Pilgrim’s Progress 1

This begins a five part installation on the monumental work of John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress. The hope is to have these entries serve as an introduction to the book for those who have never read it, a brief guide for those working their way through it, and/or a bit of criticism to aid in an imaginative reading. This first section will span from the author’s apology for the text to just prior to Christian’s entering into the Vally of the Shadow of Death. In the Penguin Classics edition, this would be to page 65. 

Last year I was given the opportunity to lead a group reading of and discussion on the text. This work not only provides edification for the effete believer but it upgrades his or her software in such a way that the imagination is prone to perform in a more redemptive fashion.

Bunyan wrote and preached during a day of great decline in orthodoxy amongst those who held office in the Church of England. The church was not merely slouching, doctrinally and ecclesiastically, but she was tightening her grip on the throat of the faithful as she slid. Bunyan was placed in a unique period after the age of Puritanism. Calvinism was no longer revered. The authority of the Word was taking a back seat to tradition. Bunyan, as with many of his contemporaries and friends, believed in the recovery of Reformation doctrine and principles. More influenced by Luther than perhaps any of the reformers, Bunyan learned, over the many years of his life, the centrality and import of grace as the center pillar and base of the Gospel. 

A prolific writer, his many writings reveal the life story of someone who struggled for years with assurance of salvation. Commentators have noted that his life, as expressed in his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, proves that, of all his characters, Hopeful is actually more liken unto Bunyan than Pilgrim.

Some dismiss the book as being trite in its word play. Concerning his use of allegory, Roger Pooley, in the introduction to the Penguin edition says the following:

Nowadays, in the wake of post-structural accounts of language by Paul de Man, in particular, allegory can be seen as no more than a special case of what all literature does; saying one thing and meaning another. For Allen Michie, if Bunyan had ‘rejected the literal in favor of the imaginary, he would seem modern; but by having the literal and the imaginary depend on each other for their very definition, Bunyan is clearly postmodern.’

We are told by the author that it is not simply the characters that should be read allegorically, but the path itself. This book holds the power of awakening an imagination that will unfold in the shape of Scripture. For this reason, it remains one of the most unique books in the Western canon. 

In the apology, by Bunyan, he acknowledges that his critics are many. He is accused of dumbing down high things and even of trying to polish genuine deep and troubling things into looking cutesy and nice. He asks the critic to consider whether or not his book actually contains dark moments which contain a sense of authentic darkness. Inevitably, he says, he did this for himself, but he agreed to put it out there because he was confident that it would make real travelers, real pilgrims of some of its readers.

In the opening scenes, we see the Word of God creating a nausea in the soul of the pilgrim. Unlike Sartre’s Roquentin, however, Christian has a fixed point of true reality that allows him to clearly navigate his way through the absurd. At first, however, he and his community all hope that physical salves might heal the spiritual wounds inciting such disruption. Sleep doesn’t work, solitude doesn’t work, even weeping is without catharsis. And in this struggle we see something of Bunyan’s own life . . . his praying and reading and begging with God for assurance which eluded him for years is modeled in the pilgrim’s crying out to God for the removal of his burden and the cessation of his anxiety. But the Lord’s timing is always a crucial component of His answering. 

When he leaves, his wife and children run after him, begging him to come back. He plunges his fingers into his ears and yells, “Life! Life! Eternal life!” The two townsmen who follow after him, in order to arrest him by force are unsuccessful. Obstinate returns home. Pliable joins Christian. This shows us the parable of the sower and the fact that some will seem to have true faith begin in, embarking on the journey; however, any number of events can be sufficient cause to turn them from the way. Both men fall into the slough of despondency and Pliable abandons the path as soon as he is able.

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 bing heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bog. The name of the slough was Despond. Here therefore they wallowed for a time, bing grievously bedaubed with dirt; and Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink in the mire. 

Then said Pliable, Ah, neighbor, Christian, where are you now?

Truly, said Christian, I do not know.

We see that unresolved sin intensifies the struggle in despondency as its weight pushes Christian further down, rendering climbing out an impossibility. This is shown in the language of the Psalmists, as in Psalm 32. The weight of unconfessed sin is overwhelming. Then, as his companion is able to free himself, begging him for an answer as to why he should have hope concerning the future when such things befall them, we see our young Christian not being able to give an answer for the hope that is in him. Help comes and is a great service, not only because he pulls the man out, but explains the reason for the trial in the first place.

Then I stepped to him that plucked him out, and said, Sir, wherefore, since over this place is the way from the City of Destruction, to yonder gate, is it that this plat is not mended, that poor travelers might go thither with more security? 

And he said unto me, This miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended: it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run and therefore it was called The Slough of Despond. For still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears and doubts and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together and set 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; His laborers also, have by the direction of His Majesty’s Surveyors, been for above this sixteen years employed about this patch of ground, if perhaps it might have been mended: yeah, and to my knowledge, said he, here hath been swallowed up at least twenty thousand cart-loads; yea millions of wholesome instructions that have at all seasons been brought from all place of the King’s dominions (and they that can tell, say, they are the best materials to make good 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.

Before our character reaches the Wicket Gate, he encounters Mr. Worldly Wise. He gets caught up in the shortcut of legalism and buys into the idea that adherence to the Law can suffice as a place-holder for the Gospel. The master of legalism is wise and old and even accuses Christian of not understanding him because he doesn’t have the patience to be taught by him. The village to which he sends Christian is called Morality. The man is named Legality. And his son is named Civility. The houses are cheap. The neighborhoods are clean. In the words of of Nick Cave, they “We have a pretty little square. We have a woman for a mayor. Our policies are firm but fair.”

It’s a good life if you can get it. And you can get it if you try. Mr. Worldly Wise offers a long-standing record of this man’s ability to help pacify those who are out of their wits regarding their burden. Simply by the addition of laws, rest can come to the adherent as he perceives the sense of his own advancement. Paul Vitts, in his work on psychology and religion, said that fundamentalism produces higher percentages of what is understood to be mental health because there is no turmoil, no struggle with having to discern or wrestle with complex ethical issues. There is the illusion that the adherent is not under any bondage. There need not be any guilt. As long as one keeps the established rules of the community, then one can have assurance, success, boasting even, and the peace that comes from a thoroughly crafted atonement system. I remember speaking to a Mormon, some years back, a woman who was complaining to my wife about her failed diet. She said, “I just wish our church would make eating a sugar a sin because then I could succeed.” Text-book Mormonism. Text-book legalism.

There is a word game that Worldly Wise plays. He argues that this kind of living, this keeping of the law as a place-holder for the Gospel is an easy thing. It is what present-day legalists do when they isolate passages like Deuteronomy 30:11.

Deuteronomy 30:11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach.

It is necessary to understand how this is the case and the New Testament plainly states the answer.

1 John 5:3-4  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

By the regeneration that comes about by faith, the Law becomes de-clawed. It no longer has the power to destroy us; rather, it only has the power to show us aspects of God’s holy character. It is a beautiful streetlamp, showing us the shape of the road. Faith renders the waters no longer bitter. What once might have killed us, by faith, will now nourish us. To be holy as our God is holy is not a hard thing for the one who, by faith, has the Spirit of God living holy within him/her. Welcome to the glory of the New Covenant. 

He to whom thou was sent for ease, being by name, Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is and is in bondage with her children and which is in a mystery this Mount Sinai, which thou has feared will fall on they head. Now, if she, with her children, are in bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality therefore is not able to set thee free from they burden. Now man was as yet ever rid of his burden to him, no, nor ever is like to be: ye 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 an hypocrite and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise that thou hast heard of this sottish men, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had sent thee. 

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 that made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were thus pronounced, As man as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 

Christian makes his way through the Wicket Gate and on to the house of Interpreter, where he sees a number of visions that teach him profound things, things he says that he will never forget as long as he lives. One of the most precious is the vision of the dusty room.

Then He took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlor that was full of dust, because never swept; the which, after He had reviewed a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep. Now, when he began to sweep, the dust began so abundantly to fly about, that Christian had almost therewith been choked. Then said the Interpreter to a damsel that stood by, Bring hither the water, and sprinkle the room; the which, when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure.

Then said Christian, What means this?

The Interpreter answered, This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel; the dust is his original sin and inward corruptions, that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the Law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now, whereas thou sawest, that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith; this is to show thee, that the law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give power to subdue‌. Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure; this is to show thee, that when the Gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as thou sawest the damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through the faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit.

After Christian’s encounter with the man who is in the iron cage, who is an apostate, Christian responds by saying, “Well, this is fearful; God help me to watch and be sober; and to pray, that I may shun the cause of this man’s misery.” This is the same counsel that Jesus gives His disciples when they hear of the tower of Siloam collapsing. This is the same language the writer of Hebrews uses in the warning passages. A Biblical warning is not elicited in order that you might try to conjure whom amongst your acquaintances most needs to hear that warning . . . but so that you, the hearer, might judge yourself. 

There are moments where the poetry of the text can appear to be clunky to our ears or even campy; however, there are other moments where great mastery and deep devotion are knit together.

The was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me rest, by His sorrow; and life, by His death. Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of The Cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks.

In his encounter with Formalist and Hypocrisy, like the tragic scene of the judgement in which our Lord says many will call their own works to the stand and yet be sent away, these men are men steeped in tradition. They have thousands of years of custom to which they belong and they are eager to call upon these years in their defense. “They told him that custom, it being of so long a standing as above a thousand years, would doubtless now be admitted as a thing legal, by an impartial judge.” Christian eyes them suspiciously and, like a true believer, places all his trust not in anything he or his ancestors have done but in what Christ Himself has done. “Surely, I think, when I come to the gate of the City, the Lord thereof will know me for good, since I have his coat on my back!”

Christian encounters Mistrust and Timorous and almost turns back for fear of the dangers that lay ahead. But he doesn’t; however, he does sleep when he ought not to have and quickly loses his assurance. He repents and comes to the lions which were chained, before The Palace Beautiful. We are told that Christian could not see the chains and so he did not know they were chained. He had to walk between them trusting that God will measure the steps apportioned for them as well as his. This is one of the regular tests that believer encounter. Will we trust God to know where the borders are to maintain healthy relationships between thus far and no further? In the Lord’s rebuke toward Job, God declares:

Job 38:8-11 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Once safe inside the walls of the palace, he is discussing with the daughters the ways he is plagued by his past. Prudence assumes that he still must wrestle with the person he once was and they ways in which his past has shaped him. She assumes there is no way that he is completely freed from the person he was prior to his encounter at The Cross. Christian confirms the truth of this questioning and answers how, by the renewing of His mind . . . by the meditation of Christ’s person and work . . . he is able to be transformed from that which would have condemned him.

Prudence: Can you remember by what means you find your annoyances at times, as if they were vanquished?

Christian: Yes, when I think what I saw at The Cross, that will do it; and when I look into the roll that I carry in my bosom, that will do it; and when my thoughts wax warm about whither I am going, that will do it.

Christian stays for a bit at the Palace Beautiful. He rests. He talks with his hosts about the things of the Lord and they outfit him for his journey, which he is assured will be treacherous because he is about to go into The Valley of Humiliation. In deed, as soon as he descends, he encounters Apollyon, the accuser of the brethren and he has to preach the Gospel to himself in order to not be overcome. He is wounded on his head, hands, and feet, but he is able to wield the sword aptly enough to strike the enemy with such magnitude that he is forced to flee from the presence of the believer. He gives thanks to God as he rests before continuing on his journey. 

In the next installment, we will continue to move with Christian through stages of his sanctification. We will continue to mine riches of grace from a vein that has yielded wealth for the Church for close to four hundred years. In order to continue to pace with this guide, if you are presently reading the text, finish reading to page 122 in the Penguin Classics edition, or just prior to Christian’s entrance into The Delectable Mountains.