THE

PILGRIMS PROGRESS:

IN THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM.

Now when they were got almost quite out of this wilderness, Faithful chanced

to cast his eye back, and espied one coming after them, and he knew him. Oh!

said Faithful to his brother, who comes yonder? Then Christian looked, and

said, It is my good friend Evangelist. Aye, and my good friend too, said

Faithful, for ‘twas he that set me on the way to the gate. Now was

Evangelist come up unto them, and thus saluted them.

EVANGELIST: Peace be with you, dearly beloved, and peace be to your helpers.

CHRISTIAN: Welcome, welcome, my good Evangelist: the sight of thy

countenance brings to my remembrance thy ancient kindness and unwearied

labors for my eternal good.

FAITHFUL: And a thousand times welcome, said good Faithful, thy company, O

sweet Evangelist; how desirable is it to us poor pilgrims!

EVANGELIST: Then said Evangelist, How hath it fared with you, my friends,

since the time of our last parting? What have you met with, and how have you

behaved yourselves?

Then Christian and Faithful told him of all things that had happened to them

in the way; and how, and with what difficulty, they had arrived to that

place.

Right glad am I, said Evangelist, not that you have met with trials, but

that you have been victors, and for that you have, notwithstanding many

weaknesses, continued in the way to this very day.

I say, right glad am I of this thing, and that for mine own sake and yours:

I have sowed, and you have reaped; and the day is coming, when “both he that

soweth, and they that reap, shall rejoice together,” John 4:36; that is, if

you hold out: “for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not.” Gal. 6:9.

The crown is before you, and it is an incorruptible one; “so run that ye may

obtain it.” 1 Cor. 9:24-27. Some there be that set out for this crown, and

after they have gone far for it, another comes in and takes it from them:

“hold fast, therefore, that you have; let no man take your crown.” Rev.

3:11. You are not yet out of the gunshot of the devil; “you have not

resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Let the kingdom be always before

you, and believe steadfastly concerning the things that are invisible. Let

nothing that is on this side the other world get within you. And, above all,

look well to your own hearts and to the lusts thereof; for they are

“deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Set your faces like a

flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side.

CHRISTIAN: Then Christian thanked him for his exhortations; but told him

withal, that they would have him speak farther to them for their help the

rest of the way; and the rather, for that they well knew that he was a

prophet, and could tell them of things that might happen unto them, and also

how they might resist and overcome them. To which request Faithful also

consented. So Evangelist began as followeth.

EVANGELIST: My sons, you have heard in the word of the truth of the Gospel,

that you must “through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of

heaven;” and again, that “in every city, bonds and afflictions abide you;”

and therefore you cannot expect that you should go long on your pilgrimage

without them, in some sort or other. You have found something of the truth

of these testimonies upon you already, and more will immediately follow: for

now, as you see, you are almost out of this wilderness, and therefore you

will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you; and in

that town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will strain hard but

they will kill you; and be you sure that one or both of you must seal the

testimony which you hold, with blood; but “be you faithful unto death, and

the King will give you a crown of life.” He that shall die there, although

his death will be unnatural, and his pain, perhaps, great, he will yet have

the better of his fellow; not only because he will be arrived at the

Celestial City soonest, but because he will escape many miseries that the

other will meet with in the rest of his journey. But when you are come to

the town, and shall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember

your friend, and quit yourselves like men, and “commit the keeping of your

souls to God in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”

Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they

presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and

at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the

year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is

kept is lighter than vanity, Psa. 62:9; and also because all that is there

sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity; as is the saying of the wise, “All

that cometh is vanity.” Eccl. 11:8; see also 1:2-14; 2:11-17; Isa. 40:17.

This fair is no new-erected business but a thing of ancient standing. I will

show you the original of it.

Almost five thousand years ago there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial

City, as these two honest persons are: and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion,

with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that

their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here

to set up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and

that it should last all the year long. Therefore, at this fair are all such

merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments,

titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as

harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies,

souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.

And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings,

cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every

kind.

Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries,

false-swearers, and that of a blood-red color.

And, as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and

streets under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended; so

here, likewise, you have the proper places, rows, streets, (namely,

countries and kingdoms,) where the wares of this fair are soonest to be

found. Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish

Row, the German Row, where several sorts of vanities are to be sold. But, as

in other fairs, some one commodity is as the chief of all the fair; so the

ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair; only our

English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.

Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town,

where this lusty fair is kept; and he that will go to the city, and yet not

go through this town, “must needs go out of the world.” 1 Cor. 4:10. The

Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to his own

country, and that upon a fair-day too; yea, and, as I think, it was

Beelzebub, the chief lord of this fair, that invited him to buy of his

vanities, yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done

him reverence as he went through the town. Yea, because he was such a person

of honor, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and showed him all the

kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure

that blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities; but he had no mind

to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying out so much

as one farthing upon these vanities. Matt. 4:8,9; Luke 4:5-7. This fair,

therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.

Now, these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this fair. Well, so

they did; but behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in

the fair were moved; and the town itself, as it were, in a hubbub about

them, and that for several reasons: for,

First, The Pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse

from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people, therefore, of

the fair made a great gazing upon them: some said they were fools; 1 Cor.

4:9,10; some, they were bedlams; and some, they were outlandish men.

Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at

their speech; for few could understand what they said. They naturally spoke

the language of Canaan; but they that kept the fair were the men of this

world: so that from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians

each to the other. 1 Cor. 2:7,8.

Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was, that

these pilgrims set very light by all their wares. They cared not so much as

to look upon them; and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their

fingers in their ears, and cry, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding

vanity,” Psa. 119:37, and look upward, signifying that their trade and

traffic was in heaven. Phil. 3: 20,21.

One chanced, mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to say unto them,

“What will ye buy?” But they, looking gravely upon him, said, “We buy the

truth.” Prov. 23:23. At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men

the more; some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some

calling upon others to smite them. At last, things came to an hubbub and

great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded. Now was word

presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly came down, and

deputed some of his most trusty friends to take those men into examination

about whom the fair was almost overturned. So the men were brought to

examination; and they that sat upon them asked them whence they came,

whither they went, and what they did there in such an unusual garb. The men

told them they were pilgrims and strangers in the world, and that they were

going to their own country, which was the heavenly Jerusalem, Heb. 11:13-16;

and that they had given no occasion to the men of the town, nor yet to the

merchandisrs, thus to abuse them, and to let them in their journey, except

it was for that, when one asked them what they would buy, they said they

would buy the truth. But they that were appointed to examine them did not

believe them to be any other than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to

put all things into a confusion in the fair. Therefore they took them and

beat them, and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage,

that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair. There,

therefore, they lay for some time, and were made the objects of any man’s

sport, or malice, or revenge; the great one of the fair laughing still at

all that befell them. But the men being patient, and “not rendering railing

for railing, but contrariwise blessing,” and giving good words for bad, and

kindness for injuries done, some men in the fair, that were more observing

and less prejudiced than the rest, began to check and blame the baser sort

for their continual abuses done by them to the men. They, therefore, in an

angry manner let fly at them again, counting them as bad as the men in the

cage, and telling them that they seemed confederates, and should be made

partakers of their misfortunes. The others replied that, for aught they

could see, the men were quiet and sober, and intended nobody any harm; and

that there were many that traded in their fair that were more worthy to be

put into the cage, yea, and pillory too, than were the men that they had

abused. Thus, after divers words had passed on both sides, (the men behaving

themselves all the while very wisely and soberly before them,) they fell to

some blows among themselves, and did harm one to another. Then were these

two poor men brought before their examiners again, and were charged as being

guilty of the late hubbub that had been in the fair. So they beat them

pitifully, and hanged irons upon them, and led them in chains up and down

the fair, for an example and terror to others, lest any should speak in

their behalf, or join themselves unto them. But Christian and Faithful

behaved themselves yet more wisely, and received the ignominy and shame that

was cast upon them with so much meekness and patience, that it won to their

side (though but few in comparison of the rest) several of the men in the

fair. This put the other party yet into a greater rage, insomuch that they

concluded the death of these two men. Wherefore they threatened that neither

cage nor irons should serve their turn, but that they should die for the

abuse they had done, and for deluding the men of the fair.

Then were they remanded to the cage again, until further order should be

taken with them. So they put them in, and made their feet fast in the

stocks.

Here, also, they called again to mind what they had heard from their

faithful friend Evangelist, and were the more confirmed in their way and

sufferings by what he told them would happen to them. They also now

comforted each other, that whose lot it was to suffer, even he should have

the best of it: therefore each man secretly wished that he might have that

preferment. But committing themselves to the all-wise disposal of Him that

ruleth all things, with much content they abode in the condition in which

they were, until they should be otherwise disposed of.

Then a convenient time being appointed, they brought them forth to their

trial, in order to their condemnation. When the time was come, they were

brought before their enemies and arraigned. The judge’s name was Lord

Hate-good; their indictment was one and the same in substance, though

somewhat varying in form; the contents whereof was this: “That they were

enemies to, and disturbers of, the trade; that they had made commotions and

divisions in the town, and had won a party to their own most dangerous

opinions, in contempt of the law of their prince.”

Then Faithful began to answer, that he had only set himself against that

which had set itself against Him that is higher than the highest. And, said

he, as for disturbance, I make none, being myself a man of peace: the

parties that were won to us, were won by beholding our truth and innocence,

and they are only turned from the worse to the better. And as to the king

you talk of, since he is Beelzebub, the enemy of our Lord, I defy him and

all his angels.

Then proclamation was made, that they that had ought to say for their lord

the king against the prisoner at the bar, should forthwith appear, and give

in their evidence. So there came in three witnesses, to wit, Envy,

Superstition, and Pickthank. They were then asked if they knew the prisoner

at the bar; and what they had to say for their lord the king against him.

Then stood forth Envy, and said to this effect: My lord, I have known this

man a long time, and will attest upon my oath before this honorable bench,

that he is-

JUDGE: Hold; give him his oath.

So they sware him. Then he said, My lord, this man, notwithstanding his

plausible name, is one of the vilest men in our country; he neither

regardeth prince nor people, law nor custom, but doeth all that he can to

possess all men with certain of his disloyal notions, which he in the

general calls principles of faith and holiness. And in particular, I heard

him once myself affirm, that Christianity and the customs of our town of

Vanity were diametrically opposite, and could not be reconciled. By which

saying, my lord, he doth at once not only condemn all our laudable doings,

but us in the doing of them.

Then did the judge say to him, Hast thou any more to say?

ENVY: My lord, I could say much more, only I would not be tedious to the

court. Yet if need be, when the other gentlemen have given in their

evidence, rather than any thing shall be wanting that will dispatch him, I

will enlarge my testimony against him. So he was bid to stand by.

Then they called Superstition, and bid him look upon the prisoner. They also

asked, what he could say for their lord the king against him. Then they

sware him; so he began.

SUPERSTITION: My lord, I have no great acquaintance with this man, nor do I

desire to have further knowledge of him. However, this I know, that he is a

very pestilent fellow, from some discourse that I had with him the other

day, in this town; for then, talking with him, I heard him say, that our

religion was naught, and such by which a man could by no means please God.

Which saying of his, my lord, your lordship very well knows what necessarily

thence will follow, to wit, that we still do worship in vain, are yet in our

sins, and finally shall be damned: and this is that which I have to say.

Then was Pickthank sworn, and bid say what he knew in the behalf of their

lord the king against the prisoner at the bar.

PICKTHANK: My lord, and you gentlemen all, this fellow I have known of a

long time, and have heard him speak things that ought not to be spoken; for

he hath railed on our noble prince Beelzebub, and hath spoken contemptibly

of his honorable friends, whose names are, the Lord Old Man, the Lord Carnal

Delight, the Lord Luxurious, the Lord Desire of Vain Glory, my old Lord

Lechery, Sir Having Greedy, with all the rest of our nobility: and he hath

said, moreover, that if all men were of his mind, if possible, there is not

one of these noblemen should have any longer a being in this town. Besides,

he hath not been afraid to rail on you, my lord, who are now appointed to be

his judge, calling you an ungodly villain, with many other such like

vilifying terms, with which he hath bespattered most of the gentry of our

town.

When this Pickthank had told his tale, the judge directed his speech to the

prisoner at the bar, saying, Thou runagate, heretic, and traitor, hast thou

heard what these honest gentlemen have witnessed against thee?

FAITHFUL: May I speak a few words in my own defence?

JUDGE: Sirrah, sirrah, thou deservest to live no longer, but to be slain

immediately upon the place; yet, that all men may see our gentleness towards

thee, let us hear what thou, vile runagate, hast to say.

FAITHFUL: 1. I say, then, in answer to what Mr. Envy hath spoken, I never

said aught but this, that what rule, or laws, or custom, or people, were

flat against the word of God, are diametrically opposite to Christianity. If

I have said amiss in this, convince me of my error, and I am ready here

before you to make my recantation.

2. As to the second, to wit, Mr. Superstition, and his charge against me, I

said only this, that in the worship of God there is required a divine faith;

but there can be no divine faith without a divine revelation of the will of

God. Therefore, whatever is thrust into the worship of God that is not

agreeable to divine revelation, cannot be done but by a human faith; which

faith will not be profitable to eternal life.

3. As to what Mr. Pickthank hath said, I say, (avoiding terms, as that I am

said to rail, and the like,) that the prince of this town, with all the

rabblement, his attendants, by this gentleman named, are more fit for a

being in hell than in this town and country. And so the Lord have mercy upon

me.

Then the judge called to the jury, (who all this while stood by to hear and

observe,) Gentlemen of the jury, you see this man about whom so great an

uproar hath been made in this town; you have also heard what these worthy

gentlemen have witnessed against him; also, you have heard his reply and

confession: it lieth now in your breasts to hang him, or save his life; but

yet I think meet to instruct you in our law.

There was an act made in the days of Pharaoh the Great, servant to our

prince, that, lest those of a contrary religion should multiply and grow too

strong for him, their males should be thrown into the river. Exod. 1:22.

There was also an act made in the days of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, another

of his servants, that whoever would not fall down and worship his golden

image, should be thrown into a fiery furnace. Dan. 3:6. There was also an

act made in the days of Darius, that whoso for some time called upon any god

but him, should be cast into the lion’s den. Dan. 6:7. Now, the substance of

these laws this rebel has broken, not only in thought, (which is not to be

borne,) but also in word and deed; which must, therefore, needs be

intolerable.

For that of Pharaoh, his law was made upon a supposition to prevent

mischief, no crime being yet apparent; but here is a crime apparent. For the

second and third, you see he disputeth against our religion; and for the

treason that he hath already confessed, he deserveth to die the death.

Then went the jury out, whose names were Mr. Blindman, Mr. No-good, Mr.

Malice, Mr. Love-lust, Mr. Live-loose, Mr. Heady, Mr. High-mind, Mr. Enmity,

Mr. Liar, Mr. Cruelty, Mr. Hate-light, and Mr. Implacable; who every one

gave in his private verdict against him among themselves, and afterwards

unanimously concluded to bring him in guilty before the judge. And first

among themselves, Mr. Blindman, the foreman, said, I see clearly that this

man is a heretic. Then said Mr. No-good, Away with such a fellow from the

earth. Aye, said Mr. Malice, for I hate the very looks of him. Then said Mr.

Love-lust, I could never endure him. Nor I, said Mr. Live-loose, for he

would always be condemning my way. Hang him, hang him, said Mr. Heady. A

sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind. My heart riseth against him, said Mr.

Enmity. He is a rogue, said Mr. Liar. Hanging is too good for him, said Mr.

Cruelty. Let us dispatch him out of the way, said Mr. Hate-light. Then said

Mr. Implacable, Might I have all the world given me, I could not be

reconciled to him; therefore let us forthwith bring him in guilty of death.

And so they did; therefore he was presently condemned to be had from the

place where he was, to the place from whence he came, and there to be put to

the most cruel death that could be invented.

They therefore brought him out, to do with him according to their law; and

first they scourged him, then they buffeted him, then they lanced his flesh

with knives; after that, they stoned him with stones, then pricked him with

their swords; and last of all, they burned him to ashes at the stake. Thus

came Faithful to his end.

Now I saw, that there stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple of

horses waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had dispatched

him) was taken up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds

with sound of trumpet, the nearest way to the celestial gate. But as for

Christian, he had some respite, and was remanded back to prison: so he there

remained for a space. But he who overrules all things, having the power of

their rage in his own hand, so wrought it about, that Christian for that

time escaped them, and went his way.

And as he went, he sang, saying,

“Well, Faithful, thou hast faithfully profest

Unto thy Lord, with whom thou shalt be blest,

When faithless ones, with all their vain delights,

Are crying out under their hellish plights:

Sing, Faithful, sing, and let thy name survive;

For though they killed thee, thou art yet alive.”