John Bunyan was born in November, 1628, at Elstow, a little village about a
mile south of Bedford in Bedfordshire [England]. His ancestors, who were in very
humble circumstances, lived in Bedfordshire probably as early as the twelfth
century; and the name, under various spellings, appears in the records of that
county at intervals from that time until very recently. Thomas Bunyan, the
grandfather of John, left at his death in 1641 a small property, one-half of
which he bequeathed to his son Thomas. This second Thomas, who was a maker and
mender of pots and kettles, described himself in certain documents as a brazier
or tinker. He did not belong to the rather disreputable class of vagrant tinkers
for whom seventeenth century literature expressed great contempt, and who were
usually of gypsy origin, but was a freeholder, settled permanently in Elstow and
plying his trade in the neighboring towns and villages. The mother of John
Bunyan, Margaret Bentley of Elstow, came from people of some substance and of a
slightly higher social position than the Bunyans.
The life of the family was a severe struggle with poverty. Bunyan's parents
were able, nevertheless, to send him to school. In his own words, "It pleased
God to put it into their hearts to put me to school, to learn me both to read
and write." The only book that we know of his reading in childhood was the
Life of Sir Bevis of Southampton, probably one of the cheap pamphlets known
as chapbooks. This book was ever after in his mind the type of profane and
worldly literature. We know very little of Bunyan's life during this period, but
it is clear that the intensity of his inner life, even as a child, was
extraordinary. He tells us that it was his delight "to be taken captive by the
devil at his will, being filled with all unrighteousness," and that he had few
equals for his years "both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the
holy name of God." At the same time, he was "greatly afflicted and troubled with
the thoughts of the fearful torments of hell-fire." Already he had begun to
dream dreams and see visions.
In 1644 his mother died, and within two months his father married again. This
marriage apparently caused an estrangement between father and son, and the son
spent the three following years as a soldier. There is in Bunyan's works one
allusion to his military service, and there are many passages which could not
have been so realistically managed except for this experience, but there is not
a single line to indicate on which side be fought. This is the more remarkable
when we remember that the issues in the English Civil War were as much religious
as political. The fact is that Bunyan took very little interest in political
questions and literally obeyed the injunction to render unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar's. In the absence of direct proof Macaulay assumed, in his
article on Bunyan in the
Encyclopædia Britannica, that Bunyan was on the
side of Parliament. Froude, on the other hand relying upon the facts that
Bunyan's parents were adherents of the Established Church and that he himself
was baptised in the parish church, felt sure that he was on the side of the
King. There was really not a particle of direct evidence on the subject until, a
few years ago, the muster rolls of the garrison at Newport Pagnell were
discovered. By them it was shown that Bunyan served under Sir Samuel Luke, a
well-known Parliamentary commander, who is commonly supposed to be the original
of Hudibras, the hero of Butler's celebrated satirical poem. What battles Bunyan
engaged in under the leadership of Sir Samuel are entirely unknown, but there is
a probability that he was present at the siege of Leicester.
After leaving the army, probably in 1647 or 1648, Bunyan married, but no
record of his marriage has yet been found, and both the Christian and the family
name of his wife are unknown. It seems likely that she was not a native of
Elstow. "This woman and I," says Bunyan, "though we came together as poor as
poor might be (not having so much household stuff as a dish or a spoon betwixt
us both), yet this she had for her part, 'The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven' and
'The Practice of Piety.'" By means of these books and the assistance of his
wife, he recovered the art of reading, which he apparently had forgotten. He
seems also to have resumed his tinker's trade. In 1905 his anvil, stamped with
his name and the date 1647, was found in a pile of rubbish at St. Neots, near
Bedford.
The four years following his marriage were the period of the intense
spiritual struggles which Bunyan records in the autobiography, written many
years later, entitled
Grace Abounding. It was this experience which made
it possible for him to write
The Pilgrim's Progress. His pathway to the
New Life was the same that the Pilgrim trod. He knew the Valley of Humiliation,
and the Valley of the Shadow of Death; he had lain in the dungeons of Doubting
Castle; and he finally overcame Giant Despair. He felt himself to be a great
sinner and constantly stood in fear of the wrath of God, yet many of the sins of
which he accuses himself seem at least venial. One of his weaknesses was a
fondness for playing the game of cat, especially on Sunday afternoons. He
himself tells us how he overcame this: "But the same day, as I was in the midst
of a game at cat, and having struck it one blow from the hole, just as I was
about to strike it a second time, a voice did suddenly dart from heaven into my
soul which said, 'Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven, or have thy sins
and go to hell?'" Another worldliness was a delight in ringing the bells in the
tower of Elstow Church. His conscience troubled him in the matter, and he gave
up the practice, yet not without reluctance. "I would go to the steeple-house
and look on, though I durst not ring, ... but quickly after I began to think how
if one of the bells should fall? So after this I would yet go to see them ring,
but would not go any farther than the steeple-door; but then it came into my
head, how if the steeple itself should fall? And this thought ... did
continually so shake my mind that I durst not stand at the steeple-door any
longer, but was forced to flee for fear the steeple should fall upon my head."
It was years before he found peace, but he was helped to it by intercourse
with John Gifford, the pastor of an independent religious body in Bedford.
During the Protectorate, this congregation occupied St. John's Church in
Bedford, Gifford being in fact the rector of the parish. In 1653 Bunyan joined
this body, although still living in Elstow, and two years later, having removed
to Bedford, he was chosen a deacon in the church. He continued to employ himself
as a tinker, but this new interest in the Bedford church must have come to be of
paramount importance. His fervor and his power of expression, shown in
extemporaneous exhortation, soon brought him into prominence among, his
co-religionists, who formally recognized his "call to preach." This recognition
was not a legal license, but Bunyan, nevertheless, was in the habit of preaching
in the surrounding towns. As a result of this disregard of the law he was
indicted in 1658. Apparently the indictment was not pressed, for there is no
record of any trial or sentence. It is impossible to believe that Bunyan
desisted from preaching.
Bunyan had been preaching a year when he became entangled in a controversy
with the Quakers. These followers of the "inner light," who believed that the
individual conscience was the only safe guide to conduct, seemed to some to
disparage the written word. Bunyan, of course, believed the Bible to be
literally the word of God. This controversy was the beginning of Bunyan's
literary career. In 1656 appeared
Some Gospel Truths Opened, in which,
according to Offor, the editor of the most recent edition of Bunyan's complete
works, Bunyan "attacked the follies of the time, exposed and condemned heresies
without mercy." The pamphlet was answered by Edward Burroughs, a somewhat
well-known Quaker of the time, who died six years later in prison at Newgate.
Bunyan replied with a
Vindication of Some Gospel Truths Opened. The title
of his third book (1658), which deals with the parable of Lazarus and the rich
man, is highly characteristic; it is called,
A Few Sighs from Hell, or the
Groans of a Damned Soul; by that poor and contemptible servant of Jesus Christ,
John Bunyan. For thirty years he continued to publish books with hardly any
cessation, and he is one of the most voluminous writers of his time. In most
instances, Bunyan's books seem to have been built up from sermons that were
originally preached extemporaneously.
1660 was the year of the Restoration, and in spite of the promises of
toleration made by Charles, the old acts against the Nonconformists were
revived. Bedfordshire had long been a hot-bed of nonconformity, and the county
magistrates in Quarter Sessions at Bedford entered upon the work of subjugation
with extraordinary zeal. An order was issued for the restoration of the Prayer
Book in all churches. One of the justices, Sir Francis Wingate, learned that
Bunyan was intending to preach near the small village of Lower Samsall, and
issued a warrant for his arrest. Bunyan might easily have escaped, but he felt
that it was his duty to persevere. In the midst of the sermon the constable
entered and arrested him. The following day he appeared before Wingate. There
was really nothing to charge him with, the Act of Uniformity, which required all
public religious worship to be according to the Liturgy of the Church of England
not being passed until over a year later. Nevertheless, Wingate committed Bunyan
to Bedford Jail to await the next Quarter Sessions.
At the Sessions, he was convicted under the unrepealed but almost forgotten
"Conventicle Act" of 1593, of "perniciously abstaining from coming to church to
hear divine service, and for being a common upholder of several unlawful
meetings and conventicles to the great disturbance and distraction of the good
subjects of this kingdom." The judgment of the court was that he must be taken
back to jail for three months, and if then he "should not submit to go to church
and leave off preaching," he should be "banished the realm." If found in the
country after that, he should hang. The actual sentence was not executed.
Instead, Bunyan was kept in jail for twelve years.
The twelve years' imprisonment was interrupted by an interval of a few weeks
of freedom in 1666, and during the whole period the closeness of his confinement
seems to have depended upon the disposition of his jailers. Sometimes he was
allowed to go out to preach, and he was in the habit of preaching to audiences
of forty and fifty within the jail. One of his visitors has told us that the
books to which he had access were the Bible and Foxe's
Book of Martyrs.
The greater part of his time while in jail must have been taken up with
preaching and writing, but for the support of his family he made "long tagged
laces."
Many of Bunyan's books were written during these twelve years, and the
tradition was that
The Pilgrim's Progress was one of them, but it seems
more likely that this famous book was written during a later imprisonment. In
1666 was published the first edition of
Grace Abounding to the Chief of
Sinners. This is Bunyan's spiritual autobiography. It tells us surprisingly
little about the external affairs of his career, but as a record of the inner
life it is to be ranked with the
Confessions of St. Augustine. In spite
of its poverty in matters of fact, it remains the principal source of
information in regard to Bunyan's life up to the time of his imprisonment.
In 1672 the long imprisonment came to an end. Charles II., in his eagerness
to benefit the Catholics, had suspended all the statutes against the
Nonconformists. Bunyan received royal authority to preach and was called to the
pastorate of the Bedford church, having been chosen for this office before his
release. At the Restoration, St. John's Church had been returned to the
Episcopalians, and the congregation now met in a barn belonging to one of its
members. During these years Bunyan enjoyed prosperity in his work, and his
reputation extended as far as London, where great crowds gathered to hear him
preach. Because of his habit of making many visits to places in the neighboring
country, he gained in friendly jest the title of Bishop Bunyan.
This comparative ease was not to last long. In 1675 the attitude of the
government towards Nonconformists changed, and many licenses to preach were
withdrawn. In March of the following year, a warrant was issued for the arrest
of Bunyan on the charge of "having preached to or teached at a Conventicle
meeting or assembly under colour or pretense of exercise of religion in other
manner than according to the Liturgie or Practice of the Church of England." He
seems to have been imprisoned at this time for six months, probably in the tiny
one-room jail on the bridge over the River Ouse. Numerous engravings have made
the cell and the bridge familiar to millions of persons, and it was long thought
that here was the scene of the twelve years' imprisonment. It seems more likely
that Bunyan spent those years in the county jail in the central part of Bedford.
There can be little doubt, however, that
The Pilgrim's Progress was
written, in great part at any rate, in the bridge jail during this six months'
imprisonment, and that to this extent the tradition is well founded.
The Pilgrim's Progress, which appeared in 1678, became almost at once
a popular book, and it made Bunyan the best-known Nonconformist in England. His
success led him to undertake other religious allegories. In 1680 he brought out
The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, which he intended to be the counterpart
of
The Pilgrim's Progress. The title indicates clearly enough the nature
of the book. Because of its lack of vivacity and the unpleasantness of the
subject-matter it is not comparable with the earlier work. Two years later
appeared
The Holy War, next to
The Pilgrim's Progress and perhaps
Grace Abounding, his most popular book. It is an account of the defense
of the City of Mansoul against the attacks of the Devil. In writing this
allegory, Bunyan's military experience was of immense value to him. In some
respects it is more direct and logical in plan than
The Pilgrim's Progress,
but it is decidedly inferior to it in realism; one does not find oneself
forgetting the allegory. But of this book Macaulay has said, "If there had been
no
Pilgrim's Progress, The Holy War would have been the first of
religious allegories."
During these later years Bunyan enjoyed immense influence, and his services
were demanded in almost every part of England. He died August 31, 1688, in
London, whither he had gone to effect a reconciliation between a father and a
son. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, Finsbury, the "Campo Santo of the
Dissenters."
A contemporary, whose identify is unknown, has left the following account of
Bunyan's character and person:
A Brief Character of Mr. John Bunyan
"He appeared in countenance to be of a stern and rough temper, but in his
conversation mild and affable; not given to loquacity or much discourse in
company, unless some urgent occasion required it; observing never to boast of
himself or his parts, but rather seem low in his own eyes, and submit himself to
the judgment of others; abhorring lying and swearing, being just in all that lay
in his power to his word, not seeming to revenge injuries, loving to reconcile
differences and make friendship with all; he had a sharp quick eye, accomplished
with an excellent discerning of persons, being of good judgment and quick wit.
As for his person, he was tall of stature, strong boned, though not corpulent,
somewhat of a ruddy face, with sparkling eyes, wearing his hair on his upper
lip, after the old British fashion; his hair reddish, but in his latter days
time had sprinkled it with grey; his nose well set, but not declining or
bending, and his mouth moderate large; his forehead something high, and his
habit always plain and modest. And thus we have impartially described the
internal and external parts of a person whose death hath been much regretted — a
person who had tried the smiles and frowns of time, not puffed up in prosperity
nor shaken in adversity, always holding the golden mean.
In him at once did three great worthies shine
Historian, poet, and a choice divine:
Then let him rest in undisturbed dust,
Until the resurrection of the just."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The standard biography is
John Bunyan, His Life, Times, and Work by John
Brown, D.D., Minister of the Bunyan Church at Bedford (London: Isbister and
Co.). The edition of 1902 was largely rewritten, and includes many new facts in
regard to Bunyan's life. The book by Froude in the
English Men of Letters
Series, although occasionally inaccurate, contains much suggestive and
penetrating criticism of Bunyan's works. The reader will find there an
interesting summary of Bunyan's theology.
More useful for general reference, however, is Canon Venables'
John
Bunyan, in the
Great Writers Series. There is in this book a
carefully compiled bibliography. A recent book,
John Bunyan by W. Hale
White (Scribner's) contains some useful outlines of Bunyan's more important
works.
Every student of Bunyan should read Macaulay's Essay on Southey's edition of
The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as his sketch of Bunyan contributed to
the
Encyclopædia Britannica.