Is the Cross depicted in the "Holy War"?

It is the opinion of many people that Bunyan does not refer to the Cross of Christ enough times in the Holy War. For example Faith Cook in her excellent book “Fearless Pilgrim” states on page 382 “Perhaps the weakest point, and the point at which allegory itself fails as a medium for expressing the full-orbed gospel, is in the treatment of redemption by the cross of Christ. Not until the end of the book do we discover, in perhaps one of the finest passages of all, Emmanuel proclaiming his redemptive work on behalf of Mansoul” and then Faith Cook quotes the place starting with “O my Mansoul, I have lived, I have died etc”.

Without wishing to contradict Faith Cook, there are other references to the cross. They fall into two categories, direct and allegorical.

Firstly the direct references will be discussed. There is a passage on “Residual Sin” starting on page 175 starting with the words “Next, O my Mansoul…”. On page 177 we read

“I give you, my Lord Mayor, my Lord Willbewill, and Mr Recorder, with all the inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, full power and commission to seek out, to take, and to cause to be put to death by the cross, all, and all manner of Diabolonians when and wherever you shall find them to lurk within or to range without the walls of the town of Mansoul”.

We should never forget that Christ is a Saviour primarily from Sin. We are saved by our sins being put to death on the cross. What sins is Bunyan talking about? We have too many sins to list, however Bunyan does name some of them on p 176.

“Lord fornication, Lord Adultery, the Lord Murder, the Lord Anger, the Lord Lasciviousness, the Lord Deceit, the Lord Evil-eye, Mr Drunkenness, Mr Revelling, Mr Idolatry, Mr Witchcraft, Mr Variance, Mr Emulation, Mr wrath, Mr Strife, Mr Sedition, and Mr Heresy. These are some of the chief, O Mansoul”.

We must therefore conclude that when Bunyan writes about a Diabolonian being put to death, he is referring to the cross of Christ.

Secondly the allegorical references will be discussed. The gospel of Jesus Christ is depicted as a trumpet like the one that made the walls of Jericho fall down. The Gospel must of necessity contain teaching about the Cross of Christ and his substitution for us as the wrath of god the Father was poured out.

“ Well, before the king’s forces had sat before Mansoul three days, Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go down to Ear-gate, and there, in the name of the great Shaddai, to summon Mansoul to give audience to the message that he, in his master’s name, was to them commanded to deliver. So the trumpeter, whose name was Take-heed-what-you-hear, went up, as he was commanded, to Ear-Gate, and there sounded his trumpet for a hearing”. Sadly this gospel trumpet is not heeded, and neither is the second.

In further support of this line of reasoning I refer to p 56.

“After which they gave out the word, which was, “Ye must be born again”. Then they sounded the trumpet”…

The gospel of Jesus Christ is depicted as a chariot. Take a look at p 110.

“Thus having made Diabolus naked in the eyes of Mansoul, and before the commanders of the Prince, in the next place he commands that Diabolus should be bound with chains to his chariot wheels”. This reminds us of Habakkuk 3 v 8 which refers to the chariots of salvation.

“Thou didst ride upon thine horses and the chariots of salvation”.

Any gospel presentation (chariot or vehicle of salvation) must contain mention of the cross of Christ so we must take it as an allegorical reference to the cross.

The Bible itself uses allegory as a means of depicting the gospel of Christ’s death on the cross (including trumpets and chariots and many more for example the crossing of the Red Sea etc). Our Scientific age has programmed our minds to want things spelt out in literal non-allegorical words.

If we find allegory difficult to understand we should seek the Lord’s face in prayer. The all knowing God will give wisdom.