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A16) Then Christa
with tears gushing out,
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e in a bottom, where was opened the door, and bid them and saw that within it was dark. they heard there a rumbling nel ment, al that they smelt

Then id Christian, Wh Tis is a by-way to Heli, a

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and down among the tombs that were there; and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them. Then said Christian, What means this?

The shepherds then answered, Did you not see, a little below these mountains, a stile that led into a meadow, on the left hand of the way? They answered, Yes. Then said the shepherds, From that stile there goes a path that leads directly to Doubting-castle, which is kept by Giant Despair; and these men (pointing to them among the tombs) came once on pilgrimage, as you do now, even until they came to that same stile. And, because the right way was rough in that place, they chose to go out of it into that meadow, and there were taken by Giant Despair, and cast into Doubting-castle; where, after they had a while been kept in the dungeon, he at last did put out their eyes, and led them among those tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day; that the saying of the wise man might be fulfilled, "He that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." (Prov. xxi. 16.) Then Christian and Hopeful looked one upon another with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the shepherds. Then I saw in my dream, that the shepherds had them to another place in a bottom, where was a door in the side of a hill; and they opened the door, and bid them look in. They looked in, therefore, and saw that within it was dark and smoky; they also thought that they heard there a rumbling noise, as of fire, and a cry of some tormented, and that they smelt the scent of brimstone.

Then said Christian, What means this? The shepherds told them, This is a by-way to Hell, a way that hypocrites go in at; namely, such as sell their birth-right with Esau; such as sell their Master with Judas; such as blaspheme the gospel with Alexander; and that lie and dissemble with Ananias, and Sapphira his wife.

Then said Hopeful to the shepherds, I perceive that these had on them, even every one, a show of pilgrimage, as we have now; had they not?

Shep. Yes, and held it a long time too.

Hope. How far might they go on in pilgrimage in their day, since they, notwithstanding, were thus miserably cast away?

110

The Hill Clear, and the Country of Conceit.

Shep. Some further, and some not so far, as these mountains. Then said the pilgrims one to the other, We have need to cry to the Strong for strength.

Shep. Ay, and you will have need to use it when you have it too!

By this time the pilgrims had a desire to go forwards, and the shepherds a desire they should; so they walked together towards the end of the mountains. Then said the shepherds one to another, Let us here show the pilgrims the gates of the Celestial City, if they have skill to look through our perspective glass. The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion; so they had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them the glass to look.

Then they tried to look, but the remembrance of that last thing that the shepherds had shown them made their hands shake;' by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass; yet they thought they saw something like the Gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Thus they went away and sang this

song:

Thus by the shepherds, secrets are reveal'd,
Which from all other men are kept concealed;
Come to the shepherds, then, if you would see
Things deep, things hid, and that mysterious be.

When they were about to depart, one of the shepherds gave them a note of the way. Another of them bid them beware of the Flatterer. The third bid them take heed that they slept not upon the enchanted ground; and the fourth bid them God speed. So I awoke from my dream.

And I slept, and dreamed again, and saw the same two pilgrims going down the mountains along the highway, towards the City. Now, a little below these mountains, on the left hand, lieth the country of Conceit; from which country there comes into the way in which

1 Such is the infirmity of our nature, even when in a measure renovated, that it is almost impossible for us vigorously to exercise one holy affection, without failing in some other.

2 The description of men represented by the character next introduced, is one about which the author has repeatedly bestowed much pains.-Christian had soon done with Obstinate and Worldly-wiseman; for such men, being outrageous against the gospel, shun all intercourse with established believers, and little can be done to warn or undeceive them; but brisk, conceited, shallow persons, who are ambitious of being thought religious, are

Conversation with Egnorance.

111

the pilgrims walked a little crooked lane. Here, therefore, they met with a very brisk lad that came out of that country, and his name was Ignorance. So Christian asked him, from what parts he came? and whither he was going?

Ignor. Sir, I was born in the country that lieth off there, a little on the left hand; and I am going to the Celestial City.

Chr. But how do you think to get in at the Gate? for you may find some difficulty there

As other good people do, said he.

Chr. But what have you to show at that Gate, that the Gate should be opened to you?

Ignor. I know my Lord's will, and have been a good liver; I pay every man his own; I pray, fast, pay tithes, and give alms, and have left my country for whither I am going.

Chr. But thou camest not in at the Wicket-gate that is at the head of this way; thou camest in hither through that same crooked lane; and therefore I fear, however thou mayest think of thyself, when the reckoning day shall come, thou wilt have laid to thy charge that thou art a thief and a robber, instead of getting admittance into the City.

Ignor. Gentlemen, ye be utter strangers to me; I know you not: be content to follow the religion of your country, and I will follow the religion of mine. I hope all will be well. And as for the Gate that you talk of, all the world knows that that is a great way off of our country. I cannot think that any man in all our parts doth so much as know the way to it; nor need they matter whether they do or no, since we have, as you see, a fine pleasant green lane, that comes down from our country the next way into the way.

shaken off with great difficulty; and they are continually found among the hearers of the gospel. The frivolous vain-glory of empty talkers differs exceedingly from the arrogance and formal self-importance of Scribes and Pharisees, and arises from a different constitution and education, and other habits and associations. This is the town of Conceit, where Ignorance resided. A lively disposition, a weak capacity, a confused judgment, the want of information about religion and almost every other subject, a proportionable blindness to all these defects, and a pert forward self-sufficiency, are the prominent features in this portrait: and if a full purse, secular influence, the ability of conferring favours, and the power to excite fears, be added, the whole receives its highest finishing.-With these observations on this peculiar character, and a few hints as we proceed, the plain language of the author on this subject will be perfectly intelligible to the attentive reader.