How we cite our quotes: Paragraph (P#) or Line (Line #)
Quote #1
"Look before thee; dost thou see this narrow way? THAT is the way thou must go; it was cast up by the Patriarchs, Prophets, Christ, and his Apostles; and it is as straight as a rule can make it: This is the way thou must go." (P133)
Good-will is speaking to Christian here after he has passed through the Wicket Gate. Pay attention to how commanding the tone is here. There are no options, no twists, no widening of the way. What do you make of this emphasis on the straight and narrow? How does it jibe with the teaching throughout the story to follow the words of the Gospels literally and above all else?
Quote #2
The Interpreter answered, This parlour is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet Grace of the Gospel: the dust is his Original Sin and inward Corruptions, that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the Law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. (P147)
The "Law" that the Interpreter references here is an allusion to Biblical (and more particularly Old Testament) law. Simply following commandments will get you only so far. Bunyan's image of the water of the Gospel symbolizes the love and spirit of the law of Christ's teachings, which temper the Old Testament logic and cleanse the souls of Christians.
Quote #3
The path-way was here also exceeding narrow, and therefore good Christian was the more put to it; for when he sought in the dark to shun the ditch on the one hand, he was ready to tip over into the mire on the other; also when he sought to escape the mire, without great carefulness he would be ready to fall into the ditch. Thus he went on, and I heard him here sigh bitterly; for, besides the dangers mentioned above, the path-way was here so dark, that ofttimes, when he lift up his foot to set forward, he knew not where, or upon what he should set it next. (P330)
This experience of the "exceeding narrow" road of religion comes from Christian's passage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The difficulty of walking it in the darkness of the valley almost starts to play with his mind. How can one walk a path (particularly one like this) when one can't even see where one is walking?