glory, thou canst not espy one that, when here, was as vile a sinner as thyself. Look, man; they are there for thee to view them, and for thee to take encouragement to hope, when thou shalt consider what grace and mercy have done for them. Look again, I say, now thou art upon thy knees, and see if some that are among them have not done worse than thou hast done. And yet behold, they are set down; and yet behold, they have crowns on their heads, their harps in their hands, and sing aloud of salvation to their God and the Lamb. Behold, tempted soul; dost thou not yet see what a throne of grace here is, and what multitudes are already arrived thither, to give thanks unto His name that sits thereon, and to the Lamb for ever and ever? And wilt thou hang thy harp upon the willows, and go drooping up and down the world, as if there was no God, no grace, no throne of grace, to apply thyself unto for mercy and grace to help in time of need? Hark; dost thou not hear them what they say? "Worthy," say they, "is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven"-where they are" and on the earth"-where thou art-"and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are therein, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."

And this is written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope; and that the drooping ones might come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

BUNYAN'S TEMPTATIONS.

In general, God was pleased to take this course with me: First, to suffer me to be afflicted with temptations concerning the truths of the gospel, and then reveal them to

!

me; as sometimes I should lie under great guilt for sin,
even crushed to the ground therewith; and then the Lord
would show me the death of Christ, yea, and so sprinkle
my conscience with his blood, that I should find, and that
before I was aware, that in that conscience where but just
now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and
abide the peace and love of God through Christ.

Thus by the strange and unusual assaults of the tempt-
er, my soul was like a broken vessel driven as with the
winds, and tossed, sometimes headlong into despair, some-
times upon the covenant of works, and sometimes to wish
that the new covenant and the conditions thereof might, so
far forth as I thought myself concerned, be turned another
way and changed. But in all these, I was as those that
jostle against the rocks; more broken, scattered, and rent.
Oh, the unthought-of imaginations, frights, fears, and ter-
rors that are effected by a thorough application of guilt
yielding to desperation. This is the man that hath his
dwelling among the tombs, with the dead-that is always
crying out, and cutting himself with stones. But I say,
in vain; desperation will not comfort him, the old covenant
will not save him: nay, heaven and earth shall pass away
before one jot or tittle of the word and law of grace will
fail or be removed. This I saw, this I felt, and under this
I groaned. Yet this advantage I got thereby, namely, a
further confirmation of the certainty of the way of salva-
tion, and that the Scriptures were the word of God.
Oh,
I cannot now express what I then saw and felt of the stead-
fastness of Jesus Christ, the Rock of man's salvation: what
was done could not be undone, added to, nor altered.

all

Often when I have been making towards the promise,
John 6:30, I have seen as if the Lord would refuse my
soul for ever; I was often as if I had run upon
the pikes,
and as if the Lord had thrust at me, to keep me from him,

1

as with a flaming sword. Then would I think of Esther,
who went to petition the king contrary to the law. I
thought also of Benhadad's servants, who went with ropes
their heads to their enemies for mercy.
upon
The woman
of Canaan also, that would not be daunted though called
a dog by Christ, and the man that went to borrow bread at
midnight, were also great encouragements unto me.

I never saw such heights and depths in grace and love and mercy, as I saw after this temptation. Great sins draw out great grace; and where guilt is most terrible and fierce, there the mercy of God in Christ, when showed to the soul, appears most high and mighty. When Job had passed through his calamity, he had twice as much as he had before. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ our Lord.

If ever Satan and I did strive for any word of God in all my life, it was for this good word of Christ: "Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out;" he at one end, and I at the other. Oh, what work we made. It was for this, in John 6:30, I say, that we did so tug and strive : he pulled, and I pulled; but, God be praised, I overcame him and got sweetness from it.

I prayed to God, in prison, that he would comfort me, and give me strength to do and suffer what he should call no comfort appeared, but all continued hid. I me to; yet was also at this time so really possessed with the thought of death, that oft I was as if on the ladder with a rope neck: only this was some encouragement to me: I thought I might now have an opportunity to speak my last words unto a multitude, which I supposed would come to see me die; and thought I, if it must be so, if God will but convert one soul by my last words, I shall not count my

about my

life thrown away nor lost.

But yet all the things of God were kept out of my sight, and still the tempter followed me with, But whither must

you go when you die? What will become of you? Where will you be found in another world? What evidence have you for heaven and glory, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified? Thus was I tossed for many weeks, and knew not what to do; at last, this consideration fell with weight upon me, That it was for the word and way of God that I was in this condition; wherefore, I was engaged not to flinch a hair's breadth from it.

I thought, also, that God might choose whether he would give me comfort now, or at the hour of death; but I might not therefore choose whether I would hold my profession or no. I was bound, but he was free: yea, it was my duty to stand to his word, whether he would ever look upon me, or save me at the last. Wherefore, thought I, the point being thus, I am for going on and venturing my eter nal state with Christ, whether I have comfort here or no: if God doth not come in, thought I, I will leap off the ladder even blindfold into eternity, sink or swim, come heaven come hell. Lord Jesus, if thou wilt catch me, do; if not, I will venture for thy name.

Before I had got thus far out of these my temptations, I did greatly long to see some ancient godly man's experience, who had writ some hundreds of years before I was born; for those who had writ in our days, I thought—but I desire them now to pardon me-that they had writ only that which others felt; or else had, through the strength of their wits and parts, studied to answer such objections as they perceived others were perplexed with, without going themselves down into the deep. Well, after many such longings in my mind, the God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hand one day a book of Martin Luther's: it was his Comment on the Galatians; it was also so old that it was ready to fall piece from piece. if I did but turn it over. Now I was pleased much tha such an old book had fallen into my hands; the which

when I had but a little way perused, I found my condition in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if this book had been written out of my heart. This made me marvel; for thus thought I, this man could not know any thing of the state of Christians now, but must needs write and speak the experience of former days.

Besides, he doth most gravely also, in that book, debate of the rise of these temptations, namely, blasphemy, desperation, and the like; showing that the law of Moses, as well as the devil, death, and hell, hath a very great hand therein the which, at first, was very strange to me; but considering and watching, I found it so indeed. But of particulars here I intend nothing; only this methinks I must let fall before all men, I do prefer this book of Martin Luther upon the Galatians, excepting the Holy Bible, before all the books that ever I have seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience.

XVI. SECURITY OF CHRISTIANS.

CHRISTIANS, were you awake, here would be matter of wonder to you, to see a man assaulted with all the power of hell, and yet come off a conqueror. Is it not a wonder to see a poor creature, who in himself is weaker than the moth, stand against and overcome all devils, all the world, all his lusts and corruptions? Or if he fall, is it not a wonder to see him, when devils and guilt are upon him, rise again, stand upon his feet again, walk with God again, and persevere after all this in the faith and holiness of the gospel? He that knows himself, wonders; he that knows temptation, wonders; he that knows what falls and guilt mean, wonders: indeed, perseverance is a wonderful thing and is managed by the power of God; for he only "is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy."