Works of John Bunyan — Complete. John Bunyan
of our enemy that doth to us all these things against him for our advantage?-I say, this is the sum of this fifth plea of Christ our Advocate, against Satan. O Satan, says he, thou art an enemy to my people; thou pleadest not out of love to righteousness, not to reform, but to destroy my beloved and inheritance. The charge wherewith thou chargest my people is thine own (Job 8:4–6). Not only as to a matter of charge, but the things that thou accusest them of are thine, thine in the nature of them. Also, thou hast tempted, allured, flattered, and daily laboured with them, to do that for which now thou so willingly would have them destroyed. Yea, all this hast thou done of envy to my Father, and to godliness; of hatred to me and my people; and that thou mightest destroy others besides (I Chron 21:1). And now, what can this accuser say? Can he excuse himself? Can he contradict our Advocate? He cannot; he knows that he is a Satan, an enemy, and as an adversary has he sown his tares among the wheat, that it might be rooted up; but he shall not have his end; his malice has prevented9 him, and so has the care and grace of our Advocate. The tares, therefore, he shall have returned unto him again; but the wheat, for all this, shall be gathered into God's barn (Matt 13:25–30).
Thus, therefore, our Advocate makes use, in his plea against Satan, of the rage and malice that is the occasion of the enemy's charge wherewith he accuseth the children of God. Wherefore, when thou readest these words, "O Satan," say with thyself, thus Christ our Advocate accuseth our adversary of malice and envy against God and goodness, while he accuseth us of the sins which we commit, for which we are sorry, and Christ has paid a price of redemption-"And (thus) if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But,
6. Christ, when he pleads as an Advocate for his people, in the presence of God against Satan, he can plead those very weaknesses of his people for which Satan would have them damned, for their relief and advantage. "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" This is part of the plea of our Advocate against Satan for his servant Joshua, when he said, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan" (Zech3:2). Now, to be a brand plucked out of the fire is to be a saint, impaired, weakened, defiled, and made imperfect by sin; for so also the apostle means when he saith, "And others save with fear, pulling them our of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 23). By fire, in both these places, we are to understand sin; for that it burns and consumes as fire (Rom 1:27). Wherefore a man is said to burn when his lusts are strong upon him; and to burn in lusts to others, when his wicked heart runs wickedly after them (I Cor 7:9).
Also, when Abraham said, "I am but dust and ashes," (Gen 18:27), he means he was but what sin had left; yea, he had something of the smutch and besmearings of sin yet upon him. Wherefore it was a custom with Israel, in days of old, when they set days apart for confession of sin, and humiliation for the same, to sprinkle themselves with, or to wallow in dust and ashes, as a token that they did confess they were but what sin had left, and that they also were defiled, weakened, and polluted by it (Esth 4:1,3; Jer 6:26; Job 30:19, 42:6).
This, then, is the next plea of our goodly Advocate for us: O Satan, this is "a brand plucked out of the fire." As who should say, Thou objected against my servant Joshua that he is black like a coal, or that the fire of sin at times is still burning in him. And what then? The reason why he is not totally extinct, as tow; is not thy pity, but my Father's mercy to him; I have plucked him out of the fire, yet not so out but that the smell thereof is yet upon him; and my Father and I, we consider his weakness, and pity him; for since he is as a brand pulled out, can it be expected by my Father or me that he should appear before us as clear, and do our biddings as well, as if he had never been there? This is "a brand plucked out of the fire," and must be considered as such, and must be borne with as such. Thus, as Mephibosheth pleaded for his excuse, his lameness,(II Sam 19:24–26), so Christ pleads the infirm and indigent condition of his people, against Satan, for their advantage. Wherefore Christ, by such pleas as these for his people, doth yet further show the malice of Satan (for all this burning comes through him), yea, and by it he moveth the heart of God to pity us, and yet to be gentle, and long-suffering, and merciful to us; for pity and compassion are the fruits of the yearning of God's bowels towards us, while he considereth us as infirm and weak, and subject to slips, and stumbles, and falls, because of weakness.
And that Christ our Advocate, by thus pleading, doth turn things to our advantage, consider, (1.) That God is careful, that through our weakness, our spirits do not fail before him when he chides (Isa 57:16–18). (2.) "He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind," and debates about the measure of affliction, when, for sin, we should be chastened, lest we should sink thereunder (Isa 27:7–9). (3.) He will not strictly mark what is done amiss, because if he should, we cannot stand (Psa 130:3). (4.) When he threateneth to strike, his bowels are troubled, and his repentings are kindled together (Hosea 11:8,9). (5.) He will spin out his patience to the utmost length, because he knows we are such bunglers at doing (Jer 9:24). (6.) He will accept of the will for the deed, because he knows that sin will make our best performances imperfect (II Cor 8:12). (7.) He will count our little a very great deal, for that he knows we are so unable to do anything at all (Job 1:21). (8.) He will excuse the souls of his people, and lay the fault upon their flesh, which has greatest affinity with Satan, if through weakness and infirmity we do not do as we should (Matt 26:41; Rom 7). Now, as I said, all these things happen unto us, both infirmities and pity, because and for that we were once in the fire, and for that the weakness of sin abides upon us to this day. But none of this favour could come to us, nor could we, by any means, cause that our infirmities should work for us thus advantageously; but that Christ our Advocate stands our friend, and pleads for us as he doth.
But again, before I pass this over, I will, for the clearing of this, present you with a few more considerations, which are of another rank-to wit, that Christ our Advocate, as such, makes mention of our weaknesses so, against Satan, and before his Father, as to turn all to our advantage.
(1.) We are therefore to be saved by grace, because by reason of sin we are disabled from keeping of the law (Deut 9:5; Isa 64:6). (2.) We have given unto us the Spirit of grace to help, because we can do nothing that is good without it (Eph 2:5; Rom 8:26). (3.) God has put Christ's righteousness upon us to cover our nakedness with, because we have none of our own to do it withal (Phil 3:7,8; Eze 16:8). (4.) God alloweth us to ride in the bosom of Christ to the grave, and from thence in the bosom of angels to heaven, because our own legs are not able to carry us thither (Isa 40:11, 46:4; Psa 48:14; Luke 16:22). (5.) God has made his Son our Head, our Priest, our Advocate, our Saviour, our Captain, that we may be delivered from all the infirmities and all the fiends that attend us, and that plot to do us hurt (Eph 1:22; Col 1:18; Heb 7:21). (6.) God has put the fallen angels into chains, (II Peter 2:4; Rev 20:1,2), that they might not follow us too fast, and has enlarged us, (Psa 4:1), and directed our feet in the way of his steps, that we may haste us to the strong tower and city of refuge for succour and safety, and has given good angels a charge to look to us (Heb 1:14; Psa 34:7). (7.) God has promised that we, at our counting days, shall be spared, "as a man spareth his own son that serveth him" (Mal 3:17).
Now, from all these things, it appears that we have indulgence at God's hand, and that our weaknesses, as our Christ manages the matter for us, are so far off from laying a block or bar in the way to the enjoyment of favour, that they also work for our good; yea, and God's foresight of them has so kindled his bowels and compassion to us, as to put him upon devising of such things for our relief, which by no means could have been, had not sin been with us in the world, and had not the best of saints been "as a brand plucked out of the burning."
I have seen men (and yet they are worse than God) take most care of, and, also, best provide for, those of their children that have been most infirm and helpless; 10 and our Advocate "shall gather his lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom"; yea, and I know that there is such an art in showing and making mention of weaknesses as shall make the tears stand in a parent's eyes, and as shall make him search to the bottom of his purse to find out what may do his weakling good. Christ, also, has that excellent art, as he is an Advocate with the Father for us; he can so make mention of us and of our infirmities, while he pleads before God, against the devil, for us, that he can make the bowels of the Almighty yearn towards us, and to wrap us up in their compassions. You read much of the pity, compassion, and of the yearning of the bowels of the mighty God towards his people; all which, I think, is kindled and made burn towards us, by the pleading of our Advocate. I have seen fathers offended