Works of John Bunyan — Volume 02 — Text and Context

Pulpit Origins and Editorial Framing

Offor's prefatory remarks provide the volume's interpretive key: these treatises were 'originally conceived for the pulpit' and later 'written for the press' with probable additions. He praises Bunyan as 'a real and not a pretended descendant from the apostles,' claiming his object was 'to preach not himself, but Christ Jesus his Lord.' The editor's language—'warn the thoughtless—break the stony heart—convince the wavering'—reflects a homiletic aim that Bunyan's own prose confirms.

The excerpts show Bunyan employing direct address and rhetorical questions, as when he asks, 'You know, that a man when his heart is open, is taken with some excellent thing.' This conversational tone, combined with scriptural citation (Prov 19:17; 2 Cor 9:12-15), suggests the treatises retain their oral delivery's urgency. Offor's notes thus serve as a bridge between Bunyan's seventeenth-century pulpit and the nineteenth-century reader.

First-Day Worship and Apostolic Authority

A substantial excerpt argues for the first day of the week as the proper time for Christian worship and charitable collection. Bunyan grounds this in apostolic practice: 'the apostle by the command now under consideration, continues the sanction of that day to the churches to the end of the world.' He contrasts this with the 'old seventh day sabbath,' which he claims Paul 'has so taken away that whole ministration in the bowels of which it is.'

Bunyan's reasoning is cumulative: Christ's resurrection occurred on that day, the Holy Ghost 'seconded it,' and the churches 'practised it.' He uses repetition for emphasis—'the first day, the first day, the first day, is now all the cry in the churches by the apostles.' The passage reveals Bunyan's willingness to engage in contemporary sabbatarian debates, asserting that 'neither doth the apostle Paul, nor any of his fellows, so much as once speak one word to the churches that shows the least regard, as to conscience to God, of a seventh day sabbath more.'

Practical Piety and the Cheerful Giver

Bunyan's treatment of charitable collection exemplifies his integration of doctrine and practice. He cites 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 ('God loveth a cheerful giver') and argues that the first day is most fitting because worship 'opens, and makes free, the heart to the poor.' The metaphor of striking 'while the iron is hot' captures his pragmatic pastoral sense: the apostle 'takes the churches as it were at the advantage' to encourage generosity.

The passage also reveals Bunyan's view of the Lord's Day as a time of blessing: 'This is the day on which, at first, it rained manna all day long from heaven upon the new testament church, and so continues to do this day.' The imagery of manna ties weekly provision to divine abundance. Bunyan's closing concession—'although what I have said may be but little set by of some'—acknowledges dissent while reaffirming his position. The editor's note that this treatise 'does not appear ever to have been published as a separate volume' underscores its place within a larger corpus aimed at 'experimental, doctrinal, and practical' Christianity.

Readers approaching this volume should attend to the interplay between Bunyan's pulpit rhetoric and Offor's editorial apparatus. The treatises reward careful reading of scriptural citations, which Bunyan weaves into argument rather than merely decorating it. The divisions and sub-divisions that Offor notes as aids to memory can also serve modern readers as structural signposts through Bunyan's dense reasoning. This is not a work for quick browsing; its value emerges in sustained engagement with Bunyan's exegetical method and pastoral concerns.