John Bunyan

“ To run through all that opposition, all the jostles, all the rubs, over all the stumbling blocks, over all the snares, from all the entanglements that the devil, sin, the world, and their own hearts, lay before them; I tell thee, if thou art going heavenward, thou wilt find it no small or easy matter. Art thou therefore discharged and unladen of these things? Never talk of going to heaven if thou art not. It is to be feared thou wilt be found among the many that "will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." ”

“ Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart have I that I cannot mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a limb, a child, or a friend, it would not be so much; but poor man, it is THY SOUL! If it was to lie in hell but for a day, but for a year, nay, ten thousand years, it would (in comparison) be nothing ”

“ If there be ever such a rare jewel lying just in a man's way, yet if he see it not he will rather trample upon it than stoop for it, and it is because he sees it not. Why, so it is here; though heaven be worth ever so much, and thou hast ever so much need of it, yet if thou see it not, that is, have not thy understanding opened or enlightened to see, thou wilt not regard at all. ”

“ Follow not that proud, lofty spirit, that, devil-like, cannot be content with his own station. David was of an excellent spirit, where he saith, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child." Do thou so run. ”

“ What! for a man to deny, reject, abhor, and throw away all his prayers, tears, alms, keeping of sabbaths, hearing, reading with the rest, in the point of justification, and to count them accursed; and to be willing, in the very midst of the sense of his sins, to throw himself wholly upon the righteousness and obedience of another man, abhorring his own, counting it as a deadly sin, as the open breach of the law! ”

“ It is a dangerous thing, you know, for a man to think he is in the right way, when he is in the wrong. It is the next way for him to lose his way; and not only so, but if he run for heaven, as thou sayest thou dost, even to lose that too. Oh! this is the misery of most men, to persuade themselves that they run right, when they have never one foot in the way! The Lord give thee understanding here, or else thou art undone for ever.
Prithee, soul, search when was it thou turned out of thy sins and righteousness, into the righteousness of Jesus Christ. ”

“ THE THIRD DIRECTION.—Not only thus, but, in the next place, thou must strip thyself of those things that may hang upon thee, to the hindering of thee in the way to the kingdom of heaven: as covetousness, pride, lust, or whatever else thy heart may be inclining unto, which may hinder thee in this heavenly race. Men that run for a wager, (if they intend to win as well as run,) do not use to encumber themselves, or carry those things about them that may be a hindrance to them in their running. "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." ”

“ And if they shall not escape that neglect, then how shall they escape, that reject and turn their back upon so great a salvation? And if the righteous, that is, they that run for it, will find work enough to get to heaven, then where will the ungodly backsliding sinner appear? Oh! if Judas the traitor, or Francis Spira the backslider, were but now alive in the world, to whisper these men in the ear a little, and tell them what it hath cost their souls for backsliding, surely it would stick by them, and make them afraid of running back again, so long as they had one day to live in this world! ”

“ For when men do come to see the things of another world, what a God, what a Christ, what a heaven, and what an eternal glory there is to be enjoyed; also when they see that it is possible for them to have a share in it; I tell you it will make them run through thick and thin to enjoy it. Moses, having a sight of this, because his understanding was enlightened, feared not the wrath of the king, but chose rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. ”

“ I beseech you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that none of you do run so lazily in the way to heaven as to hinder either yourselves or others. I know that even he who runs laziest, if he should see a man running for a temporal life, who should so much neglect his own well-being in this world, as to venture, when he is running for his life, to pick up, here and there, a lock of wool that hangeth by the wayside, or to step, now and then, aside out of the way to gather up a straw or two, or any rotten stick ”

“ The very same case is this; if thou gaze and stare after every opinion and way that comes into the world, also if thou be prying overmuch in God's secret decrees, or let thy heart too much entertain questions about some nice, foolish curiosities, thou mayst stumble and fall; as many hundreds in England have done, both in Ranting and Quakery, to their eternal overthrow, without the marvellous operation of God's grace be suddenly stretched forth to bring them back again. ”

“ And therefore, saith Paul, Do not you, believers walk as do other Gentiles, even "in the vanity of their minds; having their understandings darkened; being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance (or foolishness) that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Walk not as those; run not with them. Alas! poor souls, they have their understandings darkened, their hearts blinded, and that is the reason they have such undervaluing thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation of their souls. ”

“ THE SEVENTH USE.—Again, How basely do they behave themselves, how unlike they are to win, that think it enough to keep company with the hindmost! There are some men that profess themselves such as run for heaven as well as any; yet if there be but any lazy, slothful, cold, half-hearted professors in the country, they will be sure to take example by them. They think, if they can but keep pace with them they shall do fair; but these do not consider that the hindmost lose the prize. ”

“ They that will go to heaven must run for it; because perchance the gates of heaven may shut shortly. Sometimes sinners have not heaven-gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a man, they are so heavy, that all the men in the world, or all the angels in heaven, are not able to open them. "I shut, and no man can open," saith Christ. And how if thou shouldst come but one quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee it will cost thee an eternity to bewail thy misery in! Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to stay till the gates of mercy be quite shut ”

“ THE FOURTH USE.—So again, fourthly, How like to those men's sufferings will those be, that have all this while sat still, and have not so much as set one foot forward to the kingdom of heaven! Surely he that backslideth, and he that sitteth still in sin, are both of one mind; the one will not stir, because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world; the other runs back again, because he loveth his sins, and the things of this world. Is it not one and the same thing? They are all one here, and shall not one and the same hell hold them hereafter? ”

“ If these be not thy meditations, thou wilt draw very heavily in the way to heaven if thou do not give up all for lost, and so knock off from following any farther. Therefore, I say, take heart in thy journey, and say to them that seek thy destruction, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." ”

“ THE EIGHTH MOTIVE.—Or else he will convey new strength from heaven into thy soul, which will be as well. "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." What shall I say besides, that hath not already been said? Thou shalt have good and easy lodging, good and wholesome diet, the bosom of Christ to lie in, the joys of heaven to feed on. ”

“ The doctrine of perseverance is also cross to the flesh; which is not only to begin, but to hold out; not only to bid fair, and to say, 'Would I had heaven,' but so to know Christ, to put on Christ, and walk with Christ, as to come to heaven. Indeed it is no great matter to begin to look for heaven; to begin to seek the Lord; to begin to shun sin. ”

“ I am running for a wager: if I win, I am made; if I lose, I am undone; and therefore hinder me not.' Thus wise are men, when they run for corruptible things; and thus shouldst thou do. And thou hast more cause to do so than they, forasmuch as they run but for things that last not, but thou for an incorruptible glory. I give thee notice of this betimes, knowing that thou shalt have enough call after thee, even the devil, sin, this world, vain company, pleasures, profits, esteem among men, ease, pomp, pride, together with an innumerable company of such companions ”

“ THE FIRST MOTIVE.—Consider there is no way but this: thou must either win or lose. If thou winnest, then heaven, God, Christ, glory, ease, peace, life, yea, life eternal, is thine; thou shalt be made equal to the angels in heaven; thou shalt sorrow no more, sigh no more, feel no more pain; thou shalt be out of the reach of sin, hell, death, the devil, the grave, and whatever else may endeavor thy hurt. But contrariwise, and if thou lose, then thy loss is heaven, glory, God, Christ, ease, peace, and whatever else tendeth to make eternity comfortable to the saints ”

“ THE EIGHTH USE.—Again, How, and if thou by thy lazy running should'st not only destroy thyself, but also thereby be the cause of the damnation of some others? For thou, being a professor, thou must think that others will take notice of thee; and because thou art but a poor, cold, lazy runner, and one that seeks to drive the world and pleasure along with thee; why, thereby others will think of doing so too. 'Nay,' say they, 'why may not we, as well as he? He is a professor, and yet he seeks for pleasures, riches, profits ”

“ Heaven and happiness is that which every one desireth, insomuch that wicked Balaam could say, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" Yet for all this, there are but very few that do obtain that ever-to-be-desired glory, insomuch that many eminent professors drop short of a welcome from God into this pleasant place. ”

“ Can you not do as your neighbors do—carry the world, sin, lust, pleasure, profit, esteem among men, along with you?'—Have a care thou do not let thine ear now be open to the tempting, enticing, alluring, and soul-entangling flatteries of such sink-souls as these are. ”

“ I will warrant you, that he who should lose his soul in this world through slothfulness, will have no cause to be glad thereat, when he comes to hell. Slothfulness is usually accompanied with carelessness; and carelessness is for the most part begotten by senselessness; and senselessness doth again put fresh strength into slothfulness; and by this means the soul is left remediless. Slothfulness shutteth out Christ; slothfulness shameth the soul.
Slothfulness is condemned even by the feeblest of all the creatures. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." ”

“ If thou wouldst not be hated and mocked then, take heed thou by thy folly dost not procure the displeasure and mockings of the great God; for his mocks and hatred will be terrible, because they will fall upon thee in terrible times, even when tribulation and anguish take hold on thee; which will be when death and judgment come, when all the men in the earth, and all the angels in heaven cannot help thee. ”

“ Did you never read that the Dragon persecuted the woman? and that Christ saith, "In the world ye shall have tribulation."
THE NINTH DIRECTION.—Beg of God that he would do these two things for thee: First, enlighten thine understanding: and secondly, inflame thy will. If these two be but effectually done, there is no fear but what thou wilt go safe to heaven.
One of the great reasons why men and women do so little regard the other world, is, because they see so little of it. And the reason why they see so little of it, is, because they have their understanding darkened. ”

“ They have not yet learned the true Christ, and what his righteousness is; neither have they a sense of their own insufficiency; but are bold, proud, presumptuous, self-conceited. And therefore, take
THE FIFTH DIRECTION.—Do not thou be too much in looking too high in thy journey heavenwards. You know men that run a race do not use to stare and gaze this way and that; neither do they use to cast up their eyes too high; lest haply, through their too much gazing with their eyes after other things, they in the mean time stumble, and catch a fall. ”

“ That man that is resolved for heaven, if Satan cannot win him by flatteries, he will endeavor to weaken him by discouragements, saying, 'Thou art a sinner,' 'thou hast broken God's law,' 'thou art not elected,' 'thou comest too late,' 'the day of grace is past,' 'God doth not care for thee,' 'thy heart is naught,' 'thou art lazy,' with a hundred other discouraging suggestions. ”

“ They that are slothful do usually lose the season in which things are to be done: and thus it is also with them that are slothful for heaven; they miss the seasons of grace. And therefore, 6. They that are slothful have seldom, or never, good fruit; so also it will be with the soul-sluggard. 7. They that are slothful, are chid for the same: so also will Christ deal with those that are not active for him. 'Thou wicked and slothful servant! out of thine own mouth will I judge thee. Thou saidst I was thus, and thus; wherefore then gavest thou not my money to the bank? ”