1678.
John Bunyan, a Baptist preacher in England, has recently been released from prison.
His crime?
Leading services forbidden by the Conventicle Act of 1664, which defined ‘conventicles’ as religious services of more than five people exceeding immediate family.
He has been imprisoned multiple times before, and with this last time he’s approaching twelve years of incarceration. By the authorities’ ideals, he would be broken by now.
By God’s grace, he’s not only unbroken … he’s using the resources he has to continue proclaiming truth.
On this day, the eighteenth of February, the first edition of his manuscript, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come, is published.
He wrote it while in prison, drawing inspiration from the two books he had with him—the Bible and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Hundreds of phrases and sentences quoted directly from Scripture lay within the book’s text.
He has used his time wisely; The Pilgrim’s Progress will go on to be the most printed book of all time besides the Bible, reaching thousands of hearts with its message of truth and triumph. It will go through eleven editions in his lifetime, through which characters are added (notably Worldly Wiseman and Mr. By-Ends) and necessary corrections are made.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is not just a fictional story, though; it is a testimony of his life. Bunyan knows what it is to wallow in the Slough of Despond:
‘… for my conscience now was sore, and would smart at every touch: I could not now tell how to speak my words, for fear I should misplace them. Oh, how gingerly did I then go, in all I did or said! I found myself as on a miry bog, that shook if I did but stir …’[1]
He knew what it was to have the burden taken from his back:
‘… methought I saw with great evidence … the wonderful work of God, in giving Jesus Christ to save us … I saw how gently He gave Himself to be hanged, and nailed on [the cross] for my sins and wicked doings.’[2]
He knew what it was to walk through the Valley of the Shadow with whisperings in his ear:
‘First, all my comfort was taken from me; then darkness seized upon me; after which, whole floods of blasphemies, both against God, Christ, and the scriptures, were poured upon my spirit, to my great confusion and astonishment.’[3]
He knew what it was to be accused as Faithful was:
‘… he is a pestilent fellow, there is not such a fellow in the country again.’[4]
And yet he stood.
Unbroken.
‘I told him, as to this matter, I was at a point with him; for if I were out of prison to-day, I would preach the Gospel again to-morrow, by the help of God.’[5]
Bunyan did not know how far and wide his book would travel, how many hearts it would touch, or how his name would be spoken of for generations. As he wrote in his ‘Apology’:
When at the first I took my pen in hand
Thus for to write, I did not understand
That I at all should make a little book
In such a mode; nay, I had undertook
To make another; which, when almost done
Before I was aware I this begun.[6]
FURTHER FACTS
- John Bunyan had four children with his first wife, who died at a young age. He then remarried and had three more children, one of whom was born prematurely and died almost immediately. The oldest of the seven was Mary, who was born blind, yet faithfully carried provisions to her father when he was imprisoned
- At one point during his imprisonment, a jailer granted Bunyan liberty to leave the prison for short periods of time, during which he went right back to what he was imprisoned for—preaching and exhorting God’s people
- The second part of The Pilgrim’s Progress was published in 1684. It covers the story of Christian’s wife, Christiana, and their four sons, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
- Bunyan died in 1688 at the age of fifty-nine, having caught a severe cold while travelling to minister
RESOURCES
Books:
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Websites:
There are many sources online about John Bunyan’s life and works, which you can discover by a simple search such as ‘John Bunyan and Pilgrim’s Progress’
Please note: My sharing of these resources does not mean I condone everything they contain. Read with discretion, and remember that certain points of history can’t be proven, so differing opinions abound. When I wrote this article, I had to trust that the sources from which I had gained information were factual.
[1] John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, Ambassador International, paragraph 82
[2] Ibid., paragraph 120
[3] Ibid, paragraph 96
[4] Ibid., page 223
[5] Ibid., page 207
[6] The Pilgrim’s Progress, public domain
