PROFOUNDLY RARE & SCARCE 1685 FIRST & ONLY EDITION!
BY JOHN BUNYAN, AUTHOR OF THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS!
WITH ITS ORIGINAL LEATHER BINDING!!!
"QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE AND PERPETUITY OF THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH. AND PROOF THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH" By John Bunyan. London: Printed for Nath. Ponder, 1685. First & Only Edition! 12mo. Measuring 5" x 3" (12.7 x 7.4cm) and Bound in its Original Full Calf Leather Binding! General Title Page Dated 1685. Contains 144 printed pages! Last page (G 11) torn with 3/4 loss, and one text page (G 6) torn with 1/3 loss, otherwise Totally Complete! no blanks. The volume collates as follows: A4, B-F12, G11.
Offered is the extremely rare and extremely desirable first edition, in its original 17th century English sheep binding, of John Bunyan's "Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-day-Sabbath," printed at London in duodecimo for Nathaniel Ponder in 1685. This is the same John Bunyan, of course, who wrote 'A Pilgrim's Progress.'
First editions of Bunyan's works, indeed any 17th century edition of Bunyan, appear on the market with only the greatest scarcity. This copy is still more remarkable, since it is housed in its original 17th century binding. Certainly, there exist no more than a few copies of this work, which was not reprinted, even in editions of Bunyan's works, until 1806. This may be the only copy extant with an Original Binding.
Essentially, Bunyan's brilliant treatise argues against those who held that the true Sabbath Day was Saturday, per Jewish tradition, and that Saturday should therefore be kept Holy. Sunday, according to Bunyan, is the proper Christian Sabbath, since it is the day of the meeting of the Church at Jerusalem, of Pentacost, and of Gentile congregations gathered in accordance with Paul's command. Sunday, as Bunyan states, "is the Christian's Market-day, that which they so solemnly trade in for sole provision for all the week following."
Bunyan structures his treatise according to five questions: whether the seventh-day-Sabbath is revealed by the law of nature; whether the seventh-day-Sabbath was made known prior to the time of Moses; whether the Gentiles were at all concerned when the seventh-day-Sabbath was given to Israel in the wilderness; whether the seventh-day-Sabbath was to be considered amongst the Jewish rites, or whether it was imposed by the Apostles upon the churches of the Gentiles; and finally, given that the seventh-day-Sabbath is found not to be a Christian rite, "what time is to be fixed on for New Testament-Saints to perform together, Divine Worship to God by Christ in?"
In all, this is a remarkable volume that is unlikely to seen again on the market in the foreseeable future, an extremely rare First Edition of the great John Bunyan's "Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-day-Sabbath," printed in duodecimo at London in 1685, housed in its original late 17th century English Leather binding, complete and offered at a reasonable starting price.
JOHN BUNYAN was born in 1628 at Elstow near Bedford, the son of a brazier. Between 1644 and 1647 he served in the Parliamentary army; returning to Elstow to follow his father's trade, he underwent a deep spiritual crisis that lasted for several years. In about 1653 he joined an independent church in Bedford and before long began to preach and to publish polemical and doctrinal religious works. In 1660, following the Restoration, he was arrested and, on his refusal to stop preaching, was held in Bedford gaol for the next twelve years. While in prison, he published several books, the most important being his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), and also began to write The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). On his release from prison in 1672 Bunyan became pastor of the Bedford congregation and the remaining years of his life were spent preaching and writing. The best-known of his later works are The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), The Holy War (1682) and the second part of The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) He died in 1688 and was buried in Bunhill Fields.
When in prison, all John Bunyan had to do to go free was make one promise. He must agree not to preach publicly anymore. Bunyan's reply: "If I was out of prison today, I would preach the gospel again tomorrow by the help of God." Older folk must have shaken their heads in wonder. "John Bunyan of all people! Why, we remember when he was a filthy mouthed ringleader in every sort of mischief." Bunyan was born in 1628 in the heart of England, a mile south of Bedford a few years before the English Civil War. His family was so poor that when his father died, John was left only one shilling and his tinker's anvil. The boy had little formal education. However, he learned to read and feasted on medieval romances in which valiant knights underwent great trials and conquered villains and monsters. In youth he boasted a mouth so profane it shocked even wicked men. Additionally, he loved to dance, bell-ring and lead Sunday sports, all considered improper by Puritans. Although he attended church, he had little religious feeling.
John turned sixteen in 1644 at the height of the Civil War. He joined the army. Since Bedford was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it is probable he served Cromwell. While on duty he was "drawn out" to take part in a siege. Another soldier asked to take his place. "As he stood sentinel he was shot in the head with a musket bullet and died." John came to see this as proof God had spared his life for a great work. Returning home, John married. He was twenty. His wife was as poor as he; between them they did not have a dish or spoon. Her godly father had furnished her with two Christian books--books which John read with an increasingly troubled conscience. One Sunday as he played, he heard a voice. "Will you leave your sins and go to Heaven, or have your sins and go to Hell?" His distress was acute. He felt that he had sinned so gravely he was beyond forgiveness. Nonetheless, he struggled to find peace with God by obeying scriptural commands. Outwardly, he reformed and put off swearing and improper sports. Inwardly, he still longed to participate. He read the Bible. Although without peace, he thought God must be pleased with him. One day he overheard four women speaking of their inner religious experience, and he realized he lacked something. Leaving the Church of England, he joined their fellowship. Still he lacked peace. Only after reading Luther's commentary on Galatians did he realize he could be justified by faith alone. His inner struggles were not over, but he found relief. Bunyan felt compelled to tell others of faith in Christ. He became a field preacher. So effective were his words, people would arrive at dawn to hear him preach at noon. Open-air preaching was illegal. Officials feared that demagogues would incite revolution. For this reason, John was careful never to side with any political faction in his teachings. All the same he was in danger. Warned that he was to be arrested if he held church at a friend's house, he went anyway, determined to set an example of boldness. If he fled, weaker brethren would see it and run also. He was seized and arrested. Without a hearing or witnesses, the judge sentenced John to three months in prison. Bedford's prison conditions were not the worst in England, yet they were a genuine hardship. There was little light and no bathing facilities. The place stank of unwashed bodies. "Prison fever," or Typhus, killed many prisoners. The cells were overcrowded. John's ration was one quarter loaf of bread a day. Worst of all, he was separated from his family. His first wife had died and he had remarried. He was not home to care for his children, including his blind daughter, Mary, whom he dearly loved. To support them, Bunyan made thousands of long, tagged shoelaces which he sold. Church members helped the Bunyans, too.
At the end of three months, John was offered freedom on condition he no longer preach. Again he refused. The months turned to years. All in all he spent twelve years in prison. Fortunately, a sympathetic jailer let John secretly slip off to meetings. He knew John would always return. Once he even let John go to London, but when his job was threatened, he forbade him to so much as peek out the jail door anymore. For political reasons, Charles II released a number of prisoners. Bunyan was not among them. He was told he would have to apply for a pardon. He refused. To do so would be to admit he had done wrong. Elizabeth, his wife, pleaded for his release, but sympathetic court officers said John could go free only if he complied with the authorities. So John remained in prison. He was cheerful, believing he suffered for Christ. He had true freedom, he said. In prison he could read the Bible, preach and sing hymns with no one to stop him. He was also allowed to write. In jail he completed many of his sixty books, including the best known: The Pilgrim's Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Bunyan's first book, Some Gospel Truths Opened According to the Scriptures, had attacked Quaker beliefs. Ironically it was Quakers who freed him. Told by the King to prepare a list of names for pardon, they included Bunyan's with their own members names. Released, Bunyan immediately returned to preaching. By now the authorities realized he was concerned only with the Kingdom of God. They jailed him again for six months in 1675, but otherwise he remained free until he died at sixty years of age, having written The Pilgrim's Progress, the world's most widely circulated book next to the Bible.
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