hat neither Thy mercy nor Christ's blood
is sufficient to save my soul. Lord, shall I honour Thee most by
believing that Thou wilt and canst, or him, by believing that Thou
neither wilt nor canst? Lord, I would fain honour Thee by believing
that Thou wilt and canst. As I was there before the Lord, the
Scripture came, Oh! man, great is thy faith, even as if one had
clapped me on the back.'

The waves had not wholly subsided; but we need not follow the
undulations any farther. It is enough that after a 'conviction of
sin,' considerably deeper than most people find necessary for
themselves, Bunyan had come to realise what was meant by salvation in
Christ, according to the received creed of the contemporary Protestant
world. The intensity of his emotions arose only from the completeness
with which he believed it. Man had sinned, and by sin was made a
servant of the devil. His redemption was a personal act of the Saviour
towards each individual sinner. In the Atonement Christ had before him
each separate person whom he designed to save, blotting out his
offences, however heinous they might be, and recording in place of
them his own perfect obedience. Each reconciled sinner in return
regarded Christ's sufferings as undergone immediately for himself, and
gratitude for that great deliverance enabled and obliged him to devote
his strength and soul thenceforward to God's service. In the
seventeenth century, all earnest English Protestants held this belief.
In the nineteenth century, most of us repeat the phrases of this
belief, and pretend to hold it. We think we hold it. We are growing
more cautious, perhaps, with our definitions. We suspect that there
may be mysteries in God's nature and methods which we cannot fully
explain. The outlines of 'the scheme of salvation' are growing
indistinct; and we see it through a gathering mist. Yet the essence of
it will remain true whether we recognise it or not. While man remains
man he will do things which he ought not to do. He will leave undone
things which he ought to do. To will, may be present with him; but how
to perform what he wills, he will never fully know, and he will still
hate 'the body of death' which he feels clinging to him. He will try
to do better. When he falls he will struggle to his feet again. He
will climb and climb on the hill side, though he never reaches the
top, and knows that he can never reach it. His life will be a failure,
which he will not dare to offer as