The Pilgrim's Progress - Part Two
The Author's Way of Sending Forth His Second Part
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But when he was come to the entrance of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I thought
I should have lost my man; not for that he had any inclination to go back--that he
always abhorred,--but he was ready to die for fear. 'Oh, the hobgoblins will have
me, the hobgoblins will have me!' cried he; and I could not beat him out on't. He
made such a noise and such an outcry here, that, had they but heard him, 't was enough
to encourage them to come and fall upon us.
"But this I took very great notice of: that this valley was as quiet while he
went through it, as ever I knew it before or since. I suppose those enemies here
had now a special check from our Lord; and a command not to meddle until Mr. FEARING
was passed over it.
"It would be too tedious to tell you of all, we will therefore only mention
a passage or two more. When he was come at Vanity Fair, I thought he would have fought
with all the men in the fair; I feared there we should both have been knocked o'
the head, so hot was he against their fooleries. Upon the enchanted ground he was
also very wakeful. But when he was come at the river where was no bridge, there again
he was in a heavy case; now, now, he said, he should be drowned for ever, and so
never see that face with comfort that he had come so many miles to behold.
"And here also I took notice of what was very remarkable: the water of that
river was lower at this time than ever I saw it in all my life; so he went over at
last not much above wetshod. When he was going up to the gate, Mr. GREAT-HEART began
to take his leave of him, and to wish him a good reception above; so he said, 'I
shall, I shall.' Then parted we asunder, and I saw him no more."
Honest. Then it seems he was well at last.
Great-heart. Yes, yes; I never had a doubt about him. He was a man of a choice
spirit, only he was always kept very low; and that made his life so burdensome to
himself, and so troublesome to others.
"O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried
day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear
unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath
no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou
rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the
lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast
afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination
unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason
of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands
unto thee. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise
thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness
in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in
the land of forgetfulness? But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning
shall my prayer prevent thee.
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am
afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors
I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They
came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Lover and
friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."
~ Psalms 88:1-18 ~
He was, above many, tender of sin; he was so afraid of doing injuries to others,
that he often would deny himself of that which was lawful because he would not offend.
"It is good neither to eat
flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or
is offended, or is made weak."
~ Romans 14:21 ~
"Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the
world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
~ 1 Corinthians 8:13 ~
Honest. But what should be the reason that such a good man should be all his
days so much in the dark?
Great-heart. There are two sorts of reasons for it: one is, the wise God will
have it so; some must pipe, and some must weep:
"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto
you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they
say, He hath a devil."
~ Matthew 11:16-18 ~
now Mr. FEARING was one that played upon the bass. He and his fellows sound the sackbut,
whose notes are more doleful than the notes of other music are. Though, indeed, some
say, the bass is the ground of music. And for my part, I care not at all for that
profession that begins not in heaviness of mind. The first string that the musician
usually touches is the bass, when he intends to put all in tune; God also plays upon
this string first when he sets the soul in tune for himself. Only here was the imperfection
of Mr. FEARING: he could play upon no other music but this till towards his latter
end.
I make bold to talk thus metaphorically for the ripening of the wits of young readers;
and because, in the book of the Revelation, the saved are compared to a company of
musicians that play upon their trumpets and harps, and sing their songs before the
throne.
"And I saw the seven angels which stood
before God; and to them were given seven trumpets."
~ Revelation 8:2 ~
"And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And
they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and
the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth."
~ Revelation 14:2, 3 ~
Honest. He was a very zealous man, as one may see by what relation you have
given of him. Difficulties, lions, or Vanity Fair, he feared not at all; 't was only
sin, death, and hell that were to him a terror, because he had some doubts about
his interest in that celestial country.
Great-heart. You say right: those were the things that were his troublers,
and they, as you have well observed, arose from the weakness of his mind thereabout;
not from weakness of spirit as to the practical part of a pilgrim's life. I dare
believe, that, as the proverb is, he could have bit a firebrand, had it stood in
his way; but the things with which he was oppressed, no man ever yet could shake
off with ease.
Chris. Then said CHRISTIANA, "This relation of Mr. FEARING has done me
good. I thought nobody had been like me; but I see there was some semblance 'twixt
this good man and I, only we differed in two things: his troubles were so great they
brake out; but mine I kept within. His also lay so hard upon him, they made him that
he could not knock at the houses provided for entertainment; but my trouble was always
such as made me knock the louder."
Mercy. If I might also speak my heart, I must say, that something of him has
also dwelt in me. For I have ever been more afraid of the lake and the loss of a
place in paradise, than I have been of the loss of other things. Oh, thought I, may
I have the happiness to have a habitation there, 't is enough, though I part with
all the world to win it!
Matt. Then said MATTHEW, "Fear was one thing that made me think that
I was far from having that within me that accompanies salvation; but if it was so
with such a good man as he, why may it not also go well with me?"
James. "No fears, no grace," said JAMES. "Though there is not
always grace where there is the fear of hell, yet to be sure, there is no grace where
there is no fear of God."
Great-heart. Well said, JAMES, thou hast hit the mark: for the "fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom"; and, to be sure, they that want the beginning
have neither middle nor end. But we will here conclude our discourse of Mr. FEARING
after we have sent after him this farewell:
"Well, Master FEARING, thou didst fear
Thy God; and wast afraid
Of doing anything, while here,
That would have thee betrayed.
And thou didst fear the Lake and Pit--
Would others did so too!
For, as for them that want thy wit,
They do themselves undo."
The Pilgrim's Progress - Part Two
The Author's Way of Sending Forth His Second Part
of the Pilgrim | 1 | 2 | 3
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17
| 18 | 19 | 20
| 21 | 22 | 23
| 24 | 25 | 26
Back to Pilgrim's Homepage