The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read
With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this sort: Simple
said, "I see no danger." Sloth said, "Yet a little more sleep." And
Presumption said, "Every tub must stand upon his own bottom." And so
they lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his way.
[Sidenote: FORMALIST AND HYPOCRISY]
Yet was he troubled to think that men in that danger should so little
care for the kindness of him that so offered to help them, both by
awakening of them, advising them, and offering to help them off with
their irons. And, as he was troubled thereabout, he espied two men come
tumbling over the wall on the left hand of the narrow way; and they made
up apace to him. The name of one was Formalist, and the name of the
other was Hypocrisy. So, as I said, they drew up unto him, who thus
began talking with them:
CHRIS. Gentlemen, whence came you, and whither go you?
FORM. and HYP. We were born in the land of Vain-glory, and are going for
praise to Mount Zion.
CHRIS. Why came you not in at the gate which standeth at the beginning
of the way? Know ye not that it is written, "He that cometh not in by
the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber?"
FORM. and HYP. They said that to go to the gate for entrance was, by all
their countrymen, counted too far about; and that therefore their usual
way was to make a short cut of it, and to climb over the wall as they
had done.
CHRIS. But will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the
city whither we are bound, thus to disobey His will?
FORM. and HYP. They told him, that as for that, he needed not trouble
his head thereabout; for what they did they had custom for, and could
show, if need were, testimony that could prove it for more than a
thousand years.
CHRIS. "But," said Christian, "will it stand a trial at law?"
FORM. and HYP. They told him that custom, it being of so long standing
as above a thousand years, would doubtless now be admitted as a thing
according to law by a fair judge. "And besides," said they, "if we get
into the way, what matter is it which way we may get in? If we are in,
we are in: thou art but in the way, who, as we perceive, came in at the
gate; and we are also in the way, that came tumbling over the wall:
wherein, now, is thy condition better than ours?"
CHRIS. I walk by the rule of my Master; you walk by the rude working
of your fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way;
therefore I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way.
You come in by yourselves without His word, and shall go out by
yourselves without His mercy.
To this they made him but little answer; only they bid him look to
himself. Then I saw that they went on every man in his way, without much
talking one with another; save that these two men told Christian, that,
as to law and rules, they doubted not but that they should as carefully
do them as he. "Therefore," said they, "we see not wherein thou
differest from us, but by the coat which is on thy back, which was, as
we believe given thee by some of thy neighbors to hide the shame of thy
nakedness."
CHRIS. By laws and rules you will not be saved, since you came not in by
the door. And as for this coat that is on my back, it was given to me by
the Lord of the place whither I go; and that, as you say, to cover my
nakedness with. And I take it as a token of His kindness to me; for I
had nothing but rags before. And besides, thus I comfort myself as I go.
Surely, think I, when I come to the gate of the city, the Lord thereof
will know me for good, since I have His coat on my back; a coat that He
gave me freely in the day that He stripped me of my rags. I have
moreover, a mark in my forehead, of which perhaps you have taken no
notice, which one of my Lord's most intimate friends fixed there the day
that my burden fell off my shoulders. I will tell you, moreover, that I
had then given me a roll sealed, to comfort me by reading as I go in the
way; I was also bid to give it in at the heavenly gate, in token of my
certain going in after it; all which things, I doubt, you want, and want
them because you came not in at the gate.
To these things they gave him no answer; only they looked upon each
other, and laughed. Then I saw that they went on all, save that
Christian kept before, who had no more talk but with himself, and
sometimes sighingly, and sometimes comfortably; also he would be often
reading in the roll that one of the Shining Ones gave him, by which he
was refreshed.
[Sidenote: THE HILL OF DIFFICULTY]
I beheld then that they all went on till they came to the foot of the
Hill Difficulty, at the bottom of which was a spring. There were also in
the same place two other ways, besides that which came straight from the
gate; one turned to the left hand, and the other to the right, at the
bottom of the hill; but the narrow way lay right up the hill, and the
name of that going up the side of the hill is called Difficulty.
Christian now went to the spring, and drank thereof to refresh himself,
and then began to go up the hill, saying:
"The hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend,
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up, heart, let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though _difficult_, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though _easy_, where the end is woe."
The other two also came to the foot of the hill. But when they saw that
the hill was steep and high, and that there were two other ways to go;
and supposing also that these two ways might meet again with that up
which Christian went, on the other side of the hill; therefore they were
resolved to go in those ways. Now, the name of one of those ways was
Danger, and the name of the other Destruction. So the one took the way
which is called Danger, which led him into a great wood; and the other
took directly up the way to destruction, which led him into a wide
field, full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell, and rose no
more.
I looked then after Christian, to see him go up the hill, where I
perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering
upon his hands and his knees, because of the steepness of the place.
Now, about the midway to the top of the hill was a pleasant arbor, made
by the Lord of the hill for the refreshment of weary travelers. Thither,
therefore, Christian got, where also he sat down to rest him; then he
pulled his roll out of his bosom, and read therein to his comfort; he
also now began afresh to take a review of the coat or garment that was
given him as he stood by the cross. Thus pleasing himself a while, he at
last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained
him in that place until it was almost night; and in his sleep his roll
fell out of his hand. Now, as he was sleeping, there came one to him,
and awaked him, saying, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard;[3] consider her
ways, and be wise." And, with that, Christian suddenly started up, and
sped on his way, and went apace till he came to the top of the hill.
[3] Idle one.
[Sidenote: TIMOROUS AND MISTRUST]
Now, when he was got up to the top of the hill, there came two men
running amain: the name of the one was Timorous, and of the other
Mistrust; to whom Christian said, "Sirs, what's the matter? You run the
wrong way." Timorous answered, that they were going to the city of Zion,
and had got up that difficult place: "but," said he, "the farther we go,
the more danger we meet with; wherefore we turned, and are going back
again."
"Yes," said Mistrust, "for just before us lie a couple of lions in the
way, whether sleeping or waking we know not; and we could not think, if
we came within reach, but they would presently pull us in pieces."
CHRIS. Then said Christian, "You make me afraid; but whither shall I fly
to be safe? If I go back to my own country, that is prepared for fire
and brimstone, and I shall certainly perish there; if I can get to the
Celestial City, I am sure to be in safety there: I must venture. To go
back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life
everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward." So Mistrust and Timorous
ran down the hill, and Christian went on his way. But, thinking again of
what he heard from the men, he felt in his bosom for his roll, and found
it not. Then was Christian in great distress, and knew not what to do;
for he wanted that which used to comfort him, and that which should have
been his pass into the Celestial City. Here, therefore, he began to be
greatly troubled, and knew not what to do. At last he bethought himself
that he had slept in the arbor that is on the side of the hill; and,
falling down upon his knees, he asked God's forgiveness for that his
foolish act, and then went back to look for his roll. But all the way he
went back, who can sufficiently set forth the sorrow of Christian's
heart? Sometimes he sighed, sometimes he wept, and oftentimes he blamed
himself for being so foolish to fall asleep in that place, which was
erected only for a little refreshment from his weariness. Thus,
therefore, he went back, carefully looking on this side and on that, all
the way as he went, if happily he might find his roll that had been his
comfort so many times in his journey. He went thus till he came again
within sight of the arbor where he sat and slept; but that sight renewed
his sorrow the more, by bringing again, even afresh, his evil of
sleeping into his mind. Thus, therefore, he now went on, bewailing his
sinful sleep, saying, "O wretched man that I am, that I should sleep in
the day-time; that I should sleep in the midst of difficulty! that I
should so indulge myself, as to use that rest for ease to my flesh which
the Lord of the hill hath builded only for the relief of the spirits of
pilgrims! How many steps have I taken in vain! Thus it happened to
Israel; for their sin they were sent back again by the way of the Red
Sea; and I am made to tread those steps with sorrow which I might have
trod with delight, had it not been for this sinful sleep. How far might
I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread those steps
thrice over which I needed not to have trod but once; yea, also, now I
am like to be benighted, for the day is almost spent. Oh that I had not
slept!"
[Sidenote: CHRISTIAN RECOVERS HIS ROLL]
Now, by this time he was come to the arbor again, where for awhile he
sat down and wept; but at last (as Providence would have it), looking
sorrowfully down under the settle, there he espied his roll, the which
he, with trembling and haste, caught up, and put it into his bosom. But
who can tell how joyful this man was when he had got his roll again? for
this roll was the assurance of his life and acceptance at the desired
haven. Therefore he laid it up in his bosom, giving thanks to God for
directing his eye to the place where it lay, and with joy and tears
betook himself again to his journey. But oh, how nimbly now did he go up
the rest of the hill! Yet, before he got up, the sun went down upon
Christian; and this made him again recall the folly of his sleeping to
his remembrance; and thus he began again to condole with himself, "Oh,
thou sinful sleep! how for thy sake am I like to be benighted in my
journey. I must walk without the sun, darkness must cover the path of my
feet, and I must hear the noise of the doleful creatures, because of my
sinful sleep." Now also he remembered the story that Mistrust and
Timorous told him, of how they were frighted with the sight of the
lions. Then said Christian to himself again, "These beasts range in the
night for their prey; and if they should meet with me in the dark, how
should I avoid them? how should I escape being torn in pieces?" Thus he