THE
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
Part
II
Section
3
Accompanied
by Great-Heart - the Cross - justified by Christ - Sloth and his companions
hung - the hill Difficulty
- the Arbour
ACCOMPANIED
BY GREAT-HEART
The
INTERPRETER then called
for a manservant of his, one GREAT-HEART, and bade him take sword, and
helmet, and shield. "And take these my daughters," said he,
"and conduct them to the house called Beautiful, at which place they
will rest next." So he took his weapons, and went before them; and the
INTERPRETER said, "God speed!" Those also that belonged to the
family sent them away with many a good wish; so they went on their way, and
sung:
"This place has been our second stage:
Here we have heard and seen
Those good things that, from age to age,
To others hid have been.
The Dunghill raker, Spider, Hen,
The Chicken, too, to me
Hath taught a lesson: let me then
Conformed to it be.
The Butcher, Garden, and the Field,
The Robin, and his bait--
Also the Rotten Tree--doth yield
Me argument of weight:
To move me for to watch and pray;
To strive to be sincere;
To take my cross up day by day,
And serve the Lord with fear."
Righteousness
Now I saw in my dream, that they went on, and GREAT-HEART went before
them; so they went and came to the place where CHRISTIAN'S burden fell off
his back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, they made a pause; and
here also they blessed God. "Now," said CHRISTIANA, "it comes
to my mind what was said to us at the gate; to wit, that we should have
pardon by word and deed: by word, that is, by the promise; by deed, to wit,
in the way it was obtained. What the promise is, of that I know something;
but what is it to have pardon by deed, or in the way that it was obtained?
Mr. GREAT-HEART, I suppose you know? wherefore, if you please, let us hear
your discourse thereof."
Great-heart.
Pardon by the deed done is pardon obtained by some one for another that hath
need thereof; not by the person pardoned, but in the way, saith another, in
which I have obtained it. So, then, to speak to the question more largely,
the pardon that you and MERCY and these boys have attained was obtained by
another: to wit, by him that let you in at the gate. And he hath obtained it
in this double way: he has performed righteousness to cover you; and spilt
blood to wash you in.
Chris.
But if he parts with his righteousness to us, what will he have for himself?
Great-heart.
He has more righteousness than you have need of, or than he needs himself.
Chris. Pray make that appear.
Great-heart.
With all my heart; but first I must premise that he of whom we are now about
to speak is one that has not his fellow. He has two natures in one
person--plain to be distinguished, impossible to be divided. Unto each of
these natures a righteousness belongs; and each righteousness is essential
to that nature. So that one may as easily cause the nature to be extinct, as
to separate its justice or righteousness from it. Of these righteousnesses,
therefore, we are not made partakers so as that they, or any of them, should
be put upon us that we might be made just, and live thereby. Besides these,
there is a righteousness which this Person has, as these two natures are
joined in one. And this is not the righteousness of the Godhead as
distinguished from the Manhood, nor the righteousness of the Manhood as
distinguished from the Godhead; but a righteousness which stands in the
union of both natures, and may properly be called the righteousness that is
essential to his being prepared of God to the capacity of the mediatory
office which he was to be intrusted with. If he parts with his first
righteousness, he parts with his Godhead; if he parts with his second
righteousness, he parts with the purity of his Manhood; if he parts with
this third, he parts with that perfection that capacitates him to the office
of mediation. He has, therefore, another righteousness which stands in
performance, or obedience to a revealed will: and that is it that he puts
upon sinners, and that by which their sins are covered. Wherefore he saith,
"As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of One shall many be made righteous".
"For
as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:19
Chris.
But are the other righteousnesses of no use to us?
Great-heart.
Yes; for though they are essential to his natures and office, and so cannot
be communicated unto another, yet it is by virtue of them that the
righteousness that justifies is, for that purpose, efficacious. The
righteousness of his Godhead gives virtue to his obedience; the
righteousness of his Manhood gives capability to his obedience to justify;
and the righteousness that stands in the union of these two natures to his
office, gives authority to that righteousness to do the work of which it is
ordained.
So
then, here is a righteousness that Christ, as God, had no need of, for he is
God without it; here is a righteousness that Christ, as man, has no need of
to make him so, for he is perfect man without it; again, here is a
righteousness that Christ, as God-man, has no need of, for he is perfectly
so without it. Here, then, is a righteousness that Christ, as God, as man,
as God-man, has no need of with reference to himself; and therefore he can
spare it,--a justifying righteousness, that he, for himself, wants not, and
therefore he gives it away. Hence 'tis called "The gift of
righteousness".
"For
if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by
one, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:17
This
righteousness, since Christ Jesus the Lord was made himself under the law,
must be given away; for the law doth not only bind him that is under it to
do justly, but to use charity: wherefore he must--he ought by the law--if he
hath two coats, to give one to him that hath none. Now our Lord indeed hath
two coats, one for himself and one to spare; wherefore he freely bestows one
upon those that have none. And thus, CHRISTIANA, and MERCY, and the rest of
you that are here, doth your pardon come by deed, or by the work of another
man. Your Lord Christ is he that has worked, and has given away what he
wrought for to the next poor beggar he meets.
But
again, in order to pardon by deed, there must something be paid to God as a
price, as well as something prepared to cover us withal. Sin has delivered
us up to the just curse of a righteous law. Now from this curse we must be
justified by way of redemption, a price being paid for the harms we have
done; and this is by the blood of your Lord, who came and stood in your
place and stead, and died your death for your transgressions.
"But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead;" Romans 4:24
Thus
has he ransomed you from your transgressions by blood, and covered your
polluted and deformed souls with righteousness. For the sake of which God
passes by you, and will not hurt you, when he comes to judge the world.
"Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for
it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
Galatians 3:13
Chris.
This is brave. Now I see that there was something to be learnt by our being
pardoned by word and deed. Good MERCY, let us labour to keep this in mind;
and, my children, do you remember it also. But, Sir, was not this it that
made my good CHRISTIAN'S burden fall from off his shoulder, and that made
him give three leaps for joy?
Great-heart. Yes, 'twas the belief of this that cut those strings
that could not be cut by other means; and 'twas to give him a proof of the
virtue of this that he was suffered to carry his burden to the cross.
Chris.
I thought so; for though my heart was lightsome and joyous before, yet it is
ten times more lightsome and joyous now. And I am persuaded by what I have
felt, though I have felt but little as yet, that if the most burdened man in
the world were here, and did see and believe as I now do, 'twould make his
heart the more merry and blithe.
Great-heart.
There is not only comfort and ease of a burden brought to us by the sight
and consideration of these, but an endeared affection begot in us by it. For
who can, if he doth but once think that pardon comes--not only by promise,
but thus--but be affected with the way and means of his redemption, and so
with the Man that hath wrought it for him?
Chris.
True; methinks it makes my heart bleed to think that he should bleed for me.
O thou loving One! O thou blessed One! Thou deservest to have me; Thou hast
bought me. Thou deservest to have me all; Thou hast paid for me ten thousand
times more than I am worth. No marvel that this made the water stand in my
husband's eyes; and that it made him trudge so nimbly on. I am persuaded he
wished me with him; but, vile wretch that I was, I let him come all alone! O
MERCY, that thy father and mother were hear; yea, and Mrs. TIMOROUS also!
Nay, I wish now with all my heart that here was MADAM WANTON too. Surely,
surely their hearts would be affected; nor could the fear of the one, nor
the powerful lusts of the other, prevail with them to go home again, and to
refuse to become good pilgrims.
Great-heart.
You speak now in the warmth of your affections; will it, think you, be
always thus with you? Besides, this is not communicated to everyone; nor to
everyone that did see your Jesus bleed. There were that stood by, and that
saw the blood run from his heart to the ground: and yet were so far off
this, that instead of lamenting, they laughed at him; and instead of
becoming his disciples, did harden their hearts against him. So that all
that you have, my daughters, you have by a peculiar impression made by a
divine contemplating upon what I have spoken to you. Remember that 'twas
told you, that the hen, by her common call, gives no meat to her chickens:
this you have, therefore, by a special grace.
The End of Simple, Sloth and
Presumption
Now
I saw, still in my dream,
that they went on until they were come to the place that SIMPLE and SLOTH
and PRESUMPTION lay and slept in when CHRISTIAN went by on pilgrimage; and
behold, they were hanged up in irons a little way off on the other side.
Mercy.
Then said MERCY to him that was their guide and conductor, "What are
those three men? and for what are they hanged there?"
Great-heart.
These three men were men of very bad qualities: they had no minds to be
pilgrims themselves; and whomsoever they could they hindered. They were for
sloth and folly themselves; and whoever they could persuade they made so
too; and withal taught them to presume that they should do well at last.
They were asleep when CHRISTIAN went by; and now you go by, they are hanged.
Mercy.
But could they persuade any to be of their opinion?
Great-heart.
Yes, they turned several out of the way. There was SLOW-PACE that they
persuaded to do as they. They also prevailed with one SHORT-WIND; with one
NO-HEART; with one LINGER-AFTER-LUST; and with one SLEEPY-HEAD; and with a
young woman--her name was DULL--to turn out of the way and become as they.
Besides, they brought up an ill report of your Lord, persuading others that
he was a taskmaster. They also brought up an evil report of the good land,
saying 'twas not half so good as some pretend it was. They also began to
defame his servants, and to count the very best of them meddlesome,
troublesome busybodies: further, they would call the bread of God, husks:
the comforts of his children, fancies; the travel and labour of pilgrims,
things to no purpose.
Chris. "Nay," said CHRISTIANA, "if they were such,
they shall never be bewailed by me; they have but what they deserve, and I
think it is well that they hang so near the highway, that others may see and
take warning. But had it not been well if their crimes had been engraven in
some plate of iron or brass, and left here, even where they did their
mischiefs, for a caution to other bad men?
Great-heart.
So it is, as you well may perceive, if you will go a little to the wall.
Mercy.
No, no; let them hang, and their names rot, and their crimes live for ever
against them. I think it a high favour that they were hanged afore we came
hither: who knows else what they might have done to such poor women as we
are?
Then
she turned it into a song, saying:
"Now then, you three, hang there, and be a sign
To all that shall against the truth combine;
And let him that comes after fear this end,
If unto pilgrims he is not a friend.
And thou, my soul, of all such men beware,
That unto holiness opposers are."
The
Pilgrim's Progress - the lions
The
Pilgrim's Progress - Contents
