Whilst he was thus twelve years and a half in prison, he writ several of his published books, as by many of their epistles appears, as 'Pray by the Spirit,' 'Holy City,' 'Resurrection,' 'Grace Abounding,' and others, also 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' as himself and many others have said.
The pastor of Bedford congregation died, and, after some years' vacancy, John Bunyan, though a prisoner, was, by the church, called to the pastoral office, December 21, 1671, and as it pleased the Lord to rule the rage of men, it proved in or about the last year of his twelve years' imprisonment. And, being out, he preached the gospel publicly at Bedford, and about the counties, and at London, with very great success, being mightily followed everywhere. And it pleased the Lord to preserve him out of the hands of his enemies in the severe persecution at the latter end of king Charles the Second's reign, though they often searched and laid wait for him, and sometimes narrowly missed him.
In 1688, he published six books, being the time of king James the Second's liberty of conscience, and was seized with a sweating distemper, which, after his some weeks going about, proved his death, at his very loving friend's, Mr. Strudwick's, a grocer, at Holborn Bridge, London, on August 31, 1688, and in the 60th year of his age, and was buried in Finsbury burying-ground, where many London dissenting ministers are laid; and it proved some days above a month before our great gospel deliverance was begun by the Prince of Orange's landing, whom the Lord of his continued blessing hath since made our preserving king, William the Third.
And as to his family, he left his widow, Elizabeth, and three sons,
John, Thomas, and Joseph, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah,
and Mary; but his blind daughter he writes of in his 'Grace
Abounding' died some years before him, and his widow died 1690-1.
Secondly, Concerning his labours; God did give of his extraordinary grace of the gospel to our author, Bunyan, and it is worthy our observation, for thereby God may have due honour, his people comfort, and adversaries confuted in their several corrupt notions, especially that of only them that have school education are fitly qualified for ministers of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And also hereby the superstitious man is confounded in his way of worship, as were his predecessors, the rulers of the Jews, in the case of Peter and John, saying, Whence had these men this knowledge, seeing they are unlearned? but there was and is a reason beyond their false rules of education—for they had been with Jesus.
This is also apt to convince sincere-hearted Christians that God can, when he will, make a minister of his gospel, and send him forth in the power of his Spirit, and defend him, nay, may I say, it is God's prerogative to make his gospel-ministers, and he makes them effectual to all the ends of his gospel, to preach, as the great apostle saith, in season and out of season, to abase and abound, &c. He that can make the dry bones live (as in Eze 37), what can he not do? yea, they shall live, and become a great host, and antichristian arts must fall; for the Lord doth make his servants, as he did Jeremiah, as brazen walls against people and priests.
And however some subtilly and vain-gloriously pretend to be the only lawful successors of the apostles, yet certain I am, from safer reason of faith, that our author Bunyan was really, sincerely, and effectually a lawful successor of the apostles, and as lawful as any have been above this thousand years. Nay, may I say, he was a second Paul; for that his conversion was in a great measure like that great apostle's, who, of a great enemy to godliness, was, by strong and irresistible workings of sovereign grace, made a great minister of, and sufferer for, the gospel. Thousands of Christians in country and city, can testify that their comfort under his ministry has been to admiration, so that their joy hath showed itself by much weeping.
To the eye of carnal reason it may seem that the great apostle Paul's imprisonment was a contradiction to his commission of effectually preaching the gospel to many countries; especially considering his commission was strengthened by his miraculous conversion, from the glory and call of the Lord Jesus from heaven, for the making of him such a great gospel preacher. And yet God suffered it so to be, and we have reason to believe for the best; because God usually works those seeming contrary things to his own end and glory. And the effect was, the saints were strengthened thereby, and several epistles were written thereby, which hath preserved much of the gospel in writing to the ages after, and even for our very great and needful help.
And I reckon I shall not be out of the way, if I observe and say—What hath the devil or his agents gotten by putting our great gospel-ministry, Bunyan, in prison? for in prison, as before mentioned, he wrote many excellent books, that have published to the world his great grace, and great truth, and great judgment, and great ingenuity; and to instance in one, the Pilgrim's Progress, he hath suited to the life of a traveler so exactly and pleasantly, and to the life of a Christian, that this very book, besides the rest, hath done the superstitious sort of men and their practice more harm, or rather good, as I may call it, than if he had been let alone at his meeting at Bedford, to preach the gospel to his own auditory, as it might have fallen out; for none but priest-ridden people know how to cavil at it, it wins so smoothly upon their affections, and so insensibly distils the gospel into them, and hath been printed in France, Holland, New England, and in Welsh, and about a hundred thousand in England, whereby they are made some means of grace, and the author become famous; and may be the cause of spreading his other gospel-books over the European and American world, and in process of time may be so to the whole universe.
When Mr. Bunyan preached in London, if there were but one day's notice given, there would be more people come together to hear him preach than the meeting-house would hold. I have seen to hear him preach, by my computation, about twelve hundred at a morning lecture, by seven o'clock, on a working day, in the dark winter time. I also computed about three thousand that came to hear him one Lord's-day, at London, at a town's end meeting-house; so that half were fain to go back again for want of room, and then himself was fain, at a back door, to be pulled almost over people to get upstairs to his pulpit.