There, if thou seekest them, such things to find, As will be helpful to an honest mind. What of my dross thou findest there, be bold To throw away, but yet preserve the Gold.
None throws away the apple for the core.
But if thou shalt cast all away as vain, I know not if 'twill make me dream again. For hundreds of years since it first appeared in 1678, the work that ends with these lines, the first part of Pilgrim's Progress , an account of Christian's journey from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City, was the one book, besides the Bible, that most English-speaking people possessed and read. After the Restoration of King and bishops in 1660, he spent most of the next twelve years in prison and, it seems, during a briefer imprisonment in 1676, composed his masterpiece. Bunyan's appeal is undeniable. As Christian looses his burden at the foot of the cross, puts on the full armor of God, fights Appolyon, strays from the strait and narrow path, and escapes from the Giant Despair, Biblical images come alive for us.