- Ahead, Christian sees the Palace Beautiful and goes to it, hoping to find rest for the night. At the entrance, however, by the Porter, or gatekeeper's lodge, are the two lions.
- The narrator explains that the lions are chained, but Christian does not see this and thinks that he'll have to turn back. Just then, the Porter comes out and asks "Is thy strength so small?" (P203). This dude is absolutely mocking our man Christian.
- The Porter tells Christian that the lions are chained and that, so long as he stays in the middle of the path, they won't be able to touch him. Christian takes his word and while the lions roar loudly, they don't touch him while he walks straight.
- The Porter welcomes Christian to the Palace Beautiful, which he says has been built by the Lord for the rest of pilgrims like him.
- Christian tells the Porter where he has come from and how his name formerly was Graceless. Then he explains how he lost the scroll on his way up the hill, making his arrival so late.
- The Porter calls one of the Palace virgins, a lady named Discretion, to show him where to rest and speak with him. Discretion asks his name and story and then calls for three of her sisters, Prudence, Piety, and Charity.
- Piety and Prudence "hold discourse" (P212) with Christian while supper is prepared and ask him to talk about the reasons he set out and continued on his journey.
- Prudence asks him specifically about his thoughts of home and the things he used to enjoy. While he does admit that he thinks of home often, Christian asserts that he now wants to go to "a better country" (P231).
- Also, while he still has thoughts of the body (for sexytimes, food, pleasure, etc.), he finds that these occur less when he thinks of the cross or the scroll that he was given.
- Charity questions Christian about his family and whether he tried to get them to accompany him. He tells her that he did try, but they were unwilling to leave their worldly lives, even though they saw his distress. Charity clears his conscience from any blame in failing to persuade them to come.
- Over a huge feast, they all talk together about the Lord and how much he sacrificed on the cross for the love of pilgrims like Christian. After dinner and prayers, Christian is taken to his bedroom, called Peace. We assume he sleeps like a baby.
- The next morning, Christian is taken to the study of the Palace, where he is shown all the records of the lord's acts and of all the people who had followed in his ways. The ladies of the palace show him both the accounts of people who had performed miracles with the Lord's help and of people who had done horrible things and were forgiven.
- The next day, Christian is shown the armory where all of the battle weapons and armor of the Lord are kept. Whoa—God has weapons? In an armory?
- The ladies also show him a great collection of famous weapons from the Bible: Moses's rod, Jael's hammer, David's slingshot, etc. It's a Biblical war museum.
- Lastly, they show him "the sword with which their Lord will kill the man of sin, in the day that he shall rise up to the prey" (P264).
- Christian, while getting ready to leave the next day, is told by the ladies to stay a little longer. He obviously says "Sure. I want another night in my Peace bedroom."
- The day after that, they take him up to the very top of the Palace and show him the view of the Delectable Mountains.
- He see's a beautiful country around them and the ladeez tell him is called Immanuel's Land. This land, they say, belongs to all pilgrims on the journey to the Celestial City. Before letting him go, the ladies set him up with armor in case he gets in trouble on the way.
- The Porter tells Christian of another Pilgrim, Faithful, who is traveling just ahead. This is a guy Christian knew from his home town.
- Discretion, Piety, Charity, and Prudence all accompany Christian to the bottom of the hill. The hillside going down is very steep and they stay with him to repeat their earlier conversations and prevent him falling on his way into the Valley of Humiliation.
- At the bottom, the ladies give Christian food for the journey and wave their white hankies as Christian walks off.