Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other’s roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.
– John Bunyan –
Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that reared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.
– John Bunyan –
When you pray, rather let your hearts be without words, than your words without a heart.
– John Bunyan –
1628-1688
They think themselves beyond the reach of his mercy. Wherefore in answer to this conceit it is, that the Lord asketh, saying, “Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?” (Isaiah 50:2)
– John Bunyan –
from All Loves Excelling, 1692
What we have under consideration, is so much the more to be taken of; namely that a person so great, so high, so glorious, as this Jesus Christ was, should have love for us, that passes knowledge. It is common for equals to love, and for superiors to be beloved; but for the King of princes, for the Son of God, for Jesus Christ to love man thus: this is amazing, and that so much the more, for that man the object of this love, is so low, so mean, so vile, so undeserving, and so inconsiderable, as by the Scriptures, everywhere he is described to be.
– John Bunyan –
from All Loves Excelling, 1692
When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without a heart.
– John Bunyan –
Though the love that is in Him is essential to His nature, and can vary no more than God himself: yet we see not this love but by the fruits of it, nor can it otherwise be discerned. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). We must then betake ourselves to the discoveries of this love.
– John Bunyan –
from All Loves Excelling, 1692
The best prayers have often more groans than words.
– John Bunyan –
The great God, the former of all things, taketh part with them that fear him, and engage themselves to walk in his ways, of love, and respect, they bear unto him; so that such may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).
– John Bunyan –
from All Loves Excelling, 1692
