It was this message that permeated all of Bunyan’s preaching, preaching that was, apparently, of such high order that when Charles II referred to him as ‘that illiterate tinker prate’ in the presence of the one-time Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, John Owen, the scholar replied, ‘Please, your majesty, could I possess that tinker’s abilities for preaching, I would gladly relinquish all my learning’.
