{"id":1866,"date":"2021-03-26T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T10:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2021-03-25T21:16:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T01:16:23","slug":"stirrings-of-grace-in-a-time-of-sorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/stirrings-of-grace-in-a-time-of-sorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirrings of Grace in a Time of Sorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Christiana's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This Christiana\u00a0(for that was her name from the day that she, with her children, betook themselves to a pilgrim’s life), after her husband was gone over the river, and she could hear of him no more, her thoughts began to work in her mind.<\/p>

First, for that she had lost her husband, and for that the loving bond of that relation was utterly broken between them; for you know, said he to me, nature can do no less but entertain the living with many a heavy cogitation in the remembrance of the loss of loving relations.\u00a0<\/p>

This, therefore, of her husband did cost her many a tear. But this was not all; for Christiana did also begin to consider with herself, whether her unbecoming behavior towards her husband was not one cause that she saw him no more, and that in such sort he was taken away from her.\u00a0<\/p>

And upon this, came into her mind by swarms, all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly carriages to her dear friend, which also clogged her conscience, and did load her with guilt.\u00a0<\/p>

She was, moreover, much broken with calling to remembrance the restless groans, brinish tears, and self-bemoanings of her husband; and how she did harden her heart against all his entreaties and loving persuasions, of her and her sons, to go with him; yea, there was not anything that Christian either said to her, or did before her, all the while that his burden did hang on his back, but it returned upon her like a flash of lightning, and rent her heart in sunder. Specially, that bitter outcry of his, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ did ring in her ears most dolefully.<\/p>

Then said she to her children, \u201cSons, we are all undone. I have sinned away your father, and he is gone; he would have had us with him, but I would not go myself. I also have hindered you of life.\u201d With that the boys fell all into tears, and cried out to go after their father. \u201cOh,\u201d said Christiana, \u201cthat it had been but our lot to go with him; then had it fared well with us beyond what it is like to do now! For though I formerly foolishly imagined concerning the troubles of your father, that they proceeded of a foolish fancy that he had, or for that he was overrun with melancholy humors; yet now it will not out of my mind, but that they sprang from another cause, to wit, for that the Light of life was given him; by the help of which, as I perceive, he has escaped the snares of death.\u201d<\/p>

Then they all wept again, and cried out, \u201cOh, woe worth the day!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Notes and Commentary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Sagacity\u2019s account of Christiana\u2019s story begins with a salient turn of fortune. In Part 1 of The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em>, when Christian spoke of his wife and children, it was with a broken heart. At House Beautiful he shared with Charity<\/a> his attempts to convince his family to flee Destruction and go with him on his journey. But, he lamented, \u201cmy wife was afraid of losing this world, and my children were given to the foolish delights of youth.\u201d Now, following Christian\u2019s death, as Christiana remembers her husband, it is likewise with a broken heart. Though she \u201cdid harden her heart against all his entreaties and loving persuasions,\u201d all that he did and said has \u201creturned upon her like a flash of lightning, and rent her heart in sunder [i.e. laid bare her heart].\u201d She had refused to leave the City of Destruction, yet now she betakes (commits) to embark on a \u201cpilgrim\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading Notes and Commentary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text for The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/em><\/strong>
and images used are public domain<\/strong>
Notes and Commentary for Part II \u00a92014, 2021 Ken Puls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from\u00a0
the New King James Version (NKJV)\u00a0\u00a91982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress Part 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress Main Page<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Christiana\u00a0(for that was her name from the day that she, with her children, betook themselves to a pilgrim’s life), after her husband was gone over the river, and she could hear of him no more, her thoughts began to work in her mind. First, for that she had lost her husband, and for that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[183,12,283,11,284,45,117,179],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-guilt","tag-john-bunyan","tag-lament","tag-pilgrims-progress","tag-regret","tag-repentance","tag-saving-grace","tag-sorrow"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-u6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1868,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions\/1868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}