This humility peculiarly fitted him to instruct the young, of whom he was very fond—
'Nor do I blush, although I think some may
Call me a baby, 'cause I with them play;
I do 't to show them how each fingle fangle
On which they doating are, their souls entangle;
And, since at gravity they make a tush,
My very beard I cast behind a bush.'[332]
He had friends among the rich as well as the poor. Of this his solid gold ring and handsome cabinet are proofs. From a letter in the Ellis correspondence, we learn that Bunyan had so secured the affections of the Lord Mayor of London, as to be called his chaplain.[333]
Among his religious friends and associates he must have been a pleasing, entertaining, lively companion. However solemn, nay awful, had been his experience when walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, yet when emerging from the darkness and enjoying the sunshine of Divine favour, he loved social intercourse and communion of saints. It is one of the slanders heaped upon Christianity to call it a gloomy, melancholy theme: though 'it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,' yet the wisely pious man will endeavour, even at an elegant entertainment or a Lord Mayor's dinner, to drop useful hints. Whenever Bunyan describes a social party, especially a feast, he always introduces a wholesome dish; and it is singular, in the abundance of publications, that we have not been favoured with John Bunyan's Nuts to Crack at Religious Entertainments, or a Collection of his Pious Riddles. Thus, at the splendid royal feast given to Emmanuel, when he entered Mansoul in triumph, 'he entertained the town with some curious riddles, of secrets drawn up by his father's secretary, by the skill and wisdom of Shaddai, the like to which there are not in any kingdom.' 'Emmanuel also expounded unto them some of those riddles himself, but O how were they lightened! They saw what they never saw, they could not have thought that such rarities could have been couched in such few and ordinary words. The lamb, the sacrifice, the rock, the door, the way.'[334] 'The second Adam was before the first, and the second covenant was before the first.'[335] 'Was Adam bad before he eat the forbidden fruit?'[336] 'How can a man say his prayers without a word being read or uttered?'[337] 'How do men speak with their feet?' Answer, Proverbs 6:13.[338] 'Why was the brazen laver made of the women's looking-glasses?'[339] 'How can we comprehend that which cannot be comprehended, or know that which passeth knowledge?'[340] 'Who was the founder of the state or priestly domination over religion?'[341] What is meant by the drum of Diabolus and other riddles mentioned in The Holy War?[342] The poetical riddles in The Pilgrim's Progress are very striking—
'A man there was, though some did count him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had.'
How can 'evil make the soul from evil turn.'[343]
Can 'sin be driven out of the world by suffering?'[344]
'Though it may seem to some a riddle,
We use to light our candles at the middle.'[345]
'What men die two deaths at once?'[346]
'Are men ever in heaven and on earth at the same time?'[347]