He had numbered sixty years, and written as many books, when he was
released from his abundant labours. A young gentleman, his
neighbour, had fallen under his father's displeasure, and was much
concerned at his father's estrangement as well as at the prospect of
being disinherited. He begged Mr Bunyan's friendly interposition to
propitiate his father, and prepare the way for his return to parental
favour and affection. The kind-hearted man undertook the task, and
having successfully achieved it, was returning from Reading to London
on horseback, when he was thoroughly drenched with excessive rains.
He arrived cold and wet at the house of Mr Strudwick, a grocer on
Snow Hill. Here he was seized with fits of shivering, which passed
off in violent fever, and after ten days' sickness, on the 31st of
August 1688, his pilgrimage ended, and he went in by the gate into
the city.


As the most appropriate introduction to the following selections from
the practical writings of Bunyan, we would chose this rapid history
of the MAN, with a few remarks on the THEOLOGIAN and the AUTHOR.


I. Bunyan's theological merits we rank very high. No one can turn
over his pages without noticing the abundance of his Scriptural
quotations; and these quotations no one can examine without
perceiving how minutely he had studied, and how deeply he had
pondered, the word of God. But it is possible to be very TEXTUAL,
and yet by no means very scriptural. A man may heave an exact
acquaintance with the literal Bible, and yet entirely miss the great
Bible message. He may possess a dexterous command of detached