CHRISTIAN
CRUSHED,

I know not whether it is best, to live thus, or to die out of hand; "my soul chooseth strangling rather than life," and the grave is more easy for me than this dungeon! Shall we be ruled by the giant ?*

HOPE. Indeed our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide but yet let us consider; the Lord of the country to which we are going hath said, Thou shalt do no murder;" no, not to another man's person; much more then are we forbidden to take his counsel to kill ourselves. Besides, he that kills another can but commit murder upon his body; but, for one to kill himself, is to kill body and soul at once. And, moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave;

HOPEFUL COM

FORTS HIM.

but hast thou forgotten the hell whither for certain the murderers go? for " no murderer hath eternal life," &c. And let us consider again, that all the law is not in the hand of Giant Despair: others, so far as I can understand, have been taken by him as well as we, and yet have escaped out of his hands. Who knows but that God, who made the world, may cause that Giant Despair may die, or that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock us in; or that he may in a short time have another of his fits before us, and may lose the use of his limbs? And if ever that should come to pass again, for my part, I am resolved to pluck up the

t Job vii. 15.

Poor Christian! what! tempted to destroy thyself? Lord, what is man! But see, despairing soul, mark the truth of that word— "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to men;" but God is FAITHFUL, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that we may be able to hear it," 1 Cor. x. 13.

heart of a man, and to try my utmost to get from under his hand.* I was a fool that I did not try to do it before but, however, my brother, let us be patient, and endure a while; the time may come that may give us a happy release; but let us not be our own murderers. With these words Hopeful at present did moderate the mind of his brother; so they continued together in the dark that day, in their sad and doleful condition.

Well, towards evening the giant goes down into the dungeon again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel: but when he came there, he found them alive; and, truly, alive was all, for now, what for want of bread and water, and by reason of the wounds they received when he beat them, they could do little but breathe. But, I say, he found them alive; at which he fell into a grievous rage, and told them that, seeing they had disobeyed his counsel, it should be worse with them than if they had never been born.

At this they trembled greatly, and I think that Christian fell into a swoon; but, coming a little to himself again, they renewed their discourse about the giant's counsel and whether yet they had best take it, or no. Now, Christian again seemed for doing it, but Hopeful made his second reply as followeth :

HOPEFUL COMFORTS HIM AGAIN

HOPE. My brother, said he, rememberest thou not how valiant thou hast been heretofore ? Apollyon could not crush thee, nor could all that thou didst hear, or see, or feel in the Valley of the Shadow of Death; what hardship,

BY CALLING FORMER
BRANCE.

THINGS TO REMEM

Mark how a fit of despair robs a Christian of his courage, reason, and graces. But one single thought of the love, power, and grace of a covenant God in Christ, elevates the Christian's mind with hope.

terror, and amazement, hast thou already gone through, and art thou now nothing but fears! Thou seest that I am in the dungeon with thee, a far weaker man by nature than thou art; also this giant hath wounded me as well thee, and hath also cut off the bread and water from my mouth, and with thee I mourn without the light. But let us exercise a little more patience; remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity Fair, and wast neither afraid of the chain nor cage, nor yet of bloody death: wherefore let us, (at least to avoid the shame that becomes not a Christian to be found in,) bear up with patience as well as we can.*

Now, night being come again, and the giant and his wife being in bed, she asked him concerning the prisoners, and if they had taken his counsel: to which he replied, They are sturdy rogues, they choose rather to bear all hardships than to make away with themselves. Then said she, Take them into the castle-yard tomorrow, and show them the bones and skulls of those thou hast already despatched, and make them believe, ere a week comes to an end, thou wilt tear them in pieces, as thou hast done their fellows before them.

So when the morning as come, the giant goes to them again, and takes them into the castle-yard, and

* Here is the blessing of a hopeful companion. Here is excellent counsel. Let vain professors say what they may against experience, and looking back to past experience. It is most certainly good and right so to do; though not to encourage present sloth and presumption, but to excite fresh confidence of hope in the Lord. We have David's example, and Paul's word, to encourage us to this: says David-" The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine," 1 Sam. xvii. 37. And says Paul, we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raiseth the dead. There mind the

ON SATURDAY THE
GIANT THREATENED
THAT SHORTLY HE
WOULD PULL
IN PIECES.

THEM

shows them as his wife had bidden him. These, said he, were pilgrims, as you are, once, and they trespassed in my grounds, as you have done; and when I thought fit, I tore them in pieces; and so within ten days I will do you. Get you down to your den again: and with that he beat them all the way thither. They lay, therefore, all day on Saturday in a lamentable case, as before. Now, when night was come, and when Mrs. Diffidence and her husband the giant were got to bed, they began to renew their discourse of their prisoners; and, withal, the old giant wondered that he could neither by his blows nor counsel bring them to an end. And with that his wife replied, I fear, said she, that they live in hopes that some will come to relieve them, or that they have picklocks about them, by the means of which they hope to escape. And sayest thou so, my dear? said the giant; I will therefore search them in the morning.

Well, on Saturday, about midnight, they began to pray, and continued in prayer till almost break of day.*

Now, a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out into this passionate speech: What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking

alone object of faith and hope, and see the reasoning on past experiences of God's mercy; for it is he, "who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us," 2 Cor. i. 10.

What! pray in custody of Giant Despair, in the midst of Doubting Castle; and when their own folly brought them there, too! Yes. Mind this, ye pilgrims. Ye are exhorted, "I will that men pray every where, without doubting," 1 Tim. ii. 8. We can be in no place, but God can hear; nor in any circumstance, but God is able to deliver from. And be assured, when the spirit of prayer comes, deliverance is nigh at hand. So it was here.

dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have

A KEY IN CHRISTIAN'S BOSOM, CALLED PROMISE, OPENS ANY LOCK IN DOUBTING CASTLE.

a key in my bosom, called Promise, that,
will, I am persuaded, open any lock in
Doubting Castle.
Then said Hopeful,

That's good news, good brother, pluck it out of thy bosom, and try.*

open

Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the dungeon door, whose bolt, as he turned the key, gave back, and the door flew with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out. Then he went to the outward door that leads into the castle-yard, and with his key opened that door also. After, he went to the iron gate, for that must be opened too; but that lock went damnable hard; yet the key did open it. Then they thrust open the gate to make their escape with speed; but that gate as it opened made such a creaking, that it waked Giant Despair, who hastily rising to pursue his prisoners, felt his limbs to fail, for his fits took him again, so that he could by no means go after them. Then they went on, and came to the King's highway, and so were safe, because they were out of his jurisdiction.†

* Precious promise! The promises of God in Christ are the life of faith, and the quickeners of prayer. O how oft do we neglect God's great and precious promises in Christ Jesus, while doubts and despair keep us prisoners. So it was with these pilgrims: they were kept under hard bondage of soul for four days. Hence see what it is to grieve the Spirit of God, and dread it for he, only, is the Comforter; and if he withdraws his influences, who or what can comfort us? Though precious promises are revealed in the word, yet we can get no comfort from them but by the grace of the Spirit.

+ Mind, though the Spirit works deliverance and brings comfort, yet it is by means of the word of promise; for as we depart from and dishonour God by unbelief, so we come back to and honour him by believing his word of grace to us in his beloved Son. In this way the Spirit brings deliverance.