SENIORS IN THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
by Dr John Gilmore, author of the acclaimed work - Probing
HeavenFROM SWORD & TROWEL 2000 No 3
GUESS HOW MANY older people - ‘Seniors’ in American jargon - appear
in the pages of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Of Bunyan’s vast cast of characters the
Seniors are in many ways inconspicuous, but make no mistake, they were among his
favourites.
If we discount Mr Worldly-Wiseman, who said to Christian, the intrepid
pilgrim, in the beginning of the chronicle, ‘Hear me; I am older than thou,’ then there is a
total of ten Seniors. Who are they and why were they chosen?
In Part I there are four: Old Pagan, Old Pope, Old Adam, and Old Atheist. In
Part II there are six: Christiana, Sagacity, Madam Bubble, Gaius, Mr Mnason, and Old Mr
Honest.
The first old people in Pilgrim’s Progress were bench pals, two
men, giants no less: Old Pagan and Old Pope. Christian, the chief character of the allegory,
approached where they usually sat. When he passed the spot, Old Pagan was already dead.
And by that deft note, Bunyan indirectly commented that a godless thing was a lifeless
thing, and that the longevity of pagan beliefs warranted an early dismissal by every reader.
By making Old Pagan and Old Pope friends, Bunyan probably intended to
comment on Catholicism’s accommodation of, compatibility with, and dependence upon
ancient pagan philosophy (that of Aristotle in particular). Whatever common ground Old
Pagan and Old Pope shared, however, was eclipsed by the continuing danger that Old Pope
presented for passing pilgrims. Christian, having passed Old Pope, was elated enough to
sing of having escaped his grasp.
Old Pope was pictured as immobile. This is probably the only place where
Bunyan’s allegory seems obsolete, for today’s Pope John Paul regularly jet-travels to all
parts of the globe. Bunyan mentions the physical disadvantages of aging only when
describing Old Pope:
He is by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes that he met
with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he can now do
little more than sit in his cave’s mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting
his nails, because he cannot come at them.
The third Senior in Pilgrim’s Progress is Old Atheist (in whom
we meet a warning about the unconverted standing of some Christians). According to
Faithful’s description, Old Atheist (unlike Mr Legality, Ignorance, and Giant Despair) was
once a pilgrim. Indeed, Atheist had been a pilgrim twenty years. This startling fact
emphasises that some Christian professions can be false or feeble imitations of the real
thing.
Atheist said he forsook Christianity because he found it tedious. In a brief
encounter with Christian he laughed off his former time in Christianity as a state of
ignorance. But, tragically, it was Old Atheist’s state that was laughable, for in the presence
of a deluge of evidence of God’s presence in the world, the position of atheism collapses
and is carried away.
The first three Seniors in Pilgrim’s Progress were bad
characters, and number four, Old Adam, was no different. Faithful had befriended Old
Adam and was almost his victim. Faithful unwisely followed Adam to his house, where
Adam first coaxed, then tried to allure him with pleasing promises. But when Faithful
refused to enter, he was harangued and harassed with maledictions. Old Adam’s frustrations
with Faithful’s refusal ended with him grabbing Faithful’s arm with a ‘deadly twitch back’.
Part II of Pilgrim’s Progress was written six years after Part I.
That was time enough for Bunyan to reflect upon an imbalance in the first Part concerning
both the scarcity and scariness of its Seniors. Part II shows an improvement over Part I as
far as Seniors are concerned for two reasons:
(1) There are six Seniors in Part II;
(2) Four of the six are sterling Christians, rather than all being presented in a
negative light.
The opening of Part II should be heartening to Seniors who feel they play a
minor role in the unfolding drama:
Now, having taken up my lodgings in a wood about a mile off the place,
as I slept I dreamed again. And as I was in my dream, behold an aged gentleman
came by where I lay.
Mr Sagacity was that gentleman. Sagacity and age, in the ancient market
place of ideas, were as one, and Bunyan did not challenge that. When it came to knowing
about Christian and his family, Sagacity was the authority. He told of Christian’s wife
(Christiana) having refused to accompany her husband to the Celestial City. His review of
Christiana left off where she reached the Slough of Despond. From that point onward the
reader accompanies Christiana on her own experiences without the comments of Sagacity.
Of the total of ten Seniors, only two were women. Christiana was the first,
whom Gaius, in a conversation with Great Heart, described as an ‘aged matron’. Madam
Bubble was the second. Interestingly, neither Madam Bubble nor Christiana mentioned their
ages. With both women age was irrelevant to their worth (or worthlessness), and the sex of
Seniors in Pilgrim’s Progress was also less important than their moral
standing.
Christiana began her pilgrimage relatively late. She did not accompany her
husband, but chose to stay behind. As one often finds in life, one mate may seek the Lord
before the other. By the time she checked in to Christian Gaius’ inn, her children were
grown up, and Gaius encouraged her to ‘look out some damsel for her sons’.
The biggest surprise among the Seniors was Madam Bubble. Many readers
probably thought of her as young, but Madam Bubble was described as old. Mr Standfast
appropriately described Madam Bubble as ‘dressed in very pleasant attire, but old’. By
inference Bunyan doubtless meant to suggest that she represented prostitution. Mr Standfast
used strong verbal rebuffs to Madam Bubble, but that did not deter her seductive advances.
Old Honest (who appears last in the cast of senior characters) chimed in that
he also had met her along his pilgrimage, for the similarities were too striking to be
coincidental. She was of swarthy complexion, spoke smooth words, smiled, and fidgeted
with the coins in her purse, which indicated her merchandising of sex.
Another Christian, Mr Great Heart, shared the fact that she had the
reputation of being a ‘great gossip’. Combined with an unbridled life and unfair repeating of
false information, her promises of crowns and kingdoms were outrageous exaggeration.
This ‘bold and impudent slut’ - as Mr Great Heart noted - had bothered men in Old
Testament times, as well as men in their own day.
’Twas she that set Absalom against his father, and Jeroboam against his
master. ’Twas she that persuaded Judas to sell his Lord; and that prevailed with
Demas to forsake the godly pilgrim’s life.
Standfast’s deliverance from her provides one of the dramatic moments
of Pilgrim’s Progress, for only when he kneeled to pray did she vanish.
As he prayed there was a loud ‘Bang!’ Madam Bubble had burst.
The innkeeper Gaius was a reservoir of information on other pilgrims. He
knew Christian’s father and his grandfather, which would put Gaius well up in years.
Instinctively he tried to play a supervisory role, which led him to venture into being a
matchmaker for his own daughter. Soon after the marriage of Mercy and Matthew, ‘Gaius
gave Phebe [his daughter] to James, Matthew’s brother, to wife.’
We can understand how Gaius became involved in the lives of others. He
loved to talk with incoming pilgrims and to care for their children. He advised them in the
Christian life, and when at meals, he drew lessons from the menu. Thus, his speeches were
allegories within an allegory.
Alexander Whyte, who left valuable studies of Bunyan’s characters, was of
the opinion that Gaius ‘seems to have fallen in love’ with Christiana. As a widower, Gaius
craved company for himself as well as for the younger set. His interest in Christiana could
have been simple infatuation or hopeful anticipation of some future love connection. It was
Gaius, a fine judge of character, who was chosen to eulogise women in one of the longer
speeches of Part II.
I will now speak in behalf of women, to take away their reproach. For, as
death and the curse came into the world by a woman, so, also, did life and health.
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Yea, to show how much those that came
after did abhor the act of their mother, this sex in the Old Testament coveted
children, if happily this or that woman might be the mother of the Saviour of the
world. I will say this again, that when the Saviour was come, women rejoiced in Him
before either man or angel. I read not that man ever gave unto Christ so much as one
groat, but the women followed Him, and ministered to Him of their substance. ’Twas
a woman that washed His feet with tears, and a woman that anointed His body to the
burial. They were women who wept when He was going to the cross, and women that
followed Him from the cross, and that sat over against the sepulchre when He was
buried. They were women that were first with Him at His resurrection-morn; and
women that brought tidings first to His disciples, that He was risen from the dead.
Women, therefore, are highly favoured, and show by these things that they are
sharers with us in the grace of life.
Mnason, the fifth Senior in Part II, was a ‘Cyprusian’, or Cyprian convert,
described as an ‘old disciple’. By the inclusion of the foreign-born Senior, Bunyan indicated
that Christianity had effectually influenced persons for Christ in nations other than Britain.
Two other facets of Mnason are mentioned: (1) He ‘gave his daughter Grace unto Samuel,
Christiana’s son, to wife, and his daughter Martha to Joseph.’ (2) Mnason was a neighbour
and friend to Mr Contrite, Mr Holy-Man, Mr Love-Saints, Mr Dare-not-Lie, and Mr
Penitent. This went to show that he delighted in good company.
Undoubtedly the most influential Senior pilgrim in Part II was Old Honest,
as he was affectionately known. Whereas Old Sagacity was a commentator at the start of
Part II, Old Honest was a participant. The appearance of Old Honest was credited to Mr
Great Heart. He saw Old Honest under an oak tree. (It would have been a real calamity for
Honest to be asleep under the tree of knowledge!)
Honest, to be true to his name, admitted sluggishness in learning as a youth.
He made no excuses for a catnap after supper. Yet, looking back on his youth, he
considered it reprehensible that he slept through intellectual feasts (an allusion to those who
slept through biblical sermons). His truthfulness came out when he conceded to Mr Great
Heart’s opinion that his former home town was Stupidity. It was ‘worse than the City of
Destruction itself’. Of this town he said,
Yes, we lie more off from the sun, and so more cold and senseless; but
were a man in a mountain of ice, yet if the Sun of Righteousness should arise upon
him, his frozen heart shall feel a thaw. And thus it has been with me.
The empty chatter of unbelieving Seniors (witnessed in an earlier time
between Old Pagan and Old Pope) was balanced in Part II by Christian Seniors whose
common bond of Christ at the centre of their lives made sharing a time of refreshment
rather than redundancy. Gaius and Old Honest, for instance, went aside after supper for
serious conversation. Old Honest first challenged Gaius, not to a game of lawn bowling, but
to explain a word riddle. Gaius, in return, wanted Honest to explain whether an old or
young person had his ‘graces shining clearest’, which indicated that he already had his
opinion. Honest saw truth in two ways. He reasoned:
I have observed that old men have blessed themselves with this mistake -
namely, taking the decays of nature for a gracious conquest over corruptions, and so
have been apt to beguile themselves. Indeed, old men that are gracious [by which
Bunyan means are born-again Christians] are best able to give advice to them that
are young, because they have seen most the emptiness of things; but yet, for an old
man and a young to set out both together, the young one has the advantage of the
fairest discovery of a work of grace within him, though the old corruptions are
naturally the weakest.
While reflection was the preference of Old Honest above recreation, yet he
still had brawn, for along with Mr Great Heart and four young men he helped demolish the
castle of recently-dead Giant Despair. But spiritual perception was where Old Honest shone.
He saw defection from Christ take ugly and unusual turns. He drew from his experiences.
I am, as you see, an old man, and have been a traveller in this road many
a day; and I have taken notice of many things.
Honest had witnessed numerous instances of faith collapsing - some
‘notable rubs’. But when time came for him to say farewell to the world, he uttered one of
the gems of the book - ‘Grace Reigns!’
In summary, we note three outstanding features regarding Bunyan’s gallery
of Seniors:
(1) Seniors are not pushed aside as social oddities, or as non-
contributing, pathetic cases whose lives have dwindled to nothing. They do not appear
merely near the edge of the River of Death, nor are they clustered in Beulah Land,
where eternity was close to those about ready to cross into the Celestial City. Pilgrim’s
Progress is truly inter-generational. It has no homogeneous self-grouping of the
elderly.
(2) Beside the fact of their normality, Seniors make considerable
contributions either for or against Christ. Significantly, John Bunyan did not portray
all elders as saints. Wickedness was shown as something which is no respecter of age.
Some of the key figures were not only old, but wicked, thereby leaving the reader with
the warning that one must not naively think that Seniors are spiritually neutral
people.
(3) No one age group dominates a scene, or displaces characters of other
age, so that ageism does not exist in the pages of Pilgrim’s Progress. What matters is
not the whiteness of the hair, nor the smoothness of the skin, nor the straightness or
stooping of posture, nor litheness or stiffness, but the condition of the heart and
relationship with Christ.
The Seniors in Pilgrim’s Progress are nearly all interesting, active,
articulate and driven. None are dull, but they are important participants in the drama
of redemption.
|
