A CAUTION TO STIR UP
To watch against SIN.
By J. Bunyan.
The first Eight Lines one did commend to mee,
The rest I thought good to commend to thee:
Reader, in reading be thou rul'd by me,
With Rhimes nor Lines, but Truths, affected be.
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I.
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SIN will at first, just like a Begger crave
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One Penny or one Half-peny to have;
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And if you grant its first suit, 'twill aspire,
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From Pence to Pounds, and so will still mount higher,
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To the whole Soul: but if it makes its mone,
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Then say, here is not for you, get you gone.
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For if you give it entrance at the Door,
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It will come in, and may go out no more.
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II.
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SIN, rather than 'twill out of action be,
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Will pray to stay, though but a while with thee:
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One Night, one Hour, one Moment, will it cry,
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Imbrace me in thy Bosome else I dy:
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Time to Repent (faith it) I will allow,
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And help, if to Repent thou know'st not how.
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But if you give it entrance at the Door,
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It will come in, and may go out no more.
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III.
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If Begging doth not do, SIN promise will
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Rewards to those that shall its Lusts fulfill:
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Penny in hand, ye Pounds 'twill offer thee,
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If at its beck and motion thou wilt be.
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'Twill seem Heav'n to out-bid, and all to gain
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Thy Love, and win thee it to entertain.
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But give it not admittance at thy Door,
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Lest it comes in, and so goes out no more.
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IV.
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If Begging and promising will not do,
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'Twill by its wiles attempt to flatter you.
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I'm harmless, mean no ill, be not so shy,
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Will ev'ry Soul-destroying motion cry.
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'Twill hide its sting, 'twill change its Native hue,
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Vile 'twill not, but a Beauty seem to you.
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But if you give it entrance at the Door,
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Its sting will in, and may come out no more.
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V.
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Rather than fail, SIN will itself divide,
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Bid thee do this, and lay the rest aside.
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Take little ones (twill say) throw great ones by,
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(As if for little Sins Men should not dy.)
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Yea, SIN with SIN a quarrel will maintain,
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On purpose that THOU by it might'st be slain.
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Beware the cheat then, keep it out of Door,
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It would come in, and would go out no more.
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VI.
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SIN, if you will believe it, will accuse,
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What is not hurtful, and itself excuse:
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'Twill make a Vice of Vertue, and 'twill say
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Good is destructive, doth Mens Souls betray.
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'Twill make a Law, where God has made Man free,
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And break those Laws by which Men bounded be.
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Look to thyself then, keep it out of Dore,
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Thee 'twould intangle, and inlarge thy score.
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VII.
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SIN is that beastly thing that will defile
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Soul, Body, Name, and Fame in little while;
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'Twill make him, who some time Gods Image was,
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Look like the Devil, love and plead his Cause;
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Like to the Plague, Poyson, or Leprosie
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Defile 'twill, and infect contagiously.
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Wherefore beware, against it shut the Door,
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If not, it will defile thee more and more.
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VIII.
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SIN once possessed of the heart, will play
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The Tyrant, force its Vassal to obey:
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'Twill make thee thine own happiness oppose,
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And offer open Violence to those
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That love thee best; yea make thee to defy
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The Law and Counsel of the Deity.
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Beware then, keep this Tyrant out of Door,
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Lest thou be his, and so thy own no more.
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IX.
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SIN, harden can the heart against its God,
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Make it abuse his Grace, despise his Rod;
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'Twill make one run upon the very pikes,
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Judgments foreseen bring such to no dislikes
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Of sinful hazzards; no, they venture shall
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For one base Lust, their Soul, and Heav'n, and all.
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Take heed then, hold it, crush it at the Door,
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It comes to rob thee and to make thee Poor.
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X.
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SIN is a Prison, hath its bolts and chains,
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Brings into Bondage who it entertains;
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Hangs shackles on them, bends them to its will,
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Holds them, as Sampson grinded at the Mill.
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'Twill blind them, make them deaf; yea 'twill them Gagg,
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And ride them as the Devil rides his Hagg.
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Wherefore look to it, keep it out of Door,
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If once its slave, thou may'st be free no more.
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XI.
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Though SIN at first its rage dissemble may,
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'Twill soon upon thee as a Lyon Prey;
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'Twill roar, 'twill rend, twill tare, twill kill out-right,
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Its living Death will gnaw thee day and night:
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Thy pleasures now to paws, and teeth it turns,
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In thee its tickling Lusts, like Brimstone, burns.
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Wherefore beware, and keep it out of Door,
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Lest it should on thee as a Lyon Roar.
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XII.
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SIN will accuse, will stare thee in the face,
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Will for its Witnesses quote time and place
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Where thou committedst it; and so appeal
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To Conscience, who thy facts will not conceal;
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But on thee as a Judge such Sentence pass,
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As will to thy Sweet bits, prove bitter Sawce.
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Wherefore beware against it shut thy Door,
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Repent what's past, believe and Sin no more.
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XIII.
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SIN is the worm of Hell, the lasting Fire,
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Hell would soon lose its heat, could SIN expire:
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Better Sinless, in Hell, than to be where
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Heav'n is, and to be found a Sinner there.
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One Sinless, with Infernals might do well,
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But SIN would make a very Heav'n a Hell.
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Look to thyself then, to keep it out of Door,
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Lest it gets in, and never leaves thee more.
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XIV.
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No Match has SIN save God in all the World,
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Men, Angels it has from their stations hurl'd:
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Holds them in Chains, as Captives in despite,
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Of all that here below is called Might.
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Release, help, freedome from it none can give,
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But he by whom we also breath and live.
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Watch therefore, keep this Gyant out of Door,
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Lest if once in, thou get him out no more.
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XV.
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Fools make a mock at SIN, will not believe,
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It carries such a Dagger in its sleeve;
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How can it be (say they) that such a thing,
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So full of sweet, should ever wear a sting:
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They know not that it is the very SPELL
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Of SIN, to make Men laugh themselves to Hell.
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Look to thyself then, deal with SIN no more,
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Lest he that saves, against thee shuts the Door.
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XVI.
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Now let the God that is above,
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That hath for Sinners so much Love;
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These Lines so help thee to improve,
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That towards him thy heart may move.
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Keep thee from Enemies external,
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Help thee to fight with those internal:
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Deliver thee from them Infernal,
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And bring thee safe to Life eternal.
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