The Pilgrim's Progress

An Illustrated Christian Classic

John Bunyan

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781400216529
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

The Pilgrim's Progress has inspired readers across the centuries to persevere in their faith. For longstanding fans of Bunyan's tale, or for those encountering it for the first time, this illustrated edition offers new beauty and insight with striking hand-painted illustrations and enlightening commentary for all ages.

Inside you'll find:

• 15 chapters, accompanied by gorgeous hand-painted scenes at the beginning of each chapter
• annotations embedded across every chapter to help readers gain a deeper understanding of the allegory
• a presentation page for thoughtful gifting and a notes section to write down your thoughts
• a ribbon marker for easy referencing
• colorful artwork throughout the entire book

Originally written for the everyman, John Bunyan's Christian classic has since found its way into the libraries of scholars and universities as well—a true masterpiece for the ages. Its historical richness, eloquent symbolism, and stunning prose have withstood the test of time, and this new edition helps readers appreciate the timeless beauty found in Bunyan's words.

The Pilgrim's Progress is perfect for:

• homeschooling families or an addition to your family library
• men, women, and children who enjoy learning about history

Since its publication in 1678, The Pilgrim's Progress has been translated into more than 200 languages. It's a worldwide bestseller, second only to the Bible, and it has become a hallmark among scholars and theologians around the globe.

PART ONE

DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM

THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY FOR HIS BOOK

When at the first I took my pen in hand

Thus for to write, I did not understand

That I at all should make a little book

In such a mode; nay, I had undertook

To make another; which, when almost done,

Before I was aware, I this begun.

And thus it was: I, writing of the way

And race of saints, in this our gospel day,

Fell suddenly into an allegory

About their journey, and the way to glory,

In more than twenty things which I set down.

This done, I twenty more had in my crown;

And they again began to multiply,

Like sparks that from the coals of fire do fly.

Nay, then, thought I, if that you breed so fast,

I’ll put you by yourselves, lest you at last

Should prove ad infinitum, and eat out

The book that I already am about.

Nowadays the word apology means saying you are sorry, but in Bunyan’s day the word meant a rationale or justification. The preface’s title tells us that Bunyan was defending what he expected would be criticized. His Puritan friends typically did not value allegories, mistrusting any teaching that was not straightforward and pulled directly from Scripture.

Well, so I did; but yet I did not think

To shew to all the world my pen and ink

In such a mode; I only thought to make

I knew not what; nor did I undertake

Thereby to please my neighbour: no, not I;

I did it my own self to gratify.

Neither did I but vacant seasons spend

In this my scribble; nor did I intend

But to divert myself in doing this

From worser thoughts which make me do amiss.

Thus, I set pen to paper with delight,

And quickly had my thoughts in black and white.

For, having now my method by the end,

Still as I pulled, it came; and so I penned

It down: until it came at last to be,

For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.

When The Pilgrim’s Progress was published in 1678, it was an immediate hit. Three editions were released within its first year, and one hundred thousand copies were sold by the fifteen-year mark. It became a must-read book for Christians in America and England in the following centuries and is still considered the most popular written work of the Christian world. Apart from the Bible, it now has sold more copies and has been translated into more languages (two hundred) than any other book. It also became a widespread ministry tool—early Protestant missionaries were in the practice of translating The Pilgrim’s Progress into a native language immediately after translating the Bible.

Well, when I had thus put mine ends together,

I shewed them others, that I might see whether

They would condemn them, or them justify:

And some said, Let them live; some, Let them die;

Some said, JOHN, print it; others said, Not so;

Some said, It might do good; others said, No.

Now was I in a strait, and did not see

Which was the best thing to be done by me:

At last I thought, Since you are thus divided,

I print it will, and so the case decided.

For, thought I, some, I see, would have it done,

Though others in that channel do not run:

To prove, then, who advised for the best,

Thus I thought fit to put it to the test.

I further thought, if now I did deny

Those that would have it, thus to gratify.

I did not know but hinder them I might

Of that which would to them be great delight.

For those which were not for its coming forth,

I said to them, Offend you I am loth,

Yet, since your brethren pleased with it be,

Forbear to judge till you do further see.

If that thou wilt not read, let it alone;

Some love the meat, some love to pick the bone.

Yea, that I might them better palliate,

I did too with them thus expostulate:—

May I not write in such a style as this?

In such a method, too, and yet not miss

My end—thy good? Why may it not be done?

Dark clouds bring waters, when the bright bring none.

Yea, dark or bright, if they their silver drops

Cause to descend, the earth, by yielding crops,

Gives praise to both, and carpeth not at either,

But treasures up the fruit they yield together;

Yea, so commixes both, that in her fruit

None can distinguish this from that: they suit

Her well when hungry; but, if she be full,

She spews out both, and makes their blessings null.

When Bunyan first brought The Pilgrim’s Progress to a printer, he stated, “I have a manuscript of little worth.”¹

You see the ways the fisherman doth take

To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?

Behold how he engageth all his wits;

Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets;

Yet fish there be, that neither hook, nor line,

Nor snare, nor net, nor engine can make thine:

They must be groped for, and be tickled too,

Or they will not be catch’d, whate’er you do.

How does the fowler seek to catch his game

By divers means! all which one cannot name:

His guns, his nets, his lime-twigs, light, and bell:

He creeps, he goes, he stands; yea, who can tell

Of all his postures? Yet there’s none of these

Will make him master of what fowls he please.

Yea, he must pipe and whistle to catch this,

Yet, if he does so, that bird he will miss.

If that a pearl may in a toad’s head dwell,

And may be found too in an oyster-shell;

If things that promise nothing do contain

What better is than gold; who will disdain,

That have an inkling of it, there to look,

That they may find it? Now, my little book,

(Though void of all these paintings that may make

It with this or the other man to take)

Is not without those things that do excel

What do in brave but empty notions dwell.

Bunyan claimed he hadn’t set out to write an allegory; he’d stumbled into it while writing another book (likely The Heavenly Footman) and initially pursued it only for his own pleasure. But he went on to defend its value, pointing out that parables and metaphors are found throughout the Bible—Jesus and the prophets taught truth through them repeatedly. Bunyan also recognized that stories stick with us, helping us grasp truth more deeply and remember it longer.

‘Well, yet I am not fully satisfied,

That this your book will stand, when soundly tried.’

Why, what’s the matter? ‘It is dark.’ What though?

‘But it is feigned.’ What of that? I trow?

Some men, by feigned words, as dark as mine,

Make truth to spangle and its rays to shine.

‘But they want solidness.’ Speak, man, thy mind.

‘They drown the weak; metaphors make us blind.’

Solidity, indeed, becomes the pen

Of him that writeth things divine to men;

But must I needs want solidness, because

By metaphors I speak? Were not God’s laws,

His gospel laws, in olden times held forth

By types, shadows, and metaphors? Yet loth

Will any sober man be to find fault

With them, lest he be found for to assault

The highest wisdom. No, he rather stoops,

And seeks to find out what by pins and loops,

By calves and sheep, by heifers and by rams,

By birds and herbs, and by the blood of lambs,

God speaketh to him; and happy is he

That finds the light and grace that in them be.

“Allegory is particularly suited to religious writing. It springs from a sense that the world is not the whole case. On the contrary, there is a reality beyond this world, and this world is best interpreted as a sign system of spiritual truth. . . . [Allegory] is needed to make sense and order of the world.”²

Be not too forward, therefore, to conclude

That I want solidness—that I am rude;

All things solid in show not solid be;

All things in parables despise not we;

Lest things most hurtful lightly we receive,

And things that good are, of our souls bereave.

My dark and cloudy words, they do but hold

The truth, as cabinets enclose the gold.

The prophets used much by metaphors

To set forth truth; yea, who so considers Christ,

his apostles too, shall plainly see,

That truths to this day in such mantles be.

Am I afraid to say, that holy writ,

Which for its style and phrase puts down all wit,

Is everywhere so full of all these things—

Dark figures, allegories? Yet there springs

From that same book that lustre, and those rays

Of light, that turn our darkest nights to days.

The publication of The Pilgrim’s Progress ushered the English Bible into English literature more than any previous work and inspired great writers in following generations, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, William Makepeace Thackeray, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Come, let my carper to his life now look,

And find there darker lines than in my book

He findeth any; yea, and let him know,

That in his best things there are worse lines too.

May we but stand before impartial men,

To his poor one I dare adventure ten,

That they will take my meaning in these lines

Far better than his lies in silver shrines.

Come, truth, although in swaddling clouts, I find,

Informs the judgment, rectifies the mind;

Pleases the understanding, makes the will

Submit; the memory too it doth fill

With what doth our imaginations please;

Likewise it tends our troubles to appease.

Sound words, I know, Timothy is to use,

And old wives’ fables he is to refuse;

But yet grave Paul him nowhere did forbid

The use of parables; in which lay hid

That gold, those pearls, and precious stones that were

Worth digging for, and that with greatest care.

Let me add one word more. O man of God,

Art thou offended? Dost thou wish I had

Put forth my matter in another dress?

Or, that I had in things been more express?

Three things let me propound; then I submit

To those that are my betters, as is fit.

Robert Louis Stevenson treasured The Pilgrim’s Progress throughout his life, describing it as “a book that breathes of every beautiful and valuable emotion,”³ and credited it for bringing him “wisdom and happiness.”⁴

1. I find not that I am denied the use

Of this my method, so I no abuse

Put on the words, things, readers; or be rude

In handling figure or similitude,

In application; but, all that I may,

Seek the advance of truth this or that way

Denied, did I say? Nay, I have leave

(Example too, and that from them that have

God better pleased, by their words or ways,

Than any man that breatheth now-a-days)

Thus to express my mind, thus to declare

Things unto thee that excellentest are.

2. I find that men (as high as trees) will write

Dialogue-wise; yet no man doth them slight

For writing so: indeed, if they abuse

Truth, cursed be they, and the craft they use

To that intent; but yet let truth be free

To make her sallies upon thee and me,

Which way it pleases God; for who knows how,

Better than he that taught us first to plough,

To guide our mind and pens for his design?

And he makes base things usher in divine.

3. I find that holy writ in many places

Hath semblance with this method, where the cases

Do call for one thing, to set forth another;

Use it I may, then, and yet nothing smother

Truth’s golden beams: nay, by this method may

Make it cast forth its rays as light as day.

And now before I do put up my pen,

I’ll shew the profit of my book, and then

Commit both thee and it unto that Hand

That pulls the strong down, and makes weak ones stand.

“Next to the Bible, the book I value most is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress,” wrote Charles Spurgeon. “I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled from the Scriptures.”⁵

This book it chalketh out before thine eyes

The man that seeks the everlasting prize;

It shews you whence he comes, whither he goes;

What he leaves undone, also what he does;

It also shows you how he runs and runs,

Till he unto the gate of glory comes.

It shows, too, who set out for life amain,

As if the lasting crown they would obtain;

Here also you may see the reason why

They lose their labour, and like fools do die.

This book will make a traveller of thee,

If by its counsel thou wilt ruled be;

It will direct thee to the Holy Land,

If tho...