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“It pleased me much to contend”: John Bunyan as Controversialist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

T. L. Underwood
T. L. Underwood
Affiliation:
professor of history inthe University of Minnesota, Morris, Minnesota. His article is published in commemoration of the tercentenary of Bunyan's death.
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Extract

In English history, 1688 is best remembered as the year of the Glorious Revolution. But that same year also witnessed the death of John Bunyan (1628–1688), the Nonconformist Bedford minister widely known as the author of The Pilgrim's Progress (1678; part two, 1684) and a preacher capable of drawing 3,000 persons to Sunday sermons in London. In subsequent centuries his fame increased, and, partly through translations into numerous languages, his story of Christian's pilgrimage became known in nearly every region of the world. In our own time his life and work have drawn the attention of many scholars from several fields, and the publication in modern editions of all of his sixty printed works has been undertaken. In 1988 the tercentenary of his death has been observed by a variety of activities including scholarly conferences and publications.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 1988 , pp. 456 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1988

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References

This article is based on a paper presented at the “Bunyan and Puritanism” Tercentenary Conference at Durham University in England, March 1988.

1. Doe, Charles, “The Struggler,” in The Works of That Eminent Servant of Christ, Mr. John Bunyan, ed. Doe, Charles (1692), p. [2Google Scholar]. Bunyan, John, The Pilgrim's Progress, ed. Wharey, J. B., rev. ed. (Oxford, 1960)Google Scholar (hereafter cited as PP). (Place of publication for all works is London unless otherwise noted.)

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3. For example, the “Bunyan and Puritanism” Tercentenary Conference sponsored by the Centre for Seventeenth Century Studies and the Centre for the Study of Literature and Theology, at Hatfield College, Durham University, England (March, 1988); the “John Bunyan Symposium,” at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (August 1988), proceedings to be published by E. J. Brill, Leyden; “Bunyan and His England, 1628–1688,” The Open University, Milton Keynes, England (September 1988), proceedings to be published by Hambledon Press, London; John Bunyan Tercentenary Issue, The American Baptist Quarterly 7 (12 1988)Google Scholar; the periodical Bunyan Studies: John Bunyan and his Times (Open University), to begin publication in the fall of 1988; Keeble, Neil H., ed., John Bunyan: Conventicle and Parnassus—Tercentenary Essays (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Collmer, Robert, ed., John Bunyan Today (Detroit, 1988)Google Scholar.

4. Milward, Peter, Religious Controversies of the Elizabethan Age: A Survey of Printed Sources (Lincoln, Neb., 1977)Google Scholar; idem, Religious Controversies of the Jacobean Age: A Survey of Printed Sources (Lincoln, Neb., 1978)Google Scholar.

5. Bunyan, John, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, ed. Sharrock, Roger (Oxford, 1960), p. 87Google Scholar (hereafter cited as GA). Compare Bunyan's verbal exchanges in his relation of his imprisonment in GA, pp. 104–125.

6. Fox, George, The Journal of George Fox, ed. Nickalls, John L. (Cambridge, 1952), pp. 207–209, 339–342.Google Scholar For John Crook and Edward Burrough, see Greaves, Richard L. and Zaller, Robert, eds., Biographical Dictionary of British Radicals in the Seventeenth Century, 3 vols. (Brighton, 1982–1984)Google Scholar (hereafter cited as BDBR).

7. MW, 1:xxiv. For Burton, see JB and Minutes.

8. Kiffin, William, The Quakers Appeal Answer'd (1674)Google Scholar, A4r. Ivimey, Joseph, A History of the English Baptists, 4 vols. (1811–1830), 2:438.Google ScholarMead, William, A Brief account (1674), pp. 12–13.Google ScholarPlant, Thomas, A Contest for Christianity (1674), p. 25.Google Scholar

9. Nuttall, Geoffrey F., The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Oxford, 1946), pp. 12–13.Google Scholar

10. GA, p. 85.

11. MW, 1:xvi-xxi, 114; and see Underwood, T. L., “Early Quaker Eschatology,” in Puritans, the Millennium and the Future of Israel: Puritan Eschatology 1660 to 1666, ed. Toon, Peter (1970), pp. 91–103.Google Scholar

12. Fox, George, Journal, p. 339.Google Scholar

13. Fowler, Edward, The Design of Christianity (1671), pp. 3, 261–262, 296.Google Scholar See also Isabel Rivers, “Grace, Holiness, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Bunyan and Restoration Latitudinarianism,” in John Bunyan: Conventicle and Parnassus—Tercentenary Essays, pp. 45–69.Google Scholar

14. Bunyan, John, A Defence of the Doctrine of Justification, by Faith (1672), p. 111.Google Scholar Bunyan also used quotations to demonstrate Fowler's deviance from some of the Thirty-nine Articles. His quotations of Penn are taken from Penn, William, The Sandy Foundation Shaken (1688),Google Scholar and those of Campion from Nowell, Alexander and Day, William, A true report of the Disputation … with Ed. Campion Jesuite (1583)Google Scholar.

15. Denne, John replied to A Confession with Truth Outweighing Error (1673)Google Scholar, and Paul, Thomas published Some Serious Reflections (1673)Google Scholar, for which William Kiffin wrote a preface. Bunyan responded with Differences in Judgment About Water-Baptism, No Bar to Communion (1673)Google Scholar, to which Thomas Paul reacted with a work which apparently has been lost, and Henry Danvers replied with a short section in his A Treatise of Baptism (1673)Google Scholar. Bunyan countered with Peaceable Principles and True (1674),Google Scholar to which John Denne responded with Hypocrasie Detected, or Peaceable and True Principles as so Pretended by John Bunyan, tryed and found False and Unsound (1674)Google Scholar, but there is no known copy. Finally, in 1681 Kiffin published A Sober discourse of Right to Church-Communion, which did not name Bunyan but was obviously directed at him and others of his persuasion. For further information on these opponents, see the entries in BDBR.

16. A Confession, p. 88; Differences in Judgment, p. 41; A Confession, p. 65.

17. John, Denne, Truth Outweighing Error, p. 78.Google Scholar

18. Minutes, p. 17. For open membership congregations, see Underwood, A. C., A History of the English Baptists (1947), p. 69;Google ScholarNuttall, G. F., Visible Saints: the Congregational Way 1640–1660 (Oxford, 1957), pp. 119–120;Google ScholarWinter, E. P., “The Lord's Supper: Admission and Exclusion Among the Baptists of the Seventeenth Century,” The Baptist Quarterly 17 (1958): 273.Google Scholar Compare Tindall, William York, John Bunyan, Mechanick Preacher (New York, 1934), p. 240Google Scholar n. 53; Minutes, pp. 77, 79–80; White, B. R., The English Baptists of the 17th Century (1983), pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

19. Differences in Judgment, p. 8; Peaceable Principles, pp. 9–10.

20. Late in the open membership controversy Bunyan referred to Kiffin as “Mr. K.”; see Peaceable Principles, p. 9. A Case of Conscience Resolved, p. 5.

21. A Case of Conscience Resolved, pp. 16, 13.

22. Ibid., pp. 15, 34.

23. Greaves, Richard L., “John Bunyan's Holy War and London Nonconformity,” Baptist Quarterly 26 (1975): 163–164;CrossRefGoogle Scholaridem, “The Organizational Response of Nonconformity to Repression and Indulgence: The Case of Bedfordshire,” Church History 44 (1975): 472–484;Google Scholaridem, “John Bunyan and Nonconformity in the Midlands and East Anglia,” Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society 1 (1976): 186–196.Google Scholar

24. Bampfield, Francis, The Judgement of Mr. Francis Bampfield (1672), pp. 4a, 6–7;Google ScholarChamberlen, Peter, England's Choice (1682), pp. 3–4;Google ScholarStennett, Edward, The Seventh Day is the Sabbath (1664), p. 27;Google ScholarTillam, Thomas, The Seventh-day Sabbath (1657) pp. 11, 36, 50–51, 98, 108.Google Scholar Compare Burdick, Oscar, “Seventh Day Baptist Origins in England, 1650–1683; A Bibliography,” Graduate Theological Union Library (Berkeley, 1984)Google Scholar; Payne, Ernest A., “More About the Sabbatarian Baptists,” The Baptist Quarterly 14 (1951–1952): 161–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25. Chamberlen, Peter, The Sons of the East (1682)Google Scholar, broadside; Tillam, Thomas, The Seventhday Sabbath, pp. 50–51;Google Scholar and the entries for Francis Bampfield, Peter Chamberlen, and Edward Stennett in BDBR.

26. Bunyan, John, Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day-Sabbath (1685), pp. 130–136, 141.Google Scholar Compare Bunyan's statement that God “will not punish Heathens so as he will punish Jews” in his sermon The Greatness of the Soul (1682), in MW, 9:204,Google Scholar and Peter Toon, “The Question of Jewish Immigration,” in Puritans, the Millennium and the Future of Israel, pp. 115–125.Google Scholar

27. For comparative purposes, it is useful to examine Bunyan's theological treatise on justification, The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded (1659) (hereafter cited as Doctrine), which probably contains some sermon material; his guide to conduct, Christian Behaviour (1663) (hereafter cited as Behaviour); and his sermon The Greatness of the Soul (1682) (hereafter cited as Greatness), which are included in MW, vols. 2, 3, and 9 respectively.

28. Bunyan, , The Holy City (1665), p. 53;Google ScholarMW, 1:75–76; Questions, pp. 113–114. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:45 II. 2–21; Behavior in MW, 3:16 11. 16–18; Greatness in MW, 9:170 II. 6–22.

29. MW, 1:70, 90, 30–36. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:108–109, 36 11. 6–20; Greatness in MW, 9:169 I. 11.

30. Bunyan, , A Confession, p. 109;Google ScholarQuestions, p. 103. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:141 II. 9–15, 195 II. 24–27.

31. Bunyan, , A Defence, p. 15;Google ScholarA Confession, p. 118; Differences, p. 5.

32. MW, 1:18. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:49 1. 21; Behavior in MW, 3:58 11. 32–34; Greatness in MW, 9:148–151.

33. Bunyan, , A Defence, p. 27;Google ScholarA Case of Conscience Resolved, p. 39.

34. MW, 1:90, 98, 96, 95. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:144 II. 4–6, 175 II. 25–28; Behavior in MW, 3:26 II. 20–22, 54 II. 17–18; Greatness in MW, 9:188 II. 24–26, 192 II. 30–31.

35. Bunyan, , A Defence, pp. 91, 68, 72, 90.Google Scholar Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:46 11. 18–19, 104 11. 24–25; Behaviour in MW, 3:33 1. 18, 37 1. 15; Greatness in MW, 9:154 1.6, 231 1. 2.

36. MW, 1:14, 190; Compare Tilley, M. P., A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950), F244, B741Google Scholar (hereafter cited as Dictionary of Proverbs). Questions, p. 101; compare Dictionary of Proverbs, 194. A Confession, p. 120; compare Dictionary of Proverbs, A181. A Case of Conscience Resolved, p. 26; compare Dictionary of Proverbs, M92. See also Doctrine in MW, 2:58 II. 15–16; Behaviour in MW, 3:18 1. 36, 49 1. 28; Greatness in MW, 9:195 1. 10, 220 1. 21.

37. Bunyan, , A Confession, A5r;Google ScholarA Case of Conscience Resolved, A2v; MW, 1:90.

38. MW, 1:59: Bunyan, , A Defence, p. 85.Google Scholar Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:31 11. 5–12, 49 11. 28–29; Behaviour in MW, 3:37 11. 6–7, 61 11. 31–33; Greatness in MW, 9:167 II. 25–35, 172 II. 26–27.

39. MW, 1:61, 82, 113, 128, 184.

40. Bunyan, , A Defence, pp. 1, 5, 35, 77, 111.Google Scholar

41. Bunyan, , Differences, p. 70;Google ScholarPeaceable Principles, p. 33; A Confession, p. 118.

42. Bunyan, , A Case of Conscience Resolved, pp. 36, 16.Google Scholar

43. Bunyan, , Questions, pp. 140, 120, 136.Google Scholar There was a schism in the group in which some who went to the Continent were accused of taking up additional Jewish practices and sharing property and perhaps wives as well. See the entries for Pooley, Christopher and Tillam, Thomas in BDBR, and Browne, Edward, An Account of Several Travels Through a Great Part of Germany (1677), p. 56.Google Scholar

44. Dirt Wip't Off (1672), p. 27.Google ScholarPaul, Thomas, Some Serious Reflections (1673), p. 2.Google ScholarMW, 1:61, 82, 113, 128, 184.

45. MW, 1:184.

46. Bunyan, , A Case of Conscience Resolved, p. 8.Google ScholarMW, 1:39. Compare Doctrine in MW, 2:16 11. 15–28; Behavior in MW, 3:9 11. 23–24.

47. Bunyan, , A Defence, pp. 26, 59, 90, 93;Google ScholarDifferences, p. 65; Peaceable Principles, p. 29. Compare “The Latin I borrow,” in PP, p. 280.

48. Bunyan, , Peaceable Principles, p. 41.Google Scholar

49. Ibid., p. 3; Differences, p. 63.

50. Bunyan, , Peaceable Principles, pp. 46, 9, 48.Google Scholar

51. Danvers, Henry, A Treatise of Baptism, pp. 44–48, 52–53Google Scholar (second pagination).

52. Bunyan, , Peaceable Principles, pp. 36–37.Google Scholar

53. Bunyan, , Differences, p. 96.Google Scholar

54. MW, 8:49–160, 5:125–127.

55. MW, 2:209–210. Bunyan, , A Discourse Upon the Pharisee and the Publicane (1685), P. 38;Google ScholarMW, 5:153; GA, p. 39.

56. MW, 5:125, 9:326–328.

57. MW, 5:153. See also Saved by Grace (1675), in MW, 8:225–226; A Discourse of the Building, Nature, Excellency, and Government of the House of God (1688)Google Scholar, in MW, 6:310–311; and Of the House of the Forest of Lebanon (1692),Google Scholar in The Works of John Bunyan, ed. Offor, George, 3 vols. (Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, 1860–1862), 3:524–525.Google Scholar

58. PP, p. 187. Hardin, Compare Richard F., “Bunyan, Mr. Ignorance, and the Quakers,” Studies in Philology 69 (1972): 496–508.Google Scholar

59. PP, pp. 47–56, 136.

60. Ibid., pp. 255–256, 326–327.

61. Bunyan, , A Case of Conscience Resolved, p. 39.Google ScholarKeeble, Neil H., “Christiana's Key: The Unity of The Pilgrim's Progress,” in The Pilgrim's Progress: Critical and Historical Views, ed. Newey, Vincent (Liverpool, 1980), pp. 1–20.Google ScholarSharrock, Roger, “Women and Children,” in Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Casebook, ed. Sharrock, Roger (1976), pp. 175–176.Google Scholar

62. PP, pp. 315–316.

63. See, for example, the previously mentioned works by Kiffin, , Fox, , and Burrough, ; and Baxter, Richard, The Divine Appointment of the Lord's Day (1671);Google ScholarOwen, John, Exercitations Concerning the Name, Original Nature, Use, and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest (1671),Google Scholar and Fox, George, An Answer to Thomas Tillams Book Called the Seventh-Day Sabbath (1659).Google Scholar

64. GA, p. 87.