Pilgrim’s Progress 3
As we continue on with our summary and analysis of Bunyan’s classic work, Pilgrim’s Progress, we find Hopeful and Christian are journeying on, finally arriving at the Delectable Mountains. This region is tended by a band of shepherds. It is a beautiful place of peace in which pilgrims find rest and edification. The shepherds who minister to the souls of the saints who have made it this far are named Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere. These men utter the sobering statistic that very few of the people who start out on this journey ever show their faces on those mountains.
When the pilgrims inquire as to whether or not the remaining stretch is safe or treacherous, they are told that it is treacherous for those who fall off the path and safe for those who don’t. They show the young pilgrims the cliffs where others, like them, have died after falling into error.
The Shepherds, I say, whose names were Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, took them by the hand, and had them to their tents, and made them partake of that which was ready at present. They said, moreover, We would that ye should stay here awhile, to be acquainted with us; and yet more to solace yourselves with the good of these Delectable Mountains. They then told them, that they were content to stay; so they went to their rest that night, because it was very late.
Then I saw in my dream, that in the morning the Shepherds called up to Christian and Hopeful to walk with them upon the mountains; so they went forth with them, and walked a while, having a pleasant prospect on every side. Then said the Shepherds one to another, Shall we show these pilgrims some wonders? So when they had concluded to do it, they had them first to the top of a hill called Error, which was very steep on the furthest side, and bid them look down to the bottom. So Christian and Hopeful looked down, and saw at the bottom several men dashed all to pieces by a fall that they had from the top.
Then said Christian, What meaneth this?
The Shepherds answered, Have you not heard of them that were made to err by hearkening to Hymeneus and Philetus as concerning the faith of the resurrection of the body? They answered, Yes. Then said the Shepherds, Those that you see lie dashed in pieces at the bottom of this mountain are they; and they have continued to this day unburied, as you see, for an example to others to take heed how they clamber too high, or how they come too near the brink of this mountain.
When the shepherds describe, from the hill of caution, that from such heights they have witnessed pilgrims wandering from the path in order to take the easier way of the green field that stretches in front of doubting castle where the giant regularly imprisons the unsuspecting, plucks out their eyes and leaves them to wander aimlessly in circles, Pilgrim and hopeful burst into tears though they do not admit to the shepherds that this might have been them. It is a season of rest, but it is not one of no responsibility. Unlike pagans whose rest is driven solely by the desire to cease from their work . . . a vacation from vocation . . . a Christian is shaped for work in the rest from the work. We are day eight creatures. We carry the principle of seven with us into the principle of one. And so, the pilgrims not only rest from the path and from fighting, but they are equipped for the path and more fighting in the rest.
As is consistent throughout the book, Bunyan is employing a Proverbial wiseman/foolishman contrast. In this passage we are shown the valuable insight of those older and with more experience. They can actually see when a younger person is straying from the path, but what the vast distance implies is that they might not be heard even if they were to yell. The Word of God remains the only constant that can keep one on the path. In Hebrews 2, we are warned that if we are not constantly growing in the knowledge of the faith that we confess, then we are in danger of falling away. This is echoed in Bunyan’s quoting of Proverbs 21, which reads:
He that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. - Proverbs 21:16
The two travelers encourage one another with the fact that they will need to regularly cry to the Lord for strength . . . to which the older and wiser shepherd add, “Aye, and you will have need to use it, when you have it too.”
Christian tells Hopeful a story, as they continue on, in which a man, Little-faith, is beaten and robbed on the highway and he has left to him, only the jewels which are The Inheritance that was given to him by the King. He has no spending money and so he has to beg the rest of his journey and many a night he goes hungry. Hopeful suggests that had he been smarter he could have sold a couple of his jewels and had spending money, for which Christian rebukes him. Because of this, a quarrel ensues.
Christian: Esau did sell his birthright indeed, and so do many besides, and by so doing exclude themselves from the chief blessing, as also that caitiff did; but you must put a difference betwixt Esau and Little-faith, and also betwixt their estates. Esau's birthright was typical, but Little-faith's jewels were not so; Esau's belly was his god, but Little-faith's belly was not so; Esau's want lay in his fleshly appetite, Little-faith's did not so. Besides, Esau could see no further than to the fulfilling of his lusts; "Behold, I am at the point to die, (said he), and what profit shall this birthright do me?" But Little-faith, though it was his lot to have but a little faith, was by his little faith kept from such extravagances, and made to see and prize his jewels more than to sell them, as Esau did his birthright. You read not anywhere that Esau had faith, no, not so much as a little; therefore, no marvel if, where the flesh only bears sway, (as it will in that man where no faith is to resist), if he sells his birthright, and his soul and all, and that to the devil of hell; for it is with such, as it is with the ass, who in her occasions cannot be turned away. When their minds are set upon their lusts, they will have them whatever they cost. But Little-faith was of another temper, his mind was on things divine; his livelihood was upon things that were spiritual, and from above; therefore, to what end should he that is of such a temper sell his jewels (had there been any that would have bought them) to fill his mind with empty things? Will a man give a penny to fill his belly with hay; or can you persuade the turtle-dove to live upon carrion like the crow? Though faithless ones can, for carnal lusts, pawn, or mortgage, or sell what they have, and themselves outright to boot; yet they that have faith, saving faith, though but a little of it, cannot do so. Here, therefore, my brother, is thy mistake.
Along the way, despite the warning of the shepherds, they meet the flatterer and fall into his net, just as the Scriptures forewarned. An angel cuts them down and asks how this happened . . . how they had been turned so around that they had ended up in the position they were now in, with their backs turned to Mt. Zion and tangled in the flatterer’s net. The simple answer . . . the only one they can give . . . is that they didn’t think it was so serious that they needed to inquire into the Word of the Lord or prayerfully consider their ways, especially since the flatterer was so eloquent and his countenance so convincing. The angel rightly condemns them as those who forsake the Word of the Lord in order to obey words crafted by men. We remember Israel’s pact with the men from Gibeon and that fateful verse:
Then the men of Israel sampled their provisions, but did not seek the counsel of the LORD. - Joshua 9:14
We are then brought upon one called Atheist whose back is squarely facing Mt. Zion. He mocks and ridicules the pilgrims. They are discouraged a bit by his warnings. After all, Atheist really does have more education and experience than Christian and Hopeful combined. He appears to have gone on ahead and has bothered to come back in order to tell others that there is no God. Together they are able to get out from under the sound of his voice and a Proverb is declared:
Cease my son to hear the instructions that causeth thee to err from the words of knowledge. - Proverbs 19:27
Former professing Christians are like breakup songs; the very things they used to love and praise in their now rejected object of disdain are the things at which they now take aim. It is just like Peter’s denial of Christ, in which the intensity of the rejection increases once the decision to abdicate is made. It is not good enough to say one is not a christian. Once the taste of blood is in the mouth, we won’t be settled until we are screaming out, “Crucify Him!”
Hopeful nearly lays down and sleeps in the poisoned fields in which sleeping pilgrims lay down to die. This is premature rest, it seems. It is dark alter-ego of Heaven. Scriptures warn us that wealth, comfort, and cares of the world can all tempt the believer to seek after premature rest. Christian cheers him on by reminding him of the danger, of the truth, and of the goal. Their endurance is fueled by songs about not sleeping and using the fellowship of the Body of Christ to persevere.
When the saints to sleepy grow, let them come hither,
And hear how these two pilgrims talk together.
Yea, let them learn of them in any wise,
Thus to keep ope their drowsy, slumbering eyes.
Saints’ fellowship, if it be managed well,
Keeps them awake, and that in spite of Hell.
As they go, they work through the puritan art of conference, which Joanne J. Jung has written a book on entitled, Godly Conversation. The main idea is that the Puritans recognized that some people were gifted teachers and preachers, some gifted encourages, and everyone, by necessity, knew how to turn their conversation to the things of the Lord on the Lord’s Day . . . but how did one turn one’s conversation in the daily course of things to the Heavenly realities. Jung argues that some Puritans actually established teaching sessions in which the art of Godly conversation was taught. The result is very much like the conversation between Faithful and Hopeful upon their decision to use their speech and their thoughtfulness for the building up of the faith.
They come upon a young man who speaks about himself as a pilgrim, but the men soon learn that he did not enter through the wicket gate. He sounds like a Christian, but when challenged, it becomes clear that he is merely using Christian language to describe his pagan condition:
“I believe that Christ died for sinners,” he says. “And that I shall be justified before God from the curse, through his gracious acceptance of my obedience to His Law. Or thus, Christ makes my duties that are religions, acceptable to His father by virtue of his merits, and so shall I be justified.” Like a true legalist, he goes on to argue that grace and faith the way Christian preaches can only lead to license. Christian admits that such a statement reveals the truth of an absence of knowledge about regeneration preceding and accompanying justification. Now. Listen to a striking similarity with this “safeguard” against license, found in 2 Nephi, in the book of Mormon.
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. - 2 Nephi 25:23
The two friends are discussing the difference between godly and ungodly fear, when at last they reach the Country of Beulah. This is the land just outside Jerusalem in its future glory, as declared in Isaiah 62. This signifies the closing in of the Christian’s journey. For most, this will be old age. It is a sweet place to be, but it can have strange effects, like a genuine depression as the soul is in the process of translating. Sometimes there are spots where the fabric wears increasingly thin and the Christian may have a very real experience of being in two very different realms simultaneously. These believers, says Bunyan, may get depressed or even angry. He then quotes Song of Solomon as proof that the good things of the Lord can make it hard for the believer to go on without being allowed to have more of the Lord:
If you see my Beloved, tell him that I am sick of love. - Song of Solomon 5:8
In his autobiography, Cash, Johnny Cash recounts the time he had clinically died on the operating table in 1988. He astral projected and he says that the further out of his body he got the warmer the light became until he felt as though everything was being healed that had ever been wrong. When he was revived, he slammed back into his body and woke up in the operating room, bursting into a cacophony of weeping and screaming, demanding to know why the people who “brought him back” were so cruel as to not let him go. Paul says something about it being much better to go on and be with Christ, but for the betterment of those still here, he stays.
R. J. Rushdoony’s father wisely warned his son to never argue about the doctrine of election as though it was a debatable thing. It was a precious doctrine, given to the saints for the comfort of those afflicted with fear as they approached death. Bunyan, as we’ve already seen, believed that real Christians would suffer a great fear of death at times. It was understandable that someone of faith might falter in the face of death. Has the Christian ever faltered previously in the face of smaller things? The faltering is not a sign that the Lord would disown you; rather, it should be treated as an injunction from the conductor to believe in the grace of God and be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. This is the way. Walk in it.
They then addressed themselves to the water and, entering, Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, I sink in deep waters; the billows go over my head, all his waves go over me! Selah.
Then said the other, Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good.
Then said Christian, Ah! my friend, the sorrows of death hath compassed me about; I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey; and with that a great darkness and horror fell upon Christian, so that he could not see before him. Also here he in great measure lost his senses, so that he could neither remember nor orderly talk of any of those sweet refreshments that he had met with in the way of his pilgrimage. But all the words that he spake still tended to discover that he had horror of mind, and heart fears that he should die in that river, and never obtain entrance in at the gate. Here also, as they that stood by perceived, he was much in the troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, both since and before he began to be a pilgrim. It was also observed that he was troubled with apparitions of hobgoblins and evil spirits, for ever and anon he would intimate so much by words. Hopeful, therefore, here had much ado to keep his brother's head above water; yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then, ere a while, he would rise up again half dead.
Hopeful also would endeavour to comfort him, saying, Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive us: but Christian would answer, It is you, it is you they wait for; you have been Hopeful ever since I knew you. And so have you, said he to Christian.
Ah! brother! said he, surely if I was right he would now arise to help me; but for my sins he hath brought me into the snare, and hath left me.
Then said Hopeful, My brother, you have quite forgot the text, where it is said of the wicked, "There are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters are no sign that God hath forsaken you; but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses.
Then I saw in my dream, that Christian was as in a muse a while. To whom also Hopeful added this word, Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; and with that Christian brake out with a loud voice, Oh, I see him again! and he tells me, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Then they both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as a stone, until they were gone over. Christian therefore presently found ground to stand upon, and so it followed that the rest of the river was but shallow. Thus they got over.
For the next installment, finish reading to page 238, just before Christiana reaches the Valley of Humiliation.
