| To Be a Pilgrim | |
| Genre: | Hymn |
| Written: | 1684 |
| Meter: | 6.5.6.5.6.6.6.5 |
| Melody: | "St. Dunstans" by Winfred Douglas, "Moab" by John Roberts, "Monk's Gate" by Ralph Vaughan Williams |
"To Be a Pilgrim", also known as "He Who Would Valiant Be", is an English Christian hymn using words of John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress, first appearing in Part 2 of The Pilgrim's Progress, written in 1684.
The words were modified extensively by Percy Dearmer for the 1906 The English Hymnal.[1] At the same time it was given a new tune by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who used a melody taken from the traditional song "Our Captain Cried All Hands" which he collected in the hamlet of Monk's Gate in West Sussex – hence the name of "Monks Gate" by which the melody is referred to in hymn books.[2]
The hymn has also been sung to the melody "Moab" (John Roberts, 1870) and "St Dunstans" (Charles W. Douglas, 1917).
For a time, Bunyan's original version was not commonly sung in churches, perhaps because of the references to "hobgoblin" and "foul fiend." However, one commentator has said: "Bunyan's burly song strikes a new and welcome note in our Hymnal. The quaint sincerity of the words stirs us out of our easygoing dull Christianity to the thrill of great adventure."[3] Recent hymn books have tended to return to the original, for example, the Church of England's Common Praise and the Church of Scotland's Church Hymnary 4th Edition (Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise).
| John Bunyan's Original Version | 1906 The English Hymnal Version | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Who would true valour see, | 1. He who would valiant be | |
| Let him come hither; | ′Gainst all disaster, | |
| One here will constant be, | Let him in constancy | |
| Come wind, come weather | Follow the Master. | |
| There's no discouragement | There's no discouragement | |
| Shall make him once relent | Shall make him once relent | |
| His first avowed intent | His first avowed intent | |
| To be a pilgrim. | To be a pilgrim. | |
| 2. Whoso beset him round | 2. Who so beset him round | |
| With dismal stories, | With dismal stories, | |
| Do but themselves confound; | Do but themselves confound—— | |
| His strength the more is. | His strength the more is. | |
| No lion can him fright, | No foes shall stay his might, | |
| He'll with a giant fight, | Though he with giants fight: | |
| But he will have a right | He will make good his right | |
| To be a pilgrim. | To be a pilgrim. | |
| 3. Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend[,] | 3. Since, Lord, thou dost defend | |
| Can daunt his spirit; | Us with thy Spirit, | |
| He knows he at the end | We know we at the end | |
| Shall life inherit. | Shall life inherit. | |
| Then fancies fly away, | Then fancies flee away! | |
| He'll fear not what men say, | I'll fear not what men say, | |
| He'll labour night and day | I'll labour night and day | |
| To be a pilgrim.[4] | To be a pilgrim.[5] |
The hymn's refrain "to be a pilgrim" has entered the language and has been used in the title of a number of books dealing with pilgrimage in a literal or spiritual sense.[6]
"To be a Pilgrim" has been adopted by the British Special Air Service as their battle hymn.[7]