John Bunyan and the Wayfaring Life
(Part One)
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| John Bunyan and the Wayfaring Life
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The Pilgrim's Progress is the story of a man's pilgrimage - "from this world, to that which is to be;" his journey from "the City of Destruction" - this present world of ours - to the "Celestial City" - to heaven and to glory at last. In the course of his journey, then, this man, this Christian , as Bunyan calls him, meets with many situations; many circumstances, which each and every believing child of God can relate to. The joys, and the perplexities, and the temptations that are common to all. All life, in that sense, is set down for us in the Pilgrim's Progress. To begin at the beginning. "As I walked through the wilderness of this world," says Bunyan, "I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a man clothed in rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, 'What shall I do?'" This is the man that the book is all about; this is the 'pilgrim' that is going to begin his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. And what a graphic picture it is of any man, or any woman in that position. He was "clothed in rags", says Bunyan; the rags of his own self-righteousness. He had done many things to obligate God to save his soul, but all of those things now appeared in their true light, and he now stands "clothed in rags". He had "his face from his own house", because there was no one in his own house at that point who could help him in any way. He had "a book in his hand", and this book was none other than the Book of God. He had a "great burden upon his back"; and this burden had come through reading in that Book, because it told him that he was under the wrath of God. "Flee from the wrath to come" that book told him; and the more he read, the more his burden grew, until, says Bunyan, "not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, 'What shall I do?'" He knew that he must flee, and what he must flee from; but where to flee to he had not yet discovered out of that Book. It's at this point that a man called Evangelist comes on the scene: and his first words to the burdened Pilgrim are these:- "Wherefore dost thou cry?" And those words speak volumes with regards to this man who has now been sent to direct the feet of that wandering Pilgrim. Later on in the Book we are given a picture of the Evangelist; "The man whose picture this is, is one of a thousand. And whereas thou seest him with his eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, and the law of truth writ on his lips, it is to show thee that his work is to know and unfold dark things to sinners; even as also thou seest him stand as if he pleaded with men." And as he pleads with the pilgrim, so the pilgrim unburdens his heart before him. "Whither must I flee?" he says; for that's the question uppermost in his mind. He knew that he had to flee; he knew what he had to flee from ; but where was he to flee to ? And so the Evangelist directs him in the way that he does. "Do you see yonder wicket gate?" ( A wicket gate is a small gate; a narrow gate; a gate within a gate.) In the words of Christ - "Strive to enter in at the strait gate" (the narrow gate); "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." With that, the Pilgrim sets off for "yonder wicket gate". "Life, life; eternal life," he cries; and eternal life he is going to find indeed. However, not yet! Not quite yet! And if the opening pages of the Pilgrim's Progress tell us something about the burdened sinner, and how the burdened sinner is to be pointed in the right way - what follows on from that is a reminder to our souls that not everyone pointed in the right way - and faithfully pointed in the right way - ends up taking that way in which they have been pointed. One of the enemies who came out to way-lay the seeking Pilgrim as he made his way to the wicket gate, was called Mr Worldly Wiseman. He "dwelt in the town of Carnal Policy", we're told. He was one of those people (or that attitude of heart and mind) that can only view things in so far as they affect out temporal, earthly life. Spiritual things have no place in his philosophy, and when he meets up with the burdened pilgrim he proceeds along entirely worldly lines with his advice. "Who bid thee go this way to get rid of thy burden?" he asks Pilgrim. "Evangelist," Pilgrim tells him. "I condemn him for his counsel," he tells Pilgrim. "How did you come by your burden in the first place?" he asks him; "By reading this book in my hand," he says, "I thought so," smirks Worldly Wiseman. And having set about to demoralise the burdened Pilgrim, Worldly Wiseman then presents his own brand of salvation. He points him in the direction of a village called Morality, and to an old "gentleman" who lived in that village, whose name was Legality. In other words, look to your own works, and your own efforts to observe the legal things of religion, and act as moral as you can, and God will surely save you for your goodness. Forget about the Wicket Gate, and the narrow way that leads to life; do these things, and live! What Worldly Wiseman hadn't told Pilgrim, of course, was this:- that between him and the village of Morality there was a great mountain called the Mountain of Sinai; the Law of God; the Ten Commandments. And as Pilgrim tried to negotiate that mountain, it erupted like a volcano, and began to pour out God's condemnations against his sin; and his burden seemed heavier than ever, and he was absolutely bereft. It's at that point, then, that Evangelist comes on the scene once again, and after he has upbraided him for listening to the worldly counsel, he then points him once again to the Wicket Gate, and to all that lay beyond that, for the saving of his soul. He eventually comes to the Gate - follows the instructions that are written above it - "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you" - and as he does so, he is admitted by the Keeper of the Gate. What immediately follows on from that, is the arrival of the Pilgrim at a place called, "The House of Interpreter". The Interpreter is the man who is going to teach the Pilgrim many things concerning the life of faith; and this he does through seven illustrations which he sets before the Pilgrim, as he leads him through the seven apartments of that house. Interpreter takes Pilgrim into a room, where a gracious lady, whom Bunyan calls the "Gospel Sprinkler", does her work. In this room, - or through the medium of this room - we are shown three things: Man in his natural state; the workings of the law of God on man's heart; and the effects of the gospel of Christ. "Then he took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlour, that was full of dust, because never swept;.....the Interpreter called for a man to sweep, and dust began, so abundantly to fly about, that Christian had almost been choked. Then said Interpreter to a damsel that stood by, 'Bring hither water and sprinkle the room;' the which, when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure. Then said Christian, 'What means this?' The Interpreter answered, 'This parlour is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the gospel; The dust is his original sin, and inward corruption that have defiled the man. He that began to sweep at first is the Law; but she that brought water and did sprinkle it, is the gospel.'" And what you have is an illustration of the fact that the law, when it sets to work on a heart, doesn't cleanse the heart from its sin, but only makes the sin appear "exceedingly sinful". Only the gospel cleanses the heart, and brings "peace in believing". There are other rooms, and other lessons, but for now, Pilgrim moves on from the House of Interpreter to the Cross itself, and there are no more vivid scenes in the whole of the Pilgrim's Progress than the scenes that it sets before us when Pilgrim finally comes to the Cross. "Now, I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall that was called Salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run - not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, at the bottom, a Sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that, just as Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back and began to tumble - and so continued to do until it came to the mouth of the Sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart - He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death. Then he stood still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the water down his cheeks." Listen to those words again; - "Then stood he still awhile to look and wonder - for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden." And isn't that the gospel, through and through: As the old hymn-writer has it, "There is Life for a look at the Crucified One." And so he sings his well-known song -
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