history of that remarkable work (which was a special favorite with himself, because of "the Jasper-light" in which it shone out upon him suddenly, when he thought he could not speak

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so much as five words of truth"), will be found in the Chapter of his Prison Thoughts.

This season of affliction was useful to Bunyan. It brought his best affections, as well as his best powers, into full operation. He said, in reference to it, "the Incense was to be bruised, and so to be burned in the Censer. Sweet gums and spices cast their fragrant scent into the nostrils of man, when beaten: and the heart, when beaten and bruised, casts its sweet smell into the nostrils of God."—Works, p. 543. He meant himself, also, when he said of David, "He knew what it was to hang over the mouth of Hell, and to have Death pulling him down into the Pit. This he saw, to the breaking of his heart. His relief, therefore, made him a thankful man! And if a man who has had a leg broken, is made to understand that by breaking of that, he was kept from breaking his neck, he will be thankful to God for a broken leg."-Works, p. 547. Agreeably to these maxims, Bunyan was thankful for his visit to the gates of death.

CHAPTER XVII.

BUNYAN'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

1656.

If either the consciousness of mental power, or the command of intelligible and terse modes of expressing his religious thoughts and feelings, could have encouraged Bunyan to preach the Gospel to others, he would have begun to do so when he regretted that the Crows did not understand him. If, again, example could have tempted him to "expose his gifts" (according to the phrase and fashion of his times) he might have commenced when he liked, without being sent or sanctioned by any church: for (as Dr. Chalmers told the Christian Influence Society, in his Presbyterian Lectures in aid of Episcopacy) "the mystic superiority arrogated by domineering Churchmen, who claim for themselves (to the exclusion of all others as beyond the pale') the immaculate descent of a pure and apostolic ordination," had rendered ordination a by-word in the Army; and taught hosts of better men to say with Chalmers, "We disclaim all aid from any such factitious argument;-an argument which could have been of no avail against the Popery we rejected, and should be of as little avail against (other) denominations of Protestantism."-Chalmers' Last Lecture.

Bunyan had, however, an overwhelming dread of the ministry; not merely because he was alive to its solemn responsibilities, and to his own lack of knowledge, but chiefly because he could not appropriate to himself the Salvation he wished to proclaim to others. He was thus as much awed at the bare

idea of entering the ministry of the Church on earth, as a reflecting man is, in the immediate prospect of taking a part in the service of the Church in heaven. We must both remember and realize this, if we would either understand Bunyan, or sympathize with him, at this point of his history.

Now we do not wonder at all, that a very great change must take place upon both the heart and conscience of even the holiest Christians at death, before they can serve or enjoy God in heaven; for there, His servants serve Him day and night without weariness or dread. Such untiring and cheerful service is natural to Angels. There is nothing in their nature or history, to hinder it. Their spirit was never unfit, nor reluctant, nor afraid, to see or to serve God, face to face. They have thus no painful recollections of the past, and no fears as to the future. They can look back upon their whole life without one blush of shame, or one sigh of regret; and forward through Eternity, without one suspicion. It is, however, just as true of the human spirits in Heaven, as of the angelic, that they too serve God without weariness or dread. Their power and composure to do so arise, indeed, from other and widely different causes: but they have both power and composure to equal the Angels in duty and delight.

It is, I grant, easier to believe this of others, than to realize it for ourselves. We can hardly conceive how we could be able, for ages, to look up, at all, before the Eternal Throne, even if Angels conveyed, or old Friends welcomed us, into heaven. We feel, when we think of seeing God and the Lamb face to face, as if we should like to look at them first, from "the borders of Emanuel's land." We are so sure, that the "great sight" must remind us of the long time during which, and the low reasons for which, we lived without God, and without Christ, in the world,—that we cannot help feeling as if we could not bear the sight at once; but as if it must