THE
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
JOHN
BUNYAN
Section
7
Christian
and Hopeful - By-ends and his companions - plain of Ease - Demas - Lot's
wife - the River of Life -
Vain-Confidence - Giant
Despair - the Pilgrims beaten - the Dungeon - the Key of Promise
DEMAS
Then
CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL,
outwent them again, and went till they came at a delicate plain, called
Ease, where they went with much content; but that plain was but narrow, so
they were quickly got over it. Now at the further side of that plain was a
little hill called Lucre, and in that hill a silver mine, which some of them
that had formerly gone that way, because of the rarity of it, had turned
aside to see; but going too near the brink of the pit, the ground being
deceitful under them, broke, and they were slain; some also had been maimed
there, and could not to their dying day be their own men again.
Then
I saw in my dream, that a little off the road, over against the silver mine,
stood DEMAS (gentleman-like), to call to passengers to come and see; who
said to CHRISTIAN and his fellow, "Ho, turn aside hither, and I will
show you a thing."
Chr.
What thing is so deserving as to turn us out of the way to see it?
Demas.
Here is a silver mine, and some digging in it for treasure; if you will
come, with a little pain you may richly provide for yourselves.
Hope.
Then said HOPEFUL, "Let us go and see."
Chr.
"Not I," said CHRISTIAN; "I have heard of this place before
now and how many have there been slain; and besides, that treasure is a
snare to those that seek it, for it hinders them in their pilgrimage."
Then CHRISTIAN called to DEMAS, saying, "Is not the place dangerous?
hath it not hindered many in their pilgrimage?"
"For
Israel
slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb
in a large place. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Their
drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with
shame do love, Give ye. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they
shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices." Hosea 4:16-19
Demas.
"Not very dangerous; except to those that are careless;" but
withal, he blushed as he spake.
Chr.
Then said CHRISTIAN to HOPEFUL, "Let us not stir a step, but still keep
on our way."
Hope. I will warrant you, when BY-ENDS comes up, if he hath the same
invitation as we, he will turn in thither to see.
Chr.
No doubt thereof, for his principles lead him that way; and a hundred to one
but he dies there.
Demas.
Then DEMAS called again, saying, "But will you not come over and
see?"
Chr.
Then CHRISTIAN roundly answered, saying, "DEMAS, thou art an enemy to
the right ways of the Lord of this way, and hast been already condemned for
thine own turning aside by one of his Majesty's judges; and why seekest thou
to bring us into the like condemnation?
"For
Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
unto Thessalonica; Crescens to
Galatia
, Titus unto
Dalmatia
."
2 Timothy 4:10
Besides,
if we at all turn aside, our Lord the King will certainly hear thereof, and
will there put us to shame, where we would stand with boldness before
him."
Demas
cried again, That he also was one of their fraternity; and that if they
would tarry a little, he also himself would walk with them.
Chr.
Then said Christian, "What is thy name? is it not the same by the which
I have called thee?"
Demas. Yes, my name is DEMAS; I am the son of Abraham.
Chr.
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father, and
you have trod their steps. It is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy
father was hanged for a traitor; and thou deservest no better reward.
"But
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath
spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he
brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take
somewhat of him." 2 Kings 5:20
"Then
one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And
said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto
you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." Matthew
26:14, 15
"When
the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they
led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then
Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented
himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went
and hanged himself." Matthew 27:1-5
Assure
thyself, that when we come to the King, we will tell him of this thy
behaviour.
Thus they went their way.
By
this time BY-ENDS and his companions were come again within sight; and they
at the first beck went over to DEMAS. Now, whether they fell into the pit by
looking over the brink thereof, or whether they went down to dig, or whether
they were smothered in the bottom by the damps that commonly arise, of these
things I am not certain; but this I observed, that they never were seen
again in the way. Then sang CHRISTIAN:
"BY-ENDS
and SILVER-DEMAS doth agree;
One calls, the other runs, that he may be
A sharer in his lucre: so these two
Take up in this world, and no farther go."
REMEMBER
LOT'S WIFE
Now
I saw that, just on the other side of this plain, the pilgrims
came to a place where stood an old monument hard by the highway side, at the
sight of which they were both concerned, because of the strangeness of the
form thereof; for it seemed to them as if it had been a woman transformed
into the shape of a pillar. Here, therefore, they stood looking and looking
upon it; but could not for a time tell what they should make thereof. At
last, HOPEFUL espied written above upon the head thereof a writing in an
unusual hand; but he, being no scholar, called to CHRISTIAN (for he was
learned) to see if he could pick out the meaning; so he came and after a
little laying of letters together, he found the same to be this,
"REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!" So he read it to his fellow; after which,
they both concluded that that was the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife
was turned for her looking back with a covetous heart when she was going
from Sodom for safety,
"But
his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."
Genesis 19:26
which
sudden and amazing sight gave them occasion of this discourse.
Chr.
Ah, my brother, this is a seasonable sight; it came opportunely to us after
the invitation which DEMAS gave us to come over to view the hill Lucre; and
had we gone over as he desired us, and as thou wast inclining to do, my
brother, we had, for aught I know, been made ourselves like this woman, a
spectacle for those that shall come after to behold.
Hope. I am sorry that I was so foolish, and am made to wonder that I
am not now as
Lot
's wife; for wherein
was the difference 'twixt her sin and mine? she only looked back, and I had
a desire to go and see. Let grace be adored; and let me be ashamed that ever
such a thing should be in mine heart!
Chr.
Let us take notice of what we see here, for our help for time to come. This
woman escaped one judgment, for she fell not by the destruction of
Sodom
; yet she was
destroyed by another – as we see, she is turned into a pillar of salt.
Hope.
True; and she may be to us both caution and example: caution, that we should
shun her sin; or a sign of what judgment will overtake such as shall not be
prevented by this caution. So Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with the two
hundred and fifty men that perished in their sin, did also become a sign or
example to others to beware:
"And
the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that
Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove
against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove
against the LORD: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up
together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two
hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign." Numbers 26:9, 10
but
above all, I muse at one thing, to wit, how DEMAS and his fellows can stand
so confidently yonder to look for that treasure, which this woman, but for
looking behind her after (for we read not that she stepped one foot out of
the way) was turned into a pillar of salt; especially since the judgment
which overtook her did make her an example within sight of where they are;
for they cannot choose but see her, did they but lift up their eyes.
Chr.
It is a thing to be wondered at, and it argues that their hearts are grown
desperate in the case; and I cannot tell who to compare them to so fitly as
to them that pick pockets in the presence of the judge, or that will cut
purses under the gallows. It is said of the men of
Sodom
, that they were
sinners exceedingly,
"And
Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was
well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even
as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar."
Genesis 13:10
"But the men of
Sodom
were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly." Genesis
13:13
because
they were sinners "before the Lord," – that is, in his eyesight;
and notwithstanding the kindness that he had showed them, for the land of
Sodom was now like the Garden of Eden heretofore. This, therefore, provoked
him the more to jealousy; and made their plague as hot as the fire of the
Lord out of heaven could make it. And it is most rationally to be concluded,
that such, even such as these are, that shall sin in the sight, yea, and
that too in despite of such examples that are set continually before them,
to caution them to the contrary, must be partakers of severest judgments.
Hope.
Doubtless thou hast said the truth: but what a mercy is it that neither
thou, but especially I, am not made myself this example! this ministers
occasion to us to thank God; to fear before him; and always to
"remember Lot's wife."
The
Pilgrim's Progress - the River of Life - Vain-Confidence
The
Pilgrim's Progress - Contents
