The Third Part of the Pilgrim's Progress

"...fasting was a duty often practised by the people of God, and by holy men under the law of Moses. And the gospel recommends it, from the beginning to the end, by the examples of Christ and John the Baptist, of Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles, as well as by their counsels and exhortations; nothing is more frequently inculcated than this duty of fasting, throughout the writings of the New Testament: And without all doubt, it is now as requisite as ever it was, since we are liable to the same infirmities, exposed to the same temptations, and beset with the same dangers as former Christians were; against all which evils fasting is proper remedy. Fasting mortifies the body, and tames concupiscence; it quenches lust, and kindles devotion; it is the handmaiden of prayer, and the nurse of meditation; it refines the understanding. subdues the passions, regulates the will, and sublimates the whole man to a more spiritual state of life: this the life of the angels, the enamel of the soul, the greatest advantage of religion, the best opportunity for retirements of devotion. While the smoke of carnal appetites is suppressed and distinguished, the heart breaks forth with holy fire, til it be burning like cherubim, and the most ecstasied order of pure and undiluted spirits. These are the proper and genuine effects of religious and frequent fasting, as they can witness who make it their practice."

"This set of planks was called the bridge of Self-denial, and it reached quite over the valley of Humiliation. ...the air was all hung full of nets, and traps, and gins, which were placed so low that a man could not walk upright, but he must be caught in some of them; these were planted here by the prince of the power of the air, to catch such pilgrims in as were high minded, and walked with stretched outs necks..."

"Much pain and hardship I have undergone: yet still my God has mingled sweet and sour, Oft-times he smild when he did seem to lowr ... The humble pilgrim Satan neer beguiles Humility the souls sure refuge is, The lowest step that leads to highest bliss."

"...crawled he along, til he was almost got over, when he saw several boats making towards him... in the boats there were men... who hallooed and called after Tender-conscience; but he regarded them not... and... kept on his pace; but they rowed hard after him and shot several arrows at him... Now the names of these men that shot at Tender-conscience so fiercely were Worldly-honour, Arrogancy, Pride, Self-conceit, Vain-glory, and Shame..."

"God hath endowed us with different faculties, suitable and proportionable to the different objects that engage them. We discover sensible things by our senses, rational things by our reason, things intellectual by understanding; but divine and celestial things he has reserved for the exercise of our faith, which is a kind of divine and superior sense in the soul. Our reason and understanding may at some times snatch a glimpse, but cannot take a steady and adequate prospect of things so far above their reach and sphere. Thus, by the help of natural reason, I may know there is a God, the first cause and original of all things; but his essence, attributes, and will, are hid within the veil of inaccessible light, and cannot be discerned by us but through faith in his divine revelation. He that walks without this light, walks in darkness, though he may strike out some faint and glimmering sparkles of his own. And he that, out of the gross and wooden dictates of his natural reason, carves out a religion to himself, is but a more refined idolater than those who worship stocks and stones, hammering an idol out of his fancy, and adoring the works of his own imagination. For this reason God is nowhere said to be jealous, but upon the account of his worship."