Opposition – Ken Puls Music Blog

When the song and music were ended, the Interpreter asked Christiana what it was that at first did move her to commit herself to a pilgrim’s life?

Christiana answered, “First the loss of my husband came into my mind, at which I was heartily grieved; but all that was but natural affection. Then, after that, came the troubles and pilgrimage of my husband into my mind; and also how like a churl I had carried it to him as to that. So guilt took hold of my mind, and would have drawn me into the pond; but that opportunely I had a dream of the wellbeing of my husband, and a letter sent me by the King of that country where my husband dwells, to come to him. The dream and the letter together so wrought upon my mind, that they forced me to this way.”

Interpreter: But met you with no opposition afore you set out of doors?

Christiana: Yes; a neighbor of mine, one Mrs. Timorous (she was akin to him that would have persuaded my husband to go back for fear of the lions). She all-to-befooled me for—as she called it—my intended desperate adventure. She also urged what she could to dishearten me to it, —the hardship and troubles that my husband met with in the way, but all this I got over pretty well. But a dream that I had, of two ill looking ones, that I thought did plot how to make me miscarry in my journey, that hath troubled me much; yea, it still runs in my mind, and makes me afraid of everyone that I meet, lest they should meet me to do me a mischief, and to turn me out of the way. Yea, I may tell my lord, though I would not have everybody know it, that between this and the gate by which we got into the way, we were both so sorely assaulted, that we were made to cry out “murder.” And the two that made this assault upon us were like the two that I saw in my dream.

Interpreter: Then said the Interpreter, “Your beginning is good; your latter end shall greatly increase.”

Notes and Commentary

After supper, the Interpreter asks Christiana two significant questions. First he asks what caused her to become a pilgrim. Why did she finally relent concerning her decision to remain in Destruction and embark on a journey to the Celestial City? Did she consider her circumstances and come to a reasonable conclusion? Was she compelled by shame to do the right thing? Was she overcome with sorrow and moved by passion? What was it that caused her to change?

Continue Reading Notes and Commentary

The text for The Pilgrim’s Progress is public domain.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from
the New King James Version (NKJV) ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress Part 2

So at last he came down to them again; and Mercy fell to the ground on her face before him, and worshipped, and said, “Let my Lord accept of the sacrifice of praise which I now offer unto him with the calves of my lips.”
So he said unto her, “Peace be to thee: stand up.”
But she continued upon her face and said, “You are Righteous, O Lord, when I plead with You; yet let me talk with You of Your judgments: why do You keep so cruel a dog in Your yard, at the sight of which such women and children as we are ready to fly from Your gate for fear?”
He answered, and said, “That dog has another owner; he also is kept close in another man’s ground, only my pilgrims hear his barking. He belongs to the castle which you see there at a distance, but can come up to the walls of this place. He has frightened many an honest pilgrim from worse to better by the great voice of his roaring. Indeed, he that owns him does not keep him of any good will to Me or mine; but with intent to keep the pilgrims from coming to Me, and that they may be afraid to knock at this gate for entrance. Sometimes also he has broken out, and has worried some that I love; but I take all at present patiently. I also give my pilgrims timely help; so that they are not delivered up to his power, to do to them what his doggish nature would prompt him to. But what! My purchased one, I trow, had you known never so much beforehand, you wouldst not have been afraid of a dog. The beggars that go from door to door will, rather than they will lose a supposed alms, run the hazard of the bawling, barking, and biting too, of a dog; and shall a dog, a dog in another man’s yard, a dog whose barking I turn to the profit of pilgrims, keep any from coming to Me? I deliver them from the lions, their darling from the power of the dog.”
Then said Mercy, “I confess my ignorance; I spoke what I did not understand: I acknowledge that You do all things well.”
Then Christiana began to talk of their journey, and to inquire after the way. So he fed them, and washed their feet; and set them in the way of his steps, according as he had dealt with her husband before.

Notes and Commentary

The pilgrims are relieved and grateful that they have gained entrance to the Gate. But Mercy is perplexed. She remembers her distress and the peril that caused her to faint just outside the Gate and she cannot make sense of what she experienced. The Wicket Gate is a place of hope and refuge for needy pilgrims. How then can it also be a place of such danger and trepidation? She is intent on seeking an answer from the Gate Keeper.

Continue Reading Notes and Commentary

The text for The Pilgrim’s Progress and images used are public domain.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from
the New King James Version (NKJV) ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress Part 2

Tag: Opposition

Christiana’s Testimony

The Power of the Dog

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