John Bunyan
John Bunyan was an English writer, preacher, and theologian born in Elstow in 1628, who worked across multiple vocations as a citizen of the Kingdom of England during the seventeenth century.
Bunyan was educated at Bedford School before working as a tinker. He went on to become a preacher and a writer, composing his works in the English language. He was also identified as a novelist, and his output spanned both theological and literary forms. His life began in Elstow in 1628 and ended with his death in London on 31 August 1688.
The most significant work attributed to Bunyan is The Pilgrim's Progress, the text recorded as his primary literary achievement. This work belongs to the allegory genre, a form in which the surface narrative carries a secondary layer of meaning. Bunyan's dual identity as a preacher and a novelist is reflected in the fact that he produced a work recognised simultaneously within theological and literary traditions.
Bunyan's association with the allegory genre stands as a defining characteristic of his literary identity. His roles as writer, preacher, and theologian, combined with his earlier occupation as a tinker and his education at Bedford School, mark the principal coordinates of a life lived entirely within the Kingdom of England. That life concluded in London in 1688, leaving The Pilgrim's Progress as the work most firmly attached to his name.
Quotes by John Bunyan
John Bunyan's insights on:
I would say to my soul, O my soul this is not the place of despair; this is not the time to despair in. As long as mine eyes can find a promise in the Bible, as long as there is a moment left me of breath or life in this world, so long will I wait or look for mercy, so long will I fight against unbelief and despair.
If we have not quiet in our minds outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.
The frog by nature is both damp and cold. Her mouth is large, her belly much will hold. She sits somewhat ascending, loves to beCroaking in gardens, though unpleasantly.
But chicks from rotten eggs do not proceed, / Nor is a hypocrite a saint indeed. / The rotten egg, though underneath the hen, / If crack'd, stinks, and is loathsome unto men. / Nor doth her warmth make what is rotten sound; / What's rotten, rotten will at last be found. / The hypocrite, sin has him in possession, / He is a rotten egg under profession.
The hypocrite is like unto this frog, / As like as is the puppy to the dog. / He is of nature cold, his mouth is wide / To prate, and at true goodness to deride. / He mounts his head as if he was above / The world, when yet 'tis that which has his love. / And though he seeks in churches for to croak, / He neither loveth Jesus nor his yoke.
Thou may'st, too, here thy spots and freckles see, Hast thou but eyes, and what their numbers be.
