A30143:130
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Grace abounding to the chief of sinners, or, A brief and faithful relation of the exceeding mercy of God in Christ, to his poor servant John Bunyan wherein is particularly showed, the manner of his conversion, his fight and trouble for sin, his dreadful temptations, also how he despaired of Gods mercy, and how the Lord at length through [sic] Christ did deliver him from all the guilt and terror that lay upon him : whereunto is added, a brief relation of his call to the work of the ministry, of his temptations therein, as also what he hath met with in prison : all which was written by his own hand there, and now published for the support of the the weak and tempted people of God.Grace abounding to the chief of sinners, or, A brief and faithful relation of the exceeding mercy of God in Christ, to his poor servant John Bvnyan wherein is particularly shewed, the manner of his conversion, his fight and trouble for sin, his dreadful temptations, also how he despaired of Gods mercy, and how the Lord at length thorow [sic] Christ did deliver him from all the guilt and terrour that lay upon him : whereunto is added, a brief relation of his call to the work of the ministry, of his temptations therein, as also what he hath met with in prison : all which was written by his own hand there, and now published for the support of the the weak and tempted people of God.
London: printed by George Larkin, 1666
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
113. And withal, that Scripture did seize upon my Soul, Or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his Birth-right; for you know how that afterwards when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears, Heb. 12.16, 17.
114. These words were to my Soul like Fetters of Brass to my Legs, in the continual sound of which I went for several months together. But about ten or eleven a Clock one day, as I was walking under a Hedge, full of sorrow and guilt God knows, and bemoaning my self for this hard hap, that such a thought should arise within me, suddenly this sentence bolted in upon me, The Blood of Christ remits all guilt; at this I made a stand in my Spirit: with that, this word took hold upon me, The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth •s from all sin: now I began to conceive peace in my Soul, and methought I saw as if the Tempter did hear and stea• away from me, as being ashamed of what he had done. At the same time also I had my sin and the Blood of Christ thus represented to me, That my sin when compared to the Blood of Christ, was no more to it, than this little clot or stone before me, is to this vast and wide field that here I see: This gave me good encouragement for the space of •wo or three hours, in which time also me thought I saw by faith the Son of God as suffering for my sins. But because it tarried not, I therefore sunk […] my spirit under exceeding guilt again.
114. These words were to my Soul like Fetters of Brass to my Legs, in the continual sound of which I went for several months together. But about ten or eleven a Clock one day, as I was walking under a Hedge, full of sorrow and guilt God knows, and bemoaning my self for this hard hap, that such a thought should arise within me, suddenly this sentence bolted in upon me, The Blood of Christ remits all guilt; at this I made a stand in my Spirit: with that, this word took hold upon me, The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth s from all sin: now I began to conceive peace in my Soul, and methought I saw as if the Tempter did hear and stea away from me, as being ashamed of what he had done. At the same time also I had my sin and the Blood of Christ thus represented to me, That my sin when compared to the Blood of Christ, was no more to it, than this little clot or stone before me, is to this vast and wide field that here I see: This gave me good encouragement for the space of wo or three hours, in which time also me thought I saw by faith the Son of God as suffering for my sins. But because it tarried not, I therefore sunk my spirit under exceeding guilt again.