1 THE LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 29 lead me to begin where his word begins with sinners; that is, to condemn all flesh, 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 world, because of sin. Now this part of my work I fulfilled with great sense [of terror]; for the terrors of the law, and guilt for my transgressions, lay heavy on my conscience. "I went myself in chains, to preach to them in chains; and carried that fire in my own conscience that I persuaded them to beware of. I can truly say, and that without dissembling, that when I have been to preach, I have gone full of guilt and terror, even to the pulpit door, and there it hath been taken off, and I have been at liberty in my mind until I have done my work; and then immediately, even before I could get down the pulpit stairs, I have been as bad as I was before; yet God carried me on: but surely with a strong hand; for neither guilt nor hell could take me off my work. "Thus I went on for the space of two years. After which the Lord came in upon my own soul, with some sure peace and comfort through Christ; for he did give me many sweet discoveries of his blessed grace through him. Wherefore now I altered in my preaching (for still I preached what I saw and felt ;) now therefore I did much labour to hold forth Jesus Christ in all offices, relations, and benefits unto the world, and did strive also to discover, to condemn, and remove those false supports and props on which the world doth both lean, and by them fall and perish. On these things also I staid as long as on the other. "After this, God led me into something of the mystery of the union of Christ: wherefore that I discovered, and shewed to them also. And when I had travelled through these three chief points of the word of God, about the space of five years or more, I was caught in my present practice, and cast into prison; where I 30 THE LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. have lain above as long again to confirm the truth by way of suffering, as I was before in testifying of it according to the scriptures, in a way of preaching. "When I have been preaching, I thank God, my heart hath often, all the time of this and the other exercise, with great earnestness cried to God that he would make the word effectual to salvation: wherefore I did labour so to speak, as that thereby, if it were possible, the sin and person guilty might be particularized by it. "Also when I have done the exercise, it hath gone to my heart to think the word should now fall as rain on stony places: still wishing, O that they who have heard me speak, did but see as I do, what sin, death, hell, and the curse of God is! and also what the grace, and love, and mercy of God is through Christ, to men in such a case as they are, who are yet estranged from him! And indeed I did often say in my heart before the Lord, that if to be hanged up presently before their eyes, would be a means to awaken them, and confirm them in the truth, I gladly could be contented. "When I went first to preach the word abroad, the doctors and priests of the country did open wide against me but I was persuaded of this, not to render railing for railing, but to see how many of their carnal professors I should convince of their miserable state by the law, and of the want and worth of Christ; for, thought I,This shall answer for me in time to come, when they shall be for my hire before their face.'(a) "I never cared to meddle with things that were controverted, and in dispute among the saints, and especially things of the lowest nature; yet it pleased me much to contend with great earnestness for the word of faith, and the remission of sins by the (a) Gen. xxx. 23. THE LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 31 death and sufferings of Jesus; but, I say, as to other things I should but let them alone, because I saw they engendered strife, and because that they, neither in doing, nor in leaving undone, did commend us to God to be his. Besides, I saw my work before me did run into another channel, even to carry an awakening word; to that therefore I did adhere. "If any of those who were awakened by my ministry, did after that fall back (as too many did,) I can truly say, their loss hath been more to me, than if my own child had been going to its grave. My heart hath been so wrapped up in the glory of this excellent work, that I counted myself more blessed and honoured of God by this, than if he had made me emperor of the christian world, or the lord of all the glory of the earth without it! Oh, these words! He that converteth a sinner from the error of his way, doth save a soul from death. (a) They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.'(b) These, I say, with many others of a like nature, have been great refreshments to me. "My great desire, in my fulfilling my ministry, was to get into the darkest places of the country: yet not because I could not endure the light, (for I feared not to shew my gospel to any,) but because I found my spirit leaned most after awakening and converting work, and the word that I carried did lean itself most that way also: Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation.'(c) "But in this work, as in all other, I had my temptations attending me; and that of divers kinds: as sometimes I should be assaulted with great discouragement therein; fearing that I should not be able to speak a (a) James v. 20. (b) Dan. xii, 3. (c) Rom. xv. 20. 32 THE LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. word at all to edification; nay, that I should not be able to speak sense unto the people: at which times I should have such a strange faintness and strengthlessness seize upon my body, that my legs have scarce been able to carry me to the place of exercise. "Sometimes again, when I have been preaching, I have been violently assaulted with thoughts of blasphemy, and strongly tempted to speak the words with my mouth before the congregation. I have also, at times, even when I have begun to speak the word with much clearness, evidence, and liberty of speech, yet been, before the ending of that opportunity, so blinded, and so estranged from the things I have been speaking, and have been also straitened in my speech, as to utterance before the people, that I have been as if I had not known or remembered what I have been about; or as if my head had been in a bag all the time of my exercise. "Again, when at some times I have been about to preach upon a smart and searching portion of the word, I have found the tempter suggest, What! will you preach this? This condemns yourself; wherefore preach not of it at all; or if you do, yet so mince it as to make way for your own escape; lest, instead of awakening others, you lay that guilt upon your own soul as you will never get from under.' But, I thank the Lord, I have been kept from consenting to these so horrid suggestions; and have rather, as Sampson, bowed myself with all my might, to condemn sin and transgression wherever I found it. "I have also, while found in this blessed work of Christ, been often tempted to pride and lifting up of heart; and though I dare not say I have not been affected with this, yet truly the Lord, of his precious mercy, hath so carried it towards me, that for the most part I have had but small joy to give way to such a thing; for it hath been my every day's portion, to be let into the evils of my own heart, and still made THE LIFE OF JOHN BUNYAN. 33 to see such a multitude of corruptions and infirmities therein, that it hath caused hanging down of the head, under all my gifts and attainments." Mr. Bunyan's imprisonment has been already mentioned. He was tried at Bedford quarter sessions in 1660 and the indictment stated that "John Bunyan, of the town of Bedford, labourer, had devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear divine service, and was a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles, to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom, contrary to the laws of our sovereign lord the king," &c. Not to animadvert upon the ridiculous language of this indictment, (too much of the same unmeaning jargon being still preserved,) the facts were not legally proved; no witnesses were produced against him, but some part of his own examination was taken for a confession, and recorded: and he was sentenced to perpetual banishment, for persisting to preach, and refusing to conform. The sentence itself was never executed; but he was very illegally detained a prisoner for twelve years and an half in Bedford jail. In the early part of his imprisonment the Lord gave him favour with the keeper of the jail, and he had many indulgences, which the malice of his enemies afterwards restrained from him. There were confined in the same prison about sixty other dissenters, taken at a meeting at Kaistoe, in Bedfordshire, among whom were two eminent preachers, Mr. Wheeler and Mr Dunn. During his confinement he employed his pen, partly in writing his Pilgrim's Progress, and other valuable tracts; partly in preaching to his fellow-prisoners, and others who came to hear him; and partly in making tagged laces for the support of himself and family, an art he acquired after he was in confinement. As this must have been a trying season, it may be worth our inquiry, in what manner his mind was sup |