The Pilgrim's Progress—Part 2 with Christiana—Illustrated Quotes

The Pilgrim's Progress is one book with two distinct parts, like The Lord of the Rings is one book or story with three parts. Christiana, Christian's wife, acted like a villain in the first part but becomes the main heroine in the second part by leading her four sons and a neighbor to follow after Christian on  pilgrimage.

hristiana was glad in heart, "not only that she had a companion [her neighbor, Mercy], but also that she had prevailed with this poor maid to fall in love with her own salvation."

 

eliever said to Christiana after rescuing her group from ruffians, "I wondered that you did not petition the Lord for a guide to avoid these dangers, for He would have granted you one." Christiana responded, "Since our Lord knew it would be to our profit, I wonder that He sent not one along with us." Reliever answered, "It is not always best to grant things not asked for, lest by so doing they become of little esteem; but when the want of a thing is felt, it then receives in the eyes of him that feels it the estimate it properly is due.... 'Tis a poor thing that is not worth asking for"—not worth asking is not worth having. As James 4:3 says, "You do not have because you do not ask."

Great-heart, the Guide Worth Asking For

 

t the Interpreter's house "the water stood in Christiana's eyes, for she was a woman quick of apprehension." The eight lessons she learned there in Part 2 and the eight lessons Christian learned there in Part 1 are worth reading and pondering. My favorites are the man with the broom, the fire that could not be put out, the man with the muck-rake, and the valiant man who stormed the castle.

n the morning, they rose with the sun and began to prepare to go on their journey. But the Interpreter asked them to stay a little longer....Now, Innocent, following instructions, had them bathe in the pool of the garden, and put on new, white, linen clothing. Thus dressed, the women looked so beautiful that they looked on each other with awe. For each could see the glory only in the other, and each esteemed the other better than herself. "You are fairer than I," said one. "And you are more beautiful than I am," said the other. The children also stood amazed to see their new appearance.

fter successfully leading his company through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Mr. Great-heart vanquishes Giant Maul, but came close to losing his life in the combat. Christiana asks, "Were you not afraid...when you saw him come out with his club?" Great-heart answers, "It is my duty to distrust my own ability that I may have reliance on Him who is stronger than all." Christiana then asks, "But what did you think when he knocked you down to the ground at the first blow?" His reply: "I realized that my Master, the Lord Jesus, was Himself treated the same way, yet He it was who conquered at the last." Christiana's eldest son, Matthew, says, "I think God has been wonderfully good to us both in bringing us out of this valley and in delivering us out of the hand of this enemy. For my part, I see no reason why we should distrust our God anymore since He has now, and in such a place as this, given us such testimony of His love as this." The pilgrim band then meet up with Old Honesty, and he and Great-heart soon discover that they are kindred spirits, possessed of valiant hearts.

ld Honesty replies to a query from Great-heart, "I would have fought as long as breath had been in me and had I done so, I would have prevailed. A Christian can never be overcome unless he yields himself." Great-heart joyfully responds, "Well said, father Honest, for by this I know you are a true Christian warrior because you have uttered a great Christian truth." Honesty answers, "And by what you said I know you understand the Christian pilgrimage because all others think that Christians are the soonest overcome of any." The meek are not weak but have their strength under control. It is folly to strive with the God behind that strength.

ast words uttered by Christiana and company in turn when the Master was not willing that they should be so far from Him any longer:

• Christiana says, "I come, Lord, to be with You and bless You."
• Mr. Ready-to-halt says, "Welcome, life!"
• Mr. Feeble-mind says, "Hold out, faith and patience."
• Mr. Despondency says, "Farewell, night! Welcome, day!"
• Old Mr. Honest says, "Grace reigns."
• Mr. Valiant-for-truth says, "I am going to my Father's House, and though with great difficulty I have reached this point, yet now I do not repent of all the trouble I have been through to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him who shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him who can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me to be a witness that I have fought the battles of Him who now will be my Rewarder.... Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?"
• Mr. Stand-fast says, "I see myself now at the end of my journey. My toilsome days are ended. I am now going to see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that face that was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight. I have loved to hear Him spoken of, and wherever I could see His footprints on the sands of time, there I delighted to walk. His name has been to me a precious treasure—sweeter than all perfumes. His voice I rejoice to hear, and His face to me exceeds all beauty in earth and sky. His Word I have used as food  for my soul and for antidotes against my faltering. He has kept me back from my iniquities, and He has held me fast. Yes, my steps He has strengthened in His way. Take me, Lord, for I come to Thee."
• See also The Pilgrim's Progress, Part 1 with Christian—Illustrated Quotes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

The Pilgrim's Progress—Part 1 with Christian—Illustrated Quotes

 

The Pilgrim's Progress may be my second favorite book after the Holy Bible because of its accuracy and honesty in describing the Christian life in memorable story form. When making a pilgrimage through the book recently, I decided to highlight poignant quotes that follow the story's chronology:

 

Christian with the Book by Him Who Cannot Lie

 

hristian, at the beginning of his pilgrimage, fields this question from Pliable: "Do you think that the words of your Book are certainly true?" Christian answers, "Yes, for it was made by Him who cannot lie."

 

he first thing Interpreter shows to Christian in his wonderful house of life lessons is the pastor's portrait, who "had eyes lifted to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the Law of truth written upon his lips, the world ... behind his back. It stood as if it pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over his head.... His work is to know and unfold dark things to sinners." Interpreter tells Christian, "I have showed you this picture first because the [pastor] ... is the only man whom the Lord of the place to where you are going has authorized to be your guide in all difficult places you may meet with in the way."

  

Christian Loses His Burden at the Cross

 
hristian journeyed for a long way with the increasingly heavy burden of sin on his back. He knew many biblical truths, but until this point in his pilgrimage he was missing the key truth. Only when Christian on the Narrow Way "came up to the Cross [was] his burden loosed from off his shoulders. [It] fell from off his back and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the Sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and felt light as a feather. He said with a merry heart, 'Jesus has given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death.'" He receives spiritual gifts and assurances at this turning point in his journey, reflecting his full trust in the work of Christ on the cross alone to procure his salvation in life and death.

Christian Receives the Key of Promise

aithful to Talkative: "When Christ said, 'Do you know all these things?' and the disciples had answered, 'Yes'; He added, 'Blessed are you if you do them.' He did not lay the blessing in the knowing of them but in the doing of them."

hen Christian and Hopeful strayed from the straight Way, which was difficult in some parts, onto soft, easy By-path Meadow, they later heard, "'Let your heart be towards the highway, even the way that you went; turn again.' But by this time the waters were greatly risen so the way of going back was very dangerous. (Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way when we are in than going in when we are out.)"

hristian and Hopeful were then captured by Giant Despair, who made life miserable for them. The giant taunted them, repeatedly saying, "Why .. .should you choose life, seeing it is attended with so much bitterness?" Christian was now depressed enough to agree but Hopeful told him, "Indeed our present condition is dreadful ... but ... the Lord of the country to which we are going has said, 'You shall do no murder.'... Moreover, my brother, you talk of ease in the grave, but have you forgotten the hell to which ... murderers go? For 'no murderer has eternal life.'... The time may come that may give us a happy release." That time came when "Christian, as one half amazed, broke out in this passionate speech: 'What a fool I am to lie in a stinking dungeon when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my pocket called Promise that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.'" It did indeed!

hen Christian and Hopeful reached the Delectable Mountains, they leaned on their walking staffs and spoke with the kindly shepherds there, named Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, who taught them some of the lessons of the land. Then said the pilgrims to one another, "We have need to cry to the Strong for strength!" The shepherds replied, "Aye, and you will have need to use it when you have it, too."

orced to travel where they dare not fall asleep, Christian and Hopeful kept each other awake with good conversation about how Hopeful began to be concerned about the state of his soul. He told Christian, "For a long time I enjoyed those things that .. .I believe now, would have (had I continued in them) destroyed me ... all the treasures and riches of the world. I also delighted in debauchery, partying, drinking, swearing, lying, immorality, Sabbath-breaking, and every other thing that tends to destroy the soul. But by hearing and considering divine things, which I learned about you, as well as from beloved Faithful, who was put to death at Vanity Fair for his faith and goodness, I discovered at last that 'the end of those things is death' (Romans 6:21).... I tried not to sin, and I avoided sinful company ... but then my trouble came tumbling upon me again, despite all my changes." Hopeful thought he was basically a good person, but his opinion about himself began to change when he started taking seriously such sayings as these: "All our good deeds are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6), "By the works of the Law no one shall be justified" (Galatians 2:16), and "When you have done all things, say 'We are unprofitable'" (Luke 17:10). "I thought to myself," said Hopeful, "If all my good deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight, if no one can be justified by obeying the Law, and if, when we have done all we can, we are still unworthy, then it is foolish to think we can get to heaven by our good works. Furthermore I thought that if a man runs up a bill of a hundred pounds with a shopkeeper and after that he pays for everything he buys but still owes his old bill, the shopkeeper can still sue him and send him to prison until he pays the debt.... I have by my sins run up a great charge in God's Book, and my reforming now will not pay off that debt.... How shall I be freed from the damnation I have brought upon myself by my former transgressions?" Another thing that weighed upon his mind was this: "If I look carefully at the best of what I do now, I still see sin, new sin, mixing itself with the best of what I do so I am forced to conclude that, even if my former life had been faultless, I have now committed sin enough in one action to send me to hell."   The apostle Paul wrote about the same experience: "I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong" (Romans 7:21). The breakthrough for Hopeful (and countless others) came when realized that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). "He is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4). "He died for our sins and rose again for our justification" (Romans 4:25). "He is the mediator between God and us" (1 Timothy 2:5). "I gathered from all these Scriptures," said Hopeful, "that I must look for righteousness in His person and for satisfaction for my sins through His blood.... Now my heart was filled with joy, my eyes filled with tears, and my heart brimming over with love for the name, people, and ways of Jesus Christ."

opeful and Christian meet a young man named Ignorance, who assumes he will go to heaven someday because he is pleased with his own views. He is not at all open to hearing otherwise. That leads to a discussion of what causes people to be like that or to profess faith in Christ, but then backslide or fall away. Hopeful observes that though the consciences of such people are awakened, "their minds are not changed; therefore, when the guilt passes, they cease to be religious.... Thus they are eager for heaven only because they fear the torments of hell, but as soon as their sense of hell and their fears of damnation chill and cool, so does their desire for heaven and salvation ... and they return to their old course again. Another reason is that they are slaves to certain fears that overpower them; particularly the fear of men, for 'the fear of men brings a snare' (Proverbs 29:25).... The stigma that surrounds religion is also a stumbling block to them.... Because they shun even the thoughts of guilt and fear, when once they are rid of their concerns about ... the wrath of God, they gladly harden their hearts and choose ways that will harden them more and more." Christian then discusses how "the hardening of heart takes place: 1. As much as they can, they turn their thoughts away from any reminder of God, death, and judgment to come. 2. Then they gradually cease their private duties, such as prayer, restraining their lusts, and being vigilant and repentant regarding sin. 3. Then they shun the company of lively and sincere Christians. 4. After that they grow indifferent to public duties such as hearing and reading the Word, gathering together for worship, and the like. 5. Then they begin to find fault with some of the godly, and the devilish purpose behind this is to find some alleged reason for turning away from faith in Christ. 6. Then they begin to associate with worldly and immoral people. 7. Then they indulge in worldly and lewd conversations, and are happy if they can find any who are considered honest doing the same so they may use their example as an excuse to indulge more boldly. 8. After this they begin to play with little sins openly. 9. And then, being hardened, they show themselves as they really are. Launched into a gulf of misery, they are lost forever in their own deception unless a miracle of grace prevents it."

ater on, when crossing the River of Death, Hopeful calls out, "Be of good cheer, my brother: I feel the bottom and it is good!" Christian, remembering old sins, is tempted to forget that God already forgave them all through Christian's faith in Christ, so he struggles in the River. Hopeful encourages him again, saying, "Be of good cheer: Jesus Christ makes you whole!" Christian then calls out loudly, "Oh! I see Him and He tells me, 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and ... they shall not overflow you.' Then they both took courage and the Enemy was after that as still as a stone."

wo shining ones (angels) greet Christian and Hopeful on heaven's side of the River of Death, explaining, "We are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation." Christian and Hopeful "left their mortal garments behind them in the River, for though they went in with them, they came out without them. They therefore went up with much agility and speed....The talk they had with the shining ones was about the glory of the place.... 'There,' said they, 'is ... the paradise of God.... Your walk and talk shall be every day with the King, even all the days of eternity. There you shall not see again such things as you saw when you were in the lower region upon the earth ... sorrow, sickness, affliction, and death.... You are now going to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to the prophets—people who are now resting upon their beds, each one walking in his or her righteousness.' The men then asked, 'What must we do in the holy place?' To whom it was answered, 'You must there receive the comforts of all your toil, and have joy for all your sorrow; you must reap what you have sown, even the fruit of all your prayers, and tears, and sufferings for the King by the way. In that place you shall ... enjoy the perpetual sight and vision of the Holy One, for there you shall see Him as He is. There also you shall serve Him continually with praise.... You shall enjoy your friends again who have gone there before you; and there with joy you will greet those who  follow into the holy place after you. There you shall be clothed with glory and majesty, and made fit to ride out with the King of Glory. When He shall come with sound of trumpet in the clouds, as upon the wings of the wind, you shall come with Him; and when He shall sit upon the throne of judgment, you shall sit by Him; yea, and when He shall pass sentence upon all the workers of iniquity, let them be angels or men, you also shall have a voice in that judgment, because they were His and your enemies. And when He shall again return to the city, you shall go too, with sound of trumpet, and be ever with Him.'"

A Glimpse of the Celestial City

See also:
* The Pilgrim's Progress, Part 2 with Christiana—Illustrated Quotes

* For an overview, see 10 Things You Should Know About Pilgrim's Progress

*The beautifully animated film The Pilgrim's Progress | Official Trailer (2019)

* "The Progressive Pilgrim," an article summarizing Nathaniel Hawthorn's clever satire of weak attempts to modernize The Pilgrim's Progress

The New Men—Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

In this final chapter of Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis picks up where he left off: "In the last chapter I compared Christ's work of making New Men to the process of turning a horse into a winged creature. I used that extreme example ... to emphasize the point that it is not mere improvement but Transformation.... Perhaps a modern man can understand the Christian idea best if he takes it in connection with Evolution. Everyone now knows about Evolution (though, of course, some educated people disbelieve it).... Consequently, people often wonder 'What is the next step? When is the thing beyond man going to appear?'... The Christian view is ... that the Next Step has already appeared. And it is really new. It is not a change from brainy men to brainier men: it is a change ... from being creatures of God to being sons of God. The first instance appeared in Palestine two thousand years ago. Christ ... of course ... is ... much more than that. He is the new man. He is the origin and center and life of all the new men. He came into the created universe, of His own will, bringing with Him the Zoe, the new life.... Everyone who gets it gets it by personal contact with Him. Other men become 'new' by being 'in Him.'"

"We are all still the early Christians. The present wicked and wasteful divisions between us are, let us hope, a disease of infancy: we are still teething. The outer world, no doubt, thinks just the opposite. It thinks we are dying of old age. But it has thought that very often before. Again and again it has thought Christianity was dying, dying by persecutions from without and corruptions from within, by the rise of [Islam], the rise of the physical sciences, the rise of ... revolutionary movements. But every time the world is disappointed. Its first disappointment was over the crucifixion. The Man came to life again.... They keep on killing the thing that He started: and each time ... they suddenly hear that it is still alive and has even broken out in some new place."

"Now the critical moment has arrived.... It is like the crisis of birth. Until we rise and follow Christ, we are still parts of nature—still in the womb of our great mother. Her pregnancy has been long and painful and anxious, but it has reached its climax. The great moment has come. Everything is ready. The Doctor has arrived. Will the birth go off right? But of course [spiritual birth] differs from an ordinary birth in one important respect. In an ordinary birth the baby has not much choice; here it has.... Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth. Some, as I have admitted, are still hardly recognizable: but others can be recognized. Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off.... The will not be very like the idea of 'religious people' that you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less.... They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from. When you have recognized one of them, you will recognize the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect ... that they recognize one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of color, sex, class, age, and even of creeds."

"But you must not imagine that the new men are, in the ordinary sense, all alike. I will try two very imperfect illustrations.... Imagine a lot of people who have always lived in the dark. You ... try to describe to them what light is like.... Is it not quite possible that they would imagine that, since they [would all be] receiving the same light, and all reacting to it in the same way (i.e. all reflecting it), they would all look alike? Whereas you and I know that the light will in fact bring out, or show up, how different they are. Or again, suppose a person who knew nothing about salt: You give him a pinch to taste and ... tell him that in your country people use salt in all their cookery. Might he not reply 'In that case I suppose all your dishes taste exactly the same: because the taste of that stuff you have just given me is so strong that it will kill the taste of everything else.' But you and I know that the real effect of salt is exactly the opposite.... Of course ... you can kill the other tastes by putting in too much salt, [but] you cannot kill the taste of a human personality by putting in too much Christ." 

"The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs,' all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented—as an author invents characters in a novel—all the different men that you and I were intended to be.... Our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events that I never started and that I cannot stop.... I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."

Gloriously Different Saints

Monotonously Alike Tyrants

"At the beginning I said there were Personalities in God. I will go further now. There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up yourself to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints."

Letting Go of Self

"There must be a real giving up of the self.... The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self ... will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.... The same principle holds ... for more everyday matters: ...you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making.... No man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring ... how often it has been told before) you will ... become original without ever having noticed it.... Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep nothing back. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.... Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

Highlights from chapter 11: The New Men, book 4: Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity in Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Click here for a clear view of how this chapter relates to the whole book.