CHAPTER – PARTICULAR INIQUITIES THAT MUST BE GIVEN UP. – John Bunyan
But perhaps some may ask me,WHAT INIQUITY THEY MUST DEPART FROM, that religiously name the name of Christ?
I answer,FIRST, in general. Those that religiously profess the name of Christ, must depart fromALL INIQUITY. They should lay aside every weight; they should fly all appearance of evil. Hebrews 12:2; Thessalonians 5:22. Many there are that are willing to part with some sins, some pleasures, some unjust profits, if they may be saved; but this selling all, parting with all, forsaking all, is a very hard chapter.
And yet the Lord Jesus lays it there; saying so likewise, “Whosoever he be of you (or any of you that professeth my name) that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33.
Christ by this text requireth more of them that are his, than to forsake all iniquity: Wherefore to be sure every sin is included. No less than universal obedience, will prove a man sincere. “A divided heart” is a faulty one. Hosea 10:2. He that forsaketh not every sin is “partial in the law,” nor can he have respect to all God’s commandments. There can be no true love to Christ where there are reserves: he that will hide any one sin in his bosom, or that will keep it, as the phrase is, under his tongue, is a secret enemy to Jesus Christ. Job 20:13; John 14:21-24. He loveth not Christ that keepeth not his sayings. To halt between two is naught; and no man can serve two masters. Christ is a master, and sin is a master; yea and masters are they so opposite, that he that at all shall cleave to the one, shall by the other be counted his enemy. If sin at all be countenanced, Christ counts himself despised. What man would count himself beloved of his wife, that knows she hath a bosom for another? “Thou shalt not be for another, (saith he); so will I be for thee.” Hosea 3:3.
Would the king count him a loyal subject who would hide in his house, nourish in his bed, and feed at his table, one that implacably hateth and seeketh to murder his majesty? Why, sin is such an enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore as kings command that traitors be delivered up to justice, so Christ commands that we depart from iniquity. “Take away all iniquity,” is a good prayer, and to “resist unto blood, striving against sin,” is a good warfare; and he that brings “every thought to the obedience of Christ,” gets a brave victory. Hosea 14:2; Hebrews 12:4; Corinthians 10:5. Grace leaveneth the soul, and so consequently all the parts thereof. Now where the whole is leavened, the taste must needs be the same throughout. Grace leaves no power, faculty, or passion of the soul unsanctified; wherefore there is no corner in a sanctified soul, where sin may hide his head, to find rest and abode without control. Consequently, he that has harbor for this or that sin, and that can find a hiding place, and an abode for it in his heart, is no Christian man. Let them, then, that christianly name the name of Christ, make it manifest that they do not do it feignedly by departing from iniquity. But, Secondly , And more particularly, they that name the name of Christ, as above, let them depart from theirCONSTITUTION-SIN, or if you will, the sin that their temper most inclines them to. Every man is not alike inclined to the same sin, but some to one and some to another. Now let the man that professes the name of Christ religiously, consider with himself, ‘Unto what sin or vanity am I most inclined; is it pride? is it covetousness? is it fleshly lust?’ And let him labor, by all means, to leave off and depart from that.
This is that which David called his ‘own iniquity,’ and saith, “I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.” Psalm 18:22.
Rightly are these two put together; for it is not possible that he should be an upright man that indulgeth or countenanceth his constitution-sin; but on the contrary, he that keeps himself from that, will be upright as to all the rest.
And the reason is, because if a man has that grace as to trample upon, and mortify his darling, his bosom, his only sin, he will more easily and more heartily abhor and fly the rest.
And indeed, if a man will depart from iniquity, he must depart from his darling sin, first; for as long as that is entertained, the others, at least those that are most suiting with that darling, will always be haunting him. There is a man that has such and such persons haunt his house, and spend his substance, and would be rid of them, but cannot: but now, let him rid himself of that for the sake of which they haunt his house, and then he shall with ease be rid of them. Thus it is with sin. There is a man that is plagued with many sins, perhaps because he embraceth one; well, let him turn that one out of doors, and that is the way to be rid of the rest. Keep thee from thy darling, thy bosom, thy constitution-sin.
Motives to prevail with thee to fall in with this exhortation, are several. 1. There can no great change appear in thee, make what profession of Christ thou wilt, unless thou cast away thy bosom sin. A man’s constitution-sin is, as I may call it, his visible sin; it is that by which his neighbors know him and describe him; whether it be pride, covetousness, lightness or the lie. Now if these abide with thee, though thou shouldest be much reformed in thy notions, and in other parts of thy life; yet say thy neighbors, ‘he is the same man still; his faith has not saved him from his darling; he was proud afore, and is proud still; was covetous afore, and is covetous still; was light and wanton afore, and is so still. He is the same man, though he has got a new mouth.’ But now, if thy constitution-sin be parted with, if thy darling be cast away, thy conversion is apparent, it is seen of all: for the casting away of that is death to the rest, and ordinarily makes a change throughout. 2. So long as thy constitution-sin remains, as winked at by thee, so long thou art a hypocrite before God, let thy profession be what it will; also when conscience shall awake and be commanded to speak to thee plainly, what thou art, it will tell thee so, to thy no little vexation and perplexity. 3. Besides, do what thou canst, so long as thou remainest thus thou wilt be of a scandalous life. No honor is brought to religion by such.
Again, As they that name the name of Christ should depart from their constitution-sin, so they should depart from the sins of other men’s tempers also. Much harm among professors is done by each other’s sins.
There is a man that has clean escaped from those who live in error, has shaken off the carnal world and the men thereof, and is come among professors; but, behold, there also he meeteth with wicked men, with men that have not departed from iniquity, and there he is entangled. This is a sad thing, and yet so it is. I doubt there are some in the world, I mean professors, that will curse the day that ever they were acquainted with some professors. There are professors that are defilers, professors that are wicked men, professors of whom a wicked man may learn to sin. Jeremiah 5:26; Jeremiah 2:33. Take heed of these, lest having fled from thine own sins, thou shouldest be taken with the sins of others. “Be not partakers of other men’s sins,” is the counsel and caution that Paul giveth Timothy, if he would keep himself pure. 1 Timothy 5:22. 1. Dost thou profess the name of Christ, and dost thou pretend to be a man departing from iniquity? Then take heed thou dost not deceive thyself, by changing one bad way of sinning, for another bad way of sinning. This was a trick that Israel played of old; for when God’s prophets followed them hard with demands of repentance and reformation, then they would “gad about to change their ways,” ( Jeremiah 2:36); but behold, they would not change a bad way for a good, but one bad way for another, hopping as the squirrel from bough to bough, but not willing to forsake the tree. Hence they were said to return, but not to the Most High. Take heed, I say, of this.
Many leave off to be drunkards, and fall in with covetousness. Many fall off from covetousness to pride and lasciviousness. Take heed of this. Hosea 7:16. This is a grand deceit, and a common one too, a deceit of a long standing, and almost a disease epidemical among professors.
Many times men change their darling sins, as some change their wives and servants; that which would serve for such an one this year may not serve to be so for the year ensuing. Hypocrisy would do awhile ago, but now debauchery. Profaneness would do when profaneness was in fashion, but now a deceitful profession. Take heed, professor, that thou dost not throw away thine old darling sin for a new one. Men’s tempers alter. Youth is for pride and wantonness; middle age for cunning and craft; old age for the world and covetousness. Take heed, therefore, of deceit in this thing. 2. Dost thou profess the name of Christ, and dost thou pretend to be a man departing from iniquity? take heed lest thy departing from iniquity should be but for a time. Some do depart from iniquity, as persons in wrangling fits depart from one another; that is, for a time; but when the quarrel again.
O! Satan is the intercessor between the soul and sin! and though the breach between these two may seem to be irreconcilable; yea, though the soul has sworn it will never give countenance to so vile a thing as sin is, more; yet he can tell how to make up this difference, and to fetch them back to their vomit again, who, one would have thought, had quite escaped their sins, and been gone. 2 Peter 2:18-22. Take heed, therefore, O professor! For there is danger of this, and the height of danger lies in it; and I think that Satan, to do this thing, makes use of those sins again, to begin this rejoinder, which he findeth most suitable to the temper and constitution of the sinner. These are, as I may call them,THE MASTER SINS; they suit, they jump with the temper of the soul. These, as the little end of the wedge, enter with ease, and so make way for those that come after, with which Satan knows he can rend the soul in pieces. Wherefore, 3. To help this, take heed of parleying with thy sins again, when once thou hast departed from them. Sin has a smooth tongue; if thou hearken to its enchanting language, ten thousand to one but thou art entangled. See the saying of the wise man, “With much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips, she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as the ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.” Proverbs 7:21,22.
He heard her charm, and by hearing, is noosed, and led away to her house, which is the way to hell, “going down to the chambers of death.” Take heed therefore of listening to the charms, wherewith sin enchanteth the soul.
In this, be like the deaf adder; stop thine ear, plug it up to sin, and let it only be open to hear the words of God. Thirdly . Let them that name the name of Christ, depart fromTHE INIQUITY OF THE TIMES. There are sins that may be called the iniquity of the day. It was thus in Noah’s day; it was thus in Lot’s day; and it was thus in Christ’s day; I mean in the days of his flesh: and it is a famous thing for professors to keep themselves from the iniquities of the times. Here lay Noah’s excellency; here lay Lot’s excellency; and here will lay thy excellency, if thou keep thyself from the iniquity of this day. Keep, or “save yourselves from this untoward generation,” ( Acts 2:40), is seasonable counsel; yet taken of but few; the sin of the time, or day, being as a strong current or stream that drives all before it. Hence Noah and Lot were found as it were alone, in the practice of this excellent piece of righteousness in their generation. Hence it is said of Noah that he was a just man, and perfect in his generation. And again, the Lord said under Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me, in this generation. Genesis 6:9. The meaning is, he kept himself clear of the sin of his day, or of the generation among which he lived. Genesis 7:1.
The same I say of Lot, he kept himself from, the sin of Sodom; and hence Peter cries him up for such a righteous man. “Just Lot,” said he, “that righteous man, whose righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” 2 Peter 2:7,8.
Mark: ‘a just man, a righteous man, his righteous soul,’ etc. But how obtained he this character? Why, he abhorred the sin of his time, he fell not in with the sin of the people, but was afflicted and vexed thereabout: yea, it was to him a daily burden. “For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day, with their unlawful deeds.” So David. “I beheld the transgressors,” saith he, “and was grieved because they kept not thy word.” <19B9158> Psalm 119:158.
The sin of the times, is to God the worst of sins; and to fall in with the sin of the times, is counted as the highest of transgressions. Consequently, to keep from them, though a man should through infirmity be guilty of others, yet he is accounted upright. And hence it is (I think) that David was called a man after God’s own heart; namely, because he served his own generation, by the will of God, (as in Acts 13.), or after he had in his own age served the will of God. By the sin of the times Satan, as it were, sets up his standard in defiance to God; seeking then to cause his name in a signed way to be dishonored, and that by the professors of that age. And hence it is that the Lord doth manifest such wrath against his people, that are guilty of the common sin of their day, and that he shows such special favor to them that abstain therefrom. Was there no more, think you, but Noah, in his generation that feared God? Yes, several, no doubt; but he was the man that kept clear of the sin of his day; therefore he and his family must be partakers of God’s deliverance; the other must die before, and not be permitted to the mercy of the ark, nor to see the new world with Noah.
Unbelief was the sin of the day, when Israel was going from Egypt to Canaan; therefore all that were guilty of that transgression, must be denied to go in to see that good land, yea, though it were Moses himself. “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Numbers 20:12.
The sin of the day is a high transgression; from the which, because Caleb and Joshua kept themselves, God kept them from all the blasting plagues that overtook all the rest, and gave them the land which he had promised to their fathers. “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land, whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess it.” Numbers 14:22-24.
Idolatry was the sin of the day, just before Israel was carried captive into Babylon. “Now those of the priests that went astray then, even they, says God, shall bear their iniquity. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadock, that kept the charge of my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near unto me, to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me, to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.” Ezekiel 44:10-16.
Great complaints have we now among professors, of deadness in duties, barrenness of the ministry, and of the withdrawing of God from his people; but I can tell you a cause of all this, namely, the sin of the day is got into the church of God, and has defiled that holy place. This is the ground and cause of all these things: nor is it like to be otherwise, till the cause shall be removed. If any should ask me what are the sins of our day, I would say they are conspicuous, they are open, they are declared as were Sodom’s. Isaiah 3:9. They that have embraced them, are not ashamed of them: yea, they have got the boldness to plead for them, and to count them their enemies that seek to reform them. All tables are full of vomit and filthiness.
And for pride and covetousness, for loathing of the gospel, and contemning holiness, as these have covered the face of the nation, so they have infected most of them, that now name the name of Christ.
And I say again, when you find out a professor that is not horribly tainted with some of these things, (I exclude not the ministers, nor their families), let him be as a beacon upon an hill, or as an ensign in our land. But says one, ‘would you have us singular?’ and says another, ‘would you have us make ourselves ridiculous?’ and says a third, ‘such and such more godlywise than we, do so.’ But I answer, if God has made you singular, and called you to grace, that’s singular; and he bids you walk in ways that are singular, and diverse from the ways of all others. Yea, if to depart from iniquity will make you ridiculous, if to be holy in all manner of conversation, will make you ridiculous, then be contented to be counted so.
As for the godly-wise you speak of, let them manifest themselves to be such, by departing from iniquity. I am sure that their being tainted with sins of the day, will not prove them godly-wise. “Behold, I have taught you,” said Moses, “statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me; that ye should do so in the land whither you go to possess it. Keep, therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom, and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear of all these statutes, and say, ‘surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’“ Here then is wisdom, and this is that that manifesteth a people to be understanding, and godly-wise, even the keeping of the commandments of God. And why, follow the apish fashions of the world? Hath the God of wisdom set them on foot among us? Oh is it because the devil and wicked men (the inventors of these vain toys) have outwitted the law of God? “What nation is there so great,” said Moses, “who have God so nigh unto them as his people have, and as he is in all things that we call upon him for? and what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law, which I set before you this day?” Deuteronomy 4:5-8.
This then is that which declareth us to be godly-wise, when we keep our soul diligently to the holy words of God: and set not only our tongues and lips, but also our lives thereto. Fourthly . But again, let them that name the name of Christ depart from theINIQUITY OF THE HOUSE, that is, fromFAMILY INIQUITY. There is a house-iniquity; an iniquity that loves not to walk abroad, but to harbor within doors. This the holy man David was aware of, therefore he said that he would behave himself wisely, in a perfect way; yea, saith he, “I will walk within my house, with a perfect heart.” <19A102> Psalm 101:2.
Now this house-iniquity standeth in these things: (1.) In domestic broils and quarrels. (2.) In domestic chamberings, and wantonness. (3.) In domestic disorders of children and servants. Firstly , For house broils and quarrels, it is an iniquity to be departed from, whether it be betwixt husband and wife, or otherwise. This, as I said, is an iniquity that loves not to walk abroad, but yet it is a horrible plague within doors. And many that show like saints abroad, yet act the part of devils when they are at home, by giving way to this house-iniquity. This iniquity meeteth the man and his wife at the very threshold of the door, and will not suffer them to enter, no not with one foot into the house in peace; but how far this is from walking together as heirs of the grace of life, is easy to be determined. Men should carry it in love to their wives, as Christ doth to his Church; and wives should carry it to their husbands, as the church ought to carry it to her Savior; Ephesians 5:21-28; 1 Peter 3:7; and until each relation be managed with respect to these things, this house-iniquity will be cherished there. O! God sees within doors as well as without, and will judge too for the iniquity of the house as well as for that more open. Secondly , As house-iniquity standeth in domestic broils, and contentions, so it also standeth in chamberings and wantonness. Romans 13:13.
Wherefore the Apostle putteth both together, saying, “not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” This chambering and wantonness is of a more general extent, being entertained by all, insomuch that sometimes from the head to the foot all are horribly guilty. But, “it is a shame to speak of those things that are done of some in secret:” for “through the lusts of their own hearts, they dishonor their own bodies between themselves, working that which is unseemly,” ( Ephesians 5:12; Romans 1:24-27), to their ignominy and contempt, if not with their fellows, yet with God, who sees them; “for the darkness hideth not from him.” Psalm 39:12. It was for this kind of iniquity with other, that God told Eli that he would judge his house for ever. 1 Samuel 3:13. Also the words that follow are to be trembled at, that say, “The iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.” 1 Samuel 5:14. Such an evil thing is house-iniquity in the eyes of the God that is above. Thirdly , As domestic iniquity standeth in these, so also in the disorders of children and servants. Children’s unlawful carriages to their parents, is a great house-iniquity, yea, and a common one too. 2 Timothy 3:2,3.
Disobedience to parents is one of the sins of the last days. O! it is horrible to behold how irreverently, how irrespectively, how saucily and malapertly, children, yea, professing children, at this day, carry it to their parents, snapping, and checking, curbing and rebuking them, as if they had never received their being by them, or had never been beholden to them for bringing them up: yea as if the relation was lost, or as if they had received a dispensation from God to dishonor, and disobey parents.
I will add, that this sin reigns in little and great; for not only the small and young, but men are disobedient to their parents; and indeed, this is the sin with a shame, that men shall be disobedient to parents, the sin of the last times, that men shall be disobedient to parents, and without natural affection. Where now a-days shall we see children that are come to men and women’s estate, carry it as by the word they are bound, to their aged and worn out parents? I say, where is the honor they should put upon them? Who speak to their aged parents with that due regard to that relation, to their age, to their worn-out condition, as becomes them? Is it not common now-a-days, for parents to be brought into bondage, and servitude by their children? For parents to be under, and children above; for parents to be debased, and children to lord it over them? Nor doth this sin go alone in the families where it is; no, those men are “lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,” that are disobedient to their parents. This is that the prophet means, when he saith, “the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.” Isaiah 3:4,5.
This is a common sin, and a crying sin, and to their shame be it spoken that are guilty; a sin that makes men vile to a high degree, and yet it is the sin of professors. But behold how the Apostle brands them; he saith, “such have but a form of godliness, and deny the power thereof,” and bids the godly shut them out of their fellowship. 2 Timothy 3:2-5. This sin also is, I fear, grown to such a height in some, as to make them weary of their parents, and of doing their duty to them. Yea, I wish that some are not murderers of fathers and mothers, by their thoughts, while they secretly long after, and desire their death; that the inheritance may be theirs, and that they may be delivered from obedience to their parents. 1 Timothy 1:9.
This is a sin in the house, in the family; a sin that is kept in hugger-mugger, close; but God sees it, and hath declared his dislike against it, by an implicit threatening, to cut them off that are guilty of it. Ephesians 5:1,2,3. Let them then that name the name of Christ, depart from this iniquity.
Disorders of servants, is also a house-iniquity, and to be departed from by the godly. “He that worketh deceit, shall not dwell within my house,” said David; “and he that telleth lies, shall not tarry in my sight.” <19A107> Psalm 101:7. One of the rarities in Solomon’s house, and which the queen of Sheba was so taken with, was the goodly order of his servants. Chronicles 9:4.
Some of the disorders of servants are to be imputed to the governors of families, and some to the servants themselves. Those that are to be imputed to the governors of families, are such as these: (1.) When the servant learns his vileness of his master, or of her mistress. (2.) When servants are countenanced by the master against the mistress; or by the mistress against the master; or when in opposition to either, they shall be made equals in things. (3.) When the extra-vagancies of servants are not discountenanced, and rebuked by their superiors, and the contrary taught them by word and life.
Those to be imputed to the servants themselves are: (1.) Their want of reverence to their superiors. (2.) Their backbiting and slandering them. (3.) Their unfaithfulness in serving them. (4.) Their murmuring at their lawful commands, etc.