FORM. and HYP. We were born in the land of Vainglory, 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 ye 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."

FORM. and HYP. They said, that to go to the gate for 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?

FORM. and HYP. They told him, That as for that, he needed not to trouble his head thereabout; 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.

CHR. But, said Christian, will you stand a trial at law?

FORM. and HYP. They told him, that custom, it being long standing as above a thousand

THEY THAT COME INTO THE WAY, EUT NOT BY THE DOOR, THINK THAT THEY CAN SAY SOMETHING IN VINDICATION OF THEIR OWN PRAC

TICE.

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 matter is it 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 also are in the way, that came tumbling over the wall: wherein now is thy condition better than ours?

o Johu x. 1.

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 him 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 that 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 thy neighbours, to hide the shame of thy nakedness.†

CHR. By laws and ordinances you will not be saved, 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

CHRISTIAN HAS GOT HIS LORD'S COAT ON HIS BACK, COMFORTED THERE.

WITH.

AND IS 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

p Gal. ii. 16.

Here is the essential difference between a real Christian and formal hypocrites; he takes the word of God for the warrant of his faith, and the rule of his conduct, which they reject; for they are left under the power of their natural will and carnal reason, and hence they brave it out for a season with vain hopes and false confidence.

The glorious robe of Christ's righteousness, which is imputed to and put upon every believer, is sneered at and held in contempt by formal professors, who see not their nakedness and want of covering. But humbled souls confess their want of it, and praise Christ for it.

I

HE IS COMFORTED ALSO WITH HIS MARK

me for good, since I have his coat on my back; a coat that he gave me freely in AND HIS ROLL. the day that he stripped me of my rags. 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 burden fell off my shoulders. I will tell 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 all on, save that Christian kept before, who had no more talk but with himself, and

CHRISTIAN HAS TALK WITH HIM

that sometimes sighingly, and sometimes SELF. 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,||

HE COMES TO THE HILL DIFFICULTY.

* Where there is the witness of the Spirit, and the seal of the Spirit, that soul will also glory in the righteousness of Christ; for this is the joy of faith, that Christ is the Lord our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6. In vain do men talk of inward comforts, who reject the clothing of Christ's righteousness.

+ Vain-glorious fools laugh at Christ's humble pilgrims.

What! sighing already, and just pardoned? One should expect that he was all joy, nothing but joy. Oh, these are sighs of love, which strangers to spiritual joy know nothing of.

§ This means the assurance which he had from the Spirit, of the free love, free grace, free pardon, free justification, of Christ to his soul.

He comes to the hill Difficulty; a way unpleasing to flesh and blood, which proves and tries the sincerity of our faith, and the earnestness of our souls, in our pilgrimage.

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 now went to the spring, and drank thereof to refresh himself, and then he began to go up the hill, saying,

"The hill, though high, I covet to ascend;

The difficulty will not me offend;

For I perceive the way to life lies here:

Come, pluck up heart, let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,

Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.

The other two also came to 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 meet again with that up which Christian went, on the other side of the hill; therefore they were resolved to go in 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 led 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.†

THE DANGER TURNING OUT THE WAY.

OF

OF

q Isaiah xlix. 10-12.

Depend on it, pilgrim, some great blessing is at hand, when thou hast some great difficulty to grapple with and to overcome.

+ Formalists and hypocrites, as they come easily into the way of profession, without any convictions of sin to cause them to fly to Christ the wicket-gate, so they find the easiest path to flesh and blood, and perish in the end.

A WARD OF GRACE.

I looked then after Christian, to see him go up the hill, where I perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and his knees, because of the steepness of the place. Now about the midway to the top of the hill was a pleasant arbour, made by the Lord of the hill, for the refreshment of weary travellers. Thither, therefore, Christian got, where also he sat down to rest him: then he pulled his roll out of his bosom, and read therein to his comfort; he also now began afresh to take a review of the coat or garment that was given to him as he stood by the cross. Thus pleasing himself a while, he at last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained him in that place until it was almost night; and in his sleep his roll fell out of his hand.* Now, as he was sleeping, there came one to him, and awaked him, saying, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise." And with that, Christian suddenly started up, and sped him on his way, and went apace till he came to the top of the hill.†

HE THAT SLEEPS IS A LOSER.

Now when he was got up to the top of the hill, there came two men running amain; the name of the one

r Prov. vi. 6.

Happy for Christian that he did not fall into the dream of his own sinless perfection, so as to take up with a fool's paradise; nor get into antinomian notions, so as to sleep in a false security without his roll. The best of blessings, even spiritual comforts from the God of grace, are, through the infection of our nature, liable to be abused, so as to cause us to sleep when we should be active and diligent in running the heavenly race, looking unto Jesus.

+ The Lord loves his people too well to let them sleep the sleep of death; though he may suffer them to sleep to the loss of their comfort: this is great grief and distress to their souls.