from This World to That Which Is to Come:
Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream
CLASSIC WESLEYAN EDITION
I looked, and saw him open the Book, and read therein;
and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being
able longer to contain, he brake out with a
lamentable cry; saying, what shall I do?
Copyright © 2019 Seedbed Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge, 1796.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Strange Last Name
Page design by PerfecType, Nashville, Tennessee
Bunyan, John, 1628–1688.
The pilgrim’s progress from this world to that which is to come : delivered under the similitude of a dream / by John Bunyan. – Franklin, Tennessee : Seedbed Publishing, ©2019. Classic Wesleyan edition.
pages : illustrations ; cm. – (John Wesley collection)
Previously published: Nashville, Tenn. : E. Stevenson & F.A. Owen, agents for the Methodist Episcopal Church South, 1856
ISBN 9781628243352 (paperback)
ISBN 9781628243369 (Mobi)
ISBN 9781628243376 (ePub)
ISBN 9781628243383 (uPDF)
PR3330.A1 2019 |
826 |
2019948312 |
SEEDBED PUBLISHING
Franklin, Tennessee
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Publisher’s Foreword
The Author’s Apology for His Book
PART I
The First Stage
Christian’s Deplorable Condition—Evangelist Directs Him—Obstinate and Pliable—Slough of Despond—Worldly Wiseman—Mount Sinai—Conversation with Evangelist
The Second Stage
The Gate—Conversation with Goodwill—The Interpreter’s House—Christian Entertained—The Sights There Shown Him
The Third Stage
Loses His Burden at the Cross—Simple, Sloth, Presumption, Formalist, Hypocrisy—Hill Difficulty—The Arbor—Misses His Roll—The Palace Beautiful—The Lions—Talk with Discretion, Piety, Prudence, and Charity—Wonders Shown to Christian—He Is Armed
The Fourth Stage
Valley of Humiliation—Conflict with Apollyon—Valley of the Shadow of Death—Giants Pope and Pagan
The Fifth Stage
Discourse with Faithful—Talkative and Faithful—Talkative’s Character
The Sixth Stage
Evangelist Overtakes Christian and Faithful—Vanity Fair—The Pilgrims Brought to Trial—Faithful’s Martyrdom
The Seventh Stage
Christian and Hopeful—By-Ends and His Companions—Plain of Ease—Lucre Hill—Demas—The River of Life—Vain-Confidence—Giant Despair—The Pilgrims Beaten—The Dungeon—The Key of Promise
The Eighth Stage
The Delectable Mountains—Entertained by the Shepherds—A By-Way to Hell
The Ninth Stage
Christian and Hopeful Meet Ignorance—Turn-Away—Little-Faith—The Flatterer—The Net—Chastised by a Shining One—Atheist—Enchanted Ground—Hopeful’s Account of His Conversion—Discourse of Christian and Ignorance
The Tenth Stage
Talk of Christian and Hopeful—Temporary—The Backslider—The Land of Beulah—Christian and Hopeful Pass the River—Welcome to the Celestial City
Conclusion
The Author’s Apology for the Second Part: The Author’s Way of Sending Forth His Second Part of the Pilgrim
PART II
Pilgrimage of Christiana and Her Children: To the Reader
The First Stage
Christiana and Mercy—Slough of Despond—Knocking at the Gate—The Dog—Talk between the Pilgrims
The Second Stage
The Devil’s Garden—Two Ill-Favored Ones Assault Them—The Reliever—Entertainment at the Interpreter’s House—The Significant Rooms—Christiana and Mercy’s Experience
The Third Stage
Accompanied by Great-Heart—The Cross—Justified by Christ—Sloth and His Companions Hung—The Hill Difficulty—The Arbor
The Fourth Stage
The Lions—Giant Grim Slain by Great-Heart—The Pilgrims Entertained—The Children Catechized by Prudence—Mr. Brisk—Matthew Sick—The Remedy—Sights Shown the Pilgrims
The Fifth Stage
Valley of Humiliation—Valley of the Shadow of Death—Giant Maul Slain
The Sixth Stage
Discourse with Old Honest—Character and History of Mr. Fearing—Mr. Self-Will and Some Professors—Gaius’s House—Conversation—The Supper—Old Honest and Great-Heart’s Riddles and Discourse—Giant Slay-Good Killed—Mr. Feeble-Mind’s History—Mr. Ready-to-Halt—Vanity Fair—Mr. Mnason’s House—Cheering Entertainment and Converse—A Monster
The Seventh Stage
Hill Lucre—River of Life—Giant Despair Killed—The Delectable Mountains—Entertainment by the Shepherds
The Eighth Stage
Valiant-for-Truth’s Victory—His Talk with Great-Heart—The Enchanted Ground—Heedless and Too-Bold—Mr. Standfast—Madam Bubble’s Temptations—The Land of Beulah—Christiana Summoned—Her Parting Addresses—She Passes the River—She Is Followed by Ready-to-Halt, Feeble-Mind, Despondency and His Daughter, Honest, Valiant, and Standfast
For nearly two hundred years, John Bunyan’s iconic title The Pilgrim’s Progress was a staple part of the fabric of Methodism. Bunyan titled the story as “the similitude of a dream” in which the main character, the pilgrim, Christian, begins an epic journey from his home in the City of Destruction (the lost world) to the Celestial City (his heavenly goal), traveling “from this world to that which is to come.”
Competing editions of the classic allegory have been printed by various regional publishers of American Methodism throughout the years and it is among those works central to early Methodism.
Remarkably, a thirty-page outline study to The Pilgrim’s Progress was included in the Methodist Episcopal Church’s Probationer’s Companion, the handbook for all new members (which included their official membership certificate) published in 1893. In the introduction to the section about The Pilgrim’s Progress, the church’s editors state:
As the book covers the Christian life from awakening to glorification it is profitable for all who are trying to walk in “the way,” probationers and church members alike. It is indeed wonderful how this work of Bunyan can be made to teach, warm, inspire, and edify.
There is truly no way to know the vast number of editions of this public domain work that have been produced by publishers across the globe, who have collectively released editions in more than two hundred languages in the 350-plus years since Bunyan originally wrote it. New competitive editions have often featured lavish illustrations and handsome bindings; publishers have made unique editorial changes in format, chapter structure, and word selections, seeking to update the work for rising generations of readers. The organization and language of Seedbed’s edition is consistent with the 1850s-era editions, which have been popular with American Methodist publishers. We have made modest stylistic changes and occasional word changes where needed.
This new edition of The Pilgrim’s Progress joins the other titles we have collectively called the John Wesley Collection. John Wesley’s profound legacy and impact on Christianity in the world, both in his lifetime and since, can be viewed through several lenses. The revival that arose under his leadership changed the social and political structure of eighteenth-century England as the poor and lost found hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than in revolution against the crown. The influence of Wesley’s Spirit-inspired teaching continued unabated as the Methodist movement spread scriptural holiness across the American continent and lands far beyond.
Wesley was vitally driven by the reality of the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. His teaching on entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is the capstone of his legacy. He worked tirelessly to abridge and republish vital works by historical figures of previous generations, reaching as far back as the apostolic fathers of the first-century church. He constantly curated voices that communicated the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing believers into the fullness of salvation and lives of holy love.
These writings resourced the early Methodists in their quest to spread the gospel by providing the intellectual and spiritual moorings for the messengers of the movement. Seedbed believes these writings are as relevant today as they were in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Andrew Miller
Seedbed Publishing
WHEN at the first I took my pen in hand
Thus for to write, I did not understand
That I at all should make a little book
In such a mode; nay, I had undertook
To make another; which, when almost done,
Before I was aware, I this begun.
And thus it was: I was writing of the way
And race of saints, in this our gospel-day,
Fell suddenly into an allegory
About their journey, and the way to glory,
In more than twenty things which I set down,
This done, I twenty more had in my crown;
And they again began to multiply,
Like sparks that from the coals of fire do fly.
Nay, then, thought I, if that you breed so fast,
I’ll put you by yourselves, lest you at last
Should prove ad infinitum, and eat out
The book that I already am about.
Well, so I did; but yet I did not think
To show to all the world my pen and ink
In such a mode; I only thought to make
I knew not what: nor did I undertake
Thereby to please my neighbor: no, not I;
I did it mine own self to gratify.
Neither did I but vacant seasons spend
In this my scribble: nor did I intend
But to divert myself in doing this
From worser thoughts which make me do amiss.
Thus I set pen to paper with delight.
And quickly had my thoughts in black and white.
For having now my method by the end,
Still as I pull’d, it came; and so I penn’d
It down: until at last it came to be.
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
Well, when I had thus put mine ends together,
I show’d them others, that I might see whether
They would condemn them, or them justify:
And some said, “Let them live”; some, “Let them die”;
Some said, “John, print it”; others said, “Not so”;
Some said, “It might do good”; others said, “No.”
Now was I in a strait, and did not see
Which was the best thing to be done by me:
At last I thought, Since you are thus divided,
I print it will: and so the case decided.
For, thought I, some I see would have it done.
Though others in that channel do not run:
To prove, then, who advised for the best,
Thus I thought fit to put it to the test.
I further thought, if now I did deny
Those that would have it thus, to gratify;
I did not know, but hinder them I might
Of that which would to them be great delight.
For those which were not for its coming forth,
I said to them, Offend you I am loath:
Yet, since your brethren pleased with it be,
Forbear to judge, till you do further see.
If that thou wilt not read, let it alone;
Some love the meat, some love to pick the bone.
Yea, that I may them better palliate,
I did too with them thus expostulate:
May I not write in such a style as this?
In such a method too, and yet not miss
Mine end—thy good? Why may it not be done?
Dark clouds bring waters, when the bright bring none.
Yea, dark or bright, if their silver drops
Cause to descend, the earth, by yielding crops.
Gives praise to both, and carpeth not at either,
But treasures up the fruit they yield together;
Yea, so commixes both, that in her fruit
None shall distinguish this from that: they suit
Her well when hungry; but if she be full.
She spews out both, and makes their blessings null.
You see the ways the fisherman doth take
To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?
Behold how he engageth all his wits;
Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets;
Yet fish there be, that neither hook nor line,
Nor snare, nor net, nor engine can make thine;
Or they will not be catch’d, whate’er you do.
They must be groped for, and be tickled, too.
How does the fowler seek to catch his game?
By divers means, all which one cannot name.
His gun, his nets, his lime-twigs, light and bell;
He creeps, he goes, he stands; yea, who can tell
Of all his postures? Yet there’s none of these
Will make him master of what fowls he please.
Yea, he must pipe and whistle to catch this;
Yet, if he does so, that bird he will miss.
If that a pearl may in a toad’s head dwell,
And may be found, too, in an oyster shell;
If things that promise nothing do contain
What better is than gold; who will disdain,
That have an inkling of it, there to look.
That they may find it? Now my little book
(Though void of all these paintings that may make
It with this or the other man to take)
Is not without those things that do excel
What do in brave, but empty notions dwell.
“Well, yet I am not fully satisfied
That this your book will stand, when soundly tried.”
Why, what’s the matter? “It is dark.” What though?
“But it is feigned.” What of that? I trow
Some men, by feigned words, as dark as mine,
Make truth to spangle, and its rays to shine.
“But they want solidness.” Speak, man, thy mind.
“They drown the weak; metaphors make us blind.”
Solidity, indeed, becomes the pen
Of him that writeth things divine to men;
But must I needs want solidness, because
By metaphors I speak? Were not God’s laws,
His gospel-laws, in olden time held forth
By types, shadows, and metaphors? Yet loath
Will any sober man be to find fault
With them, lest he be found for to assault
The highest wisdom? No, he rather stoops,
And seeks to find out by what pins and loops,
By calves and sheep, by heifers and by rams,
By birds and herbs, and by the blood of lambs;
God speaketh to him; and happy is he
That finds the light and grace that in them be.
Be not too forward, therefore, to conclude
That I want solidness—that I am rude;
All things solid in show not solid be;
All things in parable despise not we,
Lest things most hurtful lightly we receive,
And things that good are of our souls bereave.
My dark and cloudy words, they do but hold
The truth, as cabinets enclose the gold.
The prophets used much by metaphors
To set forth truth; yea, whoso considers
Christ, his apostles, too, shall plainly see,
That truths to this day in such mantles be.
Am I afraid to say, that holy writ,
Which for its style and phrase puts down all wit,
Is everywhere so full of all these things,
Dark figures, allegories? Yet there springs
From that same book, that lustre, and those rays
Of light, that turn our darkest nights to days.
Come, let my carper to his life now look,
And find there darker lines than in my book
He findeth any; yea, and let him know
That in his best things there are worse lines, too.
May we but stand before impartial men.
To his poor one, I durst adventure ten,
That they will take my meaning in these lines
Far better than his lies in silver shrines.
Come, truth, although in swaddling-clothes, I find
Informs the judgment, rectifies the mind,
Pleases the understanding, makes the will
Submit; the memory, too, it doth fill
With what doth our imagination please;
Likewise, it tends our troubles to appease.
Sound words, I know, Timothy is to use,
And old wives’ fables he is to refuse;
But yet grave Paul him nowhere doth forbid
The use of parables; in which lay hid
That gold, those pearls, and precious stones that were
Worth digging for, and that with greatest care.
Let me add one word more. O man of God,
Art thou offended? Dost thou wish I had
Put forth my matter in another dress?
Or, that I had in things been more express?
Three things let me propound, then I submit
To those that are my betters, as is fit.
1. I find not that I am denied the use
Of this my method, so I no abuse
Put on the words, things, readers, or be rude
In handling figure or similitude,
In application; but all that I may
Seek the advance of truth this, or that, way.
Denied, did I say? Nay, I have leave,
(Example, too, and that from them that have
God better pleased, by their words or ways,
Than any man that breatheth now-a-days)
Thus to express my mind, thus to declare
Things unto thee that excellentest are.
2. I find that men as high as trees will write
Dialogue-wise; yet no man doth them slight
For writing so; indeed, if they abuse
Truth, cursed be they, and the craft they use
To that intent; but yet let truth be free
To make her sallies upon thee and me,
Which way it pleases God. For who knows how,
Better than he that taught us first to plough.
To guide our minds and pens for his design?
And he makes base things usher in divine.
3. I find that holy writ in many places
Hath semblance with this method, where the cases
Doth call for one thing to set forth another;
Use it I may then, and yet nothing smother
Truth’s golden beams; nay, by this method may
Make it cast forth its rays as light as day.
And now, before I do put up my pen,
I’ll show the profit of my Book; and then
Commit both thee and it unto that hand
That pulls the strong down and makes weak ones stand.
This book it chalketh out before thine eyes
The man that seeks the everlasting prize;
It also shows you whence he comes, whither he goes,
What he leaves undone, also what he does;
It shows you how he runs and runs,
Till he unto the gate of glory comes.
It shows, too, who set out for life amain,
As if the lasting crown they would obtain:
Here also you may see the reason why
They lose their labor, and like fools do die.
This book will make a traveler of thee,
If by its counsels thou wilt ruled be;
It will direct thee to the Holy Land,
If thou wilt its directions understand.
Yea, it will make the slothful active be;
The blind also delightful things to see.
Art thou for something rare and profitable?
Wouldst thou see a truth within a fable?
Art thou forgetful? Wouldest thou remember
From New-year’s day to the last of December?
Then read my fancies: they will stick like burrs.
And may be, to the helpless, comforters.
This book was writ in such a dialect,
As may the minds of listless men affect.
It seems a novelty, and yet contains
Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.
Would’st thou divert thyself from melancholy?
Would’st thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly?
Would’st thou read riddles, and their explanation?
Or else be drowned in thy contemplation?
Dost thou love picking meat? Or would’st thou see
A man in the clouds, and hear him speak to thee?
Would’st thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?
Or would’st thou in a moment laugh and weep?
Would’st thou lose thyself and catch no harm,
And find thyself again without a charm?
Would’st read thyself, and read thou know’st not what,
And yet know whether thou art blest or not,
By reading the same lines? O then come hither,
And lay my book, thy head, and heart together.
—John Bunyan
CHRISTIAN’S DEPLORABLE CONDITION—EVANGELIST DIRECTS HIM—OBSTINATE AND PLIABLE—SLOUGH OF DESPOND—WORLDLY WISEMAN—MOUNT SINAI—CONVERSATION WITH EVANGELIST
As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den,* and laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back [Isa. 64:6; Luke 14:33; Ps.38:4]. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, “What shall I do?” [Acts 2:37; 16:30; Hab. 1:2–3].
In this plight, therefore, he went home, and restrained himself as long as he could, that his wife and children should not perceive his distress; but he could not be silent long, because his trouble increased. Wherefore at length he broke his mind to his wife and children; and thus he began to talk to them: “O, my dear wife, and you the children of my heart, I, your dear friend, am in myself undone by reason of a burden that lies heavy upon me; moreover, I am certainly informed that our city will be burnt with fire from heaven; in which fearful overthrow, both myself, with you my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except some way of escape can be found whereby we may be delivered.” At this his relations were sore amazed; not that they believed what he said to them was true, but because they thought some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing toward night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with all haste they got him to bed. But the night was as troublesome to him as the day; wherefore, instead of sleeping he spent it in sighs and tears. So, when the morning came, they would know how he did. He told them, “Worse and worse”; he also set to talking to them again, but they began to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh treatment to him; sometimes they would deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to retire himself to his chamber to pray for and pity them, and also to console his own misery; he would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading, and sometimes praying; and thus for some days he spent his time.
Now I saw, upon a time, when he was walking in the fields, that he was (as he was wont) reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying, “What shall I do to be saved?” [Acts 16:30–31].
I saw also that he looked this way, and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still because (as I perceived) he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist coming to him, and he asked, “Why do you cry?”
CHRISTIAN: Sir, I perceive, by the book in my hand, that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to judgment [Heb. 9:27]; and I find that I am not willing to do the first [Job 10:21–22], nor able to do the second [Ezek. 22:14].
EVANGELIST: Why not willing to die, since this life is attended with so many evils?
CHRISTIAN: Because I fear that this burden that is upon my back will sink me lower than the grave, and I shall fall into hell [Isa. 30:33]. And, sir, if I be not fit to go to prison, I am not fit to go to judgment, and from there to execution; and the thoughts of these things make me cry.
EVANGELIST: If this is your condition, why are you standing so still?
CHRISTIAN: Because I know not where to go.
Then he gave him a parchment roll, and there was written within, “Fly from the wrath to come!” [Matt. 3:7].
The man, therefore, read it and, looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, “Where must I fly?” Then said Evangelist (pointing with his finger over a very wide field), “Do you see yonder wicketgate?” [Matt. 7:13–14]. The man said no. Then said the other, “Do you see yonder shining light?” [Ps. 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19]. He said, “I think I do.” Then said Evangelist, “Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto, so shall you see the gate; at which, when you knock, it shall be told you what you should do.”
So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door, when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying, “Life! Life! Eternal life!” [Luke 14:26]. So he looked not behind him [Gen. 19:17], but fled toward the middle of the plain.
The neighbors also came out to see him run [Jer. 20:10], and as he ran, some mocked, others threatened, and some cried after him to return; and among those that did so, there were two that resolved to fetch him back by force. The name of the one was Obstinate, and the name of the other, Pliable. Now, by this time, the man was a good distance from them; but, however, they were resolved to pursue him, which they did, and in a little time they overtook him. Then said the man, “Neighbors, why have you come?” They said, “To persuade you to go back with us.”
CHRISTIAN: That can not be. You dwell in the city of Destruction, the place also where I was born: I see it to be so; and dying there, sooner or later you will sink lower than the grave, into a place that burns with fire and brimstone. Be content, good neighbors, and go along with me.
OBSTINATE: What! and leave our friends and our comforts behind us?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, because all that you forsake is not worthy to be compared with a little of that which I am seeking to enjoy [2 Cor. 4:18]; and if you will go along with me, and hold it, you shall fare as I myself; for there, where I go, is enough to spare [Luke 15:17]. Come away, and see I speak the truth.
OBSTINATE: What are the things you seek, since you leave all the world to find them?
CHRISTIAN: I seek an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that doesn’t fade away [1 Peter 1:4]; and it is laid up in heaven, and safe there [Heb. 11:16], to be bestowed, at the time appointed, on them that diligently seek it. Read it so, if you will, in my book.
OBSTINATE: Tush, away with your book; will you go back with us or no?
CHRISTIAN: No, not I, because I have laid my hand to the plough [Luke 9:62].
OBSTINATE: Come then, neighbor Pliable, let us turn, and go home without him; there is a company of these fools, that when they take a fanciful notion in their heads, they are wiser in their own eyes than seven men that can render reason.
PLIABLE: Don’t revile. If what good Christian says is true, the things he looks after are better than ours; my heart inclines to go with my neighbor.
OBSTINATE: What! More fools still? Be ruled by me, and go back; who knows where such a brain-sick fellow will lead you? Go back, go back, and be wise.
CHRISTIAN: No, but do come with me, neighbor Pliable. There are such things to be had which I spoke of, and many more glories besides. If you don’t believe me, read here in this book; and for the truth of what is expressed therein, behold, all is confirmed by the blood of Him that made it [Heb. 9:17–21].
PLIABLE: Well, neighbor Obstinate, I begin to come to a point: I intend to go along with this good man, and to cast in my lot with him; but, my good companion, do you know the way to this desired place?
CHRISTIAN: I am directed by a man, whose name is Evangelist, to a little gate that is before us, where we shall receive instructions about the way.
PLIABLE: Come then, good neighbor, let us be going.
OBSTINATE: And I will go back to my place. I will be no companion of such misled, fantastical fellows.
Now I saw in my dream, that when Obstinate had gone back, Christian and Pliable went talking over the plain; and thus they began their discourse.
CHRISTIAN: Come, neighbor Pliable, how do you do? I am glad you are persuaded to go along with me. Had even Obstinate himself but felt what I have felt of the powers and terrors of what is yet unseen, he would not lightly have gone back.
PLIABLE: Come, neighbor Christian, since there are none but us two here, tell me now farther, what the things are, and how to be enjoyed, where we are going.
CHRISTIAN: I can better conceive of them with my mind, than speak of them with my tongue; but yet, since you are desirous to know, I will read of them in my book.
PLIABLE: And do you think that the words of your book are certainly true?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, for it was made by Him that cannot lie [Titus 1:2].
PLIABLE: Well said; what things are they?
CHRISTIAN: There is an endless kingdom to be inhabited, and everlasting life to be given us, that we may inhabit that kingdom forever [Isa. 65:17; John 10:27–29].
PLIABLE: Well said; and what else?
CHRISTIAN: There are crowns of glory to be given us, and garments that will make us shine like the sun in the firmament of heaven [2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 22:5; Matt. 13:43].
PLIABLE: This is very pleasant; and what else?
CHRISTIAN: There shall be no more crying, nor sorrow; for He that is owner of the place will wipe all tears from our eyes [Isa. 25:8; Rev. 7:16–17; 21:4].
PLIABLE: And what company shall we have there?
CHRISTIAN: There we will be with seraphims and cherubims [Isa. 6:2; 1 Thess. 4:16–17; Rev. 5:11], creatures that will dazzle your eyes to look on them. There also you will meet with thousands and ten thousands that have gone before us to that place; none of them are hurtful, but loving and holy; every one walking in the sight of God, and standing in His presence with acceptance forever. In a word, there we will see the elders with their golden crowns [Rev. 4:4]; there we will see the holy virgins with their golden harps [Rev. 14:1–5]; there we will see men, that by the world were cut in pieces, burnt in flames, eaten of beasts, drowned in the seas, for the love they bare to the Lord of the place [John 12:25], all well and clothed with immortality as with a garment [2 Cor. 5:2].
PLIABLE: The hearing of this is enough to ravish one’s heart. But are these things to be enjoyed? How will we get to share this?
CHRISTIAN: The Lord, the governor of the country, has recorded that in this book [Isa. 55:1–2; John 6:37; 7:37; Rev. 21:6; 22:17], the substance of which is, if we are truly willing to have it, He will bestow it upon us freely.
PLIABLE: Well, my good companion, I am glad to hear of these things. Come on, let us pick up our pace.
CHRISTIAN: I cannot go as fast as I would, because of this burden that is on my back.
Now I saw in my dream, that just as they had ended this talk, they drew near to a very miry slough that was in the midst of the plain; and they, being heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bog. The name of the slough was Despond. Here, therefore, they wallowed for a time, being grievously smeared with dirt; and Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink in the mire.
PLIABLE: Ah, neighbor Christian, where are you now?
CHRISTIAN: Truly, I do not know.
PLIABLE: Is this the happiness you have told me all about? If we have such slow speed at our first setting out, what may we expect between this and our journey’s end? May I get out again with my life, you shall possess the brave country alone for me!
And with that, he gave a desperate struggle or two, and got out of the mire on that side of the slough which was next to his own house. So away he went, and Christian saw him no more.
Christian was left to tumble in the Slough of Despond alone; but still he endeavored to struggle to that side of the slough that was farthest from his own house, and next to the wicket-gate. But could not get out because of the burden that was upon his back. I beheld in my dream, that a man came to him, whose name was Help, and asked him what he was doing there.
CHRISTIAN: Sir, I was told to go this way by a man called Evangelist, who directed me also to yonder gate, that I might escape the wrath to come. And as I was going there, I fell in here.
HELP: But why did not you look for the steps?
CHRISTIAN: Fear followed me so hard that I fled the next way, and fell in.
Then he said, “Give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he drew him out [Ps. 40:2], and he set him upon sound ground, and bid him go on his way.
CHRISTIAN: Sir, where, since over this place is the way from the city of Destruction to yonder gate, is it, that this ground is not mended, that poor travelers might go there with more security?
HELP: This miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended: it is the descent where the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin does continually run, and therefore it is called the Slough of Despond; for still, as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there arises in his soul many fears and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place: and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.
It is not the pleasure of the King that this place should remain so bad [Isa. 35:3–4]. His laborers also have, by the direction of His Majesty’s surveyors, been for more than sixteen hundred years employed about this patch of ground, if perhaps it might have been mended: and to my knowledge, here have been swallowed up at least twenty thousand cartloads, yea, millions of wholesome instructions, that have at all seasons been brought from all places of the King’s dominions (and they that can tell, say, they are the best materials to make ground of the place), if so be it might have been mended; but it is the Slough of Despond still, and so will be when they have done what they can.
True, there are, by the direction of the Lawgiver, certain good and substantial steps, placed even through the very midst of this slough; but at such time as this place does much spew out its filth, as it does against change of weather, these steps are hardly seen; or if they be, men, through the dizziness of their heads, step beside, and then they are bemired to purpose, notwithstanding the steps there: but the ground is good when they get to the gate [1 Sam. 12:23].
Now I saw in my dream that, by this time, Pliable had gotten to his house. So his neighbors came to visit him; and some of them called him wise for coming back, and some called him a fool for hazarding himself with Christian; others again did mock at his cowardliness, saying, “Surely, since you began to venture, I would not have been so cowardly as to have given out for a few difficulties.” So Pliable sat sneaking among them. But at last he got more confidence; and then they all turned their tales, and began to deride poor Christian behind his back. And Pliable, as well.
Now as Christian was walking by himself, he saw a person far off, crossing over the field to meet him; and they happened to meet just as they were crossing the way. The gentleman’s name that met him was Mr. Worldly Wiseman; he dwelt in the town of Carnal Policy, a very great town, and also hard by from whence Christian came. This man, then, meeting with Christian, and having some slight knowledge of him (for Christian’s setting forth from the city of Destruction was much talked about, not only in the town where he dwelt, but also it began to be the town-talk in some other places), Mr. Worldly Wiseman, therefore, having some knowledge of him, by beholding his laborious going, by observing his sighs and groans, and the like, began to enter into a conversation with Christian.
WORLDLY: How now, good fellow, why are you walking in this burdened manner?
CHRISTIAN: A burdened manner, indeed, as ever a poor creature had! I tell you, sir, I am going to yonder wicket-gate, for there, as I am informed, I shall be rid of my heavy burden.
WORLDLY: Do you have a wife and children?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, but I am so laden with this burden, that I cannot enjoy them as I formally could without it [1 Cor. 7:29].
WORLDLY: Would you listen to me if I gave you counsel?
CHRISTIAN: If it’s good, I will; for I stand in need of good counsel.
WORLDLY: I would advise you, then, quickly rid yourself of this burden; for you will never be settled in your mind till then; nor can you enjoy the benefits of the blessings which God has bestowed upon you till then.
CHRISTIAN: That is what I seek—to be rid of this heavy burden; but I cannot get it off myself, nor is there any man in our country that can take it off my shoulders; therefore I am going this way, as I told you, that I may be rid of my burden.
WORLDLY: Who told you to go this way to be rid of your burden?
CHRISTIAN: A man that appeared to me to be a very great and honorable person; his name, as I remember, is Evangelist.
WORLDLY: I cursed him for his counsel! There is not a more dangerous and troublesome way in the world than the way he directed you; and that you shall find, if you heed his counsel. You have met with something, as I perceive, already; for I see the dirt of the Slough of Despond is on you; but that slough is the beginning of the sorrows that do attend those that go on in that way. Hear me; I am older than you, you are like to meet with wearisomeness, painfulness, hunger, perils, nakedness, sword, lions, dragons, darkness, and, in a word, death, and what not if you go that way. These things are certainly true, having been confirmed by many testimonies. And should a man so carelessly cast away himself, by giving heed to a stranger?
CHRISTIAN: Why, sir, this burden on my back is more terrible to me than all these things which you have mentioned; I care not what I meet with on the way, if I can have deliverance from my burden.
WORLDLY: How did you come by this burden?
CHRISTIAN: By reading this book in my hand.
WORLDLY: I thought so; and it has happened to you as to other weak men, who, meddling with things too high for them, do suddenly fall into your distractions; which distractions do not only unman men, as yours, I perceive, have done you, but they run them upon desperate ventures, to obtain they know not what.
CHRISTIAN: I know what I would obtain; it is ease from my heavy burden.
WORLDLY: But why will you seek for ease this way, seeing so many dangers attend it, especially since (had you but patience to hear me) I could direct you to the obtaining of what you desire, without the dangers that you, in this way, will run into; yea, and the remedy is at hand. Besides, I will add, that instead of those dangers, you shall meet with much safety, friendship, and contentment.
CHRISTIAN: Sir, I pray open this secret to me.
WORLDLY: Why, in yonder village (the village is named Morality) there dwells a gentleman whose named is Legality, a very judicious man, and a man of a very good name, that has skill to help men take such burdens as yours is from their shoulders; yea to my knowledge, he has done a great deal of good this way; aye, and besides, he has skill to cure those that are somewhat crazed in their wits with their burdens. To him, as I said, you may go and be helped presently. His house is not quite a mile from this place; and if he should not be at home himself, he has a pretty young son, whose name is Civility, that can do it as well as the old gentleman himself. There, I say, you may be eased of your burden; and if you don’t want to go back to your former home (as indeed I would not wish you to), you may send for your wife and children to this village, where there are houses now standing empty, one of which you may have at a reasonable rate; provision is also cheap and good; and that which will make your life the more happy is, to be sure, you shall live by honest neighbors, in credit and good fashion.
Now Christian was somewhat at a crossroads; but presently he concluded, if this be true, which this gentleman has said, my wisest course is to take his advice; and with that, he thus farther spoke.
CHRISTIAN: Sir, which is the way to this honest man’s house?
WORLDLY: Do you see yonder high hill?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, very well.
WORLDLY: By that hill you must go, and the first house you come to is his.
So Christian turned to go to Mr. Legality’s house for help; but, behold, when he got to the hill, it seemed so high, and also that side of it that was next the wayside did hang so much over, that Christian was afraid to venture further, lest the hill should fall on his head; wherefore there he stood still, and knew not what to do. Also his burden now seemed heavier to him than while he was on his way. There came also flashes of fire [Exod. 19:16, 18] out of the hill, that made Christian afraid that he should be burnt; here, therefore, he did sweat and quake for fear [Heb. 12:21].
And now he began to be sorry that he had taken Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s counsel; and with that he saw Evangelist coming to meet him, and began to blush for shame. So Evangelist drew nearer and nearer; and coming up to him, he looked upon him with a severe and dreadful countenance, and thus began to reason with Christian.
EVANGELIST: Why are you here, Christian?
Christian knew not what to answer. Wherefore at present he stood speechless before him.
EVANGELIST: Are you not the man that I found crying outside the walls of the City of Destruction?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, dear sir, I am the man.
EVANGELIST: Did not I direct you the way to the little wicket-gate?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, dear sir.
EVANGELIST: How is it, then, you are so easily turned aside? For you are now out of the way.
CHRISTIAN: I met with a gentleman as I had gotten out of the Slough of Despond, who persuaded me that I might, in the village before me, find a man that could take off my burden.
EVANGELIST: Who was he?
CHRISTIAN: He looked like a gentleman, and talked much to me, and got me at last to yield; so I came here; but when I beheld this hill, and how it hangs over the way, I suddenly made a stand, lest it should fall on my head.
EVANGELIST: What did that gentleman say to you?
CHRISTIAN: He asked me where I was going and I told him.
EVANGELIST: And what did he say then?
CHRISTIAN: He asked me if I had a family; and I told him. But, I am so laden with the burden that is on my back, that I cannot take pleasure in them as I formerly could.
EVANGELIST: And what did he say then?
CHRISTIAN: He bid me with speed get rid of my burden; and I told him it was ease that I sought. And, I am therefore going to yonder gate, to receive further direction how I may get to the place of deliverance. So he said that he would show me a better way, and shorter, not so attended with difficulties as the way, sir, that you set me in; which way, he said, will direct you to a gentleman’s house that has skill to take off these burdens; so I believed him, and turned out of that way into this, if happily I might be soon eased of my burden. But when I came to this place, and beheld things as they are, I stopped, for fear (as I said) of danger; but I now know not what to do.
Then said Evangelist, “Stand still a little, while I show you the words of God.” So he stood trembling. Then said Evangelist, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven” [Heb. 12:25]. He said, moreover, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” [Heb. 10:38]. He also did thus apply them.
EVANGELIST: You are the man that is running into this misery; you have begun to reject the counsel of the Most High, and to draw back your foot from the way of peace, even almost to the hazarding of your perdition.
Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” At the sight of which Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, “All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men” [Matt. 12:31]. “Be not faithless, but believing” [John 20:27]. Then did Christian again a little revive, and stood up trembling, as at first, before Evangelist.
EVANGELIST: Give more earnest heed to the things that I shall tell you. I will now show you who it was that deluded you, and who it was also to whom he sent you. The man that met you is one Worldly Wiseman, and rightly is he so called; partly because he savors only the doctrine of this world [1 John 4:5] (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church), and partly because he loves that doctrine best, for it saves him best from the cross [Gal. 6:12]; and because he is of this carnal temper, therefore he seeks to pervert my ways, though right. Now there are three things in this man’s counsel that you must utterly abhor:
1. His turning you out of the way. 2. His laboring to render the cross odious to you. 3. And his setting your feet in that way that leads unto the administration of death.
First, you must abhor his turning you out of the way; with your own consent, because this is to reject the counsel of God for the sake of the counsel of a Worldly Wiseman. The Lord says, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” [Luke 13:24], the gate to which I sent you; “for strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” [Matt. 7:13–14]. From this little wicket-gate, and the way thereto, has this wicked man turned you, to bring you almost to destruction; hate, therefore, his counsel and yourself for listening to him.
Secondly, you must abhor his attempts to render the cross odious to you; for you are to “prefer it before the treasures of Egypt” [Heb. 11:25–26]. Besides, the King of glory has told you, that “he that will save his life shall lose it” [Mark 8:35; John 12:25; Matt. 10:39]. And he that comes after Him, “and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” [Luke 14:26]. I say, therefore, for a man to labor to persuade you that such shall be your death, without which, the truth has said, you cannot have eternal life, this doctrine you must abhor.
Thirdly, you must hate his setting of your feet in the way that leads to the ministration of death. And for this you must consider to whom he sent you, and also how unable that person was to deliver you from your burden.
He to whom you were sent for ease, being by name Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is, and is in bondage with her children [Gal. 4:21–27], and is, in a mystery, this Mount Sinai, which you have feared will fall on your head. Now if she with her children are in bondage, how can you expect by them to be made free? This Legality, therefore, is not able to set you free from your burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor ever is like to be. You cannot be justified by the works of the law; for by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden. Therefore, Mr. Worldly Wiseman is an alien, and Mr. Legality is a cheat; and for his son Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he is but a hypocrite, and cannot help you. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise that you have heard of these foolish men, but a design to rob you of your salvation, by turning you from the way in which I had set you.
After this, Evangelist called aloud to the heavens for confirmation of what he had said; and with that there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood, which made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were pronounced: “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” [Gal. 3:10].
Now Christian looked for nothing but death, and began to cry out lamentably; even cursing the time in which he met with Mr. Worldly Wiseman; still calling himself a thousand fools for hearkening to his counsel. He also was greatly ashamed to think that this gentleman’s arguments, flowing only from the flesh, should have the prevalency with him so far as to cause him to forsake the right way. This done, he applied himself again to Evangelist in words and sense as follows:
CHRISTIAN: Sir, what do you think? Is there any hope? May I now go back, and go up to the wicket-gate? Shall I not be abandoned for this, and sent back from there ashamed? I am sorry I have listened to this man’s counsel; but may my sin be forgiven?
EVANGELIST: Your sin is very great, for by it you have committed two evils: you have forsaken the way that is good, to tread in forbidden paths. Yet will the man at the gate receive you, for he has good-will for men. Take heed that you don’t turn aside again, “lest thou perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little” [Ps. 2:12].
*Bedford jail, in which the author was a prisoner for conscience sake.
THE GATE—CONVERSATION WITH GOODWILL—THE INTERPRETER’S HOUSE—CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINED—THE SIGHTS THERE SHOWN HIM
Then did Christian decide to go back; and Evangelist, after he had kissed him, gave him one smile, and bid him God speed. So he went on with haste, he neither spoke to any man by the way; nor, if any man asked him, would he give them an answer. He went like one that was all the while treading on forbidden ground, and could by no means think himself safe, till again he was on the path which he had left to follow Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s counsel. So, in time, Christian got to the gate. Now, over the gate there was written, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you” [Matt. 7:7].
He knocked, therefore, more than once or twice, saying,
May I now enter here? Will he within
Open to sorry me, though I have been
An undeserving rebel? Then shall I
Not fail to sing his lasting praise on high.
At last there came a grave person to the gate, named Goodwill, who asked who was there, and where he came, and what he would have.
CHRISTIAN: Here is a poor burdened sinner. I come from the City of Destruction, but am going to Mount Zion, that I may be delivered from the wrath to come. I would therefore, sir, since I am informed that by this gate is the way there, know if you are willing to let me in?
GOODWILL: I am willing with all my heart, and with that he opened the gate.
So when Christian was stepping in, the other gave him a pull.
CHRISTIAN: Why did you do that?
GOODWILL: A little distance from this gate there is a strong castle, of which Beelzebub is the captain; from there both he and those that are with him shoot arrows at those that come up to this gate, so they may die before they can enter in.
CHRISTIAN: I rejoice and tremble. So when he got in, the man of the gate asked him who directed him there.
CHRISTIAN: Evangelist told me to come here and knock (so I did); and he said, that you, sir, would tell me what I must do.
GOODWILL: An open door is set before you, and no man can shut it.
CHRISTIAN: Now I begin to reap the benefit of my troubles.
GOODWILL: But how is it that you came alone?
CHRISTIAN