require no other recommendation; yet the subscriber could not refuse
all compliance with the wishes of one who has given diligent and
hearty and appreciating study to the rich and varied remains of "the
immortal Dreamer."

Many of the Christians of our time, though conversant with the
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, and HOLY WAR, are apparently little aware of the
glowing genius, and fervent piety, and strong sense, and picturesque
imagery, and racy, vigorous English, that mark the many other
writings of the honored tinker of Elstow. These last, if less known
than the story of the pilgrimage to the Celestial City, and of the
siege and recovery of the good town of Mansoul, yet bear all of them
the traces of the same vivid fancy, the same earnest heart, and the
same robust and sanctified intellect. To save from comparative
disuse and consequent unprofitableness--from being buried in an
undeserved seclusion, if not oblivion, many sparkling truths, and
pithy sayings, and pungent rebukes, likely to do great good if they
could but have, in our busy day, a more general currency over the
wide mart of the world;--and to bespeak a new circle of influence,
and a broader sphere of notoriety and usefulness for these
overlooked legacies of a good and great man of a former age, has
been the editor's object in the prolonged sifting to which he has
subjected all Bunyan's writings. Of that patient and conscientious
study the present selection has been the result. It is not hoped, or
even wished for them, that in the case of any readers able to give
the requisite leisure, these excerpts should supersede the original
writings. But these last, in mass, are beyond the means and the time
which are at the command of many Christians, who would yet greatly
prize the briefer examples of Bunyan's experience and Bunyan's
teachings that are here presented. And even to others of more