The Beginnings of the Pilgrimage Proper

One of the first things we notice about Christian is that his first encounter after losing his burden is with five individuals, all of whom are presented in the Pilgrim's Progress as warnings to us. We could almost say that the story is full of warnings, based on the premise that there are many counterfeits to true religion. One of the great emphases in Puritan preaching and theology is the need for men to be warned of the dangers inherent in pursuing the path to Heaven

Paul himself told the Colossians that his calling was to warn every man and teach every man in all wisdom (Colossians 1:28). To that extent, Bunyan fulfils a very Pauline ministry in Pilgrim's Progress. Just as surely as we are taught about the things that are genuine and true in Christian experience, we are warned against the things that are not.

This emphasis on warning against spiritual danger has to be understood in the context, first, of the Puritan theology of experience and practice. Puritan preaching was often long-winded and prolix, but it was always goal-centered. It was focussed on enabling people to live their lives in a God-centered and spiritual way. The Puritans would find fault with preaching which only explained the terms and content of a doctrine, and did not then apply it. The Puritan William Ames, for example, says "They sin ... who stick to the naked finding and explanation of the truth, neglecting the use and practice in which religion and blessedness consist. Such preachers edify the conscience little or not at all" (quoted in Leland Ryken Worldly Saints, p101). The truth was to edify the conscience, to make people sensitive to spiritual realities and holy truths, to enable our lives to be lived on the right road.

But secondly, the warnings are part of the Puritan theology of hope. So Ryken:

The Puritans viewed themselves as pilgrims on a journey to God and heaven. That journey led through this world and was not an escape from it. The Puritans were protagonists in a great spiritual battle between good and evil, God and Satan. As warfaring and wayfaring Christians, they were assured of victory because they were on God's side. This theology of hope was stronger than the theology of suffering that was equally a part of the Puritan consciousness. (Worldly Saints, p220).

The warnings are there to remind us that by obeying Christ's directions for our lives, we will reach a grand destination at last. We are wayfaring men; but we are also warfaring men, and all around us are temptations and difficulties. The true Christian, however, unlike these hypocrites, will persevere to the end. So when we come across individuals who represent the dangers of the way, we are being reminded that Christian is everything they are not.

Three of these individuals were fast asleep, near the foot of the cross. They were also chained with fetters, in bondage to sin. Their names were Simple, Sloth and Presumption. Christian awoke them, eager to warn them of their danger. But he got little thanks for his efforts; Simple answered and said 'I see no danger'; Sloth said 'Yet a little more sleep'; and Presumption said 'Every vat must stand upon its own bottom'. The meaning of the last phrase is derived from the image of a large casket, which stands on its base. Presumption is saying that it is every man for himself, and that one need not be too worried about true foundations.

For Christian, as we know, things are quite different. He sees a danger, he does not want to sleep, and he will not presume that his life is safe until he stands on a more sure foundation than he can find in his own experience. But he had to leave them where they were since his attention was taken by two men who climbed over a wall and came up to him. Their names are Formalist and Hypocrisy.

So, on the one hand, Bunyan reminds us that there are dangers involving having NO concern for salvation, our relationship to God, or the state of our souls. On the other hand, there are dangers connected with having an interest in religion, but in dealing with these in the wrong way. Bunyan is teaching us that there are two things that we can substitute for a genuine heart-religion. The first is formalism, where we are content to go through certain forms, certain motions; the other is hypocrisy, where we are content with an outward show. The first danger is that we trust to set forms of worship, and is an implicit criticism of the Anglican ritual against which Puritanism was fighting. The second danger is that we trust to our own performance in true religion and worship. It is the leaven of the Pharisees: hypocrisy.

Christian immediately challenges them. Why have they not come in at the gate? Does not the Scripture say that whoever comes in another way is a thief and a robber? The answer of Formalist and Hypocrisy is that they have taken a short-cut. And to Christian's point that God's revealed will was being violated, they answered that they had custom and tradition on their side.

Christian's challenge to them is one of the most important sentences in the whole book: But, said Christian, will your practice stand a trial at law? (p39). That is, in essence, the crux of the matter. The point is not what others do, or what we fancy to be correct ourselves. If our practice is subjected to a test and to scrutiny, will it stand? What Formalist and Hypocrisy failed to reckon with is the fact that every practice must be scrutinised. 'let a man examine himself to see if he is in the faith'. Without this examination and scrutiny, Christian says

You will not be found true men at the end of the way. You come in by yourselves, without his direction; and shall go out by yourselves without his mercy (p40).

Again, there is the constant emphasis on having an eye to the true end of the matter, when we shall meet with God. The ensuing conversation concerns the gifts Christian had been given: his coat, the mark in his forehead, and the scroll. These were not the things of primary concern to Formalist and Hypocrisy, who simply laughed.

It is interesting to note that the great test of their religion came when the three of them reached the Hill Difficulty. At the bottom of the Hill there was a spring, and there was a way up the Hill. There were also two roads that bypassed the hill, one called Danger and the other Destruction. Christian drank from the spring, and started up the Hill, singing:

The hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The Difficulty will not me offend.
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up heart, let's neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, through easy, where the end is woe. (p41)

The use of poetry in the Pilgrim's Progress is an interesting and important element of the text, and several commentators have written on this. Christian sings at key moments, expressing the joy of his heart. Some suggest that the poetry of Part Two is superior to that of Part One, partly because it is less borrowed and more personal. The fact that there is no reference to a psalm in Pilgrim's Progress, and given Bunyan's own personal interest in music, has led some to suggest that his poetry was a kind of propaganda for the development of music and song in the worship of the church (see Horner p313). Certainly the poems take away the monotony of the prose style, and encapsulate in verse what is going on in the heart.

Here, the poem is a tremendous example of how Christian's face difficulties in the way. Christian will climb the hill. He will not be put off by the difficulty, for he would rather walk the right road with its difficulty, then walk the wrong road in great ease. This was too much, however, for Formalist and Hypocrisy, who take the other roads to their own doom. In many ways that is the great test of our faith: that we can speak about the light affliction which is momentary working for us a weight of glory.

However, an interesting thing occurred halfway up the hill. Bunyan tells us that there was a 'pleasant arbor made by the Lord of the hill for the refreshing of weary travellers' (p41), where Christian sat down to take a break. We have often, I am sure, experienced the help that Christ can give us in the midst of difficulties and distresses: He never leaves his children to soldier on alone, but always gives times of refreshing along with times of difficulty.

As Christian sat, reviewing his graces and reading from his scroll, he fell asleep. While he slept, the roll fell out of his hand, and he woke with a start and continued his journey without the scroll in his possession. It was when he met two men -- Timorous (meaning afraid) and Mistrust -- running in the opposite direction , and telling him of the dangers ahead, that he looked for his scroll to give him comfort, but it was not to be found. He had to return to the arbor to find it, and in great distress of soul:

Thus, therefore, he now went on bewailing his sinful sleep, saying, O wretched man that I am! That I should sleep in the day-time! That I should sleep in the midst of difficulty! That I should so indulge the flesh as to use that rest for ease to my flesh, with the Lord of the hill hath erected only for the relief of the spirits of pilgrims! (p43).

There are several important pastoral issues here:

Sleeping in the midst of difficulty -- Christian has to bemoan the fact that the trials of the way were not sufficient of themselves to keep him awake. He was climbing up the Hill Difficulty, and that is where he slept. Sometimes it is not when we are walking an easy road that we are liable to backslide, but even in the midst of hardships and struggles.
Assurance lost -- How easily did Christian allow the scroll to roll out of his bosom. He knew that it was the only antidote to the suggestions of Timorous and Mistrust -- "thinking again of what he heard from the men, he felt in his bosom for his roll, that he might read therein, and be comforted; but he felt, and found it not" (p42). The scroll had been difficult to obtain, but easy to lose. We shall often discover that the assurance we need is also easily lost to us unless we take care to protect and preserve it.
Repentance for continued sin. Bunyan paints Christian as pouring out his heart in repentance: "falling down upon his knees, he asked God forgiveness for that his foolish act, and then went back to look for his roll. But all the way he went back, who can sufficiently set forth the sorrow of Christian's heart!" (42-3). There were two elements to his repentance -- the seeking for forgiveness and the renewed search for the scroll. But all the time it was mingled with thoughts of dejection and weariness because of his own lack of watchfulness.
Delight in the recovery of assurance. The sight of the arbour increased his sorrow, but as he bewailed his sinful sleeping he saw the scroll on the ground:
But who can tell how joyful this man was when he had gotten his roll again! For this roll was the assurance of life and acceptance at the desired haven. Therefore he laid it up in his bosom, gave thanks to God for directing his eye to the place where it lay, and with joy and tears betook himself again to his journey (43).

Christian discovered that it was easier to climb the Hill Difficulty once he had recovered his assurance, although Bunyan paints the picture of lost time: Christian has reason to bemoan the fact that sleeping in the day time meant that night would cover him -- "I must walk without the sun" (44). There is always a price to be paid for our spiritual sloth and slumber.