Christian and Hopeful walk on until they reach a fork in the road and it is not obvious which way they should go. Soon a man wearing a light-colored robe comes up, and the Pilgrims ask him the way. The man says, "Follow me, that is where I'm going." Christian and Hopeful follow the man on a path which turns ever so slowly away from Celestial City until they are actually going away from their destination. Soon their guide leads them into a net which has been prepared for them and they are trapped. The man removes his robe, and they see him for who he really is. Christian says, "Didn't the Shepherds warn us to beware of the flatterers? As is the saying of the Wise Man, we have found it to be so this very day: 'Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet.' " Hopeful also laments the fact that they did not think to consult the map given to them by the Shepherds
Christian and Hopeful remain trapped in the net for a while, until a Shining One approaches them with a whip made of small cord in his hand. He asks them where they came from and where they are going, and when he is told of the man trapping them in the net, the Shining One says, "It is Flatterer, a False Apostle who is masquerading as an angel of light. Follow me, so I may set you in your way again."
The Shining One also asks them where they stayed the previous night, and when told they stayed with the Shepherds of the Delightful Mountains, he asks them if they were given a Map of the Way.
"Yes," they answered.
"Did you take out your Map and read it?"
"No"
"Why?"
"We forgot"
He asked further if they were warned to beware of the Flatterer, and they admit to that, but also that they didn't imagine that such a fine-spoken person could have been he. The Shining One orders Christian and Hopeful to lie down, and when they do so, he chastises them severely. "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent." Afterwards, he tells them to go and pay particular attention to the warnings of the Shepherds. So off they go, thanking him for his kindness and singing.
Christian and Hopeful then meet up with a man walking the wrong way, named Atheist. When Atheist hears that Christian and Hopeful are going to Celestial City, he starts laughing. "I laugh to see what ignorant persons you are to take upon yourselves such an exhausting journey, and yet you're likely to have nothing but your travel for your pains."
"Why, Man?" asks Christian. "Do you think we won't be received?"
"Received!" exclaimed Atheist. "In all this world there is no such place as you dream of."
Atheist goes on to tell how he left his home twenty years ago to search for Celestial City and has never found it. He is returning home to refresh himself with the things he had cast away for the sake of the journey.
Christian asks Hopeful if what Atheist says might be true. Hopeful says to take heed, Atheist is one of the Flatterers. He also says that Christian should be teaching him the lesson he is delivering to Christian, and urges Christian to not believe anything Atheist says. Christian replies that he was not saying that as an expression of doubt on his part, but was speaking in such a way as to test Hopeful. Christian and Hopeful turn away from Atheist and continue their journey. Atheist continues back to his original home, laughing at our Pilgrims.
Thoughts on this chapter
Christian and Hopeful trust an untrustworthy guide, and are ensnared. They are delivered, yet chastised for not heeding wisdom which would have spared them from danger. After the chastisement, they express no guilt or grief, they are glad and give thanks for the deliverance, and will remember the experience for good if the situation should arise again.
Atheist gives up on his journey, yet Celestial City was in view, though dimly, when Christian and Hopeful looked through the lens back at the Delightful Mountains. I'm reminded of a nineteenth century explorer, John Wesley Powell, who was the first man to traverse and map the Grand Canyon. As no one had done this before, no one knew how big the Canyon really was. He and his companions were traveling through the Canyon on the Colorado River. They were short on supplies, but Powell was determined to go on. There weren't enough supplies to make it back the way they came anyway. One day several members of his team decided to give up. They decided to leave the party and hike out of the canyon back to civilization. They didn't make it. They were killed at the hands of Shivwits Indians. What happened to Powell and those who remained with him? They reached the end of the canyon two days later.
Posted by joelfuhrmann at March 28, 2003 11:31 PM