The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-05-10
From Macaulays 5 HIstOry
Sketch of John Bunyan.

Bunyan had been bred tinker, and had
served as private soldier in the Parlia-
mentary army. Early in his life he had
been fearfully tortured by remorse for his
youthful sins, the worst of which seems,
however, to have been such as the world
THINKS veniai. His keen sensbility and his
powerful imagination made his internal con-
fiicts singuarly terrible. He fancied he was
under sentence of reprobation--thath he had
| sold Christ--that he was actually possessed
/ by = demon. Sometimes loud voices from
heaven cried out TO warn him. Sometimes
fiends whispered inpious suggestions in his
ear He saw visions of distant mountain
tops, on which the sun shoue brightly, but
irUin which he was separated by Il waste Of
snow. He felt the devil behind him, pulling
his clothes. He thought that the brand Of
Cain had been set upon him. He feared he
was about to break asundcr like Judas. HIS
mental agony dsordcred his health. One
day he shook like man in the palsy. On
another day he felt a fire within Ii breast.
1t is difficult to understand how hc survived
suffering so intense and 50 long continued.
At length the clouds broke. From the
depths Of despair the pcnifcnt passed to q
state 0. serene felicity. An irresistible i'm
pulse now urged him 10 impart to others the
blessings OF which hc was himself POSSESS
ed. IL Joined tie BaVtsts ard became a
preacher and writer. His education had
been that of mechanic. He knew no Ian
guagc but the English, as it was spoken by
the common people. He had studied no
great model o. composition with the eErcp-
tion-an Important exception undoubtedly
of our noble translation of the Bible
His spelling was bad He frequently trans
4 g
tive force 0! genius, and his experimental
knowledge Of all the reli giOus passions, from
despair 10 ccstacy, amply supplied in him
the want Of learning. His rude oratory
reused and melted hearers who listened with
out interest tn. labored discouises Of great
io.jclans and H. braistS. His works were
widely circulated among the humber class
eS UHe Of thcra, P4l ,iin's Progress, was,
iu his own lifetime, translated into several
foreign languages. IL was, however, scarce
iy known to the learned and polite, and had
, been, during near a century, the delight Of
pious cotta@ers and artisans before it was
pub .c.y commended by any man Of high
literary emrEeHCc-
Al length critics coEdeSccnded TO inquire
y here e SIC tt uf - wide and so duiab' t
popularity lay. They were compelled to
own that the ignorant multitude had JUDGED
more correctly than the learned, ana thai
the G,spi-ld lli'e book was really = MASTER
piece. Buuyau j. indeed % dcc!d div the
FIST 0! aiicgoriNts as D,mo>thcnes :, the III i
"t orators, or Shakespeare the first OF drama
tstS. Other alcro:i>ts have shown equal
ingenuity, bat 10 other has ever been aJle
to touch the heart. and to make abstractions
Of terror, of pity. ard of love
1t may be doubted wh.incr any English
d!S-eHtcr had suffered more severely under
t"r pvEn laws than John Bunyan. OF the
tNenty-seven years which had e'apscd since
thc Restoration, he had passed twelve in
confinement. He still persisted in preach.
ing, UuI, that he might pea. b, ne was under
the necessity Of Disgusting himself like q
carter. lie MS often introduced into meet
ing through back doors, WITH 4 siucck irock
on his bacs. and whip in l,is hand.