John Bunyan, who belongs more to the universal church than to a particular sect, died, as he had lived, in the Baptist communion. He has come before us in a former volume, not as a leader in ecclesiastical affairs, but as a sufferer for conscience’ sake, and as an author of works which have won for him an unparalleled renown. He trod the paths of private life, save that when he came to London his “preaching attracted enormous multitudes;” and it was in the city which had witnessed his vast popularity that he breathed his last. A minister of peace, he took a long journey on horseback to extinguish domestic strife, and on his way afterwards to the Metropolis, brought on a fatal fever, through fatigue and exposure to heavy rains. This occurred in the month of August, 1688, when the throne of James was tottering to its fall, and plans which led to the Revolution were being formed; probably whisperings of what was to happen to his country reached Bunyan’s ears in his last hours. Illness overtook him in the house of his friend Mr. Strudwick, a grocer on Snow Hill, and just before his death he said to his friends, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of His blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner, where I hope we ere long shall meet to sing the new song and remain everlastingly happy, world without end.” “He felt the ground solid under his feet in passing the black river which has no bridge, and followed his pilgrim into the celestial city.” He expired before the end of August, and was interred in Bunhill Fields; his church at Bedford lamented with unaffected sorrow his loss at the age of 60; and keep the next month days of humiliation and prayer for the heavy bereavement they had sustained.[211] Dr. John Collinges, a Presbyterian, once Vicar of St. Stephen’s, Norwich, died in 1690. He had assisted Pool in his _Annotations_, and written practical as well as controversial works. One of them, entitled _The Weaver’s Pocket-book, or Weaving Spiritualized_, was no doubt suggested to him as he had stood watching the loom in the house of some industrious parishioner in days when the city of Norwich enjoyed the zenith of its manufacturing industry. He left behind a good reputation, being, as his brethren testified, “a man of various learning and excelling as a textuary and a critic, and generally esteemed for his great industry, humanity, and exemplary piety.” [Sidenote: NONCONFORMISTS.]