  “Then said Mr. Greatheart, ‘I have a commandment to resist sin, to overcome evil, to fight the good fight of faith; and I pray, with whom should I fight this good fight, if not with Giant Despair?’ “Now Giant Despair, because he was a giant, thought no man could overcome him; and again thought he, ‘Since heretofore I have made a conquest of angels, shall Greatheart make me afraid?’ So he harnessed himself and went out. Then they fought for their lives, and Giant Despair was brought to the ground, but was loth to die. He struggled hard, and had, as they say, as many lives as a cat; but Greatheart was his death, for he left him not till he had severed his head from his shoulders.” Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Have you heard of that marvelous story, That wonderful romance of old, The story of Christian, the pilgrim, So quaintly and earnestly told? ’Tis a curious dream, with a beautiful gleam Of light through its mystery thrown; ’Tis a picture of life, where the Soul in its strife With the demons of darkness is shown. Nor yet have the indolent ages Its mystical meaning outgrown. Dark threads from the loom of old Error Are shot through its fabric of light, Yet its blendings of Beauty and Terror Are wrought with a masterly might. The gleam and the glare of Destruction are there, With demons the soul to appall; And the pitfalls of Death, with their sulphurous breath, Where the weak and unwary must fall. But, ah! shall we call these mere fancies? Life yet hath a meaning for all. And there in that wonderful region, With battlements blackened and bare, To the sorrow of Hopeful and Christian, Stood the Castle of Giant Despair; For they ventured to stray in a perilous way, Where the Giant was searching about, Who seized on these men, and into a den, ’Neath his gloomy old Castle of Doubt, He thrust the poor sorrowful pilgrims, ’Neath that dismal old Castle of Doubt. It was said that he came “with a cudgel,” And he beat them from day to day, Till they chanced on “The Key of Promise,” When they fled from his wrath away. And they placed it with pious care O’er the perilous way where they went astray, That pilgrims might ever beware Of the dangers of Doubting Castle, And the wrath of old Giant Despair. Thereafter came Greatheart the valiant, Unrivaled in courage and might, The friend of the weak and defenseless, Who had pledged his good sword to the Right. There, boldly defiant, he challenged the Giant From his stronghold of Death to come out; And Giant Despair, with an insolent air, Looked down from the Castle of Doubt, And cried, “I will slay thee, vile braggart, And put all thy forces to rout.” Then in haste he came down from his Castle, With his terrible breastplate of fire, And straight upon Greatheart the valiant, He rushed with impetuous ire. But nothing dismayed, with his keen, trusty blade Greatheart smote the old Giant amain, Firm, fearless, and fast, until vanquished at last, He struggled and died on the plain. Yet ’tis said, that far down in the ages, He came to existence again. Do you deem this an idle old story, Dragged out from the dust of the Past? Alas! though so time-worn and hoary, Its truths in the Present stand fast. High up in the air, all blackened and bare, Still rises the Castle of Doubt, And the Giant, I trow, should you seek for him now, You would find him still prowling about; And the souls who go in to his Castle, Are more than the souls who come out. With the cudgel of Old Tradition, Does he beat them from day to day, And he carefully hides from their vision The Light of the Present away. The angels above, with compassionate love, A plan for their rescue devise; But the Giant cries out from his Castle of Doubt, “Beware of delusion and lies!” So they shrink back again to their prison, And fear through the Truth to grow wise. O, where is our Greatheart the valiant! A terrible warfare to wage On this old Theological Giant, The Doubt and Despair of this age? And each for the conflict prepare; We will march round about that old Castle of Doubt, With our “Banner of Light” on the air, And raze to its very foundations The stronghold of Giant Despair. |
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