Translated into over 200 languages and never out of print
The English pastor and writer spent twelve years in a Bedfordshire county jail. His offense? He had been preaching outside an Anglican church. While in prison, he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, an allegorical book about the Christian’s journey to heaven. It appeared in England in 1678. For almost 350 years, the book has been published worldwide as a perennial favorite.
Excerpts from the chapter: “The Market of Nullities” – …So Lucifer, Apollyon and Legion decided to establish a market here where nullities could be bought and sold throughout the year. So now houses and lands, offices, dignities, liberties, titles, land and people, kingdoms, merrymaking, pleasures and delights of all kinds, such as whores, wives, husbands, children masters , slaves, lives, blood, bodies and souls, silver and gold, pearls and precious stones and who knows what else were offered. To this end, they arranged it so that they could indulge in deceptions, frauds, racketeering, and rogueries at all times….
…Our two pilgrims also had no other way than to go through this city and through this market. But no sooner had they been discovered than all the people in the market began to move. Because of them, there was a crowd, which had several reasons: there was the clothing that the pilgrims wore, which was different from the clothing of the market people. The people of the market therefore made big eyes. Some said they were jugglers, others thought the strangers were from the insane asylum, and still others thought they were foreigners.
They also wondered about their language, because few could understand them. They spoke the language of the promised kingdom, of course, but the merchants in the market were people of this world and thought the two spoke gibberish.
What also amazed the merchants was the fact that these pilgrims were not at all interested in their goods. They didn’t even look, and if you approached them and asked them to buy, they covered their ears and shouted, “Avert my eyes, lest they look at nothing!” In doing so, they looked to the sky to indicate where their thoughts and actions originated.
When one got in the way of the pilgrims and mockingly asked them what they were buying, the two looked at him seriously and said, “We’re buying the truth!” Now the market people gave free rein to their contempt. They laughed at them, called them names and shouted at each other that they should be punched in the face. A riot broke out, turning the market into chaos in no time. The master of the market was immediately informed…
Christian and his friend Treu are arrested for causing a public nuisance. The death sentence is passed in a show trial. Treu dies the death of a martyr, while Christian is able to escape and continue his pilgrimage. On every page of the narrative, comparisons to the present time suggest themselves. And in the heart of the reader arises a longing for the future world, which will not be determined by money, sex and power. /KDJ
