Puritan Of The Month - John Bunyan

This section I will try to get out every month, it will feature one who was in the reformed tradition that impacted their world for good. There are a lot of puritans that I know by name, but do not know as much about as I would like. So I am launching this with John Bunyan. That gives me until next month to read up on another figure. Part of my goal in these blogs is to improve my own knowledge of church history, so if I have to read to write it does me some good. These posts are by no means definitive and should you find a character interesting, their should be a lot of other material on them that you can read. These are just to maybe whet your appetite and give you a specific attribute of character from this individual that I find worth emulating.

John Bunyan was born in Elstow, Befordshire, England in the year 1628. He had little formal education, and became a tinker which was a very menial occupation and yet he became one of the best known English authors of any age. His Pilgrim's Progress has been translated into more than 37 languages and at one time was even widely read in the muslim world. What made this man what he was?

From 1644-1647 he served in the parlamentary army during the English Civil War. His experiences there form his backdrop to The Holy War.

He was converted through reading Puritan literature and began to preach as a lay preacher in 1653. His account of his struggles with divine truth and his conversion are written in Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, which he wrote during his first imprisonment for preaching. This imprisonment began in 1660 and lasted 12 years and at any point he could have been released merely by signing an agreement that he would no longer preach. He was released in 1672 and then briefly reimprisoned. It was during the second imprisonment that he began writing Pilgrim's Progress.

He also wrote many other works including a vision he had of both heaven and hell. He apparently had a strong prophetic anointing and much of his Pilgrim's Progress apparently came to him in the form of a dream or vision.

One encouraging thing I love about his life is his strong courage and love for God and the calling upon his life. He knew God had called him to preach and he was going to do it even if he if it cost him his freedom.

The other thing I love about him is his determination to find God. I would recommend reading Grace Abounding if you want to know more about his life. As related there he suffered deep bouts with depression and despair, wondering if he was saved or if Christ would even want to save him. This time lasted for a few years, and apparently during some of it he was preaching. He once said that even as he would proclaim that Christ could save and he knew it to be true he had all these doubts that Christ would save him. Yet he continued to preach, why? Because he was firmly persuaded that if Christ wouldn't save him, no one else could so he had no other options. As you can see Bunyan clearly had faith, though he couldn't see it at the time. He had no other hope only Christ and he was fully commited to Him, but he had a great inward struggle.

It was as a result of this struggle that he was able to so clearly mark the way for his fellow pilgrims in his books. He fought his personal giant Despair and had been locked in the dungeon, but like his character Christian, he had been freed.

In the second part of his Pilgrim's Progress he writes of the final destruction of Doubting Castle and the giant Despair. That was really what God had done in his life, not only had he personally escaped despair, but he became an instrument for destroying it in others.

Dear reader, if you have ever doubted your own salvation or been troubled by thoughts of blasphemy and wonder how you could ever think thoughts against your Saviour, you are not alone. Others have fought these battles, they conquered and you will too. Trust in Christ, let Him correct you, lead you, defend you, succour you. Let Him and Him alone be your trust. He will fail none who place their confidence in Him, He promises that and stakes His honour upon it. He delights in taking the weak and making them strong.

Trust in Him today.

God bless.