Page images
PDF
EPUB

The most complete edition of Bunyan's works is that of Mr. George Whitefield, in two volumes folio, 1767; and the most considerable pieces in this collection are:

1. Grace abounding to the chief of Sinners, in a faithful account of the Life of John Bunyan.

2. The Doctrine of the Law and Grace unfolded, or a Discourse touching the Law and Grace.

3. The Pilgrim's Progress, in two parts. 4. The Jerusalem Sinner saved.

5. The Heavenly Footman; or a Description of the Man that gets to Heaven. Together with the Way he runs in, the Marks he goes by. Also some directions how to run so as to obtain.

6. Solomon's Temple spiritualized,

7. A Discourse upon the Pharisee and Pubican.

8. The Life and Death of Mr. Badman. It is in the form of dialogue; and contains the different stages of a wicked man's life, and an account of his miserable death.

9. The Barren Fig-tree; or, the Doom and Downfall of the fruitless Professor.

10. One Thing is Needful; or, Serious Me

ditations upon the four last things, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

10. The Holy War, made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for regaining the Metropolis of the World; or the losing and taking again of the Town of Mansoul.

12. A Discourse of the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

13. Christian Behaviour, being the Fruits of true Christianity.

14. A Discourse touching Prayer.

15. The Strait Gate; or great Difficulty of going to Heaven.

16. The Holy City, or New Jerusalem. 17. Divine Emblems.

In the Heavenly Footman, (article the fifth) is the following curious passage:

They that will have heaven, they must run for it; because the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, fol loweth them. There is never a poor soul that is go ing to heaven, but the devil, the law, sin, death, and hell, make after that soul. The devil your adversary, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. And I will assure you the devil is nimble; he can run apace; he is light of foot; he hath overtaken many; he hath turned up their heels,

and hath given them an everlasting fall. Also the law can shoot a great way; have a care thou keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten commandments.

Bunyan complains of being grievously calumniated.

What the devil (says he,) could devise, and his instruments invent, was whirled up and down the country against me, thinking 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 that which was reported with the boldest confidence, was, that I had my misses, my whores, my bastards, yea, two wives at once, and the like, Now these slanders, with the other, I glory in, because but slan

falsehoods, cast

ders, foolish or knavish lies, and 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. Matt. v. 10, 11. My focs have missed their mark in this their shooting at me. I am not the man. I wish that they themselves be guiltless. If all the fornicators and adulterers in England were hanged

up 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 face of 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. Those know and can also bear me witness, with whom I have been most intimately concerned, that it is a rare thing to see me carry it pleasant towards a woman. The common salutation of women I abhor. It is odious to me in whomsoever I see it. Their company alone I cannot away with. I seldom so much as touch a woman's hand. for I think these things not so becoming me. When I have seen good men salute those women that they have visited, or that have visited them, I have at times 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? Thus, how laudable soever such things may have been in the eyes of others, they have been unseemly in my sight.

Bunyan is said to have written books equal

to the number of his years; viz. sixty; but as many of them are on similar subjects, they are. consequently very much alike. The Pilgrim's Progress, (his master-piece) which contains a considerably accurate specimen of Calvinistic divinity, is an allegory carried on with much ingenuity; the characters are well drawn and well supported. There are also, in spite of his vulgarity, frequent symptoms of poetical talent, far from despicable. The talents, as well as the character of Bunyan, have encountered much ridicule; but if we consider the circumstances of his birth and education, together with the times in which he lived, that ridicule will probably be found without a solid foundation. His " Pilgrim's Progress," and his Holy War," are too well known to require a specimen.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »