The Pilgrim's Progress In Modern English

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Classic John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress

The Pilgrim's Progress is a famous story of man's progress through life in search of salvation and remains one of the most entertaining allegories of faith ever written. Set against realistic backdrops of town and country, the powerful drama of the pilgrim's trials and temptations follows him in his harrowing journey to the Celestial City. An enormously influential 17th-century classic, universally known for its simplicity, vigor, and beauty of language.

[]] Pilgrim's Progress is read with the greatest pleasure. George Whitefield (1714-1770)

[]] I find this book so full of matter, that I can seldom go through more than a page or half a page at a time. John Newton (1725-1807)

[]] Next to the Bible, the book that I value most is Pilgrim's Progress. I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times... Prick him anywhere, and you will find that his blood is "bibline," the very essence of the Bible flows from him. Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

[]] That tenderest and most theological of books is pulsating with life in every word. J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)

About John Bunyan:

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was born at Elstow, England, about a mile from Bedford, and became one of the most influential authors of the seventeenth century. Few writers in history have left such a wealth of Christ-centered writings.

Bunyan's moving conversion is recorded in his Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. While walking the streets of Bedford, Bunyan heard "three or four poor women" sitting at a door, "talking about the new birth, the work of God in their hearts, and the way by which they were convinced of their miserable state by nature.

They told how God had visited their souls with His love in Christ Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the temptations of the devil. From these godly women Bunyan learned to despise sin and to hunger for the Savior. Later, while passing into the fields, he recounts, "This sentence fell upon my soul, 'Thy righteousness is in heaven'... for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever." Then "his chains fell off," and he went home rejoicing.

Calling to Preach and Arrest

In 1655, Bunyan was called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bunyan was arrested November 12, 1660, for preaching without the approval of the Anglican Church. He was charged with "teaching men to worship God contrary to the law" and was in jail more than twelve years.

His most well-known work, The Pilgrim's Progress, was written while in the Bedford jail. During Bunyan's lifetime there were 100,000 copies circulated in the British isles, besides several editions in North America. It has been continuously in print since its first printing.

Bunyan's remarkable imagery was firmly rooted in the biblical doctrines of man's fall, grace, imputation, justification, and the atonement.