George Witchfield said this of the Pilgrim's Progress.

It smells of the prison.

It was written when the author was confined in Bedford jail

and ministers never write or preach so well

as when under the cross the spirit of Christ and of glory then rests upon them.

Why do the greatest lessons often come through suffering?

In this episode of Light and Truth,

John Piper explores how John Bunyan's time in prison

made his preaching and writing a balm for those who suffer.

This biographical message was originally delivered at the 1999 Bethlehem Conference

for Pastors.

These are the effects that I see in Bunyan's life of his suffering that we should appropriate for ourselves, and I'll

try to help us do that. Number one, Bunyan's suffering confirmed him in his calling as a writer,

especially for the afflicted church. Now, the biggest distortion that I have made of Bunyan's life so far is that I have not even mentioned his writings.

Now, everybody knows that he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress.

The Pilgrim's Progress is the most widely distributed book in the history of the world outside the Bible,

written by a man with no formal education. It's been translated into 200 languages and is

especially popular in the third world.

And reading the history of the Pilgrim's Progress was mind-boggling.

I'd love to tell you some stories about 18th century China.

And the impact, it almost became the first little red book in China.

But different course of events changed all of that.

...