Books in Progress

John Bunyan and the Momentous 17th Century

The Making of God's Man
[Bunyan especially]
(Author unknown)

"When God wants to drill a man,
and thrill a man,
and skill a man;
When God wants to mold a man,
to play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
to create so great and bold a man,
...that all the world will be amazed;
WATCH His methods! - WATCH His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
whom He Royally Elects!
How He hammers him,
and hurts him,
...and with mighty blows,
converts him
...into trial shapes of clay
which only God understands.

While his tortured heart is crying,
and he lifts beseeching hands,
How he bends but never breaks,
when His good He undertakes.
How He uses whom He chooses,
and with every purpose fuses him,
...by every act induces him,
to try His splender out;
GOD KNOWS WHAT HE'S ABOUT!"

John Bunyan is my hero of heroes (in some respects, I see myself in him and his experiences-- and would like to see himself in me). He left one super-great book (he did other good writing also).The cost to Bunyan was exceeding great indeed, and so his reward.

Here are some thoughts on Bunyan assembled on another web site:

Excerpt from
An Interpretation of "The Pilgrim's Progress" . .
By Hal Upchurch

1. By 1660, the golden times of Cromwellian Puritanism had come to an end; and, soon after, the vindictive Charles II returned to occupy the English throne.
   
2. The old "Act of Uniformity," which had compelled all people to attend the Church of England, was revived.
   
3. Bunyan refused to attend the State church, or to stop preaching, and was arrested and imprisoned.
   
4. Thus began Bunyan's long years of imprisonment and unspeakable sorrow and suffering in the Bedford jail.
   
5. His anguish in parting from his children:
   
   • "The parting from my dear children was as the pulling of the flesh from my bones."
   • "Especially my poor little blind one, who lay nearer my heart than all I had beside."
   • "I thought of those two milk kine that were to carry the ark of God into a far country and to leave their calves behind." (I. Sam. 6:10)
   • In agony, he cried: "But I must do it! I must do it! I must venture my children with God!"
   • Thus, by faith, Bunyan parted with his children for those terrible years of imprisonment.
   • During those prison years:
     
     • Bunyan suffered unutterably.
     • His second wife labored unceasingly for his release, but all of her labors were in vain.
     • His little blind daughter, Mary, sickened, suffered and died.
     • Bunyan wrote: "I never before in all my life had so sweet an insight into the word of God, or such a sense of the presence of God."
     • During the prison years, Bunyan had only two books: The Bible and "Fox's Book of Martyrs."
     • Bunyan began to write. (In the end, he would have more than 60 published works.)
     • Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress," which today still stands second only to the Bible.
      
   • Regarding those prison years, I [Hal Upchurch] suggest:
     
     • "They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
     • Little knew they, as they slammed the doors of the Bedford jail behind him, that they shook his name forever among the stars.
     • In Bedford jail, as Jacob at Bethel, he saw the angels of God ascending and descending.
     • Palace Beautiful often arose before him, and its "holy family" gladly welcomed him into their sweet fellowship.
     • He drank deeply from the river of Life and walked through the Delectable Mountains.
     • He rested in the Land of Beulah and walked and talked with the Shining Ones.
     • He looked across the river of death, beheld the shining City of Zion, saw the gates swing wide and talked with the King face to face

     you might keep in mind that . . .

     Hal Upchurch is, among many things to many people, a retired preacher who spent over fifty years in the ministry. A series of concise but comprehensive study guides, based on his lifelong relationship with the Bible in both private and public meditation and contemplation, include:

     • A Second Coming Survey (online in its entirety)
     • The Shadow of the Cross Along the Exodus Trail
     • A Survey of the Old Rugged Cross
     • An Interpretation of "The Pilgrim's Progress"
     • The Parables of Jesus
     • The Minor Prophets
     • Studies in Hosea
     • Studies in Amos
     • A Birds'-Eye View of the Bible
     • A Study of the Twenty Third Psalm

     At present, only the linked titles are in print.