Lesson 10  
Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan

Christian stood in the gathering dusk and knew that darkness would soon be upon him.  How beautiful the palace looked to him!  It would afford shelter and comfort for the night.  he hastened toward it but suddenly stopped in terror.  Between himself and the inviting entrance he saw two huge lions!  They were the ones which had frightened Timorous and Mistrust.

He did not know what to do.  he dared not go on and meet the lions, yet he could not go back.  Just then the lions roared loudly, and the vibration made Christian tremble from head to foot.  He was almost in despair when he heard the Porter of the house calling to him.  He tried desperately to hear what the man said.

"Is your courage as small as that?" asked the Porter, whose name was Watchful.  "Come to the door.  Those lions are chained.  If you keep in the middle of the way neither of them can reach you.  they are kept there to test the pilgrims who come along and to determine whether they are true Christians or only pretenders."

With a long sigh of relief, but still trembling, Christian walked carefully down the middle of the way.  The lions roared again with a frightening roar but they could not attack Christian,  so he reached the portal of the house in safety. 

"May I lodge here for the night?" he asked the Porter who had encouraged him in the way.

"This house was built by the Lord for the comfort and blessing of pilgrims," answered Watchful.  "What is your name and from where do you come?"

Then Christian told him who he was, and that he had fled in terror from the City of Destruction.  he told him, too, that he was on his way to the Celestial (heavenly) City but needed shelter for the night.

"How do you happen to come so late?" asked the Porter.  "The sun has set some time ago.  it is almost dark."

Poor Christian, whose face was very red, related how he had slept in the arbor and carelessly lose his roll.  he told of wearily returning to the hill to secure the lost roll and of his joy in finding it.

"Well," said Watchful, "I will call out one of the young ladies of the house and if she likes what you have to say she will invite you in."

So he rang a bell and a very beautiful but serious-looking  young lady came out on the porch.  The Porter told her what Christian wanted and then went to attend to his other duties.  The young lady, whose name was Discretion, asked Christian many questions about himself and his adventures.  Christian answered all her questions gladly and finished by telling her how eager he was to spend the night in the Palace Beautiful.

She smiled at him and Christian thought that made her look even lovelier.  She called three of her sisters and introduced them to the traveler.  Their names were Prudence, Piety and Charity. 

From the resemblance they bore to each other it was easy for Christian to see that they belonged to the same family.  After talking a while longer they invited Christian into the house where he met other members of the group.  He found it a large and happy family.

They brought him a refreshing drink at once, and while supper was being prepared they had a pleasant talk about the way he had come.  Christian told them also about his family that he had left behind because they had refused to accompany him from the City of Destruction, and how he grieved because they were unsaved.

But when supper was announced they gathered at the well filled table and talked no more of the dangers and the blessings of the way, nor of the sorrows and joys that had come into their lives.  The conversation centered around their Lord and the great and wonderful things He had done.  This pictures Christians gathered together to break bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of our Lord's death for us.  Then the mind and the heart should be occupied only with Him, and then we rejoice afresh in His love for us and what that love has accomplished.

Christian and his friends sat a long time at the table, and talked late into the night.  Then they arose from the table and took Christian to his room.  He found it a large, beautiful room facing the sunrise.  The name of the room was Peace.  After again committing himself into his Heavenly Father's care, the weary pilgrim lay down and fell at once into a deep, sweet sleep.

While we leave Christian sleeping, let us think about the things he had experienced:

1.  The Lions.  Satan is compared to a roaring lion who walks about, seeking whom he may devour.  He is strong like a lion, and wise and crafty.  He is always watching boys and girls, men and women.  Satan tries to keep them from trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he delights in getting those who love the Lord to sin and dishonor Him.  But Satan is like one of the lions which Christian saw before the Palace Beautiful; he is chained.

2. The Cross. At the Cross the Lord Jesus Christ met Satan at his worst and defeated him.  Our Savior is stronger and wiser than Satan, and when one trusts in the Lord Jesus, Satan cannot harm him.  He can never take from the Lord Jesus anyone who has trusted Him, for He says, "I give unto (my sheep) eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28).

3. Troubles. Troubles are sometimes like lions.  They frighten us and make us tremble as Christian trembled when the lions roared.  But we read in God's Word that nothing past, present nor future can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus; that no trial can come into the life of a Christian unless God allows it.  That lion, too, is chained, and we need fear neither the power of Satan nor the trials of the way if we are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Happiness. Christian's happy time with the family in the palace Beautiful is a picture of the pleasant fellowship of God's people gathered together to hear and talk of the One who loved them and gave Himself for them.

5.  Peace.  Christian was resting in Peace, which faced the sunrise.  so, too, the one who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior can rest in peace.  he knows he has peace with God, for the Lord Jesus has made peace by the blood of His Cross.  he can rest in peace, too, concerning everything that affects him and that "all things work together for good to them that love God."  Any boy or girl who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior can say as the pilgrim said and as King David said many, many years ago: "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makes me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8).  Christians everywhere are facing the sunrise.  They are waiting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal day in His presence.

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