Chr. Why, then I hope to see him alive that did hang dead on the cross; and there I hope to be rid of all those things that to this day are an annoyance to me; there they Bay there is no death (Isa. xxv. 8; Rev. xxi. 4); and there I shall dwell with such company as I like best. For, to tell you the truth, I love him because I was by him eased of my burthen; and I am weary of my inward sickness. I would fain be where I shall die no more, and with the company that shall continually cry, Holy holy, holy.' Then said Charity* to Christian, Have you a family? are you a married man? Chr. I have a wife and four small children. Char. And why did you not bring them along with you? Then Christian wept, and said, Oh, how willingly would I have done it! but they were all of them utterly averse to my going on pil-grimage. Char. But you should have talked to them, and have endeavoured to have shewn them the danger of being left behind. Chr. So I did; and told them also what * Charity-When a man knows the value of his own soul, he will become greatly solicitous for the souls of others. It is, therefore, a very suspicious circumstance, when a professor shews no earnestness in persuading those he loves best to seek salvation also; and it is absurd to excuse this negli gence by arguments taken from God's secret purposes, when these have no influence on the conduct of the same persona in their temporal concerns. Charity's discourse with Christian shews what our author thought to be the duties of believ. ers in this most important concern, and what he understood to be the real reasons why carnal men reject the Gospel. God had shewed to me of the destruction of our city; but I seemed to them as one that mocked, and they believed me not (Gen. xix. 14). Char. And did you pray to God that he would bless your counsel to them? Chr. Yes, and that with much affection; for you must think that my wife and poor children were very dear unto me. Char. But did you tell them of your own sorrow, and fear of destruction? for I suppose that destruction was visible enough to you. Chr. Yes, over, and over, and over. They might also see my fears in my countenance, in my tears, and also in my trembling under the apprehension of the judgments that did hang over our heads; but all was not suffi cient to prevail with them to come with me. Char. But what could they say for themselves why they came not? Chr. Why, my wife was afraid of losing this world; and my children were given to the foolish delights of youth: so, what by one thing and what by another, they let me to wander in this manner alone. Char. But did you not with your vain life damp all that you by words used by way of persuasion to bring them away with you? : Chr. Indeed I cannot commend my life, for I am conscious to myself of many failings therein I know also, that a man by his cou versation, may soon overthrow what by argu ment or persuasion he doth labour to fasten upon others for their good. Yet this I can say, I was very weary of giving them occasion, by any unseemly action, to make them averse to going on pilgrimage. Yea, for this very thing they would tell me I was too precise; and that I denied myself of things, for their sakes, in which they saw no evil. Nay, I think I may say, that if what they saw in me did hinder them, it was my great tenderness in sinning against God, or of doing any wrong to my neighbour. Chr. Indeed Cain hated his brother, 'because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous' (1 John iii. 12); and if thy wife and children have been offended with thee for this, they thereby shew themselves to be implacable to good; and thou hast delivered thy soul from their blood (Ezek. iii. 19). Now I saw in my dream, that thus they sat talking together until supper* was ready. So when they had made ready, they sat down * Supper'-The administration of the Lord's supper is here emblematically described. In it the person, humiliation, sufferings, and death of Christ, with the motive and event of them, are kept in perpetual remembrance. By se. riously contemplating these interesting subjects, with the . emblems of his body wounded, and his blood shed, before our eyes; and by professing our cordial acceptance of his purchased salvation, and surrender of ourselves to his ser. vice; we find every holy affection revived and invigorated, and our souls melted into deep repentance, inspired with calm confidence, animated to thankful, zealous, self-denying obedience, and softened into tender affection for our fel low Christians, with compassionate forgiving love of our most inveterate enemies. The believer will readily apply the allegorical representation of the Lord of the hill' (Isa. XXV. 6, 7) to the love of Christ for lost sinners, which no words can adequately describe, for it passeth knowledge ' to meat. Now the table was furnished with fat things, and with wine that was well refined; and all their talk at the table was about the Lord of the hill; as, namely, about what he had done, and wherefore he did what he did, and why he had builded that house; and by what they said, I perceived that he had been a great warrior, and had fought with and slain him that had the power of death (Heb. ii. 14, 15); but not without great danger to himself; which made me love him the more. For, as they said, and as I believe, said Christian, he did it with the loss of much blood. But that which put glory of grace into all he did was, that he did it out of pure love to his country. And besides, there were some of them of the household that said they had been and spoke with him since he did die on the cross; and they have attested, that they had it from his own lips, that he is such a lover of poor pilgrims, that the like is not to be found from the east to the west. They, moreover, gave an instance of what they affirmed, and that was, he had stripped himself of his glory that he might do this for the poor; and that they heard him say and affirm, that he would not dwell in the mount of Zion alone. They said, moreover, that he had made many pilgrims princes, though by nature, they were beggars born, and their original had been the dunghill (1 Sam. ii. 8; Ps. cxiii. 7). Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook themselves to rest. The pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sun rising: the name of the chamber was Peace,* where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang— Where am I now! Is this the love and care Of Jesus, for the men that pilgrims are So in the morning they all got up, and, after some more discourse, they told him that he should not depart till they had shewed him the rarities of that place. And first they had him into the study, where they shewed him records of the greatest antiquity; in which, as I remember in my dream, they shewed him, first, the pedigree of the Lord of the hill, that he was the Son of the Ancient-of-days, and came by that eternal generation here also were more fully recorded the acts that he had *Peace'-That peace of conscience and serenity of mind, which follows a humble upright profession of faith in Christ, and communion with him and his people, is not the effect of a mere outward observance; but of that inward disposition, of the heart which is thus cultivated, and of the Lord's blessing on his own appointments. This is here represented by the chamber Peace: it raises the soul above the care and bustle of this vain world, and springs from the healing beams of the Sun of righteousness. tStudy'-Christian communion, properly conducted, tends to enlarge the believer's acquaintance with the Huly Scriptures: and this conduces to the increase of faith, hope, love, patience, and fortitude; to animate the soul in emula ting the illettious examples there exhibited, and to furnish instruction for every good work. |