ness of him that so freely offered to help them, both by the awakening of them, counselling of them, and proffering to help them off with their irons. And as he was troubled thereabout, he spied two men come tumbling over the wall on the left hand of the narrow way; and they made up apace to him. The name of the one was Formalist, and the name of the other Hypocrisy. So, as I said, they drew up unto him, who thus entered with them into discourse. Chr. Gentlemen, whence come you, and whither go you? Form. & Hyp. We were born in the land of Vain-glory, and are going for praise to mount Zion. Chr. Why came you not in at the gate which standeth at the beginning of the way? Know you not that it is written, that 'He that cometh not in by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber ? (John x. 1). They said, that to go to the gate of entrance was by all their countrymen counted too far about; and that therefore their usual way was to make a short cut of it, and to climb over the wall, as they had done. Chr. But will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the city whither we are bound, thus to violate his revealed will ? They told him, that, as for that, he needed tigation, and treat with derision and reproaches all who would convince them of their fatal mistake, or shew them the real nature of evangelical religion. not trouble his head there about; for what they did they had custom for, and could produce, if need were, testimony that would witness it for more than a thousand years. But said Christian, will your practice stand a trial at law? They told him, that custom, it being of so long standing as above a thousand years, would doubtless now be admitted as a thing legal by an impartial judge; and besides, say they, if we get into the way, what's matter which way we get in? If we are in, we are in : thou art but in the way, who, as we perceive, came in at the gate; and we are also in the way, that came tumbling over the wall: wherein now is thy condition better than ours ? Chr. I walk by the rule of my master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way, therefore I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way. You come in by yourselves without his direction, and shall go out by yourselves without his mercy. To this they made but little answer; only they bid him look to himself. Then I saw that they went on every man in his way, without much conference one with another; save that these two men told Christian, that, as to laws and ordinances, they doubted not but they should as conscientiously do them as he ; therefore, said they, we see not wherein thou differest from us, but by the coat that is on thy back, which was, as we trow, given thee by some of the neighbours, to hide the shame of thy nakedness. Chr. By laws and ordinances you will not be saved (Gal. ii. 16), since you came not in by the door. And as for this coat that is on my back, it was given me by the Lord of the place whither I go; and that, as you say, to cover my nakedness with. And I take it as a token of kindness to me; for I had nothing but rags before: and besides, thus I comfort myself as I go; Surely, think I, when I come to the gate of the city, the Lord thereof will know me for good, since I have his coat on my back; a coat that he gave me freely in the day that he stripped me of my rags. I have, moreover, a mark in my forehead, of which perhaps you have taken no notice, which one of my Lord's most intimate associates fixed there in the day that my burthen fell off my shoulders. I will tell to you, moreover, that I had then given me a roll sealed, to comfort me by reading as I go on the way; I was also bid to give it in at the celestial gate, in token of my certain going in after it all which things I doubt you want, and want them because you came not in at the gate. To these things they gave him no answer ; only they looked upon each other and laughed. Then I saw that they went on all, save that Christian kept before, who had no more "Save that'-Even such Christians as are most assured of their acceptance, and competent to perceive the awful dekaVOL. I. 9 talk but with himself, and that sometimes sighingly and sometimes comfortably also he would be often reading in the roll that one of the shining ones gave him, by which he was refreshed. I beheld then that they all went on till they came to the foot of the hill* Difficulty; at the bottom of which was a spring. There were also in the same place two other ways, besides that which came straight from the gate; one turned to the left hand and the other to the right, at the bottom of the hill; but the narrow way lay right up the hill, and the name of the going up the side of the hill is called Difficulty. Christian went now to the spring, and drank thereof to refresh himself (İsa. xlix. 10), and began to go up the hill, saying The hill, though high, I covet to ascend, For I perceive the way to life lies here: Come, pluck up, heart, let's neither faint nor fear. Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe. Bons of false professors, find cause for sighs amidst their com forts, when employed in serious retired self-reflection. Nothing can exclude the uneasiness which arises from indwelling sin, with its unavoidable effects, and from the crimes and miseries they witness around them * Hill'--The hill Difficulty represents those circumstan ces which require peculiar self-denial and exertion, that commonly prove the believer's sincerity, after he has first obtained a good hope through grace.'--The opposition of the world, the renunciation of temporal interests, or the painful task of overcoming inveterate evil habits or constitutional propensi ties (which during his first anxious earnestness sected per haps to be destroyed, though in fact they were only susperd The other two also came on the foot of the hill; but when they saw that the hill was steep and high, and that there were two other ways to go; and supposing also that these two ways might ineet again with that up which Christian went, on the other side of the hill, therefore they were resolved to go into those ways. Now the name of one of those ways was Danger, and the name of the other Destruction. So the one took the way which is called Danger, which did lead him into a great wood; and the other took directly up the way to Destruction, which led him into a wide field, full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell, and rose no more. ed): these and such like trials prove a severe test; but there is no hope, except in pressing forward; and the encourage ments, received under the faithful ministry of the Gospel, prepare the soul for every conflict and effort. There are, however, bye-ways; and the difficulty may be avoided without a man's renouncing his profession: he may decline the self-denying duty, or refuse the demanded sacrifice, and find some plausible excuse to his own conscience, or among his neighbours. But the true believer will be suspicious of these easier ways, on the right hand or the left: his path lies straight forward, and cannot be travelled without ascending the hill; which he desires to do, because his grand concern is to be found right at last. On the contrary, they who chiefly desire, at a cheap rate, to keep up their credit and confidence, will venture into perilous or ruinous paths, till they either openly apostatize, or get entangled in some fatal delu Bion, and are heard of no more among the people of God 1hese lines are here inserted Shall they who wrong begin yet rightly end |