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Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1





'Our gospel has had here a summer's day,
But in its sunshine we, like fools, did play;
Or else fall out, and with each other wrangle,
And did, instead of work, not much but jangle.'[292]


After a lapse of nearly two centuries, Bunyan's peaceable principles
have greatly prevailed; so that now few churches refuse communion
on account of the mode, in which water baptism has been administered.
The Baptists are no longer deemed heretics as they formerly were.
Dr. Watts aided this kindly feeling--'A church baptized in infancy,
or in adult age, may allow communion to those that are of the contrary
practice in baptism.'[293] Robert Robinson praises Bunyan's work,
and advocates his sentiments upon the most liberal principles.
One of his remarks is very striking:--'Happy community! that can
produce a dispute of one hundred and fifty years unstained with
the blood, and unsullied with the fines, the imprisonments, and the
civil inconveniences of the disputants. As to a few coarse names,
rough compliments, foreign suppositions, and acrimonious exclamations,
they are only the harmless squeakings of men in a passion, caught
and pinched in a sort of logical trap.'[294] To this time, Bunyan
was only known as an extraordinarily talented and eloquent man,
whose retentive memory was most richly stored with the sacred
Scriptures. All his sermons and writings were drawn from his own
mental resources, aided, while in prison, only by the Bible, the
Concordance, and Fox's Book of Martyrs. Very emphatically he says,
'I am for drinking water out of my own cistern.' 'I find such
a spirit of idolatry in the learning of this world, that had I it
at command I durst not use it, but only use the light of the Word
and Spirit of God.' 'I will not take of it from a thread even to
a shoe latchet.'[295] It must not be understood that he read no
other works but his Bible and Book of Martyrs, but that he only used
those in composing his various treatises while in confinement. He
certainly had and read The Plain Man's Pathway, Practice of Piety,
Luther on the Galatians, Clarke's Looking-glass for Saints and
Sinners, Dodd on the Commandments, Andrews' Sermons, Fowler's Design
of Christianity, D'Anvers and Paul on Baptism, and doubtless all
the books which were within his reach, calculated to increase his
store of knowledge.

About this time he published a small quarto tract, in which he
scripturally treats the doctrine of eternal election and reprobation.
This rare book, published for sixpence, we were glad to purchase at
a cost of one guinea and a half, because a modern author rejected
its authenticity! It is included in every early list of Bunyan's
works, and especially in that published by himself, in 1688, to
guard his friends from deception; for he had become so popular an
author that several forgeries had been published under his initials.
These few pages on election contain a scriptural treatise upon
a very solemn subject, written by one whose mind was so imbued
by the fear of God, as to have cast out the fear of man; which so
generally embarrasses writers upon this subject. It was translated
into Welsh, and is worthy an attentive perusal, especially by those
who cannot see the difference between God's foreknowledge and his
foreordination.

A new era was now dawning upon him, which, during the last ten years
of his life, added tenfold to his popularity. For many years his
beautifully simple, but splendid allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress,
lay slumbering in his drawer.[296] Numerous had been his consultations
with his pious associates and friends, and various had been their
opinions, whether it was serious enough to be published. All of them
had a solemn sense of the impropriety of anything like trifling as
to the way of escape from destruction, and the road to the celestial
city. It appears strange to us, who have witnessed the very solemn
impressions, in all cases, made by reading that book, that there
could have been a doubt of the propriety of treating in a colloquial
manner, and even under the fashion of a dream, those most important
truths. Some said, 'John, print it'; others said, 'not so.' Some
said, 'it might do good'; others said, 'no.' The result of all
those consultations was his determination, 'I print it will,' and
it has raised an imperishable monument to his memory. Up to this
time, all Bunyan's popularity arose from his earlier works, and
his sermons. Leaving out of the question those most extraordinary
books, The Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War, his other writings ought
to have handed down his name, with honour and popularity, to the
latest posterity. While the logical and ponderous works of Baxter
and Owen are well calculated to furnish instruction to those who
are determined to obtain knowledge, the works of Bunyan create that
very determination, and furnish that very knowledge, so blended
with amusement, as to fix it in the memory. Let one illustration
suffice. It is our duty to love our enemies, but it is a hard lesson;
we must learn it from the conduct of the Divine Creator--'There
is a man hates God, blasphemes his name, despises his being; yea,
says there is no God. And yet the God that he carrieth it thus
towards doth give me his breakfast, dinner, and supper; clothes him
well, and, when night comes, has him to bed, gives him good rest,
blesses his field, his corn, his cattle, his children, and raises
him to high estate; yea, and this our God doth not only once
or twice, but until these transgressors become old; his patience
is thus extended years after years, that we might learn of him to
do well.'[297] All the works of Bunyan abound with such striking
lessons, as to render them extremely valuable, especially to
Sunday-school teachers and ministers, to enliven their addresses and
sermons. But, in The Pilgrim's Progress, the world has acknowledged
one train of beauties; picture after picture, most beautifully
finished, exhibiting the road from destruction to the celestial
city; our only difficulty in such a display being to decide as to
which is the most interesting and striking piece of scenery.[298]
The editor's introduction to that extraordinary book is intended
to prove that it was written while the author was imprisoned
for refusing to submit his conscience to human laws, and that it
is a perpetual monument to the folly of persecution; the peculiar
qualifications of the author are displayed in its having been
a spontaneous effusion of his own mind, unaided by any previous
writer; an analysis is given of all prior pilgrimages, in which,
more especially in The Pilgrims, The Pylgremage of the Soule,
Grande Amoure, and in The Pilgrim of Loretto, the reader will find
a faithful picture of some of the singularities of Popery drawn by
itself; an account of the editions, forgeries, errors in printing,
versions and translations of this wonderful book; the opinions of
the learned and pious of its merits, principal scenes, and a synopsis.
It has been the source of very numerous courses of lectures by
ministers of all denominations; and has been turned into a handsome
volume of hymns, adapted for public worship, by the late Mr. Purday,
a friend of John Wesley's, and a laborious preacher for more than
half a century.

Great efforts have been made by the most popular artists to enliven the
scenes of the pilgrimage; but no colour glows like the enchanting
words of Bunyan. No figures are so true to nature, and so life-like.
Those eminent engravers, Sturt and Strut, Stothard and Martin,
with the prize efforts excited by the Art Union of England, and
the curious outlines by Mrs. M'Kenzie, the daughter of a British
admiral, have endeavoured to exhaust the scenes in this inexhaustible
work of beautiful scenery. The most elegant and correct edition is
the large-paper, sumptuous volume by Mr. Bogue, admirably illustrated
with new designs, engraved on wood in superior style--a volume
worthy the drawing-room of queens and emperors. The designs, also,
of the late David Scott, recently published at Edinburgh, are new,
and peculiarly striking. His entrance to the Valley of the Shadow
of Death is mysteriously impressive, a fit accompaniment to Bunyan's
description, which is not excelled by any thing in Dante, Spencer,
or Milton. In both parts of The Pilgrim's Progress this scene is
full of terrific sublimity. But we must be excused, if we most warmly
recommend our own offspring--the present edition--as combining
accuracy, elegance, and cheapness, with the addition of very
numerous notes, which, we trust, will prove highly illustrative
and entertaining.

The carping criticisms of Mr. Dunlop, in his History of Fiction,
and of an author in the Penny Encyclopedia, are scarcely worth
notice. The complaint is, want of benevolence in the hero of the
tale. How singular it is, and what a testimony to its excellence,
that an intelligent writer upon fictions should have been so
overpowered with this spiritual narrative, as to confound it with
temporal things. Christian leaves his wife and children, instead
of staying with them, to be involved in destruction--all this
relates to inward spiritual feelings, and to these only. Visited
by compunctions of heart, Christian strives to inspire his wife
and children with the same, but in vain; he attends solitarily to
his spiritual state, taunted by his family, while, as to temporal
things, he becomes a better husband and father than ever he
was--but this is not prominent, because it is entirely foreign to
the author's object, which is to display the inward emotions of
the new birth, the spiritual journey alone, apart from all temporal
affairs. Multitudes read it as if it was really a dream, the old
sleeping portrait confirming the idea. In the story, Christian most
mysteriously embodies all classes of men, from the prince to the
peasant--the wealthiest noble, or merchant, to the humbles mechanic
or labourer--and it illustrates the most solemn, certain truth,
that, with respect to the salvation of the soul, the poorest creature
in existence is upon perfect equality with the lordly prelate, or
magnificent emperor, with this word ringing in their ears, 'the POOR
have the gospel preached to them.' The Grace Abounding, or Life of
Bunyan, is a key to all the mysteries of The Pilgrim's Progress,
and Holy War.

Bunyan's singular powers are those of description, not of invention.
He had lived in the city of destruction--he had heard the distant
threatening of the awful storm that was shortly to swallow it up
in unutterable ruin--he had felt the load of sin, and rejoiced when
it was rolled away before a crucified Saviour--he knew every step
of the way, and before he had himself passed the black river, he
had watched prayerfully over those who were passing, and when the
gate of the city was opened to let them enter, he had strained his
eyes to see their glory.

The purifying influence of The Pilgrim's Progress may be traced in
the writings of many imaginative authors. How does it in several
parts beautify the admirable tale of Uncle Tom, and his Cabin. In
that inimitable scene, the death of the lovely Eva, the distressed
negro, watching with intense anxiety the progress of death, says,
'When that blessed child goes into the kingdom, they'll open the
door so wide, we'll all get a look in at the glory.' Whence came
this strange idea--not limited to the poor negro, but felt by
thousands who have watched over departing saints? It comes from
the entrance of Christian and Hopeful into the celestial city--'I
looked in after them, and, behold, the city shone like the sun; the
streets, also, were paved with gold, and in them they walked with
crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps
to sing praises, which, when I had seen, I wished myself among
them.'[299] How often has Bunyan's wit sparkled in sermons, and
even in speeches delivered in the senate. Recently, in a speech on
the collation ministry, the following reference was introduced:--'Mr.
Facing-both-ways, of honest John Bunyan, is not a creature mankind
can regard with any complacency; nor will they likely suffer any
one to act with one party, and reserve his principles for another.'
It has also been strangely quoted in novel writing--thus in Bell's
Villette--visiting a God-mother in a pleasant retreat, is said 'to
resemble the sojourn of Christian and Hopeful, beside the pleasant
stream, with green trees on each bank, and meadows beautified with
lilies all the year round.' It is marvelous that a picture of
nature should have been so beautifully and strikingly described
by an unlettered artisan, as to be used in embellishing an elegant
novel, written nearly two centuries after his decease.[300]

The Pilgrim was followed by a searching treatise on The Fear of God.
The value of this book led to its republication by the Tract Society,
and 4000 copies have been circulated. It is a neat and acceptable
volume, but why altered? and a psalm omitted.[301] Bunyan says,
'Your great ranting, swaggering, roysters'; this is modernized into
'Your ranting boasters.'[302] Then followed, the Come and Welcome
to Jesus Christ. This was frequently reprinted, and hundreds of
thousands have been circulated to benefit the world. His popularity
increased with his years; efforts were made, but in vain, to steal
him from his beloved charge at Bedford. 'He hath refused a more
plentiful income to keep his station,' is the language of his
surviving friend, Charles Doe. It is not surprising that he was
thus tempted to leave his poor country church, for we are told by
the same biographer, that 'When Mr. Bunyan preached in London, if
there were but one day's notice given, there would be more people
come together to hear him preach, than the meeting-house could hold.
I have seen to hear him preach, by my computation, about 1200 at
a morning lecture, by seven o'clock, on a working day, in the dark
winter time. I also computed about 3000 that came to hear him one
Lord's-day, at London, at a town's end meeting-house, so that half
were fain to go back again for want of room, and then himself was
fain at a back door to be pulled almost over people to get up stairs
to his pulpit.' This took place in a large meeting-house, erected
in Zoar Street, either on the site or near the Globe Theatre,
Southwark.[303] On this spot, the prince of dramatists amused and
corrupted crowded houses; while in the immediate vicinity were
the stews and bear garden, frequented by libertines of the lowest
caste. One Sunday, in 1582, many were killed or miserably wounded
while attending the brutal sport of bear-baiting. Here, in the heart
of Satan's empire, the prince of allegorists attracted multitudes,
to be enlightened by his natural eloquence, and to be benefited
by the fruits of his prolific and vivid imagination, at all times
curbed and directed by the holy oracles. It was a spacious building,
covering about 2000 feet of ground (50 by 40), with three galleries,
quite capable of holding the number computed by Mr. Doe. We have,
from correct drawings, furnished our subscribers with the plan
and elevation of this ancient meeting-house. Having preached with
peculiar warmth and enlargement, one of his friends took him by
the hand, and could not help observing what a sweet sermon he had
delivered; 'Ay,' said he, 'you need not remind me of that, for the
devil told me of it before I was out of the pulpit!'[304] Amongst
his hearers were to be found the learned and the illiterate. It
was well known that Dr. John Owen, when he had the opportunity,
embraced it with pleasure, and sat at the feet of the unlearned,
but eloquent tinker. Charles II, hearing of it, asked the learned
D.D., 'How a man of his great erudition could sit to hear a tinker
preach?' to which the doctor replied, 'May it please your Majesty,
if I could possess the tinker's abilities, I would gladly give in
exchange all my learning.'

He now pictured the downward road of the sinner to the realms of
death and darkness in the Life of Badman. This was published in
1680, and is written in a language which fraudulent tradesmen at
that period could not misunderstand; using terms now obsolete or
vulgar. It is full of anecdotes, which reveal the state of the times,
as superlatively immoral, and profane. He incidentally notices that
a labourer received eightpence or tenpence per day.[305] At that
time, bread and all the necessaries of life, excepting meat, were
dearer than they are at present. In fact, our days are much happier
for the poor than any preceding ones in British history. Bunyan's
notions of conscientious dealing, will make all traders who read
them--blush.[306]

November 12, 1681, Bunyan's friend and fellow-labourer Samuel Fenn,
was removed from this world, and in the following year persecution
raged severely. The church was, for a season, driven from the
meeting-house, and obliged to assemble in the fields. The Word of
the Lord was precious in those days.

In 1682, while surrounded by persecution, he prepared and published
his most profound and beautiful allegory, The Holy War, made by
Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the
World; or, The Losing and Taking again the Town of Mansoul.[307]
The frontispiece is the most accurate likeness of Bunyan that is
extant; it is engraved by White, from a drawing, also by him, now
preserved in the print department of the British Museum. From this
drawing, carefully compared with the print, we have furnished the
expressive likeness which forms the frontispiece to this volume.
It has also a correct whole-length portrait, with emblematical
devices. This exceedingly beautiful and most finished allegory has
never been so popular as The Pilgrim's Progress, for reasons which
are shown in the introduction to The Holy War.[308] The whole
narrative of this wondrous war appears to flow as naturally as
did that of the pilgrimage from the highly imaginative mind of the
author. Man, in his innocence, attracts the notice and hatred of
Apollyon. Nothing could be accomplished by force--all by
subtlety and deceit. He holds a council of war--selects his
officers--approaches--parleys, and gains admittance--then fortifies
the town against its king--Immanuel determines to recover it--vast
armies, under appropriate leaders, surround the town, and attack
every gate. The ear is garrisoned by Captain Prejudice and his deaf
men. But he who rides forth conquering and to conquer is victorious.
All the pomp, and parade, and horrors of a siege are as accurately
told, as if by one who had been at the sacking of many towns. The
author had learnt much in a little time, at the siege of Leicester.
All the sad elements of war appear, and make us shudder--masses
of armed men with their slings and battering-rams--clarions and
shouts--wounded and slain, all appear as in a panorama. The mind
becomes entranced, and when sober reflection regains her command,
we naturally inquire, Can all this have taken place in my heart?
Then the armies of Diabolus, with his thousands of Election Doubters,
and as many Vocation Doubters, and his troops of Blood-men--thousands
slain, and yet thousands start into existence. And all this in one
man! How numberless are our thoughts--how crafty the approaches of
the enemy--how hopeless and helpless is the sinner, unless Immanuel
undertakes his recovery. The Holy War is a most surprising narrative
of the fall and of the recovery of man's soul, as accurate as
it is most deeply interesting. It is one of the most perfect of
allegories.[309] There is as vast a superiority in Bunyan's Holy
War over that by Chrysostom, as there is in the sun over a rush-light.

In 1684, he completed his Pilgrim's Progress, with the Journey of
a Female Christian, her Children, and the Lovely Mercy; and now, as
his invaluable and active life drew towards its close, his labours
were redoubled. In his younger days, there appeared to have been
no presentiment on his part that the longest term of human life
would with him be shortened, but rather an expectation of living
to old age, judging from an expression in his Grace Abounding.
when he enjoyed a good hope, and bright anticipation of heavenly
felicity, 'I should often long and desire that the last days were
come. O! thought I, that I were fourscore years old now, that I
might die quickly and be gone to rest.'[310] At that time he did
not anticipate twelve years' imprisonment in a wretched jail, nor
the consequent effects it must have upon his robust frame, well
calculated to stand all weathers, but easily sapped and undermined
by a damp dungeon. Symptoms of decay, after having enjoyed his
liberty for about a year, led him to close his Affectionate Advice
to his Beloved Flock, on their Christian Behaviour; with these
words, 'Thus have I written to you, before I die, to provoke you
to faith and holiness, and to love one another, when I am deceased,
and shall be in paradise, as through grace I comfortably believe;
yet it is not there, but here, I must do you good.'[311] It
is remarkable that Bunyan escaped all the dangers of the trying
reign of James II, who, at times, was a persecutor, and at times
endeavoured, in vain, by blandishments, to win the Nonconformists.
his minions had their eyes upon our pilgrim, but were foiled in every
attempt to apprehend him; all that he suffered was the occasional
spoiling of his goods.[312] Neither violence nor allurements induced
him to deviate from his line of duty. No fear of man appeared to
agitate his breast--he richly enjoyed that 'perfect love,' which
'casteth out fear' (1 John 4:18). James did all that an unprincipled
man could do to cajole the Dissenters, that by their aid he might
pull down the walls of Protestantism, and give full sway to the
Papacy. He attempted, among many others, to bribe John Bunyan. He
knew not how well he was read in the Book of Martyrs; how well he
was aware that 'the instruments of cruelty are in their habitations,'
and that the only advantage he could have received, would have been
the same that Polypheme, the monstrous giant of Sicily, allowed to
Ulysses, that he would eat his men first, and do him the favour of
being eaten last. Mr. Doe states that 'Regulators were sent into all
cities and towns corporate to new-model the magistracy, by turning
out some, and putting in others. Against this Bunyan expressed his
zeal with great anxiety, as foreseeing the bad consequences that
would attend it, and laboured with his congregation to prevent
their being imposed on in this kind. And when a great man in those
days, coming to Bedford upon some such errand, sent for him, as it
is supposed, to give him a place of public trust, he would by no
means come at him, but sent his excuse.'[313] He knew that in his
flesh he possessed what he calls 'Adam's legacy, a conduit pipe,
through which the devil conveys his poisoned spawn and venom,'[314]
and he wisely avoided this subtle temptation. He detested the
'painted Satan, or devil in fine clothes.'[315] It was one of these
hypocritical pretences to correct evil, while really meaning to
increase it, and which Bunyan calls, 'the devil correcting vice.'
He was watchful, lest 'his inward man should catch cold,'[316] and
every attempt to entangle him failed.

This godly jealousy led him to sacrifice worldly interests to an
extent not justifiable, if all the facts appear. When told that a
very worthy citizen of London would take his son Joseph apprentice
without fee, and advance his interests, he refused, saying, 'God
did not send me to advance my family, but to preach the gospel.'

At this time he again manifested his lion heart, by writing and
preparing for the press a fearless treatise on Antichrist, and
his Ruin. In this he shows, that human interference with Divine
worship, by penal laws or constraint, is 'Antichrist'--that which
pretends to regulate thought, and thus to reduce the kingdom
of Christ to a level with the governments of this world. In this
treatise, he clearly exhibits the meaning of that passage, so
constantly quoted by the advocates of tyranny and persecution (Ezra
7:26), and shows that the laws interfered not with Divine worship,
but that they upheld to the fullest extent the principle of voluntary
obedience (v 13); so that any man putting constraint upon another
in religious affairs, would be guilty of breaking the law, and
subject him to extreme punishment. This was one of the last treatises
which Bunyan prepared for the press, as if in his dying moments he
would aim a deadly thrust at Apollyon. Reader, it is worthy your
most careful perusal, as showing the certain downfall of Antichrist,
and the means by which it must be accomplished.

Feeling the extreme uncertainty of life, and that he might be robbed
of all his worldly goods, under a pretence of fines and penalties,
he, on the 23d of December, 1685, executed a deed of gift, vesting
what little he possessed in his wife. It is a singular instrument,
especially as having been sealed with a silver twopenny piece. The
original is in the church book, at Bedford:--