Almost vanquishes him. him own and respect the base, because of the same religious fraternity: And is not this, said he, a shame? (w) Chr. And what did you say to him? Faith. Say! I could not tell what to say at first. Yea, he put me so to it, that my blood came up in my face; even this Shame fetched it up, and had almost beat me quite off. But, at last, I began to consider, that, "that which is highly esteemed among men, is had in abomination with God."* And I thought again, this Shame tells me what men are: but it tells me nothing what God, or the word of God is. And I thought moreover, that at the day of doom, we shall not be doomed to death or life, according to the hectoring spirits of the world, but according to the wisdom and law of the Highest.— Therefore, thought I, what God says is best, though all men in the world are against it; seeing then that God prefers his religion; seeing God prefers a tender conscience; seeing they that make themselves fools for the kingdom of Heaven are wisest; and that the poor man that loveth Christ, is richer than the greatest man in the world that hates him; Shame depart, thou art an enemy to my salvation; shall I entertain thee against my sovereign Lord? How then shall I look him in the face at his coming? * Luke xvi. 15. (w) Nothing can be a stronger proof that we have lost the image of God, than that shame which is natural to us concerning the things of God. This shame, joined to the shame of man, is a very powerful enemy to God's truths, Christ's glory, and our soul's comfort. Better at once to get out of her pain, by declaring boldly for Christ and his cause, than stand shivering on the brink of profession, ever dreading the loss of our good name and reputation: for Christ says, (awful words) "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father," Mark viii. 38. It is one thing to be attacked by shame; and another to be conquered by it. Faithful repels shame. Should I now be ashamed of his way and servants," how can I expect the blessing? But indeed this Shame is a bold villain: I could scarce shake him out of my company; yea, he would be a hunting of me, and continually whispering me in the ear, with some one or other of the infirmities that attend religion; but at last I told him, it was in vain to attempt further in this business; for those things that he disdained, in those did I see most glory; and so at last I got past this importunate one. And when I had shaken him off, then I began to sing : "The trial that those men do meet withal, "And come, and come, and come again afresh ; "O let the pilgrims, let the pilgrims then, Chr. I am glad, brother, that thou didst withstand this villain so bravely; for of all, as thou sayest, I think he has the wrong name; for he is so bold as to follow us in the streets, and to attempt to put us to shame before all men; that is, to make us ashamed of that which is good; (x) but if he was not himself audacious, he would never attempt to do as he does; but let us still resist him; for, notwithstanding all his bravadoes, he promoteth the *Matt. viii. 38. (x) Christian's experience perfectly agrees in regard to shame.— No one ever set out for glory but he was attacked by shame in the way. Giving way to shame prevents much glory being brought to our God Jesus, who is not ashamed to call us, who are cursed, helldeserving sinners, Brethren, Heb. ii. 11. Alas! shame to us, we are prone to glory in our shame, and to be ashamed of Christ, of his words, and of his ways, which are our greatest glory. O let us cry for more boldness for Christ, our best friend, that shame may hide his pitiful head, and skulk away from us as our greatest enemy. Christian and Faithful overtake Talkative. fool, or none else. "The wise shall inherit glory," said Solomon; "but shame shall be the promotion of fools."* Faith. I think we must cry to him for help against Shame, that would have us to be valiant for truth upon the earth. Chr. You say true: but did you see nobody else in that Valley? Faith. No, not I; for I had sun-shine all the rest of the way through that, and also through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Chr. It was well for you, I am sure, it fared far otherwise with me: for I had for a long season, as soon almost as I entered into that Valley, a dreadful combat with that foul fiend Apollyon; yea, I thought verily he would have killed me, especially when he got me down, and crushed me under him, as if he would have crushed me to pieces; for as he threw me, my sword flew out of my hand; nay, he told me he was sure of me: but I cried to God, and he heard me, and delivered me out of my troubles : Then I entered into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and had no light for almost half the way through it. I thought I should have been killed there, over and over; but at last, day broke, and the sun arose; then I went through that which was behind with far more ease and quiet. Moreover, I saw in my dream, that as they went on, Faithful, as he chanced to look on one side, saw a man whose name is Talkative, walking at a distance beside them, (y) (for in this place there was room enough for them all to walk.) He was a tall man, and something more comely at a distance *Prov. iii. 35. (y) There is a great difference between having notions in the head, and being able to talk of the doctrines of grace, and experiencing the grace and power of those doctrines in the heart. Look to yourselves." 2 John viii. " Discourse between Faithful and Talkative. then at hand; to this man Faithful addressed himself in this manner: Faith. Friend, whither away? Are you going to the heavenly country? Talk. I am going to the same place. Faith. That is well; then I hope we may have your good company. Talk. With a very good will, I will be your companion. Faith. Come on then, and let us go together, and let us spend our time in discoursing of things that are profitable. Talk. To talk of things that are good, to me is very acceptable, with you or with any other; and I am glad that I have met with those that incline to so good a work; for to tell the truth, there are but few that care thus to spend their time (as they are in their travels): but choose much rather to be speaking of things to no profit; and this hath been a trouble to me. Faith. This is indeed a thing to be lamented; for what thing is so worthy of the use of the tongue and mouth of men on earth, as are the things of the the God of Heaven? Talk. I like you wonderful well, for your sayings are full of conviction; and I will add, What things are so pleasant, and what so profitable, as to talk of the things of God? What things so pleasant (that is, if a man hath any delight in things that are wonderful:) for instance: If a man doth delight to talk of the history, or the mystery of things; or, if a man doth love to talk of miracles, or signs, where shall he find things recorded so delightful, and so sweetly penned as in the holy scripture? Faith. That's true, but to be profited by such things in our talk, should be our chief design. Talk. That is that I said; for to talk of such Faithful beguiled by Talkative. things is most profitable; for by so doing a man may get knowledge of many things; as of the vanity of earthly things, and the benefit of things above. Thus, in general, but more particularly by this, a man may learn the necessity of the new birth, the insufficiency of our works, the need of Christ's righteousness, &c. Besides, by this a man may learn what it is to repent, to believe, to pray, to suffer, or the like; by this also a man may learn what are the great promises and consolations of the gospel to his own comfort. Farther, by this a man may learn to refute false opinions, to vindicate the truth, and also to instruct the ignorant. (z) Faith. All this is true, and glad I am to hear these things from you. Talk. Alas! the want of this is the cause that so few understand the need of faith, and the necessity of a work of grace in their soul, in order to eternal life; but ignorantly live in the works of the law, by which a man can by no means obtain the kingdom of Heaven. Faith. But, by your leave, heavenly knowledge of these is the gift of God; no man attaineth to them by human industry, or only by the talk of them. Talk. All this I know very well. For a man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven; all this is of grace, not of works; I could give you an hundred scriptures for the confirmation of this. Faith. Well, then, said Faithful, what is that one thing that we shall at this time found our discourse upon? (z) Is not here the very standard of orthodoxy? Hence observe, a mere professor may learn, like a parrot, to talk of sound doctrines, and he may have a sound judgment about them; while his heart is rotten as to any experience of them, love to them, and the power and influence of them upon his affections and his life. Many own Christ for their master now, whom he will condemn hereafter as their judge. |