Banyang

John Bunyan

John Bunyan is a famous British writer and preacher. Born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, eastern England. In his youth, he was enlisted into the revolutionary parliament army, and later engaged in missionary activities in his hometown. After the restoration of the Stuart dynasty in 1660, the authorities arrested him twice and imprisoned him for 12 years and six months respectively on the pretext of preaching without permission. In prison, he wrote the pilgrim's progress, which tells the story of Christians and their wives searching for the kingdom of heaven. The language is simple and easy, and it is known as "the most famous fable in English Literature".

brief account of the author's life

John Bunyan was born in England in 1628. His hometown is near Bedfordshire. His father was a tinker (an obsolete profession), specializing in welding and repairing pots and pans and other metalwork. In the middle of the 17th century, tinkers went from village to village to do business. If someone wants to repair something, they will work in the owner's home, and the owner will pay on the spot after the work is finished. According to the social standards at that time, it was a rather humble career. Usually, a father who is a tinker takes his young children with him as a helper. John Bunyan's father was an exception. He must have realized the importance of education, so instead of taking him as a helper, he left him in the village. John went to school there until he graduated from primary school. We don't know John's religious background very well. In his autobiography, he wrote that when he was about 9 or 10 years old, he had several warning dreams about the end of his own life, about the future judgment, about the terrible scene of hell and about the eternal enlightenment. He is particularly troubled by this. As an adult, his memory is still fresh. But as a teenager, he put it all behind him. He described himself as the worst and wildest child in the village at that time, which was just a bad thing. He is also known locally for cursing and swearing falsely. At the age of 16, he left his hometown and joined Cromwell's army. At that time, a civil war broke out between the Puritans under Cromwell and the army of King Charles I, who supported the Anglican Church. The king's army is called the royalists, who fight for the king's supreme rule, while Cromwell's army is the patriots who fight for the parliament. Therefore, the war in which Banyang was involved has the dual nature of religion and politics. This experience is likely to make John Bunyan gain a deep understanding of war, which is reflected in several scenes about war in his later book the pilgrim's journey. After he married Mary, as a dowry, his wife brought him two books, one is "the way to heaven of Jihad ordinary people", the other is "godly life", which her father gave her. Banyang's wife often talks to him about her father, who is a real godly man. At that time, ban Yang read these books. Although he liked them very much, he still didn't feel any personal repentance. Soon, ban Yang began to go to church with his wife. One Sunday morning, he was very impressed by the sermon he had heard. But immediately after the service, he went to the country church and Park Court in pedfordshire to play a game called "cat", which is similar to cricket today. There he met the Lord for the first time in a strange way. Later, he wrote in his autobiography: on the same day, I went to play cat games. I had just hit the ball out of the hole, ready to hit it a second time. Suddenly a voice from heaven quickly hit my heart: "do you want to abandon your sin into heaven, or continue to commit crime to hell?" I was stunned, then ignored the ball rolling on the ground, but looked up at the sky. As if my heart was wide open, I saw the Lord Jesus looking down at me, very unhappy. He seemed to warn me solemnly that one day I would be punished for these and other ungodliness. What followed was a false confession to his famous curse. He wrote: I still commit crime, rise and fall in my greedy heart, and resent that I can't be satisfied as I wish. This situation lasted for more than a month. Until one day, I stood in front of the window of my neighbor's shop, cursing and swearing, pretending to be crazy as before. A woman was sitting in the room looking at me. Although she was a very lazy and ungodly person herself, she declared that my curse was so vicious that she shuddered; she also told me that I was the most ungodly person she had ever seen in her life. What I have done is enough to defile the hearts of teenagers in the whole city, if they are my friends. The beginning of John Bunyan's confession is worth pondering. The Bible and church history tell us that God often works in people's hearts in this way. When God begins to work to make people confess, he often starts with the major sin in that person's life. This is how God treats Banyang. His sin is not a one-time manifestation. God begins with his obvious sin: first his Sunday blasphemy, then his swearing. However, it should be noted that if you ask a person if he thinks he is a sinner, nine out of ten people will say: Yes, sometimes I am a sinner. the work of God's confession begins with a certain sin, and then the Holy Spirit expands the scope and depth of confession. When a man tries to cleanse his mind, get rid of some sins, and make himself more righteous in the presence of God, the Holy Spirit not only points out some sins, but also further tells him that the more he tries to be clean, the more he will see his own filth. The more their hearts are exposed, the more they will understand that they can not only admit a certain crime, but also give up their efforts. Because they have nothing but sin. John Bunyan's life has obviously experienced such an increasingly profound process. He said there had been four years of spiritual chaos in his life. In these four years, he constantly tried to win his own righteousness. Sometimes he was full of hope, which was soon shattered. Finally, he came to a conclusion. In his autobiography, he wrote about the result of his inner struggle: one day, when I was walking across the field, many thoughts poured into my heart, and I was afraid that everything would be in vain. Suddenly, a sentence fell into my heart: your righteousness is in the sky. Suddenly, the eyes of my heart opened wide, and I saw Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. I realized that that was what I meant. Therefore, no matter where I am or what I do, God does not say that he wants my righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ in his presence. I see that it is not my goodness that justifies me, nor my wickedness that destroys my righteousness, for my righteousness is Jesus Christ, who was the same yesterday, today and forever. So far, my shackles have been untied, my iron unbreakable distress has been frustrated, and my temptation has escaped. Since then, God's awesome words have stopped bothering me. I came home in high spirits, rejoicing in the grace and love of God. After that experience, he wrote that he thought he would live in such a situation forever. In fact, suffering, salvation and gratitude are not one-time experiences, but continuous cycles. We will find that in the course of Banyang's life, the cycle of suffering, salvation and gratitude is deepening again and again. In 1653, when he was 25 years old, he joined a non Anglican Church. At that time, the Anglican Church and the non Anglican Church coexisted, and many different religious groups came into being, including the upper group and the lower group. The lower groups are often called Puritans. At first, Puritans were a nickname. These people thought that the Church of Anglican Church was the same as Roman Catholic Church in the dress of clergy, religious ceremony and doctrine, so they wanted to purify the church and abandon many of its religious rituals. There are many differences among these Puritans. Some people have no hope of establishing another church. In their view, their responsibility seems to be to stay in the Anglican Church and fight against what happens there. There is also a group of people who are known as "dissidents" and whose other nicknames are unknown. They feel that the Church of England has gone too far to correct and return to the principles of the Bible. Therefore, they believed that they had no choice but to leave the church. John Bunyan joined such a "dissident" church. And this church tends to be Baptist on the issue of baptism. Two years later, Bunyan's wife died; the same year, John Gifford, the pastor of the church where Bunyan lived, died. Gifford's sermon had a great influence on John Bunyan's life. After his death, the congregation invited ban yang to be their pastor and preach for them. In fact, ban Yang did not receive formal training. Three years later, in 1658, banyan accepted their invitation. In the same year, the great Cromwell died. One of his sons tried to take power, but he was too weak. Many people are already dissatisfied with the continuous high handed policy under Cromwell. Two years later, in 1660, Charles II regained the throne, which is what is called restoration in history. The royal family became the ruler of England again, followed by absolute loyalty to the Church of England. Parliament also changed from supporting the Puritans to supporting the national religion. In this way, the king and parliament basically reached a consensus to recognize the Church of England as the only legitimate Church in Britain. In this case, the situation of "dissidents" is becoming more and more difficult. At the time, John Bunyan was not only in his own parish

Chinese PinYin : Ban Yang