Published: January 17, 2026 at 01:25 PM

Tags: books, pilgrims-progress, reading, gospel, christian-life, chapter-8

Coming away from the cross, forgiven and changed, you might expect Christian’s path to be lined only with encouragement. Instead, he soon meets a quiet but sobering warning in the form of three men who have simply stopped caring about the journey at all.

Simple, Sloth, and Presumption

Christian finds Simple, Sloth, and Presumption lying asleep right on the pilgrim path, bound with cords and utterly unconcerned. He pleads with them to wake up and move on before judgment overtakes them, but they shrug off his warning. Simple doesn’t want to think too deeply, Sloth can’t be bothered to stir himself, and Presumption assumes all will be well in the end no matter what he does. Then they roll over and go back to sleep.

It’s a short scene, but an uncomfortable one, because it exposes a temptation we all know: to treat eternal things casually, to delay repentance, to assume we’ll “get serious later.” Bunyan reminds us that spiritual sleep on the King’s highway is not harmless—it’s deadly.

Romans 13:11 (KJV)

[11] And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Those who sleep spiritually may perish in their ease.