'And in this, I admire
the wisdom of God, that he made me shy of women from my first conversion until
now. When I have seen good men salute those women they have visited, I
have made my objection against it; and when they have answered, that it was but
a piece of civility, I have told them, it is not a comely sight. Some indeed
have urged the holy kiss; but then I have asked why they made balks, why they
did salute the most handsome, and let the ill-favored go. Not that I have been
thus kept, because of any goodness in me, more than any other, but God has been
merciful to me and has kept me, to whom I pray that he will keep me still, not
only from this, but every evil way and work, and preserve me to his heavenly
kingdom. Amen.'
Notwithstanding all
Mr. Bunyan's care to avoid the slightest appearance of evil, yet being
over-persuaded to an act of humanity and civility to one of his female members,
he was most unjustly calumniated. The circumstances which gave rise to this
slander are narrated in James's Abstract of God's dealings with Mrs. Agnes
Beaumont, of which an abridged account will be found in a note to the Grace
Abounding. It exhibits in a remarkable manner how easily such reports are raised
against the holiest men.
Another still more
extraordinary and unnatural charge was made against Bunyan. He lived at a
period when witchcraft, witches, and wizards were at the height of fashion. Any
poor woman who had outlived or had become a burden to her natural protectors,
and whose temper was soured by infirmities, especially if her language was
vulgar and her appearance repulsive, ran the risk of being defamed as a witch.
If in her neighborhood a murrain seized the cattle, or a disease entered a family
which baffled the little knowledge of the country practitioners—such as
epilepsy, St. Vitus' dance, or St. Anthony's fire—it was ascribed to
witchcraft. Vengeance was wreaked upon any reputed witch. In many parts of
England, she was tried by a kind of Lynch law, in a very summary manner.
Her hands and feet being bound together, she was thrown into deep water; if she sank, and was drowned, she was declared innocent; if she swam, it was proof of guilt, and a short form of law condemned her to the stake or halter. In Scotland, they were treated with greater barbarity; they were awfully tortured—thumb-screws, the boots to crush their knees, pricking them with needles or awls night and day, to prevent a moment's rest, were persevered in—until a confession was extorted, to be followed by a frightful death. The ignorance that prevailed may account for the faith of the vulgar in witchcraft; but that learned divines, and even the enlightened Judge Hale, should fall into the delusion, is most surprising.
The charge against Bunyan was, that he had circulated some paper libeling a
most respectable widow, a Quakeress, as a witch. This paper cannot now be
discovered, but the story is so perfectly ridiculous as to render it quite
improbable that Bunyan had any knowledge of it. The account is contained in a
rare pamphlet of four leaves, preserved in the very curious library of the
Society of Friends at Devonshire House, Bishopsgate. It is entitled, 'A lying
wonder discovered, and the strange and terrible news from Cambridge proved
false; which false news is published in a libel, concerning a wicked slander
cast upon a Quaker; but the author of the said libel was ashamed to subscribe
his name to it. Also, this contains an answer to John Bunion's paper, touching
the said imagined witchcraft, which he hath given forth to your wonderment, as
he saith; but it is also proved a lie and a slander by many credible witnesses
hereafter mentioned.'
No comments:
Post a Comment