He bears a great burden on his back until he passes through the narrow gate and is able to lay his burden at the cross. There he is given new clothes and a scroll to read on the journey. But many dangers and joys still await him.
At one point in his journey he comes to the House Beautiful, guarded by chained lions and cared for by three women named Prudence, Piety, and Charity. As Christian is resting with them, Prudence asks Christian some pointed questions.
May his answers be true of every pilgrim in this life who calls himself Christian.
Then Prudence began to ask Christian some questions.
"Do you ever think of the country you came from?"
"Yes," Christian replied, "but with much shame and detestation. 'Honestly, if I had pleasant thoughts about the country from which I have come, I might have taken the opportunity to return; but I desire a better country, one that is heavenly.'"
Prudence asked further, "Do you still not carry some of the baggage from the place you escaped?"
"Yes, but against my will. I still have within me some of the carnal thoughts that all my countrymen, as well as myself, were delighted with. Now all those things cause me to grieve. If I could master my own heart, I would choose never to think of those things again, but when I try only to think about those things that are best, those things that are the worst creep back into my mind and behavior."
"Don't you find that sometimes you can defeat those evil things that at other times seem to defeat you?" Prudence suggested.
Christian answered, "Yes, it happens occasionally. They are golden hours that I treasure."
"Can you remember the means by which you're able occasionally to defeat the evil desires and thoughts that assail you?"
Christian said, "Yes. When I think about what I experienced at the cross, that will do it. When I look at the embroidered coat, that will do it. When I read the scroll that I carry in my coat, that will do it. And when my thoughts turn to the place to which I am going, that will do it."
Prudence inquired, "And what is it that makes you desirous to go to Mount Zion?"
Christian replied, "Why, it is there that I hope to see alive my Savior who hung dead on the cross. It is there that I hope to be rid of all those things that to this day are an annoyance to me. They say that in that place there is no death, and I will dwell there with the company that I like best. For, to tell you the truth, I love Him because He eased me of my burden. I am weary of my inward sickness. I desire to be where I will die no more, with a company that will continually cry, 'Holy, holy, holy!'"
-- The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan, ed. C.J. Lovik, p. 76-77