George Bernard Shaw - "O'Flaherty V. C."

J. M. Judy - "Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes"

Charlotte M. Yonge - "My Young Alcides"

Willa Cather - "My Antonia"

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Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1




Use Seventh. Is it so? Is Jesus Christ an Advocate with the Father for
us? Then this should encourage strong Christians to tell the weak
ones where, when they are in their temptations and fears through
sin, they may have one to plead their cause. Thus the apostle doth
by the text; and thus we should do one to another. Mark, he telleth
the weak of an Advocate: "My little children, I write unto you
that ye sin not; though if any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father."

Christians, when they would comfort their dejected brethren, talk
too much at rovers37 or in generals; they should be more at the
mark: "A word spoken in season, how good is it?" I say, Christians
should observe and inquire, that they may observe the cause or
ground of their brother's trouble; and having first taken notice
of that, in the next place consider under which of the offices of
Jesus Christ this sin or trouble has cast this man; and so labour
to apply Christ in the word of the gospel to him. Sometimes we are
bid to consider him as an Apostle and High Priest, and sometimes
as a forerunner and an Advocate. And he has, as was said afore,
these divers offices, with others, that we by the consideration
of him might be relieved under our manifold temptations. This, as
I said, as I perceive John teaches us here, as he doth a little
before of his being a sacrifice for us; for he presenteth them
that after conversion shall sin with Christ as an Advocate with
the Father. As who should say, My brethren, are you tempted, are
you accused, have you sinned, has Satan prevailed against you? "We
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Thus we should do, and deliver our brother from death. There is
nothing that Satan more desires than to get good men in his sieve
to sift them as wheat, that if possible he may leave them nothing
but bran; no grace, but the very husk and shell of religion. And
when a Christian comes to know this, should Christ as Advocate be
hid, what could bear him up? But let him now remember and believe
that "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous," and he forthwith conceiveth comfort; for an advocate
is to plead for me according as has been showed afore, that I may
be delivered from the wrath and accusation of my adversary, and
still be kept safe under grace.

Further, by telling of my brother that he hath an Advocate, I put
things into his mind that he has not known, or do bring them into
remembrance which he has forgotten-to wit, that though he hath
sinned, he shall be saved in a way of justice; for an advocate is
to plead justice and law, and Christ is to plead these for a saint
that has sinned; yea, so to plead them that he may be saved. This
being so, he is made to perceive that by law he must have his sins
forgiven him; that by justice he must be justified. For Christ
as an Advocate pleadeth for justice, justice to himself; and this
saint is of himself-a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones.

Nor has Satan so good a right to plead justice against us, though
we have sinned, that we might be damned, as Christ has to plead
it, though we have sinned, that we might be saved; for sin cannot
cry so loud to justice as can the blood of Christ; and he pleads
his blood as Advocate, by which he has answered the law; wherefore
the law having nothing to object, must needs acquit the man for whom
the Lord Jesus pleads. I conclude this with that of the Psalmist,
"Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may
dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her
increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in
the way of his steps" (Psa 85:9-13).

Use Eighth. But what is all this to you that are not concerned
in this privilege? The children, indeed, have the advantage of an
advocate; but what is this to them that have none to plead their
cause? (Jer 30:12, 13); they are, as we say, left to the wide world,
or to be ground to powder between the justice of God and the sins
which they have committed. This is the man that none but the devil
seeks after; that is pursued by the law, and sin, and death, and
has none to plead his cause. It is sad to consider the plight
that such an one is in. His accuser is appointed, yea, ordered to
bring in a charge against him-"Let Satan stand at his right hand,"
in the place where accusers stand. "And when he shall be judged, let
him be condemned," let there be none to plead for his deliverance.
If he cries, or offereth to cry out for mercy or forgiveness, "let
his prayer become sin" (Psa 109:6-7). This is the portion of a
wicked man: "terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth
him away in the night, the east wind carrieth him away, and he
departeth, and as a storm hurleth him out of his place; for God
shall cast upon him, and not spare; he would fain flee out of his
hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out
of his place" (Job 27:20-23). And what shall this man do? Can he
overstand the charge, the accusation, the sentence, and condemnation?
No, he has none to plead his cause. I remember that somewhere I
have read, as I think, concerning one who, when he was being carried
upon men's shoulders to the grave, cried out as he lay upon the
bier, I am accused before the just judgment of God; and a while
after, I am condemned before the just judgment of God. Nor was this
man but strict as the religion that was then on foot in the world;
but all the religion of the world amounts to no more than nothing.
I mean as to eternal salvation, if men be denied an Advocate to
plead their cause with God. Nor can any advocate save Jesus Christ
the righteous avail anything at all, because there is none appointed
but him to that work, and therefore not to be admitted to enter a
plea for their client at the bar of God.

Objection. But some may say, There is God's grace, the promise,
Christ's blood, and his second part of priesthood now in heaven.
Can none of these severally, nor all of them jointly, save a man
from hell, unless Christ also become our Advocate?

Answer. All these, his Advocate's office not excluded, are few
enough, and little enough, to save the saints from hell; for the
righteous shall scarcely be saved (I Peter 4:18). There must, then,
be the promise, God's grace, Christ's blood, and him to advocate
too, or we cannot be saved. What is the promise without God's grace,
and what is that grace without a promise to bestow it on us? I say,
what benefit have we thereby? Besides, if the promise and God's
grace, without Christ's blood, would have saved us, wherefore
then did Christ die? Yea, and again I say, if all these, without
his being an Advocate, would have delivered us from all those
disadvantages that our sins and infirmities would bring us to and
into; surely in vain and to no purpose was Jesus made an Advocate.
But, soul, there is need of all; and therefore be not thou offended
that the Lord Jesus is of the Father made so much to his, but
rather admire and wonder that the Father and the Son should be so
concerned with so sorry a lump of dust and ashes as thou art. And
I say again, be confounded to think that sin should be a thing so
horrible, of power to pollute, to captivate, and detain us from
God, that without all this ado (I would speak with reverence of
God and his wisdom) we cannot be delivered from the everlasting
destruction that it hath brought upon the children of men.

But, I say, what is this to them that are not admitted to a privilege
in the advocate-office of Christ? Whether he is an Advocate or
no, the case to them is the same. True, Christ as a Saviour is not
divided; he that hath him not in all, shall have him in none at
all of his offices in a saving manner. Therefore, he for whom he
is not an Advocate, he is nothing as to eternal life.

Indeed, Christ by some of his offices is concerned for the elect,
before by some others of them he is; but such shall have the blessing
of them all before they come to glory. Nor hath man ground to say
Christ is here or there mine, before he hath ground to say, he also
is mine Advocate; though that office of his, as has been already
showed, stands in the last place, and comes in as a reserve. But
can any imagine that Christ will pray for them as Priest for whom
he will not plead as Advocate? or that he will speak for them to
God for whom he will not plead against the devil? No, no; they are
his own, that he loveth to the end, (John 13:1), to the end of their
lives, to the end of their sins, to the end of their temptations,
to the end of their fears, and of the exercise of the rage and
malice of Satan against them. To the end may also be understood,
even until he hath given them the profit and benefit of all his
offices in their due exercise and administration. But, I say, what
is all this to them that have him not for their Advocate?

You may remember that I have already told you that there are several
who have not the Lord Jesus for their Advocate-to wit, those that
are still in their sins, pursuing of their lusts; those that are
ashamed of him before men; and those that are never otherwise but
lukewarm in their profession. And let us now, for a conclusion,
make further inquiry into this matter.

Is it likely that those should have the Lord Jesus for their
Advocate to plead their cause; who despise and reject his person,
his Word, and ways? or those either who are so far off from sense
of, and shame for, sin, that it is the only thing they hug and
embrace? True, he pleadeth the cause of his people both with the
Father and against the devil, and all the world besides; but open
profaneness, shame of good, and without heart or warmth in religion,
are no characters of his people. It is irrational to think that
Christ is an Advocate for, or that he pleadeth the cause of such,
who, in the self-same hour, and before his enemies, are throwing
dirt in his face by their profane mouths and unsanctified lives
and conversations.

If he pleads as an Advocate for any, he must plead against Satan for
them, and so consequently must have some special bottom to ground
his plea upon; I say, a bottom better than that upon which the carnal
man stands; which bottom is either some special relation that this
man stands in to God, or some special law he hath privilege by, that
he may have some ground for an appeal, if need be, to the justice
and righteousness of God; but none of these things belong to them
that are dead in trespasses and sins; they stand in no special
relation to God: they are not privileged by the law of grace.

Objection.-But doth not Christ as Advocate plead for his elect,
though not called as yet?

Answer.-He died for all his elect, he prayeth for all his elect
as a Priest, but as an Advocate he pleadeth only for the children,
the called only. Satan objecteth not against God's election, for he
knows it not; but he objecteth against the called-to wit, whether
they be truly godly or no, or whether they ought not to die for
their transgressions (Job 1:9, 10; Zech 3). And for these things
he has some colour to frame an accusation against us, and now it
is time enough for Christ to stand up to plead. I say, for these
things he has some colour to frame a plea against us; for there is
sin and a law of works, and a judge too, that has not respect of
persons. Now to overthrow this plea of Satan, is Jesus Christ our
Advocate; yea, to overthrow it by pleading law and justice; and
this must be done with respect to the children only-"My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if
any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous."

FOOTNOTES:

1 "Nulled"; repealed or annulled.-ED.

2 "Ingenuity"; ingenuousness, frankness, sincerity.-ED.

3 How deeply important is this essential doctrine of Christianity-a
personal investigation. We must hear and see for ourselves, handle
the word of life, and not trust to others, however holy and capable
they may appear to be; we must search the Scriptures, and pray
for ourselves, or we have not the slightest claim to the name of
Christian.--ED.

4 The sin here referred to was numbering the people of Israel; see
I Chronicles 21:1-ED..

5 This is the great mystery of godliness-God manifest in the flesh,
making sinful creatures the members of his own body, and becoming
a sin-offering for them. It is a holy, a heavenly, a soul-comforting
mystery, which should influence the Christian to an intense hatred
to sin, as the cause of his Saviour's sufferings; and a still more
intense love to him, who redeemed us at such a sacrifice.-ED.

6 Altered, by a typographical error, in editions after the author's
death, to "the heathens beheld."-ED.

7 "Replevy": a form of law by which goods that are proved to have
been wrongfully seized are re-delivered to the owner.-ED.

8 "Donator"; giver, donor; now obsolete.-ED.

9 "Prevented"; gone before, so as to be seen. "Let thy grace, O
Lord, always prevent and follow us."-Common Prayer.-ED.

10This may refer to Bunyan's own feelings, which are so passionately
expressed in his Grace Abounding, No. 327, when he was dragged
from his home, his wife, and his children, to be shut up in Bedford
jail, for obedience to God. He exclaims, "My poor blind child, who
lay nearer my heart than all I had besides, thou must be beaten,
must beg, suffer hunger, cold, nakedness, and a thousand calamities,
though I cannot now endure that the wind should blow upon thee. I
thought this would break my heart to pieces."-ED.

11 "A hank"; a check, an influence over; obsolete.-ED.

12 "Entertains his lawyer"; hires or retains. So Shakespeare-"Sweet
lady, entertain him, To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship."
Gentleman of Verona, Scene IV.-ED.

13 "Shuff"; from the old Saxon word schufan, to reject, cast
away.-ED.

14 "Supply of thy defects"; a sufficiency in himself to supply all
thy defects and deficiencies.-ED.

15 "Supersedeas"; a writ to stay proceedings, for reasons expressed
in it. "Cavils and motions"; quibbles or quirks of special pleading,
and moving a court of law to occasion delay and weary out an honest
suitor; much of this nuisance has been abated, but enough remains
to render a lawsuit uncertain, vexatious, tedious, and expensive.-ED.

16 "Glaver;" to wheedle, flatter, or fawn upon; now obsolete.-ED.

17 This sentence at first sight seems obscure. The children's bread
is the superabounding riches of Divine grace. Satan putting pins
into it, may refer to those who profanely pervert the grace of
God to evil, by saying, "Let us do evil, that good may come. Whose
damnation is just." These are the dogs who are without, but never
were within the fold of Christ. (Phil 3:2, Rev 22:15)-ED.

18 Dr. Watts beautifully illustrates this soul-supporting truth in
his hymn (116, verse 2):-"How can I sink with such a prop, As my
eternal God, Who bears the earth's huge pillars up, And spreads
the heavens abroad?"-ED.

19 "The whole tale"; the whole number as reckoned and ascertained;
nothing being lost.-ED.

20 In the first edition of this treatise, this quotation is from
Joshua 3:4, an error which has been continued through every edition
to the present one.-ED.

21 "A demur"; now called a demurrer, is when a defect or legal
difficulty is discovered, which must first be settled by the judge
before the action or proceedings can be carried on.-ED.

22 How consoling a reflection is this to the distressed soul,
"Christ never lost a cause." "Him that cometh to me, I will in no
wise cast out." "They shall never perish; nor shall any pluck them
out of my hand" (John 10:28)-ED.

23 "Nonsuit"; the giving up a suit upon the discovery of some fatal
error or defect in the cause.-ED.

24 There is no night in heaven; it is one eternal day; no need of
rest or sleep. Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us.-ED.

25 The marginal readings which are found in our venerable version
of the Bible are very interesting, both to the unlearned and to
the scholar. They often throw a light upon the Scripture. For "and
make him honourable," see Bishop Patrick and Dr. Gill's annotations.-ED.

26 To draw back from, or in, our dependence upon Christ for salvation,
is a distinction which every despairing backslider should strive
to understand. The total abandonment of Christianity is perdition,
while he who is overcome of evil may yet repent to the salvation
of the soul.-ED.

27 "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear him." He punishes but to restore them in his own time to
the paths of peace.-ED.

28 How full of sweet consolation is this spiritual exposition of
the Levitical law. It was a type or shadow of good things which were
to come. Bunyan possessed a heavenly store of these apt illustrations.-ED.

29 "Branglings"; noisy quarrels or squabbles. "The payment of tithes
is subject to many brangles."-Swift. It is now obsolete, and is
substituted by wranglings.-ED.

30 The poor backslider "is blind and cannot see afar off"; this
does not affect his title, but is fatal to any present prospect of
the enjoyment of his inheritance.-ED.

31 Every sin, however comparatively small, drives us to the mediation
of Christ, but it is under a sense of great sins that we feel how
precious he is as an Advocate.-ED.

32 What can we render to the Lord? is an inquiry perpetually
fostered by the pride that clings to every believer. The world,
and all things in it, are his already. We must, as poor trembling
beggars, "take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the
Lord,"-rely upon his free gift of a full salvation. All must be
done for us gratis, or we must perish. Yes, proud sinner, you must
sue as a pauper, or you can never succeed.-ED.

33 In the form of a pauper, one who has nothing to pay with, but
is living upon alms.-ED.

34 This Greek word is only once translated "advocate" in the New
Testament; but it is used in the Gospel by John (14, 15, 16), and
translated Comforter, and applied to the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy
Ghost is to the Christian [the Greek word ] a monitor or comforter;
and our ascended Lord is [the Greek word ] the advocate before
his Father's throne. Both are our counsel-the Spirit to guide, the
Saviour to defend, the saints.-ED.

35 The Bible is the only perspective glass by which we can know
futurity, and see things that, to carnal eyes, are invisible.-ED.

36 "Ingenuity"; ingenuousness, frankness, candour, generosity: now
obsolete in this sense.-ED.

37 "Rovers"; without any definite aim. "Nature shoots not at
rovers."-Glanville.-ED

***

CHRIST A COMPLETE SAVIOUR:

OR,

THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST, AND WHO ARE PRIVILEGED IN IT.

BY JOHN BUNYAN

Advertisement by the Editor.

However strange it may appear, it is a solemn fact, that the heart
of man, unless prepared by a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of
sin, rejects Christ as a complete Saviour. The pride of human nature
will not suffer it to fall, as helpless and utterly undone, into
the arms of Divine mercy. Man prefers a partial Saviour; one who
had done so much, that, with the sinner's aid, the work might be
completed. No such were the opinions of John Bunyan; the furnace
of sharp conviction had burnt up this proud dross; he believed the
testimony of Scripture, that from the crown of the head to the soles
of the feet all nature is corrupted; so that out of the unsanctified
heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, and the sad catalogue
of crimes which our Lord enumerates, and which defile our best
efforts after purity of heart and life. No sinner will ever totally
rely upon the Saviour until he is sensible of his own perishing
state; hanging by the brittle thread of life over the yawning gulf
of perdition; sinking in that sin which will swallow him up in those
awful torments which await the transgressor; feeling that sin has
fitted him as stubble for the fire; then it is that the cry proceeds
from his heart, Lord, save, I perish; and then, and not till then,
are we made willing to receive 'Christ as a complete Saviour' to
the uttermost, not of his ability, but of our necessity. This was
the subject of all Mr. Bunyan's writings, and, doubtless, of all
his preaching. It was to direct sinners to the Lamb of God, who
alone can take away sin. This little treatise was one of those
ten 'excellent manuscripts' which, at Bunyan's decease, were found
prepared for the press. It was first published in 1692, by his
friends E. Chandler, J. Wilson, and C. Doe.

It is limited to a subject which is too often lost sight of, because
it is within the veil--the intercession of Christ as the finishing
work of a sinner's salvation. Many persons limit the 'looking unto
Jesus' to beholding him upon the cross, a common popish error; but
this is not enough; we must, in our minds, follow him to the unseen
world, and thus ascend to a risen Saviour, at the right hand of
the Father, making intercession for our daily sins. And he is our
ONLY Intercessor, and it is a rejection of him, for us to seek the
aid of another. Who ever was mad enough to ask Moses to intercede
for him, and surely he is as able as Mary or any other saint? To
atone for sin calls for the amazing price of the blood of Christ,
who was 'God manifest in the flesh.' He undertook the work by
covenant; and all the 'saved' form part of his mystical body; thus
perfectly obeying the law in him. He poured out his life to open a
fountain for sin and uncleanness; and as they are liable to pollution
in their passage through the world, he only is able, and he ever
liveth, to make intercession for their transgressions. Thus he
becomes a complete Saviour, and will crown, with an eternal weight
of glory, all those that put their trust in him. Beautiful, and
soul-softening, and heart-warming thoughts abound in this little
work, which cannot fail to make a lasting impression upon the reader.
Bunyan disclaims 'the beggarly art of complimenting' in things of
such solemnity. He describes the heart as unweldable, a remarkable
expression, drawn from his father's trade of a blacksmith; nothing
but grace can so heat it as to enable the hammer of conviction to
weld it to Christ; and when thus welded, it becomes one with him.
There is hope for a returning backslider in a complete Saviour;
he combines the evidence of two men, the coming and the returning
sinner; he has been, like Jonah, in the belly of hell; his sins,
like talking devils, have driven him back to the Saviour. Sin brings
its own punishment, from which we escape by keeping in the narrow
path. Good works save us from temporal miseries, which ever follow
an indulgence in sin; but if we fall, we have an Advocate and
Intercessor to lift us up; still, if thou lovest thy soul, slight
not the knowledge of hell, for that, with the law, are the spurs
which Christ useth to prick souls forward to himself. O gather up
thy heels and mend thy pace, or those spurs will be in thy sides.
Take heed, O persecutor; like Saul, thou art exceeding mad, and
hell is thy bedlam. Take heed of a false faith; none is true but
that which is acquired by a kneeling, searching, seeking for truth
as for hid treasure. Death is God's bailiff, he will seize thee
without warning; but with the saints, the grave's mouth is the
final parting place between grace and sin. Forget not that a good
improvement will make your little grace to thrive. Reader, may
Divine grace indelibly fix these wholesome truths upon our minds.

GEORGE OFFOR.

CHRIST A COMPLETE SAVIOUR.

'WHEREFORE HE IS ABLE ALSO TO SAVE THEM TO THE UTTERMOST THAT COME
UNTO GOD BY HIM, SEEING HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR
THEM.'--HEBREWS 7:25.

The apostle, in this chapter, presenteth us with two things; that
is, with the greatness of the person and of the priesthood of our
Lord Jesus.

First, He presenteth us with the greatness of his person, in that
he preferreth him before Abraham, who is the father of us all;
yea, in that he preferreth him before Melchisedec, who was above
Abraham, and blessed him who had the promises.

Second, As to his priesthood, he showeth the greatness of that, in
that he was made a priest, not by the law of a carnal commandment,
but by the power of an endless life. Not without, but with an oath,
by him that said, 'The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a
priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec'; wherefore, 'this
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.'
Now my text is drawn from this conclusion, namely, that Christ
abideth a priest continually. 'Wherefore he is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them.'

In the words, I take notice of four things: FIRST, Of the intercession
of Christ--He maketh intercession. SECOND, Of the benefit of his
intercession--'Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost,' &c.
THIRD, We have also here set before us the persons interested in
this intercession of Christ--And they are those 'that come unto
God by him.' FOURTH, We have also here the certainty of their
reaping this benefit by him; to wit, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them--'Wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them.' 1