The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come: Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John BunyanBunyan, John
ReligionComparative
The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come: Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John Bunyan
Bunyan, John
Christian fiction; Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages -- Fiction
Thirdly, For that he hoped, could he overtake them, to have company
by and by. So he went on, and called to him that was before; but
he knew not what to answer; for that he also thought to be alone.
And by and by the day broke; then said Christian, He hath turned
"the shadow of death into the morning". [Amos 5:8]
{165} Now morning being come, he looked back, not out of desire to
return, but to see, by the light of the day, what hazards he had
gone through in the dark. So he saw more perfectly the ditch that
was on the one hand, and the mire that was on the other; also how
narrow the way was which led betwixt them both; also now he saw the
hobgoblins, and satyrs, and dragons of the pit, but all afar off,
(for after break of day, they came not nigh;) yet they were discovered
to him, according to that which is written, "He discovereth deep
things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of
death." [Job 12:22]
{166} Now was Christian much affected with his deliverance from all
the dangers of his solitary way; which dangers, though he feared
them more before, yet he saw them more clearly now, because the light
of the day made them conspicuous to him. And about this time the
sun was rising, and this was another mercy to Christian; for you
must note, that though the first part of the Valley of the Shadow
of Death was dangerous, yet this second part which he was yet to
go, was, if possible, far more dangerous; for from the place where
he now stood, even to the end of the valley, the way was all along
set so full of snares, traps, gins, and nets here, and so full of
pits, pitfalls, deep holes, and shelvings down there, that, had it
now been dark, as it was when he came the first part of the way,
had he had a thousand souls, they had in reason been cast away; but,
as I said just now, the sun was rising. Then said he, "His candle
shineth upon my head, and by his light I walk through darkness."
[Job 29:3]
{167} In this light, therefore, he came to the end of the valley.
Now I saw in my dream, that at the end of this valley lay blood,
bones, ashes, and mangled bodies of men, even of pilgrims that had
gone this way formerly; and while I was musing what should be the
reason, I espied a little before me a cave, where two giants, POPE
and PAGAN, dwelt in old time; by whose power and tyranny the men
whose bones, blood, and ashes, &c., lay there, were cruelly put
to death. But by this place Christian went without much danger,
whereat I somewhat wondered; but I have learnt since, that PAGAN
has been dead many a day; and as for the other, though he be yet
alive, he is, by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes
that he met with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in
his joints, that he can now do little more than sit in his cave's
mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails
because he cannot come at them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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