JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688) HIS LIFE, TIMES, AND WORK JOHN BY BROWN, B.A., D.D. (MINISTER of the CHURCH at BUNYAN MEETING, BEDFORD, THE TERCENTENARY EDITION FRANK MOTT HARRISON With Marginal Notes, Addenda, and Appendices. First Edition, 1885. Second Edition, 1886. Third Edition, 1887. Re-printed, 1888: 1890: 1900. Fourth Edition, Two Volumes (Abridged), 1902. New and Revised Edition (Tercentenary), 1928. 012-26-27 acro Satheraw 12-16-29 20668 EDITOR'S PREFACE. JOHN BUNYAN is a personality still dear to the English-speaking people throughout the world, although three hundred years have elapsed since he first saw the light of day at Elstow. No one would be more surprised than he to know the fame he has attained. That a despised and persecuted tinker from an obscure village should rise to such eminence in the realm of English literature is almost beyond credibility; and yet, in the approaching commemoration of his birth, Bunyan's name will be acclaimed throughout the whole earth by means of written or spoken eulogy. The printing-press is already at work, and anon the aerial will take up the theme. The pens of the great and mighty have been wielded for two and a half centuries in his honour, and they will continue to be wielded so long as the English language exists. Few authors have indeed had such attention paid to them, and the tributes to Bunyan have oft been quoted; but least frequently, perhaps, what "Arnold of Rugby" has written: "I have left off reading our Divines. But if I could find a great man amongst them I would read him thankfully and earnestly. As it is, I hold John Bunyan to have been a man of incomparably greater genius than any of them. ." Of The Pilgrim's Progress, Dr. Arnold says: "I have always been struck by its piety: I am now struck equally, or even more by its profound wisdom." The record of Bunyan's life is remarkable; it is unique; especially when it is considered what he might have been (but for the interposition of GOD) had he simply obeyed the law and so evaded long years of imprisonment. The hand of Divine Providence was in it all; and unwittingly-but not unwillingly-the Dreamer was led on step by step. It would be difficult to say, when reviewing his career three centuries later, which stage of his life could have been omitted without marring the whole. Dr. Brown's work is of such paramount value to the bibliophile that its revision has been deemed not only advisable but imperative; for there are few copies of the original editions now available, and yet the interest in "JOHN BUNYAN, his life, times, and work," is as keen as it ever has been. The occasional appearance of a rare item in the auction-room has added zest to the public appreciation of Bunyan; but to the sincere student of his writings there is a larger and greater value in such a book as this by Dr. Brown. In the new edition attention has been given to details biographical, bibliographical, and topographical, as well as to historical and antiquarian. The research involved in such an undertaking has been considerable; yet, when compared with the indefatigable labours of the late Dr. Brown, it sinks into insignificance. Perhaps there could be no better memorial to the esteemed author, JOHN BROWN, B.A., D.D., than the re-issue of this great work. Questions which still remain unsettled are left to a future reviser for, as one lays down the pen another takes it up only thus can history be carried on from one generation to another. The revision consists chiefly of marginal notes and editorial comments bracketed thus []. An addendum to some of the chapters is unavoidable; for, in deference to the wishes of the family of the late Dr. Brown that his work should be left intact, this method has been adopted to obviate the otherwise necessary re-writing of those chapters. The editor acknowledges with gratitude the kind fellowship of the late Richard Henry Poynter, for many years curator of the Bunyan Museum at Bedford. Sincere thanks are accorded to the minister, the Rev. C. Bernard Cockett, M.A., the Trustees, and the honorary curator and librarian, Mr. Joseph Whiting, of the Bunyan Meeting, Bedford, for access to books and relics in the Bunyan Museum; to Mr. Arundell Esdaile, M.A., and other officials at the British Museum; to Dr. Guppy and his staff at the John Rylands Library, Manchester; to the Chief Librarian and his assistants at the Bodleian, Oxford; and to the librarians at Cambridge and other |