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."