The Life of John Bunyan [50]
filthy lucre and the pampering of their idle
carcases had made shipwreck of their former faith;" but he does
know that having been ejected as a Nonconformist in 1662, he had
afterwards gone over to the winning side, and he fears that "such
an unstable weathercock spirit as he had manifested would stumble
the work and give advantage to the adversary to speak vilifyingly
of religion." No excuse can be offered for the coarse violence of
Bunyan's language in this book; but it was too much the habit of
the time to load a theological opponent with vituperation, to push
his assertions to the furthest extreme, and make the most
unwarrantable deductions from them. It must be acknowledged that
Bunyan does not treat Fowler and his doctrines with fairness, and
that, if the latter may be thought to depreciate unduly the
sacrifice of the Death of Christ as an expiation for man's guilt,
and to lay too great a stress on the moral faculties remaining in
the soul after the Fall, Bunyan errs still more widely on the other
side in asserting the absolute, irredeemable corruption of human
nature, leaving nothing for grace to work upon, but demanding an
absolutely fresh creation, not a revivification of the Divine
nature grievously marred but not annihilated by Adam's sin.
A reply to Bunyan's severe strictures was not slow to appear. The
book bears the title, characteristic of the tone and language of
its contents, of "DIRT WIP'T OFF; or, a manifest discovery of the
Gross Ignorance, Erroneousness, and most Unchristian and Wicked
Spirit of one John Bunyan, Lay-preacher in Bedford." It professes
to be written by a friend of Fowler's, but Fowler was generally
accredited with it. Its violent tirades against one who, he says,
had been "near these twenty years or longer very infamous in the
Town and County of Bedford as a very Pestilent Schismatick," and
whom he suggests the authorities have done wrong in letting out of
prison, and had better clap in gaol again as "an impudent and
malicious Firebrand," have long since been consigned to a merciful
oblivion, where we may safely leave them.
CHAPTER VIII.
Bunyan's protracted imprisonment came to an end in 1672. The exact
date of his actual liberation is uncertain. His pardon under the
Great Seal bears date September 13th. But we find from the church
books that he had been appointed pastor of the congregation to
which he belonged as early as the 21st of January of that year, and
on the 9th of May his ministerial position was duly recognized by
the Government, and a license was granted to him to act "as
preacher in the house of Josias Roughead," for those "of the
Persuasion commonly called Congregational." His release would
therefore seem to have anticipated the formal issue of his pardon
by four months. Bunyan was now half way through his forty-fourth
year. Sixteen years still remained to him before his career of
indefatigable service in the Master's work was brought to a close.
Of these sixteen years, as has already been remarked, we have only
a very general knowledge. Details are entirely wanting; nor is
there any known source from which they can be recovered. If he
kept any diary it has not been preserved. If he wrote letters -
and one who was looked up to by so large a circle of disciples as a
spiritual father and guide, and whose pen was so ready of exercise,
cannot fail to have written many - not one has come down to us.
The pages of the church books during his pastorate are also
provokingly barren of record, and little that they contain is in
Bunyan's handwriting. As Dr. Brown has said, "he seems to have
been too busy to keep any records of his busy life." Nor can we
fill up the blank from external authorities. The references to
Bunyan in contemporary biographies are far fewer than we might have
expected; certainly far fewer than we could have desired. But the
little that
carcases had made shipwreck of their former faith;" but he does
know that having been ejected as a Nonconformist in 1662, he had
afterwards gone over to the winning side, and he fears that "such
an unstable weathercock spirit as he had manifested would stumble
the work and give advantage to the adversary to speak vilifyingly
of religion." No excuse can be offered for the coarse violence of
Bunyan's language in this book; but it was too much the habit of
the time to load a theological opponent with vituperation, to push
his assertions to the furthest extreme, and make the most
unwarrantable deductions from them. It must be acknowledged that
Bunyan does not treat Fowler and his doctrines with fairness, and
that, if the latter may be thought to depreciate unduly the
sacrifice of the Death of Christ as an expiation for man's guilt,
and to lay too great a stress on the moral faculties remaining in
the soul after the Fall, Bunyan errs still more widely on the other
side in asserting the absolute, irredeemable corruption of human
nature, leaving nothing for grace to work upon, but demanding an
absolutely fresh creation, not a revivification of the Divine
nature grievously marred but not annihilated by Adam's sin.
A reply to Bunyan's severe strictures was not slow to appear. The
book bears the title, characteristic of the tone and language of
its contents, of "DIRT WIP'T OFF; or, a manifest discovery of the
Gross Ignorance, Erroneousness, and most Unchristian and Wicked
Spirit of one John Bunyan, Lay-preacher in Bedford." It professes
to be written by a friend of Fowler's, but Fowler was generally
accredited with it. Its violent tirades against one who, he says,
had been "near these twenty years or longer very infamous in the
Town and County of Bedford as a very Pestilent Schismatick," and
whom he suggests the authorities have done wrong in letting out of
prison, and had better clap in gaol again as "an impudent and
malicious Firebrand," have long since been consigned to a merciful
oblivion, where we may safely leave them.
CHAPTER VIII.
Bunyan's protracted imprisonment came to an end in 1672. The exact
date of his actual liberation is uncertain. His pardon under the
Great Seal bears date September 13th. But we find from the church
books that he had been appointed pastor of the congregation to
which he belonged as early as the 21st of January of that year, and
on the 9th of May his ministerial position was duly recognized by
the Government, and a license was granted to him to act "as
preacher in the house of Josias Roughead," for those "of the
Persuasion commonly called Congregational." His release would
therefore seem to have anticipated the formal issue of his pardon
by four months. Bunyan was now half way through his forty-fourth
year. Sixteen years still remained to him before his career of
indefatigable service in the Master's work was brought to a close.
Of these sixteen years, as has already been remarked, we have only
a very general knowledge. Details are entirely wanting; nor is
there any known source from which they can be recovered. If he
kept any diary it has not been preserved. If he wrote letters -
and one who was looked up to by so large a circle of disciples as a
spiritual father and guide, and whose pen was so ready of exercise,
cannot fail to have written many - not one has come down to us.
The pages of the church books during his pastorate are also
provokingly barren of record, and little that they contain is in
Bunyan's handwriting. As Dr. Brown has said, "he seems to have
been too busy to keep any records of his busy life." Nor can we
fill up the blank from external authorities. The references to
Bunyan in contemporary biographies are far fewer than we might have
expected; certainly far fewer than we could have desired. But the
little that