The Pilgrim's Progress Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Paragraph (P#) or Line (Line #)

Quote #4

"… you are not yet out of the gun-shot of the Devil: you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin: let the Kingdom be always before you, and believe steadfastly concerning things that are invisible… and be sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold, with blood." (P462, 464)

Evangelist here warns Christian and Faithful about the coming trial of their faith at Vanity Fair. This specific necessity of resisting sin "unto blood" speaks to the very real, mortal danger that earnestly living in the Christian faith can bring. Unlike the trial of passing chained lions, this danger is real and proven in a very real way—with Faithful's execution.

Quote #5

Then were these two poor men brought before the examiners again, and there charged as being guilty of the late hubbub that had been in the Fair. So they beat them pitifully, and hanged irons upon them, and led them in chains up and down the Fair, for an example and a terror to others, lest any should further speak in their behalf, or join themselves unto them. But Christian and Faithful behaved themselves yet more wisely, and received the ignominy and shame that was cast upon them with so much meekness and patience, that it won to their side (though but few in comparison of the rest) several of the men of the Fair. (P478)

This is a great example of the good that Bunyan shows coming from suffering. While the pilgrims' arrest and punishment is clearly ridiculous and unjust, the way they peacefully endure it grabs the attention of some of the people watching. Their calmness in the face of suffering is a testament to their focus on something higher. You might think of similar instances of this with nonviolent protest. Men like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were largely successful because they showed a commitment to something bigger than themselves, something more noble than violence.

Quote #6

They therefore brought him out, to do with him according to their law; and first they scourged him, then they buffeted him, then they lanced his flesh with knives; after that, they stoned him with stones, then pricked him with their swords; and last of all, they burned him to ashes at the stake. Thus came Faithful to his end. Now I saw, that there stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple of horses waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had dispatched him) was taken up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds with sound of trumpet, the nearest way to the celestial gate. (P500)

This quote describes the execution of Faithful at Vanity Fair. The diction Bunyan uses is heavily borrowed from gospel accounts of Christ's crucifixion. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus is "scourged," (27:26); in Mark's, he is spat on (15:19). The "swords" echo the spear that was lodged in Jesus's side; and doing with Faithful "according to their law" comes directly from numerous places in Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles. References like this wouldn't have been lost on anyone back in the day.