The Holy War – John Bunyan

threatening of the new covenant. Read carefully Grace Abounding, No.
246.--Ed.
2. Mansoul's spirit is first to be broken by the terrors of the law; there is no
difficulty in understanding the very appropriate names of the captains.
But why forty thousand convictions and terrors, unless from that number
of valiant men 'prepared for war,' that went up with Joshua, who was
feared 'as they feared Moses?' (Josh 4:13). The margin says, 'The words
of God.' There are in the Bible 810,697 words, so that the 40,000 and
above may refer to the number of those passages intended to convince of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come.--Ed.
3. 'Boanerges,' a powerful awakening ministry; 'Conviction,' an awful
display of the requirements of the law; 'Judgment,' the dreadful
expectation of the great day; 'Execution,' the destruction of impenitent
sinners. These are means of conviction, although in many cases, as that
of Lydia, the heart is gently opened to admit Emmanuel.--Ed.
4. 'Harness'; dress or equipments for fighting men, or for horses.--Ed.
5. These are the usual means of conviction and conversion, but not the only
means. Some are gently led to the Saviour, to others 'in a dream, in a
vision of the night; he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their
instruction' (Job 33:15,16). The great question is, Do I love the Lord?
Does that love lead to obedience?--Ed.
6. A son of thunder, meaning a powerful proclamation of the gospel, which
when made effectual in the heart by the Holy Ghost, becomes the power
of God to salvation.--Mason.
7. Although Bunyan was not a hireling preacher, but for a great portion of
his life maintained himself and his family by the labour of his hands, yet
he plainly intimates that itinerating and missionary labourers in the
Lord's vineyard must be maintained at the King's cost while away from
home.--Ed.
8. The distance to which man has fallen from God, is well set forth in the
Church Homily on the Nativity: 'Before he was beloved, now he is
abhorred; before he was most beautiful and precious, now he is vile and
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