The Pilgrim's Progress - Part One
The Author's Apology for His Book | Introduction
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
| 11 | 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
| 21 | 22 | 23
| 24 | 25 | 26
| 27 | 28 | 29
| 30 | 31 | 32
| 33 | 34 | 35
| Conclusion
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Christian Meets Faithful
Now as CHRISTIAN went on his way, he came to a little ascent, which was cast up on
purpose that pilgrims might see before them; up there, therefore, CHRISTIAN went,
and looking forward, he saw FAITHFUL before him upon his journey. Then said CHRISTIAN
aloud, "Ho, ho! So-ho (stay, and I will be your companion)." At that, FAITHFUL
looked behind him; to whom CHRISTIAN cried again, "Stay, stay! till I come up
to you!"
Faithful. But FAITHFUL answered, "No, I am upon my life; and the Avenger
of Blood is behind me!" At this, CHRISTIAN was somewhat moved; and putting to
all his strength, he quickly got up with FAITHFUL, and did also overrun him, so the
last was first. Then did CHRISTIAN vain-gloriously smile, because he had got the
start of his brother; but not taking good heed to his feet, he suddenly stumbled
and fell, and could not rise again until FAITHFUL came up to help him.
Then I saw in my dream, they went very lovingly on together, and had sweet discourse
of all things that had happened to them in their pilgrimage; and thus CHRISTIAN began:
Chr. My honoured and well-beloved brother, FAITHFUL, I am glad that I have
overtaken you; and that God has so tempered our spirits, that we can walk as companions
in this so pleasant a path.
Faith. I had thought, dear friend, to have had your company quite from our
town; but you did get the start of me, wherefore I was forced to come this much of
the way alone.
Chr. How long did you stay in the city of Destruction before you set out after
me on your pilgrimage?
Faith. Till I could stay no longer; for there was great talk presently, after
you were gone out, that our city would in short time, with fire from heaven, be burned
down to the ground.
Chr. What! did your neighbours talk so?
Faith. Yes; 't was for awhile in everybody's mouth.
Chr. What! and did no more of them but you come out to escape the danger?
Faith. Though there was, as I said, a great talk thereabout, yet I do not
think they did firmly believe it. For in the heat of the discourse, I heard some
of them deridingly speak of you and of your desperate journey--for so they called
this your pilgrimage; but I did believe, and do so still, that the end of our city
will be with fire and brimstone from above, and therefore have made mine escape.
Chr. Did you hear no talk of neighbour PLIABLE?
Faith. Yes, CHRISTIAN; I heard that he followed you till he came at the Slough
of Despond, where, as some said, he fell in. But he would not be known to have so
done; but I am sure he was soundly bedabbled with that kind of dirt.
Chr. And what said the neighbours to him?
Faith. He hath, since his going back, been had greatly in derision, and that
among all sorts of people: some do mock and despise him, and scarce will any set
him on work. He is now seven times worse than if he had never gone out of the city.
Chr. But why should they be so set against him, since they also despise the
way that he forsook?
Faith. "Oh," they say, "hang him: he is a turncoat; he was
not true to his profession!" I think God has stirred up even his enemies to
hiss at him, and make him a proverb, because he hath forsaken the way.
"And I will persecute them with the sword,
with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to
all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing,
and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: Because they have
not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants
the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith
the LORD."
~ Jeremiah 29:18, 19 ~
Chr. Had you no talk with him before you came out?
Faith. I met him once in the streets; but he leered away on the other side,
as one ashamed of what he had done: so I spake not to him.
Chr. Well, at my first setting out, I had hopes of that man; but now I fear
he will perish in the overthrow of the city: for it is happening to him according
to the true proverb, "The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire".
"But it is happened unto them according
to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
~ 2 Peter 2:22 ~
Faith. They are my fears of him too: but who can hinder that which will be?
Chr. "Well, neighbour FAITHFUL," said CHRISTIAN, "let us leave
him, and talk of things that more immediately concern ourselves. Tell me now what
you have met with in the way as you came; for I know you have met with some things,
or else it may be writ for a wonder."
Faith. I escaped the slough that I perceive you fell into, and got up to the
gate without that danger: only I met with one whose name was WANTON, that had like
to have done me a mischief.
Chr. 'T was well you escaped her net; Joseph was hard put to it by her, and
he escaped her as you did; but it had like to have cost him his life.
"And it came to pass about this time, that
Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of
the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie
with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. And it came
to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth"
~ Genesis 39:11-13 ~
But what did she do to you?
Faith. You cannot think (but that you know something) what a flattering tongue
she hath; she laid at me hard to turn aside with her, promising me all manner of
content.
Chr. Nay, she did not promise you the content of a good conscience.
Faith. You know what I mean, all carnal and fleshly content.
Chr. Thank God you have escaped her: the abhorred of the Lord shall fall into
her ditch.
"The mouth of strange women is a
deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein."
~ Proverbs 22:14 ~
Faith. Nay, I know not whether I did wholly escape her, or not.
Chr. Why, I trow you did not consent to her desires?
Faith. No, not to defile myself; for I remembered an old writing that I had
seen, which saith, "Her steps take hold on hell".
"Her feet go down to death; her steps take
hold on hell."
~ Proverbs 5:5 ~
So I shut mine eyes, because I would not be bewitched with her looks;
"I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then
should I think upon a maid?"
~ Job 31:1 ~
then she railed on me, and I went my way.
Chr. Did you meet with no other assault as you came?
Faith. When I came to the foot of the hill called "Difficulty,"
I met with a very aged man, who asked me what I was, and whither bound? I told him
that I was a pilgrim going to the Celestial City: then said the old man, Thou lookest
like an honest fellow; wilt thou be content to dwell with me for the wages that I
shall give thee? Then I asked him his name, and where he dwelt? He said his name
was Adam the first; and that he dwelt in the town of Deceit.
"That ye put off concerning the former conversation
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;"
~ Ephesians 4:22 ~
I asked him then, What was his work? and what the wages that he would give? He told
me that his work was many delights; and his wages, that I should be his heir at last.
I further asked him, what house he kept, and what other servants he had? So he told
me that his house was maintained with all the dainties in the world; and that his
servants were those of his own begetting. Then I asked how many children he had?
He said that he had but three daughters,--the lust of the flesh; the lust of the
eyes; and the pride of life;
"For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world."
~ 1 John 2:16 ~
and that I should marry them all, if I would. Then I asked how long time he would
have me live with him? And he told me, as long as he lived himself.
Chr. Well, and what conclusion came the old man and you to at last?
Faith. Why, at first I found myself somewhat inclinable to go with the man,
for I thought he spake very fair; but, looking in his forehead as I talked with him,
I saw there written, "Put off the old man with his deeds."
Chr. And how then?
Faith. Then it came burning hot into my mind, whatever he said, and however
he flattered, when he got me home to his house he would sell me for a slave. So I
bid him forbear to talk; for I would not come near the door of his house. Then he
reviled me, and told me that he would send such a one after me, that should make
my way bitter to my soul. So I turned to go away from him; but just as I turned myself
to go thence, I felt him take hold of my flesh, and give me such a deadly twitch
back, that I thought he had pulled part of me after himself: this made me cry, "O
wretched man!"
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?"
~ Romans 7:24 ~
So I went on my way up the hill.
Now when I had got about halfway up, I looked behind me, and saw one coming after
me, swift as the wind; so he overtook me just about the place where the bench stands.
Chr. "Just there," said CHRISTIAN, "did I sit down to rest
me; but, being overcome with sleep, I there lost this roll out of my bosom."
Faith. But, good brother, hear me out: so soon as the man overtook me, he
was but a word and a blow; for down he knocked me, and laid me for dead. But when
I was a little come to myself again, I asked him wherefore he served me so? He said,
because of my secret inclining to Adam the first; and with that he struck me another
deadly blow on the breast, and beat me down backward, so I lay at his foot as dead
as before. So when I came to myself again, I cried him mercy; but he said, "I
know not how to show mercy," and with that knocked me down again. He had doubtless
made an end of me, but that one came by, and bade him forbear.
Chr. Who was that that bade him forbear?
Faith. I did not know him at first; but as he went by, I perceived the holes
in his hands and in his side; then I concluded that He was our Lord. So I went up
the hill.
Chr. That man that overtook you was Moses; he spares none, neither knows he
how to show mercy to those that transgress his law.
Faith. I know it very well; it was not the first time that he has met with
me. 'Twas he that came to me when I dwelt securely at home, and that told me he would
burn my house over my head if I stayed there.
Chr. But did you not see the house that stood there on the top of that hill,
on the side of which Moses met you?
Faith. Yes, and the lions, too, before I came at it; but for the lions, I
think they were asleep, for it was about noon; and because I had so much of the day
before me, I passed by the porter, and came down the hill.
Chr. He told me, indeed, that he saw you go by. But I wish you had called
at the house; for they would have showed you so many rarities, that you would scarce
have forgot them to the day of your death. But pray tell me, did you meet nobody
in the Valley of Humility?
Faith. Yes, I met with one DISCONTENT, who would willingly have persuaded
me to go back with him; his reason was, for that the valley was altogether without
honour. He told me moreover, that there to go was the way to disobey all my friends,
as PRIDE, ARROGANCY, SELF-CONCEIT, WORLDLY-GLORY, with others; who he knew, as he
said, would be very much offended if I made such a fool of myself as to wade through
this valley.
Chr. Well, and how did you answer him?
Faith. I told him that although all these that he named might claim kindred
of me, and that rightly--for indeed they were my relations according to the flesh,--yet
since I became a pilgrim, they have disowned me, as I also have rejected them; and
therefore they were to me now no more than if they had never been of my lineage.
I told him moreover, that as to this valley, he had quite misrepresented the thing;
for before honour is humility, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Therefore, said
I, I had rather go through this valley to the honour that was so accounted by the
wisest, than choose that which he esteemed most worth our affections.
Chr. Met you with nothing else in that valley?
Faith. Yes, I met with SHAME; but of all the men that I met with in my pilgrimage,
he, I think, bears the wrong name. The other would be said Nay, after a little argumentation,
and somewhat else; but this boldfaced SHAME would never have done.
Chr. What did he say to you?
Faith. What! why he objected against religion itself! He said it was a pitiful,
low, sneaking business for a man to mind religion; he said that a tender conscience
was an unmanly thing; and that for a man to watch over his words and ways, so as
to tie up himself from that blustering liberty that the brave spirits of the times
accustom themselves unto, would make him the ridicule of the times. He objected also,
that but few of the mighty, rich, or wise, were ever of my opinion;
"For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:"
~ 1 Corinthians 1:26 ~
nor any of them neither, before they were persuaded to be fools,
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man
among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be
wise."
~ 1 Corinthians 3:18 ~
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but dung, that I may win Christ"
~ Philippians 3:7, 8 ~
and to be of a voluntary fondness to venture the loss of all for nobody else knows
what. He moreover objected the base and low estate and condition of those that were
chiefly the pilgrims of the times in which they lived; also their ignorant and want
of understanding in all natural science.
"Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees
believed on him?"
~ John 7:48 ~
Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate also, about a great many more things than
here I relate: as, that it was a shame to sit whining and mourning under a sermon,
and a shame to come sighing and groaning home; that it was a shame to ask my neighbour
forgiveness for petty faults, or to make restitution where I had taken from any.
He said also, that religion made a man grow strange to the great, because of a few
vices (which he called by finer names); and made him own and respect the base, because
of the same religious fraternity. And is not this, said he, a shame?
Chr. And what did you say to him?
Faith. Say! I could not tell what to say at the first. Yea, he put me so to
it, that my blood came up in my face; even this SHAME fetched it up, and had almost
beat me quite off. But at last I began to consider, that "that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God".
"And he said unto them, Ye are they which
justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
~ Luke 16:15 ~
And I thought again, this SHAME tells me what men are; but tells me nothing what
God or the word of God is. And I thought moreover, that at the day of doom we shall
not be doomed to death or life according to the blustering spirits of the world;
but according to the wisdom and law of the highest. Therefore, thought I, what God
says is best, indeed is best; though all the men in the world are against it. Seeing,
then, that God prefers his religion; seeing God prefers a tender conscience; seeing
they that make themselves fools for the kingdom of heaven are wisest; and that the
poor man that loves Christ is richer than the greatest man in the world that hates
him-- SHAME, depart! thou art an enemy to my salvation!
--shall I entertain thee against my sovereign Lord? How then shall I look him in
the face at his coming? Should I now be ashamed of his ways and servants, how can
I expect the blessing?
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of
me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the
Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
~ Mark 8:38 ~
But indeed this SHAME was a bold villain--I could scarce shake him out of my company!
Yea, he would be haunting of me, and continually whispering me in the ear with some
one or other of the infirmities that attend religion; but at last I told him 't was
but in vain to attempt further in this business, for those things that he disdained,
in those did I see most glory: and so at last I got past this importunate one. And
when I had shaken him off, then I began to sing:
"The trials that those men do meet withal
That are obedient to the heavenly call
Are manifold, and suited to the flesh,
And come, and come, and come again afresh;
That now, or some time else, we by them may
Be taken, overcome, and cast away.
Oh let the pilgrims, let the pilgrims then
Be vigilant, and quit themselves like men!"
Chr. I am glad, my brother, that thou didst withstand this villain so bravely;
for of all, as thou sayest, I think he has the wrong name. For he is so bold as to
follow us in the streets, and to attempt to put us to shame before all men; that
is, to make us ashamed of that which is good: but if he was not himself audacious,
he would never attempt to do as he does. But let us still resist him; for notwithstanding
all his bravadoes, he promotes the fool, and none else. "The wise shall inherit
glory," said Solomon; "but shame shall be the promotion of fools".
"The wise shall inherit glory: but shame
shall be the promotion of fools."
~ Proverbs 3:35 ~
Faith. I think that we must cry to him for help against SHAME, that would
have us to be valiant for the truth upon the earth.
Chr. You say true. But did you meet nobody else in that valley?
Faith. No, not I: for I had sunshine all the rest of the way through that,
and also through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Chr. 'T was well for you; I am sure it fared far otherwise with me. I had
for a long season, as soon almost as I entered into that valley, a dreadful combat
with that foul fiend, APOLLYON. Yea, I thought verily he would have killed me; especially
when he got me down, and crushed me under him, as if he would have crushed me to
pieces. For as he threw me, my sword flew out of my hand; nay, he told me he was
sure of me: but I cried to God, and he heard me, and delivered me out of all my troubles.
Then I entered the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and had no light for almost half
the way through it. I thought I should have been killed there over and over; but
at last day brake, and the sun rose, and I went through that which remained with
far more ease and quiet.
The Pilgrim's Progress - Part One
The Author's Apology for His Book | Introduction
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
| 11 | 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
| 21 | 22 | 23
| 24 | 25 | 26
| 27 | 28 | 29
| 30 | 31 | 32
| 33 | 34 | 35
| Conclusion
Back to Pilgrim's Homepage