Derek Thomas

as I read through Pilgrim's Progress.

But there's something else.

There's a preparation for death.

Yes, Bunyan intends you to think about it.

Not to put it away, not to put it aside, never to think about it, but to bring it to the forefront of your mind.

Am I ready to die?

There's a wonderful illustration in the 17th century, Thomas Goodwin, the Puritan,

who is the president of Magdalen College in Oxford.

And he has a study.

It's very dark, tiny little window.

It's a dark day.

It's England, after all.

It's cloudy and probably raining.

And a student, a prospective student.

And you have to remember that in the 17th century, prospective students to Oxford would probably have been 12 or 13 years old.

So, this young boy has traveled to Oxford.

He's being interviewed by the great Thomas Goodwin, the president of Magdalen College.

He enters into this dark room, and from behind a desk, he hears these words, are you ready to die?

And he flees in terror, thinking that his life is about to be ended.

And, of course, Thomas Goodwin was doing what Puritan pastors often did.