242 Bunyan, John
Faithful’s place, does keep company with Christian
till the end.
Faithful is killed by the residents of Vanity Fair,
which as a place provides a sharper picture than
does the City of Destruction of the society at odds
with and antagonistic toward Christian and his
companions. Ironically, the persecution brought
upon the pilgrims by Vanity Fair actually helps
them to secure their place in their eternal society:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
(Matt. 5:10). While they are on their journey, the
pilgrims do receive tastes and glimpses of what the
society of the elect will be like. At opportune times,
the group lodged in Interpreter’s house and the one
shepherding on the Delectable Mountains provide
encouragement through community. But it is only
at the end of the journey that the Pilgrims come
into their own. Christian is aided by Hopeful in
the perilous crossing of the river, and both are met
at the banks by saints from the Celestial City who
have come to escort the pilgrims in a heroes’ entry
to the city to enjoy perpetual fellowship. For as they
walk up the bank, the guides tell the pilgrims that
in this city “you shall enjoy your friends again that
are gone thither before you; and there you shall with
joy receive even every one that follows into the holy
place after you.”
Matthew Horn
reliGiOn in The Pilgrim’s Progress
When one thinks of religion in John Bunyan’s The
Pilgrim’s Progress, one should not think of an ambig-
uous attitude of spirituality or of a general belief
in an afterlife. Instead, one should think of a very
specific formulation of Christianity—Puritanism.
The Puritans believed that the Bible alone held the
answers to humanity’s trouble; that this trouble was
sin, or one’s personal offenses against the standards
of a holy God; and that the solution to sin was solely
Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross. They also
held that it was each individual’s duty to himself or
herself to approach the Bible for one’s own personal
acquisition of these truths. Only the Bible could
genuinely educate about one’s sin against God and
of the efficacy of the work of Jesus Christ. Finally,
Puritans were convinced that this present world was
only a place that the saints, or the elect of God, were
passing through on their way to heaven. Nothing
from this world would transfer to the next, only
one’s spiritual growth and spiritual reward gained
from fighting the good fight (2 Tim. 4:7).
This is why Bunyan’s story opens with the words
“As I walked through the wilderness of this world,”
and why the first picture he gives his reader is of
the main character burdened with a bundle of sin,
holding a book. The book is the Bible, and it has
just convinced this man that he is a sinner (thus, the
pressure of the bundle on his back) and that judg-
ment by fire is coming upon him and his town (2
Pet. 3:7, 10). To escape this punishment, Christian,
the pilgrim, must begin his journeys along the nar-
row way, a path that will first lead him to the Wicket
Gate. This gate is a sign for Christian that he is
indeed on the right path, for he can compare this
Wicket Gate to the Bible’s teaching that all who are
rightly called will enter through the narrow gate and
all who jump the wall or enter by other ways are not
true followers of Christ ( John 10:1).
The true follower of the Puritan religion must
not only pass through the narrow gate, he or she
must also have a personal experience of spiritually
embracing the remedy of the cross. Thus, shortly
after this, Christian comes to a hill, upon which is
the cross. He sees the cross; his burden rolls into
an empty cave, a “sepulcher,” on the side of the hill
(the empty tomb signifies the resurrected Christ);
and he has a divine encounter with “three Shining
Ones” who give him new clothes and a paper roll,
his charter of salvation. This is a spiritual high point
for Christian, and as long as he retains his roll, he
is guaranteed a home in his final destination, the
Celestial City; without the roll, however, he cannot
get in. Thus, his journey from the cross to the gates
of heaven is filled with moments of surety and of
doubt—surety when he has the roll securely with
him, doubt when he temporarily misplaces it out of
carelessness.
Christian is taught to completely exchange the
values of this world for the values of the world that
is to come, regardless of how exclusive this might
make one seem to the citizens of this world. Thus,
by constantly testing the words of those whom he
meets, Christian eschews worldly friendship and