John Bunyan is well recognized for his famous book Pilgrim’s Progress, but most do not know his life’s story was filled with many trials, he approached each challenge with courage grounded in his Savior, Jesus Christ.
John Bunyan was born in Elstow, near Bedford, in 1628 and died in 1688 in London. During his childhood and youth, he rebelled against God by living for himself. In his biography Bunyan said, “that from a child I had but few equals, both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God.” As a teenager, he joined Oliver Cromwell’s army which further aided in his rebellion. While in the army, during a siege at Leicester, a fellow soldier relieved Bunyan of his post, and “as he stood sentinel he was shot in the head with a musket bullet and died.” This greatly shook Bunyan as he was faced with his own mortality.
After being discharged from the army, Bunyan married a God-fearing woman, historians are unsure of her name. Through books and discussions with her, he became convicted of sin and started to reform his life through his own efforts. He started to go to church, stopped swearing (after being called out by a local woman), and honored the Sabbath. It was all surface level until he was impacted by John Gifford, his pastor in Bedford. Bunyan was baptized by immersion at the age of twenty-five and soon was appointed a deacon of Gifford’s church. In 1655, three years after being introduced to Gifford, Bunyan’s beloved pastor died, and as a result, Bunyan was preaching to various congregations in Bedford, and hundreds came to hear him. The church in Bedford was unique for its time because it practiced adult baptism by immersion and was an open-communion church, admitting those who were professing believers in Christ were able to participate in communion. Around 1656 Bunyan published his first book (Some Gospel Truths Opened), which established him as a Puritan, to protect people from being misled by the Quakers. It was around this time that his first wife died, and he remarried in 1659 to another godly woman, Elizabeth.
Bunyan was a nonconformist, and in 1660 Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a license. Officials told Bunyan he would be freed if he no longer preached, to which he replied, “If I am freed today, I will preach tomorrow.” As a result, he spent the next twelve years in prison. His wife Elizabeth, was an advocate for her husband during his imprisonment (1660-1672). She pleaded for his release, but the judges rejected her request. Essentially, Bunyan remained in prison with no formal charge and no legal sentence for refusing to give up preaching the Gospel and denouncing the Church of England as false.
While in prison, Bunyan’s only literary resources were his Bible and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. With those resources, he wrote around eleven books over the course of his twelve years of imprisonment. In 1672, when the law against nonconformist preaching was starting to relax, the church in Bedford appointed Bunyan as their pastor in January, while he was still in prison, though he was not released until May. Bunyan had a few years of reprieve before going back to prison for preaching. It was during his second imprisonment (1675-1677) that he wrote four books, one of which was his famous Pilgrim’s Progress.
John Owen, another Puritan, who was close with the political elites, and thought very highly of Bunyan appealed for his release and was successful. Bunyan went back to preaching to his congregation and ministering to people through his writings and in the last three years of his life he wrote more than ten books.
Even though he was a prolific writer, Bunyan was noted for having a pastor’s heart and regularly tended to his flock. His last act as a minister was successfully mediating a disagreement between a father and son. Unfortunately, he caught a cold while traveling in the cold weather from this meeting and soon died of a fever. At his deathbed, it is recorded that he said, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of his blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner; where I hope we ere long shall meet, to sing the new song, and remain everlastingly happy, world without end.”
As we glean from the life and times of John Bunyan, we can see that he was a man who counted the cost and understood what it meant to follow his Savior. If it meant going to prison for the sake of the Gospel or caring for his congregants he would do so as Christ’s representative, making the most of the opportunity given to him. He did not count his trials as an opportunity to share the Gospel with others. If he could not preach to his congregation, he would write to them and others. It is said that John Owen would gladly exchange all his learning for Bunyan’s power of touching men’s hearts. To this day, Bunyan is still impacting people for the sake of the Gospel through his writings and exemplary life.