By-path Meadow

"A stile separates it from the beaten track, so that the Pilgrims must go somewhat out of their way in order to pass from the one to the other. Their impatience of the road, and their desire for ease, surprised them into this divergence, and the tempting nature of the meadow-land deceived them. They saw its beginning, but they did not see its destination. Thus does the tempter blind our eyes. The moss-grown meadow, with its pleasant path and its seeming parallel, entices the Pilgrims from the road, and becomes the beginning of sorrows."[1]

Christian Passes the Lions

Ease (The Plain)

"This oasis in the desert was narrow, and extended but a very brief space. Ease is granted to pilgrims, but only for a little time, and for present and passing necessity; and this necessity being answered, they must again take the road, and bear its flints, and endure hardness as good marching soldiers of the heavenly King. It is not well for pilgrims to sit too long 'at ease in Sion.' And soon, recruited and refreshed, they must up and away for the onward journey. So our Pilgrims, entering on the plain of Ease, 'were quickly got over it.' And as this refreshment was for compensation of the past, so is it also designed as a preparation for a danger soon to come."[1]

Christian Finds the Lost Roll

Hopeful

"A well-chosen name, especially as the successor of FAITHFUL. Faith first, and then Hope; first the ground-work, then the superstructure. We are here for the first time introduced to one who ever after proves a meet companion and profitable help to CHRISTIAN, amid all the changing scenes of their chequered course."[1]

Mistrust and Timorous

Pickthank

"This is a suggestive name, and partly tells the nature of the man. He is a person who gathers what merit he can by volunteering evidence against faithful men."[1]

Superstition

"This is also an element of accusation still urged against the true Christian. It means more than is implied in the ordinary use of the term. It includes all that formal worship which is opposed to the service of true faith."[1]

Envy

"This witness still continues to accuse the men of God. Envy is that spirit of the evil mind which calls religion a mere plausible fiction, and, through loyalty to Mammon, scoffs at 'the principles of faith and holiness,' and moreover, would blend into one element the realities of religion and the vanities of Vanity Fair. The true Christian cannot accede to this unholy combination."[1]

Formalist and Hypocrisy Come Over the Wall

Vanity Fair

"This episode of the narrative is intended to represent the world, in its earthly and fleshly character, with its business, and cares, and occupations, and pleasures, and sins, and sorrows, and its vanities in general; thus presenting a picture of the Christian man set in the midst of many and great dangers—in the world, but not of the world; his Christian consistency daily tried and tempted; his heart in danger of being wooed by carnal pleasure, and won to the side of vanity, and thus lost to the Kingdom; yet called to suffer for his attachment to the cause of Jesus. 'Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.'—John 15:19."[1]

Christian in View of the Cross

Talkative

"This is the sum and substance of TALKATIVE’S idea of religion—'to talk.' And the subject matter of his conversation further discloses the lack of heartfelt, experimental religion; for his topics are such as 'history, mystery, miracles, wonders, and signs.' These subjects, no doubt, are calculated to interest and instruct true Christian students, if, as FAITHFUL says, they are studied to the 'profit' of the soul. But it is not with this view that TALKATIVE indulges in his wordy speculations. His object is simply to get, or, more likely, to display, 'knowledge'—'striving about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.'

To what length men may 'talk' about religion, and how near they may, all the time, keep to the strict propriety of Christian conversation, appears from the circumstance that, till better informed by his more experienced brother, FAITHFUL was altogether deceived by the specious language of this talkative professor. FAITHFUL seems to have regarded him, not with suspicion, but with 'wonder,' and perhaps with admiration, when he thus lightly tripped along the whole permanent way of successive topics, upon which he was ready to discourse: anything on any subject, in heaven or on earth; on morals or religion; on secular or sacred things; on the history of the past, or the mystery of the future; on topics far off, or near home; on everything imaginable; on anything that anybody pleased! Truly, a very encyclopedia of spiritual knowledge was this man, TALKATIVE!"[1]

Fire Burning Against the Wall

Discontent

"DISCONTENT has succeeded in turning away many from the better land, by suggesting worldly motives, and proposing the objections of worldly minds. DISCONTENT meets many of us day by day. And as this kind of temptation is frequent, so the answer of FAITHFUL is important: he pleads a full and final break-off of kindred and acquaintance; and this severing of the ties of friendship is mutual—'they have disowned me, and I also have rejected them.' He therefore has no more duties of friendship to perform towards them; nor can they now demand that he shall so shape his conduct as to please them. Their pleasures are not his pleasures now; nor are their ways his ways. He likes what they dislike; they hate what he loves."[1]

The Parable of Passion and Patience

Faithful

"This new personage opens out a new view of spiritual progress and experience, and sets before us a worthy and exemplary illustration of a consistent walk, and steadfast testimony, even unto death. It would be a profitable study, even to the most experienced Christian, to sit and listen to these men, CHRISTIAN and FAITHFUL, comparing notes of the way, contrasting or combining their respective experiences of the Pilgrimage, and proving in their own persons how 'there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all,' 1 Corinthians 12:6."[1]

Christian in the Room Full of Dust

Pope (Giant)

"Romanism has been to the Church what Paganism has been to the world—a spoiler of men’s faith, and a persecutor of men’s lives. It has taken human nature as its guide, and, accordingly, has wrought out a religious system of curious and cunning work, incorporating much of the religion of the heathen with the religion of Christ, and striving by piecemeal and by development to make religion what man would like it to be, easy to flesh and blood; in a word, a human religion founded on that which is divine; human tradition superadded to revelation; carnal superstition joined to spiritual worship; mortals made mediators, in conjunction with, and ofttimes to the exclusion of, Jesus, the only Mediator between God and men. 'Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.'" Romans 10:3. [1]

Christian And Worldly-Wiseman

Pagan (Giant)

"PAGANISM has reduced the Creator to the level of the creature; has degraded worship to idolatry, religion to superstition, revelation to mythology, and truth to fiction. In this, man has been the chief sufferer, spoiled of his true glory, robbed of his inheritance. His better nature has deteriorated into savagery and barbarism, into cruelty and hatred, into vice and sensuality. The finer feelings of the soul have been dwarfed and stunted in their growth. Charity, sympathy, gentleness, meekness, and all moral duties, are exchanged for physical force, treachery, torture, deceit, and guile. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,” Romans 1:28."[1]

Christian Setting Out from the City of Destruction

Valley of the Shadow of Death

"This Valley is a continuation of the preceding scene. Scarcely has the good fight been fought, when a horror of great darkness overcasts the vale, and gloomy terrors throng upon the Pilgrim’s soul, and he walks that live-long night through a darkness that might be felt, and through spiritual antagonisms that intensified both the darkness and the danger. The whole scene—from the first assault of APOLLYON to the sun-rising in the valley—is a continued series of perils encountered, dangers avoided, and difficulties overcome, that seemed insuperable. It is the reproduction in allegory of Bunyan’s own spiritual experiences, as more fully described in his 'Grace Abounding.' There he details the anxious travail of his soul, the dark days and wearisome nights that were appointed for him to pass through, during which his soul refused to be comforted, and all joy, and hope, and promise seemed as though they had departed; rendering his experience like to that of a spiritual death, casting its dark shadow over all his faith, and hope, and spiritual joy. He writes—'I fell, therefore, at the sight of my own vileness, deeply into despair; for I concluded that this condition that I was in could not stand with a state of grace. Sure, thought I, I am forsaken of God; sure I am given up to the devil, and to a reprobate mind. And thus I continued a long while, even for some years together.'"[1]

Help Draws Christian Out of the Slough of Despond

Apollyon

"'And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.'—Revelation 9:11. Here, then, the Allegory means to depict a conflict with the powers of hell, with Satan himself. It is one of those fierce assaults of the devil with which he seeks to recover his lost prey, and if not this, to destroy them. The name APOLLYON means 'The destroyer.'

The description of this monster is conveyed in a sentence that gathers into itself the accumulation of all those characteristics of Satan that are most hideous and horrible, deadly and dangerous. The scaly leprosy of the old serpent covers APOLLYON as with a coat of mail. He had 'wings like a dragon,' to indicate the rapidity of his flight, and the ravages of his march; 'feet like a bear, for softness of tread, and strength and power to injure; 'fire and smoke' came forth from his nostrils, representing the inner fire that burns within the breast of the fallen angel, and his very breath tells of the fiery realm he rules, and the fiery wrath he wields; “his mouth as the mouth of a lion,” the rampant, raging, roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."[1]

Christian at the Wicket-Gate

Valley of Humiliation

"The Valley of Humiliation is a deep, low-lying vale. The descent to it is both difficult and dangerous; but to dwell there is profitable to the spirit of pilgrims. It tends to the formation of, at least, one part of the Christ-like character, for Jesus had his dwelling there; and he who would be like to Christ, must be familiar with this humble and lowly portion of the Pilgrim’s lot."[1]

Christian Beneath Mount Sinai

The Armory

"This was the basis of another day’s instruction. Here was the receptacle containing the weapons of the spiritual warfare. All the parts of the Christian panoply—'the whole armor of God'—are supplied from this store-house. And there is no stint or sparing of the supply; yea, though the host should be as the stars of heaven for multitude, there is enough for each, and enough for all, and yet to spare. Out of these supplies was CHRISTIAN himself armed and equipped ere he departed from the Palace on his homeward way.

This armory, moreover, served as a museum, or treasury of those ancient implements of the good fight of faith, by which men in olden time did fight and win their spiritual battles. These relics—not for worship, but for remembrance, were evidences of the might of other days, when the strong champions of the Lord went in and out among their people, and were jealous for Jehovah’s sovereignty, and avenged his righteous cause against all opposers. This was just such a treasury of ancient lore and deeds of faith as Paul supplies in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews—that memorable record of men that lived and died in faith."[1]

Good-will Shows Christian the Way

The Study

"Here are contained the ancient records of the Lord of the Hill; and here his generation, his deeds, his followers—all are duly registered. Here also are the narratives of the bold, brave heroes of his army, the mighty warriors of the King, who have left their names emblazoned on the Book of Life, and their deeds engraven as with an iron pen upon the rock for ever. This is the place for the 'students' of Divine knowledge."[1]

Obstinate Goes Back to the City of Destruction

Charity

"CHARITY discharging all the duties of love to God and to our fellow-men."[1]

"CHARITY endears the members one to another!”[1]

"CHARITY continues the communion and fellowship of heart with heart. She inquires about his home and family, and how it is they have not joined him in his pilgrimage, and whether blame attaches to him for any neglect on his part of their spiritual interests. To all these inquiries CHRISTIAN answers truthfully and well. His wife would not resign the world and the pleasures of the world; and his children would not surrender the pleasures of youth; and thus did the spell of worldliness bind them to carnal things."[1]

Discretion

"DISCRETION appertaining to the intellect and judgment."[1]

"DISCRETION governs"[1]

"The introduction of the Pilgrim to the palace devolves upon DISCRETION, who also conducts the preliminary conversation. She ascertains the past history of CHRISTIAN—whence he has come, and whither he is going. He is also straitly questioned as to how he entered the way; for none can be made partakers of the blessedness of that fair house and of its goodly company, but they who have entered by the Wicket-gate. Last of all, she inquires his name. Names are no passport in spiritual things; it is the inward man, and not the outward name, that ensures admittance to the true fellowship of the saints and of the household of God. Therefore, not the first, but the last of the questions, is that concerning the Pilgrim’s name."[1]

Piety

"PIETY regulating the devotions of the soul and spirit."[1]

"In the conversations that ensue, PIETY is the first to speak. She inquires into the inward motives that prompted the Pilgrim to this pilgrimage. CHRISTIAN’S answer to this inquiry opens up afresh the memory of his flight from the City of Destruction. He tells of the 'dreadful sound' by which he was 'driven out' of his native land. Wrath from without, conviction from within, and both these working upon conscience—deep calling unto deep—created that “dreadful sound,” so that the man was 'driven' to flight. The further questions proposed by PIETY reproduce the narrative of the preceding scenes of the pilgrimage, including the Wicket-gate, the illustrations of the Interpreter’s House, the sight of One who did hang bleeding upon a tree, the tokens and credentials given him at the Cross, and the unworthy companions that met him on the way. Then the Pilgrim reports progress, and explains his past experiences."[1]

Prudence

"PRUDENCE affecting the interests of the life now present and also of that which is to come"[1]

"She enters not so much into the motives and feelings of the past, as into his thoughts and feelings for the present—those inward phases of the soul’s reflection, when, having forsaken the old things, a new life is to be lived, on new and better principles. It is important we should ourselves inquire whether any vain regrets intertwine themselves with our present obedience; whether an earnest strife is waged against the carnal thoughts that rise within us; and whether that strife is crowned with victory, so that carnal things are 'vanquished,' and die within us."[1]

Hypocrisy

"The hypocrite, knowing that all is wrong within, bedecks himself without with pretence and falsehood, and thus blinds the eyes of others."[1]

Formalist

[Formalist] "is the type of those who, by an external show of religion, deceive themselves...The formalist, through his outward attention to mere ritual observances, blinds his own eyes to his own inward state, and oft-times takes for granted that where the gilded setting is, there the precious jewel must be—a grand mistake, and a strong delusion!"[1]

Two Lions

"These lions were placed in a narrow path, so that there appeared but little way of escape for those that would pass by that way.

Many apparent spiritual dangers seem formidable until they are more closely examined by the eye of faith and with confidence in God. Ignorance ofttimes exaggerates threatening danger, as it sees not and knows not the restraining power of Divine grace. MISTRUST and TIMOROUS could not tell whether the lions were 'sleeping' or 'waking;' the very sight of the lions in the distance alarmed them. CHRISTIAN’S ignorance, too, had well nigh driven him back; for 'the lions were chained, but he saw not the chains.' It was the kind and timely voice of the porter, WATCHFUL, that dispelled his fears by dispelling his ignorance, informing him that these lions were for the probation of faith, and would be harmless if he would only walk in the middle of the path.

How greatly do these messages of God’s ambassadors strengthen the pilgrims of Sion and embolden them in the midst of danger! Here were rampant, roaring lions; not asleep, but awake, in a narrow passage, and very near; but they were 'chained.' This announcement makes all the difference. MISTRUST and TIMOROUS might also have heard the good Porter’s news, only they came not near enough, but fled at the first view of the seeming danger. Suspicion is the child of little knowledge; therefore let it know more, and see more thoroughly. Knowledge looks with open face, and therefore sees all things plainly."[1]

Palace Beautiful

"In the Palace Beautiful our Pilgrim finds comfort, refreshment, and renewed strength, after the loneliness and desolation of that memorable day, and that eventful eventide. All his loss of peace, and loss of confidence, and loss of time is now compensated by the unspeakable gain of this godly communion and Christian fellowship, in which he abides from day to day, and through which he is enabled, in Christian conversation, to review the past, thereby impressing the thoughts and scenes of the pilgrimage more and more upon his mind and conscience. His external circumstances, and the concerns of his inward state, form profitable topics of conversation with those who fear the Lord. CHRISTIAN is thereby refreshed in his mind; he is instructed more deeply in the things of God, and in the wondrous histories of his servants. He is, moreover, armed for his future conflicts, and is shown some effects of the might and prowess of the brave warriors and good soldiers of the Cross who have passed that way before him."[1]

The Hill Difficulty

"Who that has been at the foot of the Cross has not also had to meet the difficulties of the way? These are tests, provided for 'the trial of our faith.' The way is straight and narrow, but it is not always level."[1]

Good-WIll

"Most suitable name for the porter of the Wicket-gate. 'Goodwill toward men' is part of the definition of the Gospel. All are invited, and all who accept the invitation are welcome."[1]

The Three Shining Ones

"This is one of the most picturesque of the touches of Bunyan’s pencil. These are the evidences of the deliverance from the burden and accompaniments of sin. Yea, they are more: these 'three Shining Ones' are plainly intended to represent no less a visitation than that of Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. This will further appear by considering the particulars of their visit.
They all saluted the Pilgrim with one common salutation—“Peace be to thee.” Here the Three are One.
Then each of the glorious Three has a personal and peculiar office to fulfill, and some special gift to bestow.
The First says—'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' This is God the Father, to whom belongs pardon and forgiveness.
The Second 'stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment.' This is Jesus Christ—God the Son. He takes away the rags of our own righteousness, and clothes us with the new robe of his own righteousness—the righteousness from heaven. It is an exchange—not the putting of Christ’s righteousness over our filthy rags, but the gift of Christ’s righteousness instead of our filthy rags.
The Third 'set a mark upon his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it.' This is evidently the Holy Spirit, who “beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,” Romans 8:16. He imprints the Mark of ownership, the token that we are of God. He gives the roll of the parchment—the law written on our hearts—upon which the Pilgrim is to look, and out of which he is to read, and thence to take comfort, admonition, and instruction, and to present it by-and-by at the gate of the Celestial City. The seal is 'the seal of the Spirit,' to certify the credential, and authenticate its message.
Thus all the Three Persons of the Triune God have a work to do for man, and each his own respective office to fulfill, in the Pardon, the Justification, and the Sanctification of the sinner. And this great doctrine and fact is thus luminously embodied in the scene at the Cross, and in the appearance of the 'Three Shining Ones.'"[1]

The Cross

"The Cross here means the Crucified One. It is the emblem of all that scorn and ignominy, of all that pain and agony, borne by Him who 'took our sins, and bare them in his own body on the tree.' The benefit procured by the death upon the Cross was the object of the Pilgrim’s striving; the central point to which his hopes converged; the source of all the blessed experiences of his after pilgrimage. There was 'the blood of sprinkling;' there the atoning Lamb; there the substitute for the sinner; and there the sacrifice for sin. Christ and the Cross! Here is the Altar, and the Victim, and the Priest; and in the Crucified One the scheme of redemption is accomplished—'IT IS FINISHED!'"[1]

The Dusty Parlor

"This symbol is, no doubt, designed to strengthen the impression already made upon the Pilgrim’s mind by the scene at Sinai. The dust of the 'Dusty Parlor' is indwelling sin. The besom of the law awakes the slumbering dust, revives its power, and causes it to be sensibly felt. Disturbed from its settled state, and discovered to our eyes, the dust of sin rises as a cloud of witness, witnessing against us. The law can disturb sin and arouse it, but the law cannot take it away. Then comes the Gospel, with the sprinkled waters of Christ’s atoning love, which bind sin and repress it. The power of the law and the Gospel respectively, with regard to sin, receives here one of the most telling illustrations that uninspired man has ever written. This scene, indeed, well describes those two scriptures—'I had not known sin, but by the law' (Romans 7:7); and, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world' (John 1:29)."[1]

Interpreter

"The Christian Pilgrim seeking and obtaining light, and knowledge, and instruction, from the source of all Christian teaching—the Holy Spirit. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s mind and will, and to explain and interpret the will and mind of God to men: 'He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you' (John 16:14). The house of the INTERPRETER is the treasure-house of experience, where are stored up all God’s provisions, and providences, and dealings with men. Out of this store-house the Spirit bestows—according to our wants, our asking, and our use of supplies already given—'grace for grace.' It is the shedding of Divine light, and the pouring of Divine love, and the communication of Divine knowledge, into our hearts. God was once revealed to man in the person of his Son; he is now revealed to our hearts in the power of his Spirit."[1]

Worldly-Wiseman

"This WORLDLY-WISEMAN is Self-Righteousness, that glories in the law, attributes nothing to grace, trusts to its own merit, and will not accept the merits of Christ. This Self-Righteous spirit will stand beneath Sinai, rather than look to Calvary. This legal religion would, were it possible, work its own way to heaven, and ignore the salvation that is in Christ Jesus."[1]

City of Destruction

"The City of Destruction is Satan’s city, and he is its Prince; and accordingly he claims the Pilgrim as one of his subjects."[1]

Christian

"From the outset of the pilgrimage the Pilgrim has been called by the name of CHRISTIAN. But this was not always his name. This is his 'new name.' And before this was given him, he was called GRACELESS. This was the name by which he was called in the City of Destruction, until God opened his eyes to behold his state in sin, and gave him grace to flee from the wrath to come. He was by nature without grace, and therefore GRACELESS; but now he is with Christ, and therefore is he called by the name of CHRISTIAN."[1]

Help

"When man has done his best, and yet that best is nothing, then comes HELP. This kind messenger is CHRIST. He reproves the Pilgrim that he had not looked for 'the steps.' And CHRISTIAN answers that 'fear followed' him, and thus he missed the steps. These stepping-stones are the promises of God in Christ. Now 'fear' never yet brought a man to the promises; it only drives us from them, so that we lose the way."[1]

Slough of Despond

"In this miry place CHRISTIAN seems to fare worse than his fellow; for by reason of his burden (that is, conscious sin), he sinks deeper and deeper. PLIABLE, feeling no such burden, is simply bedaubed, but is also most grievously offended. He naturally feels that this is a sudden and unlooked-for descent from the crowns, and harps, and dazzling glories of which they had been speaking. Accordingly, having no correct views of the state of man and of the plan of deliverance, in time of temptation or trial he falleth away. PLIABLE’S first experiences offend him; and at once, with a desperate struggle or two, he releases himself from the mire, at that side of the swamp that was nearest his native home. Not so the Pilgrim of Sion. CHRISTIAN, now left alone, struggles toward the side nearest the Wicket-gate. All-burdened with sin, and sinking in the miry clay, he feels his danger and his desolate condition."[1]

Pliable

"PLIABLE yields for a time; is easily turned hither and thither; but has no perseverance in the right way. He is caught by promises, and is beckoned on by hopes, but counts not the cost of the journey. He is pliable for good, or he is pliable for evil; and is ready for either way, according to circumstances."[1]

Obstinate

"OBSTINATE is evidently a mocker, who scoffs at the possessors of religion. He cannot understand why the Pilgrim should leave his worldly associations, or believe the book that bids him to forsake all for Christ. He even waxes angry because his words seem to take no effect. And by-and-by he rails on the Pilgrim, and reviles him for what be believes to be his folly or his fancy in committing himself to the fortunes of so strange an expedition."[1]

Wicket-Gate

"The Wicket-gate constitutes one of the main features of the great Dreamer's Allegory. It is an end, and it is a beginning. It concludes the Pilgrim's search for the better path, and inaugurates his entrance upon the King's highway—the way of holiness. It closes upon the weary wilderness of doubt and ignorance in which he wandered, wept, and trembled, and opens upon the road that conducts all faithful pilgrims to the Celestial City."[1]

Parchment Roll

"This was Evangelist's gift to the Pilgrim, with a motto that urged him to flight. And this was quickly followed by the further counsel, whither to flee. The roll of parchment, as on other occasions, means that the advice of Evangelist is to be retained and preserved as an enduring possession."[1]

"He gives the roll of the parchment—the law written on our hearts—upon which the Pilgrim is to look, and out of which he is to read, and thence to take comfort, admonition, and instruction, and to present it by-and-by at the gate of the Celestial City. The seal is 'the seal of the Spirit,' to certify the credential, and authenticate its message."[1]

Evangelist

"Much of Bunyan's private history is interwoven throughout the allegory. In fact, it is a spiritual autobiography, recounting his own dangers, doubts, helps, and manifold experiences. 'EVANGELIST' is supposed to mean the good Mr. Gifford, under whose instruction and ministry Bunyan so greatly profited. Mr. Gifford had been a major in the king's army, and a persecutor of those who, like Bunyan, over-stepped the narrow bounds of that unhappy period. He, however, afterwards became a converted man, and was the founder of a church in Bedford, which was subsequently ministered to by Bunyan himself, and has continued its succession of testimony to the present day."[1]

Den

"This was the dungeon of the gaol in Bedford, in which Bunyan was imprisoned for conscience’ and the Gospel's sake. How God makes the wrath of man to praise him! When the fierce Domitian had banished John to the wild and barren rock of Patmos, then heaven itself opens to his view, and he is commanded to write the words of the Revelation. Jealousy and hatred imprisoned Luther for ten months in the castle of Wartburg; but God made use of the interval by permitting the great Reformer, in this his Patmos, to translate the Scriptures into the tongue of the German nation. And so Bunyan is now withdrawn from the agitation and excitement of the world outside, and in what he calls his 'den,' he sees visions, and dreams dreams, and indites the wondrous parables and allegories in which, 'though dead, he yet speaketh.'"[1]

Introduction by Rev. Robert Maguire

“His is the highest miracle of genius,” says Lord Macaulay, “that the imaginations of one mind should become the personal recollections of another: and this miracle the tinker has wrought. There is no ascent, no declivity, no resting-place, no turnstile, with which we are not perfectly acquainted.” This is well said; and it is true. The PILGRIM'S PROGRESS is one of the best known books of human origin. It is a household book. Men love to retrace the steps of the journey, to re-visit the familiar scenes of the wondrous Pilgrimage, and to live over again the experiences of the Pilgrim.

The Dreamer rests himself in his dreary prison-house, and as he sleeps, he sees the outline of a Vision. And whether it be in his sleeping or his waking moments, ’tis true that Heaven hath somehow drawn aside the vail, and revealed these grand and glorious sights which reach so near to the things that “eye hath not seen,” permitting this far-sighted man to look “Through golden vistas into Heaven."