John Bunyan was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, which also became an influential literary model. Bunyan’s understanding of the Christian life as a perpetual, sometimes terrifying struggle dominated his outlook until he was finally released from prison.
Bunyan’s early life
John Bunyan was born in 1628 in Elstow, near Bedford, England. He grew up in a poor and illiterate family and received little formal education. His father was a tinker, and John followed his father into the tinker’s trade. The Bunyan family was not religious. In his early years, John Bunyan was known as a rebellious youth who caused a great deal of trouble in the community.
“I had few equals, especially considering my years … for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God.”
John Bunyan
When he was sixteen, Bunyan joined Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army, but continued his rebellious ways. On one occasion, however, his life was saved when a fellow soldier took his place at the siege of Leicester, and as he stood sentinel he was shot in the head with a musket bullet and died. After about three years, his company disbanded and Bunyan returned to Elstow, where he continued to work as a tinker.
Bunyan married a devout puritan woman, whose name is unknown. She bore him four children, including a blind daughter, Mary.
The journey to conversion
Bunyan’s wife was as poor has he was, but she brought with her two well-known Puritan books that her godly father had given her. One was Arthur Dent’s The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven and the other was Lewis Bayly’s The Practice of Piety. These books convicted Bunyan of his sin. He heard a voice one Sunday that said, “Will you leave your sins and go to Heaven, or have your sins and go to Hell?” He was acutely distressed. So, he struggled to find peace with God, and he made attempts to reform his life.
However, he realized he was lost and without Christ when he came into contact with group of three or four women whose ‘joyous conversation about the new birth and Christ deeply impressed him’. In 1651, the women introduced him to their pastor in Bedford, John Gifford, who helped to lead Bunyan to repentance and faith.
Bunyan then moved his family to Bedford and was baptised by immersion in 1653. He was appointed a deacon of Gifford’s church, and began preaching to various congregations in Bedford by 1655. Bunyan grew in his passion for God, Scripture, and for preaching. (John Owen said about him that he would gladly exchange all his learning for Bunyan’s power of touching men’s hearts.)
Joy in the midst of suffering
A perilous time for unauthorized preaching
During this time in his life, Bunyan’s wife died. This left him with four children to care for. In 1659, he remarried to Elizabeth, who was a godly young woman and a staunch advocate for her husband during his later imprisonments.
Bunyan’s ministry coincided with the Stuart Restoration of 1660, the time when the exiled King Charles II was restored to his Irish, English and Scottish kingdoms. Only licensed ministers were legally able to preach in public. This meant that unauthorized preaching would lead to a punishable offense. Officials feared that demagogues would incite revolution. John became a field preacher at a time when open-air preaching was illegal. After reading Luther’s commentary on Galations and realizing he could be justified by faith alone, Bunyan felt compelled to tell others of faith in Christ.
Bunyan’s arrest
Determined to do what he believed God had gifted and called him to do, Bunyan continued to boldy preach the Word of God. Bunyan was warned that he would be arrested if he held church at a friend’s house, but he went anyway. He wanted to set an example of boldness. He feared that if he fled, weaker brethren would see it and also run.
In November 1660, he was arrested for holding an illegal religious meeting, and in January 1661, he was sentenced for three months in a bedford jail. Upon hearing of his arrest, John’s second wife, Elizabeth, went into early labor and her child died.
An unwavering commitment to Christ
Though only sentenced for three months, his sentence was prolonged for twelve years due to his refusal to assure the authorities that he would refrain from preaching. Bunyan’s decision wasn’t an easy one to make, especially because he had to provide for his wife and four children. But Bunyan was unwavering in his commitment.
He spoke of the difficulty:
The parting with my wife and poor children hath oft been to me in this place as the pulling the flesh from my bones … also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries and wants that my poor family was like to meet with, should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child [Mary], who lay nearer to my heart than all I had besides; O the thoughts of the hardships I thought my blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces.
John Bunyan
Bunyan was willing to sacrifice his family, his freedom, and even his life for the sake of proclaiming the Gospel. He refused to give up the calling to which he had been called, to preach the truth of the Gospel to the world. So, John remained in prison. He was cheerful, believing he suffered for Christ.
Bedford’s prison conditions were a genuine hardship. There was little light and no bathing facilities. The place stank of unwashed bodies. Typhus killed many prisoners, and the cells were overcrowded. John’s ration was one-quarter loaf of bread a day. Worst of all, he was separated from his family. Bunyan made and sold thousands of long, tagged shoe laces to support his family. Church members also provided support.
Bunyan’s unexpected release and second imprisonment
Though Charles II released a number of prisoners for political reasons, Bunyan was not among them. He refused to apply for a pardon, because that would require him to admit that what he had done was wrong. His wife Elizabeth pleaded for his release, but she was told John could only be released if he complied with the authorities.
Eventually, the Quakers included Bunyan’s name on a list of names they had prepared for pardons. So, Bunyan was released in 1672, and he immediately returned to preaching in Bedford. After some fruitful years of ministry, Bunyan was once again imprisoned in March 1675 for preaching publicly without a license.
The final years of Bunyan’s life
Released in 1677, Bunyan spent the last ten years of his life ministering to his congregation and writing. He frequently preached in villages near Bedford and occasionally in London churches. But he always refused to move from Bedford.
After riding on horseback in a heavy rain from Reading to London, Bunyan contracted a fever and died on August 31, 1688, at the home of his friend, John Strudwick. He is buried in Burnhill Fields, London.
The works of John Bunyan
In prison, Bunyan could read the Bible, preach and sing hymns with no one to stop him. And he was allowed to write. While in prison, he completed many of his sixty books. Bunyan’s first book was Profitable Meditations. This was followed by, Christian Behavior, The Holy City, and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.
It was during his imprisonment, from 1667-1672, that Bunyan spent most of his time writing his most famous work, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” He said he wrote it for his own enjoyment, not with an expectation of publication. This allegorical novel, published in 1678, would later become one of the most influential pieces of Christian literature ever written. Next to the Bible, it became the most cherished book in devout English-speaking homes.
Other works that followed The Pilgrim’s Progress (Part One) include The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, The Holy War, and his last of more than sixty books, A Book for Boys and Girls.
Reflections on the life of Bunyan
Possible hardship and persecution should not deter Christians from serving Christ
God expects His people to have an unwavering determination to do what God gifts and calls them to do.
The threat of persecution didn’t stop John Bunyan. He was determined to fulfill his calling. So, he continued to boldly preach the Word of God to the people of Bedford. And even though he could be released from prison by agreeing to refrain from preaching, his integrity and commitment to God would not allow him to do so.
Suffering for Christ’s sake deepens faith and results in joy.
Suffering and trials should not only be expected, but they should be welcomed (see James1:2-4).
John Bunyan wrote so joyfully about such a tragic time in his life. The source of his joy was Christ. As in the case of the apostle Paul, he was able to rejoice that he was counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of Christ (See Acts 5:41).
Suffering for Christ’s sake
For a Christian, trials and suffering should not only be expected, but they should also be welcomed. As John Piper reflected on the life of John Bunyan, he said:
I come to John Bunyan with a growing sense that suffering is a normal and useful and essential element in the Christian life and ministry. It not only weans us off the world and teaches us to live on God, as 2 Corinthians 1:9 says, but also makes ministers more able to strengthen the church and makes missionaries more able to reach the nations with the Gospel of the grace of God.
John Piper
Are you willing to stand firm in your commitment to God’s Word as John Bunyan did? If you have wavered in the past, confess it to God and ask for His forgiveness. Then renew your commitment to Him. If you need to learn more about God and His plan for you, visit my blog How to Begin Your Life Over Again. And if you would would like to see a video presentation of the Gospel, click here.
Sources and related posts
Sources:
“John Bunyan.” Banner of Truth, https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/john-bunyan/.
“John Bunyan.” Christianity.com, https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/john-bunyan-11630083.html.
“John Bunyan: The Man, Preacher and Author.” Christian History Institute, https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/john-bunyan-the-man-preacher-and-author.
Leinen, Joe. “John Bunyan, Joy, and Suffering.” The Master’s Seminary Blog, The Master’s Seminary, https://blog.tms.edu/john-bunyan-joy-suffering.
