Putting a Prison Sentence to Good Use

“You cannot walk with Christ and still love the path He died to save you from.” – John Bunyan

Born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England in November 1628 to the son of an itinerant tinsmith, John Bunyan lived an ordinary life until age 16 when his mother and younger sister died and his father quickly remarried. Bunyan was then pressed into military service during the English Civil Wars, after which he married a similarly common woman. We “came together as poor as poor might be,” Bunyan wrote later, “not having so much household-stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us both.”

Their first child, a daughter named Mary, was born blind. Bunyan’s wife bore him three more children before passing away in 1658. Having been raised in the Anglican Church, Bunyan soon began a long and arduous spiritual journey that included an extended period of depression. Eventually, he emerged as a Puritan with his faith renewed and his mind intact.

Bunyan quickly proved his talents as a lay preacher. Fresh from his own spiritual struggles, he began ministering to similarly troubled people. “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.” During this time, Bunyan wrote his first two works, Some Gospel Truths Opened (1656) and A Vindication of Some Gospel Truths Opened (1657).

On November 12, 1660, Bunyan was brought up on charges of holding services that didn’t conform to the Church of England. When he refused to promise that he wouldn’t repeat the offense, he was sentenced to the county jail where he spent the next 12 years, although he was permitted periodic home visits with his second wife and family. During his imprisonment, Bunyan wrote and published his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding. It reveals his incarceration to have been a spiritual opportunity as well as an ordeal, allowing “an inlet into the Word of God.”

Upon his release from prison in March 1672, Bunyan became pastor of a congregation in Bedford, where he was known as “Bishop Bunyan”. Another six-month jail sentence for illegal preaching followed in 1677, and in February 1678, Bunyan published his seminal work, The Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the most influential books in the history of English literature.

Bunyan’s later works included The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), The Holy War (1682), The Pilgrim’s Progress, Second Part (1684), and A Book for Boys and Girls (1686). He died on August 31, 1688, shortly after delivering his final sermon while on a preaching tour in London.

To date, the only book that has sold more copies than The Pilgrim’s Progress is The Holy Bible.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President