“Mary” BunyanUpon release from his tour of duty as a soldier in the Parliamentary ranks, John Bunyan married his first wife. Her name is speculated to be “Mary:” as it was customary to name one’s first daughter after the mother, and this was the name of the Bunyan’s blind daughter. Although Mary was monetarily poor, her dowry was of priceless value to John’s future. Mary brought a practical faith to her marriage, as well as stories of her Godly father. Bunyan writes, “She would be often telling me of what a Godly man her Father was, and how he would reprove and correct Vice, both in his house, and amongst his neighbours; what a strict and holy life he lived in his day, both in word and deed.” The Bunyans were so poor that John once wrote that they did not have “so much household stuff as a dish or a spoon betwixt us both.” But Mary did bring two books that would influence John’s life and ministry. The books were, The Plaine Man’s Path-way to Heaven, Wherein every man may clearly ...

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