Gaius entertains the Pilgrims.

in the house; for as much as I have proved thee, that 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 came up again, saying, "Come, my good friends, you are welcome to me, and I am glad that I have a house to entertain you in; and while supper is making ready, if you please, let us entertain one another with some good discourse;" so they all said, "Content.""

GAIUS. Then said Gaius, Whose wife is this aged matron? and whose daughter is this young damsel?

GREAT. The woman is the wife of one Christian, a pilgrim of 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.

GAIUS. 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 dwelt first at Antioch. (Acts xi. 26.) Christian's progenitors (I suppose you have heard your husband talk of them) were very worthy men. They have, above any that Í I

This scene is founded upon the description given by the apostles Paul and John, of the hospitable and beloved Gaius, Rom. xvi. 23, and 3 John. There have been, and still are, a few persons of this benevolent and hospitable disposition, whose houses and hearts are always open for the entertainment of the disciples of Christ. Such a house as that of Gaius was the house of the late Mrs. Wallis of Kettering, which was usually denominated the "Gospel Inn." It was in the house of that hospitable matron that the Baptist Missionary Society was founded, Oct. 2, 1792. It is an apostolic recommendation of hospitality, that "thereby some have entertained angels unawares," Heb. xiii. 2

Gaius entertains the Pilgrims.

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, who 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, who 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 into a sack, and cast into the sea to be drowned! It would be utterly impossible to count up all of that family who 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. 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 being like still to spread abroad upon the face of the ground, and yet to be numerous upon the face of the earth, 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.'

HON. It is pity his family should fall and be extinct.

GAIUS. Fall it cannot, but be diminished it may ; but et Christiana take my advice, and that is the way to phold it. And, Christiana, continued this inn

"It is honourable to young christians, when a faithful minister

Gaius entertains the Pilgrims.

keeper, I am glad to see thee and thy friend Mercy to gether 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

bears witness before the church of their love to the cause and servants of God." See 3 John 6. Nothing will afford to aged christians "greater joy than to hear that their children walk in the truth," verse 4. A retrospective view of the church of Christ, both in the apostolic times, and the times immediately succeeding them, is very instructive; and more especially, the history of the labours and sufferings of those, who "for his name's sake went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles," is very instructive and encouraging to their successors in the church.-It has been said, and probably with truth, that Mr. Bunyan's whole library when he was in prison consisted of the Bible and the Book of Martyrs only. However that might be, the Pilgrim's Progress does not that I know of refer to any other sources of information; and these were all that were necessary for the author's purpose, viz. to show what christianity was in the apostolic age, and what was its influence in the ages immediately following, before it was corrupted by ordinances of human invention, and when the Bible alone, unassociated with the decisions of the first four general councils, was the standard of doctrine and discipline in the church of Christ.

A. D. 107. Ignatius, bishop or pastor of the church at Antioch, suffered martyrdom. When he heard the lions roaring, he exclaimed, "I am the wheat of Christ: I shall be ground with the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread."-Fox's Martyrol. Vol. I. p. 44.

Romanus was a minister at Antioch, distinguished by his invincible boldness in defending the truth, and his extraordinary patience in undergoing the most cruel sufferings in its defence. He suffered martyrdom, A. D. 304. When the executioner begged he might be excused from tormenting Romanus on account of the nobility of his rank, the martyr replied, "Not the blood of my progenitors, but a christian profession, maketh me noble."-Fox, Vol. I. pp. 98, 99.

A. D. 166. Polycarp, bishop or pastor of the church (or “congregation," Fox) at Smyrna, was called upon under Nero to " defy Christ." "Fourscore and six years," said he, "have 1 been his servant, yet in all this time hath he not so much as once hurt me: how then may I speak evil of my King and Sovereign Lord?" He was burned refusing to be fastened to the stake, saying, "He that hath given me strength to abide the fire, shall also give power, that without this provision of your nails I shall abide, and not stir in the midst of this pile of wood." Ibid. p. 47.

Gaius entertains the Pilgrims.

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 their reproach. For as death and the curse came into the world by a woman, (Gen. iii.) so also did life and health: God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. (Gal. iv. 4.) Yea, to show how much they that came after did abhor the act of the mother, this sex in the Old Tes tament 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 i. 42, 46.) I read not that man ever gave unto Christ so much as one groat; but the women followed him, and ministered to him of their substance. (Luke viii. 2, 3.) It was a woman that washed his feet with tears, (Luke vii. 37-50.) and a woman that anointed his body to the burial. (John xi. 2. xii. 3.) They were women who wept when he was going to be crucified; (Luke xxiii. 27.) and women that followed him from the cross, (Matt. xxvii. 55, 56. Luke xxiii. 55.) and that sat over against his sepulchre, when he was buried. (Matt. xxvii. 61.) They were women that were first with him at his resurrection-morn, (Luke xxiv. 1.) and women that brought tidings first to his disciples that he was risen from the dead. (Luke xxiv. 22, 23.) Women therefore are highly favoured, and show, by these things, that they are sharers with us in the grace of life."

* Pious parents should be solicitous to encourage their children, when arrived at a suitable age, and when suitable partners offer themselves, to enter into the marriage relation; for though the marriage state is productive of many cares, yet it is a preservative from the temptations to which youth are exposed, and is the way which God has appointed for the establishment of families, and for the perpetuation and increase of his church in the earth.

y The church is indebted to females for very important benefits. Notwithstanding the curse came through a female, this has been abundantly counterbalanced by the birth of him who was empha

Gaius entertains the Pilgrims.

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 these forerunners of the supper, begetteth in me a greater appetite to my food than I had before."

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

So supper came up. And first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table before them; to show that they must begin the meal with prayer and praise to God. The heave-shoulder David lifted his heart up to God with; and with the wave-breast, where his heart lay, he used to lean upon his harp when he played. (Levit. vii. 32-34. x. 14, 15. Psa. xxv. 1. Heb. xiii, 15.) These two dishes were very fresh and good, and they all eat heartily thereof.

The next they brought up was a bottle of wine, as red as blood. (Deut. xxxii. 14. Judg. ix. 13. John xv. 5.) 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.

The next was a dish of milk well crumbled; and

tically promised in paradise as "the seed of the woman." An enumeration of the actions of pious females, who were pre-eminent in their expressions of love towards the Saviour, is a subject well adapted to encourage christian women to abound in every good word and work; and serves to prove that they are partakers with men"in the grace of life." It is a remarkable fact, that women nave in many instances first received the gospel in pagan countries, and have been the most zealous and successful instruments in propagating it among their countrymen. As their influence is very extensive, so, when directed by the influence of religion, many unbelieving husbands have "without the word been won by the chaste conversation of their wives," 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.