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 armor for his back, and therefore thought that
to turn the back to him might give him 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 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 monster was hideous to behold: he was clothed
with scales like a fish, and they are his pride; he had wings like a dragon,
and 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 him.
Apollyon: Whence
came you, and whither are you bound?
Christian: I am
come from the city of Destruction, which is the place of all evil, and I am
going to the city of Zion.
Apollyon: By this
I perceive thou art one of my subjects; 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,
indeed, born 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, 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, and 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 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 to, 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 by 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 non-age: and besides, I count that the Prince, under
whose banner I now 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; therefore leave off to persuade me
farther: 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 yet came from the place where he is,
to deliver any that served him out of their enemies’ 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 will I deliver thee.
Christian: His
forbearing at present to deliver them, is on purpose to try their love, whether
they will cleave to him to the end: and as for the ill end thou sayest they
come to, that is most glorious in their account. For, for present deliverance,
they do not much expect it; for they stay for their glory; and then they shall
have it, when their Prince comes in his and the glory of the angels.
Apollyon: Thou
hast already been unfaithful in thy service to him; and how dost thou think to
receive wages of him?
Christian:
Wherein, O Apollyon, have I been unfaithful to him?
Apollyon: Thou
didst faint at first setting out, when thou wast almost choked in the gulf of
Despond. Thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid of thy burden, whereas thou
shouldst have stayed till thy Prince had taken it off. Thou didst sinfully
sleep, and lose thy choice things. Thou wast almost persuaded also to go back
at the sight of the lions. And when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what
thou hast seen and heard, thou art inwardly desirous of vainglory in all that
thou sayest or doest.
Christian: All
this is true, and much more which thou hast left out; but the Prince whom I
serve and honor 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.
