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William Erberry
"God dwells as glorious in a saint when he is in the dark,
as when he is in light, for darkness is His secret place,
and His pavilion round about Him are dark waters."
Isaac Ambrose
"O Christian, never be proud of things that are so
transient, injurious, and uncertain as the riches of this
evil world! But set your heart on the true and durable
riches of grace in Christ Jesus."
Thomas Adams
"Sense of sin may be often great, and more felt than grace;
yet not be more than grace. A man feels the ache of his
finger more sensibly than the health of his whole body; yet
he knows that the ache of a finger is nothing so much as the
health of the whole body."
Stephen Charnock
"A proud faith is as much a contradiction as a humble
devil."
Augustus Toplady
"One great contest, between the religion of Arminianism, and
the religion of Christ, is, who shall stand entitled to the
praise and glory of a sinner's salvation? Conversion decides
this point at once; for I think that, without any imputation
of uncharitableness, I may venture to say, that every truly
awakened person, at least when he is under the shine of
God's countenance upon his soul, will fall down upon his
knees, with this hymn of praise ascending from his heart,
'Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but to thy name, give the
glory: I am saved not for my righteousness, but for thy
mercy and thy truth's sake.'"
Cotton Mather
"Examples do strangely charm us into imitation. When
holiness is pressed upon us we are prone to think that it is
a doctrine calculated for angels and spirits whose dwelling
is not with flesh. But when we read the lives of them that
excelled in holiness, though they were persons of like
passions with ourselves, the conviction is wonderful and
powerful." |
I guess we could say that John Bunyan was a bit like Joseph
in the Old Testament. Joseph was put into prison and ended
up in the palace, second in command of all Egypt. Bunyan was
put into prison twice for preaching the gospel; actually
three times: once in 1661 for 6 years, and then out for a
few months, and then back in for another 6 years until 1672.
Then he was imprisoned again in 1675.
When Bunyan went into jail he took two companions with him -
the Bible and
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. At that time in England no
house was considered to be Christian unless it contained
those two books.
When Bunyan was in jail the last time, he wrote
The
Pilgrim's Progress, which is the greatest Christian
allegory that has ever been written. Published in 1678, it
became an instant success. By 1685 it had gone through eight
editions.
Hundreds-of-thousands of Christians, young and old,
identified themselves with the struggles of poor Christian.
And for many of them, the most unforgettable images was the
heavy load that the Pilgrim always carried around on his
back and how it rolled away when he came to the Cross.
It wasn't very long before the house of every Christian who
could afford it contained three books: the Bible,
Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and
The
Pilgrim's Progress. While writing a tale of his own
struggles, an allegory to amuse his children when they
visited him, John Bunyan never realized that God planned to
use
The
Pilgrim's Progress to save thousands of souls down
through the centuries. Something He's still doing with it
today. |
