Table of Contents
An Exposition on the
FIRST TEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS,
And Part of the Eleventh
by John Bunyan
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death,
in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the
works of John Bunyan.
ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR
Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist
denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth
year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis.
'What,' said the D.D., with some appearance of incredulity, 'Bunyan a commentator--upon
Genesis!! Impossible! Well, I never heard of that work of the good Bunyan before. Why,
where is it to be found?' Yes, it is true that he has commented on that portion of sacred
scripture, containing the cosmogony of creation--the fall of man--the first murder--the
deluge--and other facts which have puzzled the most learned men of every age; and he has
proved to be more learned than all others in his spiritual perceptions. He graduated at a
higher university--a university unshackled by human laws, conventional feelings, and
preconceived opinions. His intense study of the Bible, guided by the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, enabled him to throw a new and beautiful light upon objects which are otherwise
obscure. Oh! that young ministers, while attaining valuable book learning, may see the
necessity of taking a high degree in, and of never forgetting this Bible university!
Reader, is it not surprizing, that such a treatise should have remained comparatively
hidden for more than one hundred and fifty years. It has been reprinted in many editions
of Bunyan's works: but in all, except the first, with the omission of the scripture
references; and with errors of so serious a character as if it was not intended to be
read. Even in printing the text of Genesis 7:7 Noah's three sons do not enter the ark!
although in 8:16 they are commanded to go forth out of the ark. It is now presented to the
public exactly as the author left it, with the addition of notes, which it is hoped will
illustrate and not encumber the text.
This exposition is evidently the result of long and earnest study of the holy
scriptures. It is the history of the creation and of the flood explained and
spiritualized, and had it been originally published in that form and under a proper title,
it would most probably have become a very popular work. The author's qualifications for
writing this commentary were exclusively limited to his knowledge of holy writ. To book
learning he makes no pretensions. He tells us that in his youth 'God put it into my
parents' hearts to put me to school, to learn to read and write as other poor men's
children; though, to my shame, I confess, I did soon lose that little I learnt even almost
utterly.' In after life, his time was occupied in obtaining a livelihood by labour. When
enduring severe mental conflicts, and while he maintained his family by the work of his
hands, he was an acceptable pastor, and extensively useful in itinerant labours of love in
the villages round Bedford. His humility, when he had used three common Latin words,
prompted him to say in the margin, 'The Latine I borrow.' And this unlettered mechanic,
when he might have improved himself in book wisdom, was shut up within the walls of a
prison for nearly thirteen years, for obeying God, only solaced with his Bible and Fox's
Book of Martyrs. Yet he made discoveries relative to the creation, which have been very
recently again published by a learned philosopher, who surprised and puzzled the world
with his vestiges of creation. Omitting the fanciful theories of the vestige philosopher,
his two great facts, proved by geological discoveries, are--I. That when the world was
created and set in motion, it was upon principles by which it is impelled on to
perfection--a state of irresistible progress in improvement. This is the theory of Moses:
and Bunyan's exposition is, that all was finished, even to the creation of all the souls
which were to animate the human race, and then God rested from his work. II. The
second geological discovery is that the world was far advanced towards perfection
producing all that was needful for human life, before man was created. Upon this subject,
Bunyan's words are--'God shews his respect to this excellent creature, in that he first
provideth for him before he giveth him his being. He bringeth him not to an empty house,
but to one well furnished with all kind of necessaries, having beautified the heaven and
the earth with glory, and all sorts of nourishment for his pleasure and sustenance.' But
the most pious penetration is exhibited in the spiritualizing of the creation and of the
flood--every step produces some type of that new creation, or regeneration, without which
no soul can be fitted for heaven. The dim twilight before the natural sun was made, is
typical of the state of those who believed before Christ, the Sun of righteousness, arose
and was manifested. The fixed stars are emblems of the church, whose members all shine,
but with different degrees of lustre--sometimes eclipsed, and at others mistaken for
transient meteors. The whales and lions are figures of great persecutors. But the most
singular idea of all is, that the moral degradation of human nature before the flood, was
occasioned by hypocrisy and persecution for conscience sake, arising from governors
interfering with matters of faith and worship; in fact, that a STATE CHURCH occasioned the
deluge--and since that time has been the fruitful source of the miseries and wretchedness
that has afflicted mankind. His prediction of the outpouring of the Spirit in the
conversion of sinners, when the church shall be no longer enthralled and persecuted by the
state, is remarkable. 'O thou church of God in England, which art now upon the waves of
affliction and temptation, when thou comest out of the furnace, if thou come out at the
bidding of God, there shall come out with thee, the fowl, the beast, and abundance of
creeping things. O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity
of my people.' May this prediction soon be verified, and the temporal government no longer
vex and torment the church by interfering with spiritual things.
It is remarkable that of the vast number of pious and enlightened mechanics who adorn
this country and feed its prosperity, so few read the extraordinary writings of John
Bunyan, a brother mechanic; for with the exception of the Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War,
they are comparatively little known. His simple but illustrative commentary--his book of
Antichrist--his solemn and striking treatise on the resurrection and final judgment--in
fact, all his works, are peculiarly calculated to inform the minds of the millions--to
reform bad habits, and, under the divine blessing, to purify the soul with that heavenly
wisdom which has in it the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to
come. It is also a fact which ought to be generally known, that those preachers who have
edited Bunyan's works and have drunk into his spirit, have been most eminently blessed in
their ministry; Wilson, Whitefield, and Ryland, can never be forgotten. If the thousands
of godly preachers who are scattered over our comparatively happy island were to take
Bunyan's mode of expounding scripture as their pattern, it would increase their
usefulness, and consequently their happiness, in the great work of proclaiming and
enforcing the doctrines of the gospel.
GEO OFFOR.
