John Bunyan museum

Tyndale House organized a trip to Bedford, England this past Saturday. Home to John Bunyan and many of the places which inspired locations in Pilgrims Progress, this lovely little town boasts the John Bunyan Museum and the Bedford Museum. We really enjoyed both and thought you might like to see a little of what we saw!

When we asked our girls if they remembered who he was, they said, "Oh yes! He had the big blue ox!" Oh dear~"No, that was PAUL Bunyan, girls~"

The John Bunyan museum is located next to the original location of the barn where John Bunyan began his teaching ministry (a church is there now, we will show you pic's later)


John Bunyan became a Christian as a young man after "having led an abandoned life " (quote from "Grace Abounding" his biography) and was also a tinker or tinsmith by trade, see below~


Here he is eating, but he doesn't seem to realize Andrew is hiding under the table~~


A replica of a kitchen his family might have used (Claire did a bit of cooking for him)


A shot of him in jail. In 1658 Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a license; in those days the government supported the established Church of England (C of E) and suppressed "nonconformists" who were not part of the C of E. Remember the Pilgrims who left England for religious freedom? They were in the same situation.

Bunyan didn't stop preaching, though, and was finally arrested in November 1660. He was taken to the county jail in Bedford where he was confined at first for three months. But since he refused to conform to the C of E or to desist from preaching, they kept him locked up for nearly 12 years. He wrote Pilgrim's Progress during this time.

He had just married a second time (his first wife died) and had three children. His eldest, Mary, had been blind from birth and was especially dear to his heart.

“The parting with my Wife and poor Children hath oft been to me in this place, as the pulling of flesh from my bones … O, I saw in the condition I was as a man who was pulling down his house upon the head of his Wife and Children; yet thought I, I must do it, I must do it.”


To support his family while in jail, he made shoelaces for his family to sell. He also made several musical instruments himself. He made a very nice metal violin (forgot to take a picture of it) and a recorder (from the leg of his chair) see below.

His family brought him his soup in this jug. And that is his plate right beside it.


This is a door from the Bedford county jail from the time when Bunyan was a prisoner! Those very hinges creaked as he walked in, that lock held him fast, and those six bars blocked his view.


Bunyan was released in January of 1672 when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence. He became pastor of the Bedford church but he was arrested again 1675 because Charles II withdrew the Declaration of Religious Indulgence. This time he was held in the Bedford town jail on the stone bridge over the River Ouse. But in six months he was free and as a result of his popularity he was not again arrested.

The pulpit from the last church he preached in~


And this museum also had his tombstone! Leo and Andrew were just small enough to sit under the pulpit next to it.


We bought a family copy of Pilgrims Progress, a bit modified for our children's sake.


The front doors of the church were really neat. An artist created ten bronze panels of scenes from Pilgrim's Progress which were displayed at the Royal Academy in 1860. The Duke of Bedfordshire bought them and had them made into doors, which he gave to the church.

That's our tour guide standing next to the doors. He was very patient with our group, which included seven small children~~



Inside the church~


The church also has stained glass windows depicting the story of Pilgrim's Progress. Here are two~

Evangelist Points the Way

Christian Approaches the House Beautiful

The sad ending is that the church used to have some 300 kids in their Sunday School. Now, they have 5. We need to pray for the church in England. It breaks our hearts to see what a wonderful heritage is here (including beautiful stone churches in every village) but how few people have set their faces toward the Celestial City.