(Adapted from Bunyan's The Strait Gate)
"Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
Dear
Courteous Reader,
I
do not now pipe, but mourn; and it will be well for thee if thou canst
graciously lament (Matthew 11:17). Some (say they) make the gate of
heaven too wide, and some make it too narrow; for my part, I have here
presented thee with as true a measure of it as I can, by the word of
God. Read me, therefore, yea, read me, and compare me with the Bible;
and if thou findest my doctrine and that book of God concur, embrace
it, as thou wilt answer the contrary in the day of judgment.
This awakening work (if God will make it so) was prepared
for thee: if there be need, and it wounds, get healing by blood: if it
disquiets, get peace by blood: if it takes away all the religion thou
hast, because it was nothing (for this book is not prepared to take
away true grace from any), then buy of Christ gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayst be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayst be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness doth not appear, and anoint thine
eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayst see (Revelation 3:18).
Self-flatteries, self-deceivings, are easy and pleasant, but damnable.
The Lord give thee an heart to judge right of thyself, right of this
book, and so prepare for eternity, that thou mayst not only expect
entrance, but be received into the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Amen. So prays thy friend, John
Bunyan.
Professing
Christians May Mistake False Repentance for the True.
There Is An Awakening About One’s Spiritual Condition That Will Not
Save.
Do they who shall be saved have natural awakenings about their condition? So have they that shall be damned. They who will never go to heaven may see much of sin, and of the wrath of God due thereto. Cain and Judas had this, and yet they came short of the kingdom (Genesis 4.; Matthew 27:4). The saved have convictions, in order to their eternal life; but their convictions doth drive them sincerely to Christ; the convictions of the unsaved doth drive them to the law, and the law to desperation at last.
There Is A
“Repentance” That Will Not Save.
It
is a “repentance” to be repented of; in contrast to a repentance unto
salvation, not to be repented of (2 Corinthians 7:10). Yet so great a
similitude and likeness there is between the one and the other, that
most times the wrong is taken for the right, and through this mistake,
professors perish.
--In saving repentance
there will be an acknowledgment of sin; and one that hath the other
“repentance” may acknowledge his sins also (Matthew 27:4).
--In saving repentance
there is a crying out under sin; but one that hath the other
“repentance” may cry out under sin also (Genesis 4:13).
--In saving repentance
there will be humiliation for sin; and one that hath the other
“repentance” may humble himself also (1 Kings 21:29).
--Saving repentance is
attended with self-loathing; but he that hath the other “repentance”
may have loathing of sin too (2 Peter 2:22). A loathing of sin merely
because it is sin, he will not have; but a loathing of sin because it
is offensive to him, he may have. The dog doth not loath that which
troubleth his stomach merely because it is there, but because it
troubleth him; when it has done troubling of him, he can turn to it
again, and lick it up as before it troubled him.
