops 'a mortified spirit.'--Ed.

[5] No one could speak more feelingly upon this subject than our author. He had been in deep waters--in soul-harrowing fear, while his heart--hard by nature--was under the hammer of the Word.--'My soul was like a broken vessel. O, the unthought of imaginations, frights, fears, and terrors, that are affected by a thorough application of guilt, yielded to desperation!' Like the man that had his dwelling among the tombs.--Grace Abounding, No. 186.

[6] The Christian, if he thinks of possessing good motions, joins with such thoughts his inability to carry them into effect. 'When I would do good, evil is present with me.' How different is this to the self-righteous Ignorance, so vividly pictured in the Pilgrim's Progress:--

'Ignor.--I am always full of good motions that come into my mind, to comfort me as I walk.

Chris.--What good motions? pray tell us.

Ignor.--Why, I think of G.o.d and heaven.

Chris.--So do the devils and d.a.m.ned souls!'

The whole of that deeply interesting dialogue ill.u.s.trates the difficulty of self-knowledge, which can only be acquired by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

[7] 'All to brake'; an obsolete mode of expression for 'altogether broke.'--Ed.

[8] 'Orts'; an obsolete word in England, derived from the Anglo-Saxon.

Any worthless leaving or refuse. It is thus used by Shakespeare in his Troylus and Cresida, act 5, s. 2:--

'The fractions of her faith, orts of her love: The fragments, sc.r.a.ps, the bits and greasy relics Of her ore-eaten faith.'--Ed.

[9] This is in exact agreement with the author's experience, which he had published twenty-two years before, under the t.i.tle of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,--'I was more loathsome in my own eyes than was a toad, and I thought I was so in G.o.d's eyes too.

Sin and corruption, I said, would as naturally bubble out of my heart as water would out of a fountain. I thought that none but the devil himself could equal me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind.' A sure sign that G.o.d, as his heavenly Father, was enlightening his memory by the Holy Spirit.--Ed.

[10] This account of the author's interview with a pious, humble woman, is an agreeable episode, which relieves the mind without diverting it from the serious object of the treatise. It was probably an event which took place in one of those pastoral visits which Bunyan was in the habit of making, and which, if wisely made, so endears a minister to the people of his charge. Christ and a crust is the common saying to express the sentiment that Christ is all in all. The pitcher has reference to the custom of pilgrims in carrying at their girdle a vessel to hold water, the staff having a crook by which it was dipped up from a well or river.--Ed.

[11] However hard, and even harsh, these terms may appear, they are fully justified; and with all the author's great ability and renown, he has the grace of humility to acknowledge that, by nature and practice, he had been the biggest of fools.--Ed.

[12] Man must be burnt out of the stronghold in which he trusted.

'Saved, yet so as by fire.' 'Baptized with the Holy Ghost, even fire.' 'His word is as a fire.' Reader, the work of regeneration and purification is a trying work; may each inquire, Has this fire burnt up my wood, hay, stubble?--Ed.

[13] To 'daff' or 'doff'; to do off or throw aside--used by Shakespeare, but now obsolete,--

Where is his son, The nimble-footed madcap, Prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daft the world aside And let it pa.s.s?--Ed.

[14] 'Sin will at first, just like a beggar, crave One penny or one halfpenny to have; And if you grant its first suit, 'twill aspire From pence to pounds, and so will still mount higher To the whole soul!'--Bunyan's Caution Against Sin.--Ed.

[15] This is faithful dealing. How many millions of lies are told to the All-seeing G.o.d, with unblus.h.i.+ng effrontery, every Lord's day--when the unconcerned and careless, or the saint of G.o.d, happy, most happy in the enjoyment of Divine love, are led to say, 'Have mercy upon us miserable sinners.'--Ed.

[16] 'In grain' is a term used in dyeing, when the raw material is dyed before being spun or wove; the colour thus takes every grain, and becomes indelible. So with sin and folly; it enters every grain of human nature.--Ed.