John Bunyan
Recommendation: 4/5
Description of author: John Bunyan (1628-1688) was an English Purtian / Baptist writer and preacher. He is most well-known for his allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Comments: As Christians, we need always to be reminded and exhorted to continue in prayer. How easily we forsake the Mercy Seat and lose sight of the simplicity of God’s ways in Christ. This small paperback is a compilation of two works by Bunyan. The first work was published in 1662 under the title, I will pray with the spirit and with the understanding also. The second work was published posthumously in 1692 under the title, The Saints Privilege and Profit. In the first work he defines and describes true, Biblical prayer. He defines prayer as a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God (p. 13). In the second work he expounds upon Hebrews 4:16 and the Throne of Grace. Bunyan gives us much sound wisdom and Biblical exhortation regarding the necessity and privilege of prayer. He reminds us of the nature of Biblical prayer, and of our continual, desperate need of prayer. He reminds us it is in the times we least feel like praying that we most need to pray. Although the book has a few old English words (e.g. flounce, p. 113; bluft, p. 130), it is generally readable.