They probably knew that he had written in praise of the indulgence of 1672, and therefore hoped that he might be equally pleased with the indulgence of 1687.But fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him wiser.Nor were the cases exactly parallel.Charles was a professed Protestant: James was a professed Papist.The object of Charles's indulgence was disguised; the object of James's indulgence was patent.Bunyan was not deceived.He exhorted his hearers to prepare themselves by fasting and prayer for the danger which menaced their civil and religious liberties, and refused even to speak to the courtier who came down to remodel the corporation of Bedford, and who, as was supposed, had it in charge to offer some municipal dignity to the Bishop of the Baptists.
Bunyan did not live to see the Revolution.In the summer of 1688he undertook to plead the cause of a son with an angry father, and at length prevailed on the old man not to disinherit the young one.This good work cost the benevolent intercessor his life.He had to ride through heavy rain.He came drenched to his lodgings on Snow Hill, was seized with a violent fever, and died in a few days.He was buried in Bunhill Fields; and the spot where he lies is still regarded by the Nonconformists with a feeling which seems scarcely in harmony with the stern spirit of their theology.Many Puritans, to whom the respect paid by Roman Catholics to the reliques and tombs of saints seemed childish or sinful, are said to have begged with their dying breath that their coffins might be placed as near as possible to the office of the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress."The fame of Bunyan during his life, and during the century which followed his death, was indeed great, but was almost entirely confined to religious families of the middle and lower classes.
Very seldom was he during that time mentioned with respect by any writer of great literary eminence.Young coupled his prose with the poetry of the wretched D'Urfey.In the Spiritual Quixote, the adventures of Christian are ranked with those of Jack the Giant-Killer and John Hickathrift.Cowper ventured to praise the great allegorist, but did not venture to name him.It is a significant circumstance that, till a recent period, all the numerous editions of the "Pilgrim's Progress" were evidently meant for the cottage and the servants' hall.The paper, the printing, the plates, were all of the meanest description.In general, when the educated minority and the common people differ about the merit of a book, the opinion of the educated minority finally prevails.The "Pilgrim's Progress" is perhaps the only book about which, after the lapse of a hundred years, the educated minority has come over to the opinion of the common people.
The attempts which have been made to improve and to imitate this book are not to be numbered.It has been done into verse: it has been done into modern English."The Pilgrimage of Tender Conscience," "The Pilgrimage of Good Intent," "The Pilgrimage of Seek Truth," "The Pilgrimage of Theophilus," "The Infant Pilgrim," "The Hindoo Pilgrim," are among the many feeble copies of the great original.But the peculiar glory of Bunyan is that those who most hated his doctrines have tried to borrow the help of his genius.A Catholic version of his parable may be seen with the head of the Virgin in the title-page.On the other hand, those Antinomians for whom his Calvinism is not strong enough may study the pilgrimage of Hephzibah, in which nothing will be found which can be construed into an admission of free agency and universal redemption.But the most extraordinary of all the acts of Vandalism by which a fine work of art was ever defaced was committed so late as the year 1853.It was determined to transform the "Pilgrim's Progress" into a Tractarian book.The task was not easy: for it was necessary to make the two sacraments the most prominent objects in the allegory; and of all Christian theologians, avowed Quakers excepted, Bunyan was the one in whose system the sacraments held the least prominent place.However, the Wicket Gate became a type of Baptism, and the House Beautiful of the Eucharist.The effect of this change is such as assuredly the ingenious person who made it never contemplated.For, as not a single pilgrim passes through the Wicket Gate in infancy, and as Faithful hurries past the House Beautiful without stopping, the lesson which the fable in its altered shape teaches, is that none but adults ought to be baptised, and that the Eucharist may safely be neglected.Nobody would have discovered from the original "Pilgrim's Progress" that the author was not a Paedobaptist.To turn his book into a book against Paedobaptism was an achievement reserved for an Anglo-Catholic divine.Such blunders must necessarily be committed by every man who mutilates parts of a great work, without taking a comprehensive view of the whole....