He longed to compare
his experience with that of some old and eminent convert, and 'God did cast
into his hand' Luther On the Galatians, 'so old that it was ready to fall piece
from piece if I did but turn it over.' The commentary of this enlightened man
was a counterpart to his own feelings. 'I found,' says Bunyan, 'my condition,
in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had been
written out of my own heart. I prefer the book before all others as most fit
for a wounded conscience.' This was the 'voice of a man' that Christian 'heard
as going before him in the Valley of the Shadow of Death,' and was glad that
some who feared God were in this valley as well as himself, who could say, 'I
will fear no evil for thou art with me.'
In many things, Luther
and Bunyan were men of similar temperaments. Like Emmanuel's captains, in the
Holy War, they were 'very stout rough-hewn men; men that were fit to break the
ice, and to make their way by dint of sword.' They were animated by the same
principles, and fought with the same weapons; and although Luther resided in a
castle protected by princes, was furnished with profound scholastic learning,
and became a terror to Popery; yet the voice of the unlettered tinker, issuing
from a dreary prison, bids fair to be far more extensively heard and blessed
than that of this most illustrious reformer.
Bunyan's happiness
was now very great; his soul, with all its affections, clave unto Christ: but
lest spiritual pride should exalt him beyond measure, and lest he should be
scared to renounce his Saviour, by the threat of transportation and death, his
heart was again wounded, and quickly after this his 'love was tried to
purpose.'
The tempter came in
upon him with a most grievous and dreadful temptation; it was to part with
Christ, to exchange him for the things of this life; he was perpetually
tormented with the words 'sell Christ.' At length, he thought that his spirit
gave way to the temptation, and a dreadful and profound state of despair
overpowered him for the dreary space of more than two years. This is the most
extraordinary part of this wonderful narrative, that he, without apparent
cause, should thus be tempted, and feel the bitterness of a supposed parting
with Christ. There was, doubtless, a cause for every pang; his heavenly Father
afflicted him for his profit.
We shall soon have to
follow him through fiery trials. Before the justices, allured by their
arguments, and particularly by the sophistry of their clerk, Mr. Cobb, and then
dragged from a beloved wife and from children to whom he was most fondly
attached—all these fiery trials might be avoided if he would but 'sell
Christ.' A cold damp dungeon was to incarcerate his body for twelve tedious
years of the prime of his life unless he would 'sell Christ.' His ministering
brother and friend, John Child, a Bedford man, who had joined in recommending
Bunyan's Vindication of Gospel Truths, fell under this temptation, and fearing
temporal ruin and imprisonment for life, conformed, and then fell into the most
awful state of despair, suffering such agonies of conscience, that, to get rid
of present trouble, he hurried himself into eternity.
Probably Bunyan
alludes to this awful instance of fell despair in his Publican and Pharisee:
'Sin, when appearing in its monstrous shape and hue, frighted all mortals out
of their wits, away from God; and if he stops them not, also out of the world.'
To arm Bunyan against being overcome by a fear of the lions on the way to the
house Beautiful—against giving way, under persecution—he was visited with
terrors lest he should sell or part with Christ. During these sad years, he was
not wholly sunk in despair but had at times some glimmerings of mercy. In
comparing his supposed sin with that of Judas, he was constrained to find a
difference between a deliberate intention to sell Christ and a sudden
temptation.
Through all these
searchings of heart and inquiries at the Word, he became fixed in the doctrine
of the final perseverance of God's saints. 'O what love, what care, what
kindness and mercy did I now see mixing itself with the most severe and
dreadful of all God's ways to his people; he never let them fall into sin
unpardonable.' 'But these thoughts added grief and horror to me; I thought that
all things wrought for my eternal overthrow.' So ready is the tender heart to
write bitter things against itself, and as ready is the tempter to whisper
despairing thoughts. In the midst of this distress he 'saw a glory in walking
with God,' although a dismal cloud enveloped him.
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