(Continued from p. 164).
At length Bunyan got deliverance out of the darkness that enshrouded him, and to which reference was made in last article. The Lord vouchsafed to him encouraging and soul-satisfying views of His way of salvation. “I remember,” he writes, referring to these signal favours, “that one day, as I was travelling into the country and musing on the wickedness and blasphemy of my heart, and considering of the enmity that was in me to God, that Scripture came in my mind, ‘He hath made peace by the blood of His cross.’ By which I was made to see, both again, and again, that day that God and my soul were friends by this blood; yea, I saw that the Justice of God and my sinful soul could embrace and kiss each other through this blood. This was a good day to me; I hope I shall not forget it.” Another passage that was made very precious to him at this time was: “Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself, likewise, took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” “I thought,” he writes, “that the glory of these words was then so weighty on me that I was, both once and twice, ready to swoon as I sat: yet, not with grief and trouble, but with solid joy and peace” (“Grace Abounding.”)
During this time he sat under the ministry of Mr Gifford, the “Evangelist,” of the Pilgrim’s Progress. “whose doctrine,” he says “by God’s grace, was much for my stability. This man made it much his business to deliver the people of God from all those false and unsound rests that, by nature, we are prone to take and make to our souls. He would bid us take special heed that we took not up any truth upon trust, as from this, or that, or any other man or men, but to cry mightily to God that He would convince us of the reality thereof, and set us down therein, by His own Spirit, in the Holy Word” (“Grace Abounding.”) In the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Evangelist is the first Helper of the Pilgrims who appears on the scene, and the story of this remarkable man, whose name is enshrined forever in Bunyan’s immortal allegory, and in his “Grace Abounding,” is worthy of a brief notice. John Gifford had an extraordinary career. To begin with, he was an ardent Royalist, and was one of the prisoners taken by Fairfax at Maidstone in June 1648. While the Royalist major, as ringleader, in the insurrection was lying in prison with no prospect before him but the gallows, he was visited by his sister. The sentries were overcome with fatigue and sleep after the engagement of the previous day, and Gifford’s sister managed to get her brother safely past them, and escaped out of the town. He lay hid for some days in the ditches and thickets around the town till he was able to escape to London, and from thence to Bedford, where he had some friends. Major Gifford had studied medicine before he entered the Army, and when he thought it safe he began to practice in Bedford. But wicked as he had been as a soldier, he was worse as a doctor. His life was a public disgrace, and to his sins he added that of a malicious hatred to the Puritans, so that his very name became an infamy and a fear. Through drink and gambling, he reduced himself to beggary, and had made up his mind to destroy himself. It was at this stage the sovereign mercy of God visited this poor wreck of humanity and set his feet upon a rock, putting a new song in his mouth. The change was so manifest that no one could doubt it. John Gifford was one of the great trophies of sovereign grace, and the horrible pit and miry clay out of which he had been taken, deepened his sense of gratitude to the God who looked upon him in His pity when in his low state. If he had served the devil well and truly, he now became a faithful and zealous servant of Jesus Christ, and like Evangelist, he was very helpful to many of the pilgrims journeying to the Celestial City. The following minute from the church records of his future church at Bedford are worth quoting: “But God did so plentifully discover to him the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ, that all his life after he lost not the light of God’s countenance, no, not for an hour, save only about two days before he died.” There can be little doubt that Bunyan had Gifford in his mind’s eye when he wrote the beautiful description of the “very grave person,” whose picture was shown to him in the House of the Interpreter. This was the fashion of it: “It has eyes lifted to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth was written upon his lips, the world was behind his back. It stood as if it pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over its head.”
(To be continued.)