CHRISTIAN SETS

FORWARD.

Now he 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 SENT

AWAY ARMED.

CHR. Pray, did you know him? said he.

POR. I asked his name, and he told me it was Faithful.

CHR. 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?

POR. He is got by this time below the hill.

CHR. Well, said Christian, good Porter, the Lord be HOW CHRISTIAN AND With thee, and add to all thy blessings much increase, for the kindness that thou

THE PORTER GREET

AT PARTING,

hast showed to me.t

Then he began to go forward; but Discretion, Piety, Charity, and Prudence would accompany him down to the foot of the hill. So 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, so far as I can see, it is dangerous going down. Yes, said Prudence, so it is; for it is a hard

*See what this christian armour is, in Ephes. vi. 13, &c.

+ Christians love the ministers of Christ, and bless them and pray for them, because the Lord has made them profitable to their souls, in edifying, comforting, and establishing them in the faith of his love, and the hope of his salvation.

matter for a man to go down into the Valley of Humiliation, as thou art now,

THE VALLEY OF

HUMILIATION.

and to catch no slip by the way; therefore, said they, we are 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 companions, when Christian was got down to 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.

Whilst Christian is among his godly friends,
Their golden mouths make him sufficient mends
For all his griefs; and when they let him go,
He's clad with northern steel from top to toe.

But now in this Valley of Humiliation, 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 is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground. But he considered again, that he had no armour for his back,

CHRISTIAN HAS NO ARMOUR FOR HIS

and therefore thought that to turn the BACK. back to him might give him greater advantage, with ease to pierce him with his darts, therefore he resolved

* Thus it is, after a pilgrim has been favoured with many special and peculiar blessings, there is danger of his being puffed up by them, and exalted on the account of them; so was even holy Paul: 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.

to venture and stand his ground: for, thought he, had I no more in mine eye 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 him.*

DISCOURSE BE

TWIXT CHRISTIAN
AND APOLLYON,

APOL. Whence came you; and whither are you bound?

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

APOL. By this I perceive that 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 Were it not that I hope thou mayest do me more service, I would strike thee now at one blow to the ground.

from thy king?

CHR. I was indeed born in your dominions, but your service was hard, and your wages such as a man could not live on; for the wages of sin is death; therefore when I was come to years, I did as other con

f Rom. vi 23.

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 Pilgrim, his Lord had provided and fitted him with an armour; the armour of God, wherewith he could stand his ground, conquer Satan, and 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.

siderate persons do, look out if perhaps I might mend myself.*

APOL. 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.

APOLLYON'S FLAT

TERY,

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

APOL. Thou hast done in this according to the pro

66

verb,
changed a bad for a worse:" but
it is ordinary for those that have professed

APOLLYON UNDERVALUES CHRIST'S SERVICES.

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.†

CHR. 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?

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

* 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 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 possession of Jesus, and again to turn back to the service of Satan! yet how common is this! Such reject Christ's truth, and believe the devil's lie, "that all shall be well." But their end is ill, and their death damnation.

CHR. What I promised thee was in my nonage; and besides, I count that the Prince under whose banner now I 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.

THE GRIEVOUS ENDS

OF CHRISTIANS, TO

DISSUADE CHRISTI-
AN FROM PERSIST.
ING IN HIS WAY.

way

APOL. Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, A POLLYON PLEADS what thou art like to meet with in the 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 put to shameful deaths! And besides, thou countest his service better than mine; whereas, he never yet came 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 will I deliver thee.*

:

CHR. His forbearing at present to deliver them is on purpose 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 it; for they stay for their glory, and then they shall have it,

* 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!