The Pilgrim's Progress

Fear precipitates Christian’s journey. He is afraid his hometown “will be burned with fire from Heaven” (178)—that is, that God will destroy him and all of the people in his community. However, fear alone is not enough to guide Christian to the correct path. Instead, Evangelist gives Christian a piece of paper that reads, “Fly from the wrath to come” (182). He then points Christian toward the Wicket Gate—a symbol of Christian faith, or (more specifically) recognition that salvation can only come through Jesus’s sacrifice.

One of the defining features of the split between the Catholic Church and the various denominations that arose during the Protestant Reformation was the latter’s emphasis on faith. For a Puritan like Bunyan, no amount of good works could “earn” a person redemption, which was precisely why Jesus’s sacrifice was necessary. Consequently, only accepting the truth of that sacrifice (as per Christian thought) could set a person on the path to salvation. This is why Christian tells Formalist and Hypocrisie that they must go through the Wicket Gate in order to be saved; even adhering to the “laws” of the Bible itself (e.g., the Ten Commandments) will not suffice.

It is notable, however, that the Wicket Gate comes relatively early in Christian’s journey (and later Christiana’s).