Part II Prediciton and Closing

I predict Part II of the Pilgrim's Progress will follow the journey of Christian wife and Children due the hint given at the end of the book the his family has been invited to the Celestial City.

All in all this book was a great way for me to realize my faith. In conclusion I leave you with this quote "We are all on the same journey, are you on the right path".

Author's Conclusion to Pilgrim's Progress Part 1

In the conclusion, the narrator says that he has told his dream and invites the reader to interpret it. Though he warns of the dangers of interpreting his dream wrongly, the narrator also cautions against playing around with the obvious surface content of the tale, being entertained by it rather than instructed. He says that, just as no one throws away an apple to save the core, so too must no one throw away the essence of his story to save its inessential parts.

Seeing the King of Glory/Success/Enter the Celestial City (Stage 10)

Hopeful knows of the man. Christian says that Temporary’s resolve only lasted a short time, until he met someone named Saveself and stopped talking to Christian. Temporary’s example leads Hopeful to ask that they discuss the causes of spiritual backsliding in general. Hopeful explains that fear, shame, and guilt are all causes for the devout to lose sight of their salvation. He lists some key symptoms of backsliders, including the abandonment of duties, association with loose people, and the shunning of Christian friends.

Christian and Hopeful are told they face more difficulties. Two of the three Shining Ones encourage them onward. Hopeful urges him on, but Christian tells him to go on without him. Then Hopeful mentions Jesus Christ, who wishes Christian well. The vision of Christ gives Christian new hope, and they emerge from the river.

The Shining Ones lead them up to the gate of the City on a tall hill, where trumpeters greet them. Christian and Hopeful realize they have lost their mortal garments in the river. The Shining Ones beseech the king of the City to open the gate. The king announces that anyone who keeps God’s truth may enter and commands that the gate open for Christian and Hopeful. After watching Christian and Hopeful enter through the gate, the narrator wishes he were with them.

Christian

Christian is the central character of the book and the hero of the pilgrimage. Because Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress as an allegory rather than a novel, Christian is not represented as particularly complicated or conflicted and has a simple personality. Christian represents just one profound aspect of the human experience: the search for religious truth. He is his faith (hence his name). Christian’s motivation, the search for salvation in the Celestial City, clearly defines him. Christian is deeply goal oriented. Because reaching the Celestial City has a life-or-death urgency for him, he has little time or energy for lesser matters. Even his family shrinks nearly to insignificance in his mind as soon as he leaves for his journey. He never mentions his wife or children to his travel companions. At the Palace Beautiful, he shows some emotion when one of the four mistresses of the house inquires about his family, but he does not bring up the subject himself, nor does he return to it later. This does not mean Christian lacks feeling but only that the goal of salvation far outweighs any earthly concerns a pilgrim has.

So Close I Can Taste it(Stage 9)

The narrator resumes his dream and sees Christian and Hopeful go on into the Delectable Mountains toward the Celestial City. They meet Ignorance, a lively lad who accompanies them for a while. Ignorance goes through life hoping for the best. He believes a good life is enough to enter heaven and tells Christian and Hopeful that their path to the Celestial City is unnecessarily long and difficult. Christian tells Hopeful in a whisper that he considers Ignorance a fool. They outpace Ignorance and leave him when they turn into a dark alley full of devils.

Christian recalls him as an old acquaintance named Little-Faith and tells Hopeful his story. Little-Faith was traveling with his birthright, a precious jewel, as well as some money. Hopeful asks why Little-Faith did not pawn his jewel for travel money. Christian reproaches him for foolishness, explaining that no believer can sell his faith for material comfort.

Christian and Hopeful follow Flatterer, a deceitful man in a white robe who speaks beautifully but ensnares them in a net. Atheist claims not to have found the Celestial City in twenty years of searching. Traveling onward, Christian and Hopeful discuss sin at great length. On the Enchanted Ground they fight off dangerous sleep. Christian asserts that salvation comes through revelation, not through a good life alone. They also discuss reasons for backsliding among the devout. Ignorance insults revelation, calling it nonsense and affirming that a natural faith in God is enough to sustain a believer. Ignorance says he cannot walk as fast as Christian and Hopeful and falls behind.

Stage 8

In stage eight, Christian and Hopeful reach the Delectable Mountains on the outskirts of the Celestial City. They bathe and eat in the gardens and orchards that they discover in the foothills of the mountains, which belong to the Lord Emmanuel. They meet some kind shepherds who welcome them and say that the lord gave them the charge of offering protection to good pilgrims. The shepherds invite them to sleep.

The next morning the shepherds warn Christian and Hopeful of the nearby hills called Error and Caution, which lead some travelers to disaster. The remains of pilgrims, who have made false assumptions about the nature of resurrection, litter the ground beneath Error. Similarly, on the hill of Caution, blind travelers wander among tombs and get stuck there. Both these views show Christian and Hopeful what to avoid. They ask how the blind pilgrims came to wander among the tombs. The shepherds inform them that they tried to take a shortcut to the Mountains, which led instead to the Doubting Castle, where Giant Despair imprisoned them, put out their eyes, and left them to wander on the grounds of his estate.

The shepherds allow Christian and Hopeful to look through a telescope at the Celestial City. Christian and Hopeful tremble with so much excitement that they can hardly see through the glass. The shepherds bid them farewell, give them directions to the Delectable Mountains, and warn them not to sleep on the Enchanted Ground and to beware of someone named Flatterer. The narrator wakes up from his dream.

In the Dungeon of Despair (Stage 7)

Moving onward in stage 7, they follow a man who says he knows a shortcut to the Celestial City. They realize it is not a shortcut after they fall into a pit. A storm rises, and they nearly drown when the rain floods their hole. When the rains abate, they come out and continue on. They find shelter near the Doubting Castle owned by the Giant Despair, where they sleep. The giant wakes them and says they must be punished for trespassing. His wife, Diffidence, encourages the harshest punishments. They are imprisoned and beaten and contemplate suicide, finally deciding against it as a sin. Christian remembers he has a key called Promise that will open any door in Despair’s castle. Christian and Hopeful escape and mount a sign warning future travelers away from Despair.

Stage 6

Christian continues his journey joined by a new ally, Hopeful, and a stranger named By-ends, who sees religion as a way of getting ahead in the world. Christian refuses to let By-ends accompany them unless he affirms that poverty is an aspect of faith. By-ends is turned away and joins other religious fortune hunters, who are stunned when Christian denounces them. Christian and Hopeful enter the plain of Ease, where a gentlemanly figure named Demas entices them with buried silver and dreams of wealth. They spurn him, telling him they will not be nudged from their course by riches. On their way, they notice the pillar that once was Lot’s wife who made the mistake of looking back at what she had left behind on her own path to salvation. Christian and Hopeful vow not to make the same mistake themselves.