Kitabı oku: «The Heavenly Footman; Or, A Description of the Man That Gets to Heaven», sayfa 2
3. Because the way is long, (I speak metaphorically,) and there is many a dirty step, many a high hill, much work to do; a wicked heart, world, and devil to overcome. I say there are many steps to be taken by those that intend to be saved, by running, or walking, in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham. Out of Egypt thou must go through the Red Sea; thou must run a long and tedious journey, through the vast howling wilderness, before thou come to the land of promise.
4. They that will go to heaven must run for it; because, as the way is so long, so the time in which they are to get to the end of it is very uncertain. The time present is the only time; thou hast no more time allotted thee than that thou now enjoyest. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Do not say, 'I have time enough to get to heaven seven years hence;' for I tell thee, the bell may toll for thee, before seven days more be ended. When death comes, away thou must go, whether thou art provided or not. And therefore look to it; make no delays; it is not good dallying with things of so great concernment as the salvation or damnation of thy soul. You know he that hath a great way to go in a little time, and less, by half, than he thinks of, had need to run for it.
5. They that will have heaven must run for it; because the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, follow them. There is never a poor soul that is going to heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, make after that soul. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." And I will assure you the devil is nimble; he can run apace, he is light of foot; he hath overtaken many, he hath turned up their heels and hath given them an everlasting fall. Also the law, that can shoot a great way: have a care to keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself farther than you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot: "Take heed, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain," that is, any where between this and heaven, "lest thou be consumed;" so say I to thee. Take heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell, death, or the fearful curses of the law of God, do overtake thee, and throw thee down in the midst of thy sins, so as never to rise and recover again. If this were well considered, then thou, as well as I, would say, they that will have heaven must run for it.
6. They that will go to heaven must run for it; because perchance the gates of heaven may shut shortly. Sometimes sinners have not heaven-gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once shut against a man, they are so heavy, that all the men in the world, or all the angels in heaven, are not able to open them. "I shut, and no man can open," saith Christ. And how if thou shouldst come but one quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee it will cost thee an eternity to bewail thy misery in! Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to stay till the gates of mercy be quite shut; or to run so lazily, that they be shut before thou get within them. What! to be shut out! What! out of heaven! Sinner, rather than lose it, run for it; yea, and "so run that thou mayst obtain."
7. Lastly, Because if thou lose, thou losest all. Thou losest soul, God, Christ, heaven, ease, peace, &c. Besides, thou layest thyself open to all the shame, contempt, and reproach, that either God, Christ, saints, the world, sin, the devil, and all, can lay upon thee. As Christ saith of the foolish builder, so will I say of thee, if thou be such a one who runs and misseth; I say, even all that go by will begin to mock at thee, saying, This man began to run well, but was not able to finish. But more of this anon.
CHAPTER II.
DIRECTIONS FOR THIS HEAVENLY COURSE
Question. "But how should a poor soul do, so to run?" For this very thing is that which afflicteth me sore, (as you say,) to think that I may run and yet fall short. Methinks to fall short at last, Oh! it fears me greatly! Pray, tell me, therefore, how I should run.'
Answer. That thou mayst indeed be satisfied in this particular, consider these following things.
THE FIRST DIRECTION.—If thou wouldst so run as to obtain the kingdom of heaven, then be sure that thou get into the way that leadeth thither. For it is a vain thing to think that ever thou shalt have the prize, though thou runnest ever so fast, unless thou art in the way that leads to it. Set the case that there should be a man in London that was to run to York for a wager; now, though he run ever so swiftly, yet if he run full south, he might run himself out of breath, and be never the nearer the prize, but rather the farther off. Just so is it here. It is not simply the runner, nor yet the hasty runner, that winneth the crown, unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto. I have observed, (that little time which I have been a professor,) that there is a great running to and fro, some this way, and some that way; yet it is to be feared most of them are out of the way; and then, though they run as swift as the eagle can fly, they are benefited nothing at all.
Here is one runs a Quaking, another a Ranting. One again runs after the Baptism, and another after the Independency. Here is one for Free-will, and another for Presbytery. And yet possibly most, of all these sects, run quite the wrong way; and yet every one is for his life, his soul, either for heaven or hell!
If thou now say, Which is the way? I tell thee it is CHRIST, the Son of Mary, the Son of God. Jesus saith, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me." So then thy business is, (if thou wouldst have salvation,) to see if Christ be thine, with all his benefits; whether he hath covered thee with his righteousness; whether he hath showed thee that thy sins are washed away with his heart-blood; whether thou art planted into him, and whether thou have faith in him, so as to make a life out of him, and to conform thee to him; that is, such faith as to conclude that thou art righteous, because Christ is thy righteousness; and so constrained to walk with him as the joy of thy heart, because he saved thy soul. And for the Lord's sake, take heed, and do not deceive thyself, and think thou art in the way upon too slight grounds; for if thou miss of the way, thou wilt miss of the prize; and if thou miss of that, I am sure thou wilt lose thy soul, even that soul which is worth more than the whole world.
But I have treated more largely on this in my book of the Two Covenants, and therefore shall pass it now. Only I beseech thee to have a care of thy soul. And that thou mayst so do, take this counsel. Mistrust thy own strength, and throw it away. Down on thy knees in prayer to the Lord, for the Spirit of truth; search his word for direction; flee seducers' company; keep company with the soundest Christians, that have most experience of Christ; and be sure thou have a care of Quakers, Ranters, Freewillers; also do not have too much company with some Anabaptists, though I go under that name myself.
I tell thee this is such a serious matter, and I fear thou wilt so little regard it, that the thoughts of the worth of the thing, and of thy too light regarding it, doth even make my heart ache whilst I am writing to thee. The Lord teach thee the way by his Spirit, and then I am sure thou wilt know it. So run.
Only, by the way, let me bid thee have a care of two things, and so I shall pass to the next thing. 1. Have a care of relying on the outward obedience to any of God's commands, or thinking thyself ever the better in the sight of God for that. 2. Take heed of fetching peace for thy soul from any inherent righteousness. But, if thou canst, believe that as thou art a sinner, so thou art justified freely by the love of God, through the redemption that is in Christ; and that God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven thee, not because he saw any thing done, or to be done, in or by thee, to move him thereunto to do it. Because this is the right way. The Lord put thee into it, and keep thee in it!
THE SECOND DIRECTION.—As thou shouldst get into the way, so thou shouldst also be much in studying and musing on the way. You know men that would be expert in any thing, are usually much in studying of that thing; and so likewise is it with those that quickly grow expert in any thing. This therefore thou shouldst do.
Let thy study be much exercised about Christ, who is the way; what he is, what he hath done, and why he is what he is, and why he hath done what is done; as why he took upon him the form of a servant, why he was made in the likeness of men; why he cried; why he died; why he bare the sins of the world; why he was made sin, and why he was made righteousness; why he is in heaven in the nature of man, and what he doth there. Be much in musing and considering of these things. Be thinking also, enough for thy warning, of those places which thou must not come near; but leave, some on this hand, and some on that hand; as it is with those that travel into other countries. They must leave such a gate on this hand, and such a bush on that hand, and go by such a place, where standeth such a thing. Thus therefore you must do. Avoid such things as are expressly forbidden in the word of God. "Withdraw thy foot far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house; for her steps take hold of hell, going down to the chambers of death." And so of every thing that is not in the way; have a care of it that thou go not by it; come not near it; have nothing to do with it. So run.
THE THIRD DIRECTION.—Not only thus, but, in the next place, thou must strip thyself of those things that may hang upon thee, to the hindering of thee in the way to the kingdom of heaven: as covetousness, pride, lust, or whatever else thy heart may be inclining unto, which may hinder thee in this heavenly race. Men that run for a wager, (if they intend to win as well as run,) do not use to encumber themselves, or carry those things about them that may be a hindrance to them in their running. "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." That is, he layeth aside every thing that would be any wise a disadvantage to him; as saith the apostle, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
It is but a vain thing to talk of going to heaven, if thou let thy heart be encumbered with those things that would hinder. Would you not say that such a man would be in danger of losing, though he run, if he fill his pockets with stones, hang heavy garments on his shoulders, and great lumpish shoes on his feet? So it is here. Thou talkest of going to heaven, and yet fillest thy pockets with stones; that is, fillest thy heart with this world; lettest that hang on thy shoulders with its profits and pleasures. Alas, alas! thou art widely mistaken. If thou intendest to win, thou must strip, thou must lay aside every weight, thou must be temperate in all things. Thou must so run.
THE FOURTH DIRECTION.—Beware of by-paths. Take heed thou dost not turn into those lanes which lead out of the way. There are crooked paths, paths in which men go astray, paths that lead to death and damnation; but take heed of all those. Some of them are dangerous because of practice, some because of opinion; but mind them not. Mind the path before thee; look right before thee; turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but let thine eyes look right on, even right before thee. "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established." "Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil." This counsel being not so seriously taken as given, is the reason of that starting from opinion to opinion, reeling this way and that way, out of this lane into that lane, and so missing the way to the kingdom.
Though the way to heaven be but one, yet there are many crooked lanes and by-paths shoot down upon it, as I may say. And again, notwithstanding the kingdom of heaven be the biggest city, yet usually those by-paths are most beaten, most travellers go those ways; and therefore the way to heaven is hard to be found, and as hard to be kept in, by reason of these. Yet nevertheless, it is in this case as it was with the harlot of Jericho. She had one scarlet thread tied in her window, by which her house was known; so it is here. The scarlet stream of Christ's blood runs throughout the way to the kingdom of heaven. Therefore mind that: see if thou do find the besprinkling of the blood of Christ in the way; and if thou do, be of good cheer; thou art in the right way.
But have a care thou beguile not thyself with a fancy; for then thou mayst light into any lane or way. But that thou mayst not be mistaken, consider, though it seem ever so pleasant, yet if thou do not find that in the very middle of the road there is written with the heart blood of Christ, that he came into the world to save sinners, and that we are justified, though we are ungodly, shun that way. For this it is which the apostle meaneth when he saith, we have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh." How easy a matter is it in this our day, for the devil to be too cunning for poor souls, by calling his by-paths the way to the kingdom! If such an opinion or fancy be but cried up by one or more, this inscription being set upon it by the devil, "This is the way of God," how speedily, greedily, and by heaps, do poor simple souls, throw away themselves upon it; especially if it be daubed over with a few external acts of morality, if so good! But this is because men do not know painted by-paths from the plain way to the kingdom of heaven. They have not yet learned the true Christ, and what his righteousness is; neither have they a sense of their own insufficiency; but are bold, proud, presumptuous, self-conceited. And therefore, take
