the great and uncnangeable principles which the Creator has ordained to govern nature could be disturbed by the freaks of poor old crazy women, for purposes trifling and insignificant. No, such a man could never have circulated a report that a woman was turned into a bay mare, and her chemise into a horse-cloth and saddle! Unbridled sectarian feeling perverted some remark of his, probably made with the kindest intention, into a most incredible slander.

offences; and from Breda issued his proclamation for liberty of conscience, and the kingdom was cajoled and sold. The king was scarcely seated on his throne, and armed with power, when he threw off the mask. Men who had faithfully performed very painful duties under the authority of Acts of Parliament were put to death, others imprisoned and transported, and uniformity in religion was re-enacted under ferocious penalties. Bunyan was to endure a cruel imprisonment, with all the Among the many singularities of that very fears of an ignominious death. Now,' he says, interesting period, one was the number of reli-as Satan laboured by reproaches and slanders, gious tournaments or disputations that were held all over the country. The details of one of these, between Fisher, a Jesuit, and Archbishop Laud, occupy a folio volume. In these wordy duels the Baptists and Quakers bore a prominent part. To write a history of them would occupy more space than our narrow limits will allow. Bunyan entered into one of these controversies with the Quakers at Bedford Market-cross, and probably held others in the church, those buildings being at times available under the Protectorate for such purposes.

to make me vile among my countrymen, that if possible my preaching might be made of none effect, so there was added hereto a long and tedious imprisonment, that thereby I might be frighted from my service for Christ, and the world terrified and made afraid to hear me preach, of which I shall in the next place give you a brief account.'3

THE FIFTH PERIOD.

OUS IMPRISONMENT, FOR REFUSING TO ATTEND THE
COMMON PRAYER SERVICE, AND FOR PREACHING.

'O happie he who doth possesse

Bunyan was met by the son of BUNYAN SUFFERS PERSECUTION, AND A LONG AND DANGERthunder, Edward Burrough, who was also assisted by Anne Blackly, a remarkably pious woman and an able disputant. Bunyan pressed them with the Scriptures, and dealt such severe blows that Mrs. Blackly, in the public assembly, bid him throw away the Scriptures. To which he answered, No, for then the devil would be too hard for me.' The great controversy was as to Christ within his saints. Bunyan proved, by the holy oracles, that Christ had ascended, and was at the right hand of God; to which Mrs. Blackly answered, that he preached up an idol, and used conjuration and witchcraft. To the charge of spiritual conjuration and witchcraft he made no reply, it being unworthy his notice; but called upon her to repent of her wickedness in calling Christ an idol. With regard to his presence in his saints, he reminded her, that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. As a matter of course, both parties claimed the victory; and although the hearers were puzzled, doubtless much good was effected.

2

These were comparatively happy days for God's fearers-much valuable seed was sown, and the light of divine truth penetrated into many a benighted town and village. At length dark and portentous clouds rolled over the horizon. The Protector had entered into rest; his son was wholly incapable of taking the helm of public affairs. The exiled king, Charles II., declared his determination to publish an amnesty for all political

1 See postscript to The True Faith of the Gospel of Peace, British Museum.

2 Vol. ii., p. 201.*

Christ for his fellow prisoner, who doth gladde With heavenly sunbeames, goales that are most sad. (Written by William Prynne, on his Prison wall, in the Tower. THE men who arraign their fellows before any standard of orthodoxy, or claim the right of dictating forms of belief or modes of worship under pains or penalties, are guilty of assuming the prerogative of the Most High, and of claiming, for their frail opinions, infallibility. Such are guilty of high treason against the Majesty of heaven— and all their machinations have a direct tendency to destroy human happiness-the wealth of the nation, and that universal good-will among men which the gospel is intended to establish. Such men present to us the various features of antichrist, the dread enemy of mankind.

The duty of every intelligent creature is to watch the operations of nature, that he may be led to just perceptions of the greatness of the Creator, and the goodness of his immutable laws. Soon he finds his perceptions dim, and is conscious of evil propensities, which baffle all his efforts at sinless perfection. He finds nothing in nature to solve the solemn inquiry how sin is to be pardoned, and evil thoughts and habits to be rooted out. The convinced sinner then feels the necessity of a direct revelation from God; and in the Bible alone he finds that astounding declaration, which leaves all human philosophy at an immea

3 Vol. i., p. 46.

surable distance-Ye must be born again.' God only can effect the wondrous change-man, priest, prophet, or magi, can do him no goodhis terror-stricken conscience drives him to his Creator, and faith in the Redeemer causes consolation to abound.

In every kingdom of the world, the Christian inquirer is met by the opposition of antichrist, in some form or other, attempts will be made to limit his free-born spirit to human inventions and mediations in seeking Divine mercy. He feels that he is bound, by all his hopes of happiness, here and hereafter, to obey God rather than man, in everything pertaining to spiritual religion. In his simple obedience to the Word of God, he braves all dangers, sure of the Divine blessing and support while encountering obloquy, contempt, allurements, and persecution, in its varied polluted forms and appalling cruelties.

nal communications, assembled together. In some
cases, the barn or room in which they met, had a
door behind the pulpit, by which the preacher
could escape. A curious letter, preserved in the
archives at Devonshire House, states, that when
a Christian assembly was held near Devonshire
Square, while the minister was in his sermon, the
officers and trained bands entered the meeting-
house. The preacher immediately ceased preach-
ing, and gave out the lines of a hymn, which the
congregation joined in singing, and the officers
waited till the devotional exercise was ended.
The preacher, taking advantage of their hesita-
tion, made his escape by a door at the back of the
pulpit; thus,' says the quaint Quaker, 'he choked
the informers off with his hymn.' In the Life of
Badman are some illustrative anecdotes relating
to informers and their violent ends, with an inte-
resting cut of a religious meeting in the fields.
One informer is in a neighbouring tree, to identify
the meeters; while in the distance, another is run-
ning for the officers, with this verse under the
print:-

'Informer, art thou in the tree?

Take heed, lest there thou hanged be:
Look likewise to thy foot-hold well;
Lest, if thou slip, thou fall to hell.'

2

After the decease of Oliver Cromwell, it soon became apparent that the exiled king would be restored. In the prospect of that event, Charles II. promised a free pardon to all his subjects, excepting only such persons as should be excepted by parliament; and we do declare a liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matters of religion, which do not disturb In many cases the justices considered a field the peace of the kingdom.' Who could imagine, preacher to be equally guilty with a regicide.1 that, in the face of this solemn declaration, acts, One of the informers, named W. S., was very the most oppressive and tyrannical, would be passed diligent in this business; he would watch -compelling pretended uniformity in belief and a-nights, climb trees, and range the woods a-days, real uniformity in the mode of public worship- if possible to find out the meeters, for then they driving the most pious and useful clergymen from were forced to meet in the fields.' At length he their pulpits and livings-preventing them from was stricken by the hand of God, and died a most becoming tutors or schoolmasters-and not suffer- wretched object. The cruelties that were ining them to live within five miles of a city or town. flicted upon Dissenters are scarcely credible. Penn, Ruinous penalties were inflicted, not only on every the Quaker, gives this narrative of facts:-The minister, but upon every hearer, who met to wor- widow's mite hath not escaped their hands; they ship God in private houses or in the fields and have made her cow the forfeit of her conscience, woods. Christians, convinced of the wickedness not leaving her a bed to lie on, nor a blanket to of such laws, strove, by every possible means, to cover her; and what is yet more barbarous, and evade the penalties, with a stern determination to helps to make up this tragedy, the poor helpless worship God in the way that their consciences led orphan's milk, boiling over the fire, was flung them. They met their beloved ministers in pri- away, and the skillet made part of their prize; vate places, and at the most unseasonable hours. that, had not nature in neighbours been stronger It is said that Bunyan, to avoid discovery, went than cruelty in informers and officers, to open her from a friend's house disguised as a carter; with bowels for their relief, they must have utterly his white frock, wide-awake cap, and his whip in perished. One of these infamous, hard-hearted his hand, to attend a private meeting in a shel-wretches in Bedford, was stricken, soon after, with tered field or barn. To prevent these meetings, death; and such had been his notorious brutality, severe and almost arbitrary penalties were enforced, that his widow could not obtain a hearse, but was a considerable part of which went to the informers obliged to carry his body to the grave in a cart. -men of debauched habits and profligate prin- It is gratifying to leave these horrors-these ciples. With all their vigilance, these prohibited stains upon our national history—for a moment, meetings could not be prevented. In some cases, 1 Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. the persecuted disciples of a persecuted Lord took 2 Life of Badman. houses adjoining each other, and, by opening inter

3

3 Penn's England's Interest, 4to, 1075, p. 2.

of Bunyan's church, thus writes: When our meeting-house was lately repaired, we were allowed, by the Lord Lieutenant and the justices, to carry on our public worship, for a quarter of a year in the town-hall, where, if it had been standing in Mr. Bunyan's time, he must have been tried and committed to jail for preaching.' How different our position from that of our pilgrim forefathers.

The justices, if the law had allowed them, would, from the first, have prevented Bunyan's preaching. When they had the power, he possessed nothing to excite the cupidity of an informer: this, with the caution of his friends, saved him, for some months, from being apprehended; they met privately in barns, milk-houses, and stables, or in any convenient place in which they were not likely to be disturbed. In addition to these services, every opportunity was embraced to visit his friends-praying with them, and administering consolation, arming them with a steady resolve to be patient in suffering, and to trust in God for their safety and reward. At length an information was laid, and he was caught in the very act of worshipping God with some pious neighbours. Bunyan's account of this event is deeply interesting; but the want of sufficient space prevents my giving more than an abstract of it, referring the reader to his Grace Abounding for fuller details.

to record an event which took place about fifty | upon his daily labour for food. If he escaped, he years back. The Rev. S. Hillyard, the pastor might continue his stolen opportunities of doing good to the souls of men. He hesitated but for a few minutes for private prayer; he had hitherto shown himself hearty and courageous in preaching, and it was his business to encourage the timid flock. Therefore, thought I, if I should now run and make an escape, it will be of a very ill savour in the country; what will my weak and newly converted brethren think of it? If I should run, now there was a warrant out for me, I might, by so doing, make them afraid to stand when great words only should be spoken to them.' He retired into a close, privately, to seek Divine direction, and came back resolved to abide the will of God. It was the first attempt, near Bedford, to apprehend a preacher of the gospel, and he thus argued with himself-If God, of his mercy, should choose me to go upon the forlorn hope, that is, to be the first that should be opposed for the gospel, if I should fly it might be a discouragement to the whole body that should follow after. And I thought that the world thereby would take occasion at my cowardliness, to have blasphemed the gospel." These considerations brought him to the noble resolution of fulfilling his duty, under all its difficulties and dangers. In these reasonings the same honourable decision of mind animated him which impelled Daniel, and the three Hebrew youths, to violate the wicked laws of the nation in which they lived, because these laws were opposed to the will of God. He and they, as well as the apostles, judged for themselves, and opposed statutes or ancient customs which, in their opinion, were contrary to the Divine law by which they were to be judged at the solemn and great day. Nor did they, in the prospect of the most dread personal sufferings, hesitate to follow the convictions of their minds. Some laws are more honoured in the breach than in the observance of them. The law of Pharaoh to destroy the male children of the Israelites, in ancient times, and the present Popish laws of Tuscany, that the Bible shall not be read, are laws so contrary to common sense, and the most sacred duties of man, that God dealt well' with those who broke them in Egypt, as he has ever dealt with those who have thus honoured him. The millions of prayers that were offered up for a blessing upon the confessors, Madiai, have been answered. Had they perished in the prisons of Tuscany, they would have joined the noble army of martyrs before the throne of God, to witness his judgments upon that persecuting church which has shed so much holy blood.

On November 12, 1660, as the winter was setting in, having been invited to preach at Samsell, in Bedfordshire, he prepared a sermon upon these words-Dost thou believe in the Son of God?' Jn. ix. 35; from which he intended to show the absolute need of faith in Jesus Christ, and that it was also a thing of the highest concern for men to inquire into, and to ask their own hearts whether they had faith or no.'l He had then been a preacher of the glorious gospel of Christ for five or six years, without any interrup. tion; for, although indicted, he had continued his useful career, and through grace had received great encouragement and eminent proofs of the Divine blessing.

Francis Wingate, a neighbouring justice of the peace, having heard of the intended meeting, issued his warrant to bring the preacher before him. The intention of the magistrate was whispered about, and came to Bunyan's ears before the meeting was held, probably to give him an opportunity of escape. His friends, becoming alarmed for his safety, advised him to forego the opportunity. It was a trying moment for him; he had a beloved wife to whom he had not been long married, and four dear children, one of them blind, depending 1 Vol. ii., p. 593.

When Bunyan was advised to escape by dismissing the meeting, which consisted of about forty persons, he replied, No, by no means; I will not 2 Vol. i., p. 51.

A very deeply interesting narrative of all the particulars of This very interesting Memoir was published by the this examination and form of trial, was recorded by the sufSociety of Friends, 1825.

Impression of a Seal on a gold rings found in the foundation of the old prison, Bedford bridge.

person of property, as a token of great respect for Bunyan's pious character, and probably from an indignant sense of his unjust and cruel imprisonment. By the kind permission of the dean, we are enabled to give a correct representation of this curious relic.*

supported on one of the piers near the middle | Manchester, charging him to keep it for his sake. of the river.1 As the bridge was only four This ring must have been a present from some yards and a half wide, the prison must have been very small. Howard, the philanthropist, visited the Bedford prison, that which was dignified as the county jail about 1788, and thus describes it:-The men and women felons associate together; their night-rooms are two dungeons. Only one court for debtors and felons; and no apartment for the jailer." Imagination can hardly realize the miseries of fifty or sixty pious men and women, taken from a place of public worship and incarcerated in such dens or dungeons with felons, as was the case while Bunyan was a prisoner. Twelve feet square was about the extent of the walls; for it occupied but one pier between the centre arches of the bridge. How properly does the poor pilgrim call it a certain DEN! What an abode for men and women who had been made by God kings and priests the heirs of heaven! The eyes of Howard, a Dissenter, penetrated these dens, these hidden things of darkness, these abodes of cruelty. He revealed what lay and clerical magistrates ought to have published centuries before, that they were not fit places in which to imprison any, even the worst of criminals. He denounced them, humanity shuddered at the discovery, and they were razed to their foundations. In this den God permitted his honoured servant, John Bunyan, to be incarcerated for more than twelve years of the prime of his life. A man, whose holy zeal for the salvation of sinners, whose disinterested labours, whose sufferings for Christ prove his apostolical descent much better than those who claim descent from popes, and Wolsey or Bonner-those fiends in human shape.

Bedford bridge was pulled down in the year 1811, when the present handsome bridge was built. One of the workmen employed upon the ruins found, among the rubbish, where the prison had stood, a ring made of fine gold, bearing an inscription which affords strong presumptive evidence that it belonged to our great allegorist. Dr. Abbot, a neighbouring clergyman, who had daily watched the labours of the workmen, luckily saw it, and saved it from destruction. He constantly wore it, until, drawing near the end of his pilgrimage, in 1817, he took it off his own finger and placed it upon that of his friend Dr. Bower, then curate of Elstow, and at present the dean of

There were three prisons in Bedford-the county jail, the bridewell, and the tower jail. No decisive evidence has been discovered as to which prison Bunyan was committed. Two views of the bridge and prison are given in the plate at p. 63, vol. i.

2 Howard's Account of Lazarettos, &c. 4to, 1789, p. 150. 3 Elstow is a perpetual curacy or vicarage, worth at that time only £35 per annum! forming one of the discreditable anomalies of the church, in the division of its immense re

venues.

Bunyan was thirty-two years of age when taken to prison. He had suffered the loss of his pious wife, whose conversation and portion had been so blessed to him. It is not improbable that her peaceful departure is pictured in Christiana's crossing the river which has no bridge. She left him with four young children, one of whom very naturally and most strongly excited his paternal feelings, from the circumstance of her having been afflicted with blindness. He had married a second time, a woman of exemplary piety and retiring modesty ; but whose spirit, when roused to seek the release of her beloved husband, enabled her to stand unabashed, and full of energy and presence of mind, before judges in their courts, and lords in their mansions. When her partner was sent to jail, she was in that peculiar state that called for all his sympathy and his tenderest care. The shock was too severe for her delicate situation; she became dangerously ill, and, although her life was spared, all hopes had fled of her maternal feelings being called into exercise. Thus did one calamity follow another; still he preserved his integrity."

Bunyan was treated with all the kindness which

4 He has favoured us with the following description of it :"The ring is of fine gold, very like in colour to that which has been brought into this country from California. The head is, I think, engraven, but the letters have not that sharpness about them which indicates the engraving tool; and the I. B. are undoubted indents made after the ring was finished.' It is not the usual emblem of a mourning gift, for that would have the cross-bones under the skull; it was more probably given as a special mark of esteem. Three things are certain— 1st, That if so valuable a gift excited the poor man's pride, its loss must have been a serious annoyance to one whose family was dependent upon his daily labour. 2d, His preaching talent must have been highly appreciated, before he was known as the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, to have brought him so valuable a token of respect. But the most pleasing and remarkable reflection, is the surprising progress of good-will among men of various denominations, that a ring, worn by a despised and persecuted Nonconformist of a former age, is now highly prized and worn, from respect to his memory, by a dignified clergyman of the Established church.

This was not his only ring; he left, inter alia, all his rings to his wife. See p. lxxii.

After he had lain in jail five or six days, an application was made to a liberal justice at Elstow, named Crumpton, to release him on bail; but he declined, fearing to give offence. He, however, so felt for this persecuted servant of Christ, as to sell him an edifice and barn, which, upon his release, was converted into a large meeting-house.