John Bunyan’s – The Pilgrim’s Progress

American Minute with Bill Federer

He was imprisoned 12 years for preaching without a license from the government.

This was John Bunyan, who died AUGUST 31, 1688.

Born in Bedford, England, John Bunyan was a poor, unskilled tinker by trade.

In 1657, at age 29, he became a Baptist minister and was arrested for having religious meetings, being imprisoned 1660-1672 and 1675-1676.

John Bunyan wrote in a Relation of My Imprisonment:

“The justice…issued out his warrant to take me…as if we that were to meet together…to do some fearful business, to the destruction of the country; when alas! the constable, when he came in, found us only with our Bibles in our hands, ready to speak and hear the word of God…

So I was taken and forced to depart…

But before I went away, I spake some few words of counsel and encouragement to the people, declaring to them…that they would not be discouraged, for it was a mercy to suffer upon so good account…we suffer as Christians…better be the persecuted, than the persecutors.”

During his imprisonment, John Bunyan supported his family by making shoelaces.

It was during this time that he began writing The Pilgrim’s Progress, eventually published in 1678.

It was an allegory of a pilgrim, named Christian, who fled from the City of Destruction and was directed by Evangelist to follow the narrow path, overcoming temptations, depressions, deceptions, and persecutions till he reached the Celestial City of Zion.

The friends and dangers Christian meets along the way inspired many subsequent novels, such as:

Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrim’s Progress (1869);

C.S. Lewis’ Pilgrim’s Regress (1933); and

L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz (1900).

The Pilgrim’s Progress was translated into over 100 languages and, after the Bible, was the world’s best-seller for hundreds of years.

It was found in nearly every colonial New England home, along with the Bible and Fox’s Book of Martyrs.

Ben Franklin wrote in his Autobiography:

“From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with The Pilgrim’s Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan’s works in separate little volumes….

My old favorite author, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress…has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the Bible.”

President Grover Cleveland had memorized The Pilgrim’s Progress as a youth, commenting:

“I have always felt that my training as a minister’s son has been more valuable to me as a strengthening influence than any other incident in life.”

President Theodore Roosevelt stated while laying the cornerstone of the office building of the House of Representatives, April 14, 1906:

“In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress you may recall the description of the man with the muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward, with the muck-rake in his hand, who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote January 19, 1936:

“When Theodore Roosevelt died, the Secretary of his class at Harvard, in sending classmates a notice of his passing, added this quotation from Pilgrim’s Progress:

‘My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder.’”

President Ronald Reagan greeted Australia’s Prime Minister, June 30, 1981, referring to John Bunyan:

“Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, ‘We are all travelers in what John Bunyan calls the wilderness of this world. And the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend – they keep us worthy of ourselves.’”

The Pilgrim’s Progress began:

“As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and, as I slept, I dreamed a dream.

I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.

I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and, as he read, he wept, and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?”

Later in The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan wrote:

“Christian ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a cross…So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back.”

Further in The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan wrote:

“Then said Christian, You make me afraid, but whither shall I fly to be safe?…To go back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life-everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward…

Frighted with the sight of the lions…Christian said to himself again, These beasts range in the night for their prey; and if they should meet with me in the dark…how should I escape being by them torn in pieces?…

He lift up his eyes, and behold there was a very stately palace before him…He entered into a very narrow passage…he espied two lions in the way…The porter at the lodge…perceiving that Christian made a halt as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying,

Is thy strength so small? Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that had none. Keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall come unto thee…

He went on, trembling for fear of the lions, but taking good heed to the directions of the porter; he heard them roar, but they did him no harm…”

John Bunyan continued:

“But now, in this Valley of Humiliation, poor Christian was hard put to it…a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him; his name is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground.

But he considered again that he had no armour for his back; and therefore thought that to turn the back to him might give him the greater advantage with ease to pierce him with his darts. Therefore he resolved to venture and stand his ground…”

John Bunyan wrote further:

“The monster was hideous to behold; he was clothed with scales…wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke…

Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth of the way, and said…prepare thyself to die; for I swear by my infernal den, that thou shalt go no further; here will I spill thy soul.

And with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast; but Christian had a shield in his hand, with which he caught it…

Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which, notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it, Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot…”

Bunyan concluded:

“This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker…

Christian’s sword flew out of his hand.

Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now. And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of life; but as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching of his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying,

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall I shall arise; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back…

And with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon’s wings, and sped him away, that Christian for a season saw him no more…

A more unequal match can hardly be, —
Christian must fight an angel; but you see,
The valiant man by handling Sword and Shield,
Doth make him, though a Dragon, quit the field.”

---

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

247 – Sept. 04 – This Day in Baptist History Past

He preached to as many as 3,000 in London “Wednesday Sept. 04, 1688 …was kept in prayer and humiliation for this Heavy Stroak upon us, ye Death of deare Brother Bunyan. Apoynted also that Wednesday next be kept in praire and humiliation on the same Account.” John Bunyan, their most loved pastor had died on Friday, Aug. 31 while on a preaching trip to London, England. The news had not reached his congregation in Bedford until they had gathered to worship the following Sunday. Bunyan often preached to as many as 3,000 in London after spending nearly 13 years in Bedford jail for refusing a license to preach the gospel. There he had writtenPilgrim’s Progress and other great works. In 1672 the Act of Pardon had set him free. He was born to a tinker (a repairer of pots and pans). He married in 1647 and was saved and baptized into the membership of Bedford church in 1655. His wife died the same year and he remarried in 1659. He had a precious blind daughter who visited him while in jail. He died as he was born, in poverty. His death came when he was exposed to a heavy rain which brought on a high fever, and in ten days the great preacher was with the Lord. [John Brown, John Bunyan His Life Times and Work (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1888), pp. 390-91.  Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp.  483-85. The post 247 – Sept. 04 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

243 – August 31 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

He spent eleven years in jail

John Bunyan died on August 31, 1688. It was the year that England was delivered from popish tyranny. His birth took place the same year as the passage of the “English Bill of Rights.” Bunyan represents a great host of Baptists who loved liberty of conscience and were dedicated to their Lord and the principles of His Word. Bunyan was a prisoner for preaching the glad tidings of salvation. He refused a license from the State Anglican Church to preach.  The King gave him a license but he refused to sign it and spent an additional six months in prison.  Bunyan had attended the Baptist meetings and regularly preached some four years before his release in the 11th year. The congregation chose him for their pastor and he accepted. Only a man like Bunyan could exercise his pastoral office in preaching among them as he continued a prisoner in jail. So loving was Bunyan’s disposition that the jailer was tender toward him all the time. He not only allowed Bunyan to visit his church frequently with a guard, and to preach the gospel elsewhere, but he permitted his blind daughter Mary to visit him regularly, with such little gifts as she could bring him. During the Republican rebellion 71 Quakers, and 20 Baptists and Independents were released from jail along with Bunyan. He immediately began his ministry of visiting the sick, preaching from house to house, and planting churches in the villages. He preached to crowds in London numbering 1200 for morning lectures and 3,000 on the Lord’s Day. While he was yet in prison, his little Mary entered the “Celestial Gate” as a true “shining one” to watch and wait for his coming.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 359-60.

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25 – January 25 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

 

A time for survival for Baptists

1661 – BAPTISTS SUFFERED GREAT PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND IN THE MID 17TH CENTURY – On January 25, 1661 a petition entitled “The humble petition and presentation of the 1sufferings of several peaceable subjects, called by the name of Anabaptists, inhabitants in the county of Kent, and now prisoners in the jail at Maidstone, for the testimony of a good conscience” was presented. 1660 to 1688 was a time for survival for Baptists rather than expansion. John Bunyan began his 12 year term in Bedford jail. On Oct. 19, 1661, John James, a Sabbatarian Baptist, was dragged from his pulpit in Bulsrake Alley, Whitechaple in London, and committed to the Newgate jail. On Nov. 26, he was taken to Tyburn to be hanged. King Charles II was unmoved. The Baptists had no recourse but to write publications. One was by John Sturgion, a member of the baptized people,” entitle, A Plea for Toleration of Opinions and persuasions in Matters of Religion, differing from the Church of England. Another was, Sion’s Groans for Her Distressed: or, Sober Endeavors to Prevent Innocent Blood. Seven Baptist ministers affixed their names to the document. Joseph Wright, Thomas Monck, George Hammon, William Jeffrey, Francis Stanley, William Reynolds, and Francis Smith. Joseph Wright spent no less than 20 years in prison for the sake of truth. They said that they were willing to be loyal subjects to the king in civil matters but that they must obey God in religion.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from:  Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson/   pg. 33.

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21 – January 21 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Notice the ability to use Greek and Hebrew in a legal setting which demands a precise under standing and ability to speak fluently in these two languages. Where is that type of language scholarship today?

Nehemiah Coxe
1672 – Nehemiah Coxe was one of seven other men who were ordained to the gospel along with John Bunyan when he was set apart to the work of the ministry. He is described as a “very excellent, learned, and judicious divine.” Coxe was a native of Bedford and had been received into the church in June of 1669, and it is believed that he had been immersed by Bunyan. Coxe proved to be an able author and wrote several published treatises that were used of God. He refused a call to a nearby Baptist church in Hitchin, and in the course of time he is said to have been imprisoned at Bedford for preaching the Gospel without license. When Coxe was haled into court, an interesting thing happened. In earlier days Coxe had been a shoemaker, and thus was known in court as a “cordwainer.” The Rev. Mr. Coxe presented his own case before the court in the Greek language, and he further confounded the prosecution by responding to their charges in Hebrew. Coxe claimed the right to plead in what language he pleased. The judge dismissed the case saying, “Well, the cordwainer has wound us all up, gentlemen.” Later Coxe moved to London and supported himself in the medical profession. Ultimately he accepted a call to the joint-pastorate of a well-known Baptist church in London, called Petty France Baptist Church. In 1678 this church united with the Particular Baptist Association. Coxe attended as a messenger. In 1682 a great storm of persecution came down upon the church, but Dr. Coxe served the congregation faithfully with his co-pastor, William Collins, for at least twenty years.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 28-29.

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332 – Nov. 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

He refused a license to preach

 

1628 – Is the traditional birth date of John Bunyan; the “immortal tinker” and “glorious dreamer”, as historians call him, was born in the village of Elstow, near Bedford, England. In 1644 he was drafted into the army, and in June 1645 he returned to his home of Bedford. He said that he was vile in his youth, but about 1649 married a poor girl who brought with her two books, The plain man’s Pathway to Heaven, and The Practice of Piety. One day he overheard some women talking about spiritual matters and he entered in, but was no match for them. They were members of a little Baptist congregation in Bedford whose pastor was John Gifford to whom they introduced the tinker. Gifford immersed Bunyan after he had endured a lengthy and trying period of deep seated, emotional conviction, when the Lord spoke sweet peace to his heart. He explains it in his book, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666). In 1660 while preaching in a farmhouse near Ampthill, Bunyan was arrested, tried, and imprisoned. He spent the next twelve years in the Bedford jail. He could have been released at anytime if he had only taken a license from the Church of England to preach. In 1672 he was released by the Declaration of Indulgence, and at that time he became a licensed preacher and Pastor by the Baptist church at Bedford. The next year the Edict was cancelled and he was rearrested and imprisoned again for six months. Some believe that it was at this time that the famed Pilgrim’s Progress was written. He served as pastor for 16 years until his death and is buried at Bunhill Fields, the dissenter’s Westminster Abbey. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 651-53. Alfred W. Light, Bunhill Fields London: C.J. Farncombe & Sons, Ltd., 1915)., pp. 17-18.]
Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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312 – Nov. 08 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

One of the first Sunday Schools

 

1828 – The treasury book of the Cloughfold Baptist Church of England revealed that £45 was borrowed of John Heap for the purpose of building a Sunday school annex. It also records that the loan was repaid by 1833 with interest. The first effort to begin the Sunday school was in 1810 but it really took root about 1822. Cloughfold Baptist began as a dissenters church in 1675 and was led by two cousins: David Crossley and William Mitchel. Both had received most of their training from Mr. Kippax, minister of the nonconforming congregation in Rossendale, England. David had been raised by a godly aunt, and had received Christ before he was twelve. David led William to Christ during a time of bereavement over the death of his brother. William was arrested and imprisoned for preaching without a license. Upon his release the young men organized the Dissenter’s congregation. David’s study of God’s Word and his intimacy with John Bunyan led him to embrace the Baptist position of believer’s immersion and was immersed on Aug. 16, 1692. His cousin soon followed, and by 1700, both Crossley and Mitchel were Baptists by conviction. In that most of the Dissenters congregation had been led to Christ by the two men, the whole church became a Baptist church in name as well as practice. The church had a powerful history all through the eighteenth and on into the nineteenth century. [Abel Jones Parry, History of the Cloughfold Baptist Church (Manchester: John Heywood, 1876), pp. 65-66. This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 609-11.]
Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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247 – Sept. 04 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

He Died as He was Born

 

1688 – “Wednesday…was kept in prayer and humiliation for this Heavy Stroak upon us, ye Death of deare Brother Bunyan. Apoynted also that Wednesday next be kept in praire and humiliation on the same Account.” John Bunyan, their most loved pastor had died on Friday, Aug. 31 while on a preaching trip to London, England. The news had not reached his congregation in Bedford until they had gathered to worship the following Sunday. Bunyan often preached to as many as 3,000 in London after spending nearly 13 years in Bedford jail for refusing a license to preach the gospel. There he had written Pilgrim’s Progress and other great works. In 1672 the Act of Pardon had set him free. He was born to a tinker (a repairer of pots and pans). He married in 1647 and was saved and baptized into the membership of Bedford church in 1655. His wife died the same year and he remarried in 1659. He had a precious blind daughter who visited him while in jail. He died as he was born, in poverty. His death came when he was exposed to a heavy rain which brought on a high fever, and in ten days the great preacher was with the Lord. [John Brown, John Bunyan His Life Times and Work (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1888), pp. 390-91.  This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 483-485.]  Prepared by Dr. Greg Dixon

 

 

356 – Dec. 22 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

“I will print it.”
December 22, 1677 – John Bunyan was granted a license to publish Pilgrim’s Progress. The time of his birth on Nov. 30, 1628 until he entered the “Celestial City” on Aug. 31, 1688, was a time of religious controversy, political unrest, and social violence in England. Being a man of peace Bunyan still became caught up in the political controversies and became very weary over it all. Controversy also surrounded the writing of his Progress which for many years had lain in a drawer. He had had many consultations with various friends and associates as to the impropriety of using the allegory method to deal with such a somber subject. The result of these consultations was his determination with the words, “I will print it.” The book’s publication brought multitudes to serious consideration of their peril as they read such serious consideration of their eternal peril. The Progress met with such popularity that the 10th edition was published by 1865. In that some had endeavored to counterfeit his writings for personal profit, he wrote the following words in the prefix to the second part of one of the editions: “Some have, of late, to counterfeit My Pilgrim, to their own, my title set; Yea, others, half my name, and little too, Have stitched to their books, to make them do.” Also some attacked his integrity and accused him of copying the works of others. He defended himself by prefacing his Holy War with a verse which began, “Some say the Pilgrim’s Progress is not mine, Insinuating as if I would shine. In name and fame by the worth of another, Like some made rich by robbing their brother.” Though Bunyan’s library at one time only consisted of the Bible and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, his writings and in particular Pilgrim’s Progress can be found in practical every library in the world.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 534-35.

334 – Nov. 30 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 John Gifford, a Baptist Pastor…led him to Christ
 November 30, 1628 – John Bunyan was born in the midst of the struggle between Christianity and infidelity. The year he was born was a great victory for freedom in the passing of the English Bill of Rights. The sum of the act was that “no man shall be taxed without the consent of Parliament, nor be arrested, imprisoned, or executed but by due course of law.” However, every attempt was made by the court (throne) to recover arbitrary power. To attain this power, horrible atrocities were perpetrated on people beyond description. Bunyan was born in the village of Elstow, one mile from Bedford. He was born into a family of Tinkers. Bunyan described them as being, “of that rank of the meanest and most despised of all the families in the land.”  At a time when very few were taught to read and write his father sent him to school where John learned both but soon forgot both utterly. He gave himself over to sin, principally lying, swearing, and profaning the Sabbath. He experienced agonies of conviction. He had several brushes with death such as drowning’s and snake bite. He also served in the army and fought in the battle of Leicester. He was spared any serious injuries although he took on the wicked habits of his peers. Bunyan married a very poor, but pious, woman. She encouraged him with two books. The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven, and the Practice of Piety, and through this he regained his ability to read. Her affectionate compassion became a blessing and his rugged heart was softened and he felt alarm for the Salvation of his soul. Another woman who was loose and ungodly rebuked him for his cursing and said that his oaths made her tremble. Some women talking about the New Birth took him to John Gifford, a Baptist Pastor who led him to Christ, and the rest is history.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins /Thompson/, pp. 499-500.