upon the words, 'Thy righteousness is in heaven.' Hence he drew the
conclusion, that his righteousness was in Christ, at God's right
hand, ever before him, secure from all the powers of sin and
Satan. Now his chains fell off; he was loosed from his affliction
and irons; his temptation fled away. His present supply of grace
he compared to the cracked groats and fourpence half-pennies,[119]
which rich men carry in their pockets, while their treasure is safe
in their trunks at home, as his was in the store-house of heaven.

This dreary night of awful conflict lasted more than two years; but
when the day-spring from on high visited him, the promises spangled
in his eyes, and he broke out into a song, 'Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his
power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his
excellent greatness.'[120]

Bunyan's opinion as to the cause of this bitter suffering, was his
want of watchfulness, his not coming boldly to the throne of grace,
and that he had tempted God. The advantages he considered that
he had gained by it were, that it confirmed his knowledge of the
existence of God, so that he lost all his temptations to unbelief,
blasphemy, and hardness of heart, Doubts as to the truth of the
Word, and certainty of the world to come, were gone for ever.

He found no difficulty as to the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
'Now I saw the apostles to be the elders of the city of refuge,
those that they were to receive in, were received to life, but
those that they were to shut out, were to be slain by the avenger
of blood.' Those were to enter who, with Peter, confessed to Jesus,
'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Matt 16:16).