Part 1 — FROM MOUNT GERIZZIM. (continued 2)

XXXII.

UPON THE WHIPPING OF A TOP.

'Tis with the whip the boy sets up the top, The whip makes it run round upon its toe; The whip makes it hither and thither hop: 'Tis with the whip the top is made to go.

Comparison.

Our legalist is like unto this top, Without a whip he doth not duty do; Let Moses whip him, he will skip and hop; Forbear to whip, he'll neither stand nor go.

XXXIII.

UPON THE PISMIRE.

Must we unto the pismire go to school, To learn of her in summer to provide For winter next ensuing. Man's a fool, Or silly ants would not be made his guide. But, sluggard, is it not a shame for thee To be outdone by pismires? Pr'ythee hear: Their works, too, will thy condemnation be When at the judgment-seat thou shalt appear. But since thy God doth bid thee to her go, Obey, her ways consider, and be wise; The piss-ant tell thee will what thou must do, And set the way to life before thine eyes.

XXXIV.

UPON THE BEGGAR.

He wants, he asks, he pleads his poverty, They within doors do him an alms deny. He doth repeat and aggravate his grief, But they repulse him, give him no relief. He begs, they say, Begone; he will not hear, But coughs, sighs, and makes signs he still is there; They disregard him, he repeats his groans; They still say nay, and he himself bemoans. They grow more rugged, they call him vagrant; He cries the shriller, trumpets out his want. At last, when they perceive he'll take no nay, An alms they give him without more delay.

Comparison.

This beggar doth resemble them that pray To God for mercy, and will take no nay, But wait, and count that all his hard gainsays Are nothing else but fatherly delays; Then imitate him, praying souls, and cry: There's nothing like to importunity.

XXXV.

UPON THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

There's one rides very sagely on the road, Showing that he affects the gravest mode. Another rides tantivy, or full trot, To show much gravity he matters not. Lo, here comes one amain, he rides full speed, Hedge, ditch, nor miry bog, he doth not heed. One claws it up-hill without stop or check, Another down as if he'd break his neck. Now every horse has his especial guider; Then by his going you may know the rider.

Comparison.

Now let us turn our horse into a man, His rider to a spirit, if we can. Then let us, by the methods of the guider, Tell every horse how he should know his rider. Some go, as men, direct in a right way, Nor are they suffered to go astray; As with a bridle they are governed, And kept from paths which lead unto the dead. Now this good man has his especial guider, Then by his going let him know his rider. Some go as if they did not greatly care, Whether of heaven or hell they should be heir. The rein, it seems, is laid upon their neck, They seem to go their way without a check. Now this man too has his especial guider, And by his going he may know his rider. Some again run as if resolved to die, Body and soul, to all eternity. Good counsel they by no means can abide; They'll have their course whatever them betide. Now these poor men have their especial guider, Were they not fools they soon might know their rider. There's one makes head against all godliness, Those too, that do profess it, he'll distress; He'll taunt and flout if goodness doth appear, And at its countenancers mock and jeer. Now this man, too, has his especial guider, And by his going he might know his rider.

XXXVI.

UPON THE SIGHT OF A POUND OF CANDLES FALLING TO THE GROUND.

But be the candles down, and scattered too, Some lying here, some there? What shall we do? Hold, light the candle there that stands on high, It you may find the other candles by. Light that, I say, and so take up the pound You did let fall and scatter on the ground.

Comparison.

The fallen candles do us intimate The bulk of God's elect in their laps'd state; Their lying scattered in the dark may be To show, by man's lapsed state, his misery. The candle that was taken down and lighted, Thereby to find them fallen and benighted, Is Jesus Christ; God, by his light, doth gather Who he will save, and be unto a Father.

XXXVII.

UPON A PENNY LOAF.

Thy price one penny is in time of plenty, In famine doubled, 'tis from one to twenty. Yea, no man knows what price on thee to set When there is but one penny loaf to get.

Comparison.

This loaf's an emblem of the Word of God, A thing of low esteem before the rod Of famine smites the soul with fear of death, But then it is our all, our life, our breath.[36]

XXXVIII.

THE BOY AND WATCHMAKER.

This watch my father did on me bestow, A golden one it is, but 'twill not go, Unless it be at an uncertainty: But as good none as one to tell a lie. When 'tis high day my hand will stand at nine; I think there's no man's watch so bad as mine. Sometimes 'tis sullen, 'twill not go at all, And yet 'twas never broke nor had a fall.

Watchmaker.

Your watch, though it be good, through want of skill May fail to do according to your will. Suppose the balance, wheels, and springs be good, And all things else, unless you understood To manage it, as watches ought to be, Your watch will still be at uncertainty. Come, tell me, do you keep it from the dust, Yea, wind it also duly up you must? Take heed, too, that you do not strain the spring; You must be circumspect in every thing, Or else your watch, were it as good again, Would not with time and tide you entertain.

Comparison.

This boy an emblem is of a convert, His watch of the work of grace within his heart, The watchmaker is Jesus Christ our Lord, His counsel, the directions of his Word; Then convert, if thy heart be out of frame, Of this watchmaker learn to mend the same. Do not lay ope' thy heart to worldly dust, Nor let thy graces over-grow with rust, Be oft' renewed in the' spirit of thy mind, Or else uncertain thou thy watch wilt find.

XXXIX.

UPON A LOOKING-GLASS.

In this see thou thy beauty, hast thou any, Or thy defects, should they be few or many. Thou may'st, too, here thy spots and freckles see, Hast thou but eyes, and what their numbers be. But art thou blind? There is no looking-glass Can show thee thy defects, thy spots, or face.

Comparison.

Unto this glass we may compare the Word, For that to man advantage doth afford (Has he a mind to know himself and state), To see what will be his eternal fate. But without eyes, alas! how can he see? Many that seem to look here, blind men be. This is the reason they so often read Their judgment there, and do it nothing dread.

XL.

OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST.

The love of Christ, poor I! may touch upon; But 'tis unsearchable. O! there is none Its large dimensions can comprehend Should they dilate thereon world without end. When we had sinned, in his zeal he sware, That he upon his back our sins would bear. And since unto sin is entailed death, He vowed for our sins he'd lose his breath. He did not only say, vow, or resolve, But to astonishment did so involve Himself in man's distress and misery, As for, and with him, both to live and die. To his eternal fame in sacred story, We find that he did lay aside his glory, Stepped from the throne of highest dignity, Became poor man, did in a manger lie; Yea, was beholden unto his for bread, Had, of his own, not where to lay his head; Though rich, he did for us become thus poor, That he might make us rich for evermore. Nor was this but the least of what he did, But the outside of what he suffered? God made his blessed son under the law, Under the curse, which, like the lion's paw, Did rent and tear his soul for mankind's sin, More than if we for it in hell had been. His cries, his tears, and bloody agony, The nature of his death doth testify. Nor did he of constraint himself thus give, For sin, to death, that man might with him live. He did do what he did most willingly, He sung, and gave God thanks, that he must die. But do kings use to die for captive slaves? Yet we were such when Jesus died to save's. Yea, when he made himself a sacrifice, It was that he might save his enemies. And though he was provoked to retract His blest resolves for such so good an act, By the abusive carriages of those That did both him, his love, and grace oppose; Yet he, as unconcerned with such things, Goes on, determines to make captives kings; Yea, many of his murderers he takes Into his favour, and them princes makes.

XLI.

ON THE CACKLING OF A HEN.

The hen, so soon as she an egg doth lay, (Spreads the fame of her doing what she may.) About the yard she cackling now doth go, To tell what 'twas she at her nest did do. Just thus it is with some professing men, If they do ought that good is, like our hen They can but cackle on't where e'er they go, What their right hand doth their left hand must know.

XLII.

UPON AN HOUR-GLASS.

This glass, when made, was, by the workman's skill, The sum of sixty minutes to fulfil. Time, more nor less, by it will out be spun, But just an hour, and then the glass is run. Man's life we will compare unto this glass, The number of his months he cannot pass; But when he has accomplished his day, He, like a vapour, vanisheth away.

XLIII.

UPON A SNAIL.

She goes but softly, but she goeth sure, She stumbles not, as stronger creatures do. Her journey's shorter, so she may endure Better than they which do much farther go. She makes no noise, but stilly seizeth on The flower or herb appointed for her food, The which she quietly doth feed upon While others range and glare, but find no good. And though she doth but very softly go, However, 'tis not fast nor slow, but sure; And certainly they that do travel so, The prize they do aim at they do procure.

Comparison.

Although they seem not much to stir, less go, For Christ that hunger, or from wrath that flee, Yet what they seek for quickly they come to, Though it doth seem the farthest off to be. One act of faith doth bring them to that flower They so long for, that they may eat and live, Which, to attain, is not in others power, Though for it a king's ransom they would give. Then let none faint, nor be at all dismayed That life by Christ do seek, they shall not fail To have it; let them nothing be afraid; The herb and flower are eaten by the snail.[37]

XLIV.

OF THE SPOUSE OF CHRIST.

Who's this that cometh from the wilderness, Like smokey pillars thus perfum'd with myrrh, Leaning upon her dearest in distress, Led into's bosom by the Comforter? She's clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, The spotted moon her footstool she hath made. The dragon her assaults, fills her with jars, Yet rests she under her Beloved's shade, But whence was she? what is her pedigree? Was not her father a poor Amorite? What was her mother but as others be, A poor, a wretched, and a sinful Hittite. Yea, as for her, the day that she was born, As loathsome, out of doors they did her cast; Naked and filthy, stinking and forlorn; This was her pedigree from first to last. Nor was she pitied in this estate, All let her lie polluted in her blood: None her condition did commiserate, There was no heart that sought to do her good. Yet she unto these ornaments is come, Her breasts are fashioned, her hair is grown; She is made heiress of the best kingdom; All her indignities away are blown. Cast out she was, but now she home is taken, Naked (sometimes), but now, you see, she's cloth'd; Now made the darling, though before forsaken, Barefoot, but now as princes' daughters shod. Instead of filth, she now has her perfumes; Instead of ignominy, her chains of gold: Instead of what the beauty most consumes, Her beauty's perfect, lovely to behold. Those that attend and wait upon her be Princes of honour, clothed in white array; Upon her head's a crown of gold, and she Eats wheat, honey, and oil, from day to day. For her beloved, he's the high'st of all, The only Potentate, the King of kings: Angels and men do him Jehovah call, And from him life and glory always springs. He's white and ruddy, and of all the chief: His head, his locks, his eyes, his hands, and feet, Do, for completeness, out-go all belief; His cheeks like flowers are, his mouth most sweet. As for his wealth, he is made heir of all; What is in heaven, what is on earth is his: And he this lady his joint-heir doth call, Of all that shall be, or at present is. Well, lady, well, God has been good to thee; Thou of an outcast, now art made a queen. Few, or none, may with thee compared be, A beggar made thus high is seldom seen. Take heed of pride, remember what thou art By nature, though thou hast in grace a share, Thou in thyself dost yet retain a part Of thine own filthiness; wherefore beware.

XLV.

UPON A SKILFUL PLAYER OF AN INSTRUMENT.

He that can play well on an instrument, Will take the ear, and captivate the mind With mirth or sadness; for that it is bent Thereto, as music in it place doth find. But if one hears that hath therein no skill, (As often music lights of such a chance) Of its brave notes they soon be weary will: And there are some can neither sing nor dance.

Comparison.

Unto him that thus skilfully doth play, God doth compare a gospel-minister, That rightly preacheth, and doth godly pray, Applying truly what doth thence infer. This man, whether of wrath or grace he preach, So skilfully doth handle every word; And by his saying doth the heart so reach, That it doth joy or sigh before the Lord. But some there be, which, as the brute, doth lie Under the Word, without the least advance Godward; such do despise the ministry; They weep not at it, neither to it dance.

XLVI.

OF MAN BY NATURE.

From God he's a backslider, Of ways he loves the wider; With wickedness a sider, More venom than a spider. In sin he's a considerer, A make-bate and divider; Blind reason is his guider, The devil is his rider.

XLVII.

UPON THE DISOBEDIENT CHILD.

Children become, while little, our delights! When they grow bigger, they begin to fright's. Their sinful nature prompts them to rebel, And to delight in paths that lead to hell. Their parents' love and care they overlook, As if relation had them quite forsook. They take the counsels of the wanton's, rather Than the most grave instructions of a father. They reckon parents ought to do for them, Though they the fifth commandment do contemn; They snap and snarl if parents them control, Though but in things most hurtful to the soul. They reckon they are masters, and that we Who parents are, should to them subject be! If parents fain would have a hand in choosing, The children have a heart will in refusing. They'll by wrong doings, under parents gather, And say it is no sin to rob a father. They'll jostle parents out of place and power, They'll make themselves the head, and them devour. How many children, by becoming head, Have brought their parents to a piece of bread! Thus they who, at the first, were parents joy, Turn that to bitterness, themselves destroy. But, wretched child, how canst thou thus requite Thy aged parents, for that great delight They took in thee, when thou, as helpless, lay In their indulgent bosoms day by day? Thy mother, long before she brought thee forth, Took care thou shouldst want neither food nor cloth. Thy father glad was at his very heart, Had he to thee a portion to impart. Comfort they promised themselves in thee, But thou, it seems, to them a grief wilt be. How oft, how willingly brake they their sleep, If thou, their bantling, didst but winch or weep. Their love to thee was such they could have giv'n, That thou mightst live, almost their part of heav'n. But now, behold how they rewarded are! For their indulgent love and tender care; All is forgot, this love he doth despise. They brought this bird up to pick out their eyes.

XLVIII.

UPON A SHEET OF WHITE PAPER.

This subject is unto the foulest pen, Or fairest handled by the sons of men. 'Twill also show what is upon it writ, Be it wisely, or nonsense for want of wit, Each blot and blur it also will expose To thy next readers, be they friends or foes.

Comparison.

Some souls are like unto this blank or sheet, Though not in whiteness. The next man they meet, If wise or fool, debauched or deluder, Or what you will, the dangerous intruder May write thereon, to cause that man to err In doctrine or in life, with blot and blur. Nor will that soul conceal from who observes, But show how foul it is, wherein it swerves. A reading man may know who was the writer, And, by the hellish nonsense, the inditer.

XLIX.

UPON FIRE.

Who falls into the fire shall burn with heat; While those remote scorn from it to retreat. Yea, while those in it, cry out, O! I burn, Some farther off those cries to laughter turn.

Comparison.

While some tormented are in hell for sin; On earth some greatly do delight therein. Yea, while some make it echo with their cry, Others count it a fable and a lie.[38]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Bunyan's poem in the Holy War.

[2] On the leaf following the title to One Thing is Needful, &c., by John Bunyan, 1688. A rare little 32mo, published by the author, in possession of the Editor.

[3] At the end of Grace Abounding, the sixth edition, and also in The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, by Bunyan, 1688.

[4] Advertised in the eighth edition of Solomon's Temple Spiritualized.

[5] In Youth Directed and Instructed—a curious little book for children.

[6] Square 24mo., by Bennet, Gurney, and others, without date.

[7] Sturt engraved the Book of Common Prayer; some French artists elegantly etched two of their devotional books; and Pyne engraved the texts of Horace and Virgil with beautiful vignettes.

[8] Altered to 'huge' in the Emblems, 1724.

[9] A familiar phrase, denoting persons who have been always frivolous and childish, or those who have passed into second childhood. 'On the shelf' is a common saying of ladies when they are too old to get married.—Ed.

[10] The name of a bird that mimics gestures.—Ed.

[11] Indelible, as when raw material is dyed before it is wove, every grain receives the dye.—Ed.

[12] For this use of the word 'handle,' see Jeremiah 2:8. 'They that handle the law.'—Ed.

[13] This word, with pismire and emmet, has become obsolete. 'Ant' is the term now universally used.—Ed.

[14] See Psalm 84:3; Leviticus 11:16; Numbers 20.

[15] A machine used in the manufacture of cloth, on which it is stretched.—Ed.

[16] Spiders being venomous was a vulgar error, universally believed, until modern discoveries have proved the contrary, excepting a few foreign species.—Ed.

[17] This is a scriptural idea of the inhabitants of heaven. Revelation 11:8, saints 'small and great.' Matthew 19:28: 'The Son of man on his throne, and the twelve apostles on their thrones.' Revelation 4:10: 'Four and twenty elders on their thrones.' Revelation 5:11: 'An innumerable company of worshippers.'—Ed.

[18] In an ancient battledore or horn-book, and in one of Henry VIII's primers, both in the editor's possession, this sentence is translated—'And let us not be led into temptation.'—Ed.

[19] When divine light first dawns upon the soul, and reveals sin, O how difficult is it to conclude that sin is pardoned, and the sinner blest!—Ed.

[20] The swallow is remarkably swift in flight; 'their note is a slight twittering, which they seldom if ever exert but upon the wing.'—Goldsmith's Natural History.—Ed.

[21] 'Be in print'; a proverbial expression, to show order and regularity; like type in print.—Ed.

[22] 'Ley'; barren or fallow, uncultivated, generally spelt lea.—Ed.

[23] This riddle is solved in the fourth line following. The light of the fear and love of God begins in the middle of our bodily frame, with the heart. Bunyan's love of religious riddles is seen in the second part of the Pilgrimage, when Christian is resting at the house of Gaius.—Ed.

[24] Convictions of sin make the soul turn from sin.—Ed.

[25] This character is admirably drawn in the second part of the Pilgrim's Progress—Mr. Brisk, a suitor to Mercy.—Ed.

[26] Preterite of the verb 'to save,' from the Saxon agan, to be held or bound by moral obligation.—Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.

[27] What folly, nay, madness, for man to pretend to make God of a little flour, or to rely for forgiveness of sin on a wafer, a bit of bread, or a little wine or water. How degraded is he that pretends to believe such palpable absurdities.—Ed.

[28] This is one of Bunyan's keen, shrewd, home thrusts. Clothes professedly made to hide what they studiously display!!—Ed.

[29] Possessed me with, or has given me possession of.—Ed.

[30] Man's sinfulness, by nature and practice, justly, but awfully described.—Mason.

[31] See Proverbs 30:20, and Pilgrim's Progress. There is also a very striking allusion to the subject of this emblem, in Bunyan's Light in Darkness.

[32] He who, in riper years, seeks happiness in sensual gratification, is a child in understanding: he only changes his toys.—Ed.

[33] 'To the one, a savour of death unto death; and to the other, a savour of life unto life' (2 Cor 2:16).

[34] 'Trapan' is the Saxon verb to ensnare, modernized to trap.—Ed.

[35] How agonizing will be the cry of the lost soul—'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved' (Jer 8:20).—Ed. Upon the brittle thread of life hang everlasting things.—Mason.

[36] When the Word of God dwells in us richly in all wisdom, then will the peace of God rule in our hearts, and we shall be sweetly inclined to every good thought, word, and work.—Ed.

[37] If the crawling snail finds food, wherefore do ye doubt, O! ye of little faith.—Ed.

[38] Fools make a mock at sin. The scorner occupies a proud, an elevated seat, which will sink under him, and crush him down to everlasting destruction. The threatenings and promises of God stand sure for ever.—Ed

***

THE STRUGGLER;

CONTAINING

THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER IN WHICH MR. BUNYAN'S BOOKS WERE PUBLISHED, AND THE NUMBER OF EDITIONS THEY PASSED THROUGH DURING HIS LIFE.

THIRTY REASONS WHY CHRISTIAN PEOPLE SHOULD PROMOTE THEIR CIRCULATION, AND THE STRUGGLER FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THESE LABOURS.—PUBLISHED IN 1691.

BY CHARLES DOE, ONE OF MR. BUNYAN'S PERSONAL FRIENDS.

A CATALOGUE-TABLE OF MR. BUNYAN'S BOOKS.

AND

THEIR SUCCESSION IN PUBLISHING, MOST ACCORDING TO HIS OWN RECKONING.

Note.—Those that are in Italic letter are them that compose the first folio: And the rest are intended, when time serves, for a second folio.[1]

1. Gospel truths opened, 1656 2. A vindication of that [sm. 4to] 1657 3. Sighs from Hell (9 Impressions), [1650] 4. The 2 Covenants Law and Grace 5. I will pray with the Spirit, 1663 6. A map of salvation, &c., [A broadside] 7. The four last things (3 Impressions), 8. Mount Ebal and Gerizim, 9. Prison Meditations, 10. The Holy City, &c., 1665 11. The Resurrection, &c., 1665 12. Grace Abounding (6 Impressions), [1666] 13. Justification by Jesus Christ, [sm. 4to] 1671 14. Confession of Faith, &c., 1672 15. Difference in Judgment, &c., 1673 16. Peaceable principles, &c., 1674 17. Election and Reprobation, &c., [sm. 4to] [No date] 18. Light for them in Darkness, 19. Christian Behaviour (4 Impressions), 20. Instructions for the Ignorant, 1675 21. Saved by Grace, 22. The Strait-Gate, 1676 23. The Pilgrim's Progress (12 Impressions), [1678] 24. The Fear of God, 1679 25. Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ (4 Impressions) 26. The Holy War (3 Impressions) 1682 27. The Barren Fig Tree, 28. The Greatness of the Soul, &c., [1683] 29. A case of Conscience of prayer, [sm. 4to] [1683] 30. Advice to Sufferers, 1684 31. The 2d pt. Pilgrim's Progress (3 Impressions), [1684] 32. Life and Death of Mr. Badman,[2] [1680] 33. Holy Life the beauty of Christianity, 34. The Pharisee and Publican, 1685 35. A caution against Sin, [a sheet] [1684] 36. Meditations on 74 things, 37. The first-day Sabbath, 1685 38. The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, 1688 39. Jesus Christ an advocate, 1688 40. The House of God, 1688 41. The Water of Life, 1688 42. Solomon's Temple Spiritualized, [1688] 43. The Excell. of a broken heart, [1689] 44. His last Sermon at London, 1688

Twelve Manuscripts part of the first folio 1692 45. Exposit. on 10 first chap. of Genesis, 46. Justification by Imputed Righteousness, 47. Paul's departure and crown, 48. Of the Trinity and a Christian, 49. Of the Law and a Christian, 50. Israel's Hope encouraged, 51. Desires of the righteous granted, 52. The unsearchable riches of Christ, 53. Christ Compleat Saviour in's Interest, 54. Saint's Knowledge of Christ's love, 55. House of the Forest of Lebanon, 56. A description of Antichirst,

Four Manuscripts yet unprinted. 57. A Christian Dialogue.[3] 58. The Heavenly Footman.[4] 59. A Pocket Concordance.[3] 60. An Account of his Imprisonment.[5]

Here's sixty pieces of his labours, and he was sixty years of age.

He was born at Elstow, nigh Bedford, about 1628. And about 1652 was, by irresistible grace, converted: and in 1660 he had preached five years, and then, for that, was thrown into Bedford Gaol; and in 1671 was called to the pastoral office at Bedford, being the 11th of his twelve years and an half's imprisonment; and died at London, Aug. 31, 1688.

[Where the date is in brackets it is supplied from original copies in the Editor's possession.]

REASONS

WHY CHRISTIAN PEOPLE SHOULD PROMOTE BY SUBSCRIPTIONS THE PRINTING IN FOLIO THE LABOURS OF MR. JOHN BUNYAN, LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, AND PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATION AT BEDFORD.

I. He was a very able and excellent minister of the gospel; viz., able to express himself, and had excellent matter known to all Christians that have heard him preach.

II. He became thus able and excellent a minister by a great degree of Gospel Grace bestowed upon his own soul, more than probable for that very end; for that God wrought him from a very great profane sinner, and an illiterate poor man, to this profound understanding the true or genuine spiritual meaning of the Scriptures, whereby he could experimentally preach to souls with power, and affection, and apostolical learning, the true nature of the gospel.

III. God's bestowing such great grace, to turn so great a sinner, to make such a great gospel labourer, and thrust him into his harvest, argues there was great need, and therefore without question his labours ought to be preserved.

IV. Our Bunyan being so graciously, by the Lord of the harvest, thrust into labour, clearly shows to us, (and may by this preservation to future ages), that God is not bound to human means of learned education (though learning may be useful in its place), but can, when he will, make a minister of the gospel without man's forecast of education, and in spite of all the men in the world that would oppose it, though it be above sixteen hundred years after the apostles.

V. Many thousands had the soul benefit and comfort of his ministry to astonishment, as if an angel or an apostle had touched their souls with a coal of holy fire from the altar.

VI. This excellent operation of the special grace of God in him, and the gift of utterance when he preached, confounded the wisdom of his adversaries that heard him, or heard of him, he being, as it is commonly called, unlearned, or had not school education.

VII. For all these reasons before-mentioned, of the spirituality of his preaching, his labours in writing deserve preservation by printing as much as any other famous man's that have writ since the apostles' time.

VIII. Moreover he hath been a Christian sufferer for above twelve years, by imprisonment, whereby he sealed to the truth he preached.

IX. Yet, for all that imprisonment, he preached then, and there, and afterwards abroad, as a faithful labourer for the salvation of souls.

X. And he was not a man that preached by way of bargain for money, for he hath refused a more plentiful income to keep his station.

XI. And his moderation, or desire of money, was as the apostle Paul's practice, below his privilege; so that he did not, when he died, leave much wealth to his family.

XII. And the Church that wants such a pastor may find it long before they get one, and therefore ought to respect our Bunyan's labours.

XIII. If God had not put it into the heart of some Christians or Church to preserve the Epistles of the Apostle to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and others, we in this age of the world should in all probability never have known that there ever were any such Christians and doctrines; their names and doctrines might have been lost, and we might have perished, and that would have been dreadful; for God mostly works by second causes.

XIV. And why should any Christian people, that have reason to reckon themselves obliged herein, set themselves aside from communicating to other Christians and the ages to come the gospel labours of so eminent a minister as God so graciously honoured and assisted them with?

XV. And if these labours (of, as I may say, an apostle of our age, if we have any) are not preserved by printing thus in folio, most of them in all probability will be lost, for there are many of them have been out of print many years, and will never otherwise be printed again because of the charge, &c.

XVI. By the late Act for liberty of conscience, it is lawful now to print the works of dissenters, though it was not so formerly; therefore much danger cannot plead excuse.

XVII. It is a good work without controversy, and therefore there can be no scruple of conscience about its pleasing God.

XVIII. There is also to the subscribers a further benefit in this folio; for, whereas these twenty books would, if bought single, cost nigh twenty shillings now, as printed in folio they will have them for about twelve shillings bound together in one volume, which conveniency also prevents losing.

XIX. These ten manuscripts, which were never before printed, would, if printed in small books, and bought single, cost almost the money that these twenty in folio comes for, which is great odds.

XX. Not to preserve his labours and name, which are so great, is a disingenuous slighting or despising them, and serving them no better than a wicked man's that rots. Bunyan hath preached, and freely bestowed many a good and gospel-truth, and soul-reviving expression; for which of them doth any of his friends slight him? Nay, do not they rather owe him something for his labour he bestowed on them, as Philemon did to Paul?

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 superstitions, 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.

XXX. 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 God, 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 God, by his irresistible grace, to work in him some convictions and fears of hell, 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 God 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 God?' (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; God did give of his extraordinary grace of the gospel to our author, Bunyan, and it is worthy our observation, for thereby God 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 superstitious man is confounded in his way of worship, 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 God 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 God'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 godliness, 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 God suffered it so to be, and we have reason to believe for the best; because God 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 superstitious 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 ship to his hearers on the shore (Matt 13); and showed that they were as four sorts of ground—The high-way, The stony, The thorny, 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.

But here the Lord Jesus Christ did so; then your conclusion is—The Lord Jesus Christ wanted charity, and therefore not fit to preach the gospel.

Horrid blasphemy; away with your hellish logic, and speak Scripture.

Then replied the learned: 'Tis blasphemy to call logic hellish, which is our reason—the gift of God; for that which distinguisheth a man from a beast is the gift of God.

But Mr. Bunyan replied: Sin doth distinguish a man from a beast; is sin therefore the gift of God? &c.

They parted.

I once asked him his opinion in a common religious point, and offered some arguments to prove my opinion for the general of it; but he answered, that where the Scripture is silent we ought to forbear our opinions; and so he forebore to affirm either for or against, the Scripture being altogether silent in this point.

Thirdly, concerning this folio, &c. I have struggled to bring about this great good work; and it had succeeded in Mr. Bunyan's lifetime, even all his labours in folio, but that an interested bookseller opposed it; and notwithstanding the many discouragements I have met with in my struggles in this so great a work, we have—and I may believe by the blessing of the Lord—gotten about four hundred subscriptions, whereof about thirty are ministers; which also shows the great esteem our author's labours are in among Christian people. And that the reasonableness and duty of the preservation of his labours in folio, by subscription, may be continued to memory, I have also added my reasons, which I distributed in my late struggles to effect this work.

His effigies was cut in copper,[9] from an original paint done to the life, by his very good friend, a limner; and those who desire it single, to put in a frame, may have it at this bookseller's—Mr. Marshall; and also the catalogue-table. The epistle is writ by two ministers, Mr. Wilson of Hichin, in Hertfordshire, and Mr. Chandler, who succeeds Mr. Bunyan at Bedford.

And Mr. Burton, that writ the epistle to Some Gospel-truths Opened, being the first book Mr. Bunyan writ, was minister at Bedford.

Note.—I would not charge the following running-titles upon our author, Bunyan; because they were added in the proposals, for want of running titles and the knowledge of them, and the copies being at Bedford when the proposals were drawn up at London; and also because, perhaps, he designed some other like running-titles:—

Paul's departure and crown. Israel's hope encouraged. The saint's privilege and profit. Christ a complete Saviour. The saint's knowledge of Christ's love. Of the Trinity and a Christian. Of the Law and a Christian.

Notes upon the Index, &c.[10]

I did intend to print a complete table of all the texts of Scriptures used in our author's labours, that from thence, looking into his book, his sense might be easily found upon any text; so his labours might have been also in the nature of an exposition upon the whole Bible; but I have delayed till some other opportunity, it may be of the next folio, and whenever it falls I intend to give notice.

Because I and other subscribers, especially ministers, were willing this folio should be commoded with an index, I have, as a Christian, exposed myself and made one, and that without money for my labour of writing it, though I confess it might have seemed some other men's duty; yet being ignorant of the man that had the opportunity, and would have done it, unless paid for it, I was necessitated to effect it; and if the bookseller had paid for it, he would have lessened the number of 140 sheets of Mr. Bunyan's labours in this folio at ten shillings. Excuse this fault in me, if it be one.

I could have collected abundance more of excellent matter in this table; and I have placed an Italic-lettered word in every paragraph in the table, to be the guide-word to the same word in the folio, which is a black-lettered word in the folio, latter part; that is, those books formerly printed, where the printer hath not failed to make it so, and also in the manuscripts, forepart, a guide-word to the same word under which I have drawn a black line, in as many folios as opportunity and time would permit me to do, because I had not time and convenience before this folio was printed to mark the manuscripts for to be a black-lettered word, as I had time for the formerly printed books.[11] Also note, the book, though marked, doth not always refer to the table, but the table to the book, is the intent; and because the word in the book doth not always, though very often, fall in alphabetical order, therefore some other like word is put in its place in the table.

Also note, sometimes many principal words are in one paragraph, and then, though the matter be not to be found in the table by the word, that some perhaps may expect, yet it may be found by another word, because several words are so united that one cannot well part them; and it would be too large a table to put them all in severally in alphabetical order—as soul, sinner, saved, salvation, justification, Christ, God, &c.

Also note. When to the table-phrase more than one number is placed, then expect not that the same black-letter word is always to be found in the book to the last number, as is to the first number, but it may be some other black or marked word of like meaning; as for antichrist the black-lettered word in some places is harlot, and for apostles the black-letter word sometimes is twelve, because the word apostle is not in that part of the folio, though intended by twelve.

Also note. The phrase in the table is not always the very same, word for word, in the book, because the design of the table is to give matter in short saying, as well as most commonly a complete sentence; and, therefore, they that would have Mr. Bunyan's entire, complete, and full sense of the matter, let them look out of the table into the book, and there take all its connection together. Also, I have to keep the table as short as I well could; and yet, to direct well to the matter in the book, placed one part of the matter under one word, in alphabetical order, and another part of the same matter in another following paragraph, under another word in the table; so that, by finding one word in the table, you may often find in the same paragraph, in the book, before or after that word, other matter thereto relating.[12]

I had but about two years' acquaintance with our author, and, therefore, have said but little of him, because of hastening this to the press; yet if any more comes to my memory, I intend to put it at the end of the index.

Your Christian brother,

C. D.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Difficulties as to copyright prevented this second volume from being published.—See EDITOR'S PREFACE.

2. A good copy of this rare volume with the wood-cuts, having the reverse blank, in the editor's possession, and a fine copy, without the cuts, at Mr. Pickering's, agree as to the date of 1680. It is misplaced in this chronological table; but the date shows that it was not intended as a third part of the Pilgrim's Progress; the second part of which was not published for four years after the life of Badman.—Ed.

3. These MSS., although diligently sought, cannot be found.

4. This was published in a separate pocket volume by C. Doe, 1698.

5. Published from Mr. Bunyan's MS, 1765.

6. As doth appear by his book of his conversion, intitled, Grace Abounding, &c.

7. As in his book intitled, Grace Abounding, s. 319.

8. As he says in his Epistle to his Confession of Faith.

9. Alluding to the portrait published as a frontispiece to the folio volume, 1692.—Ed.

10. The Index accompanying the first folio.—Ed.

11. This is as originally printed. Mr. Doe means, he had not time to mark in the manuscript such words as the printer should put in black-letter.—Ed.

12. The table to which Charles Doe here refers is only to twenty of Mr. Bunyan's books. It is diffuse, and badly arranged. The Index given with this first complete edition of all the admirable works of our great pilgrim forefather, is entirely new. It is the result of a careful reading of every treatise, extracting a notice of such tings as the editor conceived to be most deeply interesting. These extracts were then arranged, in order to furnish a useful index to all the works of Bunyan. It has been attended with very great labour, and some delay to the publication; but no sacrifice is too great, in order to render Bunyan's works as complete as possible.

GEORGE OFFOR.

** End of Volume 3 **