mentioning anything of the kind with regard to his own parents,
strengthens my conclusion that they were not professors of religion.
This very copy of the Pathway to Heaven here noticed, with the name of
Bunyan on the title, is in the Editor’s possession.—Ed.
12. Asking his father this question, looks a little as if the family
had been connected with the gipsy tribe.—Ed.
13. ‘The king (James, 1618) put forth an order to permit everybody, as
he had before given leave in the county of Lancaster, who should go to
evening prayer on the Lord’s day, to divertise themselves with lawful
exercises, with leaping, dancing, playing at bowls, shooting with bows
and arrows, as likewise to rear May poles, and to use May games and
Morris dancing; but those who refused coming to prayers were forbidden
to use these sports.’—(Camden’s Annals). The head of the Church of
England had wondrous power thus to dispense with God’s laws.—Ed.
14. ‘Did cut the sinews,’ first edition; properly altered by Bunyan
afterwards to ‘did benumb.’
15. Tip cat, or cat, is an ancient English game, thus described in
Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes:—The game of cat is played with a cudgel.
Its denomination is derived from a piece of wood, about six inches long
and two thick, diminished from the middle to form a double cone. When
the cat is placed on the ground, the player strikes it smartly—it
matters not at which end—and it will rise with a rotatory motion high
enough for him to strike it; if he misses, another player takes his
place; if he hits, he calls for a number to be scored to his game; if
that number is more than as many lengths of his cudgel, he is out; if
not, they are scored, and he plays again.—Ed.
16. This wish looks as if Bunyan’s father had not checked him for this
wicked propensity; if so, he could not have pretended to piety or
religion.—Ed.
17. ‘Tom of Bedlam’; a byword for an inveterate drunkard, alluding to
an old interesting song describing the feelings of a poor maniac whose
frenzy had been induced by intoxication, and who escaped from Bedlam.
‘Poore naked Tom is very drye
A little drinke for charitye!’
It ends with this verse—
‘The man in the moone drinkes claret,
Eates powder’d beef, turnip, and carret,
But a cup of old Malaga sacke
Will fire the bushe at his backe.’
Probably the tale is connected with the drummer’s tune, ‘Drunk or
sober, go to bed Tom.’—Ed.
18. When the Lord, in his blessed work upon the soul, illuminated the
mind, he opens to it a new world; he leads the blind by a way that they
know not, crooked things become straight, rough places plain, and he
never forsakes his charge.—Mason.
19. ‘Their talk went with me; my heart would tarry with them’; nothing
is so powerfully attractive as a community of feeling under the
teaching of the Holy Spirit. Bunyan’s wish to be ‘tried and searched,’
reminds me of one who, when alarmed for his soul’s safety, earnestly
prayed that he might be made increasingly wretched, until he had found
safety in Jesus, and knew him, whom to know is joy unspeakable in this
life, and felicity in the eternal world.—Ed.
20. That bitter fanatic, Ross, calls the ranters ‘a sort of beasts,’
who practiced sin that grace might abound. Many under that name were
openly profligate; they denied the sacraments, but were disowned by the
Quakers. It seems, from Bunyan, that they were infatuated with some
idea that the grossest sins of the flesh did not injure the sanctity of
the spirit!—Ed.
21. Faith comes by venturing wholly on Christ, as he is freely offered
in the Word—mercy to the miserable—salvation to the lost and
self-condemned. If we honour God’s veracity by giving credit to his
Word, he will honour that faith by giving us joy and peace in
believing.—Mason.
22. ‘In downright earnest’; as one who is in imminent danger of
drowning, or in a house on fire, eager to escape. Reader, have you ever
felt thus ‘in downright earnest’ for salvation? Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they SHALL be filled.—Ed.
23. This is an interesting view of church fellowship; and the admission
of a convert to Christian communion. See also Christiana at the
Interpreter’s House, and the preface to Bunyan’s ‘Christian
Behaviour.’—Ed.
24. The Christian who is found waiting upon God, is the thriving one;
the best way to be assured of our election is to examine our state with
the touchstone of truth, the Scriptures. The elect of God know Christ
savingly, esteem him precious, and obey him cheerfully from love and
gratitude.—Mason.
25. ‘Gingerly’; cautiously.
‘Has it a corn? or do’s it walk on conscience, It treads so gingerly.’
Love’s Cure, Act ii., Scene 1.—Ed.
26. Manifestations of love and grace are not to be rested in, or made a
saviour of; they are given to strengthen and prepare us for future
trials.—Mason.
27. Here we have Christian in the valley of the shadow of death. ‘One
thing I would not let slip, I took notice that now poor Christian was
so confounded, that he did not know his own voice; and thus I perceived
it, just when he was come over against the mouth of the burning pit,
one of the wicked ones got behind him, and stept up softly to him, and
whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he
verily thought had proceeded from his own mind.’—Pilgrim’s
Progress.—Ed.
28. ‘Under her apron,’ was altered in subsequent editions to ‘in her
arms.’—Ed.
29. ‘Poor fool’; altered, in later editions, to ‘poor soul.’—Ed.
30. John Gifford, Bunyan’s pastor, was a Kentish man, and had been a
major in the King’s army, a roistering cavalier. For some crimes, he,
with eleven others, was condemned to be hung, but made his escape to
London, and thence to Bedford, where, being unknown, he practiced
physic. Addicted to swearing, drinking, and gambling, he, in distress
at a serious loss, vowed repentance; he became greatly distressed under
conviction of sin; at length his mind was enlightened, the Holy Spirit
led him to forgiveness by the atonement of Christ, and his heart was
filled with a hitherto unknown source of blessedness. This he imparted
to others, and at length, in 1650, formed a church, with which the
soul-harassed pilgrim Bunyan cast in his lot as a member in 1653. There
appears to have been a strong mutual affection between him and his
pastor. In 1658, Mr. Gifford published a preface to Bunyan’s ‘Few Sighs
from Hell,’ in which he speaks of him with the warmest affection, as
one ‘that I verily believe God hath counted faithful, and put him into
the ministry—one that hath acquaintance with God, and taught by his
Spirit, and hath been used to do souls good. Divers have felt the power
of the word delivered by him, and I doubt not but that many more may,
if God continue him in his work.’ Judging from Gifford’s preface, he
must have been an excellent teacher to train Bunyan for his important
labours as a Christian minister. He uses the same fervid striking
language. Thus, on the value of the soul: ‘Consider what an ill bargain
thou will make to sell thy precious soul for a short continuance in sin
and pleasure. If that man drives an ill trade, who to gain the whole
world should lose his own soul, then certainly thou art far worse that
sells thy soul for a very trifle. Oh, ’tis pity that so precious a
thing should be parted withal to be made a prey for the devouring lion,
for that which is worse than nothing. If they were branded for
desperate wretches that caused their children to pass through the fire
to Moloch, surely thou much more that gives thy soul to devouring
flames. What meanest thou, O man! to truck+ with the devil?’—See Sighs,
1st Edition, and Brooks’ Puritans.—Ed.
+ ‘To truck’; to barter or exchange.
31. That persons called Quakers held these heresies, there can be no
doubt; but they were never held by that respectable and useful body of
Christians, the Society of Friends, is equally clear. Barclay, in his
Theses, 1675, says of the Scriptures:—‘They are the doctrine of Christ,
held forth in precious declarations, spoken and written by the movings
of God’s Spirit.’ He goes on to say, that the same Spirit can alone
guide man into these sacred truths. In all important doctrines, the
difference between the Quakers and evangelical professors is in terms
and not in things. Their distinguishing difference relates to the work
of the ministry.—Ed.
32. How natural is it for man to build up vain hopes of long life!
Bunyan’s vigorous constitution, had he enjoyed the free air of liberty,
might have prolonged his pilgrimage to extreme old age. But his long
imprisonment shortened his valuable life: it almost amounted to legal
murder.—Ed.
33. Bunyan, in his treatise on ‘Jesus Christ the Advocate,’ admirably
shows the analogy between the year of jubilee and the Christian’s
reversion to his inheritance, although deprived for a time of the
comfort of it during his pilgrimage, by reason of sin.—Ed.
34. He is a restless, powerful, and malicious enemy; ever striving to
drive the sinner to desperation. Let the tempted look to Jesus the
serpent-bruiser to shield him, so that the fiery darts of the wicked
one may be quenched.—Mason.
35. Printed ‘did hear’ in first edition.—Ed.
36. Altered to ‘indeed’ in later editions.—Ed.
37. ‘Racked or broken upon the wheel,’ was a horrid mode of torturing a
criminal to death, formerly used in France. The sufferer was stretched
and made fast upon a large wheel, when the executioner, with a heavy
iron bar, proceeded to break every bone in his body; beginning with the
toes and fingers, and proceeding to crush those bones that the least
affected life, and ending by crushing the skull into the brains. How
piercing must have been the convictions of sin upon Bunyan’s soul, to
have led him to such a simile!—Ed.
38. ‘A Relation of the Fearful Estate of Francis Spira.’
‘Here see a soul that’s all despair; a man
All hell; a spirit all wounds.
Reader, would’st see what may you never feel,
Despair, racks, torments, whips of burning steel?
Behold this man, this furnace, in whose heart,
Sin hath created hell.’
From the address to the reader, in a copy of this awful narrative in
possession of the Editor. Spira was filled with remorse and despair for
having been induced, by improper motives, to become a papist.—Ed.
39. No Christian minister ever dwelt more richly on the ‘Saint’s
Knowledge of Christ’s Love’ than Bunyan. See vol. ii. p. 1. It was the
result of this soul-harrowing experience. He there shows its heights
exceeding the highest heavens, depths below the deepest hell, lengths
and breadths beyond comprehension. That treatise ought to be read and
cherished by every trembling believer.—Ed.
40. Alter, in later editions, to ‘flying fits.’—Ed.
41. Internal conflicts, dreams, or visions ought not to be the source
of peace or of bitterness to the soul. If they drive us to Christ, we
may hope that they are from heaven for our relief; but if their
tendency is to despair, by undervaluing the blood of atonement, or to
lasciviousness, they are from Satan. Our real dependence must be upon
‘a more sure word of prophecy’: if we are well-grounded in the
promises, it will save us from many harassing doubts and fears which
arise from a reliance upon our feelings.—Ed.
42. That a poor penitent should perish at the feet of Jesus is an utter
impossibility. God, when manifest in the flesh, decreed, that
‘Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.’ ‘I will give
him rest.’ His Word must stand fast for ever.—Ed.
43. How soul-rending a thought! but it can only be the case with those
who continue to their death despising the Saviour. Those who love him
are kept by almighty power, everlasting love, and irresistible
grace.—Ed.
44. Happy would it be for tempted souls, in their distress, to look
simply to the declarations and promises of God in the Word; we there
find salvation completed by Christ. Our duty is to look in faith and
prayer to the Spirit of God for the application and comfort of
it.—Mason.
45. However humbling, this is a truth not to be disputed. The wisest
philosopher and most illiterate peasant are upon a level, fallen from
God. None will be excluded who come to Christ, whose gracious
invitation is general, ‘Whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely’ (Rev 22:17).—Mason.
46. This is the proper source of comfort—the records of infallible
truth. There is found mercy for the miserable, redemption for the
captive, salvation for the lost, heaven for the hell-deserving
sinner.—Mason.
47. Though we may wait long for mercy, yet the hand of faith never
knocked in vain at the door of heaven. Mercy is as surely ours as if we
had it, if it be given us in faith and patience to wait for it.—Mason.
48. To sin against light and knowledge, received in and by the gospel,
is a very heinous aggravation of sin. The condition of persons simply
ignorant is not so sad by far, as theirs who have been enlightened and
yet afterwards apostatized. Let the formalist and lukewarm professors
read this and tremble.—Mason.
49. The Holy Spirit is the candle of the Lord, by whose light the
awakened conscience is brought to see something of the mystery of
iniquity lurking in the heart. He first convinces of sin,
righteousness, and judgment; and then points to Jesus as the only
security: ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’—Mason.
50. This is very beautifully expressed; nothing can be more descriptive
of a poor pilgrim who has been toiling through the valley of the shadow
of death, and upon whose soul the day-spring from on high has
arisen.—Ed.
51. ‘Cracked groats and fourpence-halfpennies.’ The humility of our
author is here most unobtrusively apparent. He had some treasure in his
‘earthen vessel’; but, in comparison with his store in Christ, it was
like a few cracked groats by the side of massive pure gold. What he
meant by ‘fourpence-halfpennies’ somewhat puzzled me, there never
having been any piece of English money coined of that value. I found
that a proclamation was issued shortly before Mr. Bunyan’s time (April
8, 1603), to save the people from being deceived with the silver harp
money of Ireland, purporting to be twelve and sixpenny pieces. It fixed
the value of the Irish twelvepence to be ninepence English; so that the
Irish sixpence was to pass current for fourpence-halfpenny in England.
That accomplished antiquary, Mr. Hawkins, the curator of the coins in
the British Museum, shewed me this Irish silver money; and agreed with
me in believing that Bunyan alludes to these Irish sixpences, placing
them in company with cracked groats, depreciated in value. Mr. Hawkins
was not aware that they had been in common circulation in England.—Ed.
52. ‘Common or public,’ belonging equally to many. Christ is the
federal or covenant head of his church, each member claiming an equal
or common right to all his merits as a Saviour, Mediator, and
Advocate.—Ed.
53. This retort, or rebuke, is inserted twice in the first edition,
probably a typographical error.—Ed.
54. See note on No. 152. The feelings of Bunyan must have been
exceedingly pungent.—Ed.
55. This is a view of the power given to the apostles to forgive or
retain sins worthy of our serious consideration. That mysterious power,
under the pretence of possessing which merchandise is made of souls, if
it was not limited to the apostles personally, was intended to be used
by all those whom God sends to preach the gospel; an authority to
proclaim salvation or condemnation to those who receive or reject the
Saviour. Bunyan considers it a similar power to that given to the
governors of the city of refuge; to admit the terror-stricken soul that
‘shall declare his cause’—or confess his guilt—into the city, there to
abide the judgment upon him, as in Christ the Refuge. This is very
different to turning God out of his judgment-seat; as is the case when
a poor worm says to his fellow-worm, ‘I absolve thee from all thy
sins.’ See the visitation of the sick, in the Book of Common
Prayer.—Ed.
56. The mode of admitting members into the church, among the Baptists,
appears to have been the same in Bunyan’s days as it is now practiced.
It is, first to be introduced to the minister, who endeavours to
ascertain whether there is an earnest desire to flee from the wrath to
come, sincere repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If so, he
mentions it to the church; and visitors are appointed, to encourage the
young convert, and to scrutinize into moral character. If they are
satisfied, he is invited to attend a private church meeting; and if the
members have a good hope that he is a decided believer in Jesus, they
receive him into their fellowship; and if he requests it, he is
publicly baptized in water, and communicates with the church at the
Lord’s table. This appears to have been the mode in which Bunyan was
admitted into the church at Bedford. Most of the Baptist churches now
agree with Bunyan, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or inward
spiritual regeneration, is, alone, the essential pre-requisite to the
Lord’s table; and they leave members to their own conclusions as to the
validity of their having been sprinkled in infancy, or the necessity of
immersion in water upon a profession of faith.—Ed.
57. Many will be surprised that Bunyan, who was so ready a writer,
should be unable to tell what he saw and felt when in these holy
enjoyments; but all who have had similar feelings will unite with him
in saying, they are inexpressible, great, and full of glory.—Ed.
58. This is a very correct view of the excellent mode in which
dissenting ministers are generally called to their important work.
First, their gifts in prayer and conversation upon Divine things, and
aptness in illustrating and confirming what they advance from the
Scriptures, is noticed; and, secondly, they are encouraged to pray with
and address the poor children in a Sunday school. If they manifest an
aptness to teach, they are, thirdly, invited to give an exhortation to
the church privately; and then, fourthly, they are encouraged to pray
and preach among the poor in country villages and in work-houses. The
God who gave the wish and the talent, soon opens a way to still more
public usefulness. In most cases, they enter upon a course of study, to
fit them for their momentous labours; but many of our most valuable
ministers have, like Bunyan, relied entirely upon their prayerful
investigation of the Scriptures. his college was a dungeon, his library
the Bible; and he came forth with gigantic power to grapple with the
prince of darkness. No human learning could have so fitted him for this
terrible and mysterious warfare.—Ed.
59. ‘With great sense,’ means with great feeling, arising from his own
acute experience.—Ed.
60. In the first edition Bunyan says, ‘I have lain as long,’ (five
years). This was in 1666.—Ed.
61. When God sends forth a zealous ambassador to publish the glad
tidings of salvation to perishing sinners, he will be sure to meet with
the fiercest opposition from proud pharisaical professors: so it was
from the beginning, and will be to the end of time; but the Lord will
work, and none shall hinder. Experimental preaching will always be
offensive to the carnal and profane.—Mason.
62. It is impossible to identify the sect to which Bunyan belonged by
reading his works. He rises above all sectarian bias in his earnest
efforts to win souls to Christ, and to keep them in a heavenly frame of
mine.—Ed.
63. ‘Other men’s lines,’ other men’s compositions. Bunyan went himself
to the fountain head of Divine truth, and was not taught by the wisdom
of his fellow-men in the things that pertained to salvation. He spoke
as he felt; and, while he copied no sentence from others, no man that
ever wrote has been so copied from by others. Application was once made
to the Editor, to publish an admirable sermon which had been taken in
short hand from the lips of a D.D.; when, to the surprise of the
applicant, he was shown the whole sermon in Bunyan’s Heavenly
Footman.—Ed.
64. Altered, in later editions, to ‘searching.’—Ed.
65. Gifts are no evidence of God’s favour; they are like the gold which
adorned the temple, but grace, the saving grace of the Spirit, is like
the altar which sanctifies the gold.—Mason..
66. In this paragraph is displayed that modest genuine humility which
shone so conspicuously in Bunyan. He possessed that popular natural
eloquence, by which he could deliver himself like an angel; but when
pride began to rise, he knocked it on the head with that severe maul,
‘Is it so much to be a fiddle’ that Satan once so played upon?—Ed.
67. One circumstance from which these vile slanders were raised, is
narrated in the thrilling narrative of God’s gracious dealings with
Mrs. Agnes Beaumont. She was waiting in hopes of attending a meeting,
when ‘at last, quite unexpectedly, came Mr. Bunyan. The sight of him
caused a mixture of joy and grief. I was glad to see him, but afraid he
would not be willing to take me up behind him, and how to ask him I
knew not. At length my brother did; but Mr. Bunyan answered, with some
degree of roughness, “No, I will not carry her.” These words were
cutting indeed, and made me weep bitterly. My brother, perceiving my
trouble, said, “Sir, if you do not carry her, you will break her
heart”; but he made the same reply, adding, “Your father would be
grievously angry if I should.” “I will venture that,” said I. And thus,
with much entreaty, he was prevailed on; and O how glad was I to think
I was going. Soon after we set out, my father came to my brother’s, and
asked his men whom his daughter rode behind? They said, Mr. Bunyan.
Upon hearing this, his anger was greatly inflamed; he ran down the
close, thinking to overtake me, and pull me off the horse, but we were
gone out of his reach.
‘I had not ridden far, before my heart began to be lifted up with pride
at the thoughts of riding behind this servant of the Lord; and was
pleased if any looked after us, as we rode along. Indeed, I thought
myself very happy that day: first, that it pleased God to make way for
my going; and then, that I should have the honour to ride behind Mr.
Bunyan, who would sometimes be speaking to me about the things of God.
My pride soon had a fall; for, in entering Gam’gay, we were met by one
Mr. Lane, a clergyman who lived at Bedford, and knew us both, and spoke
to us, but looked very hard at us as we rode along; and soon after
raised a vile scandal upon us, though, blessed be God, it was false.’
No Christian should be without that deeply interesting volume of
Christian experience, James’ Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of God
with several Eminent Christians. The persecutions that Mrs. Beaumont
went through were like a dreadful tempest, yet was she joyfully
delivered out of them all.—Ed.
68. ‘All is a case,’ all the same. A case—that which falls, comes, or
happens; an event. See Blackie’s Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.
69. ‘Baulks,’ missing, omitting, leaving untouched. ‘This was looked
for at your hand, and this was baulked; the double gill of this
opportunity you let time wash off, and you are now sailed into the
north of my lady’s opinion; where you will hang like an icicle on a
Dutchman’s beard.’—Twelfth Night, Act iii. Scene 2; and Imperial
Dictionary.—Ed.
70. ‘Above five year and a quarter’ are the words in the first edition,
1666. His imprisonment commenced November 1660; the order for his
release bears date September 13, 1672, but it was some months before he
was discharged.—Ed.
71. Angel visits may be expected when Antichrist persecutes the
Christian to bonds and imprisonment. An angel released Peter from
prison; angels revealed to John, when exiled to Patmos, the wonders of
his book of Revelation. The Lord of angels, the angel of the covenant,
communes with Bunyan in his dungeon, and converts it into a Bethel to
his soul; and this, for refusing obedience to the laws of his country,
because those laws violated God’s prerogative, and impiously dared to
assume authority which belongs exclusively to the Almighty. They remain
to this day a disgrace to our statutes, but are never enforced.—Ed.