Bunyan’s Protestant faith placed tremendous importance on the Bible—believed by Christians to be God’s word—as the foundation for its beliefs. In Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan also portrays the Bible as a practical source of continual encouragement for the everyday Christian. Without the Bible illuminating his path, Christian is unable to even begin his pilgrimage; once he’s underway, he constantly relies on it as a source of comfort, assurance, and strength. When he does this, his journey fares well; when he neglects the Bible, his journey falters. In addition to being a source of strength, the Bible is also pilgrims’ own history—as believers in Christ, their story is a continuation of the biblical story, as Christian learns at various points throughout his journey. This itself becomes a sustaining comfort to him on his way. By emphasizing the centrality of the Bible to the individual Christian’s journey, Bunyan urges his audience to constantly study, trust, and rely on the Bible themselves, seeing it not as a remote, obscure text, but as their personal story and guide to eternal life.
The Bible is both the foundation and fuel for the Christian’s journey. The way to eternal life can only be seen by the light of God’s written word. As Christian sets out from the City of Destruction, a figure named Evangelist points him on the way: “Do you see yonder Wicket-gate? [Christian] said, No. Then said the other, Do you see yonder shining Light? He said, I think I do. Then said Evangelist, Keep that Light in your eye […] so shalt thou see the Gate[.]” Christian is unable to see the Wicket-gate (a symbol of Christ) except through the “shining Light” of the Bible. This sets the tone for his pilgrimage as a whole.
The promises that beckon Christian are those contained in the Bible. Later, he reads to a companion, Pliable, to encourage him to come along on his journey: “an endless kingdom […] crowns of glory […] no more crying, nor sorrow […],” alongside dazzling creatures and thousands of fellow souls. All these things “The Lord, the governor of the country, hath recorded […] in this book,” and if pilgrims trust what that “book” says, they will receive God’s promises for themselves.
Through embarking on his or her own pilgrimage to Heaven, the Christian becomes part of the Bible’s story. Early in his pilgrimage, while Christian is staying at the Palace Beautiful (a place where he is outfitted for the rest of his journey), he is shown the “rarities” housed there, including the genealogy of Jesus Christ, objects from biblical history, and more: “they read to him some of the worthy acts” of Christ’s followers: “how they had subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness […] stopped the mouths of lions […] waxed valiant in fight.” This is an allusion to the New Testament’s Epistle to the Hebrews, as many of Bunyan’s original readers would have recognized. Within the story, the allusion serves to place Christian within the same historical stream of valiant Christians as those biblical heroes—something to comfort and strengthen him as he undertakes the rest of his pilgrimage. It also serves to remind Christian readers that they, too, are part of a long history that extends from the first Bible stories until the present.
After Christian and Hopeful have died and are overlooking the nearby Celestial City (Heaven), the Shining Ones (angels) tell the pilgrims what they can expect as citizens of that City: “You are going now […] to the paradise of God, wherein you shall see the tree of life […] You are going now to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, and to the prophets […] In that place you must wear crowns of gold, and enjoy the perpetual sight […] of the Holy One[.]” Again, these are all biblical allusions which Bunyan’s original audience would have recognized. They are meant to give a rich, inviting portrait of a future life in which Christians enjoy full citizenship in Heaven, the realm inhabited by the heroes of the Bible and its central figure, Christ. The Bible, then, both fuels the Christian journey and images its final destination.
The Bible isn’t the only source of strength and comfort provided to pilgrims—for example, fellow pilgrims’ companionship is emphasized in Pilgrim’s Progress, as well as the simple, physical rest and refreshment that God sometimes provides to the weary. However, the Bible is certainly the consummate source of strength and comfort, and the one every Christian is urged to rely on without fail.
Related Themes from Other Texts
The Centrality of the Bible ThemeTracker
The Centrality of the Bible Quotes in The Pilgrim’s Progress
The Prophets used much by Metaphors
To set forth Truth; yea, whoso 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 Stile 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 turns our darkest nights to days.
Then [Evangelist] gave him a Parchment-roll, and there was written within, Fly from the wrath to come.
The Man therefore read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, Whither must I fly? Then said Evangelist, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, Do you see yonder Wicket-gate? The Man said, No. Then said the other, Do you see yonder shining Light? He said, I think I do. Then said Evangelist, Keep that Light in your eye, and go up directly thereto: so shalt thou see the Gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do.
So in the morning they all got up, and after some more discourse, they told him that he should not depart till they had shewed him the Rarities of that place […] Then they read to him some of the worthy Acts that some of his servants had done: as, how they had subdued Kingdoms, wrought Righteousness, obtained Promises, stopped the mouths of Lions, quenched the violence of Fire, escaped the edge of the Sword; [and] out of weakness were made strong[.]
Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his Sword, and caught it, saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine Enemy! When I fall I shall arise; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound: Christian, perceiving that, made at him again, saying, Nay, in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us. And with that Apollyon spread forth his Dragon's wings, and sped him away, that Christian for a season saw him no more.
[H]e said it was a pitiful low sneaking business for a man to mind Religion; he said that a tender conscience was an unmanly thing; and that for a man to watch over his words and ways, so as to tie up himself from that hectoring liberty that the brave spirits of the times accustom themselves unto, would make him the ridicule of the times. He objected also, that but few of the Mighty, Rich, or Wise, were ever of my opinion […] But at last I began to consider […] this Shame tells me what men are; but it tells me nothing what God or the Word of God is.
One day I was very sad […] and this sadness was through a fresh sight of the greatness and vileness of my sins: and as I was then looking for nothing but Hell, and the everlasting damnation of my Soul, suddenly as I thought, I saw the Lord Jesus look down from Heaven upon me, and saying, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. […] And then I saw from that saying, He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst, that believing and coming was all one; and that he that came […] ran out in his heart and affections after salvation by Christ, he indeed believed in Christ.
They then addressed themselves to the Water; and entring, Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, I sink in deep Waters; the Billows go over my head, all his Waves go over me[.]
Then said the other, Be of good cheer my Brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good. […] These troubles and distresses that you go through in these Waters are no sign that God hath forsaken you, but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses.
The men then asked, What must we do in the holy place? To whom it was answered, You must there receive the comfort 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 must wear Crowns of Gold, and 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, with shouting, and thanksgiving, whom you desired to serve in the World, though with much difficulty, because of the infirmity of your flesh.
Then said Mercy, I think I am as well in this Valley as I have been anywhere else in all our Journey, the place methinks suits with my spirit. I love to be in such places where there is no rattling with Coaches, nor rumbling with Wheels. Methinks here one may without much molestation, be thinking what he is, whence he came, what he has done, and to what the King has called him. Here one may think, and break at heart, and melt in one's spirit, until one's eyes become like the Fishpools of Heshbon.
I will say again, that when the Saviour was come, Women rejoiced in him before either Man or Angel. I read not, that ever any Man did give unto Christ so much as one Groat, but the Women followed him and ministered to him of their Substance. 'Twas a Woman that washed his Feet with Tears, and a Woman that anointed his Body to the Burial. They were Women that wept when he was going to the Cross, and Women that followed him from the Cross, and that sat by his Sepulchre when he was buried. They were Women that was first with him at his Resurrection-morn, and Women that brought tiding first to his Disciples that he was risen from the Dead. Women therefore are highly favoured, and shew by these things that they are sharers with us in the Grace of Life.
