Apollyon in a Rage.

Apol. Thou hast already been unfaithful in thy service to him: and now dost thou think to receive wages of him?

Chr. Wherein O Apollyon have I been unfaithful to him? Thou didst faint at first setting out, when thou wast almost choked in the Gulph of Despond, thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid of thy burden, whereas, thou shouldst have staid till thy Prince had taken it off. Thou didst sinfully sleep, and lose thy choice things. Thou wast almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions and when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what thou hast heard and seen, thou art inwardly desirous of vain glory in all that thou sayest or dost. (h)

Chr. All this is true, and much more which thou hast left out: but the Prince whom I serve and honour, is merciful and ready to forgive: but besides, these infirmities possessed me in thy country; for there I sucked them in, and I have groaned under them, been sorry for them, and have obtained pardon of my Prince. (i.)

Apol. Then Apollyon broke out into a grievous rage, saying, I am an enemy to this Prince; I hate his person, his laws, and people; I am come out on purpose to withstand thee.·

Chr. Apollyon, beware what you do; for I am

(h) Satan is justly styled the accuser of the brethren of Christ. Rev. x. 12, for he accuseth them before God, and to their own consciences. "But they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." Rev. xii. 11. namely, “that they have redemption in the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of their sins." Eph. i. 7.

(i) This is the best way to own Satan's charges, if they be true, yea, to exaggerate them also; to exalt the riches of the grace of Christ, above all in pardoning all of them freely. By thus humbling ourselves, and exalting Christ, Satan can get no advantage over us, though this will put him into a rage against us.

Christian wounded by Apollyon.

in the king's high way, the way of holiness; therefore take heed to yourself.

Apol. Then Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth of the way, and said, I am void of fear in this matter; prepare thyself to die; for I swear by my infernal den, that thou shalt go no farther; here will I spill thy soul.

And with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast; but Christian had a shield in his hand, with which he caught it, and so prevented the danger of that. (k)

Then did Christian draw; for he saw it was time to bestir him; and Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which, notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it, Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot. This made Christian give a little back: Apollyon therefore followed his work amain, and Christian again took courage, and resisted as manfully as he could. This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost spent; for you must know, that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker. (1)

Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and wrestling with

(k) The shield of faith; the belief of what Christ had done for him, was to him, what he had done in him, and that he was in Christ, pardoned, justified and sanctified. This glorious conflict of faith, honours Christ, repels and quenches all the fiery darts of Satan, and gets the victory over him. This is what Peter exhorts to "resist the devil, stedfast in the faith." 1 Pet. v. 9.

(1) We may think this is hard work; why should a Christian be so severely attacked by Satan? The Lord does not give us armour to be useless, but to fight with, and prove its excellency, and in the use of it to experience his almighty power and unchangeable love; for though we are weak, he is almighty to strengthen us, therefore we are called upon to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Eph. vi. 10.

Christian recovers himself, and wounds Appollyon.

him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now: And with that he had almost pressed him to death: so that Christian began to despair of life. But as God would have it, (m) while Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, and caught it saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy! when I fall I shall arise; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him to give back as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian, perceiving that, made at him again, saying, † Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And with that Appollyon spread forth his dragon wings, and sped him away, that Christian saw him no more.

In this combat no man can imagine, unless be had seen and heard, as I did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight he spake like a dragon; and on the other side, what sighs and groans burst from Christian's heart. I never saw him all the while give so much

one pleasant look till he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then, indeed, he did smile, and look upward; (n) but it was the dreadfullest sight that ever I saw.

So, when the battle was over, Christian said, “I will here give thanks to him that hath delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, to him that did help me against Apollyon." And so he did; saying,

*Mac. vii. 8.

+ Rom. viii. 8, 9. James iv. 7. (m) Mind that the Lord does not look on as a mere spectator of our conflicts, but he strengthens us in every evil day, and in every fight of faith, and brings us off at last more than conquerors through his love.

(n) Not a vain-glorious, but an humble, thankful smile. looked up and smilingly gave the Lord all the glory of his victory.

"

The Valley of the Shadow of Death.

"Great Beelzebub, the captain of this fiend,
'Design'd my ruin; therefore to this end,
"He sent him harness'd out; and be with rage,
"That hellish was, did fiercely me engage:
"But blessed Michael helped me, and I,
"By dint of sword did quickly make bim fly.
"Therefore let me to him give lasting praise
"And thanks, and bless his holy name always.”

Then there came to him a hand with some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took and applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle, and was healed immediately. (o) He also sat down in that place to eat bread, and to drink of the bottle that was given him a little before; so, being refreshed, he addressed himself to his journey, with his (p) sword drawn in his hand; for, he said, I know not but some other enemy may be at hand. But he met with no other affront from Apollyon through the valley.

Now at the end of this valley was another, called The Valley of the Shadow of Death, (q) and Christian must needs go through it, because the way to the Celestial City lay through the midst of it: Now this valley is a very solitary place. The prophet* Jeremiah thus describes it: A wilderness, a land of deserts and pits; a land of drought, and of the Shadow of Death; a land that no man (but a Christian) passeth through, (r) and where no man dwelt.

* Jer. ii. 9.

(0) No matter what wounds we get in our conflicts with Satan, for Jesus will heal them all. But who will heal those which we get by complying with the devil, instead of resisting him.

(p) Conflicts with Satan make Christians weary, and value their sword, so as to walk with the sword of the spirit, the word of God, in their hands.

(4) This signifies darkness and desertion of soul.

(r) None but the heart of a Christian knows the bitterness of

Christian meets two Men who try to alarm Ilim.

Now here Christian was worse put to it than in his fight with Apollyon; as by the sequel you shall see.

I saw then in my dream, that when Christian was got to the borders of the Shadow of Death, there met him two men, children of them that brought ant evil report of the good land, making haste to go back; (s) to whom Christian spake as follows: Chr. Whither are you going?

Men. They said, Back! Back! And would have you to do so to, if either life or peace is prized by you.

Chr. Why! what's the matter, said Christian.

Men. Matter! said they; we were going that way as you are going, and went as far as we durst; and indeed, we were almost past coming back, for had we gone a little farther, we had not been here to bring the news to thee.

Chr. But what have you met with? said Christian.

Men. Why, we were almost in the *Valley of the Shadow of death, but that, by good hap, we looked before us, and saw the danger before we came to it.

Chr. But what have you seen? said Christian.

Men. Seen! Why, the Valley itself, which is as dark as pitch: we also saw there the hobgoblins, satyrs, and dragons of the pit; we heard also in that Valley, a continual howling and yelling, as of

+ Numb. xiii.

* Psal. xvii. 19. xliv. 29.

God's hiding away his face. It is death to all his comforts: his mourning under a sense of it, manifests his love to the Lord, and delight in his presence.

(s) Such we frequently meet with; who set out without a sense of sin, true faith, real hope, and sincere love to Christ; and as sure as they go back from a profession, they bring up an evil report of the way to the kingdom of Christ.