Mary Jones

Mary Jones: Gwynedd

We know about Mary Jones only because of her passionate desire to have a Bible of her own. Her story is a symbol of dedication and perseverance, seen in a little girl who loved to read God's Word.

In 1800, a lithe sixteen year old girl walked from her home in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, a tiny village in Gwynedd, North Wales, the 32 miles over the desolate hills to Bala. To save her shoes, she walked barefoot for most of the way during her ten-hour pilgrimage southwards. Mary Jones was to buy a Bible. Mary had heard that Welsh Bibles were for sale from the Rev. Thomas Charles, the Calvinistic Methodist apostle of North Wales.

For six long years Mary had struggled to save money for her purchase. Her desire to own a Bible had been born within her from hearing the Word of God read in the chapel she attended each Sunday. Mary longed to read more from this wonderful book, to learn more of the wonderful Word of Life. Welsh Bibles were exceedingly expensive and few copies found their way into private homes. But one had found a home, only a few miles from where Mary lived. The neighbours, who possessed this treasure, invited Mary to come and read in her 'spare time', of which, with school and housework, she had all too little. This kindness didn't quench Mary's desire to own a Bible, it fuelled it.

In those days many hundreds of folk sang their way across the windy hills of Wales, drawn by preaching of irresistible spiritual power. The grey chapels, warm hovels, market squares and rolling hills and valleys were aflame with the preaching of William Williams, Howell Harris, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and Daniel Rowlands. And the centre of all this activity was just outside Talgarth, at Trefeca. Those were the days and that was the Wales in which Mary lived, read and died.

With heart-determination to save for her own copy of God's Word, Mary set about to earn the money she would need, doing jobs for anyone who needed help and might be able to spare her the odd penny. Mary saved money for six years by doing all manner of odd jobs. When she had enough money, she knew that the nearest place, indeed the only place, to buy a Welsh Bible was in Bala, at the house of the Calvinistic Methodist minister the Rev Thomas Charles, whose statue stands in Bala to this day.

Arriving at the preacher's house, Mary was told there were no Bibles available. Mary wept. A resourceful Thomas Charles asked that Mary call at his home again the next day. On the morrow, the compassionate Rev Charles somehow had arranged to find a Bible for Mary. And by the alchemy of grace, Mary's tears watered the idea that gave birth, five years later, to the British and Foreign Bible Society.

As Thomas Charles shared her experience with others, Mary Jones's story inspired a number, including William Wilberforce, to meet the need forBibles; affordable and accessible Bibles for everyone, not just in Wales but across the world. The Bible Society began printing and distributing Bibles in numerous languages, a mission that continues to this day.

Such is the record of this little, otherwise insignificant child. How wonderful the ways of God, in his providence, by which his Word 'spreads and is multiplied'!

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.    (1 Corinthians 1.25-29)