A TREATISE EVEN MORE RELEVANT NEARLY 350 YEARS LATER

Light for Them that Sit in Darkness is a "Discourse of Jesus Christ" by John Bunyan. This treatise was originally published in 1674 with the purpose of correcting some doctrinal issues concerning the gospel which were running rampant at the time.

Free from his incarceration at the Bedford Jail for two years (after 12 years in prison), Mr. Bunyan exhorted his readers to embrace a pure gospel, a Biblical gospel. Bunyan viewed the Person and work of Jesus Christ the mainspring from which every aspect of acceptable Christianity was produced, be it doctrinal, dutiful or devotional. "Good works must flow from faith, or not at all," wrote John Bunyan in his 1663 treatise, Christian Behaviour (first published in 1674).

FROM GEORGE OFFER IN 1862

In his "Editor's Advertisement," prelude to this treatise in The Complete Works of John Bunyan, George Offor wrote, "Every age has had its peculiar delusions for the trial of the spirit- mysticism in Bunyan's time, Puseyism in our days. Prior to the Reformation, the clergy, called the church, claimed implicit obedience from the laity as essential to salvation, and taught that inquiry was the high road to eternal ruin. After the Bible had been extensively circulated, many regarded it as the letter which killeth- that it was of no importance, compared with the light within, which alone was essential. These were not the notions of any one or two sects, but had spread their influence to a considerable extent over the Christian church."

More than 150 years since Mr. Offor wrote his advertisement, and nearly 350 years since Mr. Bunyan wrote this treatise, error has multiplied and, worse, been magnified to nearly culminate with a mishmash of every error and corruption of the gospel since the birth of the church in the first century.

With Mr. Bunyan's treatise, Light for Them that Sit in Darkness, the discerning believer will agree that the Bedford tinker-turned-preacher's exhortation to receive knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior must come from the scriptures alone, and that this knowledge must be received and understood by the light of the Holy Spirit; and logically presenting the Biblical truths in Mr. Bunyan's unique and indefatigable way, you will be encouraged by this work and rejoice in its purity of propositional truth, revel in its sincerity toward practical application, and resolve to take up a more passionate devotion to Christ's person as God and Savior.

SPURGEON ON BUNYAN'S WRITING.

Of John Bunyan and his classic story, Charles H. Spurgeon had this to say: "...he cannot give us his Pilgrim's Progress- that sweetest of all prose poems- without continually making us feel and say, 'Why, this man is a living Bible!' Prick him anywhere; his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him." Although Mr. Spurgeon preached this concerning Bunyan's famous allegory, once you've read this treatise, you'll readily agree, that Bunyan's blood is indeed Bibline in everything he writes.

May you benefit greatly from the puritan heart and mind of John Bunyan, forged by God's Word and formed by Christ's Divine Light.