Book Review: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan

John Bunyan is, perhaps, best known for his highly influential Pilgrim's Progress. Such has been the potency and popularity of this text over the centuries that it has all but eclipsed his other literary output. Last year I bought the Banner of Truth 3 volume set of Bunyan's works and have been dipping in and out of some texts, and ploughing through others. Bunyan is consistently helpful, his mix of depth and clarity, profundity and simplicity, make him at once readable and mind stretching.

My most recent foray into the world of Bunyan has been to read his autobiographical Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. It is to this text that many turn to get an idea of the man behind 'Pilgrim' and to get some sense of the life which led to the production of such a high volume of solid Christian texts. Grace Abounding has also been of interest to the world of literary studies, capturing as it does something of the evangelical experience of conversion.The brief synopsis at the beginning of Grace Abounding nicely captures the preoccupations which dominate the rest of the text. This is a book,

"wherein is particularly showed the manner of his conversion, his sight and trouble for sin, his dreadful temptations, also how he despaired of God's mercy, and how the Lord at length through Christ did deliver him from all the guilt and terror that lay upon him"

This, then, will be much less, and simultaneously much more, than a straightforward autobiography. The text will recount some events from Bunyan's life, but it will also (chiefly?) be a psychological treatment, probing the inner motivations, thoughts, aspirations and despair of its subject. Bunyan's great skill is to lay bare to the reader, not merely the events that befell him, but the emotions and inner responses he felt as his journey to faith unfolded.

This is not always an easy road to walk with the author. His journey to Christ was not direct from the profanity of his unsaved life into the fullness of faith. Rather by circuitous and at times torturous trails Bunyan travels from outright rebellion, through self-righteous hypocrisy, to faltering belief, before finally receiving assurance of sins forgiven. Bunyan's mind is of a particular type, and even as he recounts his experiences one gets a sense that this man may at times have bordered on obsessive compulsion. His description of fearing the fury of God, and moving away from below the bell in his local Bedford parish church lest it and the tower in which it was held should fall on him, is one example of many where Bunyan's conscience caused him tremendous concern. On another occasion he dismisses Christ from his thinking, only to come to the belief that Christ has finally cast him off forever; the mental anguish endured by the author at this point is painful to read. Should Bunyan have lived in the 21st century one can imagine that many counselors would have been queued at his door to 'fix' him.

The net results of Bunyan's account of struggle are, however, very beneficial. They on one hand warn us about the dangers of intensive spiritual introspection and the manner in which Satan can use a good thing (a tender conscience) for impure ends. The lessons from Bunyan's experience are informative, but not always exemplary, his torment of soul should not be sought as a measure of spiritual maturity.  But they also provide us with a helpful contrast to our modern ability to dismiss our sin lightly, and to readily presume upon the grace of God. At times, as I read Bunyan's account of his struggles, I felt intense guilt that I have so often minimised my own failures, rushing to grace rather than grappling with how exactly I have offended God. I also can see numerous pastoral uses for Bunyan's account, imagining that it might minister effectively to individuals who find themselves locked in a struggle with guilt and acceptance with God.

Bunyan writes powerfully, beautifully and with breathtaking candour about how grace impacted this 'chief of sinners' so wondrously. Grace Abounding conveys the sincere heart of a humble sinner in search of a great Saviour. It is a work invested with emotional honesty, but which chiefly speaks of God's great grace a great sinner and, by extension, to us all.