Pilgrim's progress - Bunyan - IV

Required reading
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Up to the paragraph that begins: 'So I saw in my dream that he made haste and went forward, that if possible he might get lodging there.  Now before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off of the porter's lodge, and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he espied two lions in the way.'

My notes and thoughts
Firstly we see the wonderful moment where Christian loses his burden at the foot of the cross.  Good reflection from Bunyan: 'Then he stood still a while to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden.'  It is too easy to forget how remarkable it is that the cross is God's plan of salvation.

Next Christian meets three men who are fast asleep and therefore prone to danger, Simple, Sloth and Presumption.  Three sins definitely worth avoiding.

Then Christian meets Formalist and Hypocrisy who climb in over the wall rather than come through the gate.  They believe it is within the law because 'They told him that custom, it being of so long a standing as above a thousand years, would doubtless now be admitted as a thing legal, by any impartial judge.'  Just because people have been doing the wrong thing for a long time doesn't make it right!

Finally we see Christian climb the hill called Difficulty.  While sleeping he loses his scroll which is his 'assurance of his life, and acceptance at the desired haven' and the Penguin edition footnote informs us is his 'personal assurance of election from God'.  Christian travels for a while without the roll and meets two men, Timorous and Mistrust fleeing from lions up ahead.  Christian pushes on because 'to go back is nothing but death, to go forward is fear of death and life everlasting beyond it.'  After this Christian realises his loss of the roll and heads back to find it.  Upon discovering the roll again, 'oh how nimbly now did he go up the rest of the Hill!'  So true - having assurance can move Christians along at great speed.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.