,transcribed from the #ahde ,thomas ,nelson 8,works of the ,puritan ,divines 7,bunyan70 edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,picture3 ,picture of ,john ,bunyan ,,life ,,of ,,bunyan ,,by ,,rev4 ,,james ,,hamilton ,,scotch ,,church1 ,,regent ,,square1 ,,london4 ,,after the pleasant sketches of pens so graceful as ,southey's and ,montgomery's2 after the elaborate biography of ,mr ,philip1 whose researches have left few desiderata for any subsequent devotee2 indeed1 after ,bunyan's own graphic and characteristic narrative1 the task on which we are now entering is one which1 as we would have courted it the less1 so we feel that we have peculiar facilities for performing it4 ,our main object is to give a simple and coherent account of a most unusual man--and then we should like to turn to some instructive purpose the peculiarities of his singular history1 and no less singular works4 99 99 99 99 99 ,john ,bunyan was born at ,elstow1 near ,bedford1 in #afbh4 ,his father was a brazier or tinker1 and brought up his son as a craftsman of like occupation4 ,there is no evidence for the gipsy origin of the house of ,bunyan2 and though extremely poor1 ,john's father gave his son such an education as poor men could then obtain for their children4 ,he was sent to school and taught to read and write4 ,there has been some needless controversy regarding ,bunyan's early days4 ,some have too readily taken for granted that he was in all respects a reprobate2 and others--the chief of whom is ,dr ,southey--have laboured to shew that there was little in the lad which any would censure1 save the righteous overmuch4 ,the truth is1 that considering his rank of life1 his conduct was not flagitious2 for he never was a drunkard1 a libertine1 or a lover of sanguinary sports3 and the profanity and sabbath-breaking and heart-atheism which afterwards preyed on his awakened conscience1 are unhappily too frequent to make their perpetrator conspicuous4 ,the thing which gave ,bunyan any notoriety in the days of his ungodliness1 and which made him afterwards appear to himself such a monster of iniquity1 was the energy which he put into all his doings4 ,he had a zeal for idle play1 and an enthusiasm in mischief1 which were the perverse manifestations of a forceful character1 and which may have well entitled him to ,southey's epithet--8a blackguard40 ,the reader need not go far to see young ,bunyan4 ,perhaps there is near your dwelling an ,elstow--a quiet hamlet of some fifty houses sprinkled about in the picturesque confusion1 and with the easy amplitude of space1 which gives an old ,english village its look of leisure and longevity4 ,and it is now verging to the close of the summer's day4 ,the daws are taking short excursions from the steeple1 and tamer fowls have gone home from the darkening and dewy green4 ,but old ,bunyan's donkey is still browzing there1 and yonder is old ,bunyan's self--the brawny tramper dispread on the settle1 retailing to the more clownish residents tap-room wit and roadside news4 ,however1 it is young ,bunyan you wish to see4 ,yonder he is1 the noisiest of the party1 playing pitch-and-toss--that one with the shaggy eyebrows1 whose entire soul is ascending in the twirling penny--grim enough to be the blacksmith's apprentice1 but his singed garments hanging round him with a lank and idle freedom which scorns indentures2 his energetic movements and authoritative vociferations at once bespeaking the ragamuffin ringleader4 ,the penny has come down with the wrong side uppermost1 and the loud execration at once bewrays young ,badman4 ,you have only to remember that it is ,sabbath evening1 and you witness a scene often enacted on ,elstow green two hundred years ago4 ,the strong depraving element in ,bunyan's character was ungodliness4 ,he walked according to the course of this world1 fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind2 and conscious of his own rebellion1 he said unto ,god1 8,depart from me1 for ,i desire not the knowledge of thy ways40 ,the only restraining influence of which he then felt the power1 was terror4 ,his days were often gloomy through forebodings of the wrath to come2 and his nights were scared with visions1 which the boisterous diversions and adventures of his waking-day could not always dispel4 ,he would dream that the last day had come1 and that the quaking earth was opening its mouth to let him down to hell2 or he would find himself in the grasp of fiends1 who were dragging him powerless away4 ,and musing over these terrors of the night1 yet feeling that he could not abandon his sins1 in his despair of heaven his anxious fancy would suggest to him all sorts of strange desires4 ,he would wish that there had been no hell at all2 or that1 if he must needs go thither1 he might be a devil1 8supposing they were only tormentors1 and ,i would rather be a tormentor than tormented myself40 ,these were the fears of his childhood4 ,as he grew older1 he grew harder4 ,he experienced some remarkable providences1 but they neither startled nor melted him4 ,he once fell into the sea1 and another time out of a boat into ,bedford river1 and either time had a narrow escape from drowning4 ,one day in the field with a companion1 an adder glided across their path4 ,bunyan's ready switch stunned it in a moment2 but with characteristic daring1 he forced open the creature's mouth1 and plucked out the sting--a foolhardiness which1 as he himself observes1 might1 but for ,god's mercy1 have brought him to his end4 ,in the civil war he was 8drawn0 as a soldier to go to the siege of ,leicester2 but when ready to set out1 a comrade sought leave to take his place4 ,bunyan consented4 ,his companion went to ,leicester1 and1 standing sentry1 was shot through the head1 and died4 ,these interpositions made no impression on him at the time4 ,he married very early3 8,and my mercy was to light upon a wife1 whose father was counted godly4 ,this woman and ,i1 though we came together as poor as poor might be--not having so much household stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us1 yet this she had for her portion1 #8,the ,plain ,man's ,pathway to ,heaven1' and #8,the ,practice of ,piety1' which her father had left her when he died1 in these two books ,i would sometimes read with her2 wherein ,i also found some things that were somewhat pleasing to me4 ,she also would be often telling of me what a godly man her father was1 and what a strict and holy life he lived in his days1 both in word and deeds4 ,wherefore these books1 with the relation1 though they did not reach my heart to awaken it about my soul and sinful state1 yet they did beget within me some desires to reform my vicious life1 and fall in very eagerly with the religion of the times--to wit1 to go to church twice a-day1 and that1 too1 with the foremost2 and there should very devoutly both say and sing as others did1 yet retaining my wicked life4 ,but1 withal1 ,i was so overrun with the spirit of superstition1 that ,i adored1 and that with great devotion1 even all things--the high-place1 priest1 clerk1 vestment1 service1 and what else belonging to the ,church2 counting all things holy that were therein contained1 and especially the priest and clerk1 most happy1 and1 without doubt1 greatly blessed1 because they were the servants1 as ,i then thought1 of ,god1 and were principal in the temple to do his work therein40 ,so strong was this superstitious feeling--one shared by the ignorant peasantry in many portions of ,england1 even at the present day--that 8had he but seen a priest1 though never so sordid and debauched in his life1 his spirit would fall under him2 and he could have lain down at their feet and been trampled upon by them--their name1 their garb1 and work1 did so intoxicate and bewitch him40 ,it little matters what form superstition takes--image-worship1 priest-worship1 or temple-worship2 nothing is transforming except ,christ in the heart1 a ,saviour realized1 accepted1 and enthroned4 ,whilst adoring the altar1 and worshipping the surplice1 and deifying the individual who wore it1 ,bunyan continued to curse and blaspheme1 and spend his ,sabbaths in the same riot as before4 ,one day1 however1 he heard a sermon on the sin of ,sabbath-breaking4 ,it fell heavy on his conscience2 for it seemed all intended for him4 ,it haunted him throughout the day1 and when he went to his usual diversion in the afternoon1 its cadence was still knelling in his troubled ear4 ,he was busy at a game called 8,cat10 and had already struck the ball one blow1 and was about to deal another1 when 8a voice darted from heaven into his soul1 #8,wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven1 or have thy sins and go to hell8'0 ,his arm was arrested1 and looking up to heaven1 it seemed as if the ,lord ,jesus was looking down upon him in remonstrance and severe displeasure2 and1 at the same instant1 the conviction flashed across him1 that he had sinned so long that repentance was now too late4 8,my state is surely miserable--miserable if ,i leave my sins1 and but miserable if ,i follow them4 ,i can but be damned2 and if ,i must be so1 ,i had as good be damned for many sins as few40 ,in the desperation of this awful conclusion he resumed the game2 and so persuaded was he that heaven was for ever forfeited1 that for some time after he made it his deliberate policy to enjoy the pleasures of sin as rapidly and intensely as possible4 ,to understand the foregoing incident1 and some which may follow1 the reader must remember that ,bunyan was made up of vivid fancy and vehement emotion4 ,he seldom believed2 he always felt and saw4 ,and he could do nothing by halves4 ,he threw a whole heart into his love and his hatred2 and when he rejoiced or trembled1 the entire man and every movement was converted into ecstasy or horror4 ,many have experienced the dim counterpart of such processes as we are now describing2 but will scarcely recognise their own equivalent history in the bright realizations and agonizing vicissitudes of a mind so fervent and ideal4 ,for a month or more he went on in resolute sinning1 only grudging that he could not get such scope as the madness of despair solicited1 when one day standing at a neighbour's window1 cursing and swearing1 and 8playing the madman1 after his wonted manner10 the woman of the house protested that he made her tremble1 and that truly he was the ungodliest fellow for swearing that she ever heard in all her life1 and quite enough to ruin the youth of the whole town4 ,the woman was herself a notoriously worthless character2 and so severe a reproof1 from so strange a quarter1 had a singular effect on ,bunyan's mind4 ,he was in a moment silenced4 ,he blushed before the ,god of heaven2 and as he there stood with hanging head1 he wished with all his heart that he were a little child again1 that his father might teach him to speak without profanity2 for he thought it so inveterate now1 that reformation was out of the question4 ,nevertheless1 so it was1 from that instant onward he was cured of his wicked habit1 and people wondered at the change4 8,quickly after this ,i fell into company with one poor man that made profession of religion2 who1 as ,i then thought1 did talk pleasantly of the ,scriptures and of the matter of religious4 ,wherefore1 falling into some love and liking of what he said1 ,i betook me to my ,bible1 and began to take great pleasure in reading1 but especially with the historical part thereof2 for as for ,paul's ,epistles1 and such like ,scriptures1 ,i could not away with them1 being as yet ignorant either of the corruption of my nature1 or of the want and worth of ,jesus ,christ to save me4 ,wherefore ,i fell into some outward reformation1 both in my words and life1 and did set the commandments before me for my way to heaven2 which commandments ,i also did strive to keep1 and1 as ,i thought1 did keep them pretty well sometimes1 and then ,i should have comfort2 yet now and then should break one1 and so afflict my conscience2 but then ,i should repent1 and say ,i was sorry for it1 and promise ,god to do better next time1 and there got help again2 for then ,i thought ,i pleased ,god as well as any man in ,england4 ,thus ,i continued about a year2 all which time our neighbours did take me to be a very godly man1 a new and religious man1 and did marvel much to see such great and famous alteration in my life and manners2 and indeed so it was1 though ,i knew not ,christ1 nor grace1 nor faith1 nor hope2 for1 as ,i have well since seen1 had ,i then died1 my state had been most fearful4 ,but1 ,i say1 my neighbours were amazed at this my great conversion1 from prodigious profaneness to something like a moral life2 and so they well might2 for this my conversion was as great as for ,tom of ,bedlam to become a sober man4 ,now1 therefore1 they began to speak well of me1 both before my face and behind my back4 ,now ,i was1 as they said1 become godly2 now ,i was become a right honest man4 ,but oh6 when ,i understood these were their words and opinions of me1 it pleased me mighty well4 ,for though1 as yet1 ,i was nothing but a poor painted hypocrite1 yet ,i loved to be talked of as one that was truly godly 4 4 4 ,and thus ,i continued for about a twelvemonth or more40 ,though not acting from enlightened motives1 ,bunyan was now under the guidance of new influences4 ,for just as the ,spirit of ,god puts forth a restraining influence on many during the days of their carnality1 which makes the change at their conversion less conspicuous than if they had been lifted from the depths of a flagitious reprobacy2 so others he long subjects to a preparatory process1 during which some of the old and most offensive things of their ungodliness pass away2 and when the revolution1 effected by the entrance of the evangelic motive1 at last takes place1 it is rather to personal consciousness than to outward observation that the change is perceptible4 ,the real and final transformation is rather within the man than upon him4 ,so was it with ,john ,bunyan4 ,one by one he abandoned his besetting sins1 and made many concessions to conscience1 while as yet he had not yielded his heart to the ,saviour4 ,it was slowly and regretfully1 however1 that he severed the 8right hand40 ,one of his principal amusements was one which he could not comfortably continue4 ,it was bell-ringing2 by which he probably means the merry peals with which they used to desecrate their ,sabbath evenings4 ,it was only by degrees that he was able to abandon this favourite diversion4 8,what if one of the bells should fall80 ,to provide against this contingency1 he took his stand under a beam fastened across the tower4 8,but what if the falling bell should rebound from one of the side walls1 and hit me after all80 ,this thought sent him down stairs1 and made him take his station1 rope in hand1 at the steeple door4 8,but what if the steeple itself should come down80 ,this thought banished him altogether1 and he bade adieu to bell-ringing4 ,and by a similar series of concessions1 eventually1 but with longer delay1 he gave up another practice1 for which his conscience checked him--dancing4 ,all these improvements in his conduct were a source of much complacency to himself1 though all this while he wanted the soul-emancipating and sin-subduing knowledge of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the ,son had not made him free4 ,there is such a thing as cant4 ,it is possible for flippant pretenders to acquire a peculiar phraseology1 and use it with a painful dexterity2 and it is also possible for genuine ,christians to subside into a state of mind so listless or secular1 that their talk on religious topics will have the inane and heartless sound of the tinkling cymbal4 ,but as there is an experimental religion1 so is it possible for those who have felt religion in its vitality to exchange their thoughts regarding it1 and to relate what it--or rather1 ,god in it--has done for them4 ,there are few things which indicate a healthier state of personal piety than such a frank and full-hearted ,christian intercourse4 ,it was a specimen of such communings which impressed on the mind of ,bunyan the need of something beyond an outside reformation4 ,he had gone to ,bedford in prosecution of his calling1 when1 passing along the street1 he noticed a few poor women sitting in a doorway1 and talking together4 ,he drew near to listen to their discourse4 ,it surprised him2 for though he had by this time become a great talker on sacred subjects1 their themes were far beyond his reach4 ,god's work in their souls1 the views they had obtained of their natural misery and of ,god's love in ,christ ,jesus1 what words and promises had particularly refreshed them and strengthened them against the temptations of ,satan2 it was of matters so personal and vital that they spake to one another4 8,and methough they spake as if you had made them speak2 they spoke with such pleasantness of ,scripture language1 and with such appearance of grace in all they said1 that they were to me as if they had found a new world--as if they were #8people that dwelt alone1 and were not to be reckoned among their neighbours6'0 ,the conversation of these poor people made a deep impression on ,bunyan's mind4 ,he saw that there was something in real religion into which he had not yet penetrated4 ,he sought the society of these humble instructors1 and learned from them much that he had not known before4 ,he began to read the ,bible with new avidity2 and that portion which had formerly been most distasteful1 the ,epistles of ,paul1 now became the subject of his special study4 ,a sect of ,antinomians1 who boasted that they could do whatsoever they pleased without sinning1 now fell in his way4 ,professors of religion were rapidly embracing their opinions1 and there was something in their wild fervour and apparent raptures1 prepossessing to the ardent mind of ,bunyan4 ,he read their books1 and pondered their principles2 but prefaced his examination with the simple prayer1--8,o ,lord1 ,i am a fool1 and not able to know the truths from error4 ,lord1 leave me not to my own blindness4 ,if this doctrine be of ,god1 let me not despise it2 if it be of the devil1 let me not embrace it4 ,lord1 in this matter ,i lay my soul only at thy foot3 let me not be deceived1 ,i humbly beseech thee40 ,his prayer was heard1 and he was saved from this snare of the devil4 ,the object to which the eye of an inquiring sinner should be turned1 is ,,christ--the finished work and the sufficient ,saviour4 ,but1 in point of fact1 the chief stress of the more evangelical instruction has usually been laid on ,,faith--on that act of the mind which unites the soul to the ,saviour1 and makes salvation personal2 and it is only by studying faiths that many have come at last to an indirect and circuitous acquaintance with ,christ4 ,by some such misdirection ,bunyan was misled4 ,in quest of faith he went a long and joyless journey1 and was wearied with the greatness of his way4 ,it was secretly urged upon his mind1 that if he had faith he would be able to work miracles2 and passages of ,scripture were borne in upon his mind1 which bespoke the omnipotence of faith4 ,one day1 on the road from ,elstow to ,bedford1 it was suggested to his mind to try some miracle1 and that miracle should be1 8to say to the puddles which were in the horse-pads1 #8,be dry1' and to the dry places1 #8,be you puddles4'0 ,however1 before doing this1 he thought he should go over the hedge and pray for faith1 and then come and speak the word4 8,but what if1 after you have prayed and tried to do it1 nothing happens80 ,the dread of this alternative made him postpone the anxious experiment1 and left him still in doubt4 ,then he had a sort of waking vision1 suggested by what he had seen in his pious friends at ,bedford4 8,i saw as if they were on the sunny side of some high mountain1 there refreshing themselves with the pleasant beams of the sun1 while ,i was shivering and shrinking in the cold1 afflicted with frost1 snow1 and dark clouds4 ,methought also1 betwixt me and them1 ,i saw a wall that did compass about this mountain2 now through this wall my soul did greatly desire to pass1 concluding that if ,i could1 ,i would even go into the very midst of them1 and there also comfort myself with the heat of their sun4 ,about this wall ,i thought myself to go again and again1 still prying as ,i went1 to see if ,i could find some gap or passage to enter therein4 ,but none could ,i find for some time4 ,at the last ,i saw1 as it were1 a narrow gap1 like a little doorway in the wall1 through which ,i attempted to pass4 ,now1 the passage being very strait and narrow1 ,i made many offers to get in1 but all in vain1 even until ,i was wellnigh quite beat out1 by striving to get in4 ,at last1 with great striving1 methought ,i at first did get in my head1 and after that1 by a sideling striving1 my shoulders and my whole body4 #i ,then was ,i exceeding glad2 went and sat down in the midst of them1 and so was comforted with the light and heat of their sun4 ,now1 this mountain and wall were thus made out to me3 ,the mountain signified the church of the living ,god2 the sun that shone thereon1 the comfortable shining of his merciful face on them that were therein3 the wall1 ,i thought1 was the world1 that did make separation between the ,christians and the world2 and the gap which was in the wall1 ,i thought was ,jesus ,christ1 who is the way to ,god the ,father4 ,but forasmuch as the passage was wonderful narrow1 even so narrow that ,i could not1 but with great difficulty1 enter in thereat1 it shewed me that none could enter into life but those that were in downright earnest1 and unless they left that wicked world behind them2 for here was only room for body and soul1 but not for body and soul and sin40 ,the dream did him good1 for1 though it brought him no absolute assurance1 it inspirited his efforts after it4 ,there is scarcely a fear which can assail an inquiring spirit which did not at some stage of his progress arrest the mind of ,bunyan4 ,at one time he was afflicted by an erroneous view of the doctrine of election4 ,looking at them from the outer and under side1 those purposes of everlasting love which secure their safety who have already got within the precincts of salvation1 appeared bristling and forbidding--a frowning chevaux de frise1 rather than a fence of protection and preservation4 ,and when somewhat relieved from this perplexity1 he fell into another4 ,he feared that the day of grace was gone2 and so impressed on his mind was this mournful conviction1 that he could do little else than upbraid his own infatuation for allowing the one propitious season to pass for ever away4 ,but the words1 8,compel them to come in1 that my house may be filled20 and those others1 8,and yet there is room10 brought him relief4 ,then1 again1 he saw that the call of ,christ was needful to make a man a disciple2 and he feared that he should never get that call4 8,but oh6 how ,i now loved those words that spake of a ,christian's calling as when the ,lord said to one1 ,follow me2 and to another1 ,come after me3 and oh6 thought ,i1 that he would say so to me too3 how gladly would ,i run after him6 ,how lovely now was every one in my eyes1 that ,i thought to be converted1 whether man or woman6 ,they shone1 they walked like a people that carried the broad seal of heaven upon them4 ,oh6 ,i saw the lot was fallen to them in pleasant places1 and they had a goodly heritage4 ,but that which made me sick1 was that of ,christ1--#8,he went up into a mountain1 and called to him whom he would1 and they came unto him4' ,this ,scripture made me faint and fear1 yet it kindled fire in my soul4 ,that which made me fear was this3 lest ,christ should have no liking to me1 for he called whom he would4 ,but oh6 the glory that ,i saw in that condition did still so engage my heart1 that ,i could seldom read of any that ,christ did call but ,i presently wished1 #8,would ,i had been in their clothes6 would ,i had been born ,peter6 would ,i had been born ,john6 or1 would ,i had been bye1 and had heard him when he called them1 how would ,i have cried1 ,o ,lord1 call me also4 ,but oh6 ,i feared he would not call me4'0 ,there was at that time a minister in ,bedford whose history was almost as remarkable as ,bunyan's own4 ,his name was ,gifford4 ,he had been a staunch royalist1 and concerned in the rising in ,kent4 ,he was arrested1 and1 with eleven of his comrades1 was doomed to die4 ,the night before the day fixed for his execution his sister came to visit him4 ,she found the guard asleep1 and1 with her assistance1 the prisoner effected his escape4 ,for three days he was hid in a field1 in the bottom of a deep ditch2 but at last he contrived to get away to a place of safety in the neighbourhood of ,bedford4 ,being there a perfect stranger1 he ventured on the practice of physic2 but he was still abandoned to reckless habits and outrageous vice4 ,one evening he lost a large sum of money at the gaming-table1 and in the fierceness of his chagrin his mind was filled with the most desperate thoughts of the providence of ,god4 ,in his vexation he snatched up a book4 ,it was a volume of ,bolton1 a solemn and forceful writer then well known4 ,a sentence in this book so fixed on his conscience that for many weeks he could get no rest in his spirit4 ,when at last he found forgiveness through the blood of ,christ1 his joy was extreme1 and1 except for two days before his death1 he never lost the comfortable persuasion of ,god's love4 ,for some time the few pious individuals in that neighbourhood would not believe that such a reprobate was really converted2 but1 nothing daunted by their distrust1 like his prototype of ,tarsus1 he began to preach the ,word with boldness1 and1 endowed with a vigorous mind and a fervent spirit1 remarkable success attended his ministry4 ,a little church was formed1 and he was invited to become its pastor2 and there he continued till he died4 #aa ,it was to this ,mr ,gifford that ,bunyan was at this time introduced2 and though the conversations of this 8,evangelist0 brought him no immediate comfort1 it was well for him to enjoy the friendship and sympathy of one whose own views were so clear and happy4 ,it is instructive to find1 that1 amid all the depression of these anxious days1 it was not any one sin1 nor any particular class of sins1 which made him so fearful and unhappy4 ,he felt that he was a sinner1 and as a sinner he wanted a perfect righteousness to present him faultless before ,god4 ,this righteousness1 he also knew1 was nowhere to be found except in the person of ,jesus ,christ4 8,my original and inward pollution1--that was my plague and affliction4 ,that ,i saw at a dreadful rate1 always putting forth itself within me1--that ,i had the guilt of to amazement2 by reason of that ,i was more loathsome in mine own eyes than a toad2 and ,i thought ,i was so in ,god's eyes too4 ,sin and corruption1 ,i said1 would as naturally bubble out of my heart as water would out of a fountain4 ,i thought now that every one had a better heart than ,i had4 ,i could have changed hearts with any body4 ,i thought none but the devil himself could equalize me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind4 ,i fell1 therefore1 at the sight of my own vileness1 deeply into despair2 for ,i concluded that this condition that ,i was in could not stand with a state of grace4 ,sure1 thought ,i1 ,i am forsaken of ,god2 sure ,i am given up to the devil and a reprobate mind4 ,and thus ,i continued a long while1 even for some years together40 ,during these painful apprehensions regarding his own state1 it is no marvel that he looked on secular things with an apathetic eye4 8,while thus afflicted with the fears of my own damnation1 there were two things would make me wonder3 the one was1 when ,i saw old people hunting after the things of this life1 as if they should live here always2 the other was1 when ,i found professors much distressed and cast down when they met with outward losses1 as of husband1 wife1 child1 c4 ,lord1 thought ,i1 what a-do is here about such little things as these6 ,what seeking after carnal things by some1 and what grief in others for the loss of them6 ,if they so much labour after1 and shied so many tears for the things of this present life1 how am ,i to be bemoaned1 pitied1 and prayed for6 ,my soul is dying1 my soul is damning4 ,were my soul but in a good condition1 and were ,i but sure of it1 ah6 how rich would ,i esteem myself1 though blessed but with bread and water6 ,i should count those but small afflictions1 and bear them as little burdens4 ,a wounded spirit who can bear80 ,this long interval of gloom was at last relieved by a brief sunburst of joy4 ,he heard a sermon on the text1 8,behold1 thou art fair1 my love20 in which the preacher said1 that a ransomed soul is precious to the ,saviour1 even when it appears very worthless to itself1--that ,christ loves it when tempted1 assaulted1 afflicted1 and mourning under the hiding of ,god's countenance4 ,bunyan went home musing on the words1 till the truth of what the preacher said began to force itself upon his mind2 and half incredulous at first1 a hesitating hope dawned in upon his spirit4 8,then ,i began to give place to the word1 which1 with power1 did over and over make this joyful sound within my soul--8,thou art my love1 thou art my love2 and nothing shall separate thee from my love40 ,and with that my heart was filled full of comfort and hope2 and now ,i could believe that my sins should be forgiven me3 yea1 ,i was now so taken with the love and mercy of ,god1 that ,i remember ,i could not tell how to contain till ,i got home4 ,i thought ,i could have spoken of his love1 and have told of his mercy to me1 even to the very crows that sat upon the ploughed lands before me1 had they been capable to have understood me4 ,wherefore1 ,i said in my soul1 with much gladness1 ,well1 ,i would ,i had pen and ink here4 ,i would write this down before ,i go any farther2 for surely ,i will not forget this forty years hence40 ,however1 as he himself remarks1 in less than forty days he had forgotten it all4 ,a flood of new and fierce temptations broke over him1 and had it not been for a strong sustaining arm which unseen upheld him1 his soul must have sunk in the deep and angry waters4 ,at one time he was almost overwhelmed in a hurricane of blasphemous suggestions1 and at another time his faith had wellnigh made shipwreck on the shoals of infidelity or deliberate atheism4 ,but the very reluctance and dismay of his spirit showed that a new nature was in him4 8,i often1 when these temptations have been with force upon me1 did compare myself to the case of such a child whom some gipsy hath by force took up in her arms1 and is carrying from friend and country2 kick sometimes ,i did1 and also shriek and cry2 but yet ,i was bound in the wings of the temptation1 and the wind would carry me away40 ,it was all that he could do to refrain from articulating such words as he imagined would amount to the sin against the ,holy ,ghost2 and for a year together he was haunted with such diabolical suggestions that he was weary of his life1 and fain would have changed condition with a horse or a dog4 ,during this dreary term it is no wonder that his heart felt hard4 8,though he should have given a thousand pounds for a tear1 he could not shed one2 and often he had not even the desire to shed one40 ,every ordinance was an affliction4 ,he could not listen to a sermon1 or take up a religious book1 but a crowd of wild and horrid fancies rushed in betwixt the subject and his bewildered mind1 he could not assume the attitude of prayer but he felt impelled to break off1 almost as if some one had been pulling him away2 or1 to mar his devotion1 some ridiculous object was sure to be presented to his fancy4 ,it is not surprising that he should have concluded that he was possessed by the devil2 and it is scarcely possible to peruse his own and similar recitals without the forcible conviction that they are more than the mere workings of the mind1 either in its sane or its disordered state4 ,only relieved by some glimpses of comfort1 8which1 like ,peter's sheet1 were of a sudden caught up from him into heaven again10 this horrible darkness lasted no less than a year4 ,the light which first stole in upon it1 and in which it finally melted away1 was a clear discovery of the person of ,christ1 more especially a distinct perception of the dispositions which he manifested while here on earth4 ,and one thing greatly helped him4 ,he alighted on a congenial mind1 and an experience almost identical with his own4 ,from the emancipation which this new acquaintance gave to his spirit1 as well as the tone which he imparted to ,bunyan's theology1 we had best relate the incident in his own words4 8,before ,i had got thus far out of my temptations1 ,i did greatly long to see some ancient godly man's experience1 who had writ some hundreds of years before ,i was born2 for those who had writ in our days1 ,i thought 7but ,i desire them now to pardon me7 that they had writ only that which others felt2 or else had1 through the strength of their wits and parts1 studied to answer such objections as they perceived others perplexed with1 without going down themselves into the deep4 ,well1 after many such longings in my mind1 the ,god in whose hands are all our days and ways1 did cast into my hands one day a book of ,martin ,luther's3 it was his ,comment on the ,galatians2 it also was so old that it was ready to fall piece from piece if ,i did but turn it over4 ,now ,i was pleased much that such an old book had fallen into my hands2 the which1 when ,i had but a little way perused1 ,i found my condition in his experience so largely and profoundly handled1 as if his book had been written out of my heart4 ,this made me marvel3 for thus1 thought ,i1 this man could not know anything of the state of ,christians now1 but must needs write and speak the experience of former days4 ,besides1 he doth most gravely also1 in that book1 debate of the sin of these temptations1 namely1 blasphemy1 desperation1 and the like2 shewing that the law of ,moses1 as well as the devil1 death1 and hell1 hath a very great hand therein3 flee which1 at first1 was very strange to me2 but considering and watching1 ,i found it so indeed4 ,but of particulars here ,i intend nothing2 only this1 methinks1 ,i must let fall before all men1 ,i do prefer this book of ,martin ,luther upon the ,galatians--excepting the ,holy ,bible--before all the books that ever ,i have seen1 as most fit for a wounded conscience40 ,there was one thing of which ,bunyan was very conscious--that his extrication from the fearful pit was the work of an almighty hand4 ,the transition was very blissful2 but just because his present views were so bright and assuring1 he knew that flesh and blood had not revealed them4 8,now ,i had an evidence1 as ,i thought1 of my salvation from heaven1 with many golden seals thereon1 all hanging in my sight4 ,now could ,i remember this manifestation and the other discovery of grace with comfort1 and should often long and desire that the last day were come1 that ,i might be for ever inflamed with the sight and joy and communion with him1 whose head was crowned with thorns1 whose face was spit on and body broken1 and soul made an offering for my sins3 for1 whereas before ,i lay continually trembling at the mouth of hell1 now methought ,i was got so far therefrom1 that ,i could not1 when ,i looked back1 scarce discern it4 ,and oh6 thought ,i1 that ,i were fourscore years old now1 that ,i might die quickly1 that my soul might be gone to rest40 8,and now ,i found1 as ,i thought1 that ,i loved ,christ dearly4 ,oh6 methought that my soul cleaved unto him1 my affections cleaved unto him4 ,i felt love to him as hot as fire2 and new1 as ,job said1 ,i thought ,i should die in my nest40 ,another period of fearful agony1 however1 awaited him1 and1 like the last1 it continued for a year4 ,in perusing his own recital of these terrible conflicts1 the first relief to our tortured sympathy is in the recollection that it is all over now1 and that the sufferer1 escaped from his great tribulation1 is long ago before the throne4 ,but in the calmer1 because remoter1 contemplation of this fiery trial1 it is easy to see 8the end of the ,lord40 ,when ,he permitted ,satan to tempt his servant ,job1 it was not for ,job's sake merely1 nor for the sake of the blessed contrast which surprised his latter days1 that he allowed such thick-coming woes to gather round the patriarch2 but it was to provide in his parallel experience a storehouse of encouragement and hope for the future children of sorrow4 ,and when the ,lord permitted the adversary so violently to assail our worthy1 and when he caused so many of his own waves and billows to pass over him1 it was not merely for the sake of ,bunyan2 it was for the sake of ,bunyan's readers down to the end of time4 ,by selecting this strong spirit as the subject of these trials1 the ,lord provided1 in his intense feelings and vivid realizations1 a normal type--a glaring instance of those experiences which1 in their fainter modifications1 are common to most ,christians2 and1 through his graphic pen1 secured a guidebook for ,zion's pilgrims in ages yet to come4 ,in the temptations we are now called to record1 there is something so peculiar1 that we do not know if ,christian biography supplies any exact counterpart2 but the time and manner of its occurrence have many and painful parallels4 ,it was after he had entered into 8rest0--when he had received joyful assurance of his admission into ,god's family1 and was desiring to depart and be with ,christ--it was then that this assault was made on his constancy1 and it was a fiercer assault than any4 ,if we do not greatly err1 it is not uncommon for believers to be visited after conversion with temptations from which they were exempt in the days of their ignorance2 as well as temptations which1 but for their conversion1 could not have existed4 ,the temptation to which we have alluded1 took this strange and dreadful form--to sell and part with his ,saviour1 to exchange him for the things of this life--for anything4 ,this horrid thought he could not shake out of his mind1 day nor night1 for many months together4 ,it intermixed itself with every occupation1 however sacred1 or however trivial4 8,he could not eat his food1 stoop for a pin1 chop a stick1 nor cast his eye to look on this or that1 but still the temptation would come1 #8,sell ,christ for this1 sell ,christ for that1 sell him1 sell him4' ,sometimes it would run in my thoughts not so little as a hundred times together1 ,sell him1 sell him1 sell him3 ,against which1 ,i may say1 for whole hours together1 ,i have been forced to stand as continually leaning and forcing my spirit against it2 lest haply1 before ,i was aware1 some wicked thought might arise in my heart that might consent thereto3 and sometimes the tempter would make me believe ,i had consented to it2 but then should ,i be as tortured on a rack for whole days together40--8,but1 to be brief1 one morning as ,i did lie in my bed1 ,i was1 as at other times1 most fiercely assaulted with this temptation to sell and part with ,christ--the wicked suggestion still running in my mind1 ,sell him1 sell him1 sell him1 sell him1 as fast as a man could speak1 against which ,i also1 as at other times1 answered1 ,no1 no2 not for thousands1 thousands1 thousands1 at least twenty times together4 ,but at last1 after much striving1 even until ,i was almost out of breath1 ,i felt this thought pass through my heart1 ,let him go1 if he will2 and ,i thought also that ,i felt my heart freely consent thereto4 ,oh1 the diligence of ,satan6 ,oh1 the desperateness of man's heart6 ,now was the battle won1 and down fell ,i1 as a bird that is shot from the top of a tree1 into great guilt and fearful despair4 ,thus getting out of my bed1 ,i went moping into the field1 but1 ,god knows1 with as heavy a heart as mortal man1 ,i think1 could bear4 ,where1 for the space of two hours1 ,i was like a man bereft of life1 and as now past all recovery1 and bound over to eternal punishment4 ,and withal1 that scripture did seize upon my soul1 #8,o profane person1 as ,esau1 who1 for one morsel of meat1 sold his birth-right2 for ye know how that afterwards1 when he would have inherited the blessing1 he was rejected2 for he found no place of repentance1 though he sought it carefully with tears4' ,these words were to my soul like fetters of brass1 in the continual sound of which ,i went for several months together40 ,the anxious casuistry in which he sought relief1 and the alternation of wistful hope and blank despair1 in which for many a dismal day he was tossed to and fro1 none but himself can properly describe4 ,they are deeply affecting1 and to some may prove instructive4 8,then began ,i1 with sad and careful heart1 to consider of the nature and largeness of my sin1 and to search into the word of ,god1 if in any place ,i could espy a word of promise1 or any encouraging sentence by which ,i might take relief4 ,wherefore ,i began to consider that of ,mark iii41 #8,all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto the sons of men1 wherewith soever they shall blaspheme3' which place1 methought1 at a blush1 did contain a large and glorious promise for the pardon of high offences4 ,but considering the place more fully1 ,i thought it was rather to be understood as relating more chiefly to those who had1 while in a natural state1 committed such things as there are mentioned2 but not to me1 who had not only received light and mercy1 but that had1 both after and also contrary to that1 so slighted ,christ as ,i had done4 ,i feared1 therefore1 that this wicked sin of mine might be that sin unpardonable1 of which he there thus speaketh1 #8,but he that blasphemeth against the ,holy ,ghost hath never forgiveness1 but is in danger of eternal damnation4' 8,and now was ,i both a burden and a terror to myself2 nor did ,i ever so know as now what it was to be weary of my life and yet afraid to die4 ,o how gladly would ,i have been anybody but myself6 anything but a man6 and in any condition but my own6 for there was nothing did pass more frequently over my mind1 than that it was impossible for me to be forgiven my transgression1 and to be saved from wrath to come40 ,he set himself to compare his sin with that of ,david and ,peter1 but saw that there were specialties in his guilt which made it far greater4 ,the only case which he could compare to his own was that of ,judas4 8,about this time ,i did light on the dreadful story of that miserable mortal1 ,francis ,spira4 ,every sentence in that book1 every groan of that man1 with all the rest of his actions in his dolors1 as his tears1 his prayers1 his gnashing of teeth1 his wringing of hands1 his twisting1 and languishing1 and pining away1 under the mighty hand of ,god that was upon him1 was as knives and daggers to my soul2 especially that sentence of his was frightful to me1 #8,man knows the beginning of sin1 but who bounds the issues thereof6' ,then would the former sentence1 as the conclusion of all1 fall like a hot thunderbolt again upon my conscience1 #8,for you know how1 that afterwards1 when he would have inherited the blessing1 he was rejected2 for he found no place of repentance1 though he sought it carefully with tears4' ,then should ,i be struck into a very great trembling1 insomuch that at sometimes ,i could1 for whole days together1 feel my very body1 as well as my mind1 to shake and totter under the sense of this dreadful judgment of ,god4 8,now ,i should find my mind to flee from ,god as from the face of a dreadful judge2 yet this was my torment1 ,i could not escape his hand4 #8,it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the hiving ,god4' ,but blessed be his grace1 that scripture in these flying fits would call as running after me1--#8,i have blotted out1 as a thick cloud1 thy transgressions1 and as a cloud thy sins2 return unto me1 for ,i have redeemed thee4' ,this1 ,i say1 would come in upon my mind when ,i was fleeing from the face of ,god2 for ,i did flee from his face1 that is1 my mind and spirit fled before him3 by reason of his highness ,i could not endure4 ,then would that text cry1 ,return unto me2 it would cry aloud1 with a very great voice1 ,return unto me1 for ,i have redeemed thee4 ,indeed this would make me make a little stop1 and1 as it were1 look over my shoulder behind me1 to see if ,i could discern that the ,god of grace did follow me with a pardon in his hand4 8,once as ,i was walking to and fro in a good man's shop1 bemoaning of myself in my sad and doleful state1 afflicting myself with self-abhorrence for this wicked and ungodly thought2 lamenting also this hard hap of mine1 for that ,i should commit so great a sin1 greatly fearing ,i should not be pardoned2 praying also in my heart1 that if this sin of mine did differ from that against the ,holy ,ghost1 the ,lord would shew it me2 and being now ready to sink with fear1 suddenly there was as if there had rushed in at the window the noise of wind upon me1 but very pleasant1 and as if ,i heard a voice speaking1--#8,didst ever refuse to be justified by the blood of ,christ8' ,and withal my whole life of profession past was in a moment opened to me1 wherein ,i was made to see that designedly ,i had not2 so my heart answered groaningly1 ,no4 ,then fell with power that word of ,god upon me1 ,see that ye refuse not him that speaketh4 ,this made a strange seizure upon my spirit3 it brought light with it1 and commanded a silence in my heart of all those tumultuous thoughts that before did rise1 like masterless hell-hounds1 to roar and bellow1 and make a hideous noise within me4 ,it shewed me also that ,jesus ,christ had yet a word of grace and mercy for me that he had not1 as ,i feared1 quite forsaken and cast off my soul3 ,yea1 this was a kind of check for my proneness to desperation2 a kind of threatening of me if ,i did not1 notwithstanding my sins and the heinousness of them1 venture my salvation upon the ,son of ,god4 ,but as to my determining about this strange dispensation1 what it was1 ,i know not4 ,i have not yet in twenty years' time been able to make a judgment of it4 ,i thought then what here ,i should be loath to speak4 ,but verily1 that sudden rushing wind was as if an angel had come upon me2 but both it and the salvation1 ,i will leave until the day of judgment4 ,only this ,i say1 it commanded a great calm in my soul4 ,it persuaded me there might be hope2 it shewed me1 as ,i thought1 what the sin unpardonable was1 and that my soul had yet the blessed privilege to flee to ,jesus ,christ for mercy4 ,but ,i say concerning this dispensation1 ,i know not what yet to say unto it4 ,i leave it to be thought on by men of sound judgment4 ,i lay not the stress of my salvation thereupon1 but upon the ,lord ,jesus in the promise2 yet seeing ,i am here unfolding of my secret things1 ,i thought it might not be altogether inexpedient to let this also shew itself1 though ,i cannot now relate the matter as then ,i did experience it4 ,this lasted in the savour thereof about three or four days1 and then ,i began to mistrust and despair again40 ,no solid peace can enter the soul except that which is brought by the ,comforter4 ,it is not the word read and heard1 but the word revealed by the ,spirit1 which is saving and assuring4 ,there is undoubtedly a divine operation on the mind wherever any special impression is produced by the truths of ,god2 and whether that impression should be made with audible and visible manifestations accompanying it--as on the day of ,pentecost--or should be so vivid as to convert a mental perception into a bodily sensation1 as we are disposed to think was the case with some of the remarkable sights and heavenly voices which good men have recorded1 is really of little moment4 ,in ,bunyan's case1 so warm was his imagination1 that every clear perception was sure to be instantaneously sounding in his ear1 or standing out a bright vision before his admiring eyes4 ,this feature of his mental conformation has been noticed already2 but this may be the proper place to allude to it again4 ,after the short breathing time we just noticed1 ,bunyan began to sink in the deep waters again4 ,it was in vain that he asked the prayers of ,god's people1 and equally in vain that he imparted his grief to those who had passed through the same conflicts with the devil4 ,one 8ancient ,christian10 to whom he stated his fear that he had committed the sin for which there is no forgiveness1 thought so too4 8,thus was ,i always sinking1 whatever ,i did think or do4 ,so one day ,i walked to a neighbouring town1 and sat down upon a settle in the street1 and fell into a very deep panic about the most fearful state my sin had brought me to2 and after long musing1 ,i lifted up my head2 but methought ,i saw as if the sun that shineth in the heavens did grudge to give light2 and as if the very stones in the street1 and tiles upon the houses1 did bend themselves against me3 methought that they all combined together to banish me out of the world2 ,i was abhorred of them1 and unfit to dwell among them1 or be partaker of their benefits1 because ,i had sinned against the ,saviour4 ,then breaking out in the bitterness of my soul1 ,i said to my soul1 with a grievous sigh1 #8,how can ,god comfort such a wretch as ,i am8' ,i had no sooner said it1 but this returned upon me1 as an echo doth answer a voice1 #8,this sin is not unto death4' ,at which ,i was as if raised out of the grave1 and cried out again1 #8,lord1 how couldst thou find out such a word as this8' for ,i was filled with admiration at the fitness and at the unexpectedness of the sentence4 ,the fitness of the word2 the rightness of the timing of it2 the power and sweetness and light and glory that came with it also1 were marvellous to me to find4 ,i was now for the time out of doubt as to that about which ,i was so much in doubt before4 ,i seemed now to stand upon the same ground with other sinners1 and to have as good right to the word and prayer as any of them40 ,in coming to this conclusion1 he had made a great step in advance4 ,his misery had hitherto been occasioned by a device of the devil1 which keeps many anxious souls from comfort4 ,he regarded his own case as a special exception to which a gospel1 otherwise general1 did not apply2 but this snare was now broken1 and1 though with halting pace1 he was on the way to settled rest and joy4 ,frequently he would feel that his transgressions had cut him off from ,christ1 and left him 8neither foot-hold nor handhold among all the props and stays in the precious word of life20 but presently he would find some gracious assurance--he knew not how--sustaining him4 ,at one time he would appear to himself like a child fallen into a mill-pond1 8who thought it could make some shift to sprawl and scramble in the water10 yet1 as it could find nothing to which to cling1 must sink at last2 but by and by he would perceive that an unseen power was buoying him up1 and encouraging him to cry from the depths4 ,at another time he would be so discouraged and daunted1 that he scarcely dared to pray1 and yet in a sort of desperation beginning1 he found it true that 8men ought always to pray and not to faint40 ,on one occasion1 whilst endeavouring to draw near the throne of grace1 the tempter suggested 8that neither the mercy of ,god1 nor yet the blood of ,christ1 at all concerned him1 nor could they help him by reason of his sin2 therefore it was vain to pray40 ,yet he thought with himself1 8,i will pray40 8,but10 said the tempter1 8your sin is unpardonable40 8,well10 said he1 8,i will pray40 8,it is to no boot10 said the adversary4 ,and still he answered1 8,i will pray40 ,and so he began his prayer1 8,lord1 ,satan tells me that neither they mercy1 nor ,christ's blood1 is sufficient to save my soul4 ,lord1 shall ,i honour thee most by believing thou wilt and canst8 or him1 by believing thou neither wilt nor canst8 ,lord1 ,i would fain honour thee by believing thou canst and thou wiliest40 ,and whilst he was thus speaking1 8as if some one had clapped him on the back10 that scripture fastened on his mind1 8,o man great is thy faith40 ,relief came slowly but steadily1 and was the more abiding1 because he had learned by experience to distrust any comfort which did not come from the word of ,god4 ,such passages as these1 8,my grace is sufficient for thee10 and 8,him that cometh unto me ,i will in no wise cast out10 greatly lightened his burden2 but he derived still stronger encouragement from considering that the ,gospel1 with its benignity1 is much more expressive of the mind and disposition of ,god than the law with its severity4 8,mercy rejoiceth over judgment4 ,how shall not the ministration of the ,spirit be rather glorious8 ,for if the ministration of condemnation be glory1 much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory4 ,for even that which was made glorious1 had no glory in this respect1 by reason of the glory that excelleth40 ,or1 as the same truth presented itself to his mind in an aspect more arresting to a mind like his1 8,and ,peter said unto ,jesus1 ,master1 it is good for us to be here2 and let us make three tabernacles1 one for thee1 and one for ,moses1 and one for ,elias4 ,for he wist not what to say1 for he was sore afraid4 ,and there was a cloud overshadowed them1 and a voice came out of the cloud1 saying1 ,this is my beloved ,son1 hear him40 8,then ,i saw that ,moses and ,elias must both vanish1 and leave ,christ and his saints alone40 ,we have now arrived at the happy time when these doubts and distractions were exchanged for songs of deliverance4 ,we relate it in the words of ,bunyan's own narrative3 8,one day as ,i was passing into the field1 and that too with some dashes on my conscience1 fearing lest yet all was not right1 suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul1 #8,thy righteousness is in heaven2' and methought withal1 ,i saw with the eyes of my soul1 ,jesus ,christ at ,god's right hand2 there1 ,i say1 was my righteousness2 so that wherever ,i was1 or whatever ,i was doing1 ,god could not say of me1 #8,he wants my righteousness1' for that was just before him4 ,i also saw1 moreover1 that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better1 nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse2 for my righteousness was ,jesus ,christ himself1 #8the same yesterday1 to-day1 and for ever4' ,now did my chains fall off my legs indeed2 ,i was loosed from my afflictions and my irons2 my temptations also fled away2 so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of ,god left off to trouble me4 ,now went ,i also home rejoicing for the grace and love of ,god2 so when ,i came home ,i looked to see if ,i could find that sentence1 #8,thy righteousness is in heaven1' but could not find such a saying2 wherefore my heart began to sink again1 only that was brought to my remembrance1 #8,he is made unto us of ,god1 wisdom1 righteousness1 sanctification1 and redemption2' by this word ,i saw the other sentence true4 ,for1 by this scripture1 ,i saw that the man ,christ ,jesus1 as he is distinct from us as touching his bodily presence1 so he is our righteousness and sanctification before ,god4 ,here1 therefore1 ,i lived for some time very sweetly at peace with ,god through ,christ4 ,oh6 methought1 ,christ1 ,christ6 ,there was nothing but ,christ that was before my eyes4 ,i was not now for looking upon this and the other benefits of ,christ apart1 as of his blood1 burial1 or resurrection1 but considering him as a whole ,christ1 as he is when all these1 and all other his virtues1 relations1 offices1 and operations met together1 and that he sat on the right hand of ,god in heaven4 ',twas glorious to me to see his exaltation1 and the worth and prevalency of all his benefits2 and that because now ,i could look from myself to him1 and would reckon that all those graces of ,god that now were green on me1 were yet but like those cracked groats and fourpence-halfpennies that rich men carry in their purses1 when their gold is in their trunks at home3 ,oh6 ,i saw my gold was in my trunk at home6 in ,christ my ,lord and ,saviour4 ,now ,christ was all2 all my righteousness1 all my sanctification1 and all my redemption4 8,further1 the ,lord did also lead me into the mystery of union with the ,son of ,god2 that ,i was joined to him1 that ,i was #8flesh of his flesh1 and bone of his bone' 7,eph4 v4 #cj72 and now was that word of ,st ,paul sweet to me4 ,by this also was my faith in him as my righteousness the more confirmed in me2 for if he and ,i were one1 then his righteousness was mine1 his merits mine1 his victory also mine4 ,now could ,i see myself in heaven and earth at once3 in heaven by my ,christ1 by my head1 by my righteousness and life2 though on earth by my body or person4 ,now ,i saw ,christ ,jesus was looked upon of ,god1 and should also be looked upon by us1 as that common or public person1 in whom all the whole body of his elect are always to be considered and reckoned2 that we fulfilled the law by him1 rose from the dead by him1 got the victory over sin1 death1 the devil1 and hell by him2 when he died1 we died2 and so of his resurrection4 #8,thy dead men shall live2 together with my dead body shall they arise1' saith he3 and again1 #8,after two days he will revive us1 and the third day we shall live in his sight3' which is now fulfilled by the sitting down of the ,son of ,man on the right hand of the ,majesty in the heavens1 according to that to the ,ephesians1 #8,he heath raised us up together1 and made us sit together in heavenly places in ,christ ,jesus4' ,ah6 these blessed considerations and scriptures1 with many others of like nature1 were in those days made to spangle in mine eye1 so that ,i have cause to say1 #8,praise ye the ,lord ,god in his sanctuary2 praise him in the firmament of his power2 praise him for his mighty acts3 praise him according to his excellent greatness4'0 ,extricated from the ,slough of ,despond1 ,bunyan went on his way rejoicing2 and though sometimes interrupted by disquieting thoughts and strong temptations1 his subsequent career was a path of growing comfort and prevailing peace4 ,at the age of twenty-six he was admitted a member of that ,baptist church of which ,mr ,gifford was the faithful pastor1--a rare man1 who1 in angry times1 and in a small communion1 preserved his catholicity4 ,holding that 8union with ,christ10 and not agreement concerning any ordinances or things external1 is the foundation of ,christian fellowship1 with his dying hand he addressed a letter to his beloved people1 in which the following sentence occurs1 the utterance of a heart enlarged by ,christian magnanimity1 and bent on those objects which alone look important when the believer is waiting on the top of ,pisgah3--8,concerning separation from the ,church about baptism1 laying on of hands1 anointing with oil1 psalms1 or any other externals1 ,i charge every one of you respectively1 as you will give an account of it to our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 who will judge both quick and dead at his coming1 that none of you be found guilty of this great evil1 which some have committed1 and that through a zeal for ,god1 yet not according to knowledge4 ,they have erred from the law of the love of ,christ1 and have made a rent in the true ,church1 which is but one40 ,if our ,baptist brethren are justly proud that the burning and shining light of ,bunyan was set upon their candlestick1 they have equal reason to boast of the torch at which his bland and diffussive light was kindled4 ,john ,bunyan doubtless owed to ,john ,gifford the peculiar type of his ,christianity1 its comprehensiveness1 and its sect-forgetting zeal for the things of ,jesus ,christ4 ,he had not long been a member of the church when he was called to exercise its actual ministry4 ,gifford was gone to his everlasting rest2 and as a substitute for his labours1 it was put upon a few of the brethren to speak the word of exhortation to the rest4 ,of these ,bunyan was one4 ,at first he did not venture farther than to address his friends in their more private meetings1 or to follow up1 with a brief application1 the sermons delivered by others in their village-preaching4 ,but these exercises having afforded the utmost satisfaction to his judicious though warm-hearted hearers1 he was urged forward to more public services4 ,these he was too humble to covet1 and too earnest to refuse4 ,though his education was sufficiently rude1 ,god had given him from the first a strong athletic mind and a glowing heart1--that downright logic and teeming fancy1 whose bold strokes and burning images heat the ,saxon temper to the welding point1 and make the popular orator of our ,english multitude4 ,then his low original and rough wild history1 however much they might have subjected him to scorn had he exchanged the leathern apron for a silken one1 or scrambled from the hedge-side into the high-places of the church1 entailed no suspicion1 and awakened much surprise1 when the ,bedford townsmen saw their blaspheming neighbour a new man1 and in a way so disinterested preaching the faith which he once destroyed4 ,the town turned out to hear1 and though there was some mockery1 many were deeply moved4 ,his own account of it is3--8,at first ,i could not believe that ,god should speak by me to the heart of any man1 still counting myself unworthy2 yet those who were thus touched1 would love me1 and have a particular respect for me2 and though ,i did put it from me1 that they should be awakened by me1 still they would confess it and affirm it before the saints of ,god 4 4 4 ,wherefore1 seeing them in both their words and deeds to be so constant1 and also in their hearts so earnestly pressing after the knowledge of ,jesus ,christ1 rejoicing that ever ,god did send me where they were1 then ,i began to conclude it might be so1 that ,god had owned in his work such a foolish one as ,i2 and then came that word of ,god to my heart with such sweet refreshment3 #8,the blessing of them that were ready to perish is come upon me2 yea1 ,i caused the widow's heart to sing for joy4' ,at this1 therefore1 ,i rejoiced2 yea1 the tears of those whom ,god had awakened by my preaching would be both solace and encouragement to me4 ,i thought on those sayings1 #8,who is he that maketh me glad1 but the same that is made sorry by me6' ,and again1 #8,though ,i be not an apostle to others1 yet doubtless ,i am unto you3 for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the ,lord4'0 ,there was a solemnizing and subduing power in ,bunyan's ministry1 because it was heart-felt4 ,so far as the truths he uttered were capable of becoming subjects of personal consciousness1 he had experienced them2 and so far as they were subjects of intellectual conviction1 he was not only fully persuaded of them1 but saw them so clear and evident1 that his realizations were continually quickening into sensations4 ,he thus began with a ,john-,baptist ministry1 to which succeeded a ,pentecostal evangel2 and at last it grew into the ,pauline amplitude and completeness1 8the whole counsel of ,god40 8,in my preaching of the word1 ,i took special notice of this one thing1 namely1 that the ,lord did lead me to begin where the word begins with sinners2 that is1 to condemn all flesh1 and to open and allege that the curse of ,god by the law doth belong to and lay hold on all men as they come into the world1 because of sin4 ,now this part of my work ,i fulfilled with great sense2 for the terrors of the law1 and guilt for my transgressions1 lay heavy on my conscience4 ,i preached what ,i felt1 what ,i smartingly did feel2 even that under which my poor soul did groan and tremble to astonishment4 ,indeed ,i have been as one sent to them from the dead2 ,i went myself in chains to preach to them in chains2 and carried that fire in my own conscience that ,i persuaded them to be aware of 4 4 4 ,thus ,i went on for the space of two years1 crying out against men's sins1 and their fearful state because of them4 ,after which the ,lord came in upon my own soul with some sure peace and comfort through ,christ2 for he did give me many sweet discoveries of his blessed grace through him4 ,wherefore now ,i altered in my preaching 7for still ,i preached what ,i saw and felt74 ,now1 therefore1 ,i did much labour to hold forth ,jesus ,christ in all his offices1 relations1 and benefits1 unto the world1 and did strive also to discover1 to condemn1 and remove those false supports and props on which the world doth both lean1 and by them fall and perish4 ,on these things also ,i staid as long as on the other4 ,after this1 ,god led me into something of the mystery of union with ,christ2 wherefore1 that ,i discovered and shewed to them also4 ,and when ,i had travelled through these three chief points of the word of ,god1 ,i was caught in my present practice1 and cast into prison1 where ,i have lain alone as long again to confirm the truth by way of suffering1 as ,i was before in testifying of it1 according to the scriptures1 in a way of preaching40 ,bunyan's preaching was no incoherent rant4 ,words of truth and soberness formed the staple of each sermon2 and his burning words and startling images were only the electric scintillations along the chain of his scriptural eloquence4 ,though the common people heard him most gladly1 he had occasional hearers of a higher class4 ,once on a week-day he was expected to preach in a parish church near ,cambridge1 and a concourse of people had already collected in the churchyard4 ,a gay student was riding past1 when he noticed the crowd1 and asked what had brought them together4 ,he was told that the people had come out to hear one ,bunyan1 a tinker1 preach4 ,he instantly dismounted1 and gave a boy twopence to hold his horse1 for he declared he was determined to hear the tinker prate4 ,so he went into the church1 and heard the tinker2 but so deep was the impression which that sermon made on the scholar1 that he took every subsequent opportunity to attend ,bunyan's ministry1 and himself became a renowned preacher of the gospel in ,cambridgeshire4 ,still he felt that his errand was to the multitude1 and his great anxiety was to penetrate the darkest places of the land1 and preach to the most abandoned people4 ,in these labours of unostentatious heroism1 he sometimes excited the jealousy of the regular parish ministers1 and even under the tolerant rule of the ,protector1 was in some danger of imprisonment4 ,however1 it was not till the ,restoration that he was in serious jeopardy2 but thereafter he was among the first victims of the grand combination betwixt priests and rulers to exterminate the gospel in ,england4 ,on the #abth of ,november #affj1 he had promised to meet a little congregation in a private house at ,samsell in ,bedfordshire4 ,before the hour of meeting he was apprised that a warrant was out to seize him2 but he felt that he owed it to the gospel not to run away at such a time4 ,accordingly when the people were assembled with no weapons but their ,bibles1 the constable entered and arrested the preacher4 ,he had only time to speak a few words of counsel and encouragement to his hearers1 8,you see we are prevented of our opportunity to speak and hear the word of ,god1 and are likely to suffer for the same4 ,but be not discouraged4 ,it is a mercy to suffer for so good a cause4 ,we might have been apprehended as thieves or murderers1 or for other wickedness2 but blessed be ,god1 it is not so4 ,we suffer as ,christians for well doing2 and better be the persecuted than the persecutors40 ,after being taken before a justice1 he was committed to gaol till the ensuing sessions should be held at ,bedford4 ,there an indictment was preferred--8,that ,john ,bunyan1 of the town of ,bedford1 labourer1 being a person of such and such conditions1 he hath since such a time devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear divine service2 and is a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles1 to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom1 contrary to the laws of our sovereign lord the ,king10 c4 ,of course he was convicted1 and sentenced to imprisonment1 with certification1 that if he did not conform within a given period1 he would he banished out of the kingdom4 ,after ,bunyan ceases to be his own biographer1 our materials become exceeding scanty4 ,this is the less to be lamented when we reflect that the history of his 8hidden life0 is already told4 ,the processes have now been related which formed and developed the inner man2 and the few external events that befel him1 and the few important things that he did1 during the remaining eight-and-twenty years of his mortal pilgrimage1 may be recorded in a single page4 ,his imprisonment was protracted from sessions to sessions1 till he had measured out twelve weary years in ,bedford gaol4 ,perhaps we should not call them weary4 ,they had their alleviations4 ,his wife and children were allowed to visit him4 ,his blind and most beloved daughter was permitted to cheer his solitude and her own4 ,he had his ,bible1 and his 8,book of ,martyrs40 ,he had his imagination1 and his pen4 ,above all1 he had a good conscience4 ,he felt it a blessed exchange to quit the 8iron cage0 of despair for a 8den0 oft visited by a celestial comforter2 and which1 however cheerless1 did not lack a door to heaven4 ,whether it was the man's own humanity1 or whether it was that ,god who assuaged ,joseph's captivity1 gave ,bunyan special favour in the eyes of the keeper of his prison1 the fact is certain1 that he met with singular indulgence at the least likely hands4 ,not only was he allowed many a little indulgence in his cell1 but he was suffered to go and come with a freedom which could hardly have been exceeded had the county gaol been his own hired house4 ,for months together he was a constant attender of the church-meetings of his brethren in ,bedford1 and was actually chosen pastor during the period of his incarceration4 ,on one occasion some of the bishops who had heard a rumour of the unusual liberty conceded to him1 sent a messenger from ,london to ,bedford to ascertain the truth4 ,the officer was instructed to call at the prison during the night4 ,it was a night when ,bunyan had received permission to stay at home with his family2 but so uneasy did he feel1 that he told his wife he must go back to his old quarters4 ,so late was it that the gaoler blamed him for coming at such an untimely hour2 but a little afterwards the messenger arrived4 8,are all the prisoners safe80 8,yes40 8,is ,john ,bunyan safe80 8,yes40 8,let me see him40 ,bunyan was called1 and the messenger went his way2 and when he was gone the gaoler told him1 8,well1 you may go out again just when you think proper2 for you know when to return better than ,i can tell you40 ,but the best alleviations of his captivity were those wonderful works which he there projected or composed4 ,some of these were controversial2 but one of them was his own life1 under the title1 8,grace abounding to the ,chief of ,sinners10 and another was the 8,,pilgrim',s ,,progress40 ,in #afgb he obtained his liberty1 and his friends immediately built for him a large meeting-house1 where he continued to preach with little interruption till his death4 ,once a year he visited ,london1 and was there so popular1 that twelve hundred people would gather together at seven in the morning of a winter's working-day to hear him4 ,amongst the admiring listeners1 ,dr ,owen was frequently found2 and once when ,charles the ,second asked how a learned man like him could sit down to hear a tinker prate1 the great theologian is said to have answered1 8,may it please your ,majesty1 could ,i possess the tinker's abilities for preaching1 ,i would most gladly relinquish all my learning40 ,but popular as he was1 he was not fond of praise4 ,one day after he had concluded an impressive discourse1 his friends pressed round to thank him for his 8sweet sermon40 8,aye10 he bluntly answered1 8you need not remind me of that2 for the devil told me as much before ,i left the pulpit40 ,he had numbered sixty years1 and written as many books1 when he was released from his abundant labours4 ,a young gentleman1 his neighbour1 had fallen under his father's displeasure1 and was much concerned at his father's estrangement as well as at the prospect of being disinherited4 ,he begged ,mr ,bunyan's friendly interposition to propitiate his father1 and prepare the way for his return to parental favour and affection4 ,the kind-hearted man undertook the task1 and having successfully achieved it1 was returning from ,reading to ,london on horseback1 when he was thoroughly drenched with excessive rains4 ,he arrived cold and wet at the house of ,mr ,strudwick1 a grocer on ,snow ,hill4 ,here he was seized with fits of shivering1 which passed off in violent fever1 and after ten days' sickness1 on the #cast of ,august #afhh1 his pilgrimage ended1 and he went in by the gate into the city4 99 99 99 99 99 ,as the most appropriate introduction to the following selections from the practical writings of ,bunyan1 we would chose this rapid history of the ,,man1 with a few remarks on the ,,theologian and the ,,author4 ,i4 ,bunyan's theological merits we rank very high4 ,no one can turn over his pages without noticing the abundance of his ,scriptural quotations2 and these quotations no one can examine without perceiving how minutely he had studied1 and how deeply he had pondered1 the word of ,god4 ,but it is possible to be very textual1 and yet by no means very scriptural4 ,a man may heave an exact acquaintance with the literal ,bible1 and yet entirely miss the great ,bible message4 ,he may possess a dexterous command of detached passages and insulated sentences1 and yet be entirely ignorant of that peculiar scheme which forms the great gospel revelation4 ,but this was ,bunyan's peculiar excellence4 ,he was even better acquainted with the ,gospel as the scheme of ,god1 than he was familiar with the ,bible-text2 and the consequence is1 that though he is sometimes irrelevant in his references1 and fanciful in interpreting particular passages1 his doctrine is almost always according to the analogy of faith4 ,the doctrine of a free and instant justification by the imputed righteousness of ,christ1 none even of the ,puritans could state with more ,luther-like boldness1 nor defend with an affection more worthy of ,paul4 ,in his last and best days1 ,coleridge wrote1 8,i know of no book1 the ,bible excepted1 as above all comparison1 which ,i1 according to my judgment and experience1 could so safely recommend as teaching and enforcing the whole saving truth1 according to the mind that was in ,christ ,jesus1 as the ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,it is in my conviction the best ,summa ,theologi ,evangelic ever produced by a writer not miraculously inspired40 #cj;a ,without questioning this verdict1 we would include in the encomium some of his other writings1 which possibly ,coleridge never saw4 ,such as the ,tracts contained in this volume4 #cj;b ,they exhibit ,gospel-truths in so clear a light1 and state them in such a frank and happy tone1 that he who runs may read1 and he who reads in earnest will rejoice4 ,the ,pilgrim is a peerless guide to those who have already passed in at the wicket-gate2 but those who are still seeking peace to their troubled souls1 will find the best directory in 8,the ,jerusalem ,sinner ,saved40 ,,ii4 ,invaluable as a theologian1 ,bunyan stands alone as a contributor to theological literature4 ,in recent times no man has done so much to draw the world's delighted attention to the subjects of supreme solicitude4 ,no production of a mortal pen has found so many readers as one work of his2 and none has awakened so frequently the sighing behest1 8,let me die the death of the righteous40 ,none has painted the beauty of holiness in taints more lovely1 nor spoken in tones more thrilling to the heart of universal humanity4 ,at first the favourite of the vulgar1 he is now the wonder of the learned2 and from the obscurity1 not inglorious1 of smoky cupboards and cottage chimneys1 he has been escorted up to the highest places of classical renown1 and duly canonized by the pontiffs of taste and literature4 ,the man1 whom ,cowper praised anonymously1 8,lest so despised a name should move a sneer10 has at last extorted emulous plaudits from a larger host of writers than ever conspired to praise a man of genius1 who was also a man of ,god4 ,johnson and ,franklin1 ,scott1 ,coleridge1 and ,southey1 ,byron and ,montgomery1 ,macintosh and ,macaulay1 have exerted their philosophical acumen and poetic feeling to analyze his various spell1 and account for his unequalled fame2 and though the round-cornered copies1 with their diverting woodcuts1 have not disappeared from the poor man's ingle1 illustrated editions blaze from the shelves of every sumptuous library1 new pictures1 from its exhaustless themes1 light up the walls of each annual exhibition2 and amidst the graceful litter of the drawing-room table1 you are sure to take up designs from the ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,so universal is the ascendancy of the tinker-teacher1 so world-wide the diocese of him whom ,whitefield created ,bishop ,bunyan1 that probably half the ideas which the outside-world entertains regarding experimental piety1 they have1 in some form or other1 derived from him4 ,one of the most popular preachers in his day1 in his little treatises1 as well as in his longer allegories1 he preaches to countless thousands still4 ,the cause of this unexampled popularity is a question of great practical moment4 ,and1 first of all1 ,bunyan speaks to the whole of man1--to his imagination1 his intellect1 his heart4 ,he had in himself all these ingredients of full-formed humanity1 and in his books he lets all of them out4 ,french writers and preachers are apt to deal too exclusively in the one article--fancy2 and though you are amused for the moment with the rocket-shower of brilliant and many-tinted ideas which fall sparkling around you1 when the exhibition is ended1 you are disappointed to find that the whole was momentary1 and that from all the ruby and emerald rain scarcely one gem of solid thought remains4 #cb;a ,scottish writers and preachers are apt to indulge the argumentative cacothes of their country1 and cramming into a tract or sermon as much hard-thinking as the ,bramah-pressure of hydrostatic intellects can condense into the iron paragraphs1 they leave no room for such delicate materials as fancy or feeling1 illustration1 imagery1 or affectionate appeal2 #cb;b whilst ,irish authors and pulpit-orators are so surcharged with their own exuberant enthusiasm1 that their main hope of making you think as they think1 is to make you feel as they feel4 ,the heart is their ,aristotle2 and if they cannot win you by a smile or melt you by a tear1 they would think it labour lost to try a syllogism4 ,bunyan was neither ,french1 nor ,scotch1 nor ,irish4 ,he embodied in his person1 though greatly magnified1 the average mind of ,england--playful1 affectionate1 downright4 ,his intellectual power comes chiefly out in that homely self-commending sense--the brief business-like reasoning1 which might be termed ,saxon logic1 and of which ,swift in one century1 and ,cobbett in another1 are obvious instances4 ,his premises are not always true1 nor his inferences always legitimate2 but there is such evident absence of sophistry1 and even of that refining and hair-splitting which usually beget the suspicion of sophistry--his statements are so sincere1 and his conclusions so direct1 the language is so perspicuous1 and the appeal is made so honestly to each reader's understanding1 that his popularity as a reasoner is inevitable4 ,we need not say that the author of the ,pilgrim possessed imagination2 but it is important to note the service it rendered to his preaching1 and the charm which it still imparts to his miscellaneous works4 ,the pictorial power he possessed in a rare degree4 ,his mental eye perceived the truth most vividly4 ,some minds are moving in a constant mystery4 ,they see men like trees walking4 ,the different doctrines of the ,bible all wear dim outlines to them1 jostling and jumbling2 and after a perplexing morrice of bewildering hints and half discoveries1 they vanish into the misty back-ground of nonentity4 ,to ,bunyan's bright and broad-waking eye all things were clear4 ,thee men walked and the trees stood still4 ,everything was seen in sharp relief and definite outline--a reality4 ,and besides the pictorial1 he possessed in highest perfection the illustrative faculty4 ,not only did his own mind perceive the truth most vividly1 but he saw the very way to give others a clear perception of it also4 ,this is the great secret of successful teaching4 ,like a man who has chambered his difficult way to the top of a rocky eminence1 but who1 once he has reached the summit1 perceives an easier path1 and directs his companions along its gentler slopes1 and gives them a helping-hand to lift them over the final obstacles2 it was by giant struggles over the debris of crumbling hopes1 and through jungles of despair1 and up the cliffs of apparent impossibility1 that ,bunyan forced his way to the pinnacle of his eventual joy2 but no sooner was he standing there1 than his eagle-eye detected the easier path1 and he made it the business of his benevolent ministry to guide others into it4 ,though not the truth1 an illustration is a stepping-stone towards it2 an indentation in the rock which makes it easier to climb4 ,no man had a happier knack in hewing out these notches in the cliff1 and no one knew better where to place them1 than this pilgrim's pioneer4 ,besides1 he rightly judged that the value of these suggestive similes--these illustrative stepping-stones--depends very much on their breadth and frequency4 ,but ,bunyan appeals not only to the intellect and imagination1 but to the hearts of men4 ,there was no bitterness in ,bunyan4 ,he was a man of kindness and compassion4 ,how sorry he is for ,mr ,badman6 and how he makes you sympathize with ,christian and ,mr ,ready-to-halt and ,mr ,feeble-mind1 and all the other interesting companions of that eventful journey6 ,and in his sermons how piteously he pleads with sinners for their own souls6 and how impressive is the undisguised vehemency of his yearning affections6 ,in the same sentence ,bunyan has a word for the man of sense1 and another for the man of fancy1 and a third for the man of feeling2 and by thus blending the intellectual1 the imaginative1 and the affectionate1 he speaks home to the whole of man1 and has made his works a lesson-book for all mankind4 ,another secret of ,bunyan's popularity is the felicity of his style4 ,his ,english is vernacular1 idiomatic1 universal2 varying with the subject2 homely in the continuous narrative2 racy and pungent in his lively and often rapid discourse2 and1 when occasion requires1 8a model of unaffected dignity and rhythmical flow20 but always plain1 strong1 and natural4 ,however1 in speaking of his style1 we do not so much intend his words as his entire mode of expression4 ,a thought is like a gem2 but like a gem it may be spoiled in the setting4 ,a careless artist may chip it and grievously curtail its dimensions2 a clumsy craftsman1 in his fear of destroying it1 may not sufficiently polish it2 or in his solicitude to show off its beauty1 may overdo the accompanying ornaments4 ,bunyan was too skilful a workman so to mismanage the matter4 ,his expression neither curtails nor encumbers the thought1 but makes the most of it2 that is1 presents it to the reader as it is seen by the writer4 ,though there is a great appearance of amplitude about his compositions1 few of his words could be wanted4 ,some styles are an ill-spun thread1 full of inequalities1 and shaggy from beginning to end with projecting fibres which spoil its beauty1 and add nothing to its strength2 but in its easy continuousness and trim compactness1 the thread of ,bunyan's discourse flows firm and smooth from first to last4 ,its fulness regales the ear1 and its felicity aids the understanding4 ,,footnotes #i ,those who are interested in the historic parallels supplied by ,christian biography1 will find a similar instructive dream in the ,life of ,general ,burn1 vol4 i4 pp4 #abg-acj4 #aa ,ivimey's ,life of ,bunyan1 pp4 #ea-ec4 #cj;a ,remains1 vol4 iii4 p4 #cia4 #cj;b ,the other items contained in the book that this text comes from were3 ,jerusalem ,sinner ,saved2 ,pharisee and the ,publican2 ,the ,trinity and the ,christian2 ,the ,law and a ,christian2 ,bunyan's ,last ,sermon2 ,bunyan's ,dying ,sayings and ,an ,exhortation to ,peace and ,unity4 ,all of them are available from ,project ,gutenberg--,,dp4 #cb;a ,pascal was an exception4 ,d',aubign1 so far as writing in ,french makes a ,frenchman1 is another4 ,their works are full of fancy1 but it is the fancy which gives to truth its wings4 ,the rocket is charged1 not with coloured sparks1 but burning jewels4 #cb;b ,here1 again1 exceptions occur1 and the greatest of our ,scottish preachers is a contradiction to the characteristic style of his country4