![]() ![]() But he eventually found rest in the same book of Hebrews that pointed the sinner to the perfect righteousness of Christ. He had been terrified by the Scriptures in Hebrews that warned of falling “into the hands of the living God.” He feared that he, like Esau, could find no place of repentance. He remembered the passages of Scripture that seemed to forever condemn him under the righteous judgment of an offended God. He called to mind the iniquity of his own heart. He remembered the crushing weight of his own sin. The text brought to mind Bunyan’s own conversion. He had once been a man as wicked as the sheriff, a blasphemous, lustful, and proud young man. Bunyan knew what it was to be a lost and dying sinner. He described the wretchedness of man’s sin, the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bunyan knew the power of the Word of God, and he proceeded, “Behold how this man trembles at the Word of God.” John Bunyan The sheriff was holding the warrant for Bunyan’s arrest, but the hand that held the warrant began to tremble. Bunyan could sense the abiding power of God in the room, and he knew that he must obey God rather than men if he would truly “venture all for God,” Slowly, Bunyan read again his text from the words of the penitent thief on the cross, “Dost not thou fear God?” He read on, “seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” When Bunyan looked up from his Bible, he saw the sheriff visibly shaken by the text. John Bunyan looked the sheriff calmly in the eye and announced his text from Luke 23:40, “Dost not thou fear God?” Instead of breaking up the service, the sheriff quietly took a chair. The assembled saints kept their seats, and all eyes were fixed, not upon the sheriff and his men, but upon their beloved pastor. A party of armed men stomped up the stairs and into the room. As the singing ended, the snort of a horse was heard outside. Little did John Bunyan know that this day would bring him yet another painful separation. Her eyes could see nothing physically, but her spiritual vision was very clear. Her father’s heart ached for this, but as he told his family, “I must venture all with God, though it goeth to the quick to leave you.” On this day, the eyes of “poor blind Mary” were raised to meet her father’s. Bunyan’s few references to her are always tender, and he called her “my poor blind child.” Sometimes, during her father’s extended imprisonments, Mary had been forced to beg for the sustenance of the family. Mary, the oldest daughter, had been blind from birth. At Elizabeth’s side were arranged the children God had given them. By 1675 Bunyan had already spent 12 years of his life in the Bedford jail. Because of John Bunyan’s many years in prison, Elizabeth had been forced by circumstances to raise the children almost alone. Nearest the pulpit was seated his wife, Elizabeth, and their children. He spoke in a direct way that they understood and loved.īut of all the faces in the cottage, a few were dearest. It was in the countryside, talking to farmers and their wives, that John Bunyan had come to know the common man. He was a tinker by trade, a mender of pots and pans, and he spent the week travelling through the countryside with his portable brazier. It was said of our Lord Jesus, “The common people heard him gladly.” The same could be said of John Bunyan. This was just the kind of congregation Bunyan loved. Most of these people were farmers, and their faces were tanned just like that of their preacher. A simple table served as a pulpit, upon which rested the well-worn Bible of John Bunyan. Here, there was no high altar, no surplice, no prayer book, no candles, and no stained glass. The sound of larks and sparrows took the place of the peals of the organ. It was no cathedral they were in, and everyone in the room knew that this Nonconformist meeting was illegal. A small group of men, women, and children had assembled together to sing, to fellowship, and to hear the Bible preached. ![]() The sound of psalms wafted through the open windows of a country cottage near Bedford, England in 1675.
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