The Vision: How knoweth this man letters?

Image: William Carey baptizes Krishna Pal, the first Indian convert to the faith.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 7:14-24.

And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? (John 5:15).

Every so often a skeptic of Christ will arise who will claim that Christ was illiterate, and they will even point to this passage. But that is clearly misguided. This verse affirms that Christ was fluent in reading and writing. John says they marveled that Christ knew “letters [grammata],” an idiom to describe one who was able to read and write with fluency.

And we have other passages to support this as well, like:

Consider Luke 4 when Christ reads from Isaiah in the synagogue (cf. v. 17: “And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written”). This is not to mention all the other times when he quoted or made reference to the OT Scriptures, which he clearly knew well.

John 8:8 will speak of him writing on the ground.

Clearly Jesus knew Biblical Hebrew. He also knew Aramaic the language spoken by the Jews of his day (cf. Mark 15:34). And he likely also knew Greek and Latin, as well.

As the incarnate Son of God, truly a man, he had learned these languages in the ordinary manner. Cf. Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

They did not marvel that Jesus was literate. They wondered at the source of his authority, because, to their knowledge, he had “never learned [the verb is matheteuo, which has as its root the noun mathete, disciple].” He had not been a disciple of one of the leading rabbis in Jerusalem, or, perhaps, even a disciple or student in a school of Greek rhetoric, and yet he had a natural, an innate ability to speak with authority.

This had been known by those around him from the time he was twelve and was found “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). Luke 2:47 adds: “And all that heard him were astonished at this understanding and his answers.”

What was there in the boy is here in the man.

We can draw here a point of application: As Christ had a preparation from the Father, which the unbelievers around him did not comprehend, so he is often pleased to grant ability to his humble disciples.

Consider Luke’s account of the apostles:

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned [agrammatoi] and ignorant men [idiotai], they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Consider many years later the life and ministry of John Bunyan, the author of the spiritual classic Pilgrim’s Progress. Before his conversion and call to the ministry Bunyan had been a humble tinker with little formal education. John Owen, however, who had his degree from Oxford, would say that he would trade all his learning to be able to preach like Bunyan.

Consider William Cary, the first “foreign” missionary to India, who had been a cobbler. He would translate the Bible for the first time into Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, and several other Indian language and dialects.

Even as he himself came in humility, Christ uses humble men, that he might gain all the more the glory.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Note: For a related topic: See WM 12: Was Jesus Illiterate?

"Triumphant Journey" Poster (and Puzzle)

Image:  My sons holding up the "Triumphant Journey" poster.

Image:  A closeup of one scene.

I got a great unexpected gift in the mail today from friends in Florida.  It is a sturdy,  over-sized poster with plotted scenes from John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress created by artist Phyllis F. Sweeney and titled Triumphant Journey.  The poster provides a great visual over-view of the narrative of Pilgrim's Progress from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.

I've long appreciated the children's work Dangerous Journey which does something similar in a juvenile book format.  After reading this to my children several times in family devotions, it helped me better to follow the plot when re-reading Bunyan's original.  The poster also grabbed the interest of my children and I sense it will serve the same purpose, and I like the poster title (with the emphasis on "triumph" rather than "danger") even better.  It will be framed and hung on the wall of my study.

You can order the poster or the same scene in a puzzle format by visiting pilgrimsprogresspuzzle.com.  It would make a memorable gift for someone who is a fan of Bunyan's great allegory.  Thanks Ireland family!

JTR

Update (11.29.16):  The puzzle came in the mail today, so my first thanks was premature and incomplete.

The Vision (7.1.16): Mr. Fearing

Note:  Devotion taken from conclusion to last Sunday morning’s sermon on Hebrews 11:11-22.

Hebrews was originally written to encourage Jewish Christians not to abandon Christ. the author intones:  If they have truly known saving faith they will be granted enduring faith.  Their perseverance in the faith, in the end, does not depend upon their faithfulness but upon the Lord’s faithfulness to them.

In the second part of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress there is a scene in which the pilgrims are passing through the Valley of Humiliation, described as “a valley that nobody walks in, but those that love a pilgrim’s life.”  Honest and the guide Great-Heart begin discussing a previous pilgrim named Mr. Fearing.  Honest says he knew him well, affirming he had “the root of the matter” but “he was one of the most troublesome pilgrims that ever I met with in all my days.”  Great-Heart says he knew of Mr. Fearing’s weaknesses, but, he adds,  “I could very well bear it, for men of my calling are oftentimes entrusted with the conduct of such as he was.”

Great-Heart then describes his guidance of Mr. Fearing on his pilgrimage to the Celestial City.  He notes, “Why he was always afraid that he should come up short of whither he had desire to go,” adding, he had “a slough of despond in his mind, a slough that he carried everywhere with him.”

Great-Heart then tells how Mr. Fearing eventually reached the final river which each pilgrim must pass over to reach the Celestial City. Upon arrival, Great-Heart says he noticed what was “very remarkable:  the water of that river was lower at this time than ever I saw it in all my life.”  So even Mr. Fearing was able to pass over “not much above wet-shod” and enter the city.

J. Gresham Machen ends his book What is Faith?  with reference to Bunyan’s Mr. Fearing, adding these final words:

Such is the blessed end of the man of little faith.  Weak faith will not remove mountains, but there is one thing that it will do: it will bring a sinner to peace with God.  Our salvation does not depend upon the strength of our faith; saving faith is a channel not a force.  If you are really committed to Christ, then despite your subsequent doubts and fears you are His for ever (p. 251).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Bunyan: The broken-hearted man is a fainting man

From John Bunyan,The Acceptable Sacrifice (original 1688; Banner of Truth edition, 2004):

The broken-hearted man is a fainting man; he has his qualms, his sinking fits; he oft-times dies away with pain and fear; he must be stayed with flagons, and comforted with apples, or else he cannot tell what to do:  he pines, he pines away in his iniquity; nor can any thing keep him alive and make him well but the comforts and cordials of Almighty God.  Wherefore with such an one God will dwell, to revive the heart, to revive the spirit.  ‘To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones' (p. 10).

JTR

Bunyan on predatory lenders

In The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, Bunyan has a scene wherein Mr. Wiseman discusses with Mr. Attentive those (like Mr. Badman) who took advantage of the poor through unfair lending practices.  His description of the "Pawn-Broker" of his day has the ring of a contemporary predatory pay-day lender:

Deceit! Aye, but I have not told you the thousandth part of it; nor is it my business now to rake the bottom of that dunghill:  what would you say, if I should anatomize some of those vile wretches called Pawn-Brokers, that lend money and goods to poor people, who are by necessity forced to such an inconvenience; and will make, by one trick or another, the interest of what they so lend, amount to thirty, forty, yea sometimes fifty pounds by the year; notwithstanding the principal is secured by a sufficient pawn; which they will keep too at last, if they can find any shift to cheat the wretched borrower.

Bunyan on the Lord's Day in "The Life and Death of Mr. Badman"

I’ve been reading John Bunyan’s The Life and Death of Mr. Badman of late.  This is one of Bunyan’s lesser known spiritual allegories.  The story is set as a dialogue between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive, reflecting on the death of their unconverted neighbor, Mr. Badman.

In this dialogue Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive review the life of Mr. Badman and his various sinful shortcomings.  These include his unwillingness to honor the fourth commandment.  Even as a child, says Mr. Wiseman, “he could not endure the Lord’s Day because of the Holiness that did attend it….”

Later, the two men discuss the importance of the Lord’s Day in the Christian’s life:

Mr. Attentive:  Doth not God by the instituting of a day unto holy Duties, make great proof how the hearts and inclinations of poor people do stand to Holiness of heart, and a Conversation in holy duties?

Mr. Wiseman:  Yes, doubtless; and a man shall shew his Heart and his Life what they are, more by one Lord’s-day, than by all the days of the week besides: And the reason is, because on the Lord’s-day there is a special restraint laid upon men as to Thought and Life, more than upon other days of the week besides.  Also, men are enjoined on that day to a stricter performance of holy Duties, and restraint of worldly business, than upon other days they are; wherefore, if their hearts incline not naturally to good, now they will shew it, now they will appear what they are.  The Lord’s day is a kind of an Emblem of the heavenly Sabbath above, and it makes manifest how the heart stands to the perpetuity of Holiness, more than to be found in transient Duty, does.

On other days a man may be in and out of holy Duties, and all in a quarter of an hour; but now, the Lord’s Day is, as it were, a day that enjoins to one perpetual Duty of Holiness:  Remember that thou keep the holy Sabbath day (which by Christ is not abrogated, but changed, into the First of the week,) not as it was given in particular to the Jews, but as it was sanctified by him from the Beginning of the world; and therefore is a greater proof of the frame and temper of a man’s heart, and does more make manifest to what he is inclined, than doth his other performances of Duties:  Therefore God puts great difference between them that truly call (and walk in) this day as holy, and count it Honourable, upon the account that now they have an opportunity to shew how they delight to honour him; in that they have, not only an Hour, but a whole Day to shew it in:  I say, he puts great differences between these, and that other sort that say, When will the Sabbath be gone, that we may be at our worldly business.  The first he called a Blessed man, that brandeth the other for an unsanctified worldling.  And, indeed, a delight to ourselves in God’s service upon his Holy days, gives a better proof of a sanctified Nature, than to grudge at the coming, and to be weary of the holy duties of such days, as Mr. Badman did.

Bunyan’s obvious high view of the continuing relevance of the fourth commandment in the moral law, evident in the diaologue, is striking, especially given the fact that “New Covenant” theologians sometimes appeal to Bunyan as an advocate for their views.

JTR

Bunyan: Objections from Jerusalem Sinners

Here is the closing illustration from yesterday's sermon David Spares Saul (1 Samuel 23-24), that reflected on David's sparing of Saul as an anticipation of Christ's sparing of great sinners:

One of John Bunyan’s lesser known little booklets is titled The Jerusalem Sinner Saved. It is a meditation on Luke 24:47 where Jesus tells his disciples before his ascension that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Bunyan’s question is, Why Jerusalem? That is where Christ was rejected. That is where Christ was crucified. But it was the place Christ chose for the gospel first to be preached at Pentecost. Bunyan says Jesus did this because he delights to save those who are “the greatest sinners.” At one point he imagines the objections that were given to Peter as he preached the gospel in Jerusalem:

Object. ‘But I was one of them that plotted to take away his life. May I be saved by him?’

Peter. Every one of you.

Object. ‘But I was one of them that bare false witness against him. Is there grace for me?’

Peter. For every one of you.

Object. ‘But I was one of them that cried out, Crucify him, crucify him; and desired that Barabbas the murderer might live, rather than he. What will become of me, think you?’

Peter. I am to preach repentance and remission of sins to every one of you, says Peter.

Object. ‘But I was one of them that did spit in his face when he stood before his accusers. I also was one of them that mocked him, when in anguish he hung bleeding on the tree. Is there room for me?’

Peter. For every one of you, says Peter.

Object. ‘But I was one of them that in his extremity said, Give him gall and vinegar to drink. Why may I not expect the same when anguish and guilt are upon me?’

Peter. Repent of these your wickednesses, and here is remission of sins for every one of you.

Object. ‘But I railed on him, I reviled him, I hated him, I rejoiced to see him mocked by others. Can there be hope for me?

Peter. There is for every one of you. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Bunyan adds, “Oh! What a blessed ‘every one of you,’ is here!” (pp. 19-20).

The Vision (11/17/11): "I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus"

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Galatians 2:20).

In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, as Christian and Hopeful make their pilgrimage, Hopeful shares with his traveling companion his testimony of salvation. Christian then asks, “but tell me particularly what effect this had upon your spirit?” Hopeful answers:

It made me see that all the world, notwithstanding all the righteousness thereof, is in a state of condemnation. It made me see that God the Father, though he be just, can justly justify the coming sinner. It made me greatly ashamed of my former life, and confounded me with the sense of my own ignorance; for there never came thought into mine heart before now, that showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for the honour and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought, that had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

What has been the effect of knowing Christ upon your spirit? Has it made you see the world for what it truly is? Has it humbled you to know of God’s grace in saving sinners? Has it made you love a holy life? Has it made you long to do something for Christ? Has it made you worry less about your own comfort and more about the glory of Christ? Has it made you willing to pour out your life for the sake of Christ?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Bunyan: "Saints' fellowship" a cure for spiritual lethargy

When Hopeful and Christian come to the Enchanted Ground in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Hopeful tells his companion, “I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes; let us lie down here and take one nap.”

But Christian responds, “By no means … lest sleeping we never awake more.” He then asks, “Do you not remember that one of the Shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground?”

So, the pilgrims avoid disaster. Christian closes the “Enchanted Ground” scene by singing,

“When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither,

And hear how these two pilgrims talk together;

Yea, let them learn of them, in any wise,

Thus to keep ope their drowsy slumb’ring eyes.

Saints’ fellowship, if it be managed well,

Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell.”

Indeed, how we need the “Saints’ fellowship” to keep us awake and alert as we make the pilgrimage through this life.

JTR

Faithful's Jury

We’re still reading Pilgrim’s Progress in our family devotions. The children particularly seemed to enjoy the not so subtle names and corresponding comments made by the jurors at Faithful’s trial in Vanity:

Then went the jury out, whose names were: Mr. Blindman, Mr. No-good, Mr. Malice, Mr. Love-lust, Mr. Live-loose, Mr. Heady, Mr. High-mind, Mr. Enmity, Mr. Liar, Mr. Cruelty, Mr. Hate-light, and Mr. Implacable, who every one gave his private verdict against him among themselves, and afterwards unanimously concluded to bring him in guilty before the judge.

And first among themselves, Mr. Blindman, the foreman, said, “I see clearly that this man is a heretic.”

Then said Mr. No-good, “Away with such a fellow from the earth.”

“Ay,” said Mr. Malice, “for I hate the very looks of him.”

Then said Mr. Love-lust, “I could never endure him.”

“Nor I,” said Mr. Live-loose, “for he would always be condemning my way.”

“Hang him, hang him,” said Mr. Heady.

“A sorry scrub,” said Mr. High-mind.

“My heart riseth against him,” said Mr. Enmity.

“He is a rogue,” said Mr. Liar.

“Hanging is too good for him,” said Mr. Cruelty.

“Let’s dispatch him out of the way,” said Mr. Hate-light.

Then said Mr. Implacable, “Might I have all the world given me, I could not be reconciled to him; therefore, let us forthwith bring him in guilty of death.”

And so they did; therefore he was presently condemned, To be had from the place where he was, the place from whence he came, and there to be put to the most cruel death that could be invented.

Faithful defends the Regulative Principle against Superstition

Image:  Christian and Faithful enter Vanity

We’ve been reading a few pages from Pilgrim’s Progress each evening in our family devotions and recently reached the part where Christian and Faithful travel through Vanity Fair.  When Faithful is arrested and put on trial, one of the charges against him is brought by a witness named Superstition, who is outraged that Faithful has charged the residents of Vanity with vain worship.  Faithful responds, “I said only this, That in the worship of God there is required a divine faith; but there can be no divine faith without a divine revelation of the will of God:  therefore whatever is thrust into the worship of God, that is not agreeable to divine revelation, cannot be done but by human faith; which faith will not be profitable to eternal life."

Spurgeon on Bunyan

I noted that I finished reading John Bunyan's The Holy War a few weeks back.  I also recently started reading again through Part One of Pilgrim's Progress with a brother from CRBC.  We've been meeting once a week for coffee c. 7-8 am at Java Java on the Downtown Mall.  My favorite edition of Pigrim's Progress for devotional study is the cheap paperback one published by Whitaker that is broken into easy to read chapters.  A fantastic version to read with children (or to give adults an overview of the work) or to use in family devotions is Dangerous Journey.

I was also reminded this week of Spurgeon's comments on Bunyan as an example of a man saturated in the Scriptures:

John Bunyan is an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that is it almost like reading the Bible itself. He had studied our Authorized Version, which will never be bettered, as I judge, till Christ shall come; he had read it till his whole being was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems—without continually making us feel and say, “Why this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.

From C. H. Spurgeon: Autobiography: Volume 2 (Banner, 1973): p. 159.

Bunyan's "The Holy War": The Duties of Mansoul to Mr. Recorder and other "High and Noble Captains"

One more Holy War insight:  After the appointment of Mr. Conscience as preacher to Mansoul, Emmanuel lays out the duties of the people to their minister, as well as to other “high and noble captains” that might be sent from “the Father’s court” to Mansoul:

When the Prince had thus put Mr. Recorder (that once so was) into the place and office of a minister to Mansoul, and the man had thankfully accepted thereof, then did Emmanuel address himself in a particular speech to the townsmen themselves.

'Behold,' said the Prince to Mansoul, 'my love and care towards you; I have added to all that is past, this mercy, to appoint you preachers; the most noble Secretary to teach you in all high and sublime mysteries; and this gentleman,' pointing to Mr. Conscience, 'is to teach you in all things human and domestic, for therein lieth his work. He is not, by what I have said, debarred of telling to Mansoul anything that he hath heard and received at the mouth of the lord high Secretary; only he shall not attempt to presume to pretend to be a revealer of those high mysteries himself; for the breaking of them up, and the discovery of them to Mansoul lieth only in the power, authority, and skill of the lord high Secretary himself. Talk of them he may, and so may the rest of the town of Mansoul; yea, and may, as occasion gives them opportunity, press them upon each other for the benefit of the whole. These things, therefore, I would have you observe and do, for it is for your life, and the lengthening of your days.

'And one thing more to my beloved Mr. Recorder, and to all the town of Mansoul: You must not dwell in, nor stay upon, anything of that which he hath in commission to teach you, as to your trust and expectation of the next world; (of the next world, I say, for I purpose to give another to Mansoul, when this with them is worn out;) but for that you must wholly and solely have recourse to, and make stay upon his doctrine that is your Teacher after the first order. Yea, Mr. Recorder himself must not look for life from that which he himself revealeth; his dependence for that must be founded in the doctrine of the other preacher. Let Mr. Recorder also take heed that he receive not any doctrine, or point of doctrine, that is not communicated to him by his Superior Teacher, nor yet within the precincts of his own formal knowledge.'

Now, after the Prince had thus settled things in the famous town of Mansoul, he proceeded to give to the elders of the corporation a necessary caution, to wit, how they should carry it to the high and noble captains that he had, from his Father's court, sent or brought with him, to the famous town of Mansoul.

'These captains,' said he, 'do love the town of Mansoul, and they are picked men, picked out of abundance, as men that best suit, and that will most faithfully serve in the wars of Shaddai against the Diabolonians, for the preservation of the town of Mansoul. 'I charge you therefore,' said he, 'O ye inhabitants of the now flourishing town of Mansoul, that you carry it not ruggedly or untowardly to my captains, or their men; since, as I said, they are picked and choice men - men chosen out of many for the good of the town of Mansoul. I say, I charge you, that you carry it not untowardly to them: for though they have the hearts and faces of lions, when at any time they shall be called forth to engage and fight with the King's foes, and the enemies of the town of Mansoul; yet a little discountenance cast upon them from the town of Mansoul will deject and cast down their faces, will weaken and take away their courage. Do not, therefore, O my beloved, carry it unkindly to my valiant captains and courageous men of war, but love them, nourish them, succour them, and lay them in your bosoms; and they will not only fight for you, but cause to fly from you all those the Diabolonians that seek, and will, if possible, be, your utter destruction.

'If, therefore, any of them should at any time be sick or weak, and so not able to perform that office of love, which, with all their hearts, they are willing to do (and will do also when well and in health), slight them not, nor despise them, but rather strengthen them and encourage them, though weak and ready to die, for they are your fence, and your guard, your wall, your gates, your locks, and your bars. And although, when they are weak, they can do but little, but rather need to be helped by you, than that you should then expect great things from them, yet, when well, you know what exploits, what feats and warlike achievements they are able to do, and will perform for you.

'Besides, if they be weak, the town of Mansoul cannot be strong; if they be strong, then Mansoul cannot be weak; your safety, therefore, doth lie in their health, and in your countenancing them. Remember, also, that if they be sick, they catch that disease of the town of Mansoul itself.

'These things I have said unto you because I love your welfare and your honour: observe, therefore, O my Mansoul, to be punctual in all things that I have given in charge unto you, and that not only as a town corporate, and so to your officers and guard, and guides in chief, but to you as you are a people whose well-being, as single persons, depends on the observation of the orders and commandments of their Lord.

JTR

Bunyan's "The Holy War": Mr. Conscience

In Bunyan’s The Holy War, Emmanuel appoints two ministers over Mansoul. The first is the Lord Chief Secretary (the Holy Spirit) and the second is “the old gentleman who before had been the recorder of Mansoul, Mr. Conscience by name.” This part of the allegory can be taken on at least two levels. On one hand Bunyan describes the individual believer guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God and an awakened conscience. On the other hand, there is much in the description of the Recorder that resembles the role of a minister among God’s people. Indeed, he serves as the congregation’s conscience. Here is Bunyan’s description of the charge given to the recorder:

Then did the Prince call unto him the old gentleman, who before had been the Recorder of Mansoul, Mr. Conscience by name, and told him, That, forasmuch as he was well skilled in the law and government of the town of Mansoul, and was also well-spoken, and could pertinently deliver to them his Master's will in all terrene and domestic matters, therefore he would also make him a minister for, in, and to the goodly town of Mansoul, in all the laws, statutes, and judgments of the famous town of Mansoul. 'And thou must,' said the Prince, 'confine thyself to the teaching of moral virtues, to civil and natural duties; but thou must not attempt to presume to be a revealer of those high and supernatural mysteries that are kept close in the bosom of Shaddai, my Father: for those things knows no man, nor can any reveal them but my Father's Secretary only.

'Thou art a native of the town of Mansoul, but the Lord Secretary is a native with my Father; wherefore, as thou hast knowledge of the laws and customs of the corporation, so he of the things and will of my Father.

'Wherefore, O Mr. Conscience, although I have made thee a minister and a preacher to the town of Mansoul, yet as to the things which the Lord Secretary knoweth, and shall teach to this people, there thou must be his scholar and a learner, even as the rest of Mansoul are.

'Thou must therefore, in all high and supernatural things, go to him for information and knowledge; for though there be a spirit in man, this person's inspiration must give him understanding. Wherefore, O thou Mr. Recorder, keep low and be humble, and remember that the Diabolonians that kept not their first charge, but left their own standing, are now made prisoners in the pit. Be therefore content with thy station.

'I have made thee my Father's vicegerent on earth, in such things of which I have made mention before: and thou, take thou power to teach them to Mansoul, yea, and to impose them with whips and chastisements, if they shall not willingly hearken to do thy commandments.

'And, Mr. Recorder, because thou art old, and through many abuses made feeble; therefore I give thee leave and license to go when thou wilt to my fountain, my conduit, and there to drink freely of the blood of my grape, for my conduit doth always run wine. Thus doing, thou shalt drive from thine heart and stomach all foul, gross, and hurtful humours. It will also lighten thine eyes, and will strengthen thy memory for the reception and keeping of all that the King's most noble Secretary teacheth.'

JTR

Bunyan's "The Holy War": The Lord Chief Secretary

Over Thanksgiving, I was reading John Bunyan’s “other” allegory, The Holy War (first published 1682). I was struck by the scene in which Emmanuel establishes a ministry among the citizens of Mansoul. Over this task he appoints two persons. The first is “the Lord Chief Secretary” (the Holy Spirit) and the second is “the old gentleman, who before had been the recorder of Mansoul, Mr. Conscience by name.” Here is Bunyan’s descrition of the proper role of the Lord High Secretary in Mansoul:

When this was over, the Prince sent again for the elders of the town of Mansoul, and communed with them about a ministry that he intended to establish among them; such a ministry that might open unto them, and that might instruct them in the things that did concern their present and future state.

'For,' said he, 'you, of yourselves, unless you have teachers and guides, will not be able to know, and, if not to know, to be sure not to do the will of my Father.'

At this news, when the elders of Mansoul brought it to the people, the whole town came running together, (for it pleased them well, as whatever the Prince now did pleased the people,) and all with one consent implored his Majesty that he would forthwith establish such a ministry among them as might teach them both law and judgment, statute and commandment; that they might be documented in all good and wholesome things. So he told them that he would grant them their requests, and would establish two among them; one that was of his Father's court, and one that was a native of Mansoul.

'He that is from the court,' said he, 'is a person of no less quality and dignity than my Father and I; and he is the Lord Chief Secretary of my Father's house: for he is, and always has been, the chief dictator of all my Father's laws, a person altogether well skilled in all mysteries, and knowledge of mysteries, as is my Father, or as myself is. Indeed he is one with us in nature, and also as to loving of, and being faithful to, and in the eternal concerns of the town of Mansoul.

'And this is he,' said the Prince, 'that must be your chief teacher; for it is he, and he only, that can teach you clearly in all high and supernatural things. He, and he only, it is that knows the ways and methods of my Father at court, nor can any like him show how the heart of my Father is at all times, in all things, upon all occasions, towards Mansoul; for as no man knows the things of a man but that spirit of a man which is in him, so the things of my Father knows no man but this his high and mighty Secretary. Nor can any, as he, tell Mansoul how and what they shall do to keep themselves in the love of my Father. He also it is that can bring lost things to your remembrance, and that can tell you things to come. This teacher, therefore, must of necessity have the pre-eminence, both in your affections and judgment, before your other teacher; his personal dignity, the excellency of his teaching, also the great dexterity that he hath to help you to make and draw up petitions to my Father for your help, and to his pleasing, must lay obligations upon you to love him, fear him, and to take heed that you grieve him not.

'This person can put life and vigour into all he says; yea, and can also put it into your heart. This person can make seers of you, and can make you tell what shall be hereafter. By this person you must frame all your petitions to my Father and me; and without his advice and counsel first obtained, let nothing enter into the town or castle of Mansoul, for that may disgust and grieve this noble person.

'Take heed, I say, that you do not grieve this minister; for if you do, he may fight against you; and should he once be moved by you to set himself against you in battle array, that will distress you more than if twelve legions should from my Father's court be sent to make war upon you.

'But, as I said, if you shall hearken unto him, and shall love him; if you shall devote yourselves to his teaching, and shall seek to have converse, and to maintain communion with him, you shall find him ten times better than is the whole world to any; yea, he will shed abroad the love of my Father in your hearts, and Mansoul will be the wisest, and most blessed of all people.'

JTR