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Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1




'Wherefore, seeing them in both their words and deeds to be so
constant, and also in their hearts so earnestly pressing after the
knowledge of Jesus Christ, rejoicing that ever God did send me where
they were; then I began to conclude that it might be so, that God
had owned in his work such a foolish one as I; and then came that
word of God to my heart with much sweet refreshment, "The blessing
of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the
widow's heart to sing for joy" (Job 29:13).

'At this therefore I rejoiced; yea, the tears of those whom God
did awaken by my preaching would be both solace and encouragement
to me. I thought on those sayings, "Who is he that maketh me glad,
but the same that is made sorry by me" (2 Cor 2:2). And again,
"Though I be not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am unto you:
for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord" (1 Cor 9:2).
These things, therefore, were as an another argument unto me, that
God had called me to, and stood by me in this work.

'In my preaching of the Word I took special notice of this one
thing, namely, that the Lord did lead me to begin where his Word
begins with sinners; that is, to condemn all flesh, and to open
and allege, that the curse of God by the law doth belong to, and
lay hold on all men as they come into the world, because of sin.
Now this part of my work I fulfilled with great feeling, for the
terrors of the law, and guilt for my transgressions, lay heavy on
my own conscience. I preached what I felt, what I smartingly did
feel, even that under which my poor soul did groan and tremble to
astonishment. Indeed, I have been as one sent to them from the
dead; I went myself in chains to preach to them in chains; and
carried that fire in my own conscience that I persuaded them to
beware of.[175] I can truly say, that when I have been to preach,
I have gone full of guilt and terror even to the pulpit-door, and
there it hath been taken off, and I have been at liberty in my
mind until I have done my work, and then, immediately, even before
I could get down the pulpit stairs, I have been as bad as I was
before: yet God carried me on with a strong hand, for neither guilt
nor hell could take me off my work. Thus I went on for the space
of two years, crying out against men's sins, and their fearful
state because of them.'[176]

A man so much in earnest soon became a most acceptable and popular
preacher. He studied his sermons carefully, and wrote such memorandums
and notes as might refresh his memory before going into the pulpit,
although his intensity of feeling, his ready utterance, and natural
eloquence which charmed his hearers, and his extensive usefulness
as a preacher, render it quite improbable that he restricted himself
to notes while publicly engaged in sacred services. They must have
aided him when he did not enjoy liberty of utterance. 'At times
when I have begun to speak the Word with much liberty, I have been
presently so straitened in speech that I scarcely knew what I was
about, or as if my head had been in a bag.'[177] They were valuable,
also, as a proof that all he said had its exclusive reference to
the world to come, without the mixture of politics, which might
have given offence to the Government. Thus, when he was apprehended
for neglecting to attend the church service and for preaching the
gospel, in his conversation with Mr. Cobb, the magistrate's clerk,
he said 'that, to cut off all occasions of suspicion from any,
as touching the harmlessness of my doctrine, in private I would
willingly take the pains to give any one the notes of all my
sermons, for I do sincerely desire to live quietly in my country,
and to submit to the present authority.'[178] In such troublesome
times these would afford abundant proof that he was desirous of
submitting to all the political institutions of his country, while
he dared not conform to human laws affecting his faith or his mode
of worshipping God, for which he alone was to stand answerable at
the great day.

The employment of his time in earning a maintenance for his family,
and his constant engagements to preach, interfered with the proper
fulfillment of his duties as a deacon of the church. His resignation
of this important office is thus recorded in the minutes of the
church--'At a meeting held on the 27th of the 6th month, 1657, the
deacon's office was transferred from John Bunyan to John Pernie,
because he could no longer discharge its duties aright, in consequence
of his being so much employed in preaching.'

We cannot wonder that his time was incessantly employed. His was
no ordinary case. He had to recover and improve upon the little
education he had received, and lost again by dissipated habits. He
must have made every effort, by his diligent study of the Bible,
to gain that spiritual knowledge which alone could enable him
to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, and that profound
internal converse with the throne of God which appears in all his
writings. In addition to all this, he was engaged in continual
controversy with a variety of sects, which, in his sober judgment,
opposed the simplicity of the gospel. Among these the Ranters, or
Sweet Singers, were very conspicuous. It is difficult to discover
what were their opinions, but they appear to have been nearly
like the Dutch Adamites; they were severely persecuted, by public
authority, under the Commonwealth, for blasphemy. George Fox
found some of them in prison at Coventry in 1649, and held a short
disputation with them. They claimed each one to be GOD, founding
their notion on such passages as 1 Corinthians 14:25, 'God is in
you of a truth.' Fox quaintly asked them whether it would rain the
next day; and upon their answering that they could not tell, 'Then
said I unto them, God can tell.'[179] Strange as it may appear,
the Ranters had many followers, while numerous pious people were
troubled by their impudence and perversion of Scripture, but more
especially by their being a persecuted people. Taking advantage of
the inquiries that were excited by these strange doctrines, Bunyan
determined to become an author, that he might set forth more
extensively than he could do by preaching, the truths of the gospel
in their native purity, simplicity, and beauty, as an antidote to
fanaticism. The learned and eloquent looked with contempt upon the
follies of the Ranters, Familists, and some loose Quakers, 'and
only deigned to abuse them with raillery, while the poor unlettered
tinker wrote against them.' To indite a work would be to him a
pleasant recreation, but writing a book must have been extremely
difficult, and have required extraordinary patience. This will be
better seen by a specimen of his handwriting, now in the Bedford
Library, found in Fox's Book of Martyrs, the three volumes of which
beguiled many of his tedious hours when in prison.

To write a volume, containing about twenty-five thousand words,
must have been a serious task to such a scribe.

It is interesting to trace his improvement in calligraphy while
recovering his lost education, and advancing in proficiency in an
art so essential to his constantly extending usefulness. The next
is a more useful running hand, however defective in orthography
and grammar; it is from the first page of a copy of Bishop Andrews'
sermons[180]--

The inscription in a copy of his Holy City, 1665, in Dr. Williams'
or the Dissenter's Library, Red Cross Street, is in a still more
useful hand, as good as that of most authors of that day--

The autograph in Powell's Concordance, in the library of the Baptist
Academy, Bristol, is in a fair hand--

His autograph is in possession of the Society of Antiquaries. The
document to which it is subscribed is written in a remarkably neat
hand, addressed to the Lord Protector. The signatures appear to be
written as if in the writer's best style.[181]

Signature to the deed of gift[182]--

In addition to the motives which have been noticed as inducing
him to become an author, it appears, that in the course of his
itinerating labours, he was much grieved with the general depravity
which had overspread all classes of society. Evil communications
had corrupted the great mass, and occasioned an aversion to hear
the gospel, which plunged the people into carnal security. When
roused by his preaching they too often found refuge in despair, or
in vain attempts to impose upon God their unholy self-righteousness,
endeavouring 'to earn heaven with their fingers' ends';[183]
anything rather than submit to receive salvation as the free gift
of God, and thus be led to consecrate all their powers to his glory
and the comfort of society. A few who appeared to have thought on
this solemn subject, without any change of conduct, are called by
Bunyan 'light notionists, with here and there a legalist,'[184] or
those who relied upon a creed without the fruits of righteousness,
and some of these imbibed notions of the strangest kind--that the
light within was all-sufficient, without any written revelation of
the will of God--that the account of Christ's personal appearance
on earth was a myth, to represent his residence in the persons of
believers, in whom he suffers, is crucified, buried, and raised
again to spiritual life--that such persons might do whatever their
inclinations led them to, without incurring guilt or sin; in short,
many sinned that grace might abound!! Some of them professed to
be the Almighty God manifest in the flesh. All this took place in
what was called a Christian country, upon which millions of treasure
had been spent to teach religion by systems, which had persecuted
the honest, pious professors of vital Christianity to bonds,
imprisonment, and death. This had naturally involved the kingdom
in impiety and gross immorality. The discovery of the awful state
of his country, while he was engaged in preaching in the villages
round Bedford induced him, in the humble hope of doing good, to
become an author, and with trembling anxiety he issued to the world
the first production of his pen, in 1656, under the title of Some
Gospel Truths Opened According to the Scriptures; and, as we shall
presently find, it met with a rough reception, plunging him into
controversy, which in those days was conducted with bitter acrimony.

Before it was published, he sought the approbation and protection
of Mr. John Burton, who had been united with Mr. Gifford in the
pastoral charge of the church to which Bunyan belonged. The testimony
that he gives is very interesting:--

'Here thou hast things certain and necessary to be believed, which
thou canst not too much study. Therefore pray that thou mayest
receive it, so it is according to the Scriptures, in faith and
love, not as the word of man but as the word of God, and be not
offended, because Christ holds forth the glorious treasure of the
gospel to thee in a poor earthen vessel, by one who hath neither
the greatness nor the wisdom of this world to commend him to thee;
for as the Scriptures saith, Christ, who was low and contemptible
in the world himself, ordinarily chooseth such for himself and for
the doing of his work. "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world." This man [Bunyan] is not chosen out of an
earthly, but out of the heavenly university, the church of Christ,
furnished with the Spirit, gifts, and graces of Christ--out of
which, to the end of the world, the word of the Lord and all true
gospel ministers must proceed. And, though this man hath not the
learning or wisdom of man; yet, through grace, he hath received the
teaching of God, and the learning of the Spirit of Christ. He hath
taken these three heavenly degrees--union with Christ, the anointing
of the Spirit, and experience of the temptations of Satan--which
do more fit a man for the mighty work of preaching the gospel, than
all the university learning and degrees that can be had. I have
had experience with many other saints of this man's [Bunyan's]
soundness in the faith, his godly conversation, and his ability to
preach the gospel, not by human art, but by the Spirit of Christ,
and that with much success in the conversion of sinners. I thought
it my duty to bear witness with my brother to these glorious truths
of the Lord Jesus Christ.'[185]

Bunyan was twenty-eight years of age when he published this work,
and as he attacked the follies of his times, and what he deemed to
be heresies, were exposed to Scripture light and condemned without
mercy, it very naturally involved him in controversy. This brought
forth the remarkable resources of his mind, which was stored with
the Scriptures--his fearlessness--ready wit and keen retort, much
sanctified by an earnest desire for the salvation of his opponents.
An extraordinary man, younger than himself, full of energy and
enthusiasm, entered the lists with him; and in Edward Burrough,
very properly called a son of thunder and of consolation, Bunyan
found an able disputant. He was talented, pious, and fearless in his
Master's work, and became eminently useful in laying the foundation
of the Society of Friends. Soon after this he was numbered with the
noble army of martyrs at the age of twenty-eight, being sacrificed
in Newgate, at the shrine of religious intolerance.

At this time the Quakers were not united as a body, and consequently
there was no test of character nor rules of discipline for those
who assumed that name. They were very dissimilar men to their quiet
and unobtrusive descendants. The markets, fairs, and every public
concourse were attended by them, denouncing false weights and
measures, drunkenness and villany, with the curses of the Almighty,
calling upon the people, frequently with furious and fearful energy
and powerful eloquence, to repent, and cry unto God, that his mercy
might be extended to the salvation of their immortal souls. their
zeal led them to many breaches of good manners. They would enter
churches, and after the service, when the quiet folks were thinking
of gratifying their bodies with a substantial dinner, they were
arrested by the violent declamation of a man or woman, frequently
denouncing the priest as being the blind leading the blind.
This naturally led to a scene of riot and confusion, in which the
Quakers were in many cases handled with great barbarity. among these
disturbers were mingled persons of bad character. The violence of
sectarian feeling in the churches thus disturbed, made no discrimination
between bad and good; they were equally subjected to the roughest
treatment. Bunyan attacked those who denied that Christ had appeared
in the world as Emmanuel, God with us 'in fashion as a man,' that
by the infinite merits of his life and death imputed to believers,
they might be made holy. His attack was also directed against those
who refused obedience to the written Word, or who relied upon inward
light in contradistinction and preference to the Bible. The title
to Burrough's answer is a strange contrast to the violence of his
language--The Gospel of Peace Contended for in the Spirit of Meekness
and Love. In this spirit of meekness he calls his opponents 'crafty
fowlers preying upon the innocent'; and lovingly exclaims, 'How
long shall the righteous be a prey to your teeth, ye subtle foxes;
your dens are in darkness, and your mischief is hatched upon your
beds of secret whoredoms.' The unhallowed spirit of the age mistook
abuse for argument, and harsh epithets for faithful dealing.[186]

Bunyan replied in A Vindication of Gospel Truths, to the great
satisfaction of all his friends; and although Burrough answered
this tract also, Bunyan very wisely allowed his railing opponent to
have the last word, and applied his great powers to more important
labours than caviling with one who in reality did not differ with
him. The Quaker had been seriously misled by supposing that the
Baptist was a hireling preacher; and we must be pleased that he was
so falsely charged, because it elicited a crushing reply. Burrough,
in reply to an imputation made by Bunyan, that the Quakers were
the false prophets alluded to in Scripture, observed that 'in those
days there was not a Quaker heard of.' 'Friend,' replied Bunyan,
'thou hast rightly said, there was not a Quaker heard of indeed,
though there were many Christians heard of then. Again, to defend
thyself thou throwest the dirt in my face, saying, If we should
diligently trace thee, we should find thee in the steps of the
false prophets, through fancied words, through covetousness, making
merchandise of souls, loving the wages of unrighteousness.' To
which Bunyan replied; 'Friend, dost thou speak this as from thy
own knowledge, or did any other tell thee so? However, that spirit
that led thee out this way, is a lying spirit; for though I be poor,
and of no repute in the world as to outward things, yet through
grace I have learned, by the example of the apostle, to preach the
truth, and also to work with my hands, both for mine own living,
and for those that are with me, when I have opportunity. And I
trust that the Lord Jesus, who hath helped me to reject the wages
of unrighteousness hitherto, will also help me still, so that I
shall distribute that which God hath given me freely, and not for
filthy lucre sake.'[187] Thus had he learned of the apostle to
'make the gospel of Christ without charge' (1 Cor 9:18); and upon
this subject they strangely agreed. The same agreement existed
between them upon the necessity of inward light from the Holy
Spirit; without which they both considered the Bible to be a dead
letter. The peculiar principle which separates the Quaker from
every other Christian community, has nothing to do with the light
within. Upon that subject all evangelical sects are agreed. The
substantial difference is whether our Lord intended the work of
the ministry to be exclusively a work of benevolence, charity, and
love, binding all who are capable of using the talent intrusted
to them, to do it without worldly reward. Surely every man may be
satisfied in his own mind upon such a subject, without quarrelling
with, or anathematizing each other. Bunyan and Burrough agreed,
without knowing it, in the sentiments of their illustrious and
learned cotemporary, John Milton, as to the ministry being without
charge; and had they, when offended, followed their Master's rule,
'If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him along' (Matt 18:15), had they met, and on
their knees before the throne of grace, sought from heaven wisdom
and charity in defending Divine truth, we can easily imagine that
the approbation of God would have been manifested, by sending them
on their important work in peaceful unity. They had been immersed
in the same deep and solemn regeneration, and their ardent object
was the same--to spread the influence of the kingdom of Christ.

When Christians of various denominations meet in prayer, how it melts
down their sectarian bitterness. In this controversy, mention is
made of a total abstinence movement in the time of the commonwealth,
a germ which has put forth its mighty efforts in our more peaceful
and happy times. A cloud now hovered over Bunyan, and threatened
him with troubles of a very different kind to those of religious
controversy. It will startle many of our readers to hear that,
under the government of Cromwell, Bunyan was persecuted for his
religious opinions and practices. Mr. Jukes, in his interesting
History of Bunyan's Church, thus refers to it: 'Soon after he had
resigned the office of deacon in 1657, the hand of persecution was
raised against him; for at a meeting of the church, held on the
25th day of the twelfth month, in the same year (Feb. 1658), it
was agreed that the 3d day of the next month be set apart to seek
God in the behalf of our brother Wheeler, who hath been long ill in
body, whereby his ministry hath been hindered; and also about the
church affairs, and the affairs of the nation; and for our brother
Whitbread, who has long been ill; and also for counsel what to do
with respect to the indictment of brother Bunyan at the assizes,
for preaching at Eaton.'[188]

Although persecution for religious opinions assumed a milder form
under the Commonwealth, the great principles of religious freedom
and equality were neither known nor practiced. The savage barbarities
perpetrated upon Prynne, Bastwick, Burton, Leighton, and others,
by Charles I and his archbishop, Laud, were calculated to open the
eyes of the nation to the wickedness and inutility of sanguinary
or even any laws to govern the conscience, or interfere with Divine
worship. Alas! even those who suffered and survived became, in
their turn, persecutors. The great object of persecution was the
book of Common Prayer, the use of which was rigorously prohibited.
The clergy were placed in an extremely awkward predicament. No
sooner was the Act of Parliament passed ordering the Directory to
be used and the Prayer-book to be laid aside, than the king, by his
royal proclamation, issued from Oxford, November 13, 1645, ordered
the Directory to be set aside, and the Common Prayer to be used
in all the churches and chapels. Both these orders were under very
severe penalties.

The Act against atheistical opinions, which passed August 9, 1650,
illustrates the extraordinary state of the times. The preamble states
that, 'Divers men and women have lately discovered themselves to
be most monstrous in their opinions, and loose in all wicked and
abominable practices.' It then enacts that--'Any one, not being mad,
who pretends to be God Almighty, or who declares that unrighteousness,
uncleanness, swearing, drunkenness, and the like filthiness and
brutishness, or denying the existence of God, or who shall profess
that murder, adultery, incest, fornication, uncleanness, filthy or
lascivious speaking, are not wicked, sinful, impious, abominable,
and detestable, shall be imprisoned, and, for a second offence, be
transported.'[189]

One of the Acts that affected Bunyan was passed April 26, 1645,
cap. 52--'None may preach but ordained ministers, except such as,
intending the ministry, shall, for trial of their gifts, be allowed
by such as be appointed by both houses of Parliament.' This was
amended by 'an ordinance appointing commissioners for approbation
of public preachers,' March, 1653. In this Dr. Owen, Goodwin, Caryl,
and many others are named, who were to judge of the candidate's
fitness to preach.[190] The Act which more seriously touched Bunyan
was that of May 2, 1648, which enacts that any person saying,
'that man is bound to believe no more than by his reason he can
comprehend, or that the baptizing of infants is unlawful, or such
baptism is void, and that such persons ought to be baptized again,
and, in pursuance thereof, shall baptize any person formerly baptized,
shall be imprisoned until he gives security that he will not publish
or maintain the said error any more.'[191] It was these intolerant
proceedings that led Milton to publish a poem On the New Forcers
of Conscience, beginning with these lines--


'Dare ye, for this, adjure the civil sword,
To force our consciences that Christ set free.'


This last-mentioned ungracious and uncalled-for Act against the
Baptists, led some violent spirits to print a paper, entitled,
'The Second Part of England's new Chains Discovered,' this was read
in many Baptist meeting-houses, and the congregations called upon
to subscribe it: fortunately, they were peaceably disposed, and
denounced it to the House of Commons in a petition, dated April 2,
1649. Mr. Kiffin and the others were called in, when the Speaker
returned them this answer--'The House doth take notice of the good
affection to the Parliament and public you have expressed, both
in this petition and otherways. They have received satisfaction
thereby, concerning your disclaiming that pamphlet, which gave such
just offence to the Parliament, and also concerning your disposition
to live peaceably, and in submission to the civil magistracy; your
expressions whereof they account very Christian and seasonable.
That for yourselves and other Christians, walking answerable to
such professions as in this petition you make, they do assure you
of liberty and protection, so far as God shall enable them, in all
things consistent with godliness, honesty, and civil peace.'[192]
Whether it was in consequence of this good understanding having
remained between the Baptists and the Parliament, or from some
application to the Protector, or from some unknown cause, the
persecution was stayed;[193] for the indictment does not appear to
have been tried, and Bunyan is found to have been present, and to
have taken a part in the affairs of the church, until the 25th day
of the 2d Month, 1660 (April), when 'it was ordered, according to
our agreement, that our brother, John Bunyan, do prepare to speak
a word at the next church meeting and that our brother Whiteman
fail not to speak to him of it.'[194]