for the master of the house, and he came to them. So they asked if they might lie there that night?

Gaius. Yes, gentlemen, if you be true men, for my house is for none but pilgrims. Then was Christiana, Mercy, and the boys more glad, for that the inn-keeper was a lover of pilgrims. So they called for rooms, and he showed them one for Christiana and her children and Mercy, and another for Mr. Great-heart and the old gentleman.

Then said Mr. Great-heart, Good Gaius, what hast thou for supper? for these pilgrims have come far to-day and are weary.

It is late, said Gaius, so we cannot conveniently go out to seek food, but such as I have you shall be welcome to, if that will content

you.

Great-heart. We will be content with what thou hast in the house, for, as much as I have proved thee, thou art never destitute of that which is convenient.

Then he went down and spake to the cook, whose name was Taste-that-which-is-good, to get ready supper for so many pilgrims. This done, he comes up again, saying, Come, my good friends, you are welcome to me, and I am glad that I have a house to entertain you; and while supper is making ready, if you please, let us entertain one another with some good discourse: so they all said content.*

en said Gaius, Whose wife is this aged matron? and whose daughter is this young damsel?

Great-heart. The woman is the wife of one Christian, a pilgrim in former times; and these are his four children. The maid is one of her acquaintance-one that she hath persuaded to come with her on pilgrimage. The boys take all after their father, and covet to tread in his steps: yea, if they do but see any place where the old pilgrim hath lain or any print of his foot, it ministereth joy to their hearts, and they covet to lie or tread in the same.

Then said Gaius, Is this Christian's wife? and are these Christian's children? I knew your husband's father, yea, also his father's father. Many have been good of this stock; their ancestors first dwelt at Antioch. Acts xi. 26. Christian's progenitors (I suppose you have heard your husband talk of them) were

How does this reprove many professors of this day, who frequently meet together, and that about

very worthy men. They have, above any that I know, showed themselves men of great virtue and courage for the Lord of the pilgrims, his ways, and them that loved him. I have heard of many of your husband's relations that have stood all trials for the sake of the truth. Stephen, that was one of the first of the family from whence your husband sprang, was knocked on the head with stones. Acts vii. 59, 60. James, another of this generation, was slain with the edge of the sword. Acts xii. 2. To say nothing of Paul and Peter, men anciently of the family from whence your husband came, there was Ignatius, who was cast to the lions; Romanus, whose flesh was cut by pieces from his bones; and Polycarp, that played the man in the fire. There was he that was hanged up in a basket in the sun for the wasps to eat; and he whom they put in a sack and cast him into the sea to be drowned. It would be impossible utterly to count up all that family that have suffered injuries and death for the love of a pilgrim's life. Nor can I but be glad to see that thy husband has left behind him four such boys as these. I hope they will bear up their father's name, and tread in their father's steps, and come to their father's end.

Great-heart. Indeed, sir, they are likely lads; they seem to choose heartily their father's

ways.

Gaius. That is it that I said: wherefore Christian's family is like still to spread abroad upon the face of the ground: therefore let Christiana look out some damsels for her sons, to whom they may be betrothed, &c., that the name of their father and the house of his progenitors may never be forgotten in the world.

Honest. It is a pity his family should fall

and be extinct.

Gaius. Fall it cannot, but be diminished it may; but let Christiana take my advice, and that's the way to uphold it.

And, Christiana, said this inn-keeper, I am glad to see thee and thy friend Mercy together here, a lovely couple. And if I may advise, take Mercy into a nearer relation to thee; if she will, let her be given to Matthew, thy eldest son: it is the way to preserve a posterity in the earth. So this match was concluded, and in process of time they were married; but more of that hereafter.

Gaius also proceeded, and said, I will now speak on the behalf of women, to take away

every trifle, but have not one word to speak for pre cious Christ, his glorious truths and holy ways?

their reproach. For as death and the curse came into the world by a woman, so also did life and health: "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Gen. iii.; Gal. iv. 4. Yea, to show how much those that came after did abhor the act of the mother, this sex in the Old Testament coveted children, if happily this or that woman might be the mother of the Saviour of the world. I will say again, that when the Saviour was come, women rejoiced in him, before either man or angel. Luke ii. I read not that ever man did give unto Christ so much as one groat: but the women followed him and ministered to him of their substance. It was a woman that washed his feet with tears, and a woman that anointed his body to the burial. They were women that wept when he was going to the cross, and women that followed him from the cross, and that sat by his sepulchre when he was buried. They were women that were first with him at his resurrectionmorn; and women that brought tidings first to his disciples that he was risen from the dead. Luke vii. 37, 50; viii. 2, 3; xxiii. 27; xxiv. 22, 23; John ii. 3; xi. 2; Matt. xxvii. 55, 61. Women therefore are highly favoured, and show by these things that they are sharers with us in the grace of life.

Now the cook sent up to signify that supper was almost ready, and sent one to lay the cloth and the trenchers, and to set the salt and bread in order.

Then said Matthew, The sight of this cloth, and of this forerunner of the supper, begetteth in me a greater appetite to my food than I had before.

Gaius. So let all ministering doctrines in this life beget in thee a greater desire to sit at the supper of the great King in his kingdom; for all preaching, books, and ordinances here are but as the laying of the trenchers and as setting of salt upon the board, when compared with the feast that our Lord will make us when we come to his house.

So supper came up; and first a heaveshoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table before them; to show them that they must begin the meal with prayer and praise to God. Lev. vii. 32, 34; x. 14, 15; Ps. xxv. 1; Heb. xiii. 15. The heave-shoulder David lifted his heart up to God with; and with the wavebreast, where his heart lay, with that he used

* Observe here the feast of pilgrims was attended with joy. Christians may, they ought, yea, they have the greatest reason to, rejoice; but then it should be spiritual joy, which springs from spiritual

to lean upon his harp when he played. These two dishes were very fresh and good, and they all ate heartily thereof.

The next they brought up was a bottle of wine as red as blood. So Gaius said to them, Drink freely this is the true juice of the vine that makes glad the heart of God and man. So they drank and were merry. Deut. xxxii. 14; Judg. ix. 13; John xv. 5. The next was a dish of milk well crumbled: but Gaius said, Let the boys have that, that they may "grow thereby." 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. Then they brought up in course a dish of butter and honey. Then said Gaius, Eat freely of this, for this is good to cheer up and strengthen your judgments and understandings. This was our Lord's dish when he was a child: "Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good." Isa. vii. 17. Then they brought them up a dish of apples, and they were very good-tasted fruit. Then said Matthew, "May we eat apples. since they were such by and with which the serpent beguiled our first mother?"

"A man there was, (though some did count him mad,) The more he cast away, the more he had."

Then they all gave good heed, wondering what good Gaius would say; so he sat still awhile, and then thus replied:

"He who thus bestows his goods upon the poor Shall have as much again, and ten times more.”

Then said Joseph, I dare say, sir, I did not think you could have found it out.

Oh! said Gaius, I have been trained up in this way a great while; nothing teaches like experience: I have learned of my Lord to be kind, and have found by experience that I have gained thereby. "There is that scatter

holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty;" "There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches." Prov. xi. 24; xiii. 7.

Then Samuel whispered to Christiana his mother, and said, Mother, this is a very good man's house; let us stay here a good while, and let my brother Matthew be married here to Mercy, before we go any further.*

The which Gaius the host overhearing, said, With a very good will, my child.

So they stayed here more than a month, and Mercy was given to Matthew to wife.

While they stayed here, Mercy, as her custom was, would be making coats and garments to give to the poor, by which she brought very good report upon pilgrims.

BUT to return again to our story. After supper the lads desired a bed, for they were weary with travelling: then Gaius called to show them their chamber: but said Mercy, I will have them to bed. So she had them to bed, and they slept well: but the rest sat up all night, for Gaius and they were such suitable company that they could not tell how to part. Then after much talk of their Lord, themselves, and their journey, old Mr. Honest (he that put forth the riddle to Gaius) began to nod. Then said Great-heart, What, sir, you begin to be drowsy! come, rub up: now here is a riddle for you. Then said Mr. Honest, Let us hear it.

Then said Mr. Great-heart,

"He that will kill must first be overcome:

Who live abroad would, first must die at home."

Ha! said Mr. Honest, it is a hard one-hard to expound, and harder to practise. But come, landlord, said he, I will, if you please, leave

Here is a genuine discovery of a gracious heart, when it is delighted with spiritual company and conversation and longs for its continuance. Is it so with you, reader?

Mind this: when one pilgrim observes that a brother is inclined to be drowsy, it is his duty, and should be his practice, to endeavour to awaken, quicken, enliven, and stir up such by spiritual hints.

my part to you; do you expound it, and I will hear what you say.

No, said Gaius, it was put to you, and it is expected you should answer it. Then said the old gentleman,

"He first by grace must conquer'd be
That sin would mortify:

Who that he lives would convince me,
Unto himself must die."

It is right, said Gaius; good doctrine and experience teach this. For, until grace displays itself, and overcomes the soul with its glory, it is altogether without heart to oppose sin: besides, if sin is Satan's cords by which the soul lies bound, how should it make resistance before it is loosed from that infirmity? Nor will any that knows either reason or grace believe that such a man can be a living monument of grace that is a slave to his own corruption. And, now it comes in my mind, I will tell you a story worth the hearing: There Oh that this was more practised! Many blessings would be consequent upon it.

Oh this dying to self, to self-righteous pride, vainconfidence, self-love, and self-complacency, is hard work to the old man; yea, it is both impracticable and impossible to him. It is only grace yielded to that can conquer and subdue him. And where grace reigns this work is carried on day by day.

were two men that went on pilgrimage; the one began when he was young, the other when he was old; the young man had strong corruptions to grapple with, the old man's were weak with the decays of nature: the young man trod his steps as even as did the old one, and was every way as light as he: who now, or which of them, had their graces shining clearest, since both seemed to be alike?

Honest. The young man's, doubtless. For that which heads it against the greatest opposition gives best demonstration that it is strongest; especially when it also holdeth pace with that that meets not with half so much, as to be sure old age does not. Besides, I have observed that old men have blessed themselves with this mistake—namely, taking the decays of nature for a gracious conquest over corruptions, and so have been apt to beguile themselves. Indeed, old men that are gracious are best able to give advice to them that are young, because they have seen most of the emptiness of things; but yet, for an old and a young man to set out both together, the young one has the advantage of the fairest discovery of a work of grace within him, though the old man's corruptions are naturally the weakest.

Thus they sat talking till break of day. Now when the family was up, Christiana bid her son James that he should read a chapter: so he read the fifty-third of Isaiah. When he had done, Mr. Honest asked why it was said that the Saviour is said to come "out of a dry ground," and also that he had "no form of comeliness in him?"

Then said Mr. Great-heart, To the first I answer, Because the church of the Jews, of which Christ came, had then lost almost all the sap and spirit of religion. To the second I say, The words are spoken in the person of unbelievers, who, because they want the eye that can see into our Prince's heart, therefore judge of him by the meanness of his outside. Just like those that know not that precious stones are covered over with a homely crust, who, when they have found one, because they know not what they have found, cast it again away, as men do a common stone.

Well, said Gaius, now you are here, and since, as I know, Mr. Great-heart is good at his weapons, if you please, after we have refreshed ourselves, we will walk into the fields,

After feeding, pilgrims are to prepare for fighting. They are not to eat in order to pamper their lusts, but to strengthen their bodies and souls, that they may be

to see if we can do any good. About a mile from hence there is one Slay good, a giant, that does much annoy the King's highway in these parts, and I know whereabout his haunt is: he is master of a number of thieves. It would be well if we could clear these parts of him.*

So they consented and went, Mr. Great-heart with his sword, helmet, and shield, and the rest with spears and staves.

When they came to the place where he was, they found him with one Feeble-mind in his hand, whom his servants had brought unto him, having taken him in the way; now the giant was rifling him, with a purpose, after that, to pick his bones, for he was of the nature of flesh-eaters.

Well, so soon as he saw Mr. Great-heart and his friends at the mouth of his cave with their weapons, he demanded what they wanted.

Great-heart. We want thee, for we are come to revenge the quarrels of the many that thou hast slain of the pilgrims, when thou hast dragged them out of the King's highway; wherefore come out of thy cave. So he armed himself and came out; and to the battle they went, and fought for above an hour, and then stood still to take wind.

Then said the giant, Why are you here on my ground?

Great-heart. To revenge the blood of pilgrims, as I also told thee before. So they went to it again, and the giant made Mr. Great-heart give back; but he came up again, and in the greatness of his mind he let fly with such stoutness at the giant's head and sides that he made him let his weapon fall out of his hand; so he smote and slew him, and cut off his head and brought it away to the inn. He also took Feeble-mind, the pilgrim, and brought him with him to his lodgings. When they were come home they showed his head to the family, and set it up, as they had done others before, for a terror to those that shall attempt to do as he hereafter.

Then they asked Mr. Feeble-mind how he fell into his hands?

Then said the poor man, I am a sickly man, as you see, and because death did usually once a day knock at my door, I thought I should never be well at home; so 1 betook myself to a pilgrim's life, and have travelled hither from the town of Uncertain, where I and my father

stronger in the Lord, and in the power of his might te fight and conquer every enemy

Then said Mr. Contrite to them, Pray how fareth it with you in your pilgrimage? How stands the country affected towards you?

Honest. It happens to us as it happeneth to wayfaring men sometimes our way is clean, sometimes foul, sometimes up hill, sometimes down hill; we are seldom at a certainty; the wind is not always on our backs, nor is every one a friend that we meet with in the way. We have met with some notable rubs already, and what are yet behind we know not; but for the most part we find it true that has been talked of old: “A good man must suffer trouble."

Contrite. You talk of rubs: what rubs have you met withal?

Honest. Nay, ask Mr. Great-heart, our guide, for he can give the best account of that.

Great-heart. We have been beset two or three times already. First, Christiana and her children were beset with two ruffians that they feared would take away their lives. We were beset with Giant Bloody-man, Giant Maul, and Giant Slay-good. Indeed, we did rather beset the last than were beset of him. And thus it was: After we had been some time at the house of Gaius, "mine host, and of the whole Church," we were minded upon a time to take our weapons with us, and to go see if we could light upon any of those that were enemies of pilgrims; for we heard that there was a notable one thereabouts. Now Gaius knew his haunt better than I, because he dwelt thereabout; so we looked and looked, till at last we discerned the mouth of his cave; then were we glad and plucked up our spirits. So we approached up to his den: and, lo, when we came there he had dragged by mere force into his net this poor man, Mr. Feeble-mind, and was about to bring him to his end. But when he saw us, supposing, as we thought, he had another prey, he left the poor man in his house and came out. So we fell to it full sore, and he lustily laid about him, but in conclusion he was brought down to the ground and his head ut off and set up by the wayside for a terror touch as should after practise such ungodliness. That I tell you the truth here is the man himself to affirm it, who was as a lamb taken out of the mouth of the lion.

Then said Mr. Feeble-mind, I found this true to my cost and comfort--to my cost, when he threatened to pick my bones every moment; and to my comfort, when I saw Mr. Great-heart

This is a sound speech. Lord, grant that we, who profess thy holy name, may take good heed to this. It is a word of conviction to many.

and his friends, with their weapons, approach so near for my deliverance.

Then said Mr. Holy-man, There are two things that they have need to be possessed of that go on pilgrimage-courage and an unspotted life. If they have not courage, they can never hold on their way; and if their lives be loose, they will make the very name of a pilgrim stink.*

Then said Mr. Love-saint, I hope this caution is not needful among you: but truly there are many that go upon the road that rather declare themselves strangers to pilgrimage than strangers and pilgrims in the earth.

Then said Mr. Dare-not-lie, It is true, they neither have the pilgrim's weed nor the pilgrim's courage: they go not uprightly, but all awry with their feet: one shoe goeth inward, another outward, and their hosen out behind, here a rag and there a rent, to the disparagement of their Lord.†

These things, said Mr. Penitent, they ought to be troubled for; nor are the pilgrims like to have that grace upon them and their pilgrim's progress as they desire until the way is cleared of such spots and blemishes.

Thus they sat talking and spending the time until the supper was set upon the table. Upon which they went and refreshed their weary bodies; so they went to rest. Now they stayed in the fair a great while at the house of Mr. Mnason, who in process of time gave his daughter Grace unto Samuel, Christiana's son, and his daughter Martha to Joseph.

The time, as I said, that they lay here was long, for it was not now as in former times. Wherefore the pilgrims grew acquainted with many of the good people of the town, and did them what service they could. Mercy, as she was wont, laboured much for the poor; wherefore their bellies and backs blessed her, and she was there an ornament to her profession. And to say the truth for Grace, Phebe, and Martha, they were all of a very good nature, and did much good in their places. They were also all of them very fruitful; so that Christian's name as was said before, was like to live in the world

While they lay here there came a monster out of the woods and slew many of the people of the town. it would also carry away their children and teach them to suck its whelps. Now no man in the town durst so much as face this monster, but all men fled when they heard the noise of his coming. The monster was