The Holy War – John Bunyan

new holds, and had manned them for himself.[22] And all this he did to
make himself secure, in case the good Shaddai, or his Son, should come to
make an incursion upon him.
Notes:
1. His noble passions, once the blissful seat Of each celestial grace,
became the den Of fiends infernal.-- Swain.
2. God's image of holiness being obliterated, Satan, with all his horrid crew
of lusts and vile affections, gained admittance; the understanding was
perverted, and the affections estranged.-- Mason.
3. O sinner, listen now to the voice of conscience, before his awful
suggestions drive thee to despair. O give it leave to speak, For it will
speak ere long! O hear it now, While useful its advice, its accents mild.--
Young.
4. The office and power of conscience, the old recorder, is beautifully
described. He will sometimes speak, yea, war aloud, testifying for God,
and against sin.-- Burder.
5. This is the old device of Satan. It was thus he treated poor Christian, in
the Pilgrim's Progress, when first alarmed for his soul's welfare--'They
thought that some frenzy distemper had got into his head.'--Ed.
6. Liars ought to have good memories; just before this the devil said,
'When Shaddai shall hear what is done, he will come.' Now he tells
them, 'He hath shaken his hands of us,' or entirely given us up.-- Ed.
7. Conscience, in natural men, is very unequal and irregular in its
opposition to sin; yet by fits and starts he will cry out, and so frighten
the sinner, that he wishes him 'a thousand miles off,' so as to give him no
disturbance. The powers of conscience cannot be utterly defaced.--
Burder.
8. The will scorns to be a slave, but plunges into the worst of slavery--that
to Satan and to sin; and in that slavery must perish, unless emancipated
and redeemed by Christ.-- Ed.
33