John Bunyan: His Life, Writing, And Influence -- By: Geoffrey Thomas
Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 06:2 (Jul 2014)
Article: John Bunyan: His Life, Writing, And Influence
Author: Geoffrey Thomas
PRJ 6:2 (July 2014) p. 53
John Bunyan: His Life, Writing, And Influence
John Bunyan had no family influences encouraging him to become a Christian. His grandfather married four times, his father three times, while he married twice. His grandfather was what we might understand to be a kind of “traveling salesman” who left his grandson
John Bunyan was the first of the Bunyans to become literate. He gained a school scholarship by a bequest of the Mayor of London. No Bunyan in all the generations before him could read or write; his father signed his will with an X. Bunyan learned to read, and later wrote Pilgrim’s Progress as well as three fat volumes of his books which are still in print.
In June 1644, when he was sixteen, Bunyan’s mother passed away and four weeks later his sister died. Eight weeks after his mother’s death, his father remarried and, in eight months, his wife gave birth to a boy whom his Royalist father named Charles. Four months earlier, John had left home and joined the Parliamentary Army fighting against King Charles. There was little affection between son and father. How then did John Bunyan become a Christian? Ten factors all played their part, great and small.
PRJ 6:2 (July 2014) p. 54
His Conversion
1. Bunyan Heard Gospel Preaching While He Was In The Army.
For three years, Bunyan served under Oliver Cromwell’s growing leadership. Bunyan was originally based in Newport Pagnell, and we know that in October, seven preachers were active there. Twice on Sundays and every Thursday there were Puritan ministers exhorting the troops. There were prayers every day and the Bible was read. The teenage Bunyan was given a new concept of worship in which the climactic aspect was the preaching of the Word. Captain Hobson was one of those preachers. He had signed the
2. Bunyan Married And Obtained His First Books.
We know practically nothing about Bunyan’s first wife, not even her name. It was p...
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