Evangelist foreteis the Trials the Pilgrims shali encounter.

he was a prophet, and could tell them of things that might happen unto them, and also how they might resist and overcome them. To which request Faithful also consented. So Evangelist began as followeth.

EVAN. My sons, you have heard in the word of the truth of the gospel, that you must "through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven;" and again, that "in every city, bonds and afflictions abide you" and therefore you cannot expect that you should go long on your pilgrimage without them, in some sort or other. You have found something of the truth of these testimonies upon you already, and more will immediately follow; for now, as you see, you are almost out of this wilderness, and therefore you will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you; and in that town you will be hard beset with enemies, who will strain hard but they will kill you; and be you sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold with blood; but "be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a crown of life." He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural, and his pains perhaps great, will yet have the better of his fellow; not only because he will arrive at the celestial city soonest, but because he will escape many miseries that the other will meet with in the rest of his journey. But when you are come to the town, and shall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember your friend, and quit yourselves like men, and "commit the keeping of your souls to your God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." ”ந்

b The dangers to which faithful ministers amongst the nonconformists were exposed after the restoration of Charles II. were very great; and no small intrepidity was required in those who engaged n preaching the gospel. They were called to endure "much tribulation;" "bonds and afflictions" awaited them: in some instances, "death" was the consequence of their persecutions. To

The Pilgrins arrive at the Town of Vanity.

Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them. The name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept, is lighter than vanity: (Psal. Ixii. 9.) and also, because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity; as is the saying of the wise, “All that cometh is vanity." (Eccles. xi. 8. See also i. 2—14. ii. 11-17.)

This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient standing: I will show you the origin ot it.

Almost five thousand years ago, there were pilgrims walking to the celestial city, as these two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, contrived here to set up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and which should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandizes sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters. servants, lives, animate them in the prospect of such trials, they are here charged to be "faithful unto death, and the King would give them a crown of life," (Rev. ii. 10.) and for their encouragement they are exhorted to quit themselves like men, and to "commit the keeping of their souls to their God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator."

:

The world, with all that it contains, is very properly named the "town of Vanity." Its pleasures are unsubstantial and unsatisfactory and emptiness and uncertainty are written on all its honours and possessions. Some of the definitions of "Vanity" in Johnson's Dictionary, are also very proper definitions of the present evil world, viz. "Empty pleasure: vain pursuits; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment."

S

Description of Vanity Fair,

blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.

And moreover, at this fair there are at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind.

Here are to be seen too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.

And as, in other fairs of less moment, there are several rows and streets under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended: so here likewise you have the proper places, rows, streets, &c. (viz. countries and kingdoms,) where the wares of this fair are soonest to be found. Here is the British Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, &c. where several sorts of vanities are to be sold. But as in other fairs some one commodity is the chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome and her merchandize are greatly promoted in this fair; only our English nation, and some others, have taken a dislike thereto.d

d The contrivance of "Vanity Fair" is very properly attributed to the devil, who is the "god of this world," and who was a "liar from the beginning." For the purpose of ensnaring those who in every age have confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, he has filled the world with objects adapted to engage the affections and gratify the inclinations of a corrupt heart, and to draw even the renewed heart away from God. It appears to have been the author's design to represent the temptations to which christians were at all times exposed from the world; but more particularly those which arose from the depraved state of society at the time when he was called into public life. To inform the reader that he had in view the temptations to which religious persons were exposed, he mentions the "merchandize of Rome," or the errors of popery, as being greatly promoted all over Europe, with the exception of those parts wherein were professed the doctrines of the reformation.

Vanity Fair, as here described, resembles those annual fairs in Loudon and other places, which are public nuisances, injurious to trade, and destructive to morals. Mr. Isaac James, of Bristol, has conjectured, in his versification of the Pilgrim, printed in 1815,

and of the Prince of princes passing throngh.

Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through the town where this magnificent fair is kept; and he that will go to the city, and yet not go through this town, "must needs go out of the world." (1 Cor. v. 10.) The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this fair to his own country, and that upon a fair-day too: yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief lord of this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities; yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went through the town. Yea, because he was such a person of honour, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure that Blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities; but he had no mind to the merchandize, and therefore left the town without laying out so much as one farthing upon these vanities. (Matt. iv. 8-10. Luke iv. 5-8.) This fair, therefore, is an ancient thing of long standing and a very great fair.

that Mr. Bunyan had in his mind a fair held in a field near Cambridge. The following are extracts from "The History and Antiquities of Barnwell Abbey, and Sturbridge Fair." 4to. 1786. "The shops or booths are built in rows like streets, having each its name, as Garlick Row, Booksellers' Row, Cook Row," &c. "Here are

all sorts of traders, who sell by wholesale or retail; as goldsmiths, toymen, braziers, turners, milliners, haberdashers, hatters, mercers, drapers, pewterers, china warehouses, and, in a word, most trades that can be found in London, from whence many of them come. Here are also taverns, coffee-houses, and eating-houses, in great plenty. The chief diversions at Sturbridge are dolls, rope-dancing, and sometimes a music-booth," &c. To this fair people from Bedfordshire and the adjoining counties still resort. It is of great antiquity as far back as the reign of King John, the profits of it were given to an adjacent hospital for lepers.

It is not possible for christians to avoid having connections with the world; nor is it the will of God that they should. The genius of christianity is misunderstood when persons retire to cloisters and nunneries for the purpose of getting out of the world. Our Lord, who was in all points tempted like unto his people, sub

Conduct of the Pilgrims at the Fair.

Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this fair. Well, so they did; but behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town itself was, as it were, in a hubbub about them, and that for several reasons: For,

First, The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people therefore of the fair made a great gazing upon them: some said they were fools: some they were bedlams; and some, they were outlandish men. (Job xii. 4. 1 Cor. iv.

9.)

Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at their speech: for few could understand what they said. They naturally spoke the language of Canaan; but they that kept the fair were the men of this world. So that from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians to each other. (1 Cor. ii. 7, 8.)

Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandizers, was, that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares. They cared not so much as to look upon them: and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears, and cry, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity:" (Psalm cxix. 37.) and would look upwards, signifying that their trade and traffic were in heaven. (Phil. iii. 20, 21.)

mitted to be tempted by the devil with the most alluring of the world's vanities; but he overcame the world; and he enables them also, when they are tempted in a similar way, to overcome the world by the faith of the operation of his Spirit, agreeably to his last intercessory prayer, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil," John xvii. 15.

When christians act in character, "setting their affections on things above, not on things on the earth," they not only attract the attention, but excite the opposition of carnal men. Their " apparel" attracts attention: they are "not conformed to this world, but