Scriptural Poems — John Bunyan

Scriptural Poems · John Bunyan

Scriptural Poems. Being several Portions of SCRIPTURE Digested into ENGLISH VERSE. VIZ.

I. The Book of Ruth.

II. The History of Sampson.

III Christ's Sermon on the Mount.

IV. The Prophecy of Jonah.

V. The Life of Joseph.

VI. The Epistle of James.

By JOHN BUNYAN.

Licensed according to Order.

LONDON: Printed for J. Blare, at the Looking-Glass on London-Bridge, 1700.

TO THE READER.

WHoe'er thou art that shalt peruse this Book,

This may inform thee, when I undertook

To write these Lines, it was not my Design

To publish this imperfect Work of mine:

Composed only for Diversion's sake.

But being inclin'd to think thou may'st partake

Some benefit thereby, I have thought fit,

(Imperfect as it is) to publish it.

The Subjects are a part of the Contents,

Both of the Old and the New Testaments;

The Word are for the most part all the same,

(For I affected Plainness more than Fame)

Nor could'st thou hope to have it better done:

For I'm no Poet, nor a Poet's Son

But a Mechanick, guided by no rule,

But what I gained in a Grammar School.

In my Minority: I can't commend it,

Such as it is into the World I send it,

And should be glad to see some Hand to mend it.

Would but those Men whose Genius leads them to't,

And who have time and parts wherewith to do't,

Imploy their Pens in such a Task as this,

'I would be a most delightsome Exercise,

Of Profit to themselves and others too:

If what the Learned Herbert says, holds true,

A Verse may find him, whom a Sermon flies,

And turn Delight into a Sacrifice;

Thus I conclude, and wish it as delighting

To thee in reading as to me in writing.

JOHN BUNYAN.