90. [THE APPLICATION OF THE WHOLE.]

I now come to make some use of the whole.

You know our discourse has been at this time of the water of life, of its quantity, head-spring, and quality; and I have showed you that its nature is excellent, its quantity abundant, its head-spring glorious, and its quality singularly good.

FIRST. Let this, then, in the first place, be a provocation to us to be more free in making use of this water. There are many, now-a-days, that are fo-inventing of waters, to drink for the health of the body; and to allure those that are ill to buy, they will praise their waters beyond their worth. Yes, and if they be helpful to one person in a hundred, they make as if they could cure every one. Well, here you have the great Physician himself, with his water, and he calls it the water of life, water of life for the soul: this water is probatum est. It has been proved times without number; it never fails but where it is not taken. Ac. 21. 18. Is. v. 4, 5. No disease comes amiss to it; it cures blindness,

1 Probatum est. is proved - a scrap of Latin commonly used in advertising medical prescriptions, in Bunyan's time. - Ed.

deadness, deafness, dumbness. It makes 'the lips of those that are asleep to speak.' Ca. vi. 9. This is the right HOLY WATER, all other is counterfeit: it will drive away devils and spirits; it will cure enchantments and witchcrafts; it will heal the mad and lunatic. Ga. 1-3 Mar. xvi 17, 18. It will cure the most desperate melancholy; it will dissolve doubts and mistrusts, though they are grown as hard as stone in the heart. Ex. xxvi. 26. It will make you speak well. Col. iv. 6. It will make you have a white soul, and that is better than to have a white skin. Ex. xxvi. 25, 26. It will make you taste well; it will make you disrelish all hurtful meats. Is. xix. 22. It will beget in you a good appetite to that which is good; it will remove obstructions in the stomach and liver. It will cause that what you receive of God's bread shall turn to good nourishment, and make good blood. In a word, it preserveeth life. Ja. iv. 14. They that take this water shall live longer than did old Methuselah, and yet he lived a great while. Ge. v. 27

Wherefore, let me continue my exhortation to you. Be more free in making use of this water; it is the wholesomest water in the world; you may take it at the third, sixth, ninth, or eleventh hour, but to take it in the morning of your age is best. Mat. xx. 3-4. For then diseases have not got so great a head as when they are of long continuance, consequently they will be removed with far more ease; besides, those that thus do will receive endless life, and the comfort of it betimes; and that, you know, is a double life to one. Ex. xi. 1-4

This water gently purges, and yet more effectually than any others. True, where bad humours are more tough and churlish, it will show itself stronger of operation, for there is no disease can be too hard for it. It will, as we say, throw the house out of the windows; but it will rid us of the plague of those most deadly infections that otherwise will be sure to make us sleep in death, and bring us, with the multitude, down to hell. But it will do no hurt; it only breaks our sleep in security, and brings us to a more quick apprehension of the plague of our heart and flesh. It will, as I said before, provoke to appetite, but make us only long after that which is wholesome. If any ask why I thus allegorize, I answer, the text doth lead me to it.

SECOND. I advise, therefore, in the next place, that thou get thee a dwelling-place by these waters.

'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long.' De. xxiii. 12. If thou ask where that dwelling is, I answer, in the city of God, in and among the tabernacles of the Most High. This river comes from the throne to water the city of God; and to that end it is said to run 'in the midst of the street of it.' Be. xxi. 8. If ye will inquire, inquire, return, come. 'The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein.' Ps. xix. 38. Get thee a dwelling in Jerusalem, in the midst of Jerusalem, and then thou wilt be seated by this river.

In old times, the ancients had their habitations by the rivers; yea, we read of Aroer that stood upon the brink of the river Arnon. Jm. xii. 9. Balaam also had his dwelling in his city Pethor, 'by the river of the land of the children of his people.' Na. xiii. 8. O' by a river side is the pleasantest dwelling in the world; and of all rivers, the river of the water of life is the best. They that dwell there 'shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.' Is. xxi. 10. Trees planted by the rivers, and that spread out their roots by the rivers, they are the flourishing trees, they bring forth their fruit in their season. Ps. i. 3. Je. xii. 8. And the promise is that men that take up their dwellings by this river of water of life, shall be fruitful as such trees.

If thou art a Christian, thou hast more than an ordinary call and occasion to abide by these waters; thy things will not grow but by these waters. Weeds and the excellencies of most men we may find in the barren wilderness, they grow under every hedge; but thine are garden, and so choice things, and will not thrive without much water, no, without the water of God's river. Dwell, therefore, here; that thy soul may be as a watered garden. Ja. xiii. 12. Is. xii. 1-3. And when thou seest how those that are loath to die, make provision at Tunbridge, Epsom, the Bath, and other places, and what houses they get that they may have their dwellings by those waters, then do thou consider of thy spiritual disease, and how nothing can cure thee but this blessed water of life; be also much of desires to have a dwelling-place in Jerusalem, that thou mayest always be nigh to these waters. Be often also in watering thy plants with these waters. I mean the blessed graces of God in thy soul; then shalt thou grow, and retain thy greenness, and prove thyself to be a disciple indeed. And herein

1 A Protestant can have but little idea of the insane superstition of the Papists in respect to holy water. The following lines, from Barnaby Googe's Papst. Kingdome, will shed a little light upon it:—

Besides, they do observe the rations to be forgiven quickly.

By taking holy water here, whereof it there do right!

But one man, only, it differs but the fact of the word is all.

Then which there can no greater grace to the legend shall—

—xix. 1570, p. 42. In the Editor's library.—ED.

2 The infatuation, nay, madness of human nature, in its fallen state, is shown by living to hasten the inroads of death, and when he appears, terror-stricken they fly from it to any remedy that is within their reach. How vast the number of successes by inttemperance?—ED.

is God, and thy Father, glorified, that thou bear much fruit. 2n. 1v. 3.

THIRD. My third word is, bless God for providing for man such waters. These only can make us live; all others come out of the Dead Sea, and do kill; there is no living water but this. I say, show thy acceptation of it with thanksgiving; if we are not to receive our bread and cheese but with thanksgiving, how should we bless God for this unspeakable gift? 2c. 1v. 1. This is soul life, life against sin, life from sin, life against the curse, life from the curse, life beyond hell, beyond desert, beyond thought, beyond desires. Life that is pleasing, life that is profitable, life everlasting.

O my brethren, bless God! who doth good and gives us such rain, filling our hearts with food and gladness. When Moses would take the heart of Israel, and took in hand to raise up their spirits to thankfulness, he used to tell them that the land that they were to go to was a land that God cared for, and that was watered with the dew of heaven. Yes, 'a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land that flowed with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.' 2n. 1v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

This river is the running out of God's heart; the letting out of his very bowels, for God is the living God. This is his heart and soul. 'Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.' 2n. 1v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

FOURTH. By the characters that are given of this water of life, thou art appreciated to judge when a notion, a doctrine, an opinion, comes to thine ears, whether it is right, good, and wholesome, or how. This river is pure, is clear, is pure and clear as crystal. Is the doctrine offered unto thee so? or is it muddy, and mixed with the doctrines of men? Look, man, and see if the foot of the worshippers of Bel be not there, and if the waters be not fouled thereby. What water is fouled is not the water of life, or at least not the water of life in its clearness. Wherefore, if thou findest it not right, go up higher to the spring-head, for always the nearer to the spring, the more pure and clear is the water. Fetch, then, thy doctrine from afar, if thou canst not have it good nearer hand. 2n. 1v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

FIFTH. Doth this water of life run like a river, like a broad, full, and deep river; then let no man, be his transgressions never so many, fear at all, but there is enough to save his soul, and to spare. Nothing has been more common to many than to doubt of the grace of God; a thing most unbecoming a sinner of any thing in the world. To break the law is a fact foul enough; but to question the sufficiency of the grace of God to save therefrom, is worse than sin, if worse can be. Wherefore, despairing soul, for it is to then I speak, forbear thy mistrusts, cast off thy slavish fears, hang thy misgivings as to this upon the hedge; and believe thou hast an invitation sufficient thereto, a river is before thy face. And as for thy want of goodness and works, let that by no means daunt thee; this is a river of water of life, streams of grace and mercy. There is, as I said, enough therein to help thee, for grace brings all that is wanting to the soul. Thou, therefore, hast nothing to do, I mean as to the curing of thy soul of its doubts, and fears, and despairing thoughts, but to drink and live for ever.

SIXTH. But what is all this to the DEAD world—to them that love to be dead? They toss their vanities about as the boys toss their shuttlecocks in the air, till their foot slips, and themselves descend into the pit.

Let this suffice for this time.

In proportion to the number of professed Christians who thus obey the gospel by judging for themselves, so will be the happiness of the church, and the hastening of the kingdom of Christ. No one is a Christian that receives his doctrine from a prelate, priest, or minister, without prayerfully comparing it with the written Word. O man, take not the water of life as doled out by a fellow-man; go to the river for yourself—survey yourself as reflected in the crystal streams. Christ does not say to the heavy-laden, sin-hardened soul, Go to the church, but, Come unto me, and find rest. Blessed is he who loves the river as water unpolluted by human victims, forms, or ceremonies; who flies to the open bosom of his Christ, and hails refuge from every storm.—Etc.

1 The real Christ is, and such only, not in this blessed case; they have the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Their Father, the Almighty, supposes all the wants, giving joy and peace, with heart and flesh to all.—Etc.