Works of John Bunyan Volume III Part 166

XXI. The price of the first part will be an easier purchase than of the whole; and all in one volume would be somewhat too big in bulk and price.

XXII. There is need of printing these books now, because errors and superst.i.tions, like the smoke of the bottomless pit, darken protestants understanding the purer truths of the gospel.

XXIII. And when this first part is sold off, we shall endeavour to publish a second part, whereby he that is wiling may have the whole in folio.

XXIV. This preservation will preserve the name of John Bunyan, a champion of our age to future ages; whereby it may be said in the pulpit, The great convert Bunyan said so and so.

XXV. If the labours of so eminent a minister should not be preserved, I known not whose should.

XXVI. Antichristian people are diligent to preserve the works of their eminent men; and therefore Christians should be diligent to preserve theirs.

XXVII. The chief reasons we argue from are not common rules, that therefore every good minister's endeavours ought to be printed in folio. But this case is extraordinary, as an eminent minister, made so by abundance of gospel grace, who has also writ much, which hath gone off well. I say eminent, though he was, when young, profane, and had not school education to enable him, as is apparent to all that knew him.

XXVIII. By this printed in folio a man may have recourse for satisfaction in a case of conscience to any of these particular books with the rest, which otherwise are not to be bought; and that I have proved by often trying most London booksellers, and before that given them above twice the price for a book; and I know not how to get another of those sorts for any price whatsoever.

XXIX. All these things, or half of them, beside many others that might be given, being considered, I cannot see but it is an absolute duty.

x.x.x. And lastly (pardon me, if I speak too great a word, as it may seem to some to be borne), all things considered; that is, his own former profaneness, poverty, unlearnedness, together with his great natural parts, the great change made by grace, and his long imprisonment, and the great maturity in grace and preaching he attained to, I say our deceased Bunyan hath not left in England, or the world, his equal behind him, as I know of. And this is the unfeigned belief of,

Your Christian brother,

CHARLES DOE.

THE STRUGGLER

(FOR THE PRECEDING PRESERVATION OF MR. JOHN BUNYAN'S LABOURS IN FOLIO) THINKS IT MAY ANSWER THE DESIRES OF MANY TO GIVE THE FOLLOWING RELATION:--

CHRISTIAN READER,

I do here as further duty presume to give you, according to my understanding, a relation in three parts, concerning our eminent author, Mr. John Bunyan, and his labours.

I. The author's parentage, imprisonment, times, and manner of his life and death, &c.

II. Relations and observations upon his labours, &c.

III. Notes on printing this folio and index, &c.

First, Our excellent author, by the abundant grace of G.o.d, Mr.

John Bunyan, was born at Elstow, a mile side of Bedford, about the year 1628. His father was mean, and by trade a mender of pots and kettles, vulgarly called a tinker, and of the national religion, as commonly men of that trade are, and was brought up to the tinkering trade, as also were several of his brothers, whereat he worked about that country,[6] being also very profane and poor, even when married, &c.

But it pleased G.o.d, by his irresistible grace, to work in him some convictions and fears of h.e.l.l, and also desires of heaven, which drove him to reading and hearing of religious matters, so, controlling grace growing abundantly, he did not take up religion upon trust, but grace in him continually struggling with himself and others, took all advantages he lit on to ripen his understanding in religion, and so he lit on the dissenting congregation of Christians at Bedford, and was, upon confession of faith, baptized about the year 1651, o 52, or 53.

And after a little time, having a gift of utterance, and love to the conviction of sinners, preached about the country the same salvation he found by experience himself stood in need of, by faith and repentance, and worked at his tinkering trade for a livelihood, whereby the reigning grace of G.o.d appeared the more sovereign and glorious in this choice, even as it shone in the choice of Peter, a fisherman, and the rest of the apostles, and others of the eminent saints of old, most of them tradesmen, and of whom most excellent things are spoken, &c.

In the year 1660, being the year king Charles returned to England, having preached about[7] five years, the rage of gospel enemies was so great that, November 12, they took him prisoner at a meeting of good people, and put him in Bedford jail, and there he continued about six years, and then was let out again, 1666, being the year of the burning of London, and, a little after his release, they took him again at a meeting, and put him in the same jail, where he lay six years more.[8] Before they took him his intent was to preach on these words, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of G.o.d?'

(John 9:35). From whence he intended to show the absolute need of faith in Jesus Christ. And after he was released again, they took him again, and put him in prison the third time, but that proved but for about half a year.

Whilst he was thus twelve years and a half in prison, he writ several of his published books, as by many of their epistles appears, as 'Pray by the Spirit,' 'Holy City,' 'Resurrection,' 'Grace Abounding,'

and others, also 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' as himself and many others have said.

The pastor of Bedford congregation died, and, after some years'

vacancy, John Bunyan, though a prisoner, was, by the church, called to the pastoral office, December 21, 1671, and as it pleased the Lord to rule the rage of men, it proved in or about the last year of his twelve years' imprisonment. And, being out, he preached the gospel publicly at Bedford, and about the counties, and at London, with very great success, being mightily followed everywhere. And it pleased the Lord to preserve him out of the hands of his enemies in the severe persecution at the latter end of king Charles the Second's reign, though they often searched and laid wait for him, and sometimes narrowly missed him.

In 1688, he published six books, being the time of king James the Second's liberty of conscience, and was seized with a sweating distemper, which, after his some weeks going about, proved his death, at his very loving friend's, Mr. Strudwick's, a grocer, at Holborn Bridge, London, on August 31, 1688, and in the 60th year of his age, and was buried in Finsbury burying-ground, where many London dissenting ministers are laid; and it proved some days above a month before our great gospel deliverance was begun by the Prince of Orange's landing, whom the Lord of his continued blessing hath since made our preserving king, William the Third.

And as to his family, he left his widow, Elizabeth, and three sons, John, Thomas, and Joseph, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary; but his blind daughter he writes of in his 'Grace Abounding' died some years before him, and his widow died 1690-1.

Secondly, Concerning his labours; G.o.d did give of his extraordinary grace of the gospel to our author, Bunyan, and it is worthy our observation, for thereby G.o.d may have due honour, his people comfort, and adversaries confuted in their several corrupt notions, especially that of only them that have school education are fitly qualified for ministers of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

And also hereby the superst.i.tious man is confounded in his way of wors.h.i.+p, as were his predecessors, the rulers of the Jews, in the case of Peter and John, saying, Whence had these men this knowledge, seeing they are unlearned? but there was and is a reason beyond their false rules of education--for they had been with Jesus.

This is also apt to convince sincere-hearted Christians that G.o.d can, when he will, make a minister of his gospel, and send him forth in the power of his Spirit, and defend him, nay, may I say, it is G.o.d's prerogative to make his gospel-ministers, and he makes them effectual to all the ends of his gospel, to preach, as the great apostle saith, in season and out of season, to abase and abound, &c. He that can make the dry bones live (as in Eze 37), what can he not do? yea, they shall live, and become a great host, and antichristian arts must fall; for the Lord doth make his servants, as he did Jeremiah, as brazen walls against people and priests.

And however some subtilly and vain-gloriously pretend to be the only lawful successors of the apostles, yet certain I am, from safer reason of faith, that our author Bunyan was really, sincerely, and effectually a lawful successor of the apostles, and as lawful as any have been above this thousand years. Nay, may I say, he was a second Paul; for that his conversion was in a great measure like that great apostle's, who, of a great enemy to G.o.dliness, was, by strong and irresistible workings of sovereign grace, made a great minister of, and sufferer for, the gospel. Thousands of Christians in country and city, can testify that their comfort under his ministry has been to admiration, so that their joy hath showed itself by much weeping.

To the eye of carnal reason it may seem that the great apostle Paul's imprisonment was a contradiction to his commission of effectually preaching the gospel to many countries; especially considering his commission was strengthened by his miraculous conversion, from the glory and call of the Lord Jesus from heaven, for the making of him such a great gospel preacher. And yet G.o.d suffered it so to be, and we have reason to believe for the best; because G.o.d usually works those seeming contrary things to his own end and glory. And the effect was, the saints were strengthened thereby, and several epistles were written thereby, which hath preserved much of the gospel in writing to the ages after, and even for our very great and needful help.

And I reckon I shall not be out of the way, if I observe and say--What hath the devil or his agents gotten by putting our great gospel-ministry, Bunyan, in prison? for in prison, as before mentioned, he wrote many excellent books, that have published to the world his great grace, and great truth, and great judgment, and great ingenuity; and to instance in one, the Pilgrim's Progress, he hath suited to the life of a traveler so exactly and pleasantly, and to the life of a Christian, that this very book, besides the rest, hath done the superst.i.tious sort of men and their practice more harm, or rather good, as I may call it, than if he had been let alone at his meeting at Bedford, to preach the gospel to his own auditory, as it might have fallen out; for none but priest-ridden people know how to cavil at it, it wins so smoothly upon their affections, and so insensibly distils the gospel into them, and hath been printed in France, Holland, New England, and in Welsh, and about a hundred thousand in England, whereby they are made some means of grace, and the author become famous; and may be the cause of spreading his other gospel-books over the European and American world, and in process of time may be so to the whole universe.

When Mr. Bunyan preached in London, if there were but one day's notice given, there would be more people come together to hear him preach than the meeting-house would hold. I have seen to hear him preach, by my computation, about twelve hundred at a morning lecture, by seven o'clock, on a working day, in the dark winter time. I also computed about three thousand that came to hear him one Lord's-day, at London, at a town's end meeting-house; so that half were fain to go back again for want of room, and then himself was fain, at a back door, to be pulled almost over people to get upstairs to his pulpit.

Mr. Bunyan's dispute with a scholar to this effect.

As Mr. Bunyan was upon the road near Cambridge, there overtakes him a scholar that had observed him a preacher, and said to him, How dare you preach, seeing you have not the original, being not a scholar?

Then said Mr. Bunyan, Have you the original?

Yes, said the scholar.

Nay, but, said Mr. Bunyan, have you the very self-same original copies that were written by the penmen of the scriptures, prophets and apostles?

No, said the scholar, but we have the true copies of those originals.

How do you know that? said Mr. Bunyan.

How? said the scholar. Why, we believe what we have is a true copy of the original.

Then, said Mr. Bunyan, so do I believe our English Bible is a true copy of the original.

Then away rid the scholar.

Another dispute with a scholar.

As Mr. Bunyan was preaching in a barn, and showing the fewness of those that should be saved, there stood one of the learned to take advantage of his words; and having done preaching, the schoolman said to him, You are a deceiver, a person of no charity, and therefore not fit to preach; for he that in effect condemneth the greatest part of his hearers hath no charity, and therefore not fit to preach.

Then Mr. Bunyan answered--The Lord Jesus Christ preached in a s.h.i.+p to his hearers on the sh.o.r.e (Matt 13); and showed that they were as four sorts of ground--The high-way, The stony, The th.o.r.n.y, and The good ground; whereof the good ground was the only persons to be saved.

And your position is--That he that in effect condementh the greatest part of his hearers hath no charity, and therefore not fit to preach the gospel.