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THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

JOHN BUNYAN  


Section 7

Christian and Hopeful - By-ends and his companions - plain of Ease - Demas - Lot's wife - the River of Life - Vain-Confidence - Giant Despair - the Pilgrims beaten - the Dungeon - the Key of Promise


 

 

DEMAS

Then CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL, outwent them again, and went till they came at a delicate plain, called Ease, where they went with much content; but that plain was but narrow, so they were quickly got over it. Now at the further side of that plain was a little hill called Lucre, and in that hill a silver mine, which some of them that had formerly gone that way, because of the rarity of it, had turned aside to see; but going too near the brink of the pit, the ground being deceitful under them, broke, and they were slain; some also had been maimed there, and could not to their dying day be their own men again.

Then I saw in my dream, that a little off the road, over against the silver mine, stood DEMAS (gentleman-like), to call to passengers to come and see; who said to CHRISTIAN and his fellow, "Ho, turn aside hither, and I will show you a thing."

Chr. What thing is so deserving as to turn us out of the way to see it?

Demas. Here is a silver mine, and some digging in it for treasure; if you will come, with a little pain you may richly provide for yourselves.

Hope. Then said HOPEFUL, "Let us go and see."

Chr. "Not I," said CHRISTIAN; "I have heard of this place before now and how many have there been slain; and besides, that treasure is a snare to those that seek it, for it hinders them in their pilgrimage." Then CHRISTIAN called to DEMAS, saying, "Is not the place dangerous? hath it not hindered many in their pilgrimage?"

"For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices." Hosea 4:16-19

Demas. "Not very dangerous; except to those that are careless;" but withal, he blushed as he spake.

Chr. Then said CHRISTIAN to HOPEFUL, "Let us not stir a step, but still keep on our way."

Hope. I will warrant you, when BY-ENDS comes up, if he hath the same invitation as we, he will turn in thither to see.

Chr. No doubt thereof, for his principles lead him that way; and a hundred to one but he dies there.

Demas. Then DEMAS called again, saying, "But will you not come over and see?"

Chr. Then CHRISTIAN roundly answered, saying, "DEMAS, thou art an enemy to the right ways of the Lord of this way, and hast been already condemned for thine own turning aside by one of his Majesty's judges; and why seekest thou to bring us into the like condemnation?

"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia , Titus unto Dalmatia ." 2 Timothy 4:10

Besides, if we at all turn aside, our Lord the King will certainly hear thereof, and will there put us to shame, where we would stand with boldness before him."

Demas cried again, That he also was one of their fraternity; and that if they would tarry a little, he also himself would walk with them.

Chr. Then said Christian, "What is thy name? is it not the same by the which I have called thee?"

Demas. Yes, my name is DEMAS; I am the son of Abraham.

Chr. I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father, and you have trod their steps. It is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor; and thou deservest no better reward.

"But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." 2 Kings 5:20

"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." Matthew 26:14, 15

"When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." Matthew 27:1-5

Assure thyself, that when we come to the King, we will tell him of this thy behaviour.

Thus they went their way.

By this time BY-ENDS and his companions were come again within sight; and they at the first beck went over to DEMAS. Now, whether they fell into the pit by looking over the brink thereof, or whether they went down to dig, or whether they were smothered in the bottom by the damps that commonly arise, of these things I am not certain; but this I observed, that they never were seen again in the way. Then sang CHRISTIAN:

"BY-ENDS and SILVER-DEMAS doth agree;
One calls, the other runs, that he may be
A sharer in his lucre: so these two
Take up in this world, and no farther go."

 


REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE

Now I saw that, just on the other side of this plain, the pilgrims came to a place where stood an old monument hard by the highway side, at the sight of which they were both concerned, because of the strangeness of the form thereof; for it seemed to them as if it had been a woman transformed into the shape of a pillar. Here, therefore, they stood looking and looking upon it; but could not for a time tell what they should make thereof. At last, HOPEFUL espied written above upon the head thereof a writing in an unusual hand; but he, being no scholar, called to CHRISTIAN (for he was learned) to see if he could pick out the meaning; so he came and after a little laying of letters together, he found the same to be this, "REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!" So he read it to his fellow; after which, they both concluded that that was the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for her looking back with a covetous heart when she was going from Sodom for safety,

"But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26

which sudden and amazing sight gave them occasion of this discourse.

Chr. Ah, my brother, this is a seasonable sight; it came opportunely to us after the invitation which DEMAS gave us to come over to view the hill Lucre; and had we gone over as he desired us, and as thou wast inclining to do, my brother, we had, for aught I know, been made ourselves like this woman, a spectacle for those that shall come after to behold.

Hope. I am sorry that I was so foolish, and am made to wonder that I am not now as
Lot 's wife; for wherein was the difference 'twixt her sin and mine? she only looked back, and I had a desire to go and see. Let grace be adored; and let me be ashamed that ever such a thing should be in mine heart!

Chr. Let us take notice of what we see here, for our help for time to come. This woman escaped one judgment, for she fell not by the destruction of Sodom ; yet she was destroyed by another – as we see, she is turned into a pillar of salt.

Hope. True; and she may be to us both caution and example: caution, that we should shun her sin; or a sign of what judgment will overtake such as shall not be prevented by this caution. So Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with the two hundred and fifty men that perished in their sin, did also become a sign or example to others to beware:

"And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign." Numbers 26:9, 10

but above all, I muse at one thing, to wit, how DEMAS and his fellows can stand so confidently yonder to look for that treasure, which this woman, but for looking behind her after (for we read not that she stepped one foot out of the way) was turned into a pillar of salt; especially since the judgment which overtook her did make her an example within sight of where they are; for they cannot choose but see her, did they but lift up their eyes.

Chr. It is a thing to be wondered at, and it argues that their hearts are grown desperate in the case; and I cannot tell who to compare them to so fitly as to them that pick pockets in the presence of the judge, or that will cut purses under the gallows. It is said of the men of Sodom , that they were sinners exceedingly,

"And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." Genesis 13:10

"But the men of
Sodom
were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly." Genesis 13:13

because they were sinners "before the Lord," – that is, in his eyesight; and notwithstanding the kindness that he had showed them, for the land of Sodom was now like the Garden of Eden heretofore. This, therefore, provoked him the more to jealousy; and made their plague as hot as the fire of the Lord out of heaven could make it. And it is most rationally to be concluded, that such, even such as these are, that shall sin in the sight, yea, and that too in despite of such examples that are set continually before them, to caution them to the contrary, must be partakers of severest judgments.

Hope. Doubtless thou hast said the truth: but what a mercy is it that neither thou, but especially I, am not made myself this example! this ministers occasion to us to thank God; to fear before him; and always to "remember Lot's wife."

 

The Pilgrim's Progress - the River of Life - Vain-Confidence

 


 

The Pilgrim's Progress - Contents