The Celestial Railroad
Most everyone is familiar with John Bunyan’s classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress. David Hawkes, literary critic, in his introduction to The Pilgrim’s Progress, reminds us that Bunyan, who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress while imprisoned for his religious beliefs, compares the world to a prison. In his allegory Bunyan shows us how to escape our prison and reach Beulah Land and thus inherit the Celestial City or New Jerusalem. The Pilgrim’s Progress shows Christian’s journey through life as he struggles against the wiles of Satan to reach the Celestial City.
He teaches us that we must put on the full armor of God describe in Ephesians 6 by the Apostle Paul:
1. Having your Loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness
2. Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
3. Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be abler to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
4. Taking the helmet of salvation,
5. Taking the sword of the Spirit, which is he word of God
6. Praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit
7. Persevering to the end
It is a brilliant allegory as Christian embarks on an incredibly arduous journey which symbolize the trials every Christian must face in his journey through life on his way back to heaven.
Bunyan writes:
I am indeed, in prison now
In body, but my mind
Is free to study Christ, and how
Unto me he is kind.
For though men keep my outward man
Within their locks and bars,
Yet by the faith of Christ I can
Mount higher than the stars.
An American author of equal genius, Nathaniel Hawthorne, in tribute to the genius of Bunyan, wrote The Celestial Railroad. Hawthorne’s short story is a satire, not against Bunyan, whom he obviously admires, but against America, which is abandoning the virtues taught by Bunyan, and in our prosperity, we are bypassing all the difficult trials Bunyan had to face. Christian, for example, had to put on the full armor of God and walk by faith, and he was tried to the extremity at every turn. Only by overcoming the “trial of his faith” did Christian make it to the Celestial City.
In Bunyan’s allegory, Christian had to walk, often alone, and face each trial individually as it arose. In Hawthorn’s satire, Christian takes a train and is guide by Mr. Smooth-it-Away who helps Christian avoid all the difficulties faced by Bunyan’s Characters.
