Or turn once more to another field of battle, to the Valley of
Humiliation, where "poor Christian was hard put to it. For he had gone
but a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to
meet him; his name was Apollyon." "Then did Christian draw, for he saw
it was time to bestir him; Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts
as thick as hail.... The sword combat lasted for about 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, espying 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 him 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 reached out his hand for his sword, saying,
Rejoice not against me, oh mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise; and
with that gave him a deadly thrust which made him give back as one that
had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that made at him
again, saying, 'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us.' And with that Apollyon spread forth his
broken wings, and sped him away, so that Christian saw him no more.... I
never saw Christian all this while give as 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.... Then there came to him a man
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." Surely to watch expert fighters like these, who
turn their battlefields into fields of glory, makes one more ambitious
to possess and wield that same two-edged sword, the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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