TESTED, YET TRIUMPHANT
ONE cannot help thinking that his mother was no ordinary woman, as so often, before and since, the mothers of the great and good have been remarkable women. However, he tells us very little of his parents, caring more to relate the particular ways of God's dealings with himself.
When a little over sixteen, Bunyan was to have a new experience amid the roar of cannon and din of battle. Parliament ordered in 1645, "that the county of Bedford, within fourteen days, shall send into the garrison of Newport two hundred and twenty-five able and armed men for soldiers," and among those drawn from Elstow for active service was John Bunyan.
Strange company did he find himself among now. Men—many of them—who knew equally well how to storm a fort or preach a sermon. Stern old "Valiants-for-the truth," with strong arms and tender hearts, who carried their Bibles with them, and having the fear of God before their eyes, fought a good fight in more senses than one.
And now, again, the special providence of God was over the lad from Elstow.
It was at the siege of Leicester, in 1645, that his life was again spared, for says he: “This also I have taken notice of, with thanksgiving: When I was a soldier, I, with others, was drawn out to go to such a place, to besiege it; but when I was just ready to go, one of the company desired to go in my room: to which, when I had consented, he took my place; and coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel, he was shot in the head with a musket bullet, and died.”
In 1646 the army was disbanded, and Bunyan returned to his tinkering life at Elstow, and in two or three years did a very good thing —he married a wife—and a right good sort she was, too; and her influence over him was good.
Not that she had much worldly goods to bring him, or that he had much to give her. But she brought a loving heart, two good books, and the memory of a godly father and a godly home: and these were no mean gifts.
He described his marriage thus: "When we were married we were as poor as poor might be (not having so much household stuff as a dish or a spoon betwixt us both), yet this she had for her part, The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven; and The Practice of Piety; which her father had left her when he died. In these two books I would sometimes read with her, wherein I also found some things that were somewhat pleasing to me (but all this while I met with no conviction). She also would be often telling of me what a godly man her father was, and how he would reprove and correct vice, both in his house, and among his neighbors; what a strict and holy life he lived in his days, both in word and deed.”
We dare say John Bunyan knew many a village lass with whom he had danced on Elstow village green—jolly enough girls to dance with, no doubt—but not the kind to make good wives. No; John Bunyan may have been thoughtless enough about eternal things, but as regards the serious, matter-of-fact business of "getting married," he was shrewd enough to see that the girl who came from a godly home, and brought The Practice of Piety with her, was the sort of girl he needed.
His wife’s words, and the reading of the good books, made some alteration in his life. He became religious, and was soon doing all he could to "establish his own righteousness." He gave up this and he gave up that, and became very regular in going to Church; he "fell in very eagerly with the religion of the times.”
But the time was not yet for Bunyan to be brought into the full light and liberty of the children of God, for if you read his account of these events in his wonderful book called Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, you will see that he had to encounter many strange temptations, such as few have ever had to combat with. And if in reading his account, you think that they were simply his own disordered fancy, you are making a mistake.
Some of them, no doubt, were the outcome of his very imaginative mind, but in them all it must be remembered that they were real to him. He was to do a great work, and to help many out of their soul troubles, and so he was trained in a stern school, that he might learn his lesson well.
But there came a day, when, like the Pilgrim in his book, he came to a "place somewhat rising," and the burden was taken from off his back, and he could sing, as Christian did at the Cross:
Blest cross! blest sepulcher! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me.
This is how he describes the event: “But one day, as I was passing into the field, and that, too, with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Thy righteousness is in heaven,' and methought withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand: there, I saw, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, 'He wants My righteousness' for that was just before Him. I also saw, move over, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, `The same yesterday, to-day, and forever,'”
After this, he joined the Church at Bedford, over which "holy Mr. Gifford" was pastor. He also, at this time, moved from Elstow, where he was born, into Bedford.
When the news went about that the swearing young tinker, John Bunyan, had joined Mr. Gifford's church, there was no small stir in the locality. Many came to the meetings to see for themselves if there was any truth in the report. And many of them in their turn were arrested by the Word, and brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus.
And thus many living links in the chain of God's grace were forged, and many were "added to the Lord.”
And now begins a new period in the life of John Bunyan. Events were soon to take place which were to lead to suffering, to prison and also to never-dying fame; although the latter had no place in the ambitions of the honest Tinker. His great object in life was to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and in that service he was prepared to endure hardship.