proofs from experience, on this subject. There is one point of importance in Bunyan's experience of the wiles of the devil, which I have not noticed, and that is, the great advantage which early habits of sin give to the tempter against our own souls. Perhaps we may note this in the case of Peter, in the readiness with which Satan could fill his mouth with profaneness in the recurrence of what were probably his oaths as a youthful passionate fisherman. You may note it much more clearly in the case of Bunyan, who used to swear so dreadfully in his childhood, so that when the devil in his manhood tempted him with blasphemies, he had a powerful advantage over him. God indeed often uses a man's own sins to be terrible scourges to him; and in this is realized what is said in Jeremiah, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." The truth of this Bunyan found, to his great cost, under the assaults of the tempter, opening anew the sluices of his youthful wickedness.

LECTURE III.

BUNYAN'S EXAMINATION.

Bunyan's use of his temptations-The gloom of his mind in the early part of his imprisonment-His faithfulness to Christ in the midst of it-His perfect disinterestedness-His little blind daughter-Relation of his examination and imprisonment-That old enemy Dr. Lindale-Bunyan's admirable answers and Christian deportment-The nature and preciousness of religious liberty-Parable by Dr. Franklin.

THERE never was a man who made better use of his temptations, especially the temptations by his great adversary, than Bunyan. In the preface to his Grace Abounding, addressed to those whom God had counted him worthy to bring to the Redeemer by his ministry, he says, "I have sent you here enclosed a drop of the honey that I have taken out of the carcase of a lion. I have eaten thereof myself, and am much refreshed thereby. Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them." Nor was there ever a man who traced the parental care, tenderness, and goodness of God more clearly, or with more gratitude in those temptations, the designs of God in suffering such things

to befall him, and the manner in which those designs were accomplished. It was for this, Bunyan said, that God suffered him to lie so long at Sinai, to see the fire, and the cloud, and the darkness, "that I might fear the Lord all the days of my life upon earth, and tell of his wondrous works to my children."

It was in the calm, clear light of heaven, in the light of Divine mercy to his rescued soul, that Bunyan remembered his ways, his journeyings, the desert and the wilderness, the rock that followed him, and the manna that fed him. "Thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no," Deut. viii. 2. The grace of God was above Bunyan's sins, and Satan's temptations too; he could remember his fears and doubts and sad months with comfort; they were as the head of Goliath in his hand." He sang

་་

of God's grace as the children of Israel, with the Red Sea between them and the land of their enemies.

It is not to be supposed that the temptations of Satan departed entirely from Bunyan when he was thrown into prison. On the contrary, he was for a time assailed through the same spirit of unbelief, of which his adversary had made such fearful use, when he was passing through the valley of humiliation, and of the shadow of death. It was in the early part of his imprisonment, when he was in a sad and low condition for many weeks. A pretty business he says it was; for he thought his imprisonment might end at the gallows, and if it did, and he should be so

afraid to die when the time came, and so destitute of all evidence of preparation for a better state hereafter, what could he do! These thoughts, revolved in his mind in various shapes, greatly distressed him. He was afraid of dishonouring his Saviour, and though he prayed earnestly for strength, yet no comfort came; and the only encouragement he could get was this: that he should, doubtless, have an opportunity to speak to the great multitudes that would come to see him die; and if God would but use his last words for the conversion of one single soul, he would not count his life thrown away nor lost. How delightful is the evidence of Bunyan's disinterestedness, forgetfulness of self, and love to souls, even in the darkness and distress of his sore spiritual conflicts!

But still the things of God were kept out of his sight, and still the tempter followed hard upon him; a desperate foe, and able still at times to overwhelm Bunyan's soul with anguish, although there remained only the hinder part of the tempest, and the thunder was gone beyond him. "Whither must you go when you die?" was the gloomy, moody, sullen question of unbelief in Bunyan's soul beneath his temptation. What will become of you? Where will you be found in another world? What evidence have you for heaven and glory, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified? For many weeks poor Bunyan knew not what to do; till at length it came to him with great power, that at all events, it being for the word and way of God that he was in this condition of danger, perhaps in the path of death, he was engaged not to flinch an hair's breadth from it. Bunyan thought, furthermore, that it was

for God to choose whether he would give him comfort then, or in the hour of death, or whether he would or would not give him comfort in either -comfort at all; but it was not for Bunyan to choose whether to serve God or not, whether to hold fast his profession or not, for to this he was bound. He was bound, but God was free. "Yea,” says he, "it was my duty to stand to his word, whether he would ever look upon me, or save me at the last, or not; wherefore, thought I, the point being thus, I am for going on, and venturing my eternal state with Christ, whether I have comfort here or no. If God doth not come in, thought I, I will leap off the ladder even blindfold into eternity; sink or swim, come heaven, come hell. Lord Jesus, if thou wilt catch me, do; if not, I will venture for thy name!"

Well done, noble Bunyan! Faithful even unto death, and faithful even in darkness! Here was no imaginary temptation to sell thy Saviour, but a real inducement,, by relinquishing thy confession of the truth, to escape from prison and from death; a temptation accompanied by dreadful darkness in thy soul. And yet, amidst it all, he ventured every thing upon Christ, yea, determined to die for him, even though rejected by him! Was not this a noble triumph over the tempter? One would think that, from this hour, he would have left Bunyan in utter despair, yea, that he would have spread his dragon-wings, and Bunyan have seen him no more for ever! And this indeed I believe that he did; for so soon as Bunyan had come to this noble and steadfast resolution, the word of the tempter flashed across his soul, "Doth Job serve God for nought? Hast thou not made an hedge about him? He serves God