“I would not have been without this trial for much; I am comforted every time I think of it, and I hope I shall bless God for ever, for the teaching I have had by it.”
- Date
- 1666
Meaning of “I would not have been without this trial…”
Bunyan retrospectively interprets a period of fear and spiritual testing as instruction that strengthened his sense of sincerity and dependence on God.
Where does it come from?
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, paragraph 339, represented by Project Gutenberg #654. This is Bunyan’s explicitly Christian autobiographical reflection after describing fear of imprisonment, death and spiritual abandonment; it remains devotional testimony rather than general mental-health or adversity advice.