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Rev. James Hamilton >> Life of Bunyan
And, first of all, Bunyan speaks to the whole of man,--to his
imagination, his intellect, his heart. He had in himself all these
ingredients of full-formed humanity, and in his books he lets all of
them out. French writers and preachers are apt to deal too
exclusively in the one article--fancy; and though you are amused for
the moment with the rocket-shower of brilliant and many-tinted ideas
which fall sparkling around you, when the exhibition is ended, you
are disappointed to find that the whole was momentary, and that from
all the ruby and emerald rain scarcely one gem of solid thought
remains. {5} Scottish writers and preachers are apt to indulge the
argumentative cacoethes of their country, and cramming into a tract
or sermon as much hard-thinking as the Bramah-pressure of hydrostatic
intellects can condense into the iron paragraphs, they leave no room
for such delicate materials as fancy or feeling, illustration,
imagery, or affectionate appeal; {6} whilst Irish authors and pulpit-
orators are so surcharged with their own exuberant enthusiasm, that
their main hope of making you think as they think, is to make you
feel as they feel. The heart is their Aristotle; and if they cannot
win you by a smile or melt you by a tear, they would think it labour
lost to try a syllogism. Bunyan was neither French, nor Scotch, nor
Irish. He embodied in his person, though greatly magnified, the
average mind of England--playful, affectionate, downright. His
intellectual power comes chiefly out in that homely self-commending
sense--the brief business-like reasoning, which might be termed Saxon
logic, and of which Swift in one century, and Cobbett in another, are
obvious instances. His premises are not always true, nor his
inferences always legitimate; but there is such evident absence of
sophistry, and even of that refining and hair-splitting which usually
beget the suspicion of sophistry--his statements are so sincere, and
his conclusions so direct, the language is so perspicuous, and the
appeal is made so honestly to each reader's understanding, that his
popularity as a reasoner is inevitable. We need not say that the
author of the Pilgrim possessed imagination; but it is important to
note the service it rendered to his preaching, and the charm which it
still imparts to his miscellaneous works. The pictorial power he
possessed in a rare degree. His mental eye perceived the truth most
vividly. Some minds are moving in a constant mystery. They see men
like trees walking. The different doctrines of the Bible all wear
dim outlines to them, jostling and jumbling; and after a perplexing
morrice of bewildering hints and half discoveries, they vanish into
the misty back-ground of nonentity. To Bunyan's bright and broad-
waking eye all things were clear. Thee men walked and the trees
stood still. Everything was seen in sharp relief and definite
outline--a REALITY. And besides the pictorial, he possessed in
highest perfection the illustrative faculty. Not only did his own
mind perceive the truth most vividly, but he saw the very way to give
others a clear perception of it also. This is the great secret of
successful teaching. Like a man who has chambered his difficult way
to the top of a rocky eminence, but who, once he has reached the
summit, perceives an easier path, and directs his companions along
its gentler slopes, and gives them a helping-hand to lift them over
the final obstacles; it was by giant struggles over the debris of
crumbling hopes, and through jungles of despair, and up the cliffs of
apparent impossibility, that Bunyan forced his way to the pinnacle of
his eventual joy; but no sooner was he standing there, than his
eagle-eye detected the easier path, and he made it the business of
his benevolent ministry to guide others into it. Though not the
truth, an illustration is a stepping-stone towards it; an indentation
in the rock which makes it easier to climb. No man had a happier
knack in hewing out these notches in the cliff, and no one knew
better where to place them, than this pilgrim's pioneer. Besides, he
rightly judged that the value of these suggestive similes--these
illustrative stepping-stones--depends very much on their breadth and
frequency. But Bunyan appeals not only to the intellect and
imagination, but to the hearts of men. There was no bitterness in
Bunyan. He was a man of kindness and compassion. How sorry he is
for Mr Badman! and how he makes you sympathize with Christian and Mr
Ready-to-halt and Mr Feeble-mind, and all the other interesting
companions of that eventful journey! And in his sermons how
piteously he pleads with sinners for their own souls! and how
impressive is the undisguised vehemency of his yearning affections!
In the same sentence Bunyan has a word for the man of sense, and
another for the man of fancy, and a third for the man of feeling; and
by thus blending the intellectual, the imaginative, and the
affectionate, he speaks home to the whole of man, and has made his
works a lesson-book for all mankind.
Another secret of Bunyan's popularity is the felicity of his style.
His English is vernacular, idiomatic, universal; varying with the
subject; homely in the continuous narrative; racy and pungent in his
lively and often rapid discourse; and, when occasion requires, "a
model of unaffected dignity and rhythmical flow;" but always plain,
strong, and natural. However, in speaking of his style, we do not so
much intend his words as his entire mode of expression. A thought is
like a gem; but like a gem it may be spoiled in the setting. A
careless artist may chip it and grievously curtail its dimensions; a
clumsy craftsman, in his fear of destroying it, may not sufficiently
polish it; or in his solicitude to show off its beauty, may overdo
the accompanying ornaments. Bunyan was too skilful a workman so to
mismanage the matter. His expression neither curtails nor encumbers
the thought, but makes the most of it; that is, presents it to the
reader as it is seen by the writer. Though there is a great
appearance of amplitude about his compositions, few of his words
could be wanted. Some styles are an ill-spun thread, full of
inequalities, and shaggy from beginning to end with projecting fibres
which spoil its beauty, and add nothing to its strength; but in its
easy continuousness and trim compactness, the thread of Bunyan's
discourse flows firm and smooth from first to last. Its fulness
regales the ear, and its felicity aids the understanding.
Footnotes:
{1} Those who are interested in the historic parallels supplied by
Christian biography, will find a similar instructive dream in the
Life of General Burn, vol. i. pp. 127-130.
{2} Ivimey's Life of Bunyan, pp. 51-53.
{3} Remains, vol. iii. p. 391.
{4} The other items contained in the book that this text comes from
were: Jerusalem Sinner Saved; Pharisee and the Publican; The Trinity
and the Christian; The Law and a Christian; Bunyan's Last Sermon;
Bunyan's Dying Sayings and An Exhortation to Peace and Unity. All of