Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1849-03-17
SKETCH OF JOHN BUNYAN.
BY T. DARLINGTON MAcAULAY.

station and in acquired knowledge, but ii
John Bunyan. Bunyan had been bred tin
ker, and had served as private soldier in the
Parliamentary army. Early in his life he
had been fearfnlly tortured by remorse for his
youthfsl sins, the worst Of which, however,
seem to have been such as the world thinks
venial. His keen sensibilty and his power
| ful Imagination made his internal conflicts
singularly terrible. He fancied that he wss
under sentence of reprobation, that he had
committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
that he had sold Christ, that he was actually
possessed by demon. Sometime fends
whispered impious suggestions in his ear. He
saw visions of disian, mountain tops; on which
he was separated by waste of snow. He
felt the devil behind him paling his clothes
lie thought that the brand OF Cain had br,y
set upon him. He feared thai he was about
10 burst asunder like Judas His mental a..
gony disordered his health. One day he
shook like a man in the palsy. On another
day he felt a fire within his breast It is diff
ficult TO understand how he survived suffer-
ings so long continued. AT length the clouds
broke. From the depths Of despair, the pen-
tent passed to a state of serene felicity. An
irresistible impulse now urged him 10 mpart
to others the blessings of which he was him
self possessed. He joined the Baptists, and
became preacher and writer. His educa-
tion had been that of Il mechanic He knew
no nolanguage but the English, as it was spoken
by the common people. He had studied no
great model of composition, with the excep-
ton, an important exception undoubtedly, OF
our noble translation of the Bible. His spell.
ling was bad. He frequently transgressed
the rules of grammar. Ye, the native force
of genius, and his experimental knowledge
OF all the religious passions, from despair to
ecstacy, amply supplied in him the want of
learning. His rude oratory reused and mel
ted hearers who listened without interest TO
abored discourses of great logicians and He
braists. His works were widely circulated
among the humber classes One of them,
the Pilgrims Progress, was in his own life
time, translated into several foreign language
1t was however, scarcely known to the learn
ed and 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 eminence. AT
length critics condescended to enquire where
the secret of so wide and so durable a popu-
larity lay. They were compelled 10 own
that the ignorant multitude had judged more
correctly than the learned, and that the de-
spised little book was really master piece
Bunyan is indeed as decidedly the first of al
legorists as Demosthenes is the first of ora
tors, or Shakespeare the first OF dramalists.
Other allegorists have shown equal ingenuity
but no other allegorists has ever been able
to touch the heart, and to make distractions
objects of terror, of pity and of love.
1t may be doubted whether any English
Dissenter had suffered more severely under
the penal laws than John Bunyan. OF the
twenty-seven years which had elapsed since
the Restoration, he had passed twelve in con.
fnement He still persisted in preaching /;
but, that he might preach, he was under the
necessity Of Disgusting himself like carter.
He was often introduced into the meetings
through back doors, with smock froek on
his back and a whip in his hand. If he thought
only of his own ease and safety he would
have hailed the indulgence with delight. He
was now, at length, free 10 pray and eAhort
in open day. His congregation rapidly in
creased thousands hung upon his word, and
at Bedford where he originally resided, money
was plentifully contributed to build a meet
ing house for him His influence among the
common people was such that the govern
ment would willingly have bestowed on him
some municipal office but his vigorous un-
defstanding and his stout English heart were
proof against all delusion and all temptation.
He felt assured that the proffered toleration
was merely bait intended TO lure the Puri-
tan party to destruction; nor would he, by
accepting place for which he was not le-
gally 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.
A remarkable decrease has occurred in
the number of births in Ireland In one conn.,
ty the falling off in is4s was ninety per cent
An article in the London Daily News attri-
butes it to the utter physical prostration of
the people.
A BELL AS IS Bella bell weighing
eight thousand pounds, was cast at the foun.