Bunyan, John 1628–1688
John Bunyan, a Christian writer and preacher, was born at Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford), in the Parish of Elstow, England. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous published Christian allegory. In the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August.
Bunyan had very little schooling (about 2-4 years). He followed his father in the Tarish Tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army at Newport Pagnell (1644 - 1647); in 1649 he married a pious young woman, whose only dowry appears to have been two books, Arthur Dent's Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven and Lewis Bayly's Practice of Piety, by which he was influenced towards a religious life. He lived in Elstow til 1655 (when his wife died) and then moved to Bedford. He married again in 1659.
In his autobiographical book, Grace Abounding, Bunyan describes himself as having led an abandoned life in his youth, and as having been morally reprehensible as a result. However, there appears to be no evidence that he was outwardly worse than the average of his neighbours. Examples of sins to which he confesses in Grace Abounding are profanity, dancing and bell-ringing. The increasing awareness of his un-Biblical life led him to contemplate acts of impiety and profanity, and to a vivid realisation of the dangers these involved. In particular he was harassed by a curiosity in regard to the "unpardonable sin," and a prepossession that he had already committed it. As a result of these experiences, he was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in the River Great Ouse in 1653. In 1655 he became a deacon of St. Paul's Church, Bedford and began preaching, with marked success from the start.
Bunyan fiercely disagreed with the teachings of the Quakers and took part in written debates during the years 1656-1657 with some of its leaders. First Bunyan published Some Gospel Truths Opened in which he attacked Quaker beliefs. The Quaker Edward Burrough responded with The True Faith of the Gospel of Peace. Bunyan countered Burrough's pamphlet with A Vindication of Some Gospel Truths Opened, which Burrough answered with Truth (the Strongest of All) Witnessed Forth. Bedford Old Bridge, with the jail in which Bunyan was imprisonedIn 1658 Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a licence. He continued, however, and did not suffer imprisonment till November 1660, when he was taken to the county gaol in Silver Street, Bedford. There he was confined at first for three months, but on his refusing to conform or to desist from preaching, his confinement was extended for a period of nearly 12 years (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666). It was during this time that he completed his allegorical novel: The Pilgrim's Progress. [It is more likely that he commenced this work during the second and shorter imprisonment of 1675 referred to below.] He was released in January 1672, when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence.
In that month he became pastor of St. Paul's Church. In March 1675, he was again imprisoned for preaching (because Charles II withdrew the Declaration of Religious Indulgence), this time in the Bedford town jail on the stone bridge over the Ouse. (The original warrant, discovered in 1887, is published in facsimile by Rush and Warwick, London). In six months he was free and as a result of his popularity he was not again arrested.
On his way to London he caught a severe cold, and died as a result of a fever at the house of a friend at Snow Hill on August 31, 1688. His grave lies in the cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London.
Bunyan in prison Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two parts, the first of which was published in London in 1678 and the second in 1684. He had begun the work in his first period of imprisonment, and probably finished it during the second. The earliest edition in which the two parts combined in one volume came in 1728. A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693, and was reprinted as late as 1852. Its full title is The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come.
The Pilgrim's Progress is arguably one of the most widely known allegories ever written, and has been extensively translated. Protestant missionaries commonly translated it as the first thing after the Bible.
Two other successful works of Bunyan's are less well-known: The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), an imaginary biography, and The Holy War (1682), an allegory. A third book which reveals Bunyan's inner life and his preparation for his appointed work is Grace Abounding to the chief of sinners (1666). It is a classic example of a spiritual autobiography, and thus is focused on his own spiritual journey; his motive in writing it was plainly to exalt the Christian concept of grace and to comfort those passing through experiences like his own.
Bunyan became a popular preacher as well as a prolific author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. In theology he was a Puritan, but there was nothing gloomy about him. The portrait his friend Robert White drew, which has often been reproduced, shows the attractiveness of his true character. He was tall, had reddish hair, prominent nose, a rather large mouth, and sparkling eyes.
He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but he knew scripture thoroughly. He was also influenced by Martin Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, in the translation of 1575.
Some time before his final release from prison Bunyan became involved in a controversy with Kiffin, Danvers, Deune, Paul, and others. In 1673 he published his Differences in Judgement about Water-Baptism no Bar to Communion, in which he took the ground that "the Church of Christ hath not warrant to keep out of the communion the Christian that is discovered to be a visible saint of the word, the Christian that walketh according to his own light with God." While he owned "water baptism to be God's ordinance," he refused to make "an idol of it," as he thought those did who made the lack of it a ground for disfellowshiping those recognised as genuine Christians.
Kiffin and Paul published a response in Serious Reflections (London, 1673), in which they argued in favour of the restriction of the Lord's Supper to baptised believers, and received the approval of Henry Danvers in his Treatise of Baptism (London, 1673 or 1674). The controversy resulted in the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists leaving the question of communion with the unbaptised open. Bunyan's church admitted pedobaptists to fellowship and finally became pedobaptist (Congregationalist).
The Pilgrim's Progress is, on some accounts, the most widely read book in the English language and has been translated into more tongues than any book except the Bible. The charm of the work, which gives it wide appeal, lies in the interest of a story in which the intense imagination of the writer makes characters, incidents, and scenes alike live in that of his readers as things actually known and remembered by themselves, in its touches of tenderness and quaint humour, its bursts of heart-moving eloquence, and its pure, idiomatic English. Macaulay has said, "Every reader knows the straight and narrow path as well as he knows a road on which he has been backwards and forwards a hundred times," and he adds that "In England during the latter half of the seventeenth century there were only two minds which possessed the imaginative faculty in a very eminent degree. One of these minds produced the Paradise Lost, the other The Pilgrim's Progress." Bunyan wrote about 60 books and tracts, of which The Holy War ranks next to The Pilgrim's Progress in popularity, while Grace Abounding is one of the most interesting pieces of biography in existence.
Bunyan had very little schooling (about 2-4 years). He followed his father in the Tarish Tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army at Newport Pagnell (1644 - 1647); in 1649 he married a pious young woman, whose only dowry appears to have been two books, Arthur Dent's Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven and Lewis Bayly's Practice of Piety, by which he was influenced towards a religious life. He lived in Elstow til 1655 (when his wife died) and then moved to Bedford. He married again in 1659.
In his autobiographical book, Grace Abounding, Bunyan describes himself as having led an abandoned life in his youth, and as having been morally reprehensible as a result. However, there appears to be no evidence that he was outwardly worse than the average of his neighbours. Examples of sins to which he confesses in Grace Abounding are profanity, dancing and bell-ringing. The increasing awareness of his un-Biblical life led him to contemplate acts of impiety and profanity, and to a vivid realisation of the dangers these involved. In particular he was harassed by a curiosity in regard to the "unpardonable sin," and a prepossession that he had already committed it. As a result of these experiences, he was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in the River Great Ouse in 1653. In 1655 he became a deacon of St. Paul's Church, Bedford and began preaching, with marked success from the start.
Bunyan fiercely disagreed with the teachings of the Quakers and took part in written debates during the years 1656-1657 with some of its leaders. First Bunyan published Some Gospel Truths Opened in which he attacked Quaker beliefs. The Quaker Edward Burrough responded with The True Faith of the Gospel of Peace. Bunyan countered Burrough's pamphlet with A Vindication of Some Gospel Truths Opened, which Burrough answered with Truth (the Strongest of All) Witnessed Forth. Bedford Old Bridge, with the jail in which Bunyan was imprisonedIn 1658 Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a licence. He continued, however, and did not suffer imprisonment till November 1660, when he was taken to the county gaol in Silver Street, Bedford. There he was confined at first for three months, but on his refusing to conform or to desist from preaching, his confinement was extended for a period of nearly 12 years (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666). It was during this time that he completed his allegorical novel: The Pilgrim's Progress. [It is more likely that he commenced this work during the second and shorter imprisonment of 1675 referred to below.] He was released in January 1672, when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence.
In that month he became pastor of St. Paul's Church. In March 1675, he was again imprisoned for preaching (because Charles II withdrew the Declaration of Religious Indulgence), this time in the Bedford town jail on the stone bridge over the Ouse. (The original warrant, discovered in 1887, is published in facsimile by Rush and Warwick, London). In six months he was free and as a result of his popularity he was not again arrested.
On his way to London he caught a severe cold, and died as a result of a fever at the house of a friend at Snow Hill on August 31, 1688. His grave lies in the cemetery at Bunhill Fields in London.
Bunyan in prison Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two parts, the first of which was published in London in 1678 and the second in 1684. He had begun the work in his first period of imprisonment, and probably finished it during the second. The earliest edition in which the two parts combined in one volume came in 1728. A third part falsely attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693, and was reprinted as late as 1852. Its full title is The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come.
The Pilgrim's Progress is arguably one of the most widely known allegories ever written, and has been extensively translated. Protestant missionaries commonly translated it as the first thing after the Bible.
Two other successful works of Bunyan's are less well-known: The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), an imaginary biography, and The Holy War (1682), an allegory. A third book which reveals Bunyan's inner life and his preparation for his appointed work is Grace Abounding to the chief of sinners (1666). It is a classic example of a spiritual autobiography, and thus is focused on his own spiritual journey; his motive in writing it was plainly to exalt the Christian concept of grace and to comfort those passing through experiences like his own.
Bunyan became a popular preacher as well as a prolific author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. In theology he was a Puritan, but there was nothing gloomy about him. The portrait his friend Robert White drew, which has often been reproduced, shows the attractiveness of his true character. He was tall, had reddish hair, prominent nose, a rather large mouth, and sparkling eyes.
He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but he knew scripture thoroughly. He was also influenced by Martin Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, in the translation of 1575.
Some time before his final release from prison Bunyan became involved in a controversy with Kiffin, Danvers, Deune, Paul, and others. In 1673 he published his Differences in Judgement about Water-Baptism no Bar to Communion, in which he took the ground that "the Church of Christ hath not warrant to keep out of the communion the Christian that is discovered to be a visible saint of the word, the Christian that walketh according to his own light with God." While he owned "water baptism to be God's ordinance," he refused to make "an idol of it," as he thought those did who made the lack of it a ground for disfellowshiping those recognised as genuine Christians.
Kiffin and Paul published a response in Serious Reflections (London, 1673), in which they argued in favour of the restriction of the Lord's Supper to baptised believers, and received the approval of Henry Danvers in his Treatise of Baptism (London, 1673 or 1674). The controversy resulted in the Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists leaving the question of communion with the unbaptised open. Bunyan's church admitted pedobaptists to fellowship and finally became pedobaptist (Congregationalist).
The Pilgrim's Progress is, on some accounts, the most widely read book in the English language and has been translated into more tongues than any book except the Bible. The charm of the work, which gives it wide appeal, lies in the interest of a story in which the intense imagination of the writer makes characters, incidents, and scenes alike live in that of his readers as things actually known and remembered by themselves, in its touches of tenderness and quaint humour, its bursts of heart-moving eloquence, and its pure, idiomatic English. Macaulay has said, "Every reader knows the straight and narrow path as well as he knows a road on which he has been backwards and forwards a hundred times," and he adds that "In England during the latter half of the seventeenth century there were only two minds which possessed the imaginative faculty in a very eminent degree. One of these minds produced the Paradise Lost, the other The Pilgrim's Progress." Bunyan wrote about 60 books and tracts, of which The Holy War ranks next to The Pilgrim's Progress in popularity, while Grace Abounding is one of the most interesting pieces of biography in existence.
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VIDEO: Hope Channel Biography: John Bunyan Watch Online
BIOGRAPHY
Life of John Bunyan (1914) by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)
Life of John Bunyan (1888) by Edmund Venables (1819-1895)
Bunyan (1902) by James Anthony Froude (1818-1894)
John Bunyan (1904) by William Hale White (1831-1913)
The Life of John Bunyan ( Audio by Mark Liddle) Part 1 of 2
The Life of John Bunyan ( Audio by Mark Liddle) Part 2 of 2
John Bunyan (1911) by Charles Harding Firth (1857-1936)
GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS
Bunyan's grace abounding to the chief of sinners : heart's ease in heart trouble, the world to come, or visions of heaven and hell, and the barren fig tree (1827)
Grace abounding to the chief of sinners in a faithful account of the life & death of John Bunyan .. (1844)
Bunyan's grace abounding to the chief of sinners : heart's ease in heart trouble, the world to come, or visions of heaven and hell and the barren fig tree (1849)
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners; or, A Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to His Poor Servant - 1863
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Grace abounding to the chief of sinners, in a faithful account of the life and death of John Bunyan; or, A brief relation of the exceeding mercy of God in Christ to him. Thoroughly rev. by the 8th ed ([19--])
Grace abounding to the chief of sinners; or, A brief and faithful relation of the exceeding mercy of God in Christ to his poor servant ([1916])
SELECT WORKS
Illustrated edition of the select works of John Bunyan : with an original sketch of the author's life and times, Volume 1 (1850)
The pilgrim's progress, pts. 1 & 2.
The holy war. Grace abounding.
A confession of my faith.
A reason of my practice.
Illustrated edition of the select works of John Bunyan : with an original sketch of the author's life and times, Volume 2 (1850)
Differences in judgment about water baptism.
Peaceable principles and true.
The life and death of Mr. Badman.
Jerusalem sinner saved.
The pharisee and the publican.
Come and welcome Jesus Christ.
Bunyan's last sermon. Bunyan's dying sayings.
The life and times of Bunyan
COMPLETE WORKS IN ONE VOLUME
The Complete Works of John Bunyan - 1872
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The complete works (1873)
WORKS: MULTI-VOLUME SETS
The works of John Bunyan, Volume 1 (1855)
The works of John Bunyan, Volume 2 (1855)
The works of John Bunyan, Volume 3 (1855)
The Whole Works of John Bunyan, Volume 1 - 1862Small Flip Book Large Flip Book PDF Download
The Whole Works of John Bunyan, Volume 2 - 1862
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The Whole Works of John Bunyan, Volume 3 - 1862
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The entire works of John Bunyan, Volume 1 (1862)
The entire works of John Bunyan, Volume 2 (1862)
The entire works of John Bunyan, Volume 3 (1862)
The entire works of John Bunyan, Volume 4 (1862)
HOLY CITYThe Holy Citie, or The New-Jerusalem - 1669
HOLY WAR
The Holy War - 1795
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The holy war made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus, to regain the metropolis of the world; or, The losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul .. (1803)
A True relation of the Holy war, made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the regaining of the metropolis of the world : or, the losing and taking again of the Town of Mansoul (1806)
The holy war, made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the regaining of the metropolis of the world : or, the losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul (1844)
The holy war made by Shaddai upon Diabolus for the regaining of the metropolis of the world : or The losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul ([1852])
The holy war, made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the regaining of the metropolis of the world; or, The losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul (1869)
The Holy war made by Shaddai upon Diabolus (1901)
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
The Pilgrim's progress from this world, to that which is to come: delivered under the similitude of a dream; wherein is discovered, the manner of his setting out, the dangerous journey, and safe arrival at the desired countrey (1678)
The Pilgrim's Progress: from This World, to that which is to come: deliver'd under the similitude of a Dream. - 1731
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The Pilgrim's Progress: from This World, to that which is to come: delivered under the similitude of a Dream. - 1757
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The pilgrim's progress (1801)
Explanation of the Pilgrim's progress, &c. &c. : abridged, and adapted to the capacities of children, in dialogue, between a child, and his mother (1808)
The Pilgrim's progress from this world to that which is to come ... (1818)The Pilgrim's progress from this world to that which is to come ... (1822)
The pilgrim's progress from this world to that which is to come; delivered under the similitude of a dream (1827)
The Pilgrim's Progress with A Life of John Bunyan by Robert Southey - 1830
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The pilgrim's progress (1866)
The pilgrim's progress : as originally published: A facsimile reproduction of the First Edition - (1875)
The pilgrim's progress, from this world, to that which is to come (1881)
The pilgrim's progress (1887)
The pilgrim's progress, from this world to that which is to come (1890)
The pilgrim's progress from this world to that which is to come (1898)
Interesting illustrations by the brothers Rhead, who came from Staffordshire, England. Of the three brothers, Louis Rhead is best-known in the USA. The edition is dated 1912, but copyright is asserted as 1898
The pilgrim's progress : from this world to that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a dream (1902)
The Pilgrim's progress from this world to that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a dream: wherein is discovered the manner of his setting out, his dangerous journey and safe arrival at the desired country ([1914])
The pilgrim's progress: from this world to that which is to come (1921)
Illustrations of the Pilgrim's progress. Accompanied with extracts from the work and descriptions of the plates. A biographical sketch of the life & writings of Bunyan by Josiah Conder - Barton, Bernard, 1784-1849
OTHER WORKS:
Solomon's Temple Spiritualized: or, Gospel-Light fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to let us more easily into the glory of New-Testament Truths. - 1786
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Divine emblems; or Temporal things spiritualized, &c. (1867)
The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded - 1708
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The greatness of the soul : and the unspeakableness of the loss thereof ; No way to heaven but by Jesus Christ ; The strait gate, Volume 2 - (1846)
The greatness of the soul, Sighs from hell, and The resurrection of the dead (1850)
The Greatness of the Soul: Sighs from Hell: and The Resurrection of the Dead - 1851
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The Strait Gate: The Heavenly footman: The Barren Fig-Tree: and Parisee and Publican: and Divine Emblems - 1851
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The Jerusalem sinner saved ; The Pharisee and the publican ; The Trinity and a Christian ; The law and a Christian, &c. : to which is appended An exhortation to peace and unity ; with life of Bunyan (1846)Come and welcome to Jesus Christ; or, The gospel invitation (1836)
A book for boys and girls; or, Country rhymes for childern, being a facsimile of the unique first ed., published in 1686, deposited in the British Museum. With an introd. by John Brown (1889)
Heart's-ease in heart-trouble: or, a sovereign remedy against all trouble of heart that Christ's disciples are subject to, under all kinds of afflictions in this life.. (1812)
Life and death of Mr. Badman and The holy war; (1905)
The riches of Bunyan : selected from his works, for The American Tract Society (1850)
Backward glimpses (1873)
John Bunyan Online: The Complete set of The Works of John Bunyan, George Offor edition: html
Acacia John Bunyan Online Library: html
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