History of English Literature Volume 2 (of 3)Taine, Hippolyte
History
History of English Literature Volume 2 (of 3)
Taine, Hippolyte
English literature -- History and criticism
"It made me see that all the World, notwithstanding all the
righteousness thereof, is in a state of condemnation. It made me see
that God the Father, though he be just, can justly justify the coming
sinner. It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life,
and confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance; for there never
came thought into my heart before now, that shewed me so the beauty of
Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for
the Honour and Glory of the Name of the Lord Jesus; yea, I thought that
had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all
for the sake of the Lord Jesus."[96]
Such an emotion does not weigh literary calculations. Allegory, the most
artificial kind, is natural to Bunyan. If he employs it here, it is
because he does so throughout; if he employs it throughout, it is from
necessity, not choice. As children, countrymen, and all uncultivated
minds, he transforms arguments into parables; he only grasps truth when
it is clothed in images; abstract terms elude him; he must touch forms
and contemplate colors. Dry general truths are a sort of algebra,
acquired by the mind slowly and after much trouble, against our
primitive inclination, which is to observe detailed events and visible
objects; man being incapable of contemplating pure formulas until he is
transformed by ten years' reading and reflection. We understand at once
the term purification of heart; Bunyan understands it fully only, after
translating it by this fable:
"Then the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a
very large Parlour that was full of dust, because never swept; the which
after he had reviewed a little while, the Interpreter called for a man
to sweep. Now when he began to sweep, the dust began so abundantly to
fly about, that Christian had almost therewith been choaked. Then said
the Interpreter to a Damsel that stood by, Bring hither the Water, and
sprinkle the Room; the which when she had done, it was swept and
cleansed with pleasure.
"Then said Christian, What means this?
"The Interpreter answered, This Parlour is the heart of a man that was
never sanctified by the sweet Grace of the Gospel: the dust is his
Original Sin, and inward Corruptions, that have defiled the whole man.
He that began to sweep at first, is the Law; but she that brought water,
and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now, whereas thou sawest that so
soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the
Room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choaked
there with; this to shew thee, that the Law, instead of cleansing the
heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, put strength into and
increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it for it
doth not give power to subdue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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