Concerning this blog and God’s governing of my life

As many of you know my wife of 32 plus years passed away nearly a year ago. Not only was I suddenly alone for the first time in my life since my teenage years, but this one event was soon to transform my entire life. On the way to the hospital, after finding out that my wife had passed, I looked to the heavens and said to God, “wherever you lead me, I will follow.” Little did I know that God already had an entire new life planned out for me and this one vow was soon to be put to the test.

What many of you don’t know is that within a few months I was remarried to a godly Christian woman and my residence changed from Alabama to Wisconsin. For the first time in my life I am married to a woman who loves hearing me read Scripture to her. For the first time in my life I am able to attend a church which holds to the doctrines of grace. God so worked and guided me by his providential hand that my entire life is different than the one I had been accustomed to for years. (My new wife and I are in the process of writing out our story to show how God worked in all of this.)

This leads me to the point of which I am now writing. My new life has brought many new opportunities and blessings, however, it hasn’t left much time for this blog. Of course in our day and age many do not read blogs the way they did when blogs first came on the scene. Matter of fact, recent polls have even shown that since covid came on the scene Bible reading has drastically dropped among those calling themselves Christians. Blogs are not exempt from this. I now attend a church with over 200 members but have not picked up any new followers of this blog.

All those reading this blog know that the main purpose of this blog is to put out little quotes from great Baptists who have gone before us. The purpose of this blog is to educate those who call themselves Baptist on what our Baptists forbearers believed concerning Scripture. Yet, even among those calling themselves Reformed Baptists, there seems to be little interest in reading these great men of faith.

Therefore, today will be the last post on this blog for a while, while I wait to see what God has in store concerning this blog.

I appreciate all of you who have followed me over the years and I pray we can still keep in touch.

Your brother in Christ,

Hershel

The weapons of the Religious Reformer – the strongholds he is called to demolish, Ignorance

I. THE STRONGHOLDS WHICH THE RELIGIOUS REFORMER IS CALLED ON TO DEMOLISH.

1. Ignorance. — All religious error is the offspring of ignorance and mistake. God is true, and His Word is true. No religious error can find any support there. Yet we know that error does exist to a vast extent. How mighty, then, is this fortress! and how strong! Look at the ignorance of heathen nations. See the ignorance of those who are under the dominion of the Papacy. Behold the lamentable ignorance of a vast majority of Protestants. Now the reformer meets this stronghold wherever he undertakes to labor. He beholds willful ignorance of plainly revealed truths. He beholds one body of men willfully ignorant of the views and practices of another body which they condemn. He finds himself misrepresented, misunderstood, and opposed, because men are entrenched in this stronghold. The Apostle Paul once found himself a victim of misrepresentation which had gained currency simply through the inexcusable and willful ignorance of those who believed them. “Art not thou that Egyptian,” he was asked, “which, before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?” The religious reformer is frequently assailed with questions as absurd, betraying the willful ignorance of those who oppose him in his work. This ignorance he labors to remove.

John Q. Adams – Baptists the only thorough Reformers – Lecture III.

PRAYER 21: BOLDNESS AT THE THRONE OF GRACE

O GOD! We would not speak to Thee as from a distance, nor stand like trembling Israel under the law at a distance from the burning mount, for we have not come unto Mount Sinai, but unto Mount Sion, and that is a place for holy joy and thankfulness, and not for terror and bondage. Blessed be Thy name, O Lord! We have learnt to call Thee “Our Father, which art in heaven”; so there is reverence, for Thou art in heaven; but there is sweet familiarity, for Thou art our Father.

We would draw very near to Thee now through Jesus Christ the Mediator, and we would make bold to speak to Thee as a man speaketh with his friend, for hast Thou not said by Thy Spirit, “Let us come boldly unto the throne of the heavenly grace.” We might well start away and flee from Thy face if we only remembered our sinfulness. Lord! We do remember it with shame and sorrow; we are grieved to think we should have offended Thee, should have neglected so long Thy sweet love and tender mercy; but we have now returned unto the “shepherd and bishop of our souls.” Led by such grace, we look to Him whom we crucified, and we have mourned for Him and then have mourned for our sin.

Now, Lord, we confess our guilt before Thee with tenderness of heart, and we pray Thee seal home to every believer here that full and free, that perfect and irreversible charter of forgiveness which Thou gavest to all them that put their trust in Jesus Christ. Lord! Thou hast said it: “If we confess our sins, Thou art merciful and just to forgive us our sins and to save us from all unrighteousness.” There is the sin confessed: there is the ransom accepted: we therefore know we have peace with God, and we bless that glorious one who hath come “to finish transgression, to make an end of sin,” to bring in everlasting righteousness, which righteousness by faith we take unto ourselves and Thou dost impute, unto us.

Now, Lord, wilt Thou be pleased to cause all Thy children’s hearts to dance within them for joy? Oh! Help Thy people to come to Jesus again today. May we be looking unto Him today as we did at the first. May we never take off our eyes from His Divine person, from His infinite merit, from His finished work, from His living power, or from the expectancy of His speedy coming to “judge the world in righteousness and the. People with His truth.”

Bless all Thy people with some special gift, and if we might make a choice of one it would be this: “Quicken us, O Lord, according to Thy Word.” We have life; give it to us more, abundantly. Oh, that we might have so much life that out of the midst of us there might flow rivers of living water. The Lord make us useful. Do, dear Savior, use the very least among us; take the one talent and let it be put out to interest for the great Father. May it please Thee to show each one of us what Thou wouldest have us to do. In our families, in our business, in the walks of ordinary life may we be serving the Lord, and may we often speak a word for His name, and help in some way to scatter the light amongst the ever-growing darkness; and ere we go hence may we have sown some seed which we shall bring with us on our shoulders in the form of sheaves of blessing.

O God! Bless our Sunday schools, and give a greater interest in such work, that there may be no lack of men and women who shall be glad and happy in the work of teaching the young. Do impress this, we pray Thee, upon Thy people just now. Move men who have gifts and ability also to preach the Gospel. There are many that live in villages, and there is no gospel preaching near them. Lord! Set them preaching themselves. Wilt Thou move some hearts so powerfully that their tongues cannot be quiet any longer, and may they attempt in some way, either personally or by supporting some one, to bring the gospel into dark benighted hamlets that the people may know the truth.

O Lord! Stir up the dwellers in this great, great city. Oh! Arouse us to the spiritual destitution of the masses O God, help us all by some means, by any means, by every means to get at the ears of men for Christ’s sake that so we may reach their hearts. We would send up an exceeding great and bitter cry to Thee on behalf of the millions that: enter no place of worship, but rather violate its sanctity and despise its blessed message. Lord! Wake up London, we beseech Thee. Send us another Jonah; send us another John the Baptist. Oh! That the Christ Himself would send forth multitudes of laborers amongst this thick standing corn, for the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. O God! Save this city; save this country; save all countries; and let Thy kingdom come; may every knee bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Our most earnest prayers go up to heaven to Thee now for great sinners, for men and women that are polluted and depraved by the filthiest of sins. With sovereign mercy make a raid amongst them. Come and capture some of these that they may become great lovers of Him that shall forgive them, and may they become great champions for the cross.

Lord, look upon the multitudes of rich people in this city that know nothing about the gospel and do not wish to know. Oh! That somehow the poor rich might be rich with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then, Lord, look upon the multitude of the poor and the working classes that think religion to be a perfectly unnecessary thing for them. Do, by some means we pray Thee, get them to think and bring them to listen that faith may come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Above all, O Holy Spirit, descend more mightily. Would, God, Thou wouldest flood the land till there should be streams of righteousness; for is there not a promise, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.” Lord, set Thy people praying; stir up the Church to greater prayerfulness.

Now, as Thou hast bidden ‘us, we pray for the people among whom we dwell. We pray for those in authority in the land, asking every blessing for the Sovereign, and Thy guidance and direction to the Parliament, Thy benediction to all judges and rulers as also upon the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low. Lord, bless the people; let the people praise Thee, O God! Yea, let all the people praise Thee, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen and Amen.

Charles H. Spurgeon – C. H. Spurgeon’s Prayers

Men that seek revenge put themselves upon the brink of ruin

A Christian! and of a troublesome spirit; for-shame, forbear; show, out of a good conversation, thy works, with meekness of wisdom; and here let me present thee with three or four things.

Consider 6. Men that are unquiet and discontented, and that seek revenge upon them that persecute them for their profession, do, by so doing, also put themselves upon the brink of those ruins that others are further from. These men are like the fly that cannot let the candle alone until she hath burned herself in the flame. Magistrates and men in power have fortified themselves from being attacked with turbulent and unruly spirits by many and wholesome laws. And, indeed, should they not do so, one or other, perhaps, would be quickly tempted to seek to disturb them in the due exercise of their authority. Now the angry man, he is the fly that must be tripping and running himself upon the point of these laws; his angry spirit puts him upon quarrelling with his superiors, and his quarrelling brings him, by words spoke in heat, within the reach of the net, and that, with the help of a few more, brings his neck to the halter. Nor is this, whatever men think, but by the just judgment of God. “Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Rom 13:2; Esth 2:21-23). Wherefore, let the angry man take heed; let the discontented man take heed. He that has a profession, and has not grace to know, in this matter, to manage it, is like to bring his profession to shame. Wherefore, I say, let such take heed; and the graces afore mentioned, and the due exercise of them, are they and that which can keep us out of all such dangers.

John Bunyan- Seasonable Counsel or Advise to Sufferers

It is repudiated by Scripture itself

The vital importance of what we sought to present in the last chapter will appear still more evident when it be pointed out that believers in Christ have a joint heritage with Abraham, as well as a common standing before God. But many will at once object to this, That cannot be; why, the inheritance of Abraham and his seed was an earthly one—it was the land of Canaan which God promised them!

3. Our third answer, then, to the oft-made affirmation that the inheritance of Abraham and his seed was an earthly one, is that it is repudiated by Scripture itself. Was the inheritance of Moses an earthly one? No, indeed; for of him we read, “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb. 11:26). Was the inheritance of David an earthly one? No, indeed; for after his kingdom was established, he declared, “Hold not thy peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with thee; and a sojourner, as all my fathers were” (Ps. 39:12); and again, “I am a stranger in the earth” (Ps. 119:19). The “land of Canaan” is no more to be understood in a carnal way than the “seed” of Abraham is to be regarded as his natural posterity. The land of Canaan was no more given to the Jews after the flesh than the “blessing of Abraham” (namely, the Holy Spirit—Galatians 3:14) has come upon them.

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not made to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:13). Observe two things: first, it was promised that Abraham should be not merely “the heir of Palestine,” but “of the world”; and second, this promise was made to Abraham and “to his seed,” which “seed” is defined in Romans 4:12 as those who “walk in the steps of that faith” which their “father Abraham” had. In perfect harmony with this our Lord declared, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit [possess, have dominion over, enjoy] the earth” (Matthew 5:5). If literalists have cast such a shadow over this verse that some readers find it hard to understand, then we suggest that they ponder it in the light of 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 and I John 5:4! In concluding this important chapter we feel that we cannot do better than give the spiritual Calvin’s comments on Romans 4:13, which are a refreshing contrast from the carnalizings of “dispensationalists.”

Arthur W. Pink- The Divine Covenants-Part Four-The Abrahamic Covenant

“I will give thee showers of blessing”

We have one thought more, and then we have done. Here is a varied blessing. “I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. The rain is all of one kind when it comes; but grace is not all of one kind, or it does not produce the same effect. When God sends rain upon the church, he “sends showers of blessing.” There are some ministers who think, that if there is a shower on their church, God will send a shower of work. Yes, but if he does, he will send a shower of comfort. Others think that God will send a shower of gospel truth. Yes, but if he sends that, he will send a shower of gospel holiness. For all God’s blessings go together. They are like the sweet sister graces that danced hand in hand. God sends showers of blessings. If he gives comforting grace, he also gives converting grace; if he makes the trumpet blow for the bankrupt sinner, he will also make it sound a shout of joy for the sinner that is pardoned and forgiven. He will send “showers of blessing.”

Charles H. Spurgeon- The Church of Christ, A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 3, 1855; at New Park Chapel, Southwark.

The Weapons of the Religious Reformer

LECTURE III

THE WEAPONS OF THE RELIGIOUS REFORMER

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.“

— 2 Corinthians 10:4.

Ever since the introduction of sin into the world, there has been an unremitting conflict between truth and error. The earth has become a vast battle-ground; the theatre of a mighty moral warfare. Truth and error are necessarily opposed to each other, and whenever they come in contact, a fierce contest ensues, which ends only when error is destroyed. This conflict is not, however, one of a material kind; nor should physical force be used in carrying it on. It is a moral warfare; and ultimate success can be sensed only by the use of corresponding weapons. The advocates of error may press into their service carnal weapons, as indeed they are always forced to do, in their vain efforts to sustain themselves. and oppose the truth; but thus they only acknowledge their own weakness, and betray the defects of their cause, and insure in the end their own defeat. The disciple of the truth needs no such weapons. He knows that they can yield him no advantage, and secure no permanent benefit; and he sees that they would only encumber and embarrass him in the conflict, and retard the cause he seeks to advance. He feels that in order to be successful, he must use only those means which God has appointed, and which He can bless. He therefore appropriately adopts the language of the text: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” The theme of this Lecture is, —

THE WEAPONS OF THE RELIGIOUS REFORMER

In conducting any enterprise, or effecting any work, instruments are necessary implements adapted to the end designed. The work of the reformer is, in a great measure, a work of destruction. He goes forth to demolish all that is opposed to truth — all that prevents its free and rapid advance. He is the pioneer, who is accounted “famous according as he lifts up the axe upon the thick trees.”[1] Error is rather negative than positive. Truth was intended to enlighten man; error, like a cloud, intervenes to shut out its brilliant rays. Truth was intended to make man happy; error infuses poison, and introduces the ingredients of misery. Truth was intended to make man free; error rears her fortress and strongholds, and makes him a captive in them. Now the work of the reformer is to dissipate this cloud — to extract this poison — to pull down these strongholds. The work of Christ, the Great Reformer, was eminently a work of destruction. He was manifested that He might “destroy the works of the devil.” Let us notice,

John Q. Adams – Baptists the only thorough Reformers – Lecture III.

Footnote:

[1] Psalm 84:5.

PRAYER 20: THE GREAT SACRIFICE

O GOD our Father, we do remember well when we were called to Thee; with many sweet and wooing voices we were bidden to return. Thou didst Thyself hang out the lights of mercy that we might know the way home, and Thy dear Son himself came down to seek us. But we wandered still. It brings the tears to our eyes to think that we should have been so foolish and so wicked, for we often extinguished the light within and conscience we tried to harden, and we sinned against light and knowledge with a high hand against our God.

Thou hast often brought us very low even to our knees, and we cried for mercy, but we rose to sin again. Blessed was that day when Thou didst strike the blow of grace — the effectual blow. Then didst Thou wither up our comeliness and all our perfection was rolled in the dust. We saw ourselves to be slain by the law, to be lost, ruined, and undone, and then we rolled to and fro in the tempests of our thoughts and staggered like drunken men, and were at our wits’ end — then did we cry unto Thee in our trouble, and blessed be Thy name for ever, Thou didst deliver us.

O happy day that sealed our pardon with the precious blood of Jesus accepted by faith. We would recall the memory of that blessed season by repeating it. We come again now to the cross whereon the Savior bled; we give another look of faith to Him. We trust we never take away our eyes off Him, but if we have done so we would look anew; we would gaze into the body of the Son of God, pierced with nails, parched with thirst, bleeding, dying, because “it pleased the Father to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.”

Lord God, we see in Thy crucified Son a sacrifice for sin; we see how Thou hast made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him; and we do over again accept Him to be everything to us. This is the victim by whose blood the covenant is made through faith; this is that Paschal Lamb by the sprinkling of whose blood all Israel is secured; for Thou hast said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” This is the blood which gives us access into that which is within the veil; this is the blood which now to our souls is drink indeed, and we do rejoice in the joy which this new wine of the covenant hath given unto our spirits.

We would take afresh the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. We would pay our vows now in the midst of all the Lord’s people and in the courts of His house; and this is a part payment of our vow that we bless the Lord Jesus who hath put away our sin. We bless Him that He hath redeemed us unto Himself not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with His own precious blood; and we do avow ourselves today to be the Lord’s.

We are not our own; we are bought with a price. Lord Jesus, renew Thy grasp of us, take us over again, for we do even with greater alacrity than ever before surrender ourselves to Thee, and so “bind the sacrifice with cords, even with cords to the horns of the altar.” O Lord, I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock. Henceforth within that Rock I hide myself. For Him I live. The Lord enable all His people with sincere hearts, with undivided hearts, thus again to give themselves up to Jesus, and do Thou set in them anew the marks and tokens of Thy possession till every one of us shall say as many of us can say, “From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We bless Thee, Lord, for that mark to which some of us can look back with much joy. It is not in our hand, nor in our forehead, nor on our foot, nor on our heart alone; our whole body has been buried with Christ in baptism unto death, and now the whole body, soul and spirit, by our willing consecration, belong unto Christ henceforth and for ever.

Our Father, there is one prayer which has kept rising to our lip even while we have been thus speaking to Thee. It comes from our very heart. It is: Bring others to Thyself. Hast Thou not said, O God of Jacob, “Yet will I gather others unto Him that have not been gathered?” Hast Thou not given to Thy Son the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession? Lord, give Thy Son the reward of His travail; give Him a part of that reward this day wherever He is preached. Oh! That some might be moved with the love of Christ.

Lord, some know not who Thou art; convince them of Thy Deity and Thy power to save. Lord, many of them do not think; they live as if they were to die, and there would be an end of them. O Divine Spirit, convince them of judgment to come. Set before each careless eye that day of terrible pomp when for every idle word that men shall speak they must give an account. O Divine Spirit, teach unreasonable men true reason; teach the obdurate sensitiveness; look upon them, Jesus, just as Thou didst on those of the synagogue, not with anger, but still being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” and bring many, many, many this very day to the dear feet that were nailed to the cross. Oh! How we long for it. Deny us what Thou wilt, only bring sinners to Thyself.

Lord Jesus, Thou art gone from us. We rejoice that this is the fact, for Thou hast taught us that it is expedient for us that Thou shouldest go, and that the Comforter should be with us; but, oh! Let us not miss that promised presence of the Comforter. May He be here to help and succor in all works of faith and labors of love, and may we feel that He has come among us and is dwelling with us because He is convincing the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment to come.

O Spirit of God, bring men to accept the great propitiation, to see their sin washed away in the purple flood whose fount was opened when the heart of Christ was pierced, and may blood-washed sinners begin to sing on earth that everlasting anthem which shall be sung by all the redeemed in heaven.

We beseech Thee now, Lord, to look upon all Thy people, and grant every one a blessing. Some are in great trouble. Deliver them, we pray Thee. Others may be in great peril, though they have no trouble. The Lord save His people from the evils of prosperity. It may be some of Thine own people find it hard to worship because of cares; may they be able, like Abraham, when the birds came down upon the sacrifice, to drive them away.

O Spirit of God, make us all more holy. Work in us more completely the image of Christ. We do long to be as the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and temper, and in unselfishness of life. Give us the character of Christ, we pray Thee. Redemption from the power of sin is purchased with His blood, and we crave for it, and pray that we may daily receive it. Let the whole militant Church of Christ be blessed; put power into all faithful ministries; convert this country; save it from abounding sin; let all the nations of the earth know the Lord, but especially bless those nations that speak our own dear mother tongue, where our same Lord and Christ is worshipped this day after the same fashion.

The Lord bless His people. Bring the Church to break down all bonds of nationality, all limits of sects, and may we feel the blessed unity which is the very glory of the Church of Christ; yea, let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Our prayer can never cease until we reach this point: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Nothing less than this can we ask for. And now hear us as we pray for the Sovereign and all in authority, and ask Thy blessing to rest upon this land, and let Thy blessing extend over all the family of man. We ask it for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Charles H. Spurgeon – C. H. Spurgeon’s Prayers

The Wednesday Word: ONCE Part 1

The book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of the Lord Jesus over the Old Covenant. In fact, Hebrews makes it very clear that the Old Covenant has been done away. Because of the sufficiency and finality of Christ’s sacrifice, the Old Testament priesthood has been abolished. When we comprehend the teachings of Hebrews, we realize, among other things, that there can be no priesthood in existence today which is qualified to make sacrifices for sin. Why not? Simply because there is no need for one. Those, such as the Roman Communion, who claim to be able to offer sin-forgiving sacrifices declare themselves and their followers separate from the New Covenant. Why? Because in the New Covenant there is but one priest who has offered Himself once for sin. Christ Jesus is that priest and His work of dealing with our sins is finished.

Let’s look at this more closely and consider 4 instances in the Book of Hebrews where the word ONCE is applied to Christ and the Finished Work.

1) He offered Himself Once; Hebrews 7:26-27.

2) He entered in Once into the holy place; Hebrews 9:12.

3) He appeared Once in the end of the world to put away sin. Hebrews 9:26.

4) He was Once offered to bear the sins of many. Hebrews 9:26.

1) Hebrews 7:26-27

For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once when he offered up himself.

He offered Himself!

How many times did He offer Himself?

Once!

And who was this who offered Himself once?

He was God-clothed with a human body. No wonder then He only had to offer Himself once!

God didn’t send a mighty angel to save us.

God didn’t send a mighty army to rescue us.

God didn’t send a mighty man to speak for us.

He came Himself.

But why did He come to offer Himself? He did so because of our sin. Sin cannot be tolerated by a just and holy God because sin is contrary to His perfect, sinless nature.

Sin had caused a fatal separation between God and man. Man’s rebellion required propitiation, atonement reconciliation and payment. So, God came as one of us and offered Himself! How many times did He do this? He did this ONCE!

This is what we celebrate at the Communion Table. The bread and the wine represent His body and blood given as payment for our sins. When we come to the ‘Table’, we come, not to sacrifice Him again for our sins, but to remember Him and what He has already done about our sins.

Jesus offered Himself. No Old Testament priest could ever have, even for a moment, thought of doing that. The Old Testament priest knew he was a sinner and he, as such, needed an offering to be made for his own sins. He would never have thought of making himself the actual offering.

It was an impossibility for the Old Testament priests to offer themselves up to God for the sins of the people. They could not even atone for their own sins much less for those of the people.

But Jesus Christ “offered Himself” and did it ONCE

This is a magnificent arrangement. Jesus who is our one, true Mediator, reconciled us to God by the sacrifice of Himself.

Indeed, so immense was this sacrifice that it is sufficient for eternity. What need then do we have for Christ to be offered again and again as the Roman Communion teaches?

He offered Himself ONCE!

And that’s the Gospel Truth!

Miles Mckee

www.milesmckee.com   

To be continued.

He keepeth not the commandments of God

A Christian! and of a troublesome spirit; for-shame, forbear; show, out of a good conversation, thy works, with meekness of wisdom; and here let me present thee with three or four things.

Consider 5. A professor, unquiet and turbulent under sufferings, and seeking his own revenge, cannot be a victor over what he should, nor a keeper of God’s commandments.

(2.) The same may be said upon the second head. He keepeth not the commandments of God; for those teach him other things, as I have also showed. The great gospel commands terminate in self-denial; but if self-revenge is self-denial, I am besides the Book. Christ, in the book of the Revelation, sets him that keeps the commandments of God a great way off from him that taketh and smiteth with the sword: “He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev 13:10). That is, in that they forbear to do thus, and quietly suffer under those that thus take it and afflict the godly with it. Again, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (14:12). A patient continuing in well-doing; and if suffering for righteousness be well-doing, then a patient continuing in that, as in other things, is the way to keep God’s commandments (Rom 2:7).

So that, I say, he keepeth not God’s commandments that is angry with his enemies, and that seeks to be revenged of him that doth him ill. You know the subject I am upon. “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Wherefore, professors, beware, and take heed to your spirits, and see that you let not out yourselves under your sufferings in such extravagancies of spirit against your enemies as is no way seemly nor convenient.

John Bunyan- Seasonable Counsel or Advise to Sufferers