Thoughts on Pilgrim's Progress by Bill Federer
"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall I shall arise"- John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress--quoted from MICAH 7:8.
John Bunyan, at age 16, joined the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War in 1644. He then learned from his father the trade of a tinker and got married.
In 1657, at age 29, John Bunyan
became a Baptist minister and was arrested for having illegal
religious meetings, preaching without a license from the government.
John Bunyan wrote in a Relation of My Imprisonment:
"Upon
the 12th of...November 1660...the justice...issued out his warrant to
take me...as if we that were to meet together...to do some fearful
business, to the destruction of the country; when alas! the
constable, when he came in, found us only with our Bibles in our hands,
ready to speak and hear the word of God...
So I was taken and
forced to depart... But before I went away, I spake some few words of
counsel and encouragement to the people, declaring to them...that they
would not be discouraged, for it was a mercy to suffer upon so good
account...We suffer as Christians...better be the persecuted, than the persecutors."
John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years, during which time he tried to support his family by making shoelaces.
While in prison, John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, published FEBRUARY 18, 1678.
It
was an allegory of a pilgrim, named Christian, who fled from the City
of Destruction and was directed by Evangelist to follow the narrow path,
overcoming 'vanity fair' temptations, depressions, deceptions, and
persecutions till he reached the Celestial City of Zion.
Pilgrim's Progress was translated into over 100 languages and, after the Bible, was the world's best-seller for hundreds of years.
It was found in nearly every colonial New England home, along with the Bible and Fox's Book of Martyrs.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Autobiography:
"My old favorite author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress...has
been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose it
has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the
Bible."
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress inspired many subsequent novels, such as:
Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrim's Progress (1869);
C.S. Lewis' Pilgrim's Regress (1933); and
L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz (1900).
Pilgrim's Progress began:
"As
I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain
place where was a den, and I 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.
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?"
Later in the book, John Bunyan wrote:
"Christian ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a cross...
So
I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his
burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back."
Further in Pilgrim's Progress is written:
"Then said Christian, You make me afraid, but whither shall I fly to be safe?... To go back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life-everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward...
Frighted
with the sight of the lions...Christian said to himself again, These
beasts range in the night for their prey; and if they should meet with
me in the dark...how should I escape being by them torn in pieces?...
He
lift up his eyes, and behold there was a very stately palace before
him... He entered into a very narrow passage...he espied two lions in
the way...
The porter at the lodge...perceiving that Christian made a halt as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying,
'Is
thy strength so small? Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and
are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of
those that had none. Keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall
come unto thee'...
He went on, trembling for fear of the lions,
but taking good heed to the directions of the porter; he heard them
roar, but they did him no harm..."
John Bunyan continued: "But
now, in this Valley of Humiliation, poor Christian was hard put to
it...a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him; his name is
Apollyon.
Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground.
But
he considered again that he had no armour for his back; and therefore
thought that to turn the back to him might give him the greater
advantage with ease to pierce him with his darts.
Therefore he resolved to venture and stand his ground...
The
monster was hideous to behold; he was clothed with scales...wings like a
dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke...
Apollyon
straddled quite over the whole breadth of the way, and said...prepare
thyself to die; for I swear by my infernal den, that thou shalt go no
further; here will I spill thy soul.
And with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast; but Christian had a shield in his hand, with which he caught it...
Apollyon
as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which,
notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it, Apollyon
wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot...
This sore combat
lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent;
for you must know that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs
grow weaker and weaker...
Christian's
sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, 'I am sure of thee
now.' And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that
Christian began to despair of life;
but as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching of his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man,
Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying,
'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall I shall arise'; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back...
And with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon's wings, and sped him away, that Christian for a season saw him no more...
A more unequal match
can hardly be,-
Christian must fight an angel;
but you see,
The valiant man
by handling Sword and Shield,
Doth make him, though a Dragon,
quit the field."
Ben Franklin wrote in his Autobiography:
"From
a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into
my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrim's Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes."
President Grover Cleveland had memorized Pilgrim's Progress as a youth, and commented:
"I
have always felt that my training as a minister's son has been more
valuable to me as a strengthening influence than any other incident in
life."
President Ronald Reagan greeted Australia's Prime Minister, June 30, 1981, referring to John Bunyan:
"Robert
Louis Stevenson wrote, 'We are all travelers in what John Bunyan calls
the wilderness of this world. And the best that we find in our travels
is an honest friend - they keep us worthy of ourselves.'"
President Theodore Roosevelt stated while laying the cornerstone of the office building of the House of Representatives, April 14, 1906:
"In Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' you may recall the description of the man with the muck-rake,
the
man who could look no way but downward, with the muck-rake in his hand,
who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would
neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to
rake to himself the filth of the floor."
President Franklin Roosevelt referred to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress on January 19, 1936:
"When Theodore Roosevelt
died, the Secretary of his class at Harvard, in sending classmates a
notice of his passing, added this quotation from 'Pilgrim's Progress':
'My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it.
My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder.'"
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