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John Bunyan
1628 - 1688
"I got me back into prison and did sit down to write again.
I have been away from my writing too long. Maybe this is not
so much a prison as an office from which I can reach the world
with Christ's message."-Bunyan on being sent back to prison in
1675."
John Bunyan, the tinker of Bedford, was born during troubled
times in England. When he was just a boy, he was saved from
drowning by his neighbor, Oliver Cromwell. At 16, Bunyan
joined Cromwell's army to fight against King Charles I. His
life was spared again when a friend who took his place on
guard duty was killed in a skirmish that started while Bunyan
was away. After the war he married and had four children. He
tried to obtain salvation by reforming his life and giving up
his evil habits, but he found no peace with God. Finally, he
was converted after reading Martin Luther's commentary on
Galatians with its emphasis on God's saving grace.
Bunyan
began his ministry as a lay preacher in Bedford, "mending pots
and pans by day, and saving souls on nights and weekends." His
powerful preaching resulted in numerous conversions-and
powerful enemies. The restored king, Charles II, revoked the
religious freedom that had been granted under Cromwell. In
1660, John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a
license. From then until 1672, he remained in jail rather than
promise to stop preaching if he were released. Selling
shoelaces made by his wife and the royalty checks from his
books were the only supports his family had during his
imprisonment. He was freed briefly in 1665 during the Bubonic
Plague when he worked as a nurse and preacher to the dying in
London, but then returned to jail again.
Although Bunyan
authored 60 books, the most famous is Pilgrim's Progress.
Begun as a story to entertain his children on their visits to
his jail cell, it has become one of the most famous and
enduring works of Christian fiction. Bunyan wrote most of the
book during his second stay in jail on the brown paper covers
his wife used as stoppers on the milk jugs she brought to him
in prison. First published in 1678, Pilgrim's Progress sold
more than 100,000 copies in its first year in print and
remains a best-seller to this day.
John Bunyan continued to preach until his death in 1688. He
died from pneumonia contracted on a visit to London.
Other Resources
by John Bunyan:
Pilgrim's Progress
Holy War
Grace Abounding |
