Formalist and Hypocrisy Taking a Shortcut

Taken from John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come (edited by C. J. Lovik; illustrated by Mike Wimmer; Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 60. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. [Cf. my review.]

Taken from John Bunyan, Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress (edited by Oliver Hunkin; illustrated by Alan Parry; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 42. [Cf. my review coauthored with my wife.]

Taken from John Bunyan, Pictorial Pilgrim’s Progress (illustrated by Joanne Brubaker; Chicago: Moody, 1960), 85–86.

Here’s what Bunyan writes (The Pilgrim’s Progress [ed. C. J. Lovik; Wheaton: Crossway, 2009], 62–65 [emphasis added]):

[Christian] saw two men come tumbling over the wall on the left side and onto the path. They immediately came toward Christian. The name of the one was Formalist, and the name of the other was Hypocrisy. Soon they were walking with Christian on the path. Christian immediately began to engage them in conversation.

Christian asked, “Gentlemen, where did you come from, and where are you going?”

Formality and Hypocrisy replied, “We were born in the land of Vain-Glory and are going to Mount Zion where we expect we will receive both praise and honor.”

“Why didn’t you enter by the gate that stands at the beginning of the way? Don’t you know that it is written that ‘he who does not come in by the door but climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber’?”

Formalist and Hypocrisy answered that to go to the gate in order to enter into the way was considered by them and all their countrymen to be too inconvenient and roundabout, especially since they could shorten the journey by simply climbing over the wall, as they had done.

“But won’t this be seen as trespassing?” Christian asked. “Don’t you think the Lord of the City for which we are bound must count it as a violation of His revealed will?”

Formalist and Hypocrisy told Christian not to worry about it since it had been the custom of their land for more than a thousand years.

“But,” asked Christian, “will your custom stand up in a court of law?”

They replied, “This custom of entering the way by taking a shortcut has been going on as a long-standing practice for more than a thousand years and would be ruled as a legal practice by any impartial judge. And besides,” they added, “as long as we get into the way, what does it matter how we get in? If we are in, we are in. You came into the way through the narrow gate, and we came tumbling over the wall, and since we are both in, who is to say that your chosen path is better than ours?”

Christian told them, “I walk by the rule of my Master; you walk by the rude working of your own notions. You are condemned as thieves already by the Lord of the way; therefore, I doubt you will be found as true men at the end of the journey. You came in by yourselves, without His direction, and will go out by yourselves, without His mercy.”

To this they had little to say, except to tell Christian to mind his own business. Then I saw that Formalist and Hypocrisy went along with Christian, saying only that as far as the laws and ordinances were concerned, they would obey them as conscientiously as Christian. They added that they saw no difference between themselves and Christian except for the coat he wore, which they speculated was given to Christian to hide his shame and nakedness.

Christian responded, “You will not be saved by keeping laws and ordinances. You cannot be saved, because you did not come in by the door. As for the coat that is on my back, it was given to me by the Lord of the place where I am going and is, as you say, a cover for my nakedness. I take it as a token of His kindness to me, for I had nothing but rags before. Besides, I take some comfort in the fact that when I come to the gate of the City, the Lord of that place will surely recognize me since it is His coat on my back, a coat that He gave me the day that He stripped me of my rags.

“I also have a mark on my forehead, which perhaps you have not noticed. One of my Lord’s most intimate associates placed it on my forehead the day that my burden fell off my shoulders.

“Also I have been given a scroll to read as a comfort to me as I make my journey. I was also told to turn it in at the Celestial Gate as an assurance that I will be welcomed into the Celestial City. I doubt you have any interest in all these things since you did not come in at the gate.”

To this, Formalist and Hypocrisy gave no reply. They just looked at each other and laughed.

Then I saw that they all kept walking along the path, except that Christian walked up ahead and had no more conversation with Formalist and Hypocrisy. He only talked with himself, sometimes sighing, sometimes encouraging himself, and often refreshing himself by reading from the scroll that one of the Shining Ones had given him.