John Bunyan was brought into this world by God on November 28, AD 1628, less than a decade after Puritan-Pilgrims landed at Plimouth Rock.
Bunyan also became a Puritan - and though he never went to the New World, he became a Pilgrim of a different kind. John Bunyan became an
English Christian writer and preacher, who is well known for his book The
Pilgrim's Progress.- and went to meet his Maker on August 31, AD 1688.
Though he became a non-conformist and member of an Independent church, and although he has been described both as a Baptist and as a Congregationalist, he himself preferred to be described simply as a Christian.
He is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on August 30, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (US) on August 29. Some other Churches of the Anglican Communion, such as the Anglican Church of Australia, honour him on the day of his death (August 31) together with St Aidan of Lindisfarne.
John Bunyan, Beginnings:
John Bunyan was born in 1628 to Thomas and Margaret Bunyan in Bunyan's End in the parish of Elstow, Bedfordshire, England. Bunyan's End was located approximately half way between the hamlet of Harrowden (one mile southeast of Bedford) and Elstow's High Street.
The Bunyan family (the name spelt in various ways) had lived on their land for centuries, originally a larger area, much gradually sold over the years. John Brown's biography gives details of his ancestry. The family's name was originally the Old French Buignon, and is first noted in 1199 at nearby Wilsamsted (Wilstead), the first member or members coming to England as Norman feudal retainers.
The name has also been found in Calais. He is recorded in the Elstow parish register as having been baptised John Bunyan, on 30 November 1628.
On 23 May 1627, Thomas married his second wife, Margaret Bentley. Like Thomas, she was from Elstow and she was also born in 1603. In 1628, Margaret's sister, Rose Bentley, married Thomas' half-brother Edward Bunyan.
They were ordinary villagers, with Thomas earning a living as a chapman, but he may also have been a brazier - one who made and/or mended kettles and pots.
John Bunyan wrote with some exaggeration of his modest origins,
In his writings, John refers to his days in school - this may have been schooling at his father's house, possibly with other poor country boys, but it is possible that he meant that he attended a formal school, possibly the one in Houghton Conquest.
Some think that Bunyan may have attended Bedford Grammar School but some records show that only pupils living in the Borough of Bedford were eligible for a place there. Either way, his later writings demonstrate a high degree of English literacy.
Like his father, John chose a job 'on the road', by adopting the trade of tinker. This was a semi-skilled occupation. Few people could afford to purchase new pots when old ones became holed, so they were mended time and time again.
The arrival of a tinker was therefore often a welcome sight, although the semi-nomadic nature of their life led to tinkers being regarded by some in the same poor light as gypsies.
1644 was an eventful year for the Bunyan family: in June, John lost his mother and, in July, his sister Margaret died. Following this, his father married (for the third time) to Anne Pinney (or Purney) and a half-brother, Charles, was born.
It may have been the arrival of his stepmother that, following his 16th birthday, led John to leave the family home and enlist in the Parliamentary army.
From 1644 to 1647 John served at Newport Pagnell garrison. The English Civil War was then nearing the end of the first stage.
Hand of God in Bunyan's Life?
John was probably saved from death one day when a fellow soldier volunteered to go into battle in his place and was killed while walking sentry duty. After the civil war was won by the Parliamentarians, Bunyan returned to his former trade.
In his autobiography, "Grace Abounding!", Bunyan wrote that he led an abandoned life in his youth and was morally reprehensible as a result. However, there appears to be no