This is Part 4, and after many twists and turns and jolts and thrills, our pilgrim friend and Mr. Smooth-it-away are eager to resume the historic route made famous by John Bunyan’s Christian. The portals of the Celestial City next await. Or do they?

<p>This is Part 4, and after many twists and turns and jolts and thrills, our pilgrim friend and Mr. Smooth-it-away are eager to resume the historic route made famous by John Bunyan’s Christian. The portals of the Celestial City next await. Or do they?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

GYC Southeast

Rhonda Grakov

Great in God's Sight Season 2

Johannes Kepler: Thinking God’s Thoughts

Blaise Pascal: Where Faith and Reason Intersect

Sir Robert Boyle: Christian Virtuoso

Sir Isaac Newton: On the Shores of the Ocean of Truth

The Celestial Railroad: Part 1

The Celestial Railroad: Part 2

The Celestial Railroad: Part 3

The Celestial Railroad: Part 4

Johann Sebastian Bach: This Art Still Lives

John Bunyan: Progress in Prison


Hello and welcome to Greating God's Sight. For 3 episodes now, we have been following the adventures of our pilgrim friend who is traveling to the Celestial City by way of the convenient Celestial Railroad. Our last stop was at Vanity Fair, where our friend has been sojourning for a while. Is the end of the journey in sight? Is the Celestial City finally within reach?

Join us now for the fourth and final installment of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, The Celestial Railroad. Please be sure to subscribe and visit our website at thegreatpodcast.org. Thanks for listening. Day after day, as I walked the streets of Vanity, my manners and deportment became more and more like those of the inhabitants. The place began to seem like home.

The idea of pursuing my travels to the Celestial City was almost obliterated from my mind. I was reminded of it, however, by the sight of the same pair of simple pilgrims at whom we had laughed so heartily when Apollyon puffed smoke and steam into their faces at the commencement of our journey. There they stood amid the densest bustle of vanity, the dealers offering them their purple and fine linen and jewels, the men of wit and humor jibing at them, a pair of buxom ladies ogling them askance, while the benevolent mistress smoothed away, whispered some of his wisdom at their elbows, and pointed to a newly erected temple. But there were these worthy simpletons, making the scene look wild and monstrous, merely by their sturdy repudiation of all part in its business or pleasures. 1 of them—his name was sticked to the right—perceived in my face, I suppose, a species of sympathy and almost admiration which, to my own great surprise, I could not help feeling for this pragmatic couple.

It prompted him to address me. Sir, inquired he, with a sad yet mild and kindly voice, do you call yourself a pilgrim? Yes, I replied, My right to that appellation is indubitable. I am merely a sojourner here in Vanity Fair, being bound to the Celestial City by the new railroad. Alas, friend, rejoined Mr.

Stick to the right, "'I do assure you, and beseech you to receive the truth of my words, that that whole concern is a bubble. You may travel on it all your lifetime, were you to live thousands of years, and yet never get beyond the limits of Vanity Fair. Yea, though you should deem yourself entering the gates of the Blessed City, it will be nothing but a miserable delusion. The Lord of the Celestial City, began the other pilgrim, whose name was Mr. Footed-to-Heaven, has refused, and will ever refuse, to grant an act of incorporation for this railroad, and unless that be obtained, no passenger can ever hope to enter his dominions.

Wherefore every man who buys a ticket must lay his account with losing the purchase money, which is the value of his own soul." "'Puh! Nonsense, ' said Mr. Smoothitaway, taking my arm and leading me off. These fellows ought to be indicted for a libel. If the law stood as it once did in Vanity Fair, we should see them grinning through the iron bars of the prison window.

This incident made a considerable impression on my mind, and contributed, with other circumstances, to indispose me to a permanent residence in the City of Vanity, although, of course, I was not simple enough to give up my original plan of gliding along easily and commodiously by railroad. Still, I grew anxious to be gone. There was 1 strange thing that troubled me. Amid the occupations or amusements of the fair, nothing was more common than for a person, whether at a feast, theatre, or church, or trafficking for wealth and honours, or whatever he might be doing, and however unseasonable the interruption, suddenly to vanish like a soap-bubble, and be never more seen of his fellows. And so accustomed were the latter to such little accidents that they went on with their business as quietly as if nothing had happened.

But it was otherwise with me. Finally, after a pretty long residence at the fair, I resumed my journey towards the Celestial City, still with Mr. Smoothit away at my side. At a short distance beyond the suburbs of Vanity, we passed the ancient silver mine, of which Demas was the first discoverer, and which is now wrought to great advantage, supplying nearly all the coined currency of the world. A little further onward was the spot where Lot's wife had stood for ages, under the semblance of a pillar of salt.

Curious travellers have long since carried it away piecemeal. Had all regrets been punished as rigorously as this poor dame's were, my yearning for the relinquished delights of vanity fair might have produced a similar change in my own corporeal substance, and left me a warning to future pilgrims. The next remarkable object was a large edifice, constructed of moss-grown stone, but in a modern and airy style of architecture. The engine came to a pause in its vicinity with the usual tremendous shriek. This was formerly the castle of the redoubted giant Despair, observed Mr.

Smoothit away, but since his death Mr. Flimsy-Faith has repaired it and now keeps an excellent house of entertainment here. It is 1 of our stopping-places." "'It seems but slightly put together, ' remarked I, looking at the frail yet ponderous walls. I do not envy Mr. Flimsy-Faith his habitation.

Some day it will thunder down upon the heads of the occupants. We shall escape, at all events, said Mr. Smooth-It-Away, for Apollyon is putting on the steam again. The road now plunged into a gorge of the delectable mountains and traversed the field where, in former ages, the blind men wandered and stumbled among the tombs. 1 of these ancient tombstones had been thrust across the track by some malicious person, and gave the train of cars a terrible jolt.

Far up the rugged side of a mountain, I perceived a rusty iron door, half overgrown with bushes and creeping plants, but with smoke issuing from its crevices. "'Is that, ' inquired I, "'the very door in the hillside, which the shepherds assured Christian was a byway to hell?' "'That was a joke on the part of the shepherds, " said Mr. Smoothit-Away with a smile. "'It is neither more nor less than the door of a cavern, which they use as a smoke-house for the preparation of mutton-hams.' My recollections of the journey are now, for a little space, dim and confused, inasmuch as a singular drowsiness here overcame me, owing to the fact that we were passing over the enchanted ground, the air of which encourages a disposition to sleep. I awoke, however, as soon as we crossed the borders of the pleasant land of Beula.

All the passengers were rubbing their eyes, comparing watches, and congratulating 1 another on the prospect of arriving so seasonably at the journey's end. The sweet breezes of this happy climb came refreshingly to our nostrils. We beheld the glimmering gush of silver fountains, overhung by trees of beautiful foliage and delicious fruit, which were propagated by grafts from the celestial gardens. Once, as we dashed onward like a hurricane, there was a flutter of wings and the bright appearance of an angel in the air, speeding forth on some heavenly mission. The engine now announced the close vicinity of the final station house by 1 last and horrible scream in which there seemed to be distinguishable every kind of wailing and woe and bitter fierceness of wrath all mixed up with the wild laughter of a devil or a madman.

Throughout our journey, at every stopping place, Apollyon had exercised his ingenuity in screwing the most abominable sounds out of the whistle of the steam engine, but in this closing effort he outdid himself and created an infernal uproar, which besides disturbing the peaceful inhabitants of Beulah, must have sent its discord even through the celestial gates. While the horrid clamor was still ringing in our ears, we heard an exulting strain, as if a thousand instruments of music, with height and depth and sweetness in their tones, at once tender and triumphant, were struck in unison to greet the approach of some illustrious hero who had fought the good fight and won a glorious victory, and was come to lay aside his battered arms for ever. Looking to ascertain what might be the occasion of this glad harmony, I perceived, on alighting from the cars, that a multitude of shining ones had assembled on the other side of the river to welcome 2 poor pilgrims who were just emerging from its depths. They were the same whom Apollyon and ourselves had persecuted with taunts and jibes and scalding steam at the commencement of our journey, the same whose unworldly aspect and impressive words had stirred my conscience amid the wild revelers of Vanity Fair.

"'How amazingly well those men have got on!' cried I to Mr. Smoothitoway. "'I wish we were secure of as good a reception!' "'Never fear, never fear, ' answered my friend. "'Come, make haste. The ferry-boat will be off directly, and in 3 minutes you will be on the other side of the river.

No doubt you will find coaches to carry you up to the city gates. A steam ferry-boat, the last improvement on this important route, lay at the riverside, puffing, snorting, and emitting all those other disagreeable utterances which betoken the departure to be immediate. I hurried on board with the rest of the passengers, most of whom were in great perturbation, some bawling out for their baggage, some tearing their hair and exclaiming that the boat would explode or sink, some already pale with the heaving of the stream, some gazing affrighted at the ugly aspect of the steersman, and some still dizzy with the slumberous influences of the enchanted ground. Looking back to the shore, I was amazed to discern Mr. Smoothitoway waving his hand in token of farewell.

"'Don't you go over to the Celestial City?' exclaimed I. "'Oh, no, ' answered he with a queer smile, and that same disagreeable contortion of visage which I had remarked in the inhabitants of the dark valley. Oh, no! I have come thus far only for the sake of your pleasant company. Good-bye.

We shall meet again. And then did my excellent friend Mr. Smoothitaway laugh outright, in the midst of which castration, a smoke-wreath issued from his mouth and nostrils, while a twinkle of lurid flame darted out of either eye, proving indubitably that his heart was all of a red blaze. The impudent fiend! To deny the existence of Tophet when he felt its fiery tortures raging within his breast.

I rushed to the side of the boat intending to fling myself on shore. But the wheels, as they began their revolutions, threw a dash of spray over me, so cold, so deadly cold, with the chill that will never leave those waters until death be drowned in his own river, that with a shiver and a heartquake I awoke. Thank heaven it was a dream. Thank you for listening to Great in God's Sight, a podcast by GYC Southeast. We hope you have enjoyed this adventure through time and pray it serves to deepen your relationship with God.

Please remember to hit the subscribe button and share this episode with your friends via text or social media. You never know who might be encouraged! Until next time, we wish you God's blessing as you

Back to Menu

Series

Great in God's Sight Season 2

The Celestial Railroad: Part 4

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Johannes Kepler: Thinking God’s Thoughts

11m

Blaise Pascal: Where Faith and Reason Intersect

10m

Sir Robert Boyle: Christian Virtuoso

11m

Sir Isaac Newton: On the Shores of the Ocean of Truth

11m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 1

13m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 2

13m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 3

11m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 4

13m

Johann Sebastian Bach: This Art Still Lives

13m

John Bunyan: Progress in Prison

9m

Sound Doctrine