Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

In a faithfulaccount of the life and death of John Bunyan
Or

A brief relation of the exceeding mercy of God in Christ to him
Namely

In His taking him out of the dunghill, and converting him to the
faith of His blessed son Jesus Christ. Here is also particularly

shewed, what sight of, and what troubles he had for sin; and also,
what various temptations he hath met with, and how God hath carried

him through them.
A PREFACE

OR, BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PUBLISHING THIS WORK. WRITTEN BY THE
AUTHOR THEREOF, AND DEDICATED TO THOSE WHOM GOD HATH COUNTED HIM

WORTHY TO BEGET TO FAITH, BY HIS MINISTRY IN THE WORD
CHILDREN, Grace be with you. AMEN. I being taken from you in

presence, and so tied up that I cannot perform that duty, that from
God doth lie upon me to you-ward, for your farther edifying and

building up in faith and holiness, etc., yet that you may see my
soul hath fatherly care and desire after your spiritual and

everlasting welfare, I now once again, as before, from the top of
SHENIR and HERMON, so now from THE LIONS' DENS, FROM THE MOUNTAINS

OF THE LEOPARDS (Song iv. 8), do look yet after you all, greatly
longing to see your safe arrival into THE desired Haven.

I thank God upon every remembrance of you; and rejoice, even while
I stick between the teeth of the lion in the wilderness, that the

grace and mercy, and knowledge of Christ our Saviour, which God
hath bestowed upon you, with abundance of faith and love; your

hungerings and thirstings after farther acquaintance with the
Father, in the Son; your tenderness of heart, your trembling at

sin, your sober and holy deportment also, before both God and men,
is a great refreshment to me; FOR YE ARE OUR GLORY AND JOY. 1

Thess. ii. 20.
I have sent you here enclosed, a drop of that honey that I have

taken out of the carcase of a lion. Judg. xiv. 5-8. I have eaten
thereof myself, and am much refreshed thereby. (Temptations, when

we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon SAMSON; but
if we overcome them, the next time we see them, we shall find a

nest of honey within them.) The PHILISTINES understand me not. It
is something of a relation of the work of God upon my soul, even

from the very first, till now, wherein you may perceive my castings
down, and risings up: for He woundeth, and His hands make whole.

It is written in the Scripture, Isa. xxxviii. 19, THE FATHER TO THE
CHILDREN SHALL MAKE KNOWN THY TRUTH. Yea, it was for this reason I

lay so long at Sinai, Lev. iv. 10, 11, to see the fire, and the
cloud, and the darkness, THAT I MIGHT FEAR THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF

MY LIFE UPON EARTH, AND TELL OF HIS WONDROUS WORKS TO MY CHILDREN.
Psalm lxxviii. 3-5.

Moses, Numb. xxxiii. 1, 2, writ of the journeys of the children of
ISRAEL, from EGYPT to the land of CANAAN; and commanded also that

they did remember their forty years' travel in the wilderness.
THOU SHALT REMEMBER ALL THE WAY WHICH THE LORD THY GOD LED THEE

THESE FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, TO HUMBLE THEE, AND TO PROVE
THEE, AND TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THINE HEART, WHETHER THOU WOULDST

KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, OR NO. Deut. viii. 2. Wherefore this I
have endeavoured to do; and not only so, but to publish it also;

that, if God will, others may be put in remembrance of what He hath
done for their souls, by reading His work upon me.

It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the
very beginnings of grace with their souls. IT IS A NIGHT TO BE

MUCH OBSERVED UNTO THE LORD, FOR BRINGING THEM OUT FROM THE LAND OF
EGYPT. THIS IS THAT NIGHT OF THE LORD TO BE OBSERVED OF ALL THE

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN THEIR GENERATIONS. Exod. xii. 42. O MY GOD
(saith DAVID), Ps. xlii. 6, MY SOUL IS CAST DOWN WITHIN ME;

THEREFORE WILL I REMEMBER THEE FROM THE LAND OF JORDAN, AND OF THE
HERMONITES, FROM THE HILL MIZAR. He remembered also the lion and

the bear, when he went to fight with the giant of GATH. 1 Sam.
xvii. 36, 37.

It was PAUL'S accustomed manner, Acts xxii., and that, when tried
for his life, Acts xxiv., even to open before his judges the manner

of his conversion: he would think of that day, and that hour, in
which he first did meet with grace; for he found it supported him.

When God had brought the children of Israel out of the Red Sea, far
into the wilderness, yet they must turn quite about thither again,

to remember the drowning of their enemies there, Numb. xiv. 25, for
though they sang his praise before, yet they soon forgat his works.

Psalm cvi. 11, 12.
In this discourse of mine, you may see much; much I say, of the

grace of God towards me: I thank God, I can count it much; for it
was above my sins and Satan's temptations too. I can remember my

fears and doubts, and sad months, with comfort; they are as the
head of GOLIAH in my hand: there was nothing to DAVID like

GOLIAH'S sword, even that sword that should have been sheathed in
his bowels; for the very sight and remembrance of that did preach

forth God's deliverance to him. Oh! the remembrance of my great
sins, of my great temptations, and of my great fear of perishing

for ever! They bring afresh into my mind, the remembrance of my
great help, my great supports from heaven, and the great grace that

God extended to such a wretch as I.
My dear children, call to mind the former days, and years of

ancient times: remember also your songs in the night, and commune
with your own Hearts, Ps. lxxiii. 5-12. Yea, look diligently, and

leave no corner therein unsearched for that treasure hid, even the
treasure of your first and second experience of the grace of God

towards you. Remember, I say, the word that first laid hold upon
you: remember your terrors of conscience, and fear of death and

hell: remember also your tears and prayers to God; yea, how you
sighed under every hedge for mercy. Have you never a hill MIZAR to

remember? Have you forgot the close, the milk-house, the stable,
the barn, and the like, where God did visit your souls? Remember

also the word, the word, I say, upon which the Lord hath caused you
to hope: if you have sinned against light, if you are tempted to

blaspheme, if you are drowned in despair, if you think God fights
against you, or if heaven is hid from your eyes; remember it was

thus with your father; BUT OUT OF THEM ALL THE LORD DELIVERED ME.
I could have enlarged much in this my discourse, of my temptations

and troubles for sin; as also of the merciful kindness and working
of God with my soul: I could also have stepped into a style much

higher than this, in which I have here discoursed, and could have
adorned all things more than here I have seemed to do, but I dare

not: God did not play in tempting of me; neither did I play, when
I sunk as into the bottomless pit, when the PANGS OF HELL CAUGHT

HOLD UPON ME; wherefore I may not play in relating of them, but be
plain and simple, and lay down the thing as it was; he that liketh

it, let him receive it, and he that doth not, let him produce a
better. Farewell.

My dear Children,
THE MILK AND HONEY ARE BEYOND THIS WILDERNESS. GOD BE MERCIFUL TO

YOU, AND GRANT THAT YOU BE NOT SLOTHFUL TO GO IN TO POSSESS THE
LAND.

JOHN BUNYAN.
GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS

OR,
A BRIEF RELATION OF THE EXCEEDING MERCY OF GOD IN CHRIST, TO HIS

POOR SERVANT, JOHN BUNYAN
IN this my relation of the mercifulworking of God upon my soul, it

will not be amiss, if in the first place, I do in a few words give