The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-02-16
sKETCHEs OF JOHN BUNYAN AND
WILLIAM KIFFIN.
by T, BApINGroN MAcAuLAY,,

Dut IN virtue tneT equal, ana IN genus tneli
superior, John Bunyan. Bunyan had been
bred tinker, and had served as private
soldier in the Parliamentary army. Early IN
his life he had been fearfully tortured BY re-
morse for his youthful sins, the worstot which
seem, however, to have been such as the
world thinks venial. His keen sensibility
and his powerful Imagination made his inter-
nal conflicts sneulary terrible. He FAM
cied that he was under sentence oil reproba-
tion, that he had committed blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost, that he had sold
Christ, that he was actually possessed by a
demon. Sometimes fends whispered i'm
pious suggestions in his ear. He saw visions
Of distant mountain tops, on which the sun
shone brightly, but from which he was sep
atated by waste of snow. He felt the
devil behind him pulling his clothes. He
thought that the brand Of Cain had been sci
upon him. He feared that he was about IL
burst asunder like Judas. His mental ago
ny disordered his health One day he shook
like man in the palsy On another day he
felt fire in his breast. 1t is difficult to I'M
derstand how he survived suHerings so in
tense and so long continued. AT length the
clouds broke. From the depth of despair,
the penitent passed to state of serene fell
city. An irresistible impulse now urged
him to impart to others the blessings of which
he was himself possessed. He joined the
Baptists, and became preacher and wri-
ter. His education had been that Of me-
chanic. He knew no language but the En-
glish, asst was spoken by the common peo-
pie. He had studied no great model of com
position, with the exception, an important
exception undoubtedly, Of our noble trans
lation Of the Bible. His spelling was bad.
He frequently transgressed the rules Of gram
mer. Yet the native force Of genius, and
his experimental knowledge Of all the rel-
gious passions, from despair to ectasy, amply
supplied him from the want Of learning -
His rude oratorv reused and melted hearers
who listened without interest to the abored
discourses Of great logicians and Hebraists.
His works were widely circulated among the
humber classes. One of HEM the Pilgrims
Progress, was, in his own life time, transla-
ted into several foreign languages 1t was
however, scarcely known to the learned and
polite and had been, during near century,
the delight Of pious cottagers and artisans,
before it was publicly commended by any
man Of high literary emnence. At length
critics condescended to inquire where the
secret Of so wide and so durable popularity
lay. They We're compelled to own that the
ignorant multitude had Judged more correct
ly than the learned, and that the despised
little book was really master piece, Bun
yam is indeed as decidedly the first Of allego-
rists, as Demosthenes is the first Of orators,
OF Shakespeare the first Of dramatsts -
Other allegorist have shown equal ingenuity,
but no other allegorist has ever been able to
touch the heart, and TO make distractions
objects of terror, Of pity and Of love -
cit may be doubted whether any English
Dissenter had suffered more severely under
the penal law than John Bunyan, Of the
twenty-seven years which had elapsed since
the Restoration, he had passed twelve in con-
6nement. He still persisted in preaching !;
but, that he might preach, he was under the
necessity Of Disgusting himself like carter,
He was introduced into meetings through back
doors, with smock trock on his back and a
whip in his hand II he had thought only
Of his own ease and safety, he would have
hailed the indulgence with delight. He was
now, atlength, free to pray, and exhort in
open day, His congregation rapidly in
creased thousands hung, upon his words
and at Bedford, where he originally resided,
money was plentifully contributed to build
meeting house for him. His influence among
the common people was such that the gov
eminent would willingly have bestowed on
him some municipal Office but his vigorous
understanding and his stout English heart
were proof against all decisions and all temp
tation He felt assured that the ploHered
liberation was merely half intended to lure
the Puritan party to destruction {; nor would
he, by accepting a place for which he was
aot legally qualified, recognize the validity
Of the dispensing power One Of the last
acts OF his virtuous life was to decline an
interview to which he was invited BY an
agent Of the government. ~. ~
aGreat as was the authority Of Bunyan
with the Baptists, that Of VIM. kiihn was
still greater. kifin was the first man among
them in wealth and station II was in the
habit Of exercising his spiritual gifts at thcir
meetings but he did not live by preaching
He traded largely; his credit on the en-
change Of London stood high; and he had
accumulated an ample fortune. Perhaps nc
man could, at that conjuncture, have render
ed more valuable services to the court But
between him and the court was interposed
the remembrances Of one terrible event
He was the grandfather Of the two Hew-
linss, those gallant youths who, Of the victims
of the bloody assizes, had been the mos,
generally lamented. For the sad fate Of
one OF them James was in peculiar manner
responsible. Jellreys had rcspited the
younger brother, The poor lads sister had
5been usbered by Churchill into the royal
presence, and had begged for mercy but
the kings heart had been obdurate. The
misery Of the whole family had heen great !;
but Kiffn was most to ,be piticd, He was 20
years old when he was left destitute, the sur
vivor Of those who should havcsurvived him
The heartless and venal sycophants Of White
hall, Judging by themselves thought that the
old man would be easily propltated By an