The Riches of Bunyan: Selected from His WorksBunyan, John
Religion
The Riches of Bunyan: Selected from His Works
Bunyan, John
Theology, Doctrinal
Now then is the time of iniquity, when it will be come to the full;
and now also is the time of God's anger, when it will be come to the
full. Now therefore must the murders and thefts and blasphemies and
fornications belonging to this mother of harlots, be recompensed to
the full, to wit, with the dregs of this cup. Yet since the
hailstones come by weight and the wrath comes by measure--for so a
talent and a cup imports, Rev. 16:17-21--it follows that the
almighty God, even in the midst of the heat of all this anger, will
keep to the rules of justice and judgment while he is dealing with
this enemy: he has not passions to carry him beyond rules of
judgment, nor weakness to cause him to fall short of doing justice;
therefore he has his judgments for her by weight, and his
indignation by measure. But yet this weight and measure are not
suited to her constitution, not with an intent to purge or refine
her; but it is disposed according to the measure and nature of her
iniquity, and comes to sweep her as with the besom of destruction,
until she is swept off from the face of all the earth.
Now since she is dying, let us ring her passing-bell; for when she
is dead, we that live to see it intend to ring out.
PRESENT STATE OF ANTICHRIST.
Now I saw in my dream, that at the end of this valley lay blood,
bones, ashes, and mangled bodies of men, even of pilgrims that had
gone this way formerly; and while I was musing what should be the
reason, I spied a little before me a cave, where two giants, Pope
and Pagan, dwelt in old time; by whose power and tyranny the men
whose bones, blood, and ashes lay there, were cruelly put to death.
But by this place Christian went without much danger, whereat I
somewhat wondered; but I have learnt since, that Pagan has been dead
many a day; and, as for the other, though he be still alive, he is,
by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes that he met
with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints,
that he now can do little more than sit in his cave's mouth,
grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails because he
cannot come at them.
SLAYING OF THE WITNESSES.
Thus, as to sense and reason, all shall be hush, all shall be quiet
and still, Rev. 11:7-15: the followers of the Lamb shall be down;
the followers of the beast shall be up, shall cry, Peace and safety,
and be as secure as a hard heart, false peace, and a deceitful devil
can make. them. But behold, while they thus sing in the window,
death is striding over the threshold! While they are crying peace
and safety, sudden destruction cometh. By that they have well
settled themselves at their table with Adonijah, 1 Kings, 1, they
shall hear it proclaimed with sound of trumpet, The witnesses are
risen again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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