Sunday, October 27, 2013

He who would Valiant Be, by John Bunyan


The book, The Pilgrim's Progress is one of the most influential books ever written in English. You find allusions to it throughout the rest of English literature, though in our own illiterate times, fewer and fewer people have any clue of what these allusions refer to. The author, John Bunyan, wrote a hymn in part 2 of his famous book, and here are the lyrics, along with a youtube version of the original hymn (a much revised version of it is more commonly used in the Anglican Church):


1. Who would true valour see,    
Let him come hither;    
One here will constant be,    
Come wind, come weather    
There’s no discouragement    
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent    
To be a pilgrim.    
   
2. Whoso beset him round    
With dismal stories,    
Do but themselves confound;    
His strength the more is.    
No lion can him fright,    
He’ll with a giant fight,    
But he will have a right    
To be a pilgrim.    
   
3. Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend,    
Can daunt his spirit;    
He knows he at the end    
Shall life inherit.    
Then fancies fly away,    
He’ll fear not what men say,    
He’ll labour night and day    
To be a pilgrim.