The Pilgrims entertained at the Delectable Mountains. Then I saw that they had them to the top of another mountain, and the name of that was Caution, and bid them look afar off; which when they did, hey perceived, as they thought, several men walking of the sacred writers speak in terms of strong import, and severe reprehension, of those erroneous sentiments in religion, which in their tendency overthrow the faith of some. The error propagated respecting the resurrection, as being past already, was of this nature; as was also the opinion of those who insisted, that an observance of the law of Moses was essential to a sinner's justification in the sight of God. See Gal. i. 6, 7. To admit either of these opinions, was to receive another gospel, which was not another, but a perversion of the gospel of Christ. The plain inference from these passages appears to be, that those sentiments respecting the gospel, which destroy its essential and fundamental principles, are most baneful and dangerous. It is not surprising that persons wno consider themselves exclusively rational,-who either deny the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, or think themselves at liberty to call those parts of them which contradict their opinions interpolations or mistranslations,-should adopt another standard, more agreeable to the state of their minds; such as the infidel distich of Pope, "For modes of faith let senseless bigots fight; Such a statement may appear specious, but is far from being solid; it being a divine maxim, that good fruit can only be gathered from a good tree. The life, therefore, will not be right, unless it be produced by that sanctified state of heart which a belief of the truth only can produce. It would be easy then to retort upon these rational and candid christians, by saying, "They who the words of inspiration slight. Christians who wish to receive "the truth as it in Jesus," should most cautiously avoid, as radically opposed to the spirit and design of the gospel, both the Socinian and Antinomian schemes of doctrine. The former, by denying the proper divinity, and the atoning sacrifice of Christ, makes the Saviour to have died in vain ; the latter, by rejecting the law as the rule of life to a believer, and the necessity of personal and progressive holiness, says, in effect, that Christ is the minister of sin. And thus, by different courses, they arrive at the same point; they pervert the gospel of Christ, and overthrow the faith of some. Let then all christians, who would escape such a dreadful condition, and fearful doom, "take heed how they clamber too high, or how they come too near to the brink of the mountain of Error." The Pilgrims entertained at the Delectable Mountains. up and down among the tombs that were there; and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them. Then said Christian, "What means this?" The Shepherds then answered, "Did you not see a little below these mountains a stile that led into a meadow, on the left hand of this way?" They answered, "Yes." Then said the Shepherds, "From that stile there goes a path that leads directly to Doubting-castle, which is kept by Giant Despair; and these men (pointing to them among the tombs) came once on pilgrimage, as you do now, even till they came to that same stile. And because the right way was rough in that place, they chose to go out of it into that meadow, and there were taken by Giant Despair, and cast into Doubting-castle; where, after they had been a while kept in the dungeon, he at last did put out their eyes, and led them among those tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day, that the saying of the wise man might be fulfilled, "The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead," Prov. xxi. 16. Then Christian and Hopeful looked upon one another, with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds.' 1 A faithful pastor will be constantly "cautioning" his people to watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation, from the consideration of the many awful examples recorded in the Scriptures, of persons that have been punished for sinful practices. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. x. 12. A consciousness of having often "wandered out of the way of understanding," and a sense of delivering and pardoning mercy, will often fill the heart and the eyes of experienced believers, feeling, as they do, compunction on account of those secret sins which are unknown to their pastors, or to any but God and themselves, and gratitude, because they have not been given up, as others have been for similar sins, to a blind and reproba:e mind, to a seared conscience, and unfeeling heart. The Pilgrims entertained at the Delectable Mountains. Then I saw in my dream, that the Shepherds had them to another place in a bottom, where was a door on the side of a hill; and they opened the door, and bid them look in. They looked in therefore, and saw that within it was very dark, and smoky: they also thought that they heard there a rumbling noise, as of fire, and a cry of some tormented, and that they smelt the scent of brimstone. Then said Christian, "What means this?" The Shepherds told them, "This is a by-way to hell, a way that hypocrites go in at; namely, such as sell their birthright, with Esau; such as sell their master, with Judas; such as blaspheme the gospel, with Alexander; and such as lie and dissemble, with Ananias and Sapphira his wife." Then said Hopeful to the Shepherds, "I perceive that these had on them, even every one, a show of pilgrimage, as we have now; had they not?" SHEP. Yes, and held it a long time too. HOPE. How far might they go on pilgrimage in their days, since they notwithstanding were thus miserably cast away. SHEP. Some farther, and some not so far as these mountains. Then said the pilgrims to one another, "We have need to cry to the Strong for strength." SHEP. Ay, and you will have need to use it, when you have it, too." m That many have perished under a hypocritical profession of religion, cannot be doubted; and it is necessary that it should be plainly stated by the pastor of a church, that hypocrisy is as direct, though not so public, a way to hell, as profligacy. It is an awful consideration, that some who have known the pleasures and delights of religion; yea, who have even been employed in communicating those enjoyments to others, should after all have been lost; for to many who shall say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence," &c. our Lord will reply, "I know you not whence ye are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity," Luke xiii. 26, 27. Such awakening and alarming considerations will lead real christians to cry to the Strong for strength; believing that The Pilgrims leave the Delectable Mountains. By this time the pilgrims had a desire to go forwards, and the Shepherds a desire they should: so they walked together towards the end of the mountains. Then said the Shepherds one to another, "Let us here show the pilgrims the gate of the Celestial City, if they have skill to look through our perspective-glass." The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion: so they had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them the glass to look. Then they tried to look; but the remembrance of the last thing that the Shepherds had showed them made their hands shake, by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass :" yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Then they went away and sang: "Thus by the Shepherds secrets are reveal'd, When they were about to depart, one of the Shepherds gave them a note of the way. Another of them bid them beware of the Flatterer. The third bid them take heed that they slept not upon the Enchanted Ground. And the fourth bid them God speed." So I awoke from my dream. divine aid is absolutely necessary to enable them to hold on their way. The fruits of servile fear. • Evangelical pastors, from the knowledge which they have of the gospel, give their hearers scriptural representations of future blessedness. But the perception of it by their people, depends upon the correctness of their knowledge, and the strength of their faith. The fear of being found wanting, when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, produces that trepidation, which prevents even real christians from forming distinct conceptions of it; though they see enough to be convinced of its reality, and to dis cover somewhat of its glory. "For now we see through a glass darkly," 1 Cor. xiii. 12. The advantages which are' derived from the preaching of a They pursue their Journey. And I slept, and dreamed again, and saw the same two pilgrims going down the mountains along the high-way towards the city. Now a little below these mountains on the left hand, lieth the country of Conceit; from which country there comes into the way in which the pilgrims walked, a little crooked lane. pastor, duly qualified, and faithful in the discharge of his office, will lead experienced and judicious christians to prefer church-fellowship, and a regular attendance upon the stated ministry of a pastor, to wandering from place to place, and hearing different ministers, or a variety of ministers at the same place of worship.When members of churches are obliged to leave the ministry of their pastor, they will be favoured with his instructions and cautions, and will share in his fervent supplications; as he is well aware of the dangers and temptations to which persons are exposed, when deprived of the labours of their pastor and the communion of saints. Many a pastor, on being separated from his people, or his people from him, has expressed his sentiments and wishes by saying, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified," Acts xx. 32. 9 Mr. Bunyan here says for the first time, "So I awoke from my dream. This, I apprehend, intimates, that a new era in his life had taken place. Up to the period of the pilgrims entering Vanity Fair, we consider the allegory as the picture of Mr. Bunyan's history while he continued a private christian; and from that period till their departure from the Delectable Mountains, we are to understand, that the events of his history, as a public minister, are recorded; at least, the persecutions which he endured from his being committed to prison, until he was delivered from his confinement, and, being fitted by "knowledge and experience" to feed the church of God, and by "watchfulness and sincerity" to preside over it, he became one of the pastors of the congregation at Bedford. On the 24th of August, 1671, Mr. Bunyan was "called to the office of elder, or co-pastor, and received from the elders the right hand of fellowship." LIFE, p. 174. His imprisonment, however, continued twelve years; and consequently he was upwards of twelve months a prisoner (though, it should seem, not very straitly confined) after he had become a pastor of the church. This is another dream relating to the same subject, and was intended, it should seem, to introduce other events in the life of Mr. Bunyan; as also the history of different professors of religion with whom it is probable he had been personally acquainted. a 8 2 B |