How inscrutable are the ways of God! Had Bunyan lived a month longer, he would have witnessed the glorious Revolution—the escape of a great nation. The staff and hope of Protestant Europe was saved from a subtle—a Jesuitical attempt—to introduce Popery and arbitrary government. The time of his death, as a release from the incumbrance of a material body, was fixed by infinite wisdom and love at that juncture, and it ought not to be a cause of regret. His interest in the welfare of the church ceased not with his mortal life. How swiftly would his glorified spirit fly to see the landing of William, and hover with joy over the flight of the besotted James! He was now in a situation to prove the truth of that saying, 'the angels desire to look into' the truth and spread of the glad tidings. How he would prove the reality of his opinion, expressed in The Holy War, of the interest taken by the inhabitants of heaven in the prosperity of the church on earth. When Mansoul was conquered, the spirits that witnessed the victory 'shouted with that greatness of voice, and sung with such melodious notes, that they caused them that dwell in the highest orbs to open their windows, and put out their heads and look down to see the cause of that glory' (Luke 15:7-10).
So may we imagine that the happy, happy, glorified spirit
of Bunyan would look down rejoicing, when, a few years after he had yielded up
his pastoral cares, the seed which he had been instrumental in sowing produced
its fruit in such numbers, that the old meeting-house was pulled down, and in
its place a large and respectable one was erected. And again, on the 20th
February, 1850, with what joy would he look down upon the opening of a still
larger, more commodious, and handsome meeting-house, bearing his name, and
capable of holding 1150 worshippers. One of Bunyan's pungent, alarming sayings
to the careless was, 'Once die, we cannot come back and die better.' If
anything could tempt him, in his angelic body, to re-visit this earth, it would
be to address the multitude at the new Bunyan Chapel with his old sermon on The
Jerusalem Sinner Saved, or Good News to the Vilest of Men. But we have Moses
and the prophets—Christ and his apostles; if we shut our ears to them, neither
should we listen to a messenger from the New Jerusalem.
When it is recollected that Bunyan received the most imperfect rudiments of education in a charity school when very young, which were 'almost entirely' obliterated by bad habits—that he was a hard-working man through life, maintaining himself, a wife, and four children, by his severe labour as a brazier—and yet, by personal efforts, he educated himself and wrote sixty-two valuable religious treatises, numbering among them his inimitable allegories, The Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War, made a Concordance to the Bible, and conducted important controversies. Preaching, while at liberty, almost innumerable sermons on the Lord's-days and week-days, early in the morning and late at night.
Visiting his flock with
pastoral care—founding churches in the villages, and even in towns and cities
far distant from his dwelling—constantly giving advice to promote peace and
good will, and rendering benevolent aid by long journeys! His whole life
presents to us a picture of most astonishing, energetic perseverance. Every
moment of time must have been employed as if he valued it as a precious trust,
which, if once lost, could never be regained. Who of us can compare our life
with his last thirty years, and not blush with shame!
The finest trait in Bunyan's Christian character was his deep, heartfelt humility. This is the more extraordinary from his want of secular education, and his unrivalled talent. The more we learn, the greater is the field for research that opens before us, insomuch that the wisest philosophers have most seriously felt the little progress they have made. He acknowledged to Mr. Cockayn, who considered him the most eminent man, and a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of the churches,[ that spiritual pride was his easily besetting sin, and that he needed the thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted above measure.
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