Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Objections That Usually Lie In The Way Of Coming To Christ, 253.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

Before I speak to the other head, I shall answer some objections that usually lie in the way of those who, in truth, are coming to Jesus Christ.

Objection 1. Though I cannot deny my mind runs after Christ, and that too as being moved thereto from sight and consideration of my lost condition, for I see that without him I perish; yet I fear my ends are not right in coming to him.

Quest. Why, what is the end of coming to Christ?

Ans. My end is, that I might have life, and be saved by Jesus
Christ.

This is the objection; well, let me tell thee, that to come to Christ for life, and to be saved, although at present thou hast no other end, is a lawful and good coming to Jesus Christ. This is evident, because Christ propounds life as the only argument to prevail with sinners to come to him, and so he also blames them because they come not to him for life. “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). Besides, there are many other scriptures whereby he encourages them to come to him, in which he propounded nothing to them but their safety. “Whoever believeth in him should not perish;” he that believes is “passed from death unto life.” “He that believeth—shall be saved.” “He who believes in him is not condemned.” And believing and coming are all one. So that you see, to come to Christ for life, is a lawful coming and good. In that, he believes that he alone has made atonement for sin (Rom 2). And let me add over and above, that for a man to come to Christ for life, though he comes to him for nothing else but life, it is to give much honor to him.

1. He honors the word of Christ and consents to the truth of it, and that is in these two general heads. (1.) He consented to the truth of all those sayings that testify that sin is most abominable in itself, dishonorable to God, and damnable to the soul of man; for thus saith the man that cometh to Jesus Christ (Jer 44:4; Rom 2:23; 6:23; 2 Thess 2:12). (2.) In that he believeth, as the word hath said, that there is in the world’s best things, righteousness and all, nothing but death and damnation; for so also says the man that comes to Jesus Christ for life (Rom 7:24,25; 8:2,3; 2 Cor 3:6–8).

2. He honors Christ’s person, in that he believes that there is life in him and that he can save him from death, hell, the devil, and damnation; for unless a man believes this, he will not come to Christ for life (Heb 7:24, 25).

3. He honored him, in that he believes he is authorized by the Father to give life to those that come to him for it (John 5:11, 12; 17:1-3).

4. He honors the priesthood of Jesus Christ. (1.) In that he believeth that Christ hath more power to save from sin by the sacrifice that he hath offered for it, than hath all law, devils, death, or sin to condemn. He who believes not in this, will not come to Jesus Christ for life (Acts 13:38; Heb 2:14–15; Rev 1:17–18). (2.) In that he believes that Christ, according to his office, will be most faithful and merciful in the discharge of his office. This must be included in the faith of him that comes for life to Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1–3; Heb 2:17–18).

5. Further, He that cometh to Jesus Christ for life, taketh part with him against sin, and against the ragged and imperfect righteousness of the world; yea, and against false Christs, and damnable errors, that set themselves against the worthiness of his merits and sufficiency. This is evident, for such a soul singles Christ out of them all, as the only one who can save.

6. Therefore, as Noah, at God’s command, thou preparest this ark, for the saving of thyself, by which also thou condemnest the world, and art become heir of the righteousness which is by faith (Heb 11:7). Wherefore, coming sinner, be content; he that cometh to Jesus Christ, believeth too that he is willing to show mercy to, and have compassion upon him, though unworthy, that comes to him for life. And therefore thy soul lies not only under a special invitation to come but also under a promise of being accepted and forgiven (Matt 11:28).

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; The Son’s Reception Of The Gift, 249.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

“All that the Father giveth me SHALL COME.” In these last words, there is closely inserted an answer to the Father’s end in giving his elect to Jesus Christ. The Father’s end was, that they might come to him, and be saved by him; and that, says the Son, shall be done; neither sin nor Satan, neither flesh nor world, nor wisdom nor folly, shall hinder their coming to me. “They shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Therefore, the Lord Jesus is positively determined to put forth such a sufficiency of all grace as shall effectively perform this promise. “They shall come;” that is, he will cause them to come, by infusing an effectual blessing into all the means that shall be used to that end. As was said to the evil spirit that was sent to persuade Ahab to go and fall at Ramoth-Gilead: “Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so” (1 Kings 22:22). So will Jesus Christ say to the means that shall be used for the bringing of those to him that the Father has given him. I say, he will bless it effectually to this very end; it shall persuade them, and shall prevail also; else, as I said, the Father’s end would be frustrated; for the Father’s will is, that “of all which he hath given him, he should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day,” (John 6:39); in order next unto himself, Christ the first-fruits, afterward those that are his at his coming (1 Cor 15). But this cannot be done if there should fail to be a work of grace effectively wrought in any one of them. But this shall not fail to be wrought in them, even in all that the Father has given him to save. “All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me,” &c. But to speak more distinctly to the words, THEY “SHALL COME,” two things I would show you from these words—FIRST, what it is to come to Christ. SECOND, What force is there in this promise, to make them come to him?

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; The Father’s Intent In Giving, 247.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

The Father, therefore, in giving them to him to save them, must declare to us the following things:

First, he can answer this design of God, to wit, to save them from the uttermost sin, the uttermost temptation, &c. (Heb 7:25). Hence he is said to lay “help upon one that is mighty,” “mighty to save” (Psa 89:19; Isa 63:1), and hence it is again, that God did even of his old promise to send his people “a Saviour, a great one” (Isa 19:20). To save is a great work, and calls for almightiness in the undertaker: hence, he is called the “Mighty God, the Wonderful Counsellor,” &c. Sin is strong, Satan is also strong, death and the grave are strong, and so is the curse of the law; therefore, it follows, that this Jesus must need to be, by God the Father, accounted almighty, in that he has given his elect to him to save them and deliver them from them, despite all their force and power.

And he gave us testimony of his might when he was employed in that part of our deliverance that called for a declaration of it. He abolished death; he destroyed him that had the power of death; he was the destruction of the grave; he hath finished sin, and made an end of it, as to its damning effects upon the persons that the Father hath given him; he hath vanquished the curse of the law, nailed it to his cross, triumphed over them upon his cross, and made a show of these things openly (2 Tim 1:10; Heb 2:14,15; Hosea 13:14; Dan 9:24; Gal 3:13; Col 2:14,15). Yea, and even now, as a sign of his triumph and conquest, he is alive from the dead and has the keys of hell and death in his own keeping (Rev 1:18).

Second, the Father’s giving of them to him to save them, declares unto us that he is and will be faithful in his office of Mediator and that therefore they shall be secured from the fruit and wages of their sins, which is eternal damnation, by his faithful execution of it. And, indeed, it is said, even by the Holy Ghost himself, that he “was faithful to him that appointed him,” that is, to this work of saving those that the Father has given him for that purpose; as “Moses was faithful in all his house.” Yea, and more faithful too, for Moses was faithful in God’s house but as a servant; “but Christ as a Son over his own house” (Heb 3). And therefore this man is counted worthy of more glory than Moses, even upon this account, because he is more faithful than he is, as well as because of the dignity of his person. Therefore, in him, and in his truth and faithfulness, God rested well pleased, and he has put all the government of this people upon his shoulders. Knowing that nothing shall be wanting in him, that may in any way perfect this design. And of this, he, to wit, the Son, has already given proof. For when the time came that his blood was, by Divine justice, required for their redemption, washing, and cleansing, he freely poured it out of his heart, as if it had been water out of a vessel; not sticking to part with his own life, that the life that was laid up for his people in heaven might not fail to be bestowed upon them. And upon this account, as well as upon any other, it is that God calleth him “my righteous servant” (Isa 53:11). For his righteousness could never have been complete, if he had not been to the uttermost faithful to the work he undertook; it is also, because he is faithful and true, that in righteousness he doth judge and make work for his people’s deliverance. He will faithfully perform the trust reposed in him. The Father knows this and has therefore given his elect to him.

Third, the Father’s giving of them to him, to save them, declares that he is, and will be gentle, and patient towards them, under all their provocations and miscarriages. It is not to be imagined, the trials and provocations that the Son of God has all along had with these people that have been given to him that save them: indeed, he is said to be “a tried stone;” for he has been tried, not only by the devil, guilt of sin, death, and the curse of the law, but also by his people’s ignorance, unruliness, falling into sin, and declining to errors in life and doctrine. Were we not capable of seeing how this Lord Jesus has been tried even by his people, Ever since there was one of them in the world, we should be amazed at his patience and gentleness toward them. It is indeed said, “The Lord is very pitiful, slow to anger, and of great mercy.” And, indeed, if he had not been so, he could never have endured their manners as he has done from Adam hitherto. Therefore, his pity and bowels towards his church are preferred above the pity and bowels of a mother towards her child. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion for the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee,” saith the Lord (Isa 49:15).

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ’s Intercession, 239.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

USE SECOND, As I would press you to an earnest study and search after this great truth, so I would press you to a diligent improvement of it for yourselves and others. To know the truth for knowledge sake is short of a gracious disposition of soul, and to communicate the truth out of a desire for praise and vain glory for so doing is also a swerving from godly simplicity, but to improve what I know for the good of myself and others is true Christianity. Now truths received may be improved concerning myself and others, and in several ways—

1. To myself, when I search for the power that belongs to those notions that I have received of truth. There belongs to every true notion of truth a power; the notion is the shell—the power is the kernel and life. Without this last truth, I do no good, nor do those to whom I communicate it. Hence Paul said to the Corinthians, ‘When I come to you again, I will know not the speech of them that is puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.’ (1 Cor 4:19–20) Search, then, after the power of what thou knowest, for it is the power that will do thee good. Now this will not be got but by earnest prayer, and much attending to God; also, there must not be admitted by thee that thy heart be stuffed with cumbering cares of this world, for they are of a choking nature.

Take heed of slighting that little that thou hast; a good improvement of little is the way to make that little thrive, and the way to obtain additions thereto: ‘He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.’ (Luke 16:10)

2. Improve them to others, and that, (1.) By laboring to instill them in their hearts with good and wholesome words, presenting all to them with the authority of the Scriptures. (2.) Labor to enforce those instilling on them by showing them by thy life the peace, the glorious effects that they have upon thy soul.

Lastly, let this doctrine give you the boldness to come to God. Shall Jesus Christ be interceding in heaven? Oh, then, be thou a praying man on earth; yea, take courage to pray. Think thus with thyself—I go to God, before whose throne the Lord Jesus is ready to hand my petitions to him; yea, ‘he ever lives to make intercession for me.’ This is a great encouragement to come to God through prayers and supplications for ourselves, and by intercessions for our families, our neighbors, and our enemies. Farewell.

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ’s Intercession, 236.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

2. When he ascended to God, and so was out of his reach, yet how busily went he about to make war with his people? (Rev 12) Yea, what horrors and terrors, what troubles and temptations, has God’s church met with from that day till now! Nor is he content with persecutions and general troubles; but oh! how doth he haunt the spirits of the Christians with blasphemies and troubles, with darkness and frightful fears; sometimes to their distraction, and often to fill the church with outcries.

3. Yet his malice is in pursuit, and now his boldness will try what it can do with God, either to tempt him to reject his Son’s mediation or to reject them that come to God by him for mercy. And this is one cause among many why ‘he ever liveth to make intercession for them that come to God by him.’

4. And if he cannot overthrow, if he knows he cannot overthrow them, yet he cannot forbear but vex and perplex them, even as he did their Lord, from the day of their conversion to the day of their ascension to glory.

Third, Hence I infer that the love of Christ to his, is an unwearied love, and it must need to be so; an undaunted love, and it must needs be so. Who but Jesus Christ would have undertaken such a task as the salvation of the sinner is, if Jesus Christ had passed us by? It is true, as it is written of him, ‘He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth,’ &c. If he had not set his ‘face like a flint,’ the greatness of this work would surely have daunted his mind. (Isa 42:1, 50:6-7)

For do but consider what sin is from which they must be saved; do but consider what the devil and the curse are from which they must be saved; and it will easily be concluded by you that it is he that full rightly deserves to have his name called Wonderful, and his love such as verily passed knowledge.

Consider, again, by what means these souls are saved, even with the loss of his life, and, together with it, the loss of the light of his Father’s face. I pass by here and forbear to speak of the matchless contradiction of sinners which he endured against himself, which could not but be a great grief, or, as himself doth word it, a breaking of heart unto him; but all this did not, could not, hinder.

Join to all this, his everlasting intercession for us, and the effectual management thereof with God for us; and, withal, the infinite number of times that we, by sin, provoke him to spew us out of his mouth, instead of interceding for us, and the many times also that his intercession is repeated by the repeating of our faults, and this love still passes knowledge and is by us to be wondered at. What did, or what doth, the Lord Jesus see in us to be at all this care, and pains, and cost to save us? What will he get of us by the bargain but a small pittance of thanks and love? for so it is, and ever will be, when compared with his matchless and unspeakable love and kindness towards us.

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Inferences From The Certainty of Benefit From Christ’s Intercession, 235.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

I have now done what I intend on this subject, and I have drawn a few inferences from it as well.

First, then, I infer that the souls saved by Christ are themselves in a most deplorable condition. Oh, what ado, as I may say, is here before one sinner can be eternally saved! Christ must die, but that is not all; the Spirit of grace must be given to us; but that is not all; Christ must also ever live to make intercession for us. And as he doth this for all, so he doth it for each one. He interceded for me, before I was born, that I might, in time, at the set time, come into being. After that, he also made intercession for me, that I might be kept from hell in the time of my unregenerate state until the time of my call and conversion. Yet again, he then intercedes that the work now begun in my soul may be perfected, not only to the day of my dissolution but unto the day of Christ; that is, until he comes to judgment. (Phil 1:6) So that, as he began to save me before I had been, he will go on to save me when

I am dead and gone, and he will never leave off to save me until he has set me before his face forever.

But, I say, what a deplorable condition has our sin put us into, that there must be all this ado to save us. Oh, how hard is sin got out of the soul when once it is in! Blood takes away the guilt; inherent grace weakens the filth; but the grave is the place, at the mouth of which, sin, as to the being of sin, and the saved, must have a perfect and final parting. (Isa 38:10) Not that the grave of itself is of a sin-purging quality, but God will follow Satan home to his own door; for the grave is the door or gate of hell, and will there, where the devil thought to have swallowed us up, even there by the power of his mercy make us, at our coming thence, shine like the sun, and look like angels. Christ, all this while, ever lived to make intercession for us.

Second, Hence, also, I infer that as Satan thought he struck home at first, when he polluted our nature, and brought our souls to death, so he is marvelous loath to lose us and to suffer his lawful captives now to escape his hands. He is full of fire against us, full of the fire of malice, as is manifest 1. Not only by his first attempt upon our first parents but behold, when the Deliverer came into the world, how he roared. He sought his death while he was an infant; he hated him in his cradle; he persecuted him while he was but a bud and blossom. (Matt 2) When he was come to riper years, and began to manifest his glory, yet, lest the world should be taken with him, how politicly did this old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, work? He possessed people that he had a devil, and was mad, and a deceiver; he wrought his miracles by magic art and by the devil; that the prophets spoke nothing of him, and that he sought to overthrow the government which was God’s ordinance. And, not being contented with all this, he pursued him to the death, and could never rest until he had spilled his blood upon the ground like water. Yea, so insatiable was his malice, that he set the soldiers to forge lies about him to the denial of his resurrection, and so managed that matter that what they said has become a stumbling block to the Jews to this very day. (John 10:20, 7:12, Matt 9:34, John 7:52, Luke 23:2, Matt 28:11-15).

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Every Sincere Comer Certain Of Salvation, 234.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

Now, if by blood he entered there, by blood he must also make intercession there. His blood made way for his entrance there; his blood must make way for our entrance there. Though here again, we must beware; for his blood did make way for him as Priest to intercede; his blood makes way for us, as for those redeemed by it, that we might be saved. This, then, shows sufficiently the worth of the blood of Christ, even his ever living to make intercession for us; for the merit of his blood lasts all the while that he doth, and for all them for whom he ever lived to make intercession. Oh, precious blood! oh, lasting merit!

Blood must be pleaded in Christ’s intercession, because of justice, to stop the mouth of the enemy, and also to encourage us to come to God by him. Justice, since that is of the essence of God, must concur in the salvation of the sinner; but how can that be, since it is said at first, ‘In the day thou ate thereof, thou shalt surely die,’ unless a plenary satisfaction is made for sin to the pleasing of the mighty God. The enemy would also never let go of his opposition to our salvation. But now God has declared that our salvation is grounded in justice because it is merited by blood. And though God needed not to have given his Son to die for us that he might save us, and stop the mouth of the devil in so doing, yet this way of salvation has done both, and so it is declared, we are ‘justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past—to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’ (Rom 3:24,25) So, then, here is also a ground of intercession, even the blood shed for us before.

And that you may see it yet more for your comfort, God did, at Christ’s resurrection, to show what a price he set upon his blood, bid him ask of him the heathen, and he would give him the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. (Psa 2:8) His blood, then, has value enough in it to ground intercession upon; yes, there is more worth in it than Christ will plead or improve for men by way of intercession. I do not at all doubt that there is virtue enough in the blood of Christ, would God Almighty so apply it, to save the souls of the whole world. But it is the blood of Christ, his own blood; and he may do what he will with his own. It is also the blood of God, and he may restrain its merits or apply it as he sees fit. But the coming soul, he shall find and feel the virtue thereof, even the soul that comes to God by Christ; for he is the man concerned in its worth, and he ever lived to make intercession for him. Now, seeing the intercession of Christ is grounded upon a covenant, an oath, a life, and also upon the validity of his merits, it must of necessity be prevalent, and so drive down all opposition before it. This, therefore, is the last part of the text, and that which demonstrates that he that comes to God by Christ shall be saved, seeing ‘he ever lived to make intercession for him.’

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Every Sincere Comer Certain Of Salvation, 233.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

God is just, and yet Christ lives, and yet Christ lives in heaven! God is just, and yet Christ, our Passover, lives there, Do what our foes can to the contrary!

And this note, by the way, that though the design of Satan against us, in his laboring continually to accuse us to God, and to prevail against our salvation, seems to terminate here, indeed it is also laid against the very life of Christ, and that his priesthood might be utterly overthrown; and, in conclusion, that God also might be found unjust in receiving of such whose sins have not been satisfied for, and so whose souls are yet under the power of the devil. For he that objects against him for whom Christ intercedes, objects against Christ and his merits; and he that objects against Christ’s intercession, objects against God, who has made him a priest forever. Behold you, therefore, how the cause of God, Christ, and the souls that come to God by him are interwoven; they are all wrapped up in one bottom. Mischief one, and your mischief all; overthrow that soul, and you overthrow his intercessor; and overthrow him, and you overthrow even him that made him a priest forever. For the text is without restriction: ‘He can save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him.’ He saith not, now and then one, or sinners of an inferior rank in sin, but them that come to God by him, how great soever their transgressions are, as is clear in that it added this clause, ‘to the uttermost.’ ‘He can save them to the uttermost.’ But if he were not, why did the King send, yea, come and lose him, and let him go free; yea, admit him into his presence; yea, make him Lord over all his people, and deliver all things into his hand?

But he lived, he ever lived, and is admitted to make intercession, yea, is ordained of God so to do; therefore he is ‘able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him.’ This, therefore, that he lived, seeing he lived to God and his judgment, and in justice is made so to do, it is chiefly concerning his life as Mediator for their sakes for whom he makes intercession. He lived to make intercession. And in that, it is said he lived ever, what is it but that he must live, and outlive all his enemies; for he must live, yea, reign, till all his enemies are put under his feet. (1 Cor 15:25) Yes, his very intercessions must live till they are all dead and gone. The devil and sin must not live forever, not forever to accuse. The time is coming when the due course of law will have an end, and all cavilers will be cast over the bar. But then and after that, Christ our high priest shall live, and so shall his intercessions; yea, and also all them for whom he makes intercession, seeing they come unto God by him.

Now if he lives, and outlives all, and if his intercession has the casting voice, since he also pleaded in his prayers for sufficient merit before a just God, against a lying, malicious, clamorous, and envious adversary, he must carry the cause, the cause for himself and his people, to the glory of God and their salvation. So, then, his life and intercession must prevail, there can be no withstanding of it. Is not this, then, a demonstration clear as the sun, that those who come to God by him shall be saved, seeing he ever lived to make intercession for them?

Fourth, the duration of Christ’s intercession, as it is grounded upon a covenant betwixt God and him, upon an oath also, and upon his life, so it is grounded upon the validity of his merits. This has been promiscuously touched before, but since it is essential to the lastingness of his intercession, it will be to the purpose to lay it down by itself.

Intercession, then, I mean Christ’s intercession, is that those for whom he died with full intention to save them, might be brought into that inheritance which he has purchased for them. Now, then, his intercession must, as to length and breadth, reach no further than his merits, for he may not pray for those for whom he died. Indeed, if we take in the utmost extent of his death, then we must beware, for his death is sufficient to save the whole world. But his intercessions are kept within a narrower compass. The altar of burnt offerings was a great deal bigger than the altar of incense, which was a figure of Christ’s intercession. (Exo 27:1, 30:1, Rev 8:3) But I say his intercession is for those for whom he died with full intention to save them; therefore, it must be grounded upon the validity of his sufferings. And, indeed, his intercession is nothing else, that I know of, but a presentation of what he did in the world for us unto God, and pressing the value of it for our salvation. The blood of sprinkling is that which speaks meritoriously, (Heb 12:24); it is by the value of that that God measures out and gives unto us grace and life eternal; wherefore Christ’s intercessions also must be ordered and governed by merit; ‘By his own blood, he entered into the holy place, having [before by it] obtained eternal redemption for us,’ for our souls. (Heb 9:12)

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Every Sincere Comer Certain Of Salvation, 232.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

Again; it is yet more manifest that Christ receiving of his life again was the death and destruction of the enemy of his people; and to manifest that it was so, he adds (after he had said, ‘And, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen’), ‘And I have the keys of hell and of death.’ I have the power over them; I have them under me; I tread them down by being a victor, a conqueror, and one that has the dominion of life (for he now is the Prince of Life), one that lives for evermore. Amen. Hence it is repeated, He ‘hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’ (2 Tim. 1:10) He hath abolished death by his death (by death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil), and brought life (a very emphatical expression); and brought it from whence? From God, who raised him from the dead; and brought it to light, to our view and sight, by the word of the truth of the gospel.

So, then, the life that he now hath is a life once laid down as the price of our redemption; a life obtained and taken to him again as the effect of the merit that was in the laying down thereof; a life by the virtue of which death, sin, and the curse is overcome; and so a life that is above them forever. This is the life that he lives—to wit, this meriting, purchasing, victorious life—and that he improves while he ever so lives to make intercession for us.

This life, then, is a continual plea and argument with God for those that come to him by Christ, should he make no other intercession, but only show to God that he lived; because his thus living saith, that he has satisfied for the sins of them that come unto God by him. It testifies, moreover, that those—to wit, death, the grave, and hell—are overcome by him for them; because indeed he lived, and has their keys. But now, add to life, to a life meritorious, intercession, or urging of this meritorious life by way of prayer for his, and against all those that seek to destroy them, since they have already been overcome by his death, and what an encouraging consideration is here for all those that come to God by him, to hope for life eternal. But,

2. Let us speak a word to the second head—namely, for that, his living forever capacitates him to be the last in his own cause and to have the casting voice, and that is an advantage next to what is chiefs. His cause; what is his cause? but that the death that he died when he was in the world was and is of merit sufficient to secure all those from hell, or, as the text has it, to save them that come unto God by him, to save them to the uttermost. Now, if this cause is faulty, why does he live? Yes, he lived by the power of God, by the power of God towards us; or concerning our welfare, for he lived to make intercession, intercession against Satan, our accuser, for us. (2 Cor 13:4) Besides, he lived before God, to God, and after he had given his life as a ransom for us. What can follow more clearly from this, but that amends were made by him for those souls for whose sins he suffered upon the tree? Therefore, since his Father has given him his life and favor, and after he died for our sins, it cannot be thought that the life he now lives is a life that he received as the result of the merit of his passion for us.

Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Every Sincere Comer Certain Of Salvation, 231.

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

Third, This unchangeableness of the priesthood of Christ depended also upon his own life: ‘This man, because he continued ever, had an unchangeable priesthood.’ (Heb 7:24) Now, although, perhaps, at first much may not appear in this text, the words that we are upon take their ground from them. ‘This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood: wherefore he is able also’—that is, by his unchangeable priesthood—’ to save them to the uttermost that comes unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.’

The life of Christ, then, is a ground of the lastingness of his priesthood, and so a ground of the salvation of them that come unto God by him: ‘We shall be saved by his life.’ (Rom 5:10) Therefore, in another place, this life is spoken of with great emphasis—the power of an endless life. ‘He is made [a priest], not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.’ (Heb 7:16) An endless life is a powerful thing; indeed, two things are very considerable in it: 1. It is above death, and so above him is the power of death, the devil. 2. In that, it capacitates him to be the last in his own cause, and so to have the casting voice.

1. We will speak to the first, and for the better setting of it forth, we will show what life it is of which the apostle here speaks; and then how, as to life, it comes to be so advantageous, both concerning his office of priesthood and us.

What life is it that is thus the ground of his priesthood? It is a life taken, his own life rescued from the power of the grave; a life that we had forfeited, he being our surety; and a life that he recovered again, he is the Captain of our salvation: I lay down my life that I may retake it: ‘this commandment have I received of my Father.’ (John 10:18) It is a life, then, that was once laid down as the price of man’s redemption, and life won, gained, taken, or recovered again, as the token or true effect of the completing, by so dying that redemption; wherefore it is said again, ‘In that, he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.’ (Rom 6:10) He lives as having pleased God by dying for our sins, as having merited his life by dying for our sins. Now if this life of his is a life merited and won under the death that he died, as Acts 2:24 doth clearly manifest; and if this life is the ground of the unchangeableness of this part of his priesthood, as we see it is, then it follows that this second part of his priesthood, which is called here intercession, is grounded upon the demonstrations of the virtue of his sacrifice, which is his life taken to live again; so, then, he holds this part of his priesthood, not by a carnal commandment, but by the power of an endless life; but by the power of a life rescued from death, and eternally exalted above all that anyways would yet assault it; for ‘Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.’ (Rom 6:9) Hence Christ brings in his life, the life that he won for himself by his death, to comfort John withal when he fainted under the view of that overcoming glory that he saw upon Christ in is visions of him at Patmos: ‘And he laid his right hand upon me,’ said he, ‘saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen.’ (Rev 1:17,18) Why should Christ bring in his life to comfort John, if it was not a life advantageous to him? But the advantageousness of it doth lie not merely in the being of life, but in that, it was a life laid down for his sins, and a life taken up again for his justification; a life lost to ransom him, and a life won to save him; as also the text affirmeth, saying, ‘He can save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.’