"Where am I now? Is this the love and care
Of Jesus, for the men that pilgrims are ;
Thus to provide, that I should be forgiven,
And dwell already the next door to heaven ?"#

So in the morning they all got up; and, after some more discourse, they told him that he should not depart till they had showed him the rarities of that place. And first they had him into the study, where they showed him records of the greatest antiquity: in which, as I remember my dream, they showed him, first, the pedigree of the Lord of the hill, that he was the Son of the Ancient of days, and came by that eternal generation: here also were more fully recorded the acts that he had done, and the names of many hundreds that he had taken into his service; and how he had placed them in such habitations that could neither by length of days, nor decay of nature, be dissolved.

Then they read to him some of the worthy acts that some of his servants had done; as how they had "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Heb. xi. 33, 34.

Then they read again in another part of the records of the house, where it was showed how willing the Lord was to receive into his favour any, even any, though they in time past had offered great affronts to his person and proceedings. Here also were several other histories of many other famous things, of all

A sinner cannot sleep safely and comfortably till he has found peace with God. But, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God [and peace in our consciences] through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 1. But all unbelievers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ are under the curse of the law, and condemnation for sin, and are at enmity against God.

† Christ, and meditation on Christ, on his birth, his person, his life, his works, his death, his atonement, righteousness, and salvation, are the delight of Christian souls. Says David, "My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord." Psal. civ. 34. A lively Christian cannot live without spiritual meditation.

The provision which is made in Christ, and his falness for maintaining and increasing in the hearts of his people, those holy dispositions and affections by the vigorous exercise of which, victory is obtained over all their enemies, is here represented by the

ancient and modern; together with prophecies and predictions of things that have their certain accomplishment, both to the dread and amazement of enemies, and the comfort and solace of pilgrims.

The next day they took him, and had him into the armoury, where they showed him all manner of furniture which their Lord had provided for pilgrims, as sword, shield, helmet, breastplates, all-prayer, and shoes that would not wear out. And there was here enough of this to harness out as many men, for the service of their Lord, as there be stars in the heaven for multitude.

They also showed him some of the engines, with which some of his servants had done wonderful things. They showed him Moses' rod; the hammer and nail with which Jael slew Sisera; the pitchers, trumpets, and lamps too, with which Gideon put to flight the armies of Midian. Then they showed him the oxgoad, wherewith Shamgar 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 Goliah 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 the prey. They showed him besides many excellent things with which Christian was much delighted. This done they went to their rest again.

Then I saw in my dream, that on the morrow he got up to go forwards, but they desired him to stay till the next day also; and then, said they, we will, if the day be clear, show you the Delectable Mountains; which, they said,

armoury. This suffices for all who may seek to be supplied from it, how many soever they be. We ought, therefore, to "take to ourselves the whole armour of God," and "put it on" by diligently using all the means of grace, and we should assist others, by our exhortations, counsels, examples, and prayers, in doing the same.

Contemplations on the things of old, recorded in the word of God, is the joy and glory of faith, animates hope, and causeth the soul to press forward in the Christian race.

The Delectable Mountains, as seen at a distance, represent those distinct views of the privileges and consolations attainable in this life, with which believers are sometimes favoured, when attending on divine ordinances: or diligently making a subsequent improvement of them, by means whereof they are animated to "press forward toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

would yet further add to his comfort, because they were nearer the desired haven than the place where at present he was; so he consented and stayed. When the morning was up, they had him to the top of the house, and bid him look south; so he did; and behold, at a great distance, (Isa. xxxiii. 16, 17,) he saw a most pleasant mountainous country, beautified with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts,

And

flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delectable to behold. Then he asked the name of the country. They said, It was Immanuel's Land; and it is as common, say they, as this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims. when thou. comest there, from thence thou mayest see the gate to the Celestial City, as the shepherds that live there will make ap pear.

Now Christian bethought himself of setting forward, and they were willing he should. But first, said they, let us go again into the armoury. So they did; and when he came there, they harnessed him from head to foot with what was of proof, lest perhaps he should meet with assaults in the way. He being therefore thus accoutred, walked out with his friends to the gate, and there he asked the Porter, if he saw any pilgrim pass by? Then the Porter answered, Yes.

*

Christian. Pray did you know him?

they went on together, reiterating their former discourses, till they came to go down the hill. Then said Christian, As it was difficult coming up, so far as I can see, it is dangerous going down. Yes, said Prudence, so it is; for it is an hard matter for a man to go down into the Valley of Humiliation as thou art now, and to catch no slip by the way; therefore, said they, are we come out to accompany thee down the hill. So he began to go down, but very warily, yet he caught a slip or two.†

Then I saw in my dream, that these good

Oh, said Christian, I know him: he is my townsman, my near neighbour, he comes from the place where I was born: how far do you think he may be before?

the bottom of the hill, gave him a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and a cluster of raisins; and then he went on his way.

But now, in this Valley of Humiliation, poor Christian was hard put to it; for he had

fiend coming over the field to meet him; his name is Apollyon.‡ Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or stand his ground. But he considered again that he had no armour for his back, and therefore thought that to turn the back to him might give him greater advantage, with ease to pierce him with his darts; there

many special and peculiar blessings, there is danger of his being puffed up and exaited on account of them; so did even holy Paul express it: therefore the messenger of Satan was permitted to buffet him. 2 Cor. xii. 7. In our present mixed state, the Lord knows, it would not be best for us always to dwell on the mount of spiritual joy; therefore, for the good of the soul, the flesh must be humbled and kept low, lest spiritual pride prevail. It is hard going down into the Valley of Humiliation, without slipping into murmuring and discontent, and calling in question the dealings of God with us.

† Apollyon signifies the destroyer. See Rev. ix. 11.

fore he resolved to venture, and stand his ground; for, thought he, had I no more in my eyes than the saving of my life, it would be the best way to stand.

So he went on, and Apollyon met him. Now the monster was hideous to behold: he was clothed with scales like a fish, (and they are his pride;) he had wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion. When he was come up to Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful countenance, and thus began to question with him.*

Apollyon. Whence came you? and whither are you bound?

Christian. I am come from the city of Destruction, which is the place of all evil, and am going to the city of Zion.

Apollyon. By this I perceive thou art one of my subjects; for all that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it. How is it then that thou hast run away from thy king? Were it not for that I hope thou mayest do me more service, I would strike thee now at one blow to the ground.

but it is ordinary for those that have professed themselves his servants, after a while to give him the slip, and return again to me. Do thou so too, and all shall be well.‡

Christian. I have given him my faith, and sworn my allegiance to him; how then can I go back from this, and not be hanged as a traitor?

Apollyon. Thou didst the same to me, and yet I am willing to pass by all, if now thou wilt yet turn again and go back.

Christian. What I promised thee was in my nonage; and besides I count that the prince under whose banner I now stand is able to absolve me; yea, and to pardon also what I did as to my compliance with thee: and besides, O thou destroying Apollyon, to speak truth, I like his service, his wages, his servants, his government, his company and country, better than thine; and therefore leave off to persuade me further; I am his servant, and I will follow him.

Apollyon. Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most part, his servants come to an ill end, because they are transgressors against me and my ways. How many of them have been

Apollyon. There is no prince that will thus lightly lose his subjects, neither will I as yet lose thee; but since thou complainest of thy service and wages, be content to go back ;. what our country will afford, I do here promise to give thee.

Christian. But I have let myself to another, even to the king of princes; and how can I with fairness go back with thee?

Apollyon. Thou hast done in this according to the proverb:-" Change a bad for a worse:" * Do not be terrified though you meet Satan, and he assaults you in the most terrible form; but mind this, before Satan is suffered to attack Christian, his Lord had provided and fitted him with armour; the armour of God, wherewith he could stand his ground, conquer Satan, sad repel all his fiery darts. In every conflict with Satan, the battle is the Lord's; his strength is engaged for our victory; therefore fight the good fight of faith.

All this is the effect of believing God's word, and the conviction which it brings to the mind, of the evil of sin, of the deplorable state the sinner finds himself in, and of the grace and salvation of the Son of God. As soon as a man believes these truths, he quits the

countest his service better than mine, whereas he never came yet from the place where he is, to deliver any that served him out of their hands: but, as for me, how many times, as all the world very well knows, have I delivered, either by power or fraud, those that have faithfully served me, from him and his, though taken by them: and so I will deliver thee.||

Christian. His forbearing at present to deliver them is on purpse to try their love, whether they will cleave to him to the end; and, as for the ill end thou sayest they come to, that is most glorious in their account; for, for present deliverance, they do not much expect service of the father of lies; and by the faith of the truth, he is armed to resist Satan; for it is the glory of faith to draw all its reasonings from divine truth.

Here the father of lies delivers a most awful truth, but like himself backs it with a lying promise. Most dreadful to think of, to set out in the profession of Jesus, and again to turn back to the service of Satan, yet how common is this! Such reject Christ's truth, and believes the devil's lie "that all shall be well." But their end is ill, and their death damnation.

Mark the many subtle ways, and artful reasonings of Satan to prevent pilgrims from persevering in the ways of the Lord. Happy for us not to be ignorant of Satan's devices.

it; for they stay for their glory, and then they shall have it, when their Prince comes in his and the glory of the angels.*

Apollyon. Thou hast already been unfaithful in thy service to him; and how dost thou hope to receive wages of him?

Christian. Wherein, O Apollyon, have I been unfaithful to him?

Apollyon. Thou didst faint at first setting out, when thou wast almost choked in the gulf of Despond: thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid of thy burden, whereas thou shouldest have stayed till thy Prince had taken it off; thou didst sinfully sleep, and lose thy choice things: thou wast almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions: and when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what thou hast heard and seen, thou art inwardly desirous of vain-glory in all that thou sayest or doest.†

Christian. All this is true, and much more which thou hast left out; but the Prince, whom I serve and honour, is merciful and ready to forgive. But besides, these infirmities possessed me in thy country: for three I sucked them in, and I have groaned under them, being sorry for them, and have obtained pardon of my Prince.

Then Apollyon broke out into a grievous rage, saying, I am an enemy to this Prince; I hate his person, his laws, and people; I am come out on purpose to withstand thee.

Christian. Apollyon, beware what you do; for I am in the king's highway, the way of holiness: therefore take heed to yourself.

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;

Here is the precious reasoning of faith. Well might Paul say, "Above all (or over all) taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Eph. vi. 16.

Satan is justly styled the accuser of the brethren of Christ, (Rev. xii. 10,) for he accuseth them before God, and to their own consciences. "But they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, (Rev. xii. 11,) namely, "that they have redemption in the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of their sins." Eph. i. 7.

That is the best way to own Satan's charges if they be true, yea, to exaggerate them also, to exalt the riches of the grace of Christ above all, in pardoning all of them freely. By thus humbling ourselves, and exalting Christ, Satan can get no advantage over us, though this will put him into a rage against us.

The shield of faith: the belief of what Christ had done for him, and in him, and what he was in Christ, justified and sanctified. This glorious confession of

for I swear by my infernal den that thou shalt go no further: here will I spill thy soul.

And with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast; but Christian had a shield in his hand, with which he caught it, and so prevented the danger of that.||

Then did Christian draw; for he saw it was time to bestir him; and Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which, notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it,? Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot. This made Christian give a little back: Apollyon, therefore, followed his work amain, and Christian again took courage, and resisted as manfully as he could. This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker.

Then Apollyon, spying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful 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 had almost pressed hin to death; so that Christian began to despair of life. But, as God would have it,** while Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy! when I fall, I shall arise," (Mic. vii. 8,) and with that gave him a dreadful thrust, which made him give back as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that, made at him again, saying,

faith honours Christ, repels and quenches all the fiery darts of Satan, and gets the victory over him. This is what Peter exhorts to: "Resist the devil, steadfast in faith." 1 Pet. v. 9.

Christian wounded in his understanding, faith, and conversation.

We may think this is hard work; why should a Christian be so severely attacked by Satan? The Lord does not give us an armour to be useless, but to fight with, and prove its excellency, and in the use of it to experience his almighty power and unchangeable love for though we are weak, he is almighty to strengthen us, therefore we are called upon to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Eph. vi. 10.

Observe that the Lord does not look on as a mere spectator of our conflicts, but he strengthens us in every evil day, and in every fight of faith, and brings us off at last, more than conquerors thrc agh hi love.

'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us," (Rom. viii. 37, 39; James iv. 7;) and with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon wings and sped him away, that Christian saw him no

more.

In this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard, as I did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight; he spake like a dragon: and, on the other side, 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 fight that ever I saw.

So when the battle was over, Christian said, I will here give thanks to him that hath delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, to him that did help me against Apollyon. And so he did; saying:

"Great Belzebub, the captain of this fiend,
Design'd my ruin; therefore to this end
He sent him harness'd out; and he with rage
That hellish was, did fiercely me engage;

*Not a vain-glorious, but an humble, thankful smile. He looked up and smilingly gave the Lord all the glory of his victory.

No matter what wounds we get in our conflicts with Satan, for Jesus will heal them all. But who will heal those which we get by complying with the devil instead of resisting him?

Conflicts with Satan make Christians wary, and value their sword, so as to walk with the sword of the spirit, the word of God, in their hands. As faith in that word prevails, the power of temptation declines, and the Christian becomes victorious; yea, more than B conqueror through the blood of Jesus.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous;" so Christian found it. He came off conqueror in the Valley of Humiliation, his wounds were healed by the tree of life, and his soul rejoiced in God his Saviour. But new trials awaited him; he expected them. He heard a dismal account of the valley before him; but as his way lay through it, no persuasions would stop his progress.

The Valley of the Shadow of Death seems intended to represent a variation of inward distress, conflict and alarm, which arise from unbelief, and a supposition that God has withdrawn the light of his countenance, and is accompanied by manifold apprehensions and temptations. Most Christians know something of this, but perhaps very few are acquainted with that great degree of horror and fear which are here represented. The words quoted from the prophet, describe the waste howling wilderness through which Israel journeyed to Canaan; which typified the be

But blessed Michael helped me, and I,
By dint of sword, did quickly make him fly:
Therefore to him let me give lasting praise
And thanks, and bless his holy name always."

Then there came to him an hand with some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took and applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle, and was healed immediately.† He also sat down in that place to eat bread, and to drink of that bottle that was given him a little before: so being refreshed, he addressed himself to his journey with his sword drawn in his hand; for he said, I know not but some other enemy may be at hand. But he met with no other affront from Apollyon quite through the valley.

Now at the end of this valley was another, called the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and Christian must needs go through it, because the way to the Celestial City lay through the midst of it. Now this valley is a very solitary place. The prophet Jeremiah thus describes it: "A wilderness, a land of deserts and of pits; a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; a land that no man (but a

liever's pilgrimage through this world to heaven. Low-spirited persons, of a gloomy turn, or under the power of some nervous disorder, are more usually exercised in this manner than others; for the subtle enemy knows how to take advantage of our weakness, and to impress, if possible, distressing ideas on the mind, when it is most disposed to receive them. At such times the imagination is crowded with terrible ideas, every thing looks black and big with danger, reason itself is disturbed in its exercises, and no real relief can be gained till the great Physician be pleased to restore health, both to body and soul.

In addition to the foregoing, let it be observed, that we must not suppose our author intended to convey an idea, that all experience these trials in the same order and degree as Christian did. Evil spirits never fail, when not resisted by faith, to mislead, entangle, or perplex the soul, and many, not knowing fully Satan's devices, are apt, in the trying hour, to ascribe such a state wholly to desertion, which exceedingly enhances their distress; and as Bunyan had been greatly harassed in this way, he has given us a larger proportion of this shade than is met with by consistent believers, or than the Scriptures by any means give us reason to expect; and probably he meant hereby to state the outlines of his own experience in the pilgrimage of Christian; all due honour must be given to the words of Christ, who has declared, "He that followeth me (Christ) shall not walk in darkness." Let us be found in a constant exercise of faith in the great and precious promises, then shall we rejoice evermore, and in every thing give thanks.