The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-07-02

lppop, certain place rRheke there was {
deny Theg wdrd6 6haY b$Sn kans
latsd into MndrSdg9f lankMgesAand
thE[ [questi3h hasYbS Sen oksH asked,
where was Nhat bjaca and Aerd5wat
thAt den? a Thief apsw& given has
always been, the name Of that place Is
Bedford, and the name Of that den
Bedford Jail. This it is which has
given to the town of Bedford it's chief
may say, without offence, it's
pply?-title to universal and everlast-
ing fame. Il is exactly 2GG years since
Buuyan resolved upon what to him
was great ventqret namely, to pub
!ish !4h. tthha. th. |csk Thieh has given to Bed.
ford this. iranortAls .renown, and Bed
ford to-day pnys BACK SOME part OF the
debt she, owes to him. I shall not,
however, ,nrrender without struggle
the share which England at large has
IA, your illustrious townsmsn to your
local clnitns. Something of the na-
tional and cosmopolitan character Of
BnnyanS works was probably owing
to the wsndeFHg. lsypsS lRb be led in
his youth as' tinker and in the moro
peripus jonrneyings, Hf Fhis Hter life'in
what msyibe called hia apiscopal visi-
tations!i III we follow th6s track Of the
young soldier, whether in the royal or
The Eparlismentstian army, Gt, is not
certain which,, when he 80 narrowly
escaped the shot that laid his oomfade
low at the siegeoof. Eeicester, We shall
find that he. probably obtained there
the materials for his :Ho!y War" and
the .:Siege Of MansoHl." When I WAS
exploring r,he Pilgrims Way" to
Canterbury . / wns much impressed
With, the Ingenious theories of one of
the officers OF the ordnance survey,
who held that tile pilgrim OF the soven-
teenth century. John Bunyan, caught
the idea Of the hill of difficulty and the
de!eotable mountains from the hills
through which that track meanders;
and might he not from his early visits
to London have obtained the notion of
Vanity Fair? at any rate, we know
that crowds attended his preaching at
Zoar Chapel in Southwark, and he
rests in the grave of his host, STAN
drake, the grocer, in the venerable
of Buhhill Fields. You are
right, however, to claim him as your
own, for II is the strength of country
and OF town to have It's famous men
held in everlasting remembrance.
Such are the links by which they are
bound to the history of q country, and
by which the local greatness of whole
country ia bound together. Yon have
become immortal through him-take
care that you do not let his fame be
obsoured by your unworthiness. Turn
ing to what may be called his ecclesi-
astical career, we must that
he was Baptist or Ana-haptist-a
nams which once struck terror and dis
may through whole States in Europe;
ont which, even in Bunyan's time, had
subsidized into quiet, peaceful COM
sect which numbers on it's
roll Havelock among its soldiers, Carey
and Marshman among its missionaries
and Robert Hall among its preachers.
speak only Of the dead. but whether
living or dead, there is no other name
among them TO Which all other
churches bow the head 30 reverently AS
TO that Of John Bunyan. You all re-
Lord Macaalay's remark that
the seventeenth century only produced
two men of original genius-and these
two were John Milton and John Bun
yum. And I will venture to add to
that remark of Macuulay's TINT in all
our English literature there have been
on!y two works universally popular,
ind both OF these were written by
n-conformists-onew was the work Of
a Presbyterian journalist, and it is
called "Robinson Crusoe," and the
other was by Baptist teacher, and it's
name is "Pilgrim's Progress. In fact,
the non-conformists have splendid
literature OF their own, aud we must
that literature may be chan
nels of grace no o'lsss spiritual thun
saoraments or doctrines, chapels or
Dunynn was great as the
hero OF tolerntion. He was creator
still as o preacher, but beyond all
comparison he is greatest as the teach
er of our childhood-n the author of
those characters whose names aud
fuces are familiar to the whole world
AS the author of Pilgrims S Progress,
I speak to you in worldwide sense
not as Churchmun. but rs Il Christian
to Christmas, as u man to men. It is
one OF the great charms of that i'm
mortal work. that we trace no word in
it Of Baptist or pcdo- Baptist, Protest
ant or Catholic. I. is ono of the few
books in existence (Aud I know only of
six others, and they are III less de-
gree) which blends In perfection reli-
gions instruction with amusement, and
which NAV lie read with eonaI euioy-