You have chosen the roughest road, but it leads straight to the hilltops.

John Bunyan

When you write something, take for example this blog, you write for not only yourself, but for others who are interested in the same things you are. Whether you reach the desired market isn’t just up to you, there are a lot of variables.  It might be that people just don’t want to read full stop, or they’re just not interested in the subject. Or it may just be a case of not discovering the work. If you believe that everybody is just going to like what you write about, then you’re sadly mistaken.

This week, we’re going on a journey, but not like my trip to Romania. This is more of a spiritual jaunt into the life of a man who was deeply religious and spent his life preaching to the masses, both in person and in pen.

In 1628, a child by the name of John Bunyan was born. Now as the records for that particular time are slightly sketchy, there is no clear cut information on whether he actually attended school formally or was home schooled. This isn’t so important though as he showed a high level of literacy which indicates to me that he wanted to learn.

A tinker by trade, John married a girl who had been orphaned and left only two books by her father. It was those particular books that influenced John into turning to religion. That and of course the voices that he constantly heard – one was supposed to have been the voice of God himself. This led to discussions with members of a nonconformist sect and he was accepted into an independent church.

John Bunyan rose up through the ranks of the church and he wrote religious books and preached in the street without a licence which led to his arrest. As they could not contain him, he continued to preach, but as England returned to Anglicanism due to the restoration of the monarchy, John was soon arrested again and this time, he went to prison. Now I’m not particularly religious, but I don’t recall ‘Thou shalt not spread the good word,’ being one of the Ten Commandments. However, the law is the law.

Statue of Bunyan in Southampton Row London

Of course, in the 1600’s prison wasn’t quite what it is now and these quite times led to him writing a book called The Pilgrim’s Progress. I remember both of my sons having this book.  I think they received it from the Religious Education teacher on separate occasions.  Whether or not they read it is another story entirely.  The book is interesting as it’s written in two parts, kind of the like the Bible. The earliest edition of the two parts together was printed in 1728.

If you follow the story of Christian, you’ll find it full of temptations and choices.  Throughout the book he meets characters such as Help and Goodwill but there are also the darker characters such as Wanton and Envy. These are exactly as they sound and it’s all very ‘stay on the straight and narrow and don't be tempted by evil.’ There are lessons to be learned and a lot you can relate to everyday life as we know it now. I myself have on several occasions met Mrs Inconsiderate and Mr Feeble-Mind. However, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Whether or not you like religion, this story is classic literature and has influenced writers such as Mark Twain and C.S. Lewis. There have been references to The Pilgrim’s Progress in other classics such as Little Women and Jane Eyre. I kind of think that it’s one of those books that should be on a bucket list and if you haven’t read it, you’ll probably find it on the used book shelf of a second hand store.

John Bunyan's grave - Bunhill Fields London

John Bunyan passed away in 1688 and hopefully went to a better place. During his sixty years, he chose a twisted path with ups and downs to reach his final destination. We can all learn something from his life and I for one have learnt that Once upon a time in a prison cell, a man turned the one thing he was arrested for into classic literature and although they did really like what he was writing about, John Bunyan got his way in the end.