Wherein is Discovered,
The manner of his setting out,
His Dangerous Journey; And safe
Arrival at the Desired Countrey.
_I have used Similitudes, Hos. 12. 10._
By _John Bunyan_.
Licensed and Entred according to Order.
_London_,
Printed for _Nath. Ponder_ at the _Peacock_
in the _Poultrey_ near _Cornhil_, 1678.
FACSIMILE OF THE
TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF
"THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS"]
Bunyan, out of his spiritual wrestlings, imagined his conflict with the
powers of evil as a journey which he made Christian take from his home
town along the straight and narrow way to the Shining Gate. Reproduced
from his own imaginative sufferings were the flounderings in the Slough
of Despond and his experiences in the Vale of Humiliation, the Valley of
the Shadow of Death and in Vanity Fair, where he lost the company of
Faithful.
It is difficult, unless one is very familiar with the book, to separate
the adventures in the first part from those in the second part, which
deals with the experiences of Christiana and her children. It is in this
second part that Great-heart, the knightly champion of the faith,
appears, as well as the muck-raker, who has been given so much
prominence in these last few years as the type of the magazine writers,
who are eager to drag down into the dirt the reputations of prominent
men. In fact, Bunyan's allegory has been a veritable mine to all
literary people who have followed him. For a hundred years his book
remained known only to the poor for whom it was written. Then its
literary merits were perceived, and since then it has held its place as
second only to the Bible in English-speaking lands.
Bunyan, in his years in prison, studied the Bible so that his mind was
saturated with its phraseology, and he knew it almost by heart. Every
page of _Pilgrim's Progress_ bears witness to this close and loving
study. The language of the Bible is often used, but it blends so
perfectly with the simple, direct speech of Bunyan's characters that it
reads like his own work. The only thing that betrays it is the reference
to book and verse. A specimen of Bunyan's close reading of the Bible may
be found in this list of curiosities in the museum of the House
Beautiful on the Delectable Mountains:
"They showed him Moses' rod; the hammer and nail with which
Jael slew Sisera; the pitcher, trumpets and lamps, too, with
which Gideon put to flight the armies of Midian. Then they
showed him the ox's goad wherewith Shambar slew six hundred
men. They showed him also the jaw-bone with which Samson did
such mighty feats. They showed him, moreover, the sling and
stone with which David slew Goliath of Gath; and the sword,
also, with which their Lord will kill the Man of Sin, in the
day that he shall rise up to prey."
And here is a part of Bunyan's description of the fight between Apollyon
and Christian in the Valley of Humiliation:
"Then Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth of the
way, and said: 'I am void of fear in this matter; prepare
thyself to die, for I swear by my infernal den that thou
shalt go no further; here will I spill thy soul.' * * * In
this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard
as I did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made, nor
what sighs and groans burst from Christian's heart. I never
saw him all the while give so much as one pleasant look, till
he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged
sword; then, indeed, he did smile, and look upward; but it
was the dreadfulest sight that I ever saw."
The miracle of this book is that it should have been written by a man
who had little education and small knowledge of the great world, yet
that it should be a literary masterpiece in the simple perfection of its
form, and that it should be so filled with wisdom that the wisest man
may gain something from its pages. Literary genius has never been shown
in greater measure than in this immortal allegory by the poor tinker of
Bedfordshire.