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HISTORICAL INSIGHTS OF THE PILGRIMS PROGRESS

John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress (1678), as a

conceptualisation of a 17th century puritan mind, gives an insight into Puritanism as a religious nonconformist group in 17th century England. The story of The Pilgrims Progress is the supreme exemplar of the puritan life from birth to death.1 In its characters and events, Bunyan portrays an allegory of the life of the puritan in 17th century England. The works depiction of these allegorical elements can be interpreted to give an historical insight into the religious mentalities and contentions of the period, albeit through a purely Puritan perspective. The world inside The Pilgrims Progress is essentially the world of puritan theology, an attempt to make the puritan world more tangible...2, where all paths that are not leading directly to God (The Celestial City) lead directly to some kind of destruction. In the real world, the puritans rejected everything they saw as distracting themselves from God. In The Pilgrims Progress, the town of Vanity Fair tries to tempt Christian with a variety of this-worldly commodities:

1 Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson, The Puritans, (American Book Company, 1938), p.461. 2 John Adair, Puritans: Religion and Politics in Seventeenth Century England and America, (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1998), p.216.

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...this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair... at this fair are all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts...3 Here, Bunyan provides an insight into the perspective of the Puritans in England. Vanity Fair is a representation Bunyan creates of all the attachments to this world 4 ; all the things can distract the good Christian from spiritual matters. This gives an understanding into the motivations of the Puritans when they rejected and criticised their contemporaries for their frivolous pastimes. 5 The works theological overtones not only give an insight into Puritanism but also into how much of a puritan Bunyan actually was. Bunyans Puritanism becomes an issue for the books historical perspective when the work seems to indicate theological ambiguities which may have been unique to Bunyan. Although the early puritans attempted to bring their beliefs theologically closer to continental Calvinism with its emphasis on predestination and personal piety6 , certain qualities of Bunyans belief allude closer to Luther7. Despite the remark of the shepherds telling Christian of the way to the Celestial City as Safe for those for whom it is to be safe...8 , which hints at Calvinist predestination, at every point in Christians journey he is
3 John Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005), p.102. 4 Monica Furlong, Puritans Progress: A Study of John Bunyan, (London: Garden City Press Ltd., 1975), p.41. 5 Merry E. Weisner-Hanks, Cambridge History of Europe: Early Modern Europe 14501789, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p.369. 6 Weisner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, p.369. 7 Furlong, Puritans Progress, p.141. 8 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.137.

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presented with alternative paths which he sometimes takes to his own detriment. For Bunyan, salvation was not an achieved fact but rather a work of many steps.9 This seems to downplay the role of predestination in Bunyans theology and in the theology of The Pilgrims Progress. This however seems to portray a contradiction in puritan thinking, but it was a contradiction that did actually exist.10 Further theological ambiguities can be found in the text implying an endorsement of antinomianism, a growing sentiment in nonconformists of the period. However these provide more of a portrayal of the religious and political contentions of the period rather than theology. Bunyan makes repeated disparaging portrayals of the law as either contrary to or a hindrance to the good Christian life. When Christian attempts to go to the town of Morality by the Law to have Mr Legality release his burden of sin, he must pass by Mt. Sinai (an embodiment of the law) but is prevented by the fear that the hill should fall on his head.11 When Christian is being shown scenes of the final judgement in the House of Interpreter, he is told of those who sought to hide themselves under mountains 12 (another reference to Mt. Sinai). In the town of Vanity Fair, Christian and Faithful are tried before a judge and jury and use their faith as justification to be free from the courts influence. All of this could be seen as evidence of antinomianism on Bunyans part, and his contemporaries in the higher
Furlong, Puritans Progress, p.142 A.L. Morton, Pilgrims Progress, History Workshop Journal, 5, no.1, (1978), p.7. 11 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.25 12 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.43
9 10

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classes did criticise him for what they saw as little books of antinomian spirit13, but this is more likely to be an expression of what Bunyan saw as the oppressiveness of the law 14 and the Puritan objections to the structure of the Church of England.15 The seemingly antinomian themes in The Pilgrims Progress a more a result of Bunyans open criticism of the gentry.16 This criticism is noticeable in the depiction of the nobility of the town of Vanity Fair: ...our noble prince Beelzebub, and... his honourable friends, whose names are the Lord Old Man, the Lord Carnal Delight, the Lord Luxurious, the Lord Desire of Vain Glory, my old Lord Lechery, Sir Having Greedy, with all the rest of our nobility17 The puritan movement had spread down from the middleclass gentry after the Elizabethan period.18 This characterisation of the nobility is an example of Bunyans, and to a larger extent, the puritan underclass, bias towards the aristocracy and the popish holdovers of the Anglican Church.19 Although appearing antinomian, these themes are more a result of politics than of Bunyans theology and his biased view of the higher classes can partially be explained by the fact that Bunyan had little contact with the aristocracy except as a bench of magistrates.20 However these themes give an example of the influence

13 Christopher Hill, John Bunyan and His Publics, History Today, 38, no.10, (1988), p.19. 14 Michael Mullet, John Bunyan in Context, (Keele: Keele University Press, 1996), p.138. 15 Weisner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, p.369. 16 Hill, John Bunyan and His Publics, p.19. 17 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.109. 18 Furlong, Puritans Progress, p. 28. 19 Weisner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, p.369. 20 Morton, Pilgrims Progress, p.5.

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of antinomian type thought during the period that were adopted by the Quakers, Muggletonians, Ranters, and other nonconformists.21 Bunyan has portrayed the idea that although he believes that the law is important, grace is inevitably superior to it.22 Just like Bunyan gives a record of the reception of new ideas of empiricism in the character of Atheist, he gives record of the influence of antinomian thought in Christians encounters with the law. In this way, The Pilgrims Progress gives a justification and description of the ideology behind the non-conformist religious movements of 17th century England. The presence of the nonconformists in England at the time is portrayed in The Pilgrims Progress, and not just in the form of the puritan archetype character of Christian. Both the characters of Talkative and Ignorance portray Bunyans critical perception of the Ranters and Quakers who were active religious forces in his time. This characterisation of Talkative is alluded to by Bunyans reference in his Some Gospel Truths Opened (1656): ...men that at this day so deluded by the quakers, and other pernicious doctrines; but those who thought it enough to be talkers of the gospel23 The appearance of these two characters gives a historical insight into the reception of the Ranters and the Quakers by the wider community,

21 Owen C. Watkins, The Puritan Experience, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1972), p.90. 22 Mullet, John Bunyan in Context, p.138. 23 George Offor ed., The Works of John Bunyan: With an Introduction to Each Treatise, Notes, and a Sketch of His Life, Times, and Contemporaries By John Bunyan, (Blackie and Son, 1859), p.133.

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albeit through the bias of Bunyans puritan theology. His perspective of the Ranters and Quakers as all talk and no action is out lined by the character Faithful: ...Heavenly knowledge of these is the Gift of God; no man attaineth to them by human industry, or only by the talk of them24 Bunyan bias saw the Ranters and Quakers as offering a cheap and easy path to salvation with no active adherence to biblical doctrine.25 Talkative wishes to to talk of the history or the mystery of things26, a preoccupation which was common to the Ranters of Bunyans time which offended his scriptural literalism.
27

Bunyan criticises the

Quakers by embodying them in the character of Ignorance, who displays the Quaker attitude towards formal services 28 and church membership when he tells Christian that I take my pleasure in walking alone, even more a great deal than in company, unless I like it the better.29 When Christian asks him how he knows that he has truly given himself to the pilgrimage, he responds My Heart tells me so30, when he Ignorance how can be sure of this, he responds My Heart tells me so.31 This is a direct allusion to the Quaker theology of the inner light, that Christ could be found in each man 32 , a theology which

Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.90. Furlong, Puritans Progress, p.59. 26 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.89. 27 Morton, Pilgrims Progress, p.4. 28 Weisner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe, p.375. 29 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.162. 30 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.162. 31 Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.163. 32 Furlong, Puritans Progress, p.28.
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deeply antagonised Bunyans reliance on the scriptures 33 and the puritan emphasis on the role of the church congregation. The appearance of two characters reflects the emergence of the

nonconformist religious groups of the time. The statements and attitudes of Talkative and Ignorance cannot be taken as an objective representation of Ranter or Quaker ideology, as their characterisation is made with Bunyans bias against the Ranters and the Quakers. But the responses of the puritan archetype character Christian display an attempt by the puritan Bunyan to other the competing religious nonconformists of the period, and there by, make an attempt to define Puritanism as he saw it. When Ignorance makes his statement of belief, Christian launches into a long treatise outlining the faults in his Quaker theology and correcting him with arguments clearly based on Puritan theology: ...Thou believest with a fantastical faith; for this faith is nowhere described in the Word... Thou believest with a false faith; because it taketh justification from the personal righteousness of Christ, and applies it to thy own... This faith maketh not Christ a justifier of thy person, but of thy actions; and of thy person for thy actions' sake, which is false... Therefore, this faith is deceitful, even such as will leave thee under wrath, in the day of God Almighty; for true justifying faith puts the soul, as sensible of its condition by the law, upon flying for refuge unto Christ's righteousness...34 Because Bunyan belonged to a generation of sectarian religious groups35, defining his Puritanism was imperative to set it apart from

Morton, Pilgrims Progress, p.4. Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress, p.165. 35 Furlong, Puritans Progress, p.24.
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the multitude of religious nonconformists of the time. Ironically, the theological rants of Christian to Ignorance and Talkative can give historical description of Puritanism as opposed to the various Ranters of Bunyans period. The Pilgrims Progress is an allegory of the puritan theology in 17th century England, but it is also an allegory of the puritan life in 17th century England. Bunyan created a guide on how to lead the good Christian life as he saw it in a narrative and in doing so left a depiction of the mentality behind Puritanism and the environment in which it came into being. The trials and tribulations of Christian and his companions were the trials and tribulations of the Bunyan and his contemporaries. His narrative gives an insightful, if fantastical look into the mind of the early modern puritan in a time of wide spread religious contention.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Bunyan, John, The Pilgrims Progress, (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005). Offor, George ed., The Works of John Bunyan: With an Introduction to Each Treatise, Notes, and a Sketch of His Life, Times, and Contemporaries By John Bunyan, (Blackie and Son, 1859).

SECONDARY SOURCES:
Adair, John, Puritans: Religion and Politics in Seventeenth Century England and America, (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1998). Furlong, Monica, Puritans Progress: A Study of John Bunyan, (London: Garden City Press Ltd., 1975). Hill, Christopher, John Bunyan and His Publics, History Today, 38, no.10, (1988), pp.13-19. Miller, John and Johnson, Thomas H., The Puritans, (American Book Company, 1938). Morton, A.L., Pilgrims Progress, History Workshop Journal, 5, no.1, (1978), pp.3-8. Mullett, Michael, John Bunyan in Context, (Keele: Keele University Press, 1996). Page 9 of 10

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Watkins, Owen C., The Puritan Experience, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1972). Weisner-Hanks, Merry E., Cambridge History of Europe: Early Modern Europe 1450-1789, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

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