prived of the Benefit of it, which some Perfons of Diftinction and Piety duly weighing, in order to remedy that Inconvenience, very generously and highly becoming their Character and good Intentions, propofed that it might be fent into the World in the handfome Manner it now appears. Great Care has been taken, not only in the Correct Printing, but in the Engravig of the feveral Copper-Plates, which adorn it; fo that it is not in the leaft doubted, but the Whole will give fuch entireSatisfaction to the Public in general, as well as to thofe worthy Gentlemen in particular, who have fo handsomely and generously contributed to this beautiful Edition, by their large Subscriptions, as will fully answer their Expectation.

We fhall conclude this PREFACE, with a merry but just Obfervation made by Dr. Radcliffe, who ufed to fay, that Bunyan's PILGRIM was a CHRISTIAN; and Patrick's PILGRIM a wretched PEDLAR, who foid damaged Commodities; alluding to the Legendary Tales therein related.

LEGE & FRUERE.

THE

THE

LIFE AND DEATH

OF

Mr. JOHN BUNYAN,

LATE

Preacher of the Gospel in BEDFOrd.

PSALM cxii. 6.

The Righteous fhall be bad in everlasting Remembrance.

M

R. John Bunyan was born at Elfton, in the County of Bedford, within a little Mile of that Town; of honeft, but very poor Parents: His Original being fo mean that I know not in whom the Words of the great Apoftle to the Gentiles, in his First Chapter of the Epiftle to the Corinthians, were more fully exemplified than in Mr. John Bunyan. The Words are thefe: For you fee your Calling, Brethren, how that not many wife Men after the Flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chofen the foolish Things of the World to confound the wife; and God bath chofen the weak Things of the World to confound the Things that are mighty: And bafe Things of the World, and Things which are defpifed, hath God chofen :-That no Flesh might glory in his Prefence. And this he himfelf was ready upon all Occafions to own, that God might have the Glory of his own Grace: For though his Original and Birth was but poor and defpifed, yet it pleafed God to choose him before many others, to be an Inftrument for the bringing of many Souls unto God:

And that the Grace of God that was given him may be the more exceedingly magnified, we will give fome brief Account of what he was before the Grace of God appeared to him.

I have already told you, that his Parents were very mean, but that they took Care to give him that Learning which was fuitable to their Condition, bringing him up to read and write; but fo great was his natural Depravity, and his Proneness to all Evil, that he quickly forgot both, being only wife to do Evil; but to do or learn that which was Good, or Praife-worthy, he had no Heart or Knowledge, addicting himself fo much in his very Childhood to curfing, fwearing, lying, and blafpheming, that he had few Equals in Wickedness; infomuch that I remember I have heard him fay, with Grief of Heart, He was a Town-fwearer; that is to fay, One that was taken Notice of as one moft notoriously wicked, by all the Town where he lived: Yet was not his Confcience feared, but would often give him fuch Twinges as made him very uneafy: Being alfo often affrighted with Dreams, and terrified with Vifions in the night; fearing left for the Sins he had committed in the Day, he fhould be taken away by Devils in the Night, and by them be bound down with Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the Great Day. And thefe Fears were frequent with him, when he had hardly reached to the Åge of Ten Years. And thefe Thoughts did not only attack him in the Night-Seafon, but fometimes alfo in the Midft of his childish Vanities, among his vain Companions: And fometimes in that Condition, Defpair had taken fo much hold on him, that he has wifhed, that either there had been no Hell, or that himself had been a Devil, fuppofing that the Devils were only Tormentors of others, but were not tormented themselves. And yet, when thefe Thoughts had left him, he followed his finful Pleafures with all the Eagernefs imaginable; as if he had never had thofe

difmal

difmal defpairing Thoughts. So that the whole Courfe of his Life, from his Childhood till his Marriage, was what the Apoftle describes in Ephefians ii. 2, 3. According to the Course of this World, and the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Difobedience, being filled with all unrighteoufnefs, and led Captive by the Devil at bis Will: And as he himself expreffes it, The very Ringleader of all the Youth that kept him Company, in all Manner of Vice and Ungodliness.

But notwithstanding all this Wickedness of his, God did not utterly leave him, but followed him sometimes with convictions, and fometimes with Judgments, but yet fuch as had in them a Mixture of Mercy : At one Time he fell into a Creek of the Sea, and then hardly escaped drowning; and at another Time he fell out of a Boat into Bedford River; but there he alfo was preferved, though with great Difficulty: But, alas! it was neither Mercy nor Judgment that could yet awaken him, for he had given up himself to the Love of Sin, and was fully refolved to go on, whatever Rubs he met with in his Way.

Yet God left not himself without a Witness in his Soul, often checking him in one Way or another; as one Day being at Sly with his Companions, a Voice fuddenly darted from Heaven into his Soul, faying, Wilt thou leave thy Sins, and go to Heaven, or have thy Sins and go to Hell? This put him into fuch a Confternation, that he immediately left his Sport, and looking up to Heaven, thought he faw the Lord Jefus looking down upon him, as one hotly difpleafed with him, and threatening him with fome grievous Punishments for his ungodly Practices.

But fee the Works of Satan! No fooner had this made fome Impreffion on his Mind, but the Devil fuggested to him, That he had been a great and grievous Sinner, and that it was now too late for him to look after Heaven, for Chrift would not forgive him, nor pardon his Tranfgreffions. And this is no

b 2

other

other than the Devil's ufual Practice, first to draw Sinners to commit all Iniquity with Greediness, and then to perfuade them there is no Hope of Mercy left, that thereby the Sinner may be prevailed with to go on in Sin. And this was the Effect that this Suggeftion had upon Mr. Bunyan; who looking upon himself as one that finned beyond the Reach of Mercy, thought within himself, that he would take his Fill of Sin, it being the only Pleafure he was ever like to have. And yet thefe Pleasures of Sin, through the wonderful Operations of the Holy Spirit, were fo often imbittered to him, that he could take but little Satisfaction in them. For, The Labour of the natural Man, or Man before Converfion, doth but weary him, becaufe ke knoweth not the Way to the City of God, Ecclef. x. 15.

Once, as he was going on in the full Career of Sin, and belching out Oaths like the Madman that Solomon fpeaks of, who fcatters abroad Fire-brands, Arrows, and Death, he was reproved feverely by a Woman who was a notorious Sinner herself; who told him, That he was the ugliest Fellow for Swearing, that ever he heard in all her Life; and that by bis doing thus, he was able to spoil all the Youth in the Town, if they came into his Company. This Reproof, coming from fuch a Woman, whom he knew to be very wicked and ungodly, filled him with great Shame; and wrought more with him, than many that had been given him before by thofe that were fober and godly: And made him with, that he had never known what it was to be a Swearer, and even made him out of Love with it; and from that Time forward very much to refrain from it. This puts me in mind of a Story I have read in the Life of holy Mr. Perkins, who in his young Years was as great a Debauchee as any in the University of Cambridge, where he was brought up. He coming one time through the Out-parts of the Town, heard a Woman fay to her Child that was froward and peevish, Either bold your Tongue, or I will give you to drunken Perkins yonder.

Thefe