How often do we suffer by neglecting the cautions of a pious parent or friend. “In time of temptation it is our duty to keep close to the Word, then we have Satan at the end of the staff. When Eve was tempted, she went to the outside of her liberty, and sat herself on the brink of danger, when she said, we may eat of all but one.” —Bunyan on Genesis, vol. 2, p. 429 Christiana had chided the boys: “You transgress, for that fruit is none of ours.” Still the boys went on, and now Matthew feels the bitterness of repentance. —Editor ↩
Although the mother did warn and chide her son, yet she did not use her authority to prevent his taking the fruit which belonged to another. She takes the fault home, falls under the sense of it, and is grieved for it. A tender conscience is a blessed sign of a gracious heart. Ye parents, who know the love of Christ, watch over your children; see to it, lest you smart for your sins, in not warning and preventing them, that “the fear of the Lord is to depart from all evil;” yea, to abstain from the very appearance of it. —Mason, altered by Editor ↩
Hebrews 10:1–4. ↩
John 6:54–57; Hebrews 9:14.
Mr. Bunyan’s great modesty and humility are truly admirable; he quotes Latin, but is careful to tell us, “The Latin I borrow” [in his notes]. The English is, “Of the flesh and of the blood of Christ.” This is the only portion for sin-sick souls. Feeding upon Christ’s flesh and blood by faith, keeps us from sinning, and when sick of sin, these, and nothing but these, can heal and restore us. Yet there is in our nature an unaccountable reluctance to receive these, through the unbelief which works in us. So Matthew found it. —Mason ↩
Mark 9:49. ↩
Zechariah 12:10. ↩
See the blessed effects of receiving Christ, when under the sense of sin, and distressed for sin. O what a precious Saviour is Jesus! What efficacy is there in His flesh and blood, to purge the conscience from guilt! Lord, what a mercy is it, that though we sin, yet Thou art abundant to pardon, yea, multipliest Thy pardons; yea, and also giveth poor, pained, brokenhearted sinners to know and feel Thy pardoning love! —Mason ↩
How correctly are the effects of an indulgence in sinful lusts described. Sin and sorrow are inseparable. The burdened conscience of a backslider can be relieved in no other way, than that in which it was first “purged from dead works,” by exercising faith in the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus as the only sacrifice for sin, “If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness” (Galatians 6:1). “Flee youthful lusts,” and be upon your guard against the fruit of Beelzebub’s orchard. —Ivimey ↩
Hebrews 13:11–16. ↩
The relation of Matthew’s sickness, and the method of his cure, may be justly esteemed among the finest passages of this work. He ate the fruit of Beelzebub’s orchard, sin, the disease of the soul, threatening eternal death. It is an unspeakable mercy to be exceedingly pained with it. Such need the physician, and the remedy is at hand.
Nothing but Thy blood, O Jesus!
—Hart
Can relieve us from our smart;
Nothing else from guilt release us
Nothing else can melt the heart
It is the universal medicine; blessed are those that will never take any other physic. —Burder ↩
John 6:50. ↩
This advice should be carefully noted. Numbers abuse the doctrine of free salvation by the merits and redemption of Christ, and presume on forgiveness, when they are destitute of genuine repentance, and give no evidence of sanctification. But this most efficacious medicine in that case will do no good; or rather, the perverse abuse of it will increase their guilt, and tend to harden their hearts in sin. —Scott ↩
Bunyan’s bill of his Master’s water of life—“As men, in their bills, do give an account of the persons cured, and the diseases removed, so could I give you account of numberless numbers that have not only been made to live, but to live forever, by drinking this pure water of life. No disease comes amiss to it. It cures blindness, deafness, dumbness, deadness. This right holy water (all other is counterfeit) will drive away evil spirits. It will make you have a white soul, and that is better than a white skin.” —Bunyan’s Water of Life Whoever offers to purify the heart, and heal a wounded conscience, by any other means, is a deceiver and a soul-destroyer. —Editor ↩
This conversation is adapted for the meditation of a restored backslider. Evangelical truth prescribes the most powerful antidotes to presumption and despair—“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” (1 John 2:1). —Ivimey ↩
Having experienced the great advantage of a pious minister or elder, they were naturally desirous of having such comfort through their pilgrimage. The petition may refer to the custom, among dissenting churches, of letters of dismission given to members when they move to a distant locality. —Editor ↩
How much is contained in that answer of Christiana as to the origin of evil—“It is food or poison, I know not which!” To believers, it will be their elevation to a degree of bliss that they would never have otherwise enjoyed; to the faithless, it will be poison of the deadliest kind. Here is
