LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN BUNYAN. BY REV. W. PAYNE, CHESHAM. No. VII.-Concluding remarks. BUNYAN was imprisoned twelve years. His enemies meant it for evil. God overruled it for good. "Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came forth sweetness." Men's wickedness-no thanks to them for it cannot retard the onward progress of truth;-It is sometimes as the dark cloud, to exhibit more brilliantly the bow of mercy. One happy result of this imprisonment was the production of that immortal work, "The Pilgrim's Progress'-"an allegory: so perfect, as to hide itself, like light, whilst revealing through its colorless and undisturbing medium all beside." Macaulay advises all who would know the power and pathos of the English language, to study it. The present Lord Campbell says "It is the noblest of allegories,-the merit of which was first discovered by the lowly, but which is now lauded by the most refined critics; and which has done more to awaken piety and to enforce the precepts of Christian morality, than all the sermons that have been published by all the prelates of the Anglican church." Many a Christian can cordially adopt Cowper's beautifully expressive lines, Interesting as it is to see the sombre poet pouring over this book, and deriving therefrom in his calmer moments incentives to trust and not be afraid; it is scarcely less so to see the Orissa convert to the faith of Jesus drinking in its truths as the flower, the orient beams of the sun. Bathing his spirit as it were in the pure fountain of living waters, and so rendering it impervious to sinful influences. Little did the humble pastor of the Baptist church of Bedford dream that the work by which he beguiled his prison hours, would be translated into several European languages-be a standard in his mother tongue-and grace the Vatican in Rome. He is not to have it appears, a statue either in the House of Lords, or the Commons' House,- -no matter, his memory will ever be enshrined in British hearts;-wherever the Gospel is preached this book will go, not to supplant, but as the handmaid of revelation; and one day, John 154 LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN BUNYAN. Bunyan will be as much a household word in China, India, Africa, the isles afar off on the sea-as in England and America. The sun of his fame will never set. In heaven he will be one of the few we shall ever delight to honor; for there, while we ascribe salvation to God and the Lamb for ever, we shall not be oblivious of our best earthly benefactors. We have to apologise for so long withdrawing the attention of our readers from more exciting themes—we are happy to inform them that it is not our purpose to speak of this hero as a pastor beloved by his people and pre-eminently popular as a preacher.—It is delightful to know that his religious life acquired, like a river, depth and breadth as it neared the ocean of eternity—that the autumn of his days was richly varied with all the beauties of holiness. He was, if not a martyr for his principles as a nonconformist, a martyr to his goodness; for in seeking to effect a reconciliation between two of his friends—a father and a son-he took cold in his journey from Reading to London, where he died. He taught us how to live, and how to die. He set as sets the morning star, Which goes not down behind the darkened west; As to the person of our hero it is said he had a sharp quick eye-his nose was well set, but not Roman-he had a moderately large and eloquent mouth -his forehead was moderately high-he wore his hair upon his upper lip, which was reddish, besprinkled with grey-he was tall of stature, a long rather than a corpulent man-at first he seemed stern and somewhat forbidding -but once drawn out in conversation this vanished, as the grey mists of morning before the rising sun.-Who shall describe the qualities of his mind and heart? To a sound judgment he united great perspicuity-his sparkling wit was associated with a peerless imagination. There were but two (says no mean judge) men of original genius in that age of great men-Milton and Bunyan. He was emphatically a religious man. He sounded all the depths and soared to all the heigths of Christian experience. In him were blended the religious opposites of which a Brainerd and a Fletcher's were the exponents. We have alluded to his popularity as a preacher,—at this no one need be surprised. It was the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, preaching as he wrote. How graphic is his description of the effect of Peter's sermon, in his Jerusalem sinner saved. It speaks well for the age that :-" Once a year he visited London and was there so popular, that twelve hundred people would gather together at seven in the morning of a winter's working-day to hear him. Among the admiring listeners, Dr. Owen was frequently found; and once when Charles the Second asked how a learned man like him could sit down to hear tinker prate : May it please your Majesty, could I possess the tinker's abilities for preaching, I would most gladly relinquish all my learning.'"* It would occupy too much space to speak of his merits as a theologian and a poet. In the holy, happy home of the blessed, may the writer and his readers meet him and the ransomed of the Lord, where the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall lead us to living fountains of waters-reveal to us all the sources of wisdom and knowledge. *Dr. Hamilton. DISEGARD TO PARENTAL AUTHORITY SIGNALLY PUNISHED. A GAY and thoughtless young man, who had often opposed a pious father's wishes, by spending the Sabbath in idleness and folly, instead of accompanying his parents to the house of God, determined to ride to the country on a Sabbath morning. His father, after he was gone, earnestly engaged in prayer for him, beseeching the Almighty to arrest him in his mad career, by whatsoever means He might employ. After riding for some time at great speed, he hastily pulled up his horse, which, by stopping more suddenly than he expected, gave him such a sudden jerk, that it injured the spinal marrow; and when he came to his father's door, he had totally lost the use of his lower extremities. He was lifted from the saddle, and laid on that bed which was destined to prove to him the bed of death, and there he had leisure to reflect on his ways. It was when in this situation, I was asked to visit him, and he then discovered the deepest solicitude about the things that belong to his eternal peace. He eagerly listened to the representation that was given him of the evil of sin, its dreadful consequences, and the ground of hope to the guilty. He seemed much impressed with a sense of his need of pardoning mercy, and thankfully to receive it in the way that God had revealed. Many parts of the conversations I had with him, have now escaped my recollection, but some of his expressions I shall not easily forget. On one occasion, when referring to his past life, and finding himself, at the time I visited him, unable to attend public worship, he exclaimed, "Oh, what would I give now for some of those Sabbaths which I formerly treated with contempt!" He seemed deeply to feel and to deplore his guilt, in having so heinously misimproved the precious opportunities of waiting on the public ordinances of religion, which, in the day of health, he had enjoyed; while, on another occasion, he expressed his sense of the infinite importance of the gospel. I suggested to him the propriety of his mentioning to his thoughtless companions, when they called upon him, the light in which his former life now appeared to him. He told me, in reply, that though he would be most happy to do so, he had no opportunity; that his former companions had now quite deserted him; that if they called at all, it was merely to enquire about his health, but that they seemed quite uneasy while they remained, and would not spend even a few minutes in his company. Ah, what a picture of the friendship of the world! It possesses no ingredients which can furnish a topic of consolation in the day of adversity. It was in reference, however, to this subject, and to the hope that, though he had no access to his former associates, his history might prove useful to them, that he uttered the last expression I shall quote. With an ardour and an emphasis which I cannot describe, he said, at one of the last interviews I had with him, "I earnestly pray that I may be a warning to them that forget God." May this solemn and affecting exclamation of a young man, on the bed of sickness and of death, be fastened on the recollection of every young reader, that, instead of forgetting God, he may remember his Creator in the days of his youth, and be found, in the season of youth and health, supremely valuing that gospel which alone can give solid happiness in life, comfort in affliction, and peace in death. THE BIBLE. "THE human mind," saith one of the best of judges, "can conceive nothing more elevated, more grand, more glowing, more beautiful, and more elegant, than what we meet with in the sacred writings of the Hebrew bards. The almost ineffable sublimity of the subjects upon which they treat, is fully equalled by the energy of the language and the dignity of the style. Some of these writings, too, exceed in antiquity the fabulous ages of Greece, as much as they are superior in sublimity to the most finished productions of the celebrated people of that classic land. Moses, for instance, stands unrivalled by the most distinguished of them as a poet, an orator, and an historian. Solomon as a moralist, naturalist, and pastoral writer. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Joel, and some of the minor prophets, as orators, or poets, or both. Homer and Virgil must yield the palm to Job for true sublimity. Isaiah excels all the world in almost every kind of composition.-The Evangelists are eminent as orators and historians. St. Peter, St. James, St. Luke, and St. John, are also authors of no ordinary rank; and St. Paul is the most sublime of writers and eloquent of orators. All these eulogiums upon the sacred penmen are spoken of them merely as authors, without the slightest reference to their higher order as inspired writers, and messengers of the Lord of Hosts. If this last consideration be taken into the account, and added to the former, what an all-important book must the Bible be? What a blessing to mankind? Language cannot adequately express the value of it." BALLS. "SOME amusements," says Rev. J. A. James," tend to foster vanity and pride, while, at the same time, they generate a distaste for all the serious pursuits of religion and the sober occupations of domestic life. If I mistake not, these remarks will apply to balls, routs, and concerts. I am not quite sure that the morals of society have not suffered considerable deterioration by assemblies. Circumstances are connected with this species of amusement, the tendency of which is more than questionable. The mode of dress adopted at these fashionable resorts; the nature of the employment; the dissipating tendency of the music, the conversation, and the elegant uproar; the lateness of the hour to which the dazzling scene is protracted; the love of display which is produced; the false varnish which is thrown over many a worthless character by the fascinating exterior which he exhibits in a ball-room, have a tendency to break down the mounds of virtue and expose the character to the encroachments of vice. And if it were conceded, which it certainly cannot be, that no immoral consequence results to those who occupy the upper walks of life, who are protected by the decorum of elegant society, yet what mischief is produced to their humble imitators who attend the assemblies which are held in the barn or the ale-house! I look upon dancing among them to be a practice fraught with immorality; and my soul is horrified at this moment by remembering the details of a most tragic event which occurred in the neighbourhood a few years since to an interesting female, who, after having lost her virtue on the night that followed the dance, was found a few hours after murdered either by her seducer or by herself. Have nothing to do, then, with this fascinating though injurious species of amusement. How completely does it unfit the soul for piety, and even the necesssary occupations of domestic life!" |