John Bunyan

John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was afraid when he was in prison for his commitment to Christ. “My imprisonment,” he wrote, “might end on the gallows.”

We can understand his fear, can’t we? No one wants to face the prospect of being hanged. But, a change took place in Bunyan’s life one day. He became ashamed of being afraid. He said, “Me thought I was ashamed to die with a pale face and tottering knees for such a cause as this.”

William Barclay comments, “Bunyan finally came to a conclusion as he thought of himself climbing up the ladder to the scaffold: ‘Wherefore, thought I, I am going on and venturing my eternal state with Christ whether I have comfort here or no; if God doth not come in, I will leap off the ladder even blindfold into eternity. Lord Jesus, if Thou wilt catch me, do; if not, I will venture for Thy name.’“

Morning Glory, August 19, 1993