John Bunyan: Verses about Love

Now, then, if holiness thou wouldst obtain,
And wouldst a tender Christian man remain,

Keep faith in action, let that righteousness
That Christ fulfilled always have express

And clear distinction in thy heart, from all
That men by Scripture, or besides, it, call

Inherent gospel holiness, or what
Terms else they please to give it; for 'tis that,

And that alone, by which all graces come
Into the heart; for else there is no room

For ought but pride, presumption, or despair,
No love or other graces can be there.

Received you the Spirit, saith St. Paul,
By hearing, faith, or works? not works, and shall

No ways retain the same, except you do
Hear faith, embrace the same, and stick thereto.

When understand my meaning by my words,
How sense of mercy unto faith affords

Both grace to sanctify, and holy make
That soul that of forgiveness doth partake.

Thus having briefly showed you what is
The way of life, or sanctity, of bliss,

I would not in conclusion have you think,
By what I say, that Christian men should drink

In these my words with lightness, or that they
Are now exempted from what every day

Their duty is. No, God doth still expect,
Yea, doth command, that they do not neglect

To pray, to read, to hear, and not dissent
From being sober, grave, and diligent

In watching, self-denial, and with fear
To serve him all the time thou livest here.

Indeed I have endeavoured to lay
Before your eyes the right and only way

Pardon to get, and also holiness,
Without which never think that God will bless

Thee with the kingdom he will give to those
That Christ embrace, and holy lives do choose

To live, while here all others go astray,
And shall in time to come be cast away.

The love of Christ, poor I! may touch upon;
But 'tis unsearchable. O! there is none
Its large dimensions can comprehend
Should they dilate thereon world without end.
When we had sinned, in his zeal he swore,
That he upon his back our sins would bear.
And since unto sin is entailed death,
He vowed for our sins he'd lose his breath.
He did not only say, vow, or resolve,
But to astonishment did so involve
Himself in man's distress and misery,
As for, and with him, both to live and die.
To his eternal fame in sacred story,
We find that he did lay aside his glory,
Stepped from the throne of highest dignity,
Became poor man, did in a manger lie;
Yea, was beholden unto his for bread,
Had, of his own, not where to lay his head;
Though rich, he did for us become thus poor,
That he might make us rich for evermore.
Nor was this but the least of what he did,
But the outside of what he suffered?
God made his blessed son under the law,
Under the curse, which, like the lion's paw,
Did rent and tear his soul for mankind's sin,
More than if we for it in hell had been.
His cries, his tears, and bloody agony,
The nature of his death doth testify.
Nor did he of constraint himself thus give,
For sin, to death, that man might with him live.
He did do what he did most willingly,
He sung, and gave God thanks, that he must die.
But do kings use to die for captive slaves?
Yet we were such when Jesus died to save's.
Yea, when he made himself a sacrifice,
It was that he might save his enemies.
And though he was provoked to retract
His blest resolves for such so good an act,
By the abusive carriages of those
That did both him, his love, and grace oppose;
Yet he, as unconcerned with such things,
Goes on, determines to make captives kings;
Yea, many of his murderers he takes
Into his favour, and them princes makes.

Children become, while little, our delights!
When they grow bigger, they begin to fright's.
Their sinful nature prompts them to rebel,
And to delight in paths that lead to hell.
Their parents' love and care they overlook,
As if relation had them quite forsook.
They take the counsels of the wanton's, rather
Than the most grave instructions of a father.
They reckon parents ought to do for them,
Though they the fifth commandment do contemn;
They snap and snarl if parents them control,
Though but in things most hurtful to the soul.
They reckon they are masters, and that we
Who parents are, should to them subject be!
If parents fain would have a hand in choosing,
The children have a heart will in refusing.
They'll by wrong doings, under parents gather,
And say it is no sin to rob a father.
They'll jostle parents out of place and power,
They'll make themselves the head, and them devour.
How many children, by becoming head,
Have brought their parents to a piece of bread!
Thus they who, at the first, were parents joy,
Turn that to bitterness, themselves destroy.
But, wretched child, how canst thou thus requite
Thy aged parents, for that great delight
They took in thee, when thou, as helpless, lay
In their indulgent bosoms day by day?
Thy mother, long before she brought thee forth,
Took care thou shouldst want neither food nor cloth.
Thy father glad was at his very heart,
Had he to thee a portion to impart.
Comfort they promised themselves in thee,
But thou, it seems, to them a grief wilt be.
How oft, how willingly brake they their sleep,
If thou, their bantling, didst but winch or weep.
Their love to thee was such they could have giv'n,
That thou mightst live, almost their part of heav'n.
But now, behold how they rewarded are!
For their indulgent love and tender care;
All is forgot, this love he doth despise.
They brought this bird up to pick out their eyes.

When I do this begin to apprehend,
My heart, my soul, and mind, begins to bend

To God-ward, and sincerely for to love
His son, his ways, his people, and to move

With brokenness of spirit after him
Who broken was, and killed for my sin.

Now is mine heart grown holy, now it cleaves
To Jesus Christ my Lord, and now it leaves

Those ways that wicked be; it mourns because
It can conform no more unto the laws

Of God, who loved me when I was vile,
And of sweet Jesus, who did reconcile

Me unto justice by his precious blood,
When no way else was left to do me good.

If you would know how this can operate
Thus on the soul, I shall to you relate

A little farther what my soul hath seen
Since I have with the Lord acquainted been.

The word of grace, when it doth rightly seize
The spirit of a man, and so at ease

Doth set the soul, the Spirit of the Lord
Doth then with might accompany the word;

In which it sets forth Christ as crucified,
And by that means the Father pacified

With such a wretch was thou, and by this sight,
Thy guilt is in the first place put to flight,

For thus the Spirit doth expostulate:
Behold how God doth now communicate

(By changing of the person) grace to thee
A sinner, but to Christ great misery,

Though he the just one was, and so could not
Deserve this punishment; behold, then, what

The love of God is! how 'tis manifest,
And where the reason lies that thou art blest.

This doctrine being spoken to the heart,
Which also is made yield to every part

Thereof, it doth the same with sweetness fill,
And so doth sins and wickednesses kill;

For when the love of God is thus reveal'd,
And thy poor drooping spirit thereby seal'd,

And when thy heart, as dry ground, drinks this in
Unto the roots thereof, which nourish sin,

It smites them, as the worm did Jonah's gourd,
And makes them dwindle of their own accord,

And die away; instead of which there springs
Up life and love, and other holy things.

Besides, the Holy Spirit now is come,
And takes possession of thee as its home;

By which a war maintained always is
Against the old man and the deeds of his.

When God at first upon mount Sinai spake,
He made his very servant Moses quake;

But when he heard the law the second time,
His heart was comforted, his face did shine.

What was the reason of this difference,
Seeing no change was in the ordinance,

Although a change was in the manner, when
The second time he gave it unto men?

At first 'twas given in severity,
In thunder, blackness, darkness, tempest high,

In fiery flames it was delivered.
This struck both Moses and the host as dead;

But Moses, when he went into the mount
The second time, upon the same account

No fear, nor dread, nor shaking of his mind,
Do we in all the holy Scripture find;

But rather in his spirit he had rest,
And look'd upon himself as greatly blest.

He was put in the rock, he heard the name,
Which on the mount the Lord did thus proclaim:

The Lord, merciful, gracious, and more,
Long-suffering, and keeping up in store

Mercy for thousands, pardoning these things,
Iniquity, transgressions, and sins,

And holding guilty none but such as still
Refuse forgiveness, of rebellious will.

This proclamation better pleased him
Than all the thunder and the light'ning.

Which shook the mount, this rid him of his fear,
This made him bend, make haste, and worship there.

Jehoshaphat, when he was sore opprest
By Amnon and by Moab, and the rest

Of them that sought his life, no rest he found,
Until a word of faith became a ground

To stay himself upon; O, then they fell,
His very song became their passing-bell.

Then holiness of heart a consequence
Of faith in Christ is, for it flows from thence;

The love of Christ in truth constraineth us,
Of love sincerely to make judgment thus:

He for us died that for ever we
Might die to sin, and Christ his servants be.

O! nothing's like to the remembrance
Of what it is to have deliverance

From death and hell, which is of due our right,
Nothing, I say, like this to work delight

In holy things; this like live honey runs,
And needs no pressing out of honey-combs.