APOLLYON.
BUT now, in this Vale of Humiliation, poor Christian was hard put to
it; for he had gone but a short way, when he saw a foul fiend come
through the field to meet him: his name is Apollyon.
So he went on, and Apollyon met him. Now the ghoul did shock one's eyes
to look on: he was clad with scales like a fish; he had wings like a
huge bat, feet like a bear, and out of his throat came fire and smoke,
and his mouth was as the mouth of the king of beasts. When he came up
to Christian he gave him a look of scorn, and thus sought to sift him.
_Apol._--"Whence came you? and to what place are you bound?"
_Chr._--"I am come from the City of Destruction, which is the place of
all ill, and am on my way to Mount Zion."
_Apol._--"By this I know thou art one of my serfs; for all that land
is mine; and I am the prince and god of it. How is it, then, that thou
hast run off from thy king? Were it not that I hope thou wilt serve me
yet more, I would strike thee now at one blow to the ground."
_Chr._--"I was born, in sooth, in your realm, but to serve thee was
hard, and your pay such as a man could not live on; 'for the meed of
sin is death': for this cause, when I was come to years, I did, as some
who think do, look out if so be I might mend my state. I have let my
help to some one else; and to no less than the King of Kings."
_Apol._--"Think yet, while thou art in cool blood, what thou art like
to meet with in the way that thou dost go. Thou art not blind that for
the most part those who serve him come to an ill end, for that they
spurn my laws and walk not in my paths. What a host of them have been
put to deaths of shame! And still thou dost count that to serve him is
best; when, in sooth, he has not yet come from the place where he is,
to save one that stood by his cause, out of my hands."
_Chr._--"He does not seek so soon to save them, so as to try their
love, and find if they will cleave to him to the end; and as for the
ill end thou dost say they come to, that tells for their good: for to
be set free now they do not much look for it; for they stay for their
meed; and they shall have it when their Prince comes in the might of
the bright hosts that wait on him."
_Apol._--"Thou hast erst been false in thy turns to serve him; and how
dost thou think to get pay of him?"
_Chr._--"All this is true; but the Prince whom I serve and love is sure
to show ruth. But, let me say, these faults held hold of me in thy
land; for there I did suck them in, and they have made me groan and
grieve for them; whence I have got the grace of my Prince."
Then Apollyon broke out in a sore rage, and said, "I am a foe to this
Prince: I hate him, his laws, and they who serve him. I am come out
with the view to make thee yield."
_Chr._--"Apollyon, take heed what you do; for I am on the King's high
road, the way of grace; for which cause mind how you act."
Then did Christian draw; for he saw it was time for him to stir; and
Apollyon as fast made at him, and threw darts as thick as hail, by the
which, in spite of all that Christian could do to shift it, Apollyon
hit him in his head, his hand, and foot. This made Christian give some
back: Apollyon then went to his work with heart, and Christian once
more took heart, and met his foe as well as he could.
Then Apollyon, as he saw his time had come, made up close to Christian,
and as he strove to throw him gave him a dread fall; and with that
Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, "I am sure
of thee now!" and with that he did nigh press him to death; so that
Christian had slight hope of life. But, as God would have it, while
Apollyon dealt his last blow, by that means to make a full end of this
good man, Christian at once put out his hand for his sword, caught it,
and said, "When I fall, I shall then rise"; and with that gave him a
fierce thrust, which made him give back as one that had got his death
wound. Christian saw that, and made at him once more, while he said,
"Nay, in all these things we more than gain the prize through him that
loves us"; and with that Apollyon spread forth his foul wings and sped
him off, that Christian saw no more of him.
So when the fight came to a close, Christian said, "I will here give
thanks to him that hath kept me out of the mouth of the chief of
beasts, to him that did help me in the strife with Apollyon."
Then there came to him a hand with some of the leaves of the "tree of
life," the which Christian took and laid them on the wounds that he had
got in the strife, and was made whole at once.