Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

A Brief Account of God’s Exceeding Mercy through Christ to His Poor Servant, John Bunyan

John Bunyan

Contents

Preface

A Brief Summary of the Life of John Bunyan

Introduction

Preface

Ch. 1: Rebellious Beginnings

Ch. 2: Marriage and Religious Desires

Ch. 3: Conviction, Conscience, and Outward Appearances

Ch. 4: Conversion

Ch. 5: Confusion

Ch. 6: Confession and Comfort

Ch. 7: Conflict and Hope

Ch. 8: Finding Truth in the Word

Ch. 9: Fear and Doubt Return

Ch. 10: Return Unto Me

Ch. 11: More Doubts

Ch. 12: Grace Sufficient – for Me!

Ch. 13: Christ: My Righteousness

Ch. 14: The Cause and Benefit of Temptations

Ch. 15: Growth and Fellowship

Ch. 16: Call to the Work of the Ministry

Ch. 17: Opposition

Ch. 18: Gifts and Grace

Ch. 19: Imprisonment

Ch. 20: Steadfastness in the Face of Martyrdom

Ch. 21: Conclusion

Appendix: Mr. John Bunyan’s Dying Words

About the Author

Preface

This is a short and honest account of how God demonstrated His exceeding great mercy to His unworthy servant, John Bunyan; namely, how God took him out of the dunghill and converted him to the faith of His blessed Son, Jesus Christ. Here is also specifically shown how Bunyan saw sin and how it troubled him. This account tells of various temptations he met with and how God carried him through them.

Corrected and much enlarged now by the author for the benefit of the tempted and dejected Christian.

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners is a remarkable autobiography that tells the spiritual struggles and victories of John Bunyan (author of The Pilgrim’s Progress) as he dealt with sin and the Savior. It does not deal with all of Bunyan’s life, however, so we have included a couple additional sections to introduce you to John Bunyan. The order of the book is as follows:

First is a brief biography that gives an overview of the life and death of Mr. Bunyan. It is helpful to read this first to learn about him, and it serves as an introduction to Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, that autobiographical and main section of this book.

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. This includes an introduction by George Offor, who reprinted Bunyan’s autobiography in 1861 (it was originally published in 1666) and a preface by John Bunyan himself.

Finally, an appendix in the back of the book is comprised of a collection of thoughts gleaned from John Bunyan, titled Mr. John Bunyan’s Dying Words. George Offor also included this section with Grace Abounding in his 1861 reprint.

Bunyan is looked at with suspicion

A Brief Summary of the Life of John Bunyan

By William Brock

John Bunyan was born sometime in the year 1628. His birthplace was Elstow in Bedfordshire, England – a village not particularly romantic or picturesque. If the development of genius depended upon the influence of the grand or the beautiful in nature, young Bunyan did not have much hope. There are no mountains near Elstow, no cataracts or cascades, and no gorges or ravines. It is a land of wheat and barley – a land that will provide adequately for hardworking people, but not land that will make them rich.

Of Bunyan’s forefathers, history makes no mention. Even of his parents, hardly anything is known. The parish register contains no entry prior to his birth. One marriage is recorded after he was born, in addition to two births, two baptisms, and six burials. The family was destitute and average in many ways. Not only did his father have to obtain their daily bread by the sweat of his brow, but the occupation by which he did so was the lowest of the low. He was a tinker, repairing pots and pans and other metal items. He traveled from place to place about the region for employment, but lived in Elstow.

It occurred to him that some learning would be advantageous to his son. Although John’s parents were impoverished and undistinguished, they saw no reason why John should grow up to be an impoverished and insignificant man. Education might improve his lot in life.

At nearby Bedford, there was a free school for the children of the poor. It pleased God to put into his parents’ hearts to send him there to learn to read and write. John attended the school but did not excel. As he afterwards confessed, he learned but little, and he forgot the little that he had learned. He was soon taken from school, so that he might work with his father in the art and mystery of pots and pans.

John’s ungodliness was as advanced as it was offensive. Few could equal him in cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming. He was the ringleader of the village immoralities – a great sin-breeder, infecting all the youth of the neighborhood with all manner of youthful vanities. He cared nothing for Holy Scripture, preferring a ballad or the local news. He was a notorious violator of the whole law of God, except for the seventh commandment forbidding adultery, which he declared he had carefully obeyed. The desire was strong to take his fill of sin. He wanted to see what sins were yet to be committed and then hurry to commit those sins, lest he should die before he had gratified his desire.

In 1644, when Bunyan was about sixteen years old, he entered the army and took part in the conflict that was then raging between Parliament and the king. The probability is that he was a Royalist. The evidence is not conclusive, but his loyalty is so demonstrative that he would hardly have been in arms against his sovereign, while his references to the depravity of his comrades indicate association with the Cavaliers, or Royalists, rather than with the Roundheads, or followers of Cromwell and supporters of Parliament. Prince Rupert was his hero, not Oliver Cromwell.

Once in particular, he was in great danger. At the siege of Leicester, he was chosen to be among the soldiers who were to undertake an assault. Another man, though, obtained permission to go instead of Bunyan. Early in the attack, his substitute was shot with a musket ball and died. This incident greatly affected Bunyan, as it seemed to be a summons from the Lord to turn from the error of his ways. Nor was this the only summons. Several times before, he had been rescued from an untimely end. More than once he had been saved from drowning, when he was all but dead and gone.

These deliverances worked upon his soul. The goodness of God was leading him to repentance, but he resisted God’s Spirit and became unhappy night and day. Fearful dreams and visions scared him. When creating a disturbance on the village green, he found himself frequently at his wits’ end. God was angry with him. He was a doomed man.

To put these thoughts out of his mind, he plunged headlong into his old sins. He grew more and more rebellious against God, even neglecting his work so that he might have more time for his ungodliness and vice. Sometimes for days, he was destitute of bread to eat.

Some friends kindly pitied him and advised him, among other things, to marry. With a good wife he might do better and escape the ruin that was at hand. He took their advice, and it was his mercy to find a woman whose father was considered godly. Wise people might have pronounced the engagement reckless. Even friends must have thought it premature, for, to say nothing of other things that they lacked, they had neither dish nor spoon between them. It was a great venture to be approved, perhaps, when seeing the results, but certainly not to be recommended for imitation in the prospect of a married life.

The new Mrs. Bunyan was not altogether lacking in items of worth, however, for she brought her husband two books. One was The Practice of Piety by Lewis Bayly, and the other was Arthur Dent’s The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven. So degraded, however, had John become that he had lost the ability to read with any ease, and she had to help him repair the loss. Pleased with her devotion to him in marriage, he yielded to her entreaties and took kindly to his book. They read together, she adding wise comments as they proceeded, hoping to persuade John to become a religious man. Her childhood home had been such a happy one; how pleasant it would be if her married home could be happy too! There was no difficulty. If her husband would imitate her father, their house, with all its poverty, would soon be the house of God and the gate of heaven.

To some extent, Mrs. Bunyan’s pleas prevailed. John fell in eagerly with the religion of the times and went with the best of them to church twice a day. He greatly respected and admired the ministers of God; he admired their name, their garments, and their work.

Sundays at Elstow were a strange mixture of levity and seriousness. There were two full services at the church, according to the Book of Common Prayer, and then there were May games, Whitsun ales, Morris dances, and various other sports. In the services and sports, to which the parishioners were summoned by the same church bells, Bunyan was accustomed to take part. He was skilled at ringing the church bells, ready at any time to challenge the whole countryside to a trial of skill at the belfry ropes. One Sunday, having rung the parish into church, he took his place as usual at his wife’s side, joining with the congregation in the service and awaiting the delivery of the discourse. The preacher was intelligent and earnest in setting forth the evils of breaking the Sabbath. The sermon did its work. It was meant for him. No more violation of the fourth commandment for John Bunyan. He was determined to obey it from then on with heart and soul. His mind was made up once for all.

This impression, though, proved only to be temporary. Before he had finished eating, he had shaken the sermon out of his thoughts and was prepared to return to the old sports and games with great delight. No sooner said than done. That very afternoon he was on the village green, flinging himself with his usual enthusiasm into a game of cat.’’ Suddenly, he heard a voice from heaven. He thought for a moment, threw his cat upon the ground, and quit playing. He stood like a statue, trembling at the demand of the superhuman voice that he heard ask, Will you leave your sins and go to heaven, or have your sins and go to hell?" He thought Christ was standing with him face to face, and that He had come to inflict the punishment, which he deserved. Bunyan did not need much time to decide. He heard, he considered, and he decided. He concluded that there could be no other result than that he would be damned for his wicked life, and if it must be so, he might as well be damned for many sins as for one. So back he went to play, not a soul among his companions aware of the astounding processes of thought and feeling which had been going on within him.

His conscience, however, was ill at ease. Mrs. Bunyan was incessant in her prudent endeavors to win him to Christ, and incidents were frequently occurring for which he was rebuked. You ungodly wretch! said a woman to him one day, as he cursed and swore and played the fool in the street in his typical manner. You ungodly wretch! I never heard such swearing in my life. You are enough to spoil all the youth in the whole town. He was put to shame, especially since the woman who had reproved him was known for her own sinful lifestyle. He wished with all his heart that he could be a little child again, and that he might learn to speak without that wicked way of swearing. The rebuke of the woman took effect. He quit swearing and became a reader of Scripture and an outwardly reformed man, both in his words and in his life. His neighbors took notice of the change. They began to speak well of him to his face and behind his back. This gratified him, and he was puffed up. There was not a man in England who could please God better than he. He was all right now, he thought.

Self-denial was required from him, and he religiously took up his cross. He was passionately fond of dancing, and for a full year he still adhered to it, sometimes on the village green and at other times in a building still standing on the green. Now, though, he believed that dancing was unholy, and wishing to be as holy as possible, he gave it up. Old associates entreated him, and the well-known music tempted him, but he resolved that he would never dance again, and he never did. Another favorite amusement of his was bell-ringing, which some thought was improper in excess or when it deviated from its worthwhile purpose and became a means of amusement. This, he felt, must also be relinquished. After some inward struggles, Bunyan gave this up, too.

As with many who profess mere outward religion, John Bunyan believed that his way was now perfect before the Lord. A notable alteration had come upon his life and manners. He was sure of paradise at last. The improvement was confessedly marvelous. His wife could not contain herself for joy. Her household was becoming like her father’s. The marriage portion of the two books was bearing fruit. The Practice of Piety was being embodied in her husband’s practice. In The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven, John was walking right alongside her.

Unhappily, it was all a mistake. The reformed one himself being our witness, he had not passed from death unto life, so as to become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Notwithstanding the change in his behavior, there had been no change of heart. He was still in need of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

There are men who have taken issue with Bunyan about his spiritual condition. Some of his biographers have ridiculed and others have resented his claim that he was yet unsaved. They deny that he was either hardened or depraved. They thought that Bunyan must have been having fits of religious fervor and thought himself to be near to God or far from Him based upon his emotional state, and his alienation from his Maker was imaginary and not real.

But the biographers are wrong, and the man of Elstow right. Amendment of the life is not renewal of the nature. However admirable in itself, it is insufficient for salvation. To man at his best, the oracles of God declare, You must be born again (John 3:7). While Bunyan’s understanding and explanation of his spiritual condition at that time might have been intense and impassioned, its truth should not be denied. He described his condition accurately. His was the case of the Israelites exactly, who did not know about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3). He had a name that he lived, but he was dead (Revelation 3:1).

Bunyan’s fundamental sensibility was remarkable. His instincts and impulses were flourishing, if not somewhat domineering. Where his neighbors were unmoved, he was agitated. Where they saw nothing that was unusual, he was either in ecstasies or tears.

This peculiarity must be kept in mind, lest Bunyan’s words and actions at this time are thought to be characteristic of all spiritual conversions rather than exclusively to the temperament and characteristics of Bunyan himself. Some people do not seem to show much emotion, while the emotions and passions of others seem to rise and fall as unevenly as ocean waves during a great storm.

Conversion is essential to salvation, but conversion may come without our being so humiliated as to loathe ourselves like toads, as Bunyan described, and without our being so excited as to want to speak of God’s love to the very crows that are sitting on the plowed lands. Our new birth may be as certain as was the pilgrim’s, although we have never thought, with Bunyan, that the devil was pulling at our clothes and have never been ready with him to swoon with satisfaction at the thought of Christ’s compassion for our souls. Every man is affected spiritually according to his temperament. Bunyan was thus affected by the great and strong wind rather than by the still small voice.

And yet, the act of his transition from death unto life was unobserved. There is no specific moment in Bunyan’s life when it can be said that he was made a new creation. All his accounts and statements justify the opinion that it was a work of time. He went on, believing that he was pleasing God as well as any man in England, though having incessant regret and sorrow due to his failures in this area. The failures multiplied, and Bunyan regularly alternated between presumptuous self-righteousness and miserable despair.

His Conversion and Profession of Faith

Bunyan’s business took him into Bedford one day. A few poor women were sitting at a door as he passed by. He listened to their discussion. They looked like religious women, and he thought that perhaps he might have a chance of joining in the religious talk – a practice, as he told his wife, he liked to do now. As he listened, he was amazed. No sermon at Elstow Church had ever informed him of the necessity of the new birth, the treachery of the human heart, the temptations of the wicked one, the grace of the Holy Spirit, or the sovereignty and compassion of God in Christ. The things spoken of by the women struck him with great force. If it was true, then he certainly was lacking in the genuine evidence of a godly man, and what they were saying seemed to be