John Bunyan was born at Elstow near Bedford, England, in November 1628. His father was a tinker, and Bunyan followed in his father's trade. Not much is known about his early life, but in his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, he says that as a teenager he was attracted to the pleasures of dancing, ringing the bells at the local parish church, and playing tipcat, a popular game. He would later renounce all these amusements as sinful activities.

In 1644, at the age of sixteen, he entered the Parliamentary Army, returning home in 1647. After his first marriage in 1648, he became a regular churchgoer, joining a Baptist society at Bedford. By 1653, he had become a lay preacher as a member of the Congregation at Bedford. When the monarchy was restored to power in 1660, Bunyan was imprisoned in Bedford for unlicensed preaching. There he...