The Richmond palladium., 1856-05-08
J Ohm 8unYan.

| Punyon had been bred a tinker, and had
served private soldier in the parliamen
,ary army. Early in his life he had been fear
fully tortured by remorse for his youthful sins,
the worst Of which seems, however 10 have
been scth the word thinks venial His
keen senslblIty and his powerful ina gination,
made his internal conflicts singularly terribl.
lie tancled he was under sentence of reproba
non-that he had committed bias sphemv
against the Holy Ghost-that lie had sold
ChrISt--that he was actually possessed by a
demon. Sometimes loud voices from Heaven
cried, TO warm him. Sometimes fiends whis-
pered impious suggestions in his ear He
saw visions of distant mountain tops on which
the sua shoHe brightly. but from which he
was separated by 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. lis mental agony dis
ordered his health. Che day he ielt fire
within his breast L is difficult to understand
how lie survived sutferings So intense and so
long continued.
depths of dispair the penrent passed 10
state of serene felicity. IN irresistible i'm.
pulse now urged him to impart 10 others the
blessings of which he himself possessed
He joined the Baptists and became preacher
and writer. Re knew 70 language bu. the
English as it vas spoken by the common peo.
pie. He had studied 10 great model OF com
position with the exception, undoubtedly, OF
our noble translations of the bible His
spelling bad Ite FIRE 7uenily tr.nsgress
Cd the rules Of grammar. Yet the native
force OF genius. and his experimental knowl.
edge OF all The religions passions. from des-
pair to ecstacy. amply supplied II him the
want of learning. HIS rude orato-y reused
and melted hearers who listened without in
terest to the labored discou-ses Of great logi.
clans and Hebranists- His works were widely
circulated among the humber classes One
OF them--Pilgrim' Progress. was IN his own
lifetime, translated into several foreign Ian
guages. Il was, however, scarcely known
TO the learned and polite, and had been, for
nearly century. the delight Of p:ous cottayer.
and artisans before + was publicly commend.
ed by any man Of high literary erninence.
At length critics condescended to inquire
where the seere. Of 50 wide and durable a
popularity lay. hey were compelled 20 own
that the ignorant multitude had Judged more
correctly than the learned, and that the de.-
pissed little book vas = master piece. Bunyan
Is indeed. as decidedly The arst Of all allegor-
ISIS as p-mosihenes IS the frs, Of dramstists
0 O,her allegesssts have shown equal in GEM uity.
but no other has ever been able to touch the
heart, and make distractions objects Of terror,
of pity and lore.
Ii NAV be doubted whether any English
dIsseh,er had suffered more severely under
the penal law than John Bunyan. OF the
s~enty-seven years which had eIasped since
the restoration, he pas-ed twelve IN confiae-
nent- He still persisted in preaching. but
that Re might preach, he was under the ne
cessity Of discussing himself Ike carer
He " y often introduced into meeting through
back doors. with . snock truck us h.s bsps
sod whip = his hand