To Be a Pilgrim
R. L. Vaughn“To Be a Pilgrim” (also called “He Who Would Valiant Be” and “Who Would True Valour see”) is a hymn derived from the pen of the famed John Bunyan. Bunyan was a prolific writer, but is best known for his classic The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come.
John Bunyan was born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England sometime in 1628. His Church of England parents had their infant John baptized November 30, 1628. By trade Bunyan was a tinker, a tinsmith who mended household utensils – which trade he learned from his father. Around 1653 or 1654 John was converted, immersed, and joined a nonconformist meeting in Bedford. Shortly afterward he began to preach and write on theological topics. After the monarchy was restored in 1660, Bunyan was soon arrested for his nonconformist preaching. In jail he wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and probably in this time also started The Pilgrim’s Progress,[i] which was written in an allegorical style. King James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence in 1672, and Bunyan was released from prison. Afterward, he devoted his time to writing and preaching (the Bedford Meeting chose Bunyan as pastor in 1671, while he was still in prison).
Many people consider Bunyan to have been a Baptist, but perhaps he is best understood as a Puritan who held baptistic beliefs. He agreed with Baptists on believer’s immersion, but rejected their strict communion practice (he teaching and practicing open communion). [A curiously inflamed legend runs round the internet while truth tries to get its boots on – that John Bunyan was committed to the Geneva Bible and rejected the King James translation of 1611. I debunked that myth in "John Bunyan – Geneva Bible Only?"]
John Bunyan died in London August 31, 1688. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, a nonconformist burying ground where many other notable English dissenters are buried.
“To Be a Pilgrim” was not written as a hymn for a hymn book, but first appeared in the second part of The Pilgrim’s Progress, in 1684. The hymn as first given below is how it appears as printed in The Pilgrim’s Progress: in Two Parts (1840 printing by L. & G. Seeley, London, 1840, page 381).
1. Who would true valour see
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather;
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avow’d intent
To be a pilgrim.2. Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound —
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight;
But he will have a right
To be a pilgrim.3. Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit;
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then, fancies, fly away,
He’ll not fear what men say,
He’ll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim.Ironically, the church that persecuted Bunyan over 200 years earlier went to some effort to include this poem in a hymnal. Percy Dreamer adapted the words of Bunyan for The English Hymnal of 1906 (Oxford: Oxford University Press). It is No. 402, in the category “General Hymns.” It appears with the tune Monk’s Gate, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams from a traditional English melody.
The hymn has also been paired with the tune St. Dunstan’s by Charles Winfred Douglas. The meter is sometimes given as 8 lines of 6.5.6.5.6.6.6.5. (as appears in this blog post) or as 4 lines of 11.11.12.11. (which are essentially the same, other than how it is presented on the page). The word arrangement by Percy Dreamer is as follows:
1. He who would valiant be
’Gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy
Follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.2. Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound —
His strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might,
Though he with giants fight;
He will make good his right
To be a pilgrim.3. Since, Lord, thou dost defend
Us with thy Spirit,
We know we at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away!
I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim._______________________
Endnote
[i] There is some disagreement among Bunyan historians and scholars as to which time of imprisonment Bunyan started writing The Pilgrim’s Progress.======================
[From R. L. Vaughn, https://baptistsearch.blogspot.com/ - Scanned with permission and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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