He immediately began to
preach, and continued to do so until 1688, when he died from a fever
brought on by exposure.
In his first work, _Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners_, he gives us
his own experience,--fearful dreams of early childhood, his sins and
warnings in the parliamentary army, with divers temptations, falls, and
struggles.
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.
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