Last words of the faithful
John Bunyan
Died 31 August 1688 · London, of a fever
John Bunyan, the tinker who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in prison, died in London on 31 August 1688. He had ridden through heavy rain to reconcile a young man with his estranged father, took a fever on the journey, and died days later. The early accounts record his last words as a commitment of himself to Christ.
The last words
The story behind them
He spent twelve years in Bedford gaol because he would not stop preaching without a licence, and he could have walked out on any day of it by promising to stop. He had a blind daughter he could not provide for while he was inside, and he wrote that parting from his family felt like pulling the flesh from his bones. He still would not promise.
Out of that prison came The Pilgrim's Progress, which for two centuries was the book in an English speaking house if there were only two, the other being the Bible.
The errand that killed him was not preaching. It was getting two people talking again.
In August 1688 he heard that a young man had fallen out with his father and was in danger of being disinherited. Bunyan rode to the father and talked him round, then rode on to London through heavy rain. He took a fever and did not recover. The early account of his death records his last words as a commitment of himself into the hands of the one he had spent his life writing about: take me, for I come to Thee. The man who wrote the most famous journey in English literature died on a horse, in the rain, on somebody else's errand.
What they died for, you can meet
None of these people died for an idea. They died holding onto a Person, convinced that death was not the end because he had already walked out of a tomb. The Living Bread is a quiet place to meet that same Jesus, read the Gospels for yourself, and ask your honest questions.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What were John Bunyan's last words?
- The early Continuation of Mr Bunyan's Life records them as, 'Take me, for I come to Thee.'
- How did John Bunyan die?
- He rode through heavy rain to reconcile a young man with his estranged father, then continued to London, caught a fever on the journey, and died on 31 August 1688.
- Why was John Bunyan in prison?
- For preaching without a licence. He spent about twelve years in Bedford gaol and could have been released at any point by promising to stop. He refused, and wrote The Pilgrim's Progress there.
