pathy betwixt that valley and him; for I never faw him better in all his pilgrimage than he was in that valley.

Here he would lie down, embrace the ground, and kifs the very flowers that grew in this valley, Lam. iii. 27, 28, 29. He would now be up every morning by break of day, tracing and walking to and fro in the valley.

But when he was come to the entrance of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I thought I fhould have lost my man; not for that he had any inclination to go back, that he always abhorred, but he was ready to die for fear, O! the hobgoblins will have me! the hobgoblins will have me! cried he; and I could not beat him out of it. He made fuch a noise, and fuch an outcry here, that had they but heard him, it was enough to encourage them to come and fall upon us.

But this I took very great notice of, that this valley was as quiet when we went through it, as ever I knew it before or fince. I suppose these enemies here had now a fpecial check from our Lord, and a command not to meddle until Mr. Fearing was paffed over it.

It would be too tedious to tell you all; we will therefore only mention a paffage or two more. When he was come to Vanity Fair, I thought he would have fought with all the men in the fair; I feared there we fhould both have been knocked on the head, fo hot was he against their fooleries. Upon the inchanted ground he was also very wakeful. But when he was come to the river, where was no bridge, there again

he was in a heavy cafe. Now, now, he faid, he fhould be drowned for ever, and so never fee that face with comfort, that he had come, fo many miles to behold.

And here alfo I took notice of what was very remarkable; the water of that river was lower at this time than ever I faw it in all my life; fo he went over at last, not much above wetfhod. When he was going up to the gate, Mr Great heart began to take his leave of him, and to wish him a good reception above; fo he faid, I fhall, I fhall.

His boldness at laft.

Then we parted afunder, and I

faw him no more.

Hon. Then it feems he was well at last. Great-heart. Yes, yes, I never had doubt about him; he was a man of choice spirit, only he was always kept very low, and that made his life fo burdenfome to himself, and fo very trouble fome to others, Pfal. lxxxiii. Rom. xiv. 21. I Cor. viii. 13. He was above many tender of fin; he was fo afraid of doing injuries to others, that he often would deny himself of that which was lawful, because he would not offend.

Hon. But what should be the reason that fuch a good man fhould be all his days fo much in the dark.

Reafon good

men are fo in the dark.

Great-heart. There are two

forts of reafons for it; one is, The wife God will have it fo; fome must pipe, and fome muft weep, Mat. xi 16, 17, 18. Now Mr Fearing was one that played upon the bafs; he and his llows found the fackbut, whofe notes are more

doleful

doleful than the notes of other mufic are; tho' indeed fome fay, the bafs is the ground of mufic. And for my part, I care not at all for that profeffion that begins not in heaviness of mind. The firft ftring that the mufician ufually touches is the bass when he intends to put all in a tune: God always plays upon this firing first, when he fets the foul in tune for himself. Only there was the imperfection of Mr Fearing, he could play upon no other mufic but this, till towards his latter end.

I make bold to talk thus metaphorically, for the ripening of the wits of young readers, and because in the book of the Revelations the faved are compared to a company of musicians that play upon their trumpets and harps, and fing their fongs before the throne, Rev. viii. xiv. 2; 3.

Hon. He was a very zealous man, as one may fee by what relation you have given of him; difficulties, lions or Vanity-fair, he feared not at all; it was only fin, death, and hell, that was to him a terror, because he had fome doubts about his interest in that celestial country.

Great-heart. You fay right; those were the things that were his troubles; and they, as you have well obferved, arofe from the weakness of his mind thereabout, not from weakness of spirit, as to the practical part of a pilgrim's life. I dare believe that, as the proverb is, he could have bit a firebrand, had it flood in his way. But these things with which he was opprefied, no man ever yet could bake off with ease.

Ghr. Then faid Chriftiana, This relation of

U

Mr Fearing has done me good: I thought no body had been like me: but I fee there was fome resemblance betwixt this good man and me, only we differ in two things; his troubles were fo great that they brake out, but mine I kept within; his alfo lay fo hard upon him, they made him that he could not knock at the houfes provided for entertainment; but my troubles were always fuch as made me knock the louder.

Mer. If I might also speak my mind, I must fay, that fomething of him has alfo dwelt in me: for I have ever been more afraid of the lake, and the lofs of a place in Paradife, than I have been at the lofs of other things. O! thought I, might I have the happinefs to have a habitation there, it is enough, though I part with all the world to win it.

Matth. Then faid Matthew, Fear was one thing that made me think that I was far from having that within me that accompanies falvá tion; but if it was fo with fuch a good man as he, why may it not also go well with me?

James. No fears, no grace, faid James, Tho' there is not always grace where there is the fear of hell, yet to be fure, there is no grace where there is no fear of God:

Great-heart Well faid, James, thou haft hit the mark; for the fear of God is the beginning of wifdom; and to be fure they that want the be ginning, have neither middle nor end. But we will here conclude our difcourfe of Mr Fearing, after we have fent after him his farewel.

Til, Mr Fearing, thou didst fear
Thy God, and wast afraid

Of

Of doing any thing while here,
That would have thee betray'd,

And didft thou fear the lake and pit?
Would others do fo ton!

For, as for them that want thy wit,
They do themselves undo.

Now I faw, that they all went on in their talk; for after Mr Great-heart had made an end with Mr Fearing, Mr Honest began to tell them of another, but his name was Mr Self-will. He pretended himself to be a pilgrim, faid Mr Ho, neft; but I perfuade myself he never came in «t the gate that stands at the head of the way.

Great-heart. Had you ever any talk with him about it?

Hon. Yes, more than once or twice; but he would always be like himself, felf-willed. He neither cared for man, nor argument, nor example; what his mind prompted him to, that he would do, and nothing else could he be got to. Great-heart. Pray what principles did he hold? for I suppose you can tell,

Hon. He held, that a man might Self will's follow the vices as well as the virtues of the pilgrims: and that if opinion. he did both, he fhould be certainly faved.

Great heart. How! if he hath said, it is poffible for the best to be guilty of the vice, as well as partake of the virtues of pilgrims, he could not much have been blamed; for indeed we are exempted from no vice abfolutely, but on condition that we watch and frive. But this I perceive is not the thing: but if I understand you U 2

righ