HOLY and beloved, although I have designed this little treatise for public and common benefit, yet considering that I am to you a debtor, not only in common charity, but by reason of special bonds which the Lord hath laid upon me to youward, I could do no less (being driven from you in presence, not affection) but first present you with this little book; not that you are wanting in the things contained herein, but to put you again in remembrance of first things, and to give you occasion to present something to your carnal relations, that may be, if God will, for their awakening and conversion. Accept it therefore as a token of my Christian remembrance of you.

Amen.

Next, I present it to all those unconverted, old and young, who have been at any time under my preaching, and yet remain in their sins; and I entreat them also that they receive it as a token of my love to their immortal souls; yea, I charge them, as they will answer it in the day of the terrible judgment, that they read, ponder, and receive this wholesome medicine prepared for them. Now the God of blessing bless it to the awakening of many sinners, and the salvation of their souls by faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Yours to serve you by my ministry, when I can, to your edification and consolation, JOHN BUNYAN.

QUEST.-How many gods are there? ANSW. To the Christians there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we of him, 1 Cor. viii. 9.

Q. Why is not the God of the Christians the God of them that are no Christians?

A. He is their Maker and preserver; but they have not chosen him to be their God, Acts, xvii. 24; Psalm xxxvi. 6; Judg. x. 14.

QAre there, then, other gods besides the God of the Christians?

A. There is none other true God but he; but because they want the grace of Christians, therefore they choose not him, but such gods as will suit with and countenance their lusts, John, viii. 44.

Q. What gods are they that countenance the lusts of wicked men?

A. The devil, who is the god of this world; the belly, that god of gluttons, drunkards, and riotous persons; and idle pleasures and vanities, which are for the most part the gods of the youth, Job, viii. 44; 1 Cor. x. 7; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Phil. iii. 19; Exod. xxxii. 6; 2 Tim. ii. 22; 1 John, v. 21. Q. Who is a Christian?

A. One that is born again, a new creature; one that sits at Jesus' feet to hear his word; one that hath his heart purified and sanctified by faith which is in Christ, John, iii. 3-7; Acts, xi. 26; xv. 9; xxvi. 18; 2 Cor. v. 17.

Q. How do you distinguish the God of the Christians from the gods of other people?

A. He is a Spirit, John, iv. 24.

Q. Is there no other spirit but the true God? A. Yes; there are many spirits, 1 John, iv. 1. Q. What spirits are they?

A. The good angels are spirits, the bad angels are spirits, and the souls of men are spirits, Heb. i. 7-14; xii. 23; 1 Kings, xxii. 21, 22; Rev. xvi. 13, 14; Acts, vii. 59.

Q. How, then, is the true God distinguished from other spirits?

A. Thus no spirit is eternal but he, no spirit is almighty but he, no spirit is incomprehensible and unsearchable but he; he is also most merciful, most just, most holy, Deut. xxxiii. 27; Gen. xvii. 1; Psalm exlv. 3; Mich. vii. 18; Job, xxxiv. 17; 1 Sam. ii. 2.

Q. Is this God, being a spirit, to be known? A. Yes; and that by his works of creation, by his providences, by the judgments that he executeth, and by his word.

Q. Do you understand him by the works of creation ?

A. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work; so that the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, Psalm xix. 1, 2; Rom. i. 20.

Q. Do his works of providence also declare him?

A. They must needs do it, since through his providence the whole creation is kept in such harmony as it is, and that in despite of sin and devils; also, if you consider that from an angel to a sparrow nothing falls to the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father, Matt. x. 29. Q. Is he known by his judgments?

A. God is known by his judgments which he executeth; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, Psalm ix. 16.

Q. Is he known by his word?

A. Yes, most clearly; for by that he revealeth his attributes, his decrees, his promises, his way of worship, and how he is to be pleased by us. Q. Of what did God make the world? A. Things that are seen were not made of things that do appear, Heb. xi. 3.

Q. How long was he in making the world? A. In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and on the seventh day God ended all his works which he had made, Exod. xx. 11; Gen. ii. 2.

Q. Of what did God make man?

A. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, Gen. ii. 7.

Q. Why doth it say, God breathed into him the breath of life? is man's soul of the very nature of the Godhead?

A. This doth not teach that the soul is of the nature of the Godhead, but sheweth that it is not of the same matter as his body, which is dust, Gen. xviii. 27.

Q. Is not the soul, then, of the nature of the Godhead?

A. No; for God cannot sin, but the soul doth; God cannot be destroyed in hell, but the souls of the impenitent shall, Ezek. xviii. 4; Matt. x. 28.

Q. How did God make man in the day of his first creation?

A. God made man upright; in the image of God created he him, Eccles. vii. 29; Genesis, i. 27.

Q. Did God when he made man leave him without a rule to walk by?

A. No; he gave him a law in his nature, and imposed upon him a positive precept; but he offered violence to them, and brake them both Gen. iii. 3, 6.

Q. What was the due desert of that transgression?

A. Spiritual death in the day he did it, temporal death afterwards, and everlasting death last of all, Gen. ii. 17; iii. 19; Matt. xxv. 46. Q. What is it to be spiritually dead?

A. To be alienate from God, and to live without him in the world, through the ignorance that is in man, and through the power of their sins, Ephes. iv. 18, 19.

Q. Wherein doth this alienation from God appear?

A. In the love they have to their sins, in their being loath to come to him, in their pleading idle excuses for their sins, and in their ignorance of the excellent mysteries of his blessed gospel, Ephes. ii. 2, 3, 11, 12; Rom. i. 28; Ephes. iv. 18, 19.

Q. What is temporal death?

A. To have body and soul separate asunder, the body returning to the dust as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it, Gen. iii. 19; Eccles. xii. 7.

Q. What is everlasting death?

A. For body and souls to be separate for ever from God, and to be cast into hell-fire, Luke, xiii. 27; Mark, ix. 43.

Q. Do men go body and soul to hell so soon as they die?

A. The body abideth in the grave till the sound of the last trump; but the soul, if the man dies wicked, goes presently from the face of God into hell, as into a prison, there to be kept till the day of judgment, 1 Cor. xv. 52; Isa. xxiv. 22; || Luke, xii. 20.

Q. Do we come into the world as upright as did our first parent?

A. No; he came into the world sinless, being made so of God Almighty; but we came into the world sinners, being made so by his pollution.

Q. How doth it appear that we came into the world polluted?

A. We are the fruit of an unclean thing, are defiled in our very conception, and are by nature the children of wrath, Job, xiv. 4; Psalm li. 5; Ephes. ii. 3.

Q. Can you make further proof of this?

A. Yes; it is said, that by one man came sin, death, judgment, and condemnation upon all Rom. v. 12, 15-19.

men,

Q. Do we, then, come sinners into the world? A. Yes; we are transgressors from the womb, and go astray as soon as we are born, speaking lies, Isa. xlviii. 8; Psalm lviii. 3.

Q. But as Adam fell with us in him, so did he not by faith rise with us in him? for he had no seed until he had the promise.

A. He fell as a public person, but believed the

promise as a single person. Adam's faith saved not the world, though Adam's sin overthrew it. Q. But do not some hold that we are sinners only by imitation?

A. Yes, being themselves deceived. But God's word saith, we are children of wrath by nature, -that is, by birth and generation.

Q. Can you bring further proof of this?

A. Yes; in that day that we were born we were polluted in our own blood, and cast out, to the loathing of our persons. Again, the children of old that were dedicated unto the Lord, a sacrifice was offered for them at a month old, which was before they were sinners by imitation, Ezek. xvi. 4-9; Num. xviii. 14-16.

Q. Can you make this appear by experience? A. Yes; the first things that bloom and put forth themselves in children shew their ignorance of God, their disobedience to parents, and their innate enmity to holiness of life; their inclinations naturally run to vanity. Besides, little children die; but that they could not, were they not of God counted sinners; for death is the wages of sin, Rom. vi. 23.

Q. What is sin?

A. It is a transgression of the law, 1 John, iii. 4.

Q. A transgression of what law?

A. Of the law of our nature, and of the law of the ten commandments, as written in the Holy Scriptures, Rom. ii. 12, 14, 15; Exod. xx.

Q. When doth one sin against the law of nature?

A. When you do anything that your conscience tells you is a transgression against God or man, Rom. ii. 14, 15.

Q. When do we sin against the law as written in the ten commandments?

A. When you do anything that they forbid, although you be ignorant of it, Psalm xix. 12. Q. How many ways are there to sin against

this law?

A. Three-by sinful thoughts, by sinful words, and also by sinful actions, Matt. v. 28;. xii. 37; Rom. ii. 6, vii. 7.

Q. What if we sin but against one of the ten commandments?

A. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all; for he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art a transgressor of the law, James, ii. 10, 11.

Q. Where will God punish sinners for their sins?

A. Both in this world and in that which is to come, Gen. iii. 24; iv. 10—12; Job, xxi. 30.

Q. How are men punished in this world for sin? A. Many ways, as with sickness, losses, crosses, disappointments, and the like: sometimes, also God giveth them up to their own hearts' lusts, to blindness of mind also, and hardness of heart; yea, and sometimes to strong delusions, that they might believe lies, and be damned, Lev. xxvi. 15, 16; Amos, iv. 7, 10; Exod. iv. 21; ix. 12-14; Zeph. i. 17; Rom. i. 24, 28; xi. 7, 8; 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12.

Q. How are sinners punished in the world to come?

A. With a worm that never dies, and with a fire that never shall be quenched, Mark, ix. 44. Q. Whither do sinners go to receive this punishment?

A. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, Psalm ix. 27. Q. What is hell?

A. It is a place and a state most fearful, Luke, xvi. 21, 28; Acts, i. 25.

Q. Why do you call it a place?

A. Because in hell shall all the damned be confined as in a prison, in their chains of darkness for ever, Luke, xii. 5, 58; xvi. 26; Jude, 6. Q. What place is hell?

A. It is a dark, bottomless, burning lake of fire, large enough to hold all that perish, Matt. xxii. 13; Rev. xx. 1, 25; Isa. xxx. 33; Prov. xxvii. 20. Q. What do you mean when you say it is a fearful state?

A. I mean that it is the lot of those that are cast in thither to be tormented in most fearful manner-to wit, with wrath and fiery indignation, Rom. ii. 9; Heb. x. 26, 27.

Q. In what parts shall they be thus fearfully tormented?

A. In body and soul; for hell-fire shall kindle upon both beyond what now can be thought, Matt. x. 28; Luke, xvi. 24; James, v. 3.

Q. How long shall they be in this condition?

A. These shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night; for they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, Matt. xxv. 46; Rev. xiv. 11; 2 Thess. i. 9.

Q. But why might not the ungodly be punished with this punishment in this world, that we might have seen it and believe?

A. If the ungodly should with punishment have been rewarded in this world, it would in all probability have overthrown the whole order that God hath settled here among men; for who could have endured here to have seen the flames of fire, to have heard the groans, and to have seen the tears perhaps of damned relations, as parents or children? Therefore, as Tophet of old was without the city, and as the gallows and gibbets are built without the towns, so Christ hath ordered that they who are to be punished with this kind of torment shall be taken away-“Take him away," saith he, (out of this world,) "and cast him into utter darkness," and let him have his punishment there," there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Besides, faith is not to be wrought by looking into hell, and seeing the damned tormented before our eyes, but by hearing the word of God; for he that shall not believe Moses and the prophets, will not be persuaded should one come from the dead; yea, should one come to them in flames to persuade them, Matt. xxii. 13; Rom. x. 17; Luke, xvi. 27-32. Q. Are there degrees of torments in hell? A. Yes; for God will reward every one according to their works. Woe to the wicked, it shall go ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him, Isa. iii. 11.

Q. Who are like to be most punished there, men or children?

A. The punishment in hell comes not upon sinners according to age, but sin; so that whether they be men or children, the greater sin the greater punishment; for there is no respect of persons with God, Rom. ii.' 11.

Q. How do you distinguish between great sins and little ones?

A. By their nature, and by the circumstances that attend them.

Q. What do you mean by their nature? A. I mean, when they are very gross in themselves, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 2; Ezek. xvi. 42.

Q. What kind of sins are the greatest? A. Adultery, fornication, murder, theft, swearing, lying, covetousness, witchcraft, sedition, heresies, or any of the like, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; Eph. v. 3-6; Col. iii. 5, 6; Gal. v. 19-21; Rev. xxi. 8.

Q. What do you mean by circumstances that attend sin?

A. I mean, light, knowledge, the preaching of the word, godly acquaintance, timely cautions, &c. Q. Will these make an alteration in the sin? A. These things attending sinners will make little sins great, yea, greater than greater sins that are committed in grossest ignorance.

Q. How do you prove that?

A. Sodom and Gomorrah wallowed in all, or most of those gross transgressions above mentioned; yea, they were said to be sinners exceedingly, they lived in such sins as may not be spoken of without blushing, and yet God swears that Israel, his church, had done worse than they; and the Lord Jesus also seconds it in that threatening of his, "I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for thee," Ezek. xvi. 48; Matt. xi. 24; Luke, x. 12.

Q. And was this the reason--namely, because they had such circumstances attending them as Sodom had not?

A. Yes; as will plainly appear if you read the three chapters above mentioned.

Q. When do I sin against light and knowledge? A. When you sin against convictions of conscience, when you sin against a known law of God, when you sin against counsels and dissuasion of friends, then you sin against light and knowledge, Rom. i. 32.

Q. When do I sin against preaching of the word?

A. When you refuse to hear God's ministers, or, hearing them, refuse to follow their wholesome doctrine, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16; Jer. xxv. 4, 7; xxxv. 15.

Q. When else do I sin against preaching of the word?

A. When you mock, or despise, or reproach the ministers; also when you raise lies and scandals of them, or receive such lies or scandals raised; you then also sin against the preaching of the word when you persecute them that preach it, or are secretly glad to see them so used, 2 Chron. xxx. 1, 10; Rom. iii. 8; Jer. xx. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16.

Q. How will godly acquaintance greaten my sin?

A. When you sin against their counsels, warnings, or persuasions to the contrary; also when their lives and conversations are reproof to

you, and yet against all you will sin. Thus sinned Ishmael, Esau, Eli's sons, Absalom, and Judas; they had good company, good counsels, and a good life set before them by their godly acquaintance, but they sinned against all, and their judgment was the greater. Ishmael was cast away, Esau hated, Eli's sons died suddenly, Absalom and Judas were both strangely hanged, Gen. xxi. 10; Gal. iv. 30; Mal. i. 2; 1 Sam. ii. 20, 25; 2 Sam. xvi.

Q. Are sins thus heightened, distinguished from others by any special name?

A. Yes; they are called rebellion, and are compared to the sin of witchcraft; they are called wilful sin, they are called briars and thorns, and they that bring them forth are nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned, 1 Sam. xv. 23; Heb. vi. 7, 8; x. 26.

Q. Are there any other things that can make little sins great ones?

A. Yes; as when you sin against the judgments of God; as, for example, you see the judgments of God come upon some for their transgressions, and you go on in their iniquities; as also, when you sin against the patience, long-suffering, and forbearance of God, this will make little sins great ones, Dan. v. 21-24; Rom. ii. 4, 5.

Q. Did ever God punish little children for sin against him?

A. Yes; when the flood came, he drowned all the little children that were in the old world; he also burned up all the little children which were in Sodom; and because upon a time the little children at Bethel mocked the prophet as he was a going to worship God, God let loose two she-bears upon them, which tore forty and two of them to pieces, 2 Kings, ii, 22, 23.

Q. Alas! what shall we little children do? A. Either go on in your sins, or remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, Eccles. xii. 1.

Q. Why do you mock us, to bid us go on in our sins? you had need pray for us that God would save us.

A. I do not mock you but as the wise man doth; and besides, I pray for you, and wish your

salvation.

Q. How doth the wise man mock us?

A. Thus Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment, Eccles. xi. 9.

Q. What a kind of mocking is this?

A. Such an one as is mixed with the greatest seriousness; as if he should say, Ay, do, sinners, go on in your sins if you dare; do live in your vanities; but God will have a time to judge you for them.

Q. Is not this just as when my father bids me be naught if I will; but if I be naught he will beat me for it?

A. Yes; for they that serve the devil must be where he is, and they that serve God and Christ must be where they are, John, xii. 16; Matthew, xxv. 41.

Q. But when had I best begin to serve God? A. Just now; remember now thy Creator, now thou hast the gospel before thee, now thy heart is tender, and will be soonest broken.

Q. But if I follow my play and sports a little longer, may I not come time enough?

A. I cannot promise thee that, for there be little graves in the church-yard, and who can tell but that thy young life is short; or if thou dost live, perhaps thy day of grace may be as short as was Ishmael's of old. Read also Prov. i. 24-26. Q. But if I stay a little longer before I turn, I may have more wit to serve God than now I have, may I not?

A. If thou stayest longer, thou wilt have more sin, and perhaps less wit; for the bigger sinner the bigger fool, Prov. i. 22.

Q. If I serve God sometimes, and my sin sometimes, how then?

A. No man can serve two masters; thou canst not serve God and thy sins. God saith, "My son, give me thy heart." Also thy soul and body are his; but the double-minded man is forbidden to think that he shall receive anything of the Lord, Matt. vi. 24; Prov. xxiii. 26; 1 Cor. vi. 28; James, i. 7, 8.

Q. Do you find many such little children as I am serve God?

A. Not many; yet some I do. Samuel served him, being a child; when Josiah was young he began to seek after the God of his father David. And how kindly did our Lord Jesus take it to see the little children run tripping before him, and crying, "Hosannah to the Son of David," 1 Sam. iii. 1; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3; Matt. xxi. 15, 16. Q. Then I am not like to have many companions if I thus young begin to serve God, am I?

A. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it; ; yet some companions thou wilt have. David counted himself a companion of all them that love God's testimonies; all the godly, though grey-headed, will be thy companions; yea, and thou shalt have either one or more of the angels of God in heaven to attend on and minister for thee, Matt. vii. 13; xviii. 10; Psalm cxix. 63.

Q. But I am like to be slighted and despised by other little children if I begin already to serve God, am I not?

A. If children be so rude as to mock the prophets and ministers of God, no marvel if they also mock thee; but it is a poor heaven that is not worth enduring worse things than to be mocked for the seeking and obtaining of, 2 Kings, ii. 23, 24.

Q. But how should I serve God? I do not know how to worship him?

A. The true worshippers worship God in spirit and truth, John, iv. 24; Phil. iii. 3. Q. What is meant by worshipping him in the Spirit?

A. To worship him in God's Spirit and in mine own-that is, to worship him, being wrought over in my very heart by the good Spirit of God

to a hearty compliance with his will, Rom. i. 9; vi. 17; Psalm ci. 3.

Q. What is it to worship him in truth?

A. To do all that we do in his worship according to his word, for his word is truth, and to do it without dissimulation, Heb. viii. 5; John, xvii. 17; Psalm xxvi. 6; cxviii. 19, 20. You may take the whole thus: then do you worship God aright when in heart and life you walk according to his word.

Q. How must I do to worship him with my spirit and heart?

A. Thou must first get the good knowledge of him." And thou, Solomon, my son," said David, "know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart." Mind you, he first bids know him, and then serve him with a perfect heart, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9.

Q. Is it easy to get a true knowledge of God? A. No; thou must cry after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding. If thou seekest for her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God, Prov. ii. 1—5.

Q. How comes it to be so difficult a thing to attain the true knowledge of God?

A. By reason of the pride and ignorance that is in us, as also by reason of our wicked ways, Psalm x. 4; Ephes. iv. 18, 19; Tit. i. 16.

Q. But do not every one profess they know God?

A. Yes; but their supposed knowledge of him varieth as much as do their faces or complexions; some thinking he is this, and some that.

Q. Will you shew me a little how they vary in their thoughts about him.

A. Yes; some count him a kind of a heartless God, that will neither do evil nor good; some count him a kind of an ignorant and blind God, that can neither know nor see through the clouds; some again count him an inconsiderable God, not worth the enjoying, if it must not be but with the loss of this world and their lusts. Moreover, some think him to be altogether such an one as themselves, one that hath as little hatred to sin as themselves, and as little love to holiness as themselves, Zeph. i. 12; Job, xxi. 9-16; xxii. 12, 13; Psalm 1. 21.

Q. Are there any more false opinions of God? A. Yes; there are three other false opinions of God-1. Some think he is all mercy and no justice, and that therefore they may live as they list. 2. Others think he is all justice and no mercy, and that therefore they had as good go on in their sins and be damned, as turn and be never the better. 3. Others think he is both justice and mercy, but yet think also that his justice is such as they can pacify with their own good works, and save themselves with their own right hand, (Rom. iii. 8; Jer. ii. 25; Job, xl. 14,) contrary to these scriptures, Hab. i. 13; Isaiah, xlv. 21.

Q. How, then, shall I know when I have the true knowledge of God?

A. When thy knowledge of him and the holy Scriptures agree.

Q The Scriptures: do not all false opinions of him flow from the Scriptures?