BUNYAN, Jon N, btst known as tile author LI Progreso, wa, 1)0111 near Belford, in the )( 1628. ills fatlu•r, though a fink( r, guy c idol a Info education than usual, by having him to r( ad .11( write. But being of ea ty froward di-position, and I exposed to the contagion of had example, he earl) la ga• to indulge in all manner of vice, and soon ',mann , it every iespect, a notorious profligate. During his wit k( career, however, he had frequent and strong conviction of guilt. Various circumstances occurred to lead nil to serious reflection on his conduct. Ills imagination was so powerfully impressed, that lie thought he heard a voice from heaven warning him of his danger. And tI result of all this was a complete and permanent refornn. dun of character. About the year 1655 he b ante a member of a Baptist society at Bedford ; and was so ze;.. Ions in his religious profession and practices, which stota directly opposed to those of the court, that, after the re storation, he suffered, along with multitudes of his fellow Christians, the severest persecution. Having transgress ed the law against conventieles, that is, having chosen to worship God according to the dictates of his own mind. and to maintain, w ith earnestness, his own views of scrip ture doctrine, lie was indicted, at the instance of the king—stood trial at the Bedford quarter sessions for his alleged offences, and was found guilty of " devilishly and perniciously refusing to go to the established church, and upholding unlawful meetings, to the great disturb ance and distraction of the kingdom." His trial was conducted with the characteristic injustice and tyranny of those times. The facts stated in the indictment were not proved. No witnesses were adduced against him. Some words, which accidentally fell from him in con versing with the justices, were taken for a conviction. And these worthy administrators of the acts of Charles II. actuated by the spirit, and obedient to the will of did' master, pronounced upon poor John Bunyan a sentence of perpetual banishment. This sentence was not exe cuted, hut its victim was cast into prison, and remained there fur twelve years and a half, enduring his wrongs with much patience, supporting himself and hi, family by making tagged laces, and engaging in religious ex ercises with above sixty dissenters, who were confined in the same place for the same 1 lc w as at length enlarged through the benevolent inte.•f •raa•e of Dr Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln. During the last year of his imprisonment, (1671) he was unanimously ( hosen pastor of the congregation at Bedford, to w /deli lie be longed. And afterwards taking advantage of James the Second's declaration in favour of liberty of conscience, he built, with the assistance of his followers, a public meet ing-house in that city, in which he regularly preached to large and admiring audiences. It is said that Dr John
Owen was one of his hearers, and gave countenance in other respects to his ministerial labours. I he died in London, on the 31st of August 1688, in the 6oth year of his age.
Bunyan laboured under great disadvantages, in point of education and external circumstances ; but he seems to hare possessed no inconsiderable portion of genius ; and had he been more favourably situated, would proba bly have made a greater figure in the world than most of his contemporaries. Of this we have sufficient proof in his Pilgrim's Progress, a work which has no equal in popularity, and which is distinguished by many real ex cellencies, both as a work of poetic fancy and of practical divinity. The allegory is well conceived, and well con ducted. It frequently offends by its coarseness and vul garity, but at the same time excites so much dramatic interest, and gives such lively delineations of real life, as to make the reader overlook these minor defects. The theology which it teaches, is systematic Calvinism : it is Calvinism, however, coming home to the Christian's ex perience, and producing its moral effects on his heart and conduct. And it is a well-known fact, that few books have done more good among the people than the Pil grim's Progress. Though the merits of the author are universally acknowledged, it is not generally known that he had the model of this work before him in the Isle of Alan, or the Legal Proceedings in Manshire against Sin, a curious little allegory, written by the Rev. Richard Barnard, and published in the year 1626. Bunyan pro duced various other pieces of inferior merit. Of these the Holy War is in greatest repute among the lower or ders, for whom it is, from its style and manner, chiefly in tended. A complete edition of his works was published in 1767, in two volumes folio, adorned with copperplates, and accompanied with a recommendatory preface by Mr George Whitfield. Sec Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners, in a faitlzful account of the Life of Mr John Bunyan. This is written by himself, and contains a very particular account of the conferences which he had with the judges by whom he was tried, and of the oppressive manner in which he was treated by his persecutors. It is in this, as in several other respects, an excellent pic ture, both of Bunyan himself, and of the times in which he lived. See also Grainger's Biograph. Hist. of _Eng land ; 4ccount of the Life of Bunyan, prefixed to the above-mentioned edition of his works ; and Biograph. Brit. (r)