When it all seems hopeless

After resisting the temptation of the mine, there is rest and refreshment. And vulnerability. It is a strange spiritual dynamic that after spiritual ‘success’ we are peculiarly vulnerable to temptation. Our confidence can be found in our sense of progress, rather than in God. Christian, who by Lucre Hill was adamant that he wouldn’t set foot off the path, is here seduced to climb the style into By-Path Meadow. Anything that seems to make the Path of Pilgrimage a little easier! And it seems to … for a while. Just long enough to lure them far enough away from the Way.

We know the Pilgrims are in trouble as soon as they meet Vain-Confidence, a ‘vain-glorious fool’ who is introduced briefly before his fall (Prov.6:18). It only takes Christian and Hopeful till nightfall to realise they are waylaid. In a tender exchange we are shown the importance and means of maintaining fellowship: Christian’s quick repentance for leading them out of the Way, and Hopeful’s quick forgiveness. Equally quickly they resolve to go back, but the damage is done. ‘It was so dark, and the flood was so high, that in their going back they had like to have been drowned nine or ten times’. Giving up, they fall asleep, awaking the following morning to realise they are trespassers on the grounds of Giant Despair, and to be forced by him into the dungeons of Doubting Castle. That the giant’s wife is called Diffidence, belies Bunyan’s pastoral wisdom: Mistrust, lack of confidence, doubt of the ability of others (or Other).

We can struggle with this portrayal of Doubt, and its being equated with leaving the Path. It’s important to realise what Bunyan is in fact teaching here. Doubt is a complex spiritual and psychological condition. I’ve explored it in a number of short videos made early in Lockdown, which can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mie+vicar+doubt

But Bunyan isn’t trying to offer a full account of doubt, nor is he suggesting that all questioning of faith and experience is sinful. He has the far more modest goal of conveying the common experience that there is a kind of Doubt that follows our wandering from the Way. Such is often accompanied by Despair, feeling that there is no way out, or back; and such as are assailed by it are equally often condemned by Diffidence. This isn’t a lack of self-assurance, it is the far more dangerous experience of doubting God’s goodness and power. It is a lack of faith that is the issue here.

Hopeful’s lament is reminiscent of the Psalms, and also of the internal dialogue of any Pilgrim who has languished in Doubting Castle: ‘our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide’. Dark words from one called Hopeful as Christian even contemplates suicide in the dungeon! Such might sound extreme, perhaps even a touch melodramatic, to any who have not endured such spiritual depression. But it is all Hopeful can do to remain, well, hopeful. The fact that he is able to do so is a colossal act of spiritual discipline. He reminds Christian of who God is, what God has commanded, and that they must resist Despair, as they have resisted other temptations and spiritual dangers they have faced. He calls them to patience in endurance (Rom.12:12). But the Pilgrims don’t find immediate relief. Hopeful’s discourse, for all its good, doesn’t provide them a way out, though it did ‘moderate the mind of his brother; so they continued together in the dark that day, in their sad and doleful condition’.

Bunyan’s portrait of spiritual depression is able to be so vivid, because he is drawing again on his own experience. In ‘Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners’ he recounts one such episode (Para.261):

At another time, though just before I was pretty well and savory in my spirit, yet suddenly there fell upon me a great cloud of darkness, which did so hide from me the things of God and Christ, that I was as if I had never seen or known them in my life; I was also so overrun in my soul, with a senseless, heartless frame of spirit, that I could not feel my soul to move or stir after grace and life by Christ; I was as if my loins were broken, or as if my hands and feet had been tied or bound with chains. At this time also I felt some weakness to seize 'upon' my outward man, which made still the other affliction the more heavy and uncomfortable 'to me.

It is a depressing state of affairs in which to leave the Pilgrims. But it remains a valuable lesson to realise the depth of misery into which sin may lead… and the depths to which grace may reach.

Going Further?

Do periods of ‘backsliding’ from Christ’s call on your life lead you to despair, doubt and diffidence? What would you say to someone who could leave the path of discipleship without feeling such angst?

If this part of Pilgrim’s Progress describes your own experience, either in the past, or the present, you may want to work these matters through more deeply. I would recommend Martyn Lloyd Jones’ book, Spiritual Depression as a good starting place.

What's mine is mine

During September and October, we’ll be stepping into our next Jesus-Centred-Life term looking this time at Money, Possessions and Eternity. Bunyan raises the same issue as Hopeful and Christian pass within sight of the silver mine, dug into the hill, Lucre (meaning greedy for gain in money, profits or goods, often in an ill or dishonest sense). Their would-be guide is aptly named ‘Demas’ (II Tim.4:10), who claims there is no danger, ‘except to those who are careless’. Though Bunyan notes that ‘he blushed as spake’.

But for Hopeful and Christian to visit the mine, they would need to turn off the Path. Christian - perhaps still stung by the memory of Evangelist’s words after being persuaded to turn from the path by Mr. Worldy-Wiseman, counsels against it. By-ends and his fellowship, on the other hand, are happy to do so at the earliest opportunity. Their end wasn’t seen, but it was nonetheless real because of that.

We may feel Bunyan is a bit ‘strict’ in his portrayal of the silver mine. Placing it as he does off the Way, describing the ground as deceitful under them, depicting others as slain, maimed or enslaved. It hinders Pilgrims; and Demas - though he claims to be a Pilgrim who would join them if they would tarry a little - is lined up with Gehazi (II Kings 5:20), and Judas (Matt.26:14-15), both noted for their greed, and willingness to betray their Lord for personal gain. But Bunyan is unapologetic. Standing next to the path is a monument with the tag: Remember Lot’s wife. The warning is clear, for she had been turned into a pillar of salt (a symbol of judgement), ‘for her looking back with a covetous heart’.

This is the issue Bunyan is warning us about. Bunyan, and Christians generally (as we’ll see next term), are not advocates of asceticism, nor are they per se against money, or finance. They aren’t against well-run businesses that create profit. But with one voice we cry against the love of money, and the pursuit of it and all that it can buy, without regard to the effects on our discipleship, and the calling of God on our lives. Christ warns us that we cannot serve both God and money (Matt.6:24). A century before Bunyan published Pilgrim’s Progress, the vicar of Epping (Essex) Samuel Hieron, taught his congregation to pray:

‘Oh let not mine eyes be dazzled, nor my heart bewitched with the glory and sweetness of these worldly treasures … Draw my affection to the love of that durable riches, and to that fruit of heavenly wisdom which is better than gold, and the revenues whereof do surpass the silver, that my chief care may be to have a soul enriched and furnished with Thy grace’.

Another contemporary, William Perkins, wrote that ‘The end of man’s calling is not to gather riches for himself … but to serve God in the serving of man, and in the seeking the good of all men … They which have riches are to consider that God is not only the sovereign Lord, but the Lord of their riches, and that they themselves are but stewards of God, to employ and dispense them according to His will. Yea further, that they are to give an account unto Him, both for the having and the using of those riches, which they have and use’.

Within these parameters, money has always been seen as a blessing and a social good. The hill being mined by the Path is not called ‘Money’ but ‘Lucre’. And when the love of money takes root in our hearts, and gives birth to greed, selfishness, jealousy, pride and avarice, then we court spiritual death. This is Bunyan’s warning, and it is worth heeding yet. After all, it was Jesus who said: ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matt.6:21).

Questions to ponder:

How would I know if I loved money, and served it rather than God?

What would I do about it if I did?

When Jesus is a means to an end...

Those who are genuine Christians in a Church fellowship tend to find each other out. So do those who aren’t. Mr. By-end, now that Christian and Hopeful are keeping their distance, falls in with Mr. Hold-the-world, Mr. Money-love and Mr. Save-all. They struggle to understand why Christian and Hopeful can’t simply accept them and simply be glad they are on the Path at all. What gives them the right to be so judgemental, just because their ‘Christianity’ isn’t just the same. By-end laments: ‘the men before us are so rigid, and love so much their own opinions … that let a man be never so godly, yet if he jumps not with them in all things, they thrust him quite out of their company’. Thus they congratulate themselves on having a tolerance and open-mindedness that Christian and Hopeful clearly lack!

In one sense the problem with these gentlemen is not what they accept, but what they won’t reject. They won’t reject sin, the world or the devil. They think they can hold to the Way whilst not having to sacrifice, surrender or suffer. Their religion is comfortable, accommodating, inoffensive, easily slipped into the rest of their lives. It is very different from that of Jesus:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"

(Matthew 16:24–26)

No matter. By-ends and co. have long since justified their approach to themselves, and to anyone else who will listen. But their ‘allegiance’ to Christ is simply a kind of selfishness, serving their personal advantage and advancement. Going to Church is a good thing (or at least, not a bad thing) to do, and so long as religion serves their purpose, they will gladly walk His way, after a sort. ‘Jesus’ is domesticated, modified, brought to heel, so that it is comfortable, respectable and compatible with worldly gain and profit (it is, in fact, a ‘different Jesus’ they follow, II Cor.11:4). Yet so impressed are they with their approach to Christ and the Church that they can hardly wait to challenge Christian and Hopeful in their narrow-mindedness and extremism.

But Christian and Hopeful do something none of the others have done in this conversation. They turn to Scripture, showing that using Jesus for personal profit or gain is a sure road only to condemnation. From Genesis to Acts, those who have sought to use Christ and the Church for their own ends have faced only judgement and destruction. ‘The man who will take up religion for the world, will throw away religion for the world’. Their ‘faith’ is but a cover for greed and self-centredness. Christ will not be mocked… or used. All is to be brought to the service of Him and His cause. He will not be recruited to further our petty kingdoms and ambitions.

By-ends and his friends are stunned by Christian's response. They had sought to silence Christian and Hopeful with their argument, but in the end, it is they who are speechless. Christian warns that they will face a far greater rebuke in the coming judgement. They are ‘heathenish, hypocritical and devilish; and your reward will be according to your works’.

Christian and Hopeful stride ahead, whilst the other company stagger and fall behind. In the end the difference between true and false faith becomes apparent, and though they may sit in the same congregation, the gulf between them is eternal. For when the ‘Jesus’ we are following is a means to an end, it isn’t Jesus we are following.

Questions to ponder:

When have you seen people try and ‘use’ Christ and the Church for their own (worldly) benefit? How did the Church handle that? What did you think of it at the time? What do you think of it now?

Do you think Bunyan is being too judgemental in this section? Shouldn’t we welcome everyone at Church, irrespective of why they are there?

My Supreme weapon is dying

‘Thus came Faithful to his end’.

…which we might mis-interpret as a tragedy, a disastrous miscarriage of justice, a denial of Faithful’s basic human rights. It might well be, but Bunyan paints a different picture. Faithful is honoured by the Church, and taken to the Celestial City, where he is welcomed with trumpet blast, and in victory procession! Faithful’s death is not a defeat, but a triumph.

Let us listen again to Josef Tson as he addresses an interrogator who is struggling to understand his unwillingness to compromise:

‘Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, ‘I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it: he sealed it with his life.’ So, sir, my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.”

Later, Tson found out another officer said, “We know that Mr. Tson would love to be a martyr, but we are not that foolish to fulfil his wish.” Reflecting on this interaction years later in a sermon, Tson explained:

“I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement. I remembered how for many years, I had been afraid of dying. I had kept a low profile. Because I wanted badly to live, I had wasted my life in inactivity. But now that I had placed my life on the altar and decided I was ready to die for the gospel, they were telling me they would not kill me! I could go wherever I wanted in the country and preach whatever I wanted, knowing I was safe. As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it. Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it.”

This is the atmosphere surrounding Faithful’s death. He has found life! This is what lay behind his courageous witness prior to and during his trial; it is what lay behind his willing surrender to death; it is what lay behind the Lord’s honouring of him.

Bunyan reminds us at this key moment that the Lord overrules all things, and held in His own hand ‘the power of their rage’. This is the only explanation he gives for why Faithful is martyred, while Christian is' granted some respite (see Acts 12:1-7). But this is not all he would have us learn.

What else should we take away from this chapter? Comfort. Even if our suffering and death comes in ways that seem unexpected, tragic, painful, unjust or cruel, we can trust that God remains sovereign, that He will clasp us to Himself, and that He will bring us home. ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’ (Ps.116:15).

This is nothing more than the realisation of Jesus’ double promise concerning His sheep: ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand’. Both the Father and the Son hold us, and not even suffering and death can cause Him to loosen His grip.

For a Christian with their eyes fixed on the New Creation, their hearts rooted in the Heavenly City, and their minds shaped by the hope of the Gospel, death is gain. As Paul famously puts it: I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil.1:20-21). Even when confronted with injustice and death, we are ‘more than conquerors’ (Rom.8:37). These are not simply defeated foes, but they are additionally brought to serve us in our pursuit of Christ.

After all, ‘we live by faith, not by sight’. And wouldn’t we, like Paul, actually ‘prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord’ (II Cor.5:7-8)?

Quesitons to ponder:
How have the last few days refelctions recast how you think about your relationship with others?

What difference does it make when you realise that God is sovereign voer your suffering?

When it's not your fault...

The trial of Faithful and Christian is one of the most graphic episodes in Pilgrim’s Progress. We are introduced to a range of new characters: Lord Hate-Good, Envy, Superstition, Pickthank, and a jury so stacked against the cause of Christ and the good of the Church that there can be no doubt as to the verdict that will be returned to the Court. Again, part of Bunyan’s purpose is to underline that consistent reality that the world hates Christ and His Church without cause (Ps.35, 38:19, 109:3, 119:86, John 15:25 etc.). This is bizarrely comforting if for no other reason than when we speak of and live for Christ, and incur the displeasure, hatred or anger of others, we can often turn inward, wondering what we did wrong, or perhaps what we didn’t do right. Painting the Judge, Witnesses and Jury in such vibrant colours helps us to see that the reason can lie not in us, but in those who pit themselves against the Gospel.

It is worth noting in passing that not everyone in Vanity Fair stands so implacably against the Pilgrims, nor are they so determined to engineer their demise. But enough are, and few enough are willing to seek to prevent it. Yet ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’. When our testimony to Christ is sealed with tears and blood, our evangelism resonates with the chords of creation, and people are saved. Later, as Christian leaves the Fair with Hopeful (one such convert), we are told ‘there were many more of the men in the Fair who would take their time and follw after’.

The Pilgrims are accused of being enemies of the Fair’s trade, causing commotion and division, and winning ‘a party to their own most dangerous opinions’. In a sense they can only plead guilty! The first witness, Envy simply reiterates that they were evangelistically zealous, and that they had declared that ‘Christianity and the customs of our town of Vanity, were diametrically opposite, and could not be reconciled’. Again, there is little the Pilgrims could dispute, but Bunyan’s point is that persecution can be motivated by Envy. He draws this from the Scriptures where we see the Pharisees treatment of Jesus, and then later the Apostles being driven by their resentment of growing impact and popularity (see e.g. Matt.27:17-18, Acts 13:44-45, Phil.1:15-18). No matter how sophisticated the charges brought against the Church, they are often a cover for more base motives. In Acts we see that fear of losing profit is enough to instigate a riot against visiting preachers (Acts 9:23f)!

Superstiton is the most dangerous of the witnesses, and perhaps the one drawn most acutely from Bunyan’s own experience. He has in mind the clerics of the ‘official’ religion, who can often be amongst the most vicious persecutors. We need to be careful here for the reality on the ground is often complex and varied, but in many contexts where the Church is persecuted, there is an ‘official’, institutional ‘Church’ that is nominal, liberal, puppet to the state, and compliant with the dominating culture and political opinions and dynamics of the day. Again, we need to take great care against sweeping generalisations, for there are often many genuine Christians in such denominations, but Bunyan’s point is that the denominational structures can often be brought to the service of persecuting believers. That was his own experience, with Anglican Bishops of the day at the forefront of Bunyan’s own mistreatment. There is nothing like the preaching of the true Gospel to invoke the hatred and hostility of pretenders, even when by his own confession ‘I have no great acquaintance with this man, nor do i desire to have any further knowledge of him'.

The third witness, Pickthank, is the most obscure to us. It’s an archaic word that speaks of someone who will do whatever it takes to curry favour with those he perceives to be in power. He isn’t driven by any personal offence taken, but he knows that the nobility of the town are feeling threatened, and so adds his voice to the prosecution in the hope of winning their appreciation, acknowledgement and acclaim. He will ‘pick’ on the pilgrims to gain the ‘thanks’ of the nobility.

Faithful’s defense comes down to a restatement of the Gospel, and a re-commiting of himself to the mercy of God. There is no question of justice being done, and the Judge instructs the jury that Faithful’s crime is apparent, that by his own mouth he has confessed to treason and that he deserves to die. There is of course, the judge continues, legal precedent, for the world has persecuted the Church to death since the days of ‘Pharaoh the Great, servant to our prince’.

The Jury’s verdict is a foregone conclusion, and Faithful is ‘presently condemned, to be had from the place he was, to the place from whence he came, and there to be put to the most cruel death that could be invented’.

‘Thus came Faithful to his end’.

Which we might mis-interpret as a tragedy, a disastrous miscarriage of justice, a denial of Faithful’s basic human rights. But as we’ll see tomorrow, Bunyan paints a different picture.

Questions to ponder:

What mistakes could the Church / Christians make in seeking to avoid persecution? Do you see those mistakes being made today?

Do you think that the British Church’s unwillingness to suffer, and her lack of evangelistic effectiveness are linked?