Listen to Episode 16

Listen to Episode 15

Listen to Episode 14

Listen to Episode 13

Listen To Episode 12

Listen To Episode 11

Listen To Episode 10

Listen To Episode 9

Listen To Episode 8

Listen to Episode 7

Listen to Episode 6

Listen to Episodes 1-5 all in one

Pilgrim’s Progress text to follow along with

Now, he bethought himself of setting forward, and they
were willing he should, But first, said they, let us go again
into the armoury. So they did; and when they came there,
they harnessed him from head to foot with what was of
proof, lest, perhaps, he should meet with assaults in the way.
He being, therefore, thus accoutred, walketh out with his
friends to the gate, and there he asked the porter if he saw
any pilgrims pass by. Then the porter answered, Yes.
CHRISTIAN. Pray, did you know him? said he.
PORTER. I asked his name, and he told me it was Faith-
ful.
CHRISTIAN. O, said Christian, I know him; he is my
townsman, my near neighbour; he comes from the place
where I was born. How far do you think he may be before?
PORTER. He is got by this time below the hill.
CHRISTIAN. Well, said Christian, good Porter, the Lord
be with thee, and add to all thy blessings much increase, for
the kindness that thou hast showed to me.

THE VALLEY OF
HUMILIATION
Then he began to go forward; but Discretion, Piety, Charity,
and Prudence, would accompany him down to the foot of
the hill. So they went on together, reiterating their former
discourses, till they came to go down the hill. Then, said
Christian, as it was difficult coming up, so, so far as I can
see, it is dangerous going down. Yes, said Prudence, so it is,
for it is a hard matter for a man to go down into the Valley
of Humiliation, as thou art now, and to catch no slip by the
way; therefore, said they, are we come out to accompany
thee down the hill. So he began to go down, but very warily;
yet he caught a slip or two. Then I saw in my dream that
these good companions, when Christian was gone to the
bottom of the hill, gave him a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine,
and a cluster of raisins; and then he went on his way.
But now, in this Valley of Humiliation, poor Christian
was hard put to it; for he had gone but a little way, before
he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him; his
name is Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid,
and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his
ground. But he considered again that he had no armour
for his back; and, therefore, thought that to turn the back
to him might give him the greater advantage, with ease to
pierce him with his darts. Therefore he resolved to venture
and stand his ground; for, thought he, had I no more in 62
The Pilgrim’s Progress
mine eye than the saving of my life, it would be the best way
to stand.
So he went on, and Apollyon met him. Now the mon-
ster was hideous to behold; he was clothed with scales, like a
fish (and they are his pride), he had wings like a dragon, feet
like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke, and his
mouth was as the mouth of a lion. When he was come up
to Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful countenance,
and thus began to question with him.
APOLLYON. Whence come you? and whither are you
bound?
CHRISTIAN. I am come from the City of Destruction,
which is the place of all evil, and am going to the City of
Zion.
APOLLYON. By this I perceive thou art one of my sub-
jects, for all that country is mine, and I am the prince and
god of it. How is it, then, that thou hast run away from
thy king? Were it not that I hope thou mayest do me more
service, I would strike thee now, at one blow, to the ground.
CHRISTIAN. I was born, indeed, in your dominions, but
your service was hard, and your wages such as a man could
not live on, “for the wages of sin is death”;88 therefore, when
I was come to years, I did as other considerate persons do,
look out, if, perhaps, I might mend myself.
APOLLYON. There is no prince that will thus lightly lose
his subjects, neither will I as yet lose thee; but since thou
complainest of thy service and wages, be content to go back;
what our country will afford, I do here promise to give thee.
CHRISTIAN. But I have let myself to another, even to the
King of princes; and how can I, with fairness, go back with
thee?
APOLLYON. Thou hast done in this according to the
88 Rom. 6:2363
The Valley of Humiliation
proverb, “Changed a bad for a worse”; but it is ordinary for
those that have professed themselves His servants, after a
while to give Him the slip, and return again to me. Do thou
so too, and all shall be well.
CHRISTIAN. I have given Him my faith, and sworn my
allegiance to Him; how, then, can I go back from this, and
not be hanged as a traitor?
APOLLYON. Thou didst the same to me, and yet I am
willing to pass by all, if now thou wilt yet turn again and
go back.
CHRISTIAN. What I promised thee was in my nonage;
and, besides, I count the Prince under whose banner now
I stand is able to absolve me; yea, and to pardon also what
I did as to my compliance with thee; and besides, O thou
destroying Apollyon! to speak truth, I like His service, His
wages, His servants, His government, His company, and
country, better than thine; and, therefore, leave off to per-
suade me further; I am His servant, and I will follow Him.
APOLLYON. Consider again, when thou art in cool blood,
what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest.
Thou knowest that, for the most part, His servants come
to an ill end, because they are transgressors against me and
my ways. How many of them have been put to shameful
deaths! and, besides, thou countest His service better than
mine, whereas He never came yet from the place where He
is to deliver any that served Him out of their hands; but as
for me, how many times, as all the world very well knows,
have I delivered, either by power or fraud, those that have
faithfully served me, from Him and His, though taken by
them; and so I will deliver