have subjected him to scorn had he exchanged the leathern apron for a
silken one, or scrambled from the hedge-side into the high-places of
the church, entailed no suspicion, and awakened much surprise, when
the Bedford townsmen saw their blaspheming neighbour a new man, and
in a way so disinterested preaching the faith which he once
destroyed. The town turned out to hear, and though there was some
mockery, many were deeply moved. His own account of it is: --"At
first I could not believe that God should speak by me to the heart of
any man, still counting myself unworthy; yet those who were thus
touched, would love me, and have a particular respect for me; and
though I did put it from me, that they should be awakened by me,
still they would confess it and affirm it before the saints of God .
. . Wherefore, seeing them in both their words and deeds to be so
constant, and also in their hearts so earnestly pressing after the
knowledge of Jesus Christ, rejoicing that ever God did send me where
they were, then I began to conclude it might be so, that God had
owned in his work such a foolish one as I; and then came that word of
God to my heart with such sweet refreshment: 'The blessing of them
that were ready to perish is come upon me; yea, I caused the widow's
heart to sing for joy.' At this, therefore, I rejoiced; yea, the
tears of those whom God had awakened by my preaching would be both
solace and encouragement to me. I thought on those sayings, 'Who is
he that maketh me glad, but the same that is made sorry by me!' And
again, 'Though I be not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am unto
you: for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord.'"

There was a solemnizing and subduing power in Bunyan's ministry,
because it was heart-felt. So far as the truths he uttered were
capable of becoming subjects of personal consciousness, he had
experienced them; and so far as they were subjects of intellectual