Bunyan, John, 1628-1688 -- Criticism and interpretation
palms in their hands, so much so that we sink down under the greatness of
the glory, till One with His head and His hairs white like wool, as white
as snow, lays His hand upon us, and says to us, Fear not, for, behold, I
have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment.
'I also saw Mansoul clad all in white,
And heard her Prince call her His heart's delight,
I saw Him put upon her chains of gold,
And rings and bracelets goodly to behold.
What shall I say? I heard the people's cries,
And saw the Prince wipe tears from Mansoul's eyes,
I heard the groans and saw the joy of many;
Tell you of all, I neither will nor can I.
But by what here I say you well may see
That Mansoul's matchless wars no fable be.'
'And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.' We
need no exegesis of that beautiful Scripture beyond that exegesis which
our own hearts supply. And if we did need that shining text to be
explained to us, to whom could we better go for its explanation than just
to John Bunyan? Well, then, in our author's _No Way to Heaven but by
Jesus Christ_, he says: 'This fine linen, in my judgment, is the works of
godly men; their works that spring from faith. But how came they clean?
How came they white? Not simply because they were the works of faith.
But, mark, they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. And therefore they are before the throne of God. Yea,
therefore it is that their good works stand in such a place.' 'Nor must
we think it strange,' says John Howe, in his _Blessedness of the
Righteous_, 'that all the requisites to our salvation are not found
together in one text of Scripture. I conceive that imputed righteousness
is not here meant, but that righteousness which is truly subjected in a
child of God and descriptive of him. The righteousness of Him whom we
adore as made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him, that righteousness has a much higher sphere peculiar and
appropriate to itself. Though this of which we now speak is necessary
also to be both had and understood.' Emmanuel's livery, then, is the
righteousness of the saints. Emmanuel puts that righteousness upon all
His saints; while, at the same time, they put it on themselves; they work
it out for themselves, and for themselves they keep it clean. They work
it out, put it on, and keep it clean, and yet, all the time, it is not
they that do it, but it is Emmanuel that doeth it all in them. The truth
is, you must all become mystics before you will admit all the strange
truth that is told about Emmanuel's livery. For both heaven and earth
unite in this wonderful livery. Nature and grace unite in it. It is
woven by the gospel on the loom of the law--till, to tell you all that is
true about it, I neither can nor will I. Albert Bengel tells us that the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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