Life, Life, Eternal Life
John Bunyan (1628—1688) was an English writer and Puritan pastor best known, of course, as the author of Pilgrim's Progress.
On his deathbed, Bunyan said to those who gathered around him, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of his blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner; where I hope we ere long shall meet, to sing the new song, and remain everlastingly happy, world without end.”
Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress sold more than 100,000 copies in its first decade in print and has since been reprinted in at least 1,500 editions and translated into more than two hundred languages.
John Bunyan writes in The Pilgrim’s Progress:
Now I saw, upon a time when he was walking in the fields, that he was (as he was wont) reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and, as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying, "What must I do to be saved?"
"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:30, 31
I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because (as I perceived) he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named EVANGELIST coming to him, and asked, "Wherefore dost thou cry?" He answered, "Sir, I perceive by the book in my hand that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to Judgment;
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27
and I find that I am not willing to do the first,
"His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." Job 14:21, 22
nor able to do the second."
"Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it." Ezekiel 22:14
Evangelist. Then said EVANGELIST, "Why not willing to die, since this life is attended with so many evils?" The man answered, "Because I fear that this burden that is upon my back will sink me lower than the grave, and I shall fall into Tophet.
"For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." Isaiah 30:33
And, sir, if I be not fit to go to prison, I am not fit, I am sure, to go to Judgment, and from thence to execution; and the thoughts of these things make me cry."
Then said EVANGELIST, "If this be thy condition, why standest thou still?" He answered, "Because I know not where to go." Then he gave him a parchment roll; and there was written within, "Flee from the wrath to come!"
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matthew 3:7
The man, therefore, read it; and looking upon EVANGELIST very carefully, said, "Whither must I fly?" Then said EVANGELIST, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, "Do you see yonder wicket gate?"
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14
The man said, "No." Then said the other, "Do you see yonder shining light?"
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" 2 Peter 1:19
He said, "I think I do." Then said EVANGELIST, "Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto; so shalt thou see the gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shall do."
So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door, but his wife and children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return;
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26
but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, "Life! life! Eternal life!" So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain.
"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." Genesis 19:17
Learn more about John Bunyan in Weeks 11-12 in