Works of John Bunyan — Complete. John Bunyan
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Life of Alfred, comparing him to Charles I. Preface. 8vo. 1634.
56. Vol. i., p. 8, 9.
57. The game of cat, tipcat, or "sly," so called by Wilson, in his life of Bunyan [Wilson's Edition of Works, vol. i., fol. 1736], is an ancient game well known in many parts of the kingdom. A number of holes are made in the ground, at equal distances, in a circular direction; a player is stationed at each hole; the opposite party stand around; one of them throws the cat to the batsman nearest to him; every time the cat is struck, the batsmen run from one hole to the next, and score as many as they change positions; but if the cat is thrown between them before reaching the hole, the batsman is out [Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, 8vo., p. 110]. Such was the childish game played by men on the Lord's-day.
58. Life by C. Doe, 1698.
59. Vol. i., p. 9.
60. Saved by Grace, vol. i., p. 351.
61. Vol. i., p. 9; No. 32.
62. Folio edition, pp. 595–6.
63. In the Engraving, p. 1, vol. i., is a view of part of the village green, Elstow, with the ancient building now used as a school-house, as seen from the church-yard. This building is older than the time of Bunyan, and was the scene of village meetings at the period in which he lived, and doubtless associated with his dancing and thoughtless amusements, as the green itself was the scene of the game of cat. A view looking towards the church is given in Vignette to vol. i. of the Works.
64. Vol. i., p. 10.
65. Southey's Life, pp. xxv., xxxii.
66. Vol. i., p. 80.
67. Vol. i., p. 11.
68. Vol. iii., p. 607.
69. Heresiography. 4tp. 1654. p. 143.
70. Vol. iii., p. 151.
71. Vol. iii., p. 118.
72. Vol. i., p. 11.
73. Vol. i., p. 11.
74. Vol. i., p. 591.
75. The Rev. H. J. Rose, in his Biographical Dictionary, distorts this singular affair into, 'he laid claim to a faith of such magnitude as to work miracles!'
76. Vol. i., p. 12.
77. Vol. iii., pp. 155, 156.
78. Vol. i., p. 12.
79. It is as easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, as for a man to pass through this door with the world on his back.
80. Vol. i., p. 13.
81. Vol. i., p. 13.
82. Holy War, vol. iii., p. 342, 346.
83. Bunyan on the Throne of Grace, vol. i., p. 677.
84. Vol. i., p. 80.
85. Holy War, vol. iii., p. 297.
86. Vol. i., p. 14.
87. Vol. iii., p. 123.
88. Addison.
89. Vol. i., p. 14.
90. April 1645. About 300 discontented persons got together in Kent, and took Sir Percival Hart's house; Colonel Blunt attacked and dispersed them with horse and foot, regained the house, and made the chief of them prisoners. Whitelock, folio 137.
91. Vol. i., p. 15.
92. Vol. i., p. 15; No. 82.
93. Vol. i., p. 16.
94. Vol. i., p. 17, 18.
95. Vol. iii., p. 113.
96. Bunyan's Saints' Privilege and Profit, vol. i., p. 661.
97. Bunyan's Saved by Grace, vol. i., p. 340.
98. Vol. i., p. 17.
99. Bunyan's Christ a Complete Saviour, vol. i., p. 210.
100. Rogers on Trouble of Mind. Preface. Thus temptations are suited to the state of the inquiring soul; the learned man who studies Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, is filled with doubts arising from 'philosophy and vain deceit, profane and vain babblings'; the unlettered mechanic is tried not by logic, but by infernal artillery; the threatenings of God's Word are made to obscure the promises. It is a struggle which, to one possessing a vivid imagination, is attended with almost intolerable agonies—unbelief seals up the door of mercy.
Bunyan agreed with his learned contemporary, Milton, in the invisible agency of good and bad spirits.
'Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep!'
The malignant demons watch their opportunity to harass the pilgrim with evil thoughts, injected when least expected.
101. Vol. i., p. 19.
102. Vol. i., p. 20.
103. The anxiety of this pious teacher was to press upon his hearers to take special heed, not to receive any truth upon trust from any man, but to pray over it and search 'the Holy Word.' This, Mr. Southey designates, 'doctrine of a most perilous kind.' How happy would it be for society if every religious teacher pressed this perilous doctrine upon their hearers, that it might bring forth the same fruit universally, as it did specially in Bunyan. Compare Grace Abounding, No. 117, and Southey's Life, p. 27, 28.
104. Vol. i., p. 21.
105. Vol. i., p. 22.
106. Vol. iii., p. 115.
107. Vol. iii., p. 270.
108. Luther fell into the same mistake as to the Baptists, that Bunyan did as to the Quakers. Both were keenly alive to the honour of Christianity, and were equally misled by the loose conduct of some unworthy professors. Luther charges the Baptists as being 'devils possessed with worse devils' [Preface to Galatians]. 'It is all one whether he be called a Frank, a Turk, a Jew, or an Anabaptist' [Com. Gal. iv. 8, 9]. 'Possessed with the devil, seditious, and bloody men' [Gal. v. 19]. Even a few days before his death, he wrote to his wife, 'Dearest Kate, we reached Halle at eight o'clock, but could not get on to Eisleben, for there met us a great Anabaptist, with waves and lumps of ice, which threatened us with a second baptism.' Bunyan, in the same spirit, calls the Quakers 'a company of loose ranters, light notionists, shaking in their principles!' [Vol. ii., p. 133, 9, 21]. Denying the Scriptures and the resurrection [Com. Gal. iv. 29]. These two great men went through the same furnace of the regeneration; and Bunyan, notwithstanding Luther's prejudices against the Baptists, most affectionately recommended his Comment on the Galatians, as an invaluable work for binding up the broken-hearted.
109. Vol. i., p. 23.
110. Vol. ii., p. 181.
111. Vol. ii., p. 260.
112. Vol. i., p. 25; No. 158.
113. See note in vol. i., p. 26.
114. Vol. i., p. 29.
115. Vol. i., p. 30
116. The study of those scriptures, in order that the solemn question might be safely resolved, 'Can such a fallen sinner rise again?' was like the investigation of the title to an estate upon which a whole livelihood depended. Every apparent flaw must be critically examined. Tremblingly alive to the importance of a right decision, his prayers were most earnest; and at length, to his unspeakable delight, the word of the law and wrath gave place to that of life and grace.
117. Vol. i., p. 35.
118. Vol. iii., p. 100.
119. Irish sixpences, which passed for fourpence-halfpenny. See the note on vol. i., p. 36. Since writing that note I have discovered another proof of the contempt with which that coin was treated:—'Christian, the wife of Robert Green, of Brexham, Somersetshire, in 1663, is said to have made a covenant with the devil; he pricked the fourth finger of her right hand, between the middle and upper joints, and took two drops of her