Chapter 19

174. Nehemiah Coxe is said to have been a descendant from Dr. Richard Coxe, preceptor to Edward VI, and Dean of Oxford. He fled from persecution under Mary, was a troubler of his brother refugees by his turbulent temper, and his attachment to superstitious ceremonies. On his return, he was made Bishop of Ely, and became a bitter persecutor. Benjamin Coxe, A.M., probably a son of the furious bishop, was as ardently fond of rites and ceremonies. He was cited to appear before Laud for denying the jure divino of bishops, and the poor bishop said, “God did so bless me that I gave him satisfaction.” Mr. Coxe soon after came out as a Baptist, and having preached at Bedford, he settled in Coventry. Here he disputed with Mr. Baxter and the Presbyterians; and the Independents had him imprisoned for defending adult baptism (Crosby, History of Baptists, i. 354), a very short mode of settling the controversy. Probably Nehemiah Coxe was his son, settled at Bedford as a shoemaker. He was a learned man, and, when tried at Bedford assizes for preaching the gospel, he was indicted in the usual Norman-French, or Latin; and pleaded first in Greek, which the prosecutors not understanding, he pleaded in Hebrew, arguing, that as his indictment was in a foreign tongue, he was entitled to plead in any of the learned languages. The counsel being ignorant of those languages, and the judge glad to get rid of a vexatious indictment, dismissed him, saying to the counselors, ‘Well, this cordwainer hath wound you all up, gentlemen.’ This anecdote is handed down in a funeral sermon by T. Sutcliff, on the death of Symonds, one of the pastors of the church at Bedford.

Another of this little band that was set apart with Bunyan, became so useful a preacher as to have been honoured with a record in the annals of persecution in the reign of Charles II. John Fenn was on Lord’s-day, May 15, 1670, committed to prison for preaching in his own house; and on Tuesday, all his goods and stock in trade were seized and carted away, leaving his family in the most desolate condition.

In the following week, Edward Isaac, a blacksmith, another of this little band, having been fined, had all his stock in trade, and even the anvil upon which he worked, seized and carted away.

Such were the severe trials which these excellent citizens were, with their families, called to pass through, by the tyranny of the church; but they were light, indeed, in comparison with those that awaited the amiable and pious Bunyan.

175. If Christians recollected with what anxiety their teachers prepared and delivered their sermons, how constant and prayerful would be their attendance on the means of grace.

176. Grace Abounding, vol. i., p. 42. The taunts and revilings of a poet laureate upon Bunyan’s preaching and sufferings need only a passing notice. No words could be more vile and slanderous than those of Mr. Southey. He says, ‘Peace might be on his lips, and zeal for the salvation of others in his heart, but he was certainly, at that time, no preacher of good will, nor of Christian charity.’ How can we judge of a preacher’s good will, but by ‘peace on his lips?’ and what is the criterion of Christian charity, except it be ‘zeal for the salvation of others in his heart?’

177. Grace Abounding, No. 293, vol. i., p. 44.

178. Vol. i., p. 59. Eben. Chandler thus describes Bunyan: ‘His wit was sharp and quick, his memory tenacious; it being customary with him to commit his sermons to writing after he had preached them.’—Chandler and Wilson’s Preface to Bunyan’s Works, folio, 1692. All these autographs have unaccountably disappeared.

179. Noticed in the life annexed to Pilgrim, Part III.

180. In the editor’s library, folio, 1635. Orthography was little cared for in those days. On the beautiful portrait of Andrews, is the autograph of Annie Brokett hir Blook!

181. This document is copied on page xxvi.

182. See page lxxii.

183. Vol. ii., p. 132.

184. Vol. ii., p. 133.

185. Vol. ii., pp. 140, 141.

186. The American authors of a recent life of Burrough, (William and Thomas Evans, Philadelphia, republished by Gilpin, London, 1851), have given an unfair account of his controversy with Bunyan, drawn from Burrough’s works in the shape of a supposed dialogue. Such a disputation can only be understood by reading both sides of the question. We unite with them in admiring the character of that young but noble martyr. They are, however, wrong in their conclusion that ‘the meekness and gentleness of Christ softened and adorned his whole character.’ He was one of those that are called in the Holy War, ‘rough hewn men fit to break the ice.’ Vol. iii. p. 270

187. Vol. ii., p. 201.

188. P. 16.

189. It is difficult to describe the state of those times. James Naylor rode into Bristol, a multitude accompanying him, strewing their scarfs, handkerchiefs, and garments on the ground for his horse to tread on, and singing, Hosanna in the highest; holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Israel. He was addressed as the everlasting son of righteousness, and prince of peace. His brain was bewildered with adulation. Women kissed his feet, and called him Jesus the Son of God. To stop the tumult, he was apprehended, and had he been simply subjected to the discipline of a mad-house, like Mr. Brothers of a later period, his blood would soon have recovered from its agitation. Instead of this, a grand parade was made by trying him before a Committee of the House of Commons, and, upon a report of the whole house, he was convicted of ‘horrid blasphemy,’ and it was by the small majority of fourteen that his life was spared. His cruel sentence was whipping, pillory, his tongue bored through with a red hot iron, a large letter B burnt into his forehead, and to be imprisoned during the pleasure of Parliament. By his followers he was considered a martyr; but the infatuation soon subsided. After his release, he was mercifully restored to his senses, and became a useful Quaker.

190. These commissioners were called ‘triers,’ and, being high Calvinists, were nick-named Dr. Absolute, chairman, Mr. Fatality, Mr. Fri-babe, Mr. Dam-man, Mr. Narrow-grace, Mr. Indefectible, Mr. Dubious, and others. They turned out of their livings those clergymen who were proved to be immoral in their conduct, and others who did not come up to the orthodox standard. Of these, Mr. Walker, in his account of the sufferings of the clergy, gives a long list.

191. This Act or ordinance of Parliament involved some of our excellent ancestors in trouble. Hansard Knollys, Wm. Kiffin, Mr. Lamb, and many others, were imprisoned for short periods; Edward Barbour for eleven months. To avoid the informers, adult baptism was performed at midnight; for this Henry Denne suffered imprisonment. That gracious and valuable minister, Vavasor Powel also suffered a short imprisonment during the Protectorate; his life was afterwards sacrificed by a tedious imprisonment in the following reign. He was taken, with his flock, at a midnight meeting; and for safe custody they were locked up in the parish church, and there he preached without molestation. When conveyed to the justice’s house, while waiting his worship’s leisure, he again preached. When this magistrate arrived, he was violently enraged that his house should have been turned into a conventicle. He would have committed them at once to prison, but two of his daughters were so affected with the sermon, that, at their intercession, after severe threatenings, the preacher and his friends were set at liberty.

192. From the original, in the editor’s possession.

193. Cotton Mather says that these laws were never carried to extremity, and were soon laid entirely by. Hist. of America.

194. Jukes’ History of Bunyan’s Church, p. 16.

195. Works, vol. iii., p. 667; especially pp. 672, 673.

196. No. 280-317, vol. i., p. 42-46.

197. Life and Death of Mr. J. Bunyan, 1700, p. 27.

198. Vol. iii., p. 767.

199. Grace Abounding, vol. i., p. 46.

200. See Note, vol. i., p. 45.

201. 4tp. London, 1659. A MS copy is in the editor’s possession.

202. Vol. i., p. 683.

203. Vol. iii., p. 445.

204. Vol. iii., p. 48.

205. Vol. ii., p. 635.

206. Vol. iii., p. 680.

207. See postscript to The True Faith of the Gospel of Peace, British Museum.

208. Vol. ii., p. 201.

209. Vol. i., p. 46.

210. Macaulay’s History of England, vol. i.

211. Life of Badman.

212. Penn’s England’s Interest, 4to, 1676, p. 2.

213. Vol. ii., p. 593.

214. Vol. i., p. 51.

215. Vol. i., p. 51.

216. This very interesting Memoir was published by the Society of Friends, 1825.

217. Case and Opinion, under the head ‘Conventicles,’ British Museum. There is also a rare Tract, to prove that the Persecuting Acts expired Oct. 24th, 1670.

218. Vol. i., p. 54. How unspeakable the mercy, that the persecutor cannot plunge his implements of torture into the spirit, nor prevent its intercourse with heaven!

A very deeply interesting narrative of all the particulars of this examination and form of trial, was recorded by the sufferer. See vol. i., p. 50.

219. There were three prisons in Bedford—the county jail, the bridewell, and the tower jail. No decisive evidence has been discovered as to which prison Bunyan was committed. Two views of the bridge and prison are given in the plate at p. 63, vol. i.

220. Howard’s Account of Lazarettos, &c. 4to, 1789, p. 150.

221. Elstow is a perpetual curacy or vicarage, worth at that time only £35 per annum! forming one of the discreditable anomalies of the church, in the division of its immense revenues.

222. He has favoured us with the following description of it:—‘The ring is of fine gold, very like in colour to that which has been brought into this country from California. The head is, I think, engraven, but the letters have not that sharpness about them which indicates the engraving tool; and the I. B. are undoubted indents made after the ring was finished.’ It is not the usual emblem of a mourning gift, for that would have the cross-bones under the skull; it was more probably given as a special mark of esteem. Three things are certain—1st, That if so valuable a gift excited the poor man’s pride, its loss must have been a serious annoyance to one whose family was dependent upon his daily labour. 2d, His preaching talent must have been highly appreciated, before he was known as the author of the Pilgrim’s Progress, to have brought him so valuable a token of respect. But the most pleasing and remarkable reflection, is the surprising progress of good-will among men of various denominations, that a ring, worn by a despised and persecuted Nonconformist of a former age, is now highly prized and worn, from respect to his memory, by a dignified clergyman of the Established church.

223. This was not his only ring; he left, inter alia, all his rings to his wife. See. p. lxxii.

224. After he had lain in jail five or six days, an application was made to a liberal justice at Elstow, named Crumpton, to release him on bail; but he declined, fearing to give offence. He, however, so felt for this persecuted servant of Christ, as to sell him an edifice and barn, which, upon his release, was converted into a large meeting-house.

225. Vol. ii., p. 107.

226. Vol. iii., p. 341, 366.

227. From his autograph, in the editor’s possession, he spelt his name John Keling.

228. Lord Campbell’s lives of the Chief Justices.

229. Vol. i., p. 57. This forcibly reminds us of Greatheart’s reply to Giant Maul—‘I am a servant of the God of heaven; my business is to persuade sinners to repentance; if to prevent this be thy quarrel, let us fall to it as soon as thou wilt,’ vol. iii., p. 210. Southey attempts to vindicate the justices in condemning Bunyan, and grossly mis-states the facts; deeming him to be unreasonable and intolerant; that preaching was incompatible with his calling, and that he ought not to have sacrificed his liberty in such a cause! The poet-laureate makes these assertions, knowing the vast benefits which sprung from the determined piety and honesty of the persecuted preacher. Would not By-ends, Facing-both-ways, and Save-all, have jumped to the same conclusion?

230. Vol. i., p. 56.

231. Every Christian should read the appalling account of these sufferings, recently published under the title of Ladies of the Covenant.

232. Vol. iii., p. 17.

233. History of Baptists, vol. ii., p. 172. Robinson was a nephew of Archbishop Laud, and appeared to inherit his evil spirit.

234. Wilson’s History of Dissenting Churches, and the Trial of Rosewell.

235. Vol. i., p. 198; and Grace Abounding, No. 326.

236. Vol. i., p. 48.

237. Baptized at Elstow, July 20, 1650.

238. Vol. i., p. 168.

239. Vol. ii., p. 279.

240. Vol. ii., p. 733.

241. Vol. i., p. 60.

242. The cut, copied from an old drawing of the house taken before its entire demotion, at the end of last century, exhibits its quaint characteristics. The bridge foot is to the spectator’s right; the church tower behind is that of St. Mary’s, also seen in our view of the jail, which would, of course, be seen from the bow-windows of the old inn, in which the Judges met.

243. Vol. i., p. 60.

244. Lectures on the Pilgrim’s Progress.

245. This valuable set of books came into the possession of my old friend Mr. Wontner, of the Minories, London; it descended at his decease, to his widow, who resided on Camberwell Green, and from her to a daughter, married to Mr. Parnel, an orange merchant in Botolph Lane. He was tempted to sell it to Mr. Bohn, the bookseller, from whom it was bought for the Bedford library.

246. Charles Doe in Heavenly Footman, 2d edition, 1700.

247. Introduction to the Pilgrim, vol. iii., p. 6, 7.

248. Psalmody Edit., 1775, p. 137. George Whitefield, in recommending the works of Bunyan, says, ‘Ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross; the Spirit of Christ and of glory shall rest upon them’ [Preface to Bunyan’s Works, 1767]. Admiring the courage and honesty of Bunyan, when alluding to the Prayer-Book, we earnestly unite in his petition—‘The Lord in mercy turn the hearts of his people, to seek more after the Spirit of prayer, and, in the strength of that, to pour out their souls before the Lord.’

249. This was published in 1698.

250. Heavenly Footman, 2d edition, 1700, p. 126.

251. Vol. iii., p. 397, 398.

252. This deeply interesting book is dedicated to four sorts of readers—the godly, the learned, the captious, and to the mother of harlots. To her he says, ‘I have nothing here to please your wanton eye, or voluptuous palate; no paint for thy wrinkled face, nor crutch to support thy tottering kingdom.’ It is a very amusing preface.

253. Vol. iii., p. 610.

254. Vol. i., p. 4.

255. Author’s Apology for the Pilgrim.

256. Vol. i., p. 602.

257. Vol. iii., p. 7.

258. Grace Abounding, No. 322.

259. Vol. i., p. 65.

260. Vol. i., p. 741.

261. This jug is in possession of Mrs. Hillyard, widow of the late Mr. Hillyard, who was minister of the chapel for fifty years, and died in 1839. One tradition says the jug was used as noted in the text; another that his broth was brought to ‘chapel’ in it, for his Sunday dinner, in the vestry.

262. Vol. ii., p. 737-739.

263. 2 Cor 1:5; vol. ii., p. 735.

264. Vol. ii., p. 700.

265. Vol. i., p. 47.

266. Vol. i., p. 278; and vol. iii., p. 13.

267. Vol. ii., p. 593.

268. Vol. ii., p. 594.—Heroic man! British Christians are most deeply indebted to thee, and thy fellow-sufferers, for the high privileges they now enjoy. May thy name be had in everlasting remembrance.

269. Vol. i., p. 62.

270. It has been doubted whether he was justified in thus making excursions from the prison. This may be answered by the question—Was Peter justified in leaving the prison, and going to the prayer-meeting at Mary’s house? Acts 12:7-19.

271. Vol. iii., p. 19.

272. Rapin.

273. For an accurate copy of this declaration, see vol. iii., p. 21.

274. The ecclesiastical year commenced in March. The tenth month means December.

275. For a copy of these licenses, see vol. iii., p. 24.

276. 4to, vol. vii., p. 75.

277. I am greatly indebted to J. P. Brown, Esq., James Street, Islington, for directing my attention to these letters.

278. Vol. iii., pp. 21-29.

279. Vol. iii., p. 27.

280. Vol. i., p. 47; No. 319.

281. Jukes’ History of Bunyan’s Church, p. 24.

282. Continuation of Life to Grace Abounding.

283. It is generally believed at Bedford, that, after Bunyan was imprisoned, his family removed from Elstow to Bedford, in order that they might have more frequent access to him; and that, on his release, he made his abode there. His humble dwelling was much like that of his father at Elstow, most unassuming; just such a cottage as a poor wounded sinner would feel at home in when visiting his pastor for advice. The late Rev. J. Geard, of Hitchin, in his Diary, says—‘July 17, 1774. I preached, for the first time, at Bedford, to the successors of good Mr. Bunyan’s congregation, and the next day called at the house where he used to live, and went into the room that tradition reported was his study. This house, though it had been the habitation of so truly great a man, was now let for about 40s. per annum.’ Allowing for the difference in the value of money, Bunyan would have now paid 16s. a-year rent for his humble abode. It will be always matter of regret, that it was not purchased and preserved by the members of the ‘Old Meeting,’ when it was offered them before its destruction; we procured, however, a drawing of it, which is here engraved. The cottage was in the parish of St. Cuthbert, in the street opposite the meeting-house, and here Bunyan lived, while he was pastor, from 1681 to 1688.

284. Pilgrim, vol. iii., p. 198.

285. Vol. ii., p. 649.

286. Vol. ii., p. 538.

287. Vol. ii., p. 219.

288. Vol. i., p. 757.

289. Vol. ii., 649.

290. Vol. ii., p. 638.

291. Vol. ii., p. 641.

292. Vol. iii., p. 758.

293. Christian Church, 8vo, 1747, p. 280.

294. The General Doctrine of Toleration, applied to Free Communion, p. 8. George Whitefield most warmly approved the communion of all God’s saints with each other. This, I must own, more particularly endears Mr. Bunyan to my heart. He was of a catholic spirit. The want of water (adult baptism), with this man of God, was no bar to outward Christian communion. And I am persuaded that if, like him, we were more deeply and experimentally baptized into the benign and gracious influences of the blessed Spirit, we should be less baptized into the waters of strife about circumstantials and non-essentials. For being thereby rooted and grounded in the love of God, we should necessarily be constrained to think and let think, bear with and forbear one another in love, and without saying, I am of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas; have but one grand, laudable, disinterested strife, namely, who should live, preach, and exalt the ever-loving, altogether-lovely Jesus most.

295. Vol. iii., p. 398.

296. He hesitated as to the propriety of publishing it, probably from the influence of the weighty opinion of Martin Luther. ‘The people are greatly delighted with allegories and similitudes, and therefore Christ oftentimes useth them; for they are, as it were, certain pictures which set forth things as if they were painted before our eyes. Paul was a marvelous cunning workman in handling allegories, but Origen and Jerome turn plain Scriptures into unfit and foolish allegories. Therefore, to use allegories, it is oftentimes a very dangerous thing’ [Com. on Gal. iv. 21]. Such instructions, from one he so much venerated, curbed his exuberant imagination, and made him doubly watchful, lest allegorizing upon subjects of such vast importance might ‘darken counsel by words without knowledge.’

297. Vol. iii., p. 739.

298. Even Dean Swift, in his popular Letter to a Young Divine, says, ‘I have been better entertained, and more informed by a few pages in the Pilgrim’s Progress, than by a long discourse upon the will and the intellect, and simple and complex ideas.’ Nothing short of extraordinary merit could have called for such a eulogy from so severe a critic.

299. Vol. iii., p. 166.

300. Within the Editor’s memory, polished writers hesitated to name our incomparable allegorist, on account of his humble name and education. Thus Cowper sang—

‘I name thee not, lest so despised a name Should move a sneer at thy deserved fame.’

Now nearly all men find it difficult to do that name sufficient honour. One of the most splendid steam-ships in America is called after his name. A magnificent ship, for the China trade, was built at Aberdeen by Walter Hood & Co., which so swiftly traversed the ocean as to have made the voyage from Canton to London in ninety-nine days, without any aid from steam. This beautiful and grand specimen of the perfection of naval architecture is named The John Bunyan. Roman Catholics have printed large editions of the Pilgrim, with slight omissions, for circulation among the young under the care of the nuns. Our English fanatics have committed a crime that would make a papist blush. A Rev. E. Neale has clumsily altered the Pilgrim’s Progress, that Bunyan might appear to teach the things which Bunyan’s righteous heaven-born soul abhorred. It is a piece of matchless self-conceit to think of mending that which has been admired by the wisest of the human race in all nations, and which has obtained an unbounded popularity. Such an attempt to alter it is an acknowledgment that all the boasted power of Oxford, Exeter, and Rome, are unable to invent a tale to supersede the matchless beauties of the work of our spiritually-minded, heavenly-assisted brazier. If Mr. Neale should, at any time, alter a deed and the punishment for that felony is transportation for life. A similar forgery was committed in a recent London edition of Dr. Cheever’s Hill Difficulty. The Tractarians, doubtless, commit these scandalous outrages upon the Fathers, and all other writers, and deserve the contempt of every honest, upright mind.

301. Vol. i., p. 473.

302. Vol. i., p. 480.

303. Two views of this meeting-house, an exterior and interior, after its conversion into a workshop, are given in the Plate facing page i. of this Memoir. In the interior, part of the beams and pillars that supported the gallery still remain.

304. Toplady’s Works, vol. iv., p. 463.

305. Vol. iii., p. 637.

306. One of his anecdotes is remarkable, as exhibiting the state of medical knowledge in his neighbourhood. A poor wretch, who had taught his son to blaspheme, was affected with a nervous twisting of the muscles of his chest. This was supposed to arise from a Satanic possession. One Freeman, a more than ordinary doctor, attempted the cure. They bound the patient to a form, with his head hanging down over the end; set a pan of coals under his mouth, and put something therein that made a great smoke, to fetch out the devil. There they kept the man till he was almost smothered, but no devil came out of him [Vol. iii., p. 605]. The death-bed scene of the broken-hearted Mrs. Badman, is delicately and beautifully drawn.

307. Sutcliff’s History of Bunyan’s Church.

308. Vol. iii., p. 245.

309. A beautiful satire is contained in the account of the traitors—tradition, human wisdom, and man’s invention. This picture is drawn by an inimitable artist. Nor have we seen anything more admirably adapted to the present state of our Tractarian times. Vol. iii. 277.

310. Vol. i., p. 22, No. 128.

311. Vol. ii., p. 574.

312. Life, 1692.

313. Grace Abounding (continued), vol. i., p. 63, and Life, 1692.

314. Vol. i., p. 505.

315. Vol. i., p. 719.

316. Vol. i., p. 753.

317. Some of the wax remains, but the coin is lost.

318. Vol. iii., p. 763.

319. Vol. i., p. 81.

320. Mr. Philip, Critique on Bunyan, p. vi. and xvi.

321. Vol. ii., p. 425.

322. Vol. iii., p. 766.

323. Grace Abounding, 1692.

324. No. 25, E.; 26, W.; 26, N.; 27, S.