John Bradshaw - Pilgrim's Progress Author John Bunyan Would Have Been Released From Prison If He Had Done This
Well, it doesn't look like much, does it? It's just a field. Nothing much goes on here. We're just beyond the edge of town. That road you see back there is the A421. It crosses south central England east-west. If you were driving from Cambridge to Oxford, you'd drive on the A421. But while history keeps many secrets, she cannot keep them all. It was here in Elstow, apparently on this very spot, that one of history's most read authors was born. The book he wrote 350 years ago has never been out of print. It sold more than 250 million copies. That's more than any other novel in the English language by far. John Bunyan was born here in 1628. During his almost 60 years on this earth, he preached, spent a fifth of his life in prison, and wrote the literary and spiritual masterpiece "The Pilgrim's Progress".
Bunyan's day was a challenging time to be a believer in Jesus, that is, if you had deep spiritual convictions and you dared to live them. The English state was closely bound together with the English church. Although Catholicism had at times been the ruling church in England, when Bunyan was born, the monarch, Charles I, was a Protestant. The Act of Uniformity made the Church of England the established church 70 years before Bunyan was born. Yet England was not a bastion of religious liberty.
Remember, the "Mayflower" sailed from England only eight years before Bunyan was born. You were free to be a Protestant as long as you were the right kind of Protestant. John Bunyan wasn't the right kind of Protestant. He started life as a bad kid, didn't do well in school and wasn't only a troublemaker but a ringleader. And he wasn't interested in Christianity. He joined the army at 16 and fought in England's civil war. He was very nearly killed while in the military. He was selected to take part in a siege near Leicester when another soldier asked to take his place. That other soldier was shot and killed.
When he married, Bunyan and his wife moved here to St. Cuthbert's Street in nearby Bedford, which is about 50 miles from London. Today, Bedford is a market town with a population of about 175,000 people. Then, the population was closer to 2,000. The newlyweds lived in abject poverty. But something they did have was two spiritual books Mrs. Bunyan brought into the marriage. Those books, along with sermons he heard and an occasion on which a woman chastised him for his bad language, convinced Bunyan that he needed to change. And so he did, outwardly. There was a head change but no heart change. And he knew it.
But Martin Luther's commentary on the book of Galatians got through to the young man, and he was born again. It wasn't long and John Bunyan was preaching, often. But the problem was that Bunyan was a nonconformist, that is, he didn't attend a Church of England church. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Quakers were considered nonconformists. But Bunyan didn't identify with any of these groups. He was a Puritan. Puritans were Protestants who believed the Church of England wasn't Protestant enough. They felt the Anglican Church was still too Catholic, and to take the Protestant Reformation further. And that just wouldn't do. The idea that a tinker, a mender of pots and pans, like his father, would preach, that was too much for the Church of England.
For a while, he preached in disguise, but then he gave that up and was arrested and cast into the Bedford jail, which stood right there on that spot. It was a loathsome thing: two cells, dreadfully overcrowded, no running water, and open sewers. It was not nice. He was charged with having "devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear divine service," as well as holding "several unlawful meetings and conventicles, to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom". But he could easily have avoided prison. All he needed to do was assure the judge that he would go to church where and when he was told. He could then have stayed with his wife and children, earned a living, and supported his family. But as much as he wanted to avoid that, that awful Bedford jail and remain with his loved ones, Bunyan gave the judge no such assurance. In fact, he told the judge that should he be released, he would go out and start preaching immediately.
So, on November 13, 1660, John Bunyan was imprisoned. If after being released from prison he didn't attend a regular Anglican church, he'd be banished from the kingdom. If he didn't go, he'd hang. When Charles II was crowned king, many prisoners were pardoned. In fact, only the worst were not. Bunyan was not. He spent 12 years in the Bedford jail. He refused to even apply for a pardon because that would be to admit he had done something wrong. While he was in prison, he earned a little money making shoelaces, but his family was supported mainly by church members. He was so well liked by the jailers that there times he was allowed out of prison. And he even managed to attend nonconformist meetings. He used his time in the jail as productively as he could. He wrote "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" while imprisoned, and he began work on "The Pilgrim's Progress".
Bunyan was released after serving 12 years in prison, but it seems he did not go back to his old life as a tinker. Instead, he became a prolific author, penning in total around 60 works. He wrote a commentary on the book of Revelation. His book "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" is still regarded as a classic today. It was published in 1666, the same year as the Great Fire of London. "The Pilgrim's Progress" was published in 1678, almost 100 years before the start of the American Revolutionary War. Bunyan also became a local church pastor. We'll visit the site of his church and the museum dedicated to the life and ministry of the Puritan preacher in just a moment.
Thanks for joining me on "It Is Written". After being released from prison, John Bunyan went on to have a very successful ministry as an author and a preacher of the gospel. Today, Bedford remembers its illustrious son. There's been a nine-feet-tall statue of Bunyan standing on St. Peter's Green for 150 years since it was donated by the duke of Bedford. It depicts Bunyan preaching from an open Bible, a broken chain connected to his left foot, a reminder of his days in the Bedford jail. There are three scenes from Bunyan's famous book depicted on the base of the statue: Christian talking with Evangelist at the Wicket Gate, Christian laying down his burden, and his battle with Apollyon, the embodiment of evil.
The unveiling of the statue was a big deal, with people coming from all across Britain to witness the event. But the most significant memorial in Bedford to John Bunyan today is the John Bunyan Museum and the Bunyan Meeting Free Church, which stands on the site of a church that John Bunyan himself pastored many years ago. Visitors still stop by from all over the world. The first thing you notice when you approach the building is the doors, given by the same man who funded the building of the Bunyan statue.
The doors feature 10 scenes from the book: Christian and Hopeful crossing the River of Death, Christian welcomed by Goodwill at the Wicket Gate, Christian passing lions on his way to the House Beautiful, meeting the Shining Ones at the cross, Christian leaving his family, and others besides. The church is beautiful and features stained glass windows depicting scenes from the book: Evangelist pointing the way, the battle with Apollyon, climbing the Hill Difficulty. A congregation still meets here each week. In the museum itself is the anvil Bunyan himself used in his work as a tinker, as well as his violin, a stone jug he used in prison, and a copy of his will. There's a re-creation of the Bedford jail, although it's unlikely any exhibit could really capture the nastiness of what Bunyan experienced.
John Pestell: The jail it stood just off Bedford High Street on the crossroads, and, um, we believe it was a two-story affair with a half basement. Unfortunately, when it was, um knocked down in 1801, there were no known photographs. We have in the museum one of the jail doors, but nothing to actually depict its character at all. The times that Bunyan lived, there was no such thing as sanitation. Everywhere was filthy. There would have been a stench around the town which was most obnoxious. So on a hot August day, boy, oh boy, it was very hard, very hard indeed.
John Bradshaw: Must have been horrifying for family members to come and bring food...
John Pestell: Absolutely.
John Bradshaw: ...or visit their family and realize they were in that.
John Pestell: The pictures depicting Bunyan in jail are very romantic...
John Bradshaw: Yes.
John Pestell: ...if you could imagine, with Victorians, but it's very far from the truth.
John Bradshaw: If you read "The Pilgrim's Progress," you realize right away that John Bunyan was an extraordinarily creative storyteller with a sharp imagination, a giant intellect, and an incredible grasp on Scripture. The book itself is almost 110,000 words long. That's half as long again as "Tom Sawyer" or the autobiography of Ben Franklin. It's a substantial book. It's an allegory, a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, as the Cambridge Dictionary says, "a work in which the characters and events represent particular moral, religious, or political qualities or ideas".
The book is written as the retelling of a dream in which we witness the journey of a man named Christian. A man named Evangelist encourages Christian to leave his home in the City of Destruction and make his way to Mount Zion, or the Celestial City. His family refuse to go with him. Christian says, "My wife was afraid of losing this world, and my children were given to foolish delights of youth; so, what by one thing, and what by another, they left me to wander in this manner alone". So he leaves them behind and sets off on his own. Along the way he encounters an array of fascinating individuals, adventures that sometimes imperiled his life. He meets animals and demons and a whole lot more as he makes his way towards the Celestial City. Bunyan was a man who contended for his faith. His impact on society and on succeeding generations was immense.
John Newton, the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" and campaigned for the abolition of slavery in Britain, encouraged William Wilberforce, the man who was really responsible for ending slavery, to read three books by Bunyan: "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved," "Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ," and "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners". Newton himself preached a series of sermons on the book "The Pilgrim's Progress". "The Pilgrim's Progress" has been translated into more than 200 languages. Three years after it was first published in England, it was printed in New England in the United States. In 1847, a London missionary society sent 5,000 Tahitian Bibles to Tahiti, along with 4,000 Tahitian copies of "The Pilgrim's Progress". One of the great strengths of the book is its ability to cut to the heart, to present profound spiritual ideas in a simple and clear way.
Let me share some quotes with you: "What God says is best, is best, though all the men in the world are against it". "It is my duty, said he, to distrust [mine] own ability, that I may have reliance on Him that is stronger than all". "There is in Jesus Christ more merit and righteousness than the whole world has need of". "To know is a thing that pleaseth talkers and boasters; but to do is that which pleaseth God". "Dark clouds bring waters, when the bright bring none". I think he wrote that from experience. And this: "I would advise you then... that you quickly get rid of your burden, for you'll never be settled in your mind till you do. Nor can you enjoy the benefits of the blessings God has bestowed upon you till you do". That thought, getting rid of your burden, it's a key theme in Bunyan's famous book. We'll explore it further in just a moment.
John Bradshaw: John Bunyan and his book, "The Pilgrim's Progress," have touched the lives of millions. The John Bunyan Museum in Bedford gives visitors a small glimpse of the impact both have had on the world.
Nicola Sherhod: Well, there's been a museum on this site since 1946. It was originally in a room, sort of over the other side of the church, and it was just lots of stuff packed into a very small space. And then, um, in the '90s, '80s-'90s, they, the church did a big fundraising and bid and, and put together this fantastic museum where we are now.
John Bradshaw: Where do people come here from?
Nicola Sherhod: Oh, we have visitors from around the world. So we have a good sort of 5,000 visitors a year. A large proportion are from America, lots from Europe New Zealand. We have a huge amount from Korea. So...
John Bradshaw: From Korea?
Nicola Sherhod: ...so, lots of Koreans come. Uh, some missionary groups come over, too, um. He's very big in Korea.
John Bradshaw: So why is that? Why is, why is Bunyan so big in Korea? And that leads me to another question. Why do people come here from the other side of the world? There's a connection; what is that?
Nicola Sherhod: Um, it was, it was the use of "The Pilgrim's Progress," uh, by missionaries, basically. So, there was people trying to get, um, the Bible out into the world. Um, and it was quite a complicated story, and, I mean, Bunyan, his purpose when writing "The Pilgrim's Progress" was to explain or make the Bible more attainable, more understandable for just the common person. And so, it was used as a, as a stepping stone. So, they would take "The Pilgrim's Progress" out. Um, a lot of the countries, including China, it was also a safer book to get out. So, the Bible was not something that was allowed to go out there, whereas actually "Pilgrim's Progress" was a story, um, a nice story about living a good life and being a good person, though obviously it has that sort of backend of information, the, if you're in the know, you can understand a bit more. The missionaries at the time would translate "The Pilgrim's Progress," take it out to the countries, and then you have this fantastic development of the editions of "The Pilgrim's Progress," where the early editions are in the particular language but with European illustrations. Then the, the illustrations are then changed to match the culture that the book is going into. The foreign language editions are fantastic and a reason why we have so many visitors from around the world.
John Bradshaw: John Bunyan wrote the story of a man named Christian, who was told by Evangelist that in order to get to the Celestial City, he must pass through a gate called the Wicket Gate. Christian is determined to get through that gate. People think Christian has lost his mind, but he ignores the detractors and gives himself completely to getting through the gate and then on to the Celestial City. You can already see how Bunyan is using his book as a teaching device to explain to people how to be saved. Give everything you have to reach the Celestial City; let nothing stop you. To get there, you go through a gate. Jesus referred to that narrow gate. And you must be aware that discouragement and guilt and despondency can drag you down and get you off the path to salvation. That's true, isn't it?
The reason many people fall out of faith in Christ is simply due to discouragement, doubt, despondency, a sense of the weight of their sins. It is no surprise that John Bunyan, a Protestant, took aim at the Roman Catholic Church in "The Pilgrim's Progress". One of the characters in the story is Giant Pope. He's depicted as being senile and dwelling in a cave, "crazy and stiff in his joints," the book says, too weak to do any real harm to the pilgrims. Bunyan felt that by the time he wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress," the Roman Catholic Church was a spent force. The early part of the book sees Christian trying to find a way to get rid of his burden. He was weighed down by his sin and wanted more than anything to get rid of that terrible weight.
Well, that's people today, isn't it? Carrying around a load, a weight, a burden. Many don't realize that it's their sin that's weighing them down, maybe guilt, a sense of worthlessness brought on by mistakes and shame and, and sin. But what did Christian experience? It was when Christian came to the cross that his burden just fell away. Angels tell him his sins are forgiven, and he's given new clothing, and that's righteousness. If you're burdened today, get to the cross as quickly as you can. It was there that Jesus died for you. It was there that your burden was lifted. There's no need to be carrying a weight that Jesus died to bear. Will God forgive you? Yes. After all you've done? Yes. That's why Bunyan wrote the book, to show that you could be forgiven and take your place in the Celestial City.
Some years ago I was talking to a group of people who work in ministry, and I asked them a question. I said, "The Bible says we're saved by grace through faith, and yet Jesus said, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate.'" Which is very "Pilgrim's Progress". I asked them to explain that, to bring those verses together. No one was able to. But then from the back of the room there came a voice, which said, "Daddy, I think I know". It was my son. He was 6 years old at the time. I'll be honest. I thought, "Oh no, here we go". But I didn't want to act like his thoughts weren't important, so I asked him to explain to us all what it was he meant. "Daddy," he said, "as you know, I've been listening to 'Pilgrim's Progress.'"
I did know that, he had been, but I didn't know where this was going; no one did. He said, "In the story, Christian is told to go to the Celestial City. Evangelist tells him first to go to the Wicket Gate". I asked him to proceed. He proceeded. He said, "Christian didn't know where to go. So Evangelist told him to keep his eyes on the light. If he did that, if he followed the light, he'd be okay. Daddy," my boy said, "I think those verses are telling us to keep our eyes on the Light". Well, there was nothing to say to that, was there? I think I said, "Amen". And I've never forgotten that lesson. I don't think any of us forgot the lesson we learned from a 6-year-old boy who'd been listening to "Pilgrim's Progress".
John Bunyan was 59 when he died. He became ill while in London to preach, and he died there. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, a cemetery in London popular with nonconformists. Daniel Defoe, who wrote "Robinson Crusoe," is buried there. How's your pilgrimage going? Jesus died so that you could live with assurance, so that although you're a pilgrim, although the road is long and sometimes hazardous, you can lay your burden down at the cross and live with confidence that eternity is yours because of what Jesus has done for you.
Our Father in heaven, I'm thankful that 350 or so years later, there is a book that still speaks to us of the love of God, that still speaks to us of Your willingness to bear our sins, remove our guilt, and give to us a place in the Celestial City. And I'm thankful for the Bible, which, two millennia on, tells the story of the cross, speaks to us of a God of love, that speaks to us of a Savior who died for our sins, that tells us that Your heart is a forgiving heart, and that there is a place for us in the heart of God.
My friend, as I'm praying, if you would ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior or recommit your life to Him now, would you do that? Can I pray for you to that end?
Our Father, would You take that heart? Would You bless that life? Would You remove that burden? Would You take away that guilt? Would You give that person assurance that will last them beyond this life and into the life to come? We thank You because You are good. We are grateful that on our pilgrimage, we can look towards the heavens and know that there is a Savior who died to take away our burden. We accept that, and we pray it, in Jesus' name. Amen.