On this day 347 years ago, 12 November 1660, John Bunyan was arrested for “devilishly and perniciously abstaining from coming to Church to hear Divine Service” and various related offences. He was placed in prison without trial, and his young wife, who was pregnant at the time, went into labour for 8 days before delivering her child, which died. In August 1661 she went before the judges to request that her husband’s case be considered, but her request was denied.
In 1662, Bunyan tried unsuccessfully to have his name entered in the calendar of offenders so that his case would come before the judges. Instead, the Clerk of the Peace changed his entry so that Bunyan was kept in prison without trial for four more years. In 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London, he was let out of prison for a brief period, before being recaptured and imprisoned for another six years.
Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress and many other outstanding works of literature, is now recognised as one of the leading figures in the history of the church. His unjust incarceration without trial is one of the many examples which have led to the principle that it is a gross denial of justice to imprison a person without immediately charging the person with a crime and expeditiously holding a public trial. This principle should never be abandoned, even when the alleged crime is considered particularly “devilish and pernicious”.