Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688

[John Bunyan] had to live through that obscure night—“wide, vast, and lonely”—which fell upon St. John of the Cross before; like him, he knew that grace would enter “the dark caverns where the senses live.” In the meantime, Bunyan tossed to and fro, as it were between heaven and hell. It has been said that he paints too dark a picture of his moral condition when a young man, that he exaggerates his wickedness at this period, and afterwards wrestles with phantoms of his vivid imagination. But spiritual sins, though not so obvious as those that are sensual, may be just as real; and Bunyan’s intensity of feeling and expression arose from the intensity of his spiritual nature.

... Arthur Stanley (c. 1873-1961), The Bedside Bunyan: an anthology of the writings of John Bunyan, John Bunyan, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947, p. 126 (see the book; see also Matt. 4:16; Ps. 107:10-14; Isa. 9:1-2; 42:6-7; 60:1-3; Mic. 7:8; Matt. 9:12-13; Luke 1:76-79; 2:30-32; more at Darkness, Evil, Grace, Heaven, Hell, Historical, Night, Sin)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 08/27/16

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