The Pilgrim’s Progress -John Bunyan

The words of this hymn were written in the late seventeenth century by John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress.” He was born in 1628, near Bedford, England, and he helped his father who was a tinker, a maker and repairer of pots and pans. At the age of sixteen he was drafted into Cromwell’s army during the English Civil War. Shortly after his discharge, Bunyan married. He stated in his autobiography that he and his wife were so poor that his wife’s only dowry was two books, and they had “neither a dish or spoon.”

Those two Christian books in the dowry stirred his interest in the gospel, and his wife’s godly influence led him to accept the Lord. The Bunyans joined a small Baptist church in Bedford, and he was asked to be their pastor. He accepted the invitation by saying, “I wish to mend people’s souls as well as their pots and pans.”

John Bunyan revolted against the government-sanctioned Church of England and preached with such fervor that people flocked to hear him. He soon became an influential Nonconformist leader among the English world, which got him arrested and thrown into prison several times, once for a period of twelve years. After being released Bunyan would always resume preaching.

While Bunyan was in prison, he began his work on “Pilgrims Progress,” an epic allegory that describes the Christian life as a pilgrimage “from this world to that which is to come.” Bunyan named his characters by their obvious vice or virtue. “Who Would True Valor See” is found in the second part of the book where the character “Valiant-for-Truth” describes his journey by saying, “I believed, and therefore came out, got into the way, fought all that set themselves against me, and, by believing, am come to this place.”

It’s at this point that Bunyan wrote the poem that asks the reader to consider Valiant as an example of a courageous pilgrim to be imitated.  The poem says that the Christian life isn’t always easy, but it requires much faith, courage, and endurance. The first stanza expresses that it’s necessary for the believer to be steadfast when facing discouraging situations. The next stanza describes the strength of the fearless spirit that’s needed to defeat foes in the pilgrimage. The final stanza looks to the goal of the pilgrim, the inheritance of eternal life in heaven.

In the final stanza, the phrase “Hobgoblins nor foul fiend” demonstrates Bunyan’s use of figures of speech that suggests imagined fears that lack any real basis. These words were changed with other alterations when the text first appeared as a hymn in the “English Hymnal, 1906.” The first line and title were changed to “He who would valiant be.”  Many later hymnals, however, preferred the original wording while using the first line as the title. The tune “Monks Gate” was adapted by noted British composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, after hearing it sung as an old Sussex folk-song in the village of Monks Gate.

Valiant was victorious in his pilgrimage because of his faith. He was told by another character, “this was your victory, even your faith.”    For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5).

Bunyan’s book, “Pilgrims Progress,” sold 100,000 copies in its first ten years of publication. It has been translated into more than one hundred languages and is still popular around the world. Bunyan encouraged Baptists to enjoy congregational singing, once considered to be sinful. It’s ironic that the words of his poem didn’t become a hymn until more than 200 years later. John Bunyan died in 1688, and, like Valiant, inherited eternal life in heaven.

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