Spiritual Direction in Pilgrim's Progress

Spirituality and Spiritual Direction in the Puritan Classic 'Pilgrim's Progress"

Introduction

Puritan spirituality is characterised by four features. The first is that it is based on conversion. Lives need to be changed and transformed by an encounter with the living Christ. This experience of conversion is the norm and all Christians should experience this step of encounter in order to be on the journey towards the Celestial City. Second, it is based on activism. One’s spiritual status in God has to be continually maintained and deepened such that effort through self-discipline is the hallmark of an active puritan lifestyle. Third, it is based on scripture. It regards the bible as the only rule of faith and that in faith terms; there is no need for any, other than the book of books which is the bible. And fourthly, it stresses on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the whole world.

The book by John Bunyan entitled ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ takes these four features of Puritan spirituality and in the witness and testimony of its characters spell out in abundant detail, the road of sanctification and spirituality to a deeper experience with God.

For those of us who hold dearly to our evangelical background and are uncomfortable with the other traditions of spirituality, an examination of Puritan spirituality will be a profitable exercise.[1]

Purpose Statement

I hope in this paper to delve deep into the book ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ and unearth teachings on Puritan spirituality as well as John Bunyan’s techniques on Spiritual Direction. The first part will be on Puritan spirituality as is found in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ with some accompanying comments and reflections. The second part will be on the Spiritual Direction found in Pilgrim’s Progress.

The Spirituality of Pilgrim’s Progress

Definition of a Puritan

John Bunyan’s book begins with the dream of a man named Christian who has a burden on his back, a book in his hand and a desire to flee from the wrath to come. This desire is encapsulated in his cry ‘What shall I do to be saved’,[2] a primal cry of desperation for conversion and a hunger for God. As he journeys towards salvation, he leaves behind his wife and family. Along the way he meets men who are named for the character in which they play, so Pliable, Obstinate, Worldly Wiseman, and Legality. Men, who as they are named dissuade Christian from going on the journey. After much discourse, Christian leaves them and journeys alone towards salvation. With the aid of others like Evangelist, Help and Goodwill, he then journeys through the wicket gate. The words of scripture both convict and encourage Christian to go on. At the place called Salvation and the cross of the crucified Christ, Christian loses his burden and is converted. He becomes the elect with the gifts from three shining ones. The first gift is the gift of the forgiveness of sins. The second is the change of his rags to the raiment of righteousness and the third sets a mark on his forehead. These gifts mark him out as the elect, the chosen people of God.[3]

A number of observation in this part of the story of Christian in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ gives us a definition of a Puritan. The first is that of conversion. Christian leaves every significant relationships, family, friends, partnerships and journeys alone towards conversion. Simpson remarks, ‘The essence of Puritanism is an experience of conversion which separates the Puritan from the mass of mankind and endows him with the privileges and the duties of the elect.’[4] Puritan spirituality sees the relationship of God with man as a man alone with his God.

The second is that of the egalitarian nature of Puritanism. Conversion and salvation is open to all social classes, gentry and farmer, Counts and beggars all pass by the way in Christian’s journey towards the Celestial City. One is not saved because of one’s class. Puritans upheld the doctrine of salvation and it addressed itself, man to man and never between the social classes whether directly or indirectly.[5] It attracted converts of all levels of society, aristocrats, country gentry, businessmen, intellectuals, free holders and small tradesmen.

Thirdly, scripture played a very important part in Puritan spirituality.[6] It was a religion of the Book as seen in the picture of Christian with the book in his hand and after his conversion, a scroll in his bosom.[7] The result of this thinking was that a person’s sanctification became the ground of assurance of salvation; it was necessary to do certain things and infer assurance from them. The journey of Christian is a journey towards sanctification of which the end is the Celestial City.

Aim of Puritan Spirituality

What is the aim of the Puritan for his life? It is to seek the Divine will for his life in spite of great difficulties, dangers and unpredictability. This is clearly seen in the story of Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress. The story tells of Christian encountering the hill of Difficulty where he encounters two men named Timorous and Mistrust who tells him of the presence of lions and urges him to turn back. In spite of this discouraging report, Christian continues and finds the journey hard going. But he perseveres and finally reaches safe haven at the Porter’s Lodge. He is also delighted to discover that the rumored lions were real but that they were chained lions and therefore harmless. These lions were placed there for a trial of faith.[8]

Puritan spirituality is about faith in the face of difficulties. The aim of Puritan spirituality is to discover the will of God in one’s life in spite of the dangers and difficulties that this existence may bring. As Simpson would put it in the description of what drives the Puritan,

‘When the Puritan surveys the world within the terms laid down by Christian tradition, he is struck by the profundity of human sin, by the necessity of the work of grace in his own soul to redeem him from the lot of fallen humanity, and by the demand for a disciplined warfare against sin which God makes on those he has saved. His pilgrimage is therefore a search for regeneration, which is usually achieved through an experience of conversion, and for the development of the type of character which is appropriate to the regenerate-a character marked by an intense sense of personal responsibility to God and his moral law, which expresses itself in a strenuous life of self-examination and self-denial.’[9]

In the words of Hopeful who describes his conversion and desire to deeper spirituality, Hopeful spells out his raison d’etre of his faith journey.

‘Conversion made me see that all the world notwithstanding all the righteousness thereof, is in a state of condemnation. It made me see that God the Father, though he be just, can justly justify the coming sinner. It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life, and confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance; for there never came thought into mine heart before now, that showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for the honor and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea I thought, that had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus.’[10]

From this we see that conversion resulted in a deep desire for holiness and service. This is characteristic of the Puritan life of faith.

Major emphasis

What are the major emphases of Puritan spirituality? There are three major ones. First, Puritan spirituality is experiential; it is spiritual journeying, warfare and the spiritual disciplines. The search for God must of necessity go through conversion and the process of sanctification. Here the experiential nature of Puritan Christianity becomes clarified. Puritan Christianity puts a healthy balance between head and heart, the cognitive versus the emotion and experiential dimension of Christianity. On one hand some are overly cognitive paying little attention to how scripture, worship, spiritual exercises and disciplines might affect them. Ignoring these imperil God’s presence and desire to commune with us. On the other hand, there is the equal danger of one so focused on the experiential that there is a display of little sensitivity to the origin of one’s experiences. The Puritan is spiritually alert in that the Spirit world is not just of the Holy Spirit but of others as well.[11]

Christian’s journey through the valley of humiliation and death illustrates this understanding and awareness acutely.[12] In the valley of humiliation he meets with the old adversary Apollyon who battles with Christian now appropriately suited with the armor of God. Here Bunyan reveals the Puritan’s understanding of the nature of spiritual warfare. It is not only a war of the spiritual powers and of life’s circumstances but that it is also a war of words. The dialogue between Apollyon and Christian is most instructive of this aspect. The dialogue contains defiance and trust in God with scripture and twisted scripture amidst physical strife and warfare. The end of the battle sees Christian winning the battle and then being refreshed through the partaking of bread and of the bottle (cup), a picture of the sacrament of a little Eucharist event, he continues his journey.[13]

Among the practices that the Puritans did as an aid to the deeper life with God were the spiritual disciplines of meditating on scripture, various types of prayer, fasting, self-examination, and keeping a journal. Other less common practices were meditating on heaven, contemplating and gazing at God, watchfulness, adhering to a life of faith which was the taking of God’s promises seriously regardless of temptations or troubles a person may face as well as suffering.[14]

In the valley of death and shadows, the whispering demons and the fleeing men heightens the drama of battle but this time with an unseen enemy of dread and anxiety. The weapon is not the sword that defeated Apollyon but the weapon of ‘All-Prayer’.[15] For the Puritan, the spiritual discipline of prayer takes center stage in the arena of faith struggles.

Secondly, Puritan spirituality sees a separation between the world of grace and the natural world. The natural man cannot grow in grace, he has to be reborn. This rebirthing is a vivid personal experience where the soul of man encounters the wrath and redemptive love of God.[16] After rebirth, he now joins the community of new creatures, the elect, the chosen ones, the peculiar people and the saint. It is the duty of this new creature to live a life of freedom under Divine law. It is his duty to seek after this law to live by it with all the self-discipline he can muster. This discipline of self–trial, of self-accusation and of self-denial can only be found in scripture which is the sole source of authority containing the complete rule by which men must live.[17]

In the tale that Bunyan tells, Christian’s experience mirrors this separation of the world of grace and the natural world. However he is not the only character in the book. There are others. Bunyan’s book reminds us that this is true of any other ones who seek after the things of God. In the meeting and dialogue between Christian and Faithful, who Bunyan labels as ‘soul friend’, one sees this principle of separation and the ‘fleeing of the wrath to come’ in operation also in the life of Faithful.[18] A comparison of the experiences of conversion throws up much commonality between the experience of Christian and Faithful. These commonalities are separation from the world, rebirthing and the walk of freedom under the Divine law of Christ. So Simpson writes of this important aspect of salvation where Puritans sees the work of salvation as being brought about through divine grace with the added understanding that there is nothing a man can do to save himself.

‘the characteristic feature (of salvation) emerges. He is completely passive, for this is Divine power exerted on a soul which is incapable of helping itself. He is shown how incapable he is by a revelation of his unworthiness which distinguishes the real thing from previous illusions. He compares the light by grace upon the state of a natural man’s soul with the light of the sun piercing into the depths of a filthy dungeon to reveal a floor crawling with vermin. Always before, when he wept for his sins, he had kept some feeling of human merit. Now he knows he has none; that the natural man even when seemingly a good man is only a beautiful abomination…Then in the midst of this horror, comes the act of mercy: the voice that says to the dead soul, “Arise and live”.[19]

Faithful’s experience of rebirth and conversion and journeying mirrors that of Christian but there are crucial differences. In the course of Faithful’s rebirth, he meets with different people and has different experiences. He meets the woman Wanton, but Christian does not. He meets Adam the First with the three daughters of ‘The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, while Christian does not. Christian meets with Worldly Wiseman but Faithful does not. There are innumerable examples of these. What this means is that Bunyan wants to tell us that there may be different experiences of rebirthing and conversion but the journey to the Celestial City is one journey where all must take.

From now on, the journey of Christian is now the journey of Faithful and of others until Faithful dies.[20] When Faithful dies in Vanity Fair, Christian meets another journey man. He is Hopeful. Both Faithful and Hopeful dialogues much with Christian in the rest of the book and it is in these dialogues that one can glean much of the Puritan understanding of Spiritual Direction.

Third aspect of Puritan spirituality concerns the growth of character. Bunyan’s book is an allegory of the life of a Christian and the people whom he meets along the way embody the character and behavior of their namesakes. While this is an allegory, the message is clear. It is people like Faithful, Hopeful, Piety, Prudence, Charity, Discretion and many others of a positive character that will inherit the earth. Those that are condemned to die are Pliable, Obstinate, Worldly Wiseman, Passion, Formalist, Hypocrisy, Mistrust, Sloth and others who are of the same negative characters. Puritan spirituality alongside the growth of a soul in love for God and His will is acutely aware of his own shortcomings and strives with all his might to overcome these personal negative behaviors. Simpson writes,

‘It is the duty of the (Puritan) Saint to search out the law and live by it, and, no matter how much they differ, they are agreed about one thing. It demands discipline. The discipline of self-trial-the perpetual self-accusation of the Puritan diaries; the discipline of self-denial-the massive prohibitions of the Puritan code; the discipline which Milton found in Cromwell when he said he could conquer the world because he had first conquered himself.[21]

It is this growth of character and the watchfulness over behavior in the sight of God that makes Puritanism such a pejorative word. The search for right behavior because it mirrors right thinking and right faith, also judges the current mores of the world surrounding the Puritan. The Puritan does not want to play by the rules and values of the world and sets himself apart. As such they are alienated from the world, they are not of the world and their moral values become a counterfoil to the mores of the others. As such Puritan lifestyles become a judgment on society and this has earned them the wrath of society. In the words of Envy, in the town of Vanity,

‘(These men had ascertained) that Christianity and the customs of our town of Vanity were diametrically opposite and could not be reconciled. By which saying my Lord, he doth at once not only condemn all our laudable doings but us in the doing of them.’ [22]

The Spiritual Direction of Pilgrim’s Progress

The qualities of a Spiritual Director

According to Bunyan, the Spiritual Director is a man who does not just talk but is also a doer. What he is, is not what he says he is, but that he also lives the words that he says. In modern parlance, it is the man who walks the talk. This quality is seen in Christian who is on the journey of faith and who practices what he preaches. Bunyan writes,

‘The soul of religion is the practick part: ‘Pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, To visit, the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:22-27) This, Talkative is not aware of, he thinks that hearing and saying will make a good Christian, and thus he deceiveth his own soul. Hearing is but as the sowing of the seed; talking is not sufficient to prove that fruit is indeed in the heart and life; and let us assure ourselves, that at the day of doom, men shall be judged according to their fruits. It will not be said then, Did you believe? But Were you doers, or talkers only? And accordingly shall they be judged.’[23]

Henri Nouwen himself epitomized these qualities. He was a Spiritual Director who has experienced the struggles of faith in his life as with Barry and Connolly. So Bunyan is in good company.

Other qualities of the Puritan as Spiritual Director are also mentioned in the Pilgrim’s Progress. For example, Bunyan names the shepherds of Delectable Mountain as Knowledge, Experience, Watchful and Sincere.[24] The shepherds show Christian and Hopeful a view of the Celestial City and also warn them of the dangers of error, and of hell. The names of the Shepherds teaches that the journey of faith and the vision of the end of that journey needs knowledge, an experiential faith, watchfulness and sincerity of heart lest one falls into error and insincerity of heart and purpose. These qualities are important if one were to be an effective guide for others on the journey. Barry and Connolly as well as Nouwen have brought out the importance of experience as an important quality that Spiritual Directors need to have.[25] [26]

The qualities of a Spiritual Directee

The Spiritual Directee is first and foremost a man who is aware of his predicament and wants to be saved. He runs away from the world’s low opinion of those who are pious and godly, to seek a higher end. Bunyan writes of the serious Directee through the disdainful words of the man of the world called By-Ends. According to the character By-Ends,

‘Why they, after their headstrong manner, concludes that it is their duty to rush on their journey all weathers, and I am waiting for wind and tide. They are for hazarding all for God at a clap, and I am for taking all advantages to secure my life and estate. They are for holding their notions, though all other men be against them, but I am for religion in what, and as far as the times and my safety shall bear it. They are for religion when in rags and contempt; but I am for him when he walks in his golden slippers in the sunshine and with applause.[27]

The ‘they’ referred to here are the serious disciples for Christ. The Spiritual Directee wastes no time for fair weather before plunging into the journey of faith in all serious haste and fervor.

Second the Directee is challenged not only to know about grace but to allow grace to work until the whole man’s heart, with great abhorrence to sin, will come to repentance and effective change. This change will not only be within the heart, but it will be visible to others around him. Bunyan writes of the qualities of such a man,

‘(He has) a life that is a life of holiness, heart holiness, family holiness (if he has a family) and by conversation-holiness in the world; which in the general teacheth him, inwardly to abhor his sin, and himself for that in secret, to suppress it in his family, and to promote holiness in the world; not by talk only, as an hypocrite or talkative person may do: but by a practical subjection in faith and love to the power of the word.[28]

The Puritan Spiritual Directee is not only journeying for himself, he is also journeying for others especially his family and friends. There is a social responsibility to the Puritan’s journeying of faith because he realizes that when he attains perfection in love, that love will flow out to others. Nouwen calls this the Ministry which overflows. He defines the overflowing ministry in the love for God as when two people toast their glasses of wine and something splashes over. Ministry is the extra.^{^[29]}

Thirdly, the Spiritual Directee sees not just the Director as one who would help him on this journey of faith, he sees also Jesus as one who has gone on before him on the same journey. This is clearly brought out in the description of Vanity Fair, the fair in city Vanity which is in the pathway of the pilgrim. This fair was designed by Beelzebub to distract and turn pilgrims away from their journeying. Bunyan describes how Jesus went through this fair as follows,

‘At this fair are all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not…The Prince of princes himself, when here went through this town to his own country…and Beelzebub…allure(d) that Blessed One, to cheapen and buy some of his vanities. But he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying out so much as one farthing upon these vanities.’[30]

Puritan Spiritual Direction is as much a journey of the Director with the Directee but also in the presence of the One who had gone on in the journey himself and thus knows much of the lay of the country. Essentially then, Puritan Spirituality and Direction is Christocentric. It sees Jesus as the One who had gone on before them and they are but treading his path behind him.

Fourthly the Spiritual Director may at times have to say no to his Directee especially when he sees the Directee going along the wrong path. A case in point is when Hopeful heeds the call of Demas to mine silver in a silver mine located on the hill called Lucre. Christian advises Hopeful not to heed Demas’ call as that ‘the treasure is a snare to those who seek it, for it hindered them in their pilgrimage.’[31] Puritans spoke plainly to their charges and were not afraid to call a spade a spade. It was by this plain speaking of the truth in love that they encouraged and helped those who desired to go journeying with them to a deeper faith in God.

The process of change

The meeting of faithful and Christian is a picture of how a Director and a Directee begins their Spiritual companionship. There is a mutual relationship and help as both recognize that it was God who brought them together. In the case of Hopeful and Christian after Faithful had died in Vanity Fair, Bunyan describes their relationship of Director and Directee as ‘entering into a brotherly covenant’ and as a companion on a mutual pilgrimage.[32]

What was the quality of their discourse? As the Puritans sought to bring about change in those who came to them, they brought about change and transformation in a number of ways.

First, they brought in real life examples to illustrate whether a behavior was good or bad. So, the Puritans would talk about others. They did this not in gossip but as holding up examples for instruction. Hence Christian and Faithful would talk about the others in their town. [33] They talked about who they knew and what had become of them. They talked about the results of their behaviors whether good or bad. All these were done so as to learn something from it. I guess this should be alright if the motivation is not malicious gossip but for instructional purposes. Puritans did not just talk about others they used that occasion to pray for them too. So we see in Bunyan how Puritans also prayed for others while they are discoursing together as Spiritual Friends.[34]

Second, the Spiritual Direction of the Puritan strove not just to endure trial but for victory. This is seen when Evangelist says to Christian and Faithful, ‘Right glad am I, not that you have met with trials, but that you have been victors and for that you have (notwithstanding many weaknesses) continued in the way to this day.’[35] The Puritan strove to overcome his difficulties and weaknesses and believed deep in his heart that with God’s help, he would triumph eventually. Spirituality then is not just becoming closer to God for a mystical experience but that reform of behavior and victory over weaknesses is very much an essential part of the equation of deepening spirituality for the Puritan.

Thirdly, the location in which Spiritual Direction takes place is important. Barry and Connolly in their book ‘The Practice of Spiritual Direction’ suggests that Spiritual Direction should take place in a setting where nature can help foster a contemplative attitude.[36] This is also true for the Pilgrim’s Progress. At the various stops and rests in the course of Christian’s journey are descriptions of fair nature. In one example, Bunyan describes a place called ‘the river of God’ where Christian and Hopeful came to rest, and to meditate on the goodness of God. The description includes fair green meadows which were green all the year round, green trees, and beautiful lilies and fruit trees. After they had drank their fill in the delights of the place, they sang a song, the language of which reveals a contemplative attitude that possessing the Kingdom of God was all that mattered.[37]

Fourthly, Bunyan also teaches that the process of change does not just affect the Director and Directee. The experiences gained in walking the journey of faith is made with a view that these experiences would benefit others who would make the same journey. The result of their experiences should be signposted so that others would be informed of the potential pitfalls and potential benefits. As such Puritan Spiritual Direction has not only a Director and Directee dynamic but it also has a place of warning to others who would make the same journey.

For example, Christian and Hopeful after they had escaped the Giant Despair by unlocking the doors of Castle Despair with the key of promise decided to erect a pillar at the road closest to the place where Castle Despair was situated. The pillar reads as follows,

Over this stile is the way to Doubting Castle which is kept by Giant Despair, who despiseth the King of the Celestial Country and seeks to destroy pilgrims.[38]

Bunyan adds that through this sign on the pillar, ‘many therefore that followed after, read what was written and escaped the danger.’

Conclusion

The Puritans were earnest men and women and terribly interested in living godly lives. Their longing for God was deep and enduring. Simpson describes this desire and longing in the following manner,

They are people who suffered and yearned and strove with an unbelievable intensity; and no superstructure of logic ought to be allowed to mask that turmoil of feeling. [39]

These Puritans blazed a trail for others to follow. They were deeply affected by their conversion experience and carried forward that conversion in the growing of a life for God through the exercise of the spiritual disciplines and self-denial. They were terribly interested in helping others to attain the same maturity of faith that they had. Although this may be one of the characteristic weaknesses of the Puritan character that is the want of proportion,[40] they were all good men and women, and wanted the good of all the others. In the wake of their existence, the Puritans managed to create a democratic system in the New England States which was the envy of the entire world. In this they managed to infuse such a system with strong moral values following the dictum of Hugh Price who says of Puritanism, that they infused the principle that ‘What was morally wrong can never be politically right.’[41] In the process, they brought moral values into a dark and dank world of politics, power and corruption.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY Barry, William A., and William J. Connolly. The Practice of Spiritual Direction. 2nd. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.

Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress: Complete and Unabridged. Pittsburgh: Whitaker House, 1981.

Kapic, Kelly M., and Randall C. Gleason, . The Devoted Life: An Introduction to the Puritan Classics. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2004.

Nouwen, Henri J. M., Michael J. Christensen, and Rebecca J. Laird. Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith. 1st. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.

Schwanda, Tom. ""Hearts Sweetly Refreshed": Puirtan Spiritual Practices Then and Now." Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (Institute of Spiritual Formation, Biola University) 3, no. 1 (2010): 21-41.

Simpson, Alan. Puritanism in Old and New England: Charles R. Walgren Foundation Lectures. 1st. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1955.

[1] For the seven similarities that Puritanism and Evangelical Christianity hold, please refer to the book by Kelly M., Kapic and Randall C. Gleason, eds. The Devoted Life: An Introduction to the Puritan Classics. (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2004).

[2] John, Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: Complete and Unabridged. (Pittsburgh:Whitaker House, 1981), 7.

[3] Ibid., 1-42.

[4] Alan, Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England: Charles R. Walgren Foundation Lectures. 1st. (Chicago, Illinois:The University of Chicago Press, 1955), 2.

[5] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 11.

[6] Ibid., 11)

[7] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 9, 45.

[8] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 42-51.

[9] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 103.

[10] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 173.

[11] Tom, Schwanda, “"Hearts Sweetly Refreshed": Puritan Spiritual Practices Then and Now." Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (Institute of Spiritual Formation, Biola University) 3, no. 1 (2010): 24.

[12] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 64-76.

[13] Ibid., 70.

[14] Schwanda, Hearts Sweetly Refreshed, 26.

[15] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 72.

[16] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 5.

[17] Ibid., 6.

[18] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 77-102.

[19] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 4, 5.

[20] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 77-116.

[21] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 6.

[22] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 111.

[23] Ibid., 94.

[24] Ibid., 143.

[25] William A., Barry, and William J. Connolly. The Practice of Spiritual Direction. 2nd. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2009. (Barry and Connolly 2009)

[26] Henri J. M., Nouwen, Michael J. Christensen, and Rebecca J. Laird. Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith. 1st. (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006).

[27] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 121.

[28] Ibid., 98.

[29] Nouwen, Christensen and Laird. Spiritual Direction, 131.

[30] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 105, 106.

[31] Ibid., 127.

[32] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 117.

[33] Ibid., 79.

[34] Ibid., 87.

[35] Ibid., 103.

[36] Barry and Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction, 54.

[37] Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 132.

[38] Ibid., 141.

[39] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 21.

[40] Ibid., 5.

[41] Simpson, Puritanism in Old and New England, 114.