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Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

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




This invitation was very probably intended to introduce him to the
congregation, with a view to his becoming an assistant pastor, but
before it took place, he again appeared before the public as an
author. The second production of his pen is a solemn and most searching
work, founded upon the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, under
the title of A Few Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned
Soul; by that poor and contemptible Servant of Jesus Christ, John
Bunyan, 1658. His humility led him to seek the patronage of his
pastor; and Mr. Gifford, under the initials of J. G., wrote a
preface of thirty-eight pages, but he dying before it reached the
second edition, that preface was discontinued, and the title somewhat
altered. The only copy of this first edition yet discovered is in
the royal library at the British Museum. It appears to have belonged
to Charles II, who, with more wit than decorum, has bound it up,
as a supplement, to an extremely licentious book, as if it was
intended to say, 'Her house is the way to hell, going down to the
chamber of death'; or that a licentious life endeth in 'sighs from
hell.'

Mr. Gifford, in this preface, after strongly recommending the work,
speaks of the author in the most respectful and affectionate terms,
showing that his zeal, and energy, and great usefulness had excited
the envy of many who ought to have encouraged him as one taught
by the Spirit, and used in his hand to do souls good--'divers have
felt the power of the Word delivered by him; and I doubt not but
that many more may, if the Lord continues him in his work'; and he
gives this as a reason 'why the archers have shot so sorely at him';
and then scripturally proves that no objection should be made to
his valuable services from his want of human learning. As the whole
of this interesting preface is accurately reprinted with the book,
the reader is referred to it without further extracts.[195] The
Editor's introduction to these Sighs was written under very solemn
feelings, produced by reading this searching treatise. The rich
man is intended to personify those who, neglecting salvation, die
in their sins, while Lazarus personates all those who humbly receive
salvation as the gift of God; who, however they may suffer in this
world, retain their integrity to death. In this parable, a voice
is heard from the place of torment--the cry is a 'drop of water,'
the slightest relief to unutterable woes; and that a messenger may
be sent to warn his relatives, lest they should be plunged into the
same torment. The impassable gulf defies the vain request, while
the despised Christian reposes in everlasting and indescribable
enjoyment. This little volume was very popular; nine editions were
printed and sold in the author's lifetime, besides pirated copies.
Bunyan's feelings and mode of preaching are well described in the
Grace Abounding,[196] and will be felt by every attentive reader
of his Sighs from Hell:--'When I have been preaching, I thank God,
my heart hath often, with great earnestness, cried to God that
he would make the Word effectual to the salvation of the soul.
Wherefore I did labour so to speak the Word, as that thereby, if
it were possible, the sin and person guilty might be particularized
by it.'

'And when I have done the exercise, it hath gone to my heart,
to think the Word should now fall as rain on stony places; still
wishing from my heart, O! that they who have heard me speak this
day, did but see as I do, what sin, death, hell, and the curse
of God is; and also what the grace, and love, and mercy of God
is, through Christ, to men in such a case as they are who are yet
estranged from him.

'For I have been in my preaching, especially when I have been
engaged in the doctrine of life by Christ, without works, as if an
angel of God had stood by at my back to encourage me.'

Such feelings are not limited to Bunyan, but are most anxiously
felt by all our pious ministers. How fervently ought their hearers
to unite in approaches to the mercy-seat, that the Divine blessing
may make the Word fruitful.

In those days it was not an uncommon thing for the hearers, at the
close of the sermon, to put questions to the preacher, sometimes
to elicit truth, or to express a cordial union of sentiments, or
to contradict what the minister had said. Upon one occasion, Mr.
Bunyan, after his sermon, had a singular dispute with a scholar.
It is narrated by Mr. C. Doe, who was a personal friend and great
admirer of our author, and who probably heard it from his own mouth,
and will be found in the Struggler, inserted vol. iii., p. 767.

It is the common taunt of the scorner, and sometimes a stone of
stumbling to the inquirer, that, while the Christian believes in
the intensity of the Saviour's sufferings, and that God was made
flesh that he might offer himself as an atonement to redeem mankind,
yet few are saved, in comparison with those who are lost--broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction, and many walk therein, while
few attempt the narrow way to life; that four sorts of hearers
are described by the Saviour, only one receiving the truth; as if
the doleful realms of darkness and misery would be more thickly
peopled than those of light and happiness, and Satan prove stronger
than Christ. Such cavilers forget that the far greater portion of
mankind die in infancy, purified by the Saviour's sufferings, and
enter heaven in the perfection of manhood. As Mr. Toplady justly
observes, what a vista does this open to the believer through the
dreary gloom of the infidel! They forget, also, that all those who
gain the narrow path, once helped to throng the road to destruction;
and that the hearers, whose hardened deceitful hearts rejected the
gospel under one sermon, may, by mercy, have them opened to receive
it under another. And who dares to limit the Almighty? The power
that prepared the spirit of the thief, when upon the cross, even in
his last moments, for the pure enjoyments of heaven, still exists.
Is the arm of the Lord shortened that he cannot save? The myriads of
heaven will be found countless as are the sands upon the sea-shore,
and the harmony of their worship shall swell like the voice of
many waters and mighty thunderings, saying, 'Alleluja, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth.' What! Satan stronger than the Almighty
Redeemer? Perish the thought. Still how common is the question,
which one of the disciples put to his master, 'Lord, are there few
that be saved?' How striking the answer! 'Strive to enter in at the
strait gate' (Luke 13:23). Encumber not thy mind with such needless
inquiries, but look to thine own salvation.

Another very singular anecdote is related, which proves that the
use of the churches was not then limited to any one sect. 'Being
to preach in a church in a country village (before the restoration
of king Charles) in Cambridgeshire, and the people being gathered
together in the church-yard, a Cambridge scholar, and none of the
soberest of 'em neither, enquired what the meaning of that concourse
of people was, it being upon the week day, and being told, That one
Bunyan, a tinker, was to preach there, he gave a boy twopence to
hold his horse, saying, He was resolved to hear the tinker prate;
and so went into the church to hear him. But God met with him there
by his ministry, so that he came out much changed, and would, by
his good will, hear none but the tinker for a long time after, he
himself becoming a very eminent preacher in that county afterwards.
This story I know to be true, having many a time discoursed with
the man, and, therefore, I could not but set it down as a singular
instance of the power of God that accompanied his ministry.'[197]

Bunyan's veneration for the Scriptures, as the only source and
standard of religious knowledge, led him into frequent controversies.
In common with the Christian world, he wholly depended upon the
enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit to impress the Divine
truths of revelation upon the mind, and also to illustrate, open,
and apply the sacred writings to the heart of man. Unable to read
the Bible in the original languages in which it was written, he
wisely made use of every aid that might enable him to study its
contents with the greatest advantage. It was his habit to examine
the two translations then in common use. The present authorized
version, first published in 1611, is that to which he usually
refers; comparing it with the favourite Puritan version made by the
refugees at Geneva, and first printed in 1560. He sometimes quotes
the Genevan, and so familiar were the two translations, that in
several instances he mixes them in referring from memory to passages
of holy writ.

Upon one of his journeys, being upon the road near Cambridge, he
was overtaken by a scholar, who concluded that he was an itinerant
preacher, whether from having heard him, or observing his serious
deportment, or his Bible reading, does not appear, although the
latter was probably the reason. But the student determined to have
a brush with him, and said, 'How dare you preach from the Bible,
seeing you have not the original, being not a scholar?' Then said
Mr. Bunyan, 'Have you the original?' 'Yes, said the scholar.' 'Nay,
but,' said Mr. Bunyan, 'have you the very self-same original copies
that were written by the penmen of the Scriptures, prophets and
apostles?' 'No,' said the scholar, 'but we have the true copies of
these originals.' 'How do you know that?' said Mr. Bunyan. 'How?'
said the scholar. 'Why, we believe what we have is a true copy
of the original.' 'Then,' said Mr. Bunyan, 'so do I believe our
English Bible is a true copy of the original.' Then away rid the
scholar.[198] As neither persecution nor railing, nor temptations,
nor the assaults of Satan, produced any effect upon Bunyan to prevent
his preaching, but rather excited his zeal and energy, means of
a more deadly nature were resorted to, to injure or prevent his
usefulness. As Mr. Gifford said, 'The archers shot sorely at him'
by the most infamous and unfounded slanders, which he thus narrates:--

'When Satan perceived that his thus tempting and assaulting of me
would not answer his design, to wit, to overthrow my ministry, and
make it ineffectual, as to the ends thereof: then he tried another
way, which was to stir up the minds of the ignorant and malicious
to load me with slanders and reproaches. Now, therefore, I may say,
that what the devil could devise, and his instruments invent, was
whirled up and down the country against me, thinking, as I said,
that by that means they should make my ministry to be abandoned.
It began, therefore, to be rumoured up and down among the people,
that I was a witch, a Jesuit, a highwayman, and the like. To all
which, I shall only say, God knows that I am innocent. But as for
mine accusers, let them provide themselves to meet me before the
tribunal of the Son of God, there to answer for all these things,
with all the rest of their iniquities, unless God shall give them
repentance for them, for the which I pray with all my heart.

'But that which was reported with the boldest confidence, was, that
I had my misses, yea, two wives at once, and the like. Now these
slanders, with the others, I glory in, because but slanders, foolish,
or knavish lies, and falsehoods cast upon me by the devil and his
seed; and should I not be dealt with thus wickedly by the world,
I should want one sign of a saint, and a child of God. "Blessed
are ye (said the Lord Jesus) when men shall revile you and persecute
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my
sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in
heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

'These things therefore, upon mine own account, trouble me not. No,
though they were twenty times more than they are, I have a good
conscience; and whereas they speak evil of me, they shall be ashamed
that falsely accuse my good conversation in Christ. Therefore I
bind these lies and slanders to me as an ornament, it belongs to
my Christian profession to be vilified, slandered, reproached, and
reviled. I rejoice in reproaches for Christ's sake. My foes have
missed their mark in this their shooting at me. I am not the man.
If all the fornicators and adulterers in England were hanged by
the neck till they be dead, John Bunyan, the object of their envy,
would be still alive and well. I know not whether there be such
a thing as a woman breathing under the copes of the whole heaven,
but by their apparel, their children, or by common fame, except my
wife.

'And in this I admire the wisdom of God, that he made me shy of
women from my first conversion until now. When I have seen good men
salute those women that they have visited, I have made my objection
against it; and when they have answered, that it was but a piece of
civility, I have told them, it is not a comely sight. Some indeed
have urged the holy kiss; but then I have asked why they made baulks,
why they did salute the most handsome, and let the ill-favoured
go. Not that I have been thus kept, because of any goodness in me,
more than any other, but God has been merciful to me, and has kept
me, to whom I pray that he will keep me still, not only from this,
but every evil way and work, and preserve me to his heavenly kingdom.
Amen.'[199]

Notwithstanding all Mr. Bunyan's care to avoid the slightest
appearance of evil, yet being over-persuaded to an act of humanity
and civility to one of his female members, he was most unjustly
calumniated. The circumstances which gave rise to this slander
are narrated in James's Abstract of God's dealings with Mrs. Agnes
Beaumont, of which an abridged account will be found in a note to
the Grace Abounding.[200] It exhibits in a remarkable manner how
easily such reports are raised against the holiest men.

Another still more extraordinary and unnatural charge was made
against Bunyan. He lived at a period when witchcraft, witches,
and wizards were in the height of fashion. Any poor woman who had
outlived or had become a burden to her natural protectors, and
whose temper was soured by infirmities, especially if her language
was vulgar and her appearance repulsive, ran the risk of being
defamed as a witch. If in her neighbourhood a murrain seized the
cattle, or a disease entered a family which baffled the little
knowledge of the country practitioners--such as epilepsy, St. Vitus'
dance, or St. Anthony's fire--it was ascribed to witchcraft, and
vengeance was wreaked upon any reputed witch. In many parts of
England she was tried by a kind of Lynch law, in a very summary
manner. Her hands and feet being bound together, she was thrown
into deep water; if she sank, and was drowned, she was declared
innocent; if she swam, it was a proof of guilt, and a little form
of law condemned her to the stake or halter. In Scotland, they were
treated with greater barbarity; they were awfully tortured--thumb-screws,
the boots to crush their knees, pricking them with needles or awls
night and day, to prevent a moment's rest, were persevered in--until
a confession was extorted, to be followed by a frightful death. The
ignorance that prevailed may account for the faith of the vulgar
in witchcraft; but that learned divines, and even the enlightened
Judge Hale, should fall into the delusion, is most surprising.
The charge against Bunyan was, that he had circulated some paper
libeling a most respectable widow, a Quakeress, as a witch. This
paper cannot now be discovered; but the story is so perfectly
ridiculous as to render it quite improbable that Bunyan had any
knowledge of it. The account is contained in a rare pamphlet of
four leaves, preserved in the very curious library of the Society
of Friends at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate. It is entitled, 'A
lying wonder discovered, and the strange and terrible news from
Cambridge proved false; which false news is published in a libel,
concerning a wicked slander cast upon a Quaker; but the author
of the said libel was ashamed to subscribe his name to it. Also,
this contains an answer to John Bunion's paper, touching the said
imagined witchcraft, which he hath given forth to your wonderment,
as he saith; but it is also proved a lie and a slander by many
credible witnesses hereafter mentioned.'[201] It narrates that
Margaret Pryor, of Long Stanton, indicted, on the 28th July, 1659,
the widow Morlin, a Quaker lady, for having, on the 29th November,
1657, took her out of bed from her husband in the night, put a
bridle in her mouth, and transformed her into a bay mare, and with
a Quaker, William Allen, rode upon her to Maddenly House, a distance
of four miles; that they made her fast to the latch of the door,
while she saw them partake of a feast of mutton, rabbits, and lamb
[lamb in November!!]; that they shone like angels, and talked of
doctrine, and that she knew some of the guests; that her feet were
a little sore, but not her hands, nor was she dirty. In examining
her, the judge elicited that she made no mention of the story for
a year and three-quarters, and that her deposition then was that
some evil spirit changed her into a bay-horse; that her hands and
feet were lamentably bruised, and changed as black as a coal; that
she had her chemise on, which was all bloody, from her sides being
rent and torn with the spurs. All this was unknown to her husband;
nor had she accounted for her chemise so strangely fitting a horse
or mare. It was proved that the complainant had received money for
bringing the charge, and pretended to have burnt some of her hair
with elder-bark, as a counter-charm to prevent it happening again.
The judge summed up with observing that it was a mere dream or
phantasy, and that the complainant was the sorceress, by practicing
incantations in burning her hair and bark. The jury found a verdict
of--not guilty; and thus two innocent persons were saved by an
enlightened judge from an ignominious death. It is almost incredible
that, even after the trial, priests and magistrates who had promoted
the prosecution professed to believe that the charge was true. This
singular narrative, in defence of the poor persecuted Quakeress,
is signed James Blackley, an alderman, George Whitehead, and three
others. No one can believe that John Bunyan gave credit to such
a tale, or mentioned it to the injury of the parties accused. His
reply was, that these slanders were devised by the devil and his
instruments--'God knows that I am innocent.' The probability is,
that the pamphlet called Strange News from Cambridge had been sent
to him, and that he gave it to some Quaker to answer.

Considering the almost universal belief in witchcraft in those
days--that Baxter, Cotton Mather, Clarke, and many of our most
eminent divines, believed in it--and that Bunyan received the
Scriptures in our authorized translation with the deepest reverence,
it becomes an interesting inquiry how far he believed in witchcraft,
possessions, incantations, and charms. He was persuaded that Satan
could appear to mankind in the shape of animals, and in the human
form. Had any one doubted the possibility of these appearances, he
would at that time have been called an atheist and an unbeliever in
the existence of God and of separate spirits. Thus he argues, that
'If sin can make one who was sometimes a glorious angel in heaven
now so to abuse himself as to become, to appearance, as a filthy
frog, a toad, a rat, a cat, a fly, a mouse, or a dog, to serve its
ends upon a poor mortal, that it might gull them of everlasting
life, no marvel if the soul is so beguiled as to sell itself from
God and all good for so poor a nothing as a momentary pleasure.'[202]
When speaking of the impropriety of excluding a pious person from
the Lord's table, because of a difference of opinion as to water
baptism, he says, 'Do you more to the openly profane--yea, to all
wizards and witches in the land?'[203] In quoting Isaiah 13, he,
taught by the Puritan version, puts the key in the margin--'Wild
beasts of the desert shall be there and their houses shall be full
of doleful creatures. And owls shall dwell there, and satyrs [that
is, the hobgoblins, or devils] shall dance there.'[204] He gave no
credence to the appearance of departed spirits, except in the hour
of death; and then, while between time and eternity, he thought
that in some rare cases spiritual sight was given to see objects
otherwise invisible.[205]

He fully believed in the power of Satan to suggest evil thoughts
to the pious Christian, and to terrify and punish the wicked, even
in this life; but never hints, through all his works, at any power
of Satan to communicate to man any ability to injure his fellows.
What a contrast is there between the Pilgrim of Loretto, with
its witch and devil story, mentioned in the introduction to the
Pilgrim's Progress, and Bunyan's great allegorical work! Conjurors
and fortune-tellers, or witches and wizards, were vagabonds deserving
for their fraudulent pretensions,[206] punishment by a few months'
imprisonment to hard labour, but not a frightful death. In all these
things this great man was vastly in advance of his age. He had
studied nature from personal observation and the book of revelation.
In proportion as the laws of nature are understood, the crafty
pretensions of conjurors and witches become exposed to contempt.
Bunyan never believed that the great and unchangeable principles
which the Creator has ordained to govern nature could be disturbed
by the freaks of poor old crazy women, for purposes trifling and
insignificant. No, such a man could never have circulated a report
that a woman was turned into a bay mare, and her chemise into a
horse-cloth and saddle! Unbridled sectarian feeling perverted some
remark of his, probably made with the kindest intention, into a
most incredible slander.

Among the many singularities of that very interesting period, one
was the number of religious tournaments or disputations that were
held all over the country. The details of one of these, between
Fisher, a Jesuit, and Archbishop Laud, occupy a folio volume. In
these wordy duels the Baptists and Quakers bore a prominent part.
To write a history of them would occupy more space than our narrow
limits will allow. Bunyan entered into one of these controversies
with the Quakers at Bedford Market-cross,[207] and probably held
others in the church, those buildings being at times available under
the Protectorate for such purposes. Bunyan was met by the son of
thunder, Edward Burrough, who was also assisted by Anne Blackly, a
remarkably pious woman and an able disputant. Bunyan pressed them
with the Scriptures, and dealt such severe blows that Mrs. Blackly,
in the public assembly, bid him throw away the Scriptures. To which
he answered, 'No, for then the devil would be too hard for me.'
The great controversy was as to Christ within his saints. Bunyan
proved, by the holy oracles, that Christ had ascended, and was
at the right hand of God; to which Mrs. Blackly answered, that he
preached up an idol, and used conjuraton and witchcraft. To the
charge of spiritual conjuration and witchcraft he made no reply,
it being unworthy his notice; but called upon her to repent of her
wickedness in calling Christ an idol. With regard to his presence
in his saints, he reminded her, that if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his.[208] As a matter of course, both
parties claimed the victory; and although the hearers were puzzled,
doubtless much good was effected.

These were comparatively happy days for God's fearers--much valuable
seed was sown, and the light of divine truth penetrated into many
a benighted town and village. At length dark and portentous clouds
rolled over the horizon. The Protector had entered into rest; his
son was wholly incapable of taking the helm of public affairs.
The exiled king, Charles II, declared his determination to publish
an amnesty for all political offences; and from Breda issued his
proclamation for liberty of conscience, and the kingdom was cajoled
and sold. The king was scarcely seated on his throne, and armed
with power, when he threw off the mask. Men who had faithfully
performed very painful duties under the authority of Acts of
Parliament were put to death, others imprisoned and transported,
and uniformity in religion was re-enacted under ferocious penalties.
Bunyan was to endure a cruel imprisonment, with all the fears of an
ignominious death. 'Now,' he says, 'as Satan laboured by reproaches
and slanders, to make me vile among my countrymen, that if possible
my preaching might be made of none effect, so there was added hereto
a long and tedious imprisonment, that thereby I might be frighted
from my service for Christ, and the world terrified and made afraid
to hear me preach, of which I shall in the next place give you a
brief account.'[209]

THE FIFTH PERIOD.

BUNYAN SUFFERS PERSECUTION, AND A LONG AND DANGEROUS IMPRISONMENT,
FOR REFUSING TO ATTEND THE COMMON PRAYER SERVICE, AND FOR PREACHING.