Bunyan about the Lord's Day, Sermons, Weekdays

Mr. John Bunyan’s Words and sayings

Published in Offor’s 1861 edition of Bunyan’s Works.

THE LORD’S DAY, SERMONS, AND WEEKDAYS

Take special care to sanctify the Lord’s Day, to set it apart as holy; for as you keep it, so it will be with you all the week long.

Make the Lord’s Day the market for your soul; let the whole day be spent in prayer, memorizing, or meditations on God’s Word. Lay aside the affairs of the rest of the week. Let the sermon you have heard be converted into prayer. Shall God allow you six days, and will you not give Him one?

In the church, make certain that you serve God, for you are in His eyes and not in man’s.

You might hear sermons often and do well in practicing what you hear, but you must not expect someone in the pulpit to tell you all that you ought to do. Rather, be studious in searching the Scriptures and reading good books. What you hear may be forgotten, but what you read may be better retained.

Forsake not the public worship of God, lest God forsake you, not only in public, but also in private.

On the weekdays, when you get up in the morning, consider:

1. You must die.

2. You might die that minute.

3. What will become of your soul. Pray often.

4. At night consider:

- What sins you have committed.
- How often you have prayed.
- What your mind has been focused on.
- How you have treated others.
- How your speech has been.
- If you call to mind your sins of the day, do not go to sleep without a confession to God and a hope of pardon.

Thus, every morning and evening settle your accounts with Almighty God, and your reckoning will be the less at the end.

What foolishness can be greater than to labor for the meat that perishes, yet neglect the food of eternal life?

God or the world must be neglected at death, for then is the time of trial.

To seek yourself in this world is to be lost, and to be humble is to be exalted.

John Bunyan was born in November 1628, in Elstow, England. A celebrated English minister and preacher, he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory, The Holy War (1682).