It was while in Bedford jail for
"conscience' sake" that Bunyan ministered to all posterity by writing
the _Pilgrim's Progress from this World to the World to Come_, under the
similitude of a dream. As an allegory of the soul's conflicts and
struggles with evil in its journey through life, it is unsurpassed. It
is believed that no other book except the Bible has gone through so many
editions or attained such a popularity in all languages. It has been
generally understood that Bunyan's early life was a very profligate one,
but some have thought that his terrible self-accusations in after years
may have arisen from the height of his religious fervour and Puritan
strictness, which made him look on dancing and bell-ringing as deadly
sins. This idea is satisfactorily given by Macaulay.
Bunyan was of poor parentage, his father being a tinker. At one time he
was in the Parliamentary Army, and in 1645, was present at the siege of
Leicester. Having left the army, he married. Then after a time of great
spiritual agony and doubt, with quieter intervals, he became a member
and then minister of the Baptist congregation at Bedford. His labours
were stopped by the Act of Conventicles, and Bunyan was a prisoner in
Bedford jail for twelve years. While in prison Bunyan assisted in
providing for the wants of his wife and family by making tagged laces.
The only books he had during his confinement were the Bible and Foxe's
_Book of Martyrs_. Through the kind interposition of Bishop Barlow of
Lincoln, Bunyan was released, and resumed his work of a preacher until
his death from fever in London in 1688.
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