John Bunyan Quotes

In researching another entry, I came across several quotes from John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, that I thought bore repeating.

• Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, and the contempt of His love.
• He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.
• Fear, lest, by forgetting what you are by nature, you also forget the need that you have of continual pardon, support, and supplies from the Spirit of grace, and so grow proud of your own abilities, or of what you have received from God.
• You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

Arrested for preaching, Bunyan was offered release as long as he would stop. His response was, "I will stay in prison till the moss grows on my eyelids rather than disobey God." John Bunyan spent 12 years in a prison that had, essentially, an open door, unwilling to disobey God. (Imagine that response from some in America today that are paying the price for obeying God in the matter of, say, making cakes or floral arrangements.)

On prayer:

• There is enough sin in my best prayer to send the whole world to Hell.
• Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan
• Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer

Thanks, John.