English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History: Designed as a Manual of InstructionCoppée, Henry
History
English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History: Designed as a Manual of Instruction
Coppée, Henry
English literature -- History and criticism
Of his great work, _The Pilgrim's Progress_, it is hardly necessary to
speak at length. The story of the Pilgrim, Christian, is known to all
English readers, large and little; how he left the City of Destruction,
and journeyed towards the Celestial City; of his thrilling adventures; of
the men and things that retarded his progress, and of those who helped him
forward. No one has ever discoursed with such vivid description and
touching pathos of the Land of Beulah, the Delectable Mountains, the
Christian's inward rapture at the glimpse of the Celestial City, and his
faith-sustaining descent into the Valley of the Shadow of Death! As a work
of art, it is inimitable; as a book of religious instruction, it is more
to be admired for sentiment than for logic; its influence upon children is
rather that of a high-wrought romance than of godly precept. It is a
curious reproduction, with a slight difference in cast, of the morality
play of an earlier time. Mercy, Piety, Christian, Hopeful, Greatheart,
Faithful, are representatives of Christian graces; and, as in the
morality, the Prince of Darkness figures as Apollyon.
Bunyan also wrote _The Holy War_, an allegory, which describes the contest
between Immanuel and Diabolus for the conquest of the city of Mansoul.
This does not by any means share the popularity of _The Pilgrim's
Progress_. The language of all his works is common and idiomatic, but
precise and strong: it is the vigorous English of an unpretending man,
without the graces of the schools, but expressing his meaning with
remarkable clearness. Like Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's allegory has
been improperly placed by many persons on a par with the Bible as a body
of Christian doctrine, and for instruction in righteousness.
ROBERT SOUTH.--This eccentric clergyman was born in 1633. While king's
scholar at Dr. Busby's school in London, he led the devotions on the day
of King Charles' execution, and prayed for his majesty by name. At first a
Puritan, he became a churchman, and took orders. He was learned and
eloquent; but his sermons, which were greatly admired at the time, contain
many oddities, forced conceits, and singular anti-climaxes, which gained
for him the appellation of the witty churchman.
He is accused of having been too subservient to Charles II.; and he also
is considered as displaying not a little vindictiveness in his attacks on
his former colleagues the Puritans. He is only known to this age by his
sermons, which are still published and read.
OTHER THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.
_Isaac Barrow_, 1630-1677: a man of varied learning, a traveller in the
East, and an oriental scholar. He was appointed Professor of Greek at
Cambridge, and also lectured on Mathematics. He was a profound thinker and
a weighty writer, principally known by his courses of sermons on the
Decalogue, the Creed, and the Sacraments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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