BUNYAN'S BOOK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20112, 24 November 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

BUNYAN'S BOOK.

WHAT HE THOUGHT OF IT.

BY MATANQA.-

It is always worth while fo know what an author thinks about his own work, and when that work is 0110 that has captivated tho world, as Bunyan's " Pilgrim s Progress " tins done, tho knowledge is all tho moro of interest and value. Listen to " tho author's apology for his book " with which tho inimitable allegory is prefaced: When at the first I took my pen in hand Thus for to write, I did not understand

That I at nil should niuko a little book Iu such a niodo; nay, I hud undertook To ninke another, which, when almost done, Before I was awaro, I this begun. Not much as poetry, perhaps, but as a revelation of tho urge to writo thoro is nothing hotter anywhere. And lie goes on to say how quickly and with what astonishing speed his story grew.

And thus it was. I. writing of tho way Ana r 'ice of snints, in this our gospel day, I'ell suddenly into an allegory About their journey and the way to plory, Iu more than twenty things which I set down, This done, 1 twenty moro had in my crown; And they again began, to multiply Liko sparka that from tho coaU of fire do fly Nay, then thought I, if that you breed so fast, Pll put you by yourselves, lest you at last Should prove ad infinitum, and cat out The book that 1 already am about. Well, so I did: but yet I did not think To show to all tho world my pen and ink In such a mode; I only thought to make I knew not. what; :noi did I undertake Thereby to pleaso my neighbour: no, not 1; I did it my own self to gratify.

Thoro you havo it, and it is worth a great deal more than is contained in many a book written by others about this book. Tho delight with which ho went on and on. " Still a3 I pulled, it came," ho says No whipping of effort; no struggle to write; just a joyous doing of the thing with an caso that made patienco unnecessary and toil a gladness. See tho directness of tho English, tho simple words which even tho "ad infinitum " cannot spoil—only mako more plain and exact by contrast; and in tho figure of the sparks that fly from tho burning coal beforo the beilows" blast a hint of the eyo that saw all bright with meaning, even tho commouplaces of his tmke.r's toil, and ready to bo used to a lofty end. Thero was gay welcomo in his " crown " for things quaint and colourful and in his heart for things that mado 1113 pulses leap. Here was a man who found it good to bo alivo, even in a gaol—and so to enjoy a deep glimpse of heaven even in a troubled and troubling earth. Vivid Portrayal. He felt, however, that he must justify tho stylo in which ho penned the story. Those were tho days before tho novel, and this was much more than a string of metaphors, much moro than an allegory. It was a piece of fiction, novel wiih a purpose—and yet so much a lifelike story that the moral never got in his way and tripped up his fancy, as is so often tbo sad fate of those who set out to preach in fables or philosophise in fairy tales. The most astuto of Bunyan's commentators have been constrained to givo him credit foi this. " Intensely religious as is its purpose," says Canon Venables, tho writer of a standard life of Bunyan, " the Pilgrim'® Progress ' may be sately styled tho first English novel." Dr. Allon is as emphatic: "Tho claim to bo the father of English romance, which has been sometimes preferred foi Defoe, really pertains to Banyan." Macaulay yields to him a similar pre-eminence: "Other allegorists havo shown great ingenuity, but no other allegorist has ever been able to touch tho heart, and to make its abstractions objects of terror, of pity and of love."

That is it: tlie book has an interest for itself, and is clutching and holding for very vividness. It:s talo moves on without a break. Even tlio introduction of strings of naked Scripturo references cannot call off attention. There will be peoplo looking about in heaven for Christian and Hopeful, and asking Bunyan what lie has done with them as they cannot bo found at his side. These people, if they die Fee Bunyan's saints standing by him, would as likely as not ask them for an introduction to him, so much alive and so intimately real are they, even to the light on their faces, and ho is known through them, not they through hira. Defending His Mode. Justify his method he certainly did. To an imaginary critic lie utters his dofence : Why, what's tho matter? "It is dark." What though ? " But it is feigned." What of that? I know Some men, by feigned words, u3 dark as mine, Make truth to spanglo and its ray 3 to shino. The figure of tlio glowing light again, of the brazier's uso of dull things to make a metal pot radiant. But ho is shro-vd enough to seo that, in those days when Puritan dourness made mock of fancy and was apt to. ask for heavy speech, ho must feiul off tho charge of flippancy. Listen: Sound words, I know, Timothy is to use, And old wives' fables ho is to refuse;

And yet grave Paul hipi nowliece doth forbid The uso of parables, in which lay hid That gold, those pearls, and precious stonce

that were Worth digging for and that with greatest carc.

Tho argumerttum ad hoinincm with a vengeance: No shrewder blow was ever struck in selt-defenco. Tlio wordy war is carried right into tho enemy's country. And ho pushes tho battle to the gate.

I find thiu holy writ in many places Hath semb'.anco with this method, whero tho

cnsfcj Do cull for one thing, to sot forth another: Use it 1 niity then, and yet nothing smother Truth's golden beams: nay, by this method may Miko it cast forth, its rays as light a3 day. Fancies that Stick. Hearing him ask— May 1 not write ill such i stylo as this? J u such a method too. and yet not mis'j My end—thy good ? Why may it not bo done? tho reader is compelled by Ins argument to admit his right. But Ihero is somemore compelling than his argument It is the story's own movement, lifting tho render 011 whether he will or no We may riot love tho literary employment, that liu call- - " picking meat." Painstaking unriddling of his allegory might give a. zesi to its reading—wero it needed It is not needed; and there tho genius lies. Try (ho book on any normal hoy or girl, if there can ho found one to whom it is new Say rio word of its meaning. Let it speak for itself. It will; and v.hat it says will hold tho young reader rapt—struggling out of the Slough of Uespund, going hv the wicket gate, up tho hill Difficulty, past tho lions, through the Interpreter's House, into By-path Mdaduw and Giant Despair'a castle, right 011 to Beulah Land and the river, and so reaching breathless, but glad, the Celestial City. The fight with Appollyon arid tho trial in Vanity Fair will ho as real as real And they remain real fur all time. Bunyan's judgment was sound. Wouldat thou lose thyself, and catch no

harm ? And find thyself again without a charm? Wouldat read thyself, and read thou knowst

not what And yet know whether thou art blent or not. By reading these same lines? Oh. then,

come hither. And lay my buok. thy head and hear'

together Thcro never yet was either head or heart that did not yield to tho magic of it all. Bunyan was convinced that hi 3 fancies would " stick liko burs." They do; not ail tho changing tastes of countless years can pull them out.