How Talkative at firft lifts up his Plumes! To drive down all before him! But fo foon Moon That's past the Full, into the Wane he goes; And fo will all, but he that Heart-work knows. Thus they went on talking of what they had feen by the Way, and fo made that Way eafy, which would otherwise, no doubt, have been tedious to them: For they went through a Wilderness. Now when they were got almoft quite out of this Wildernefs, Faithful chanced to caft his Eye back, and espied one coming after them, and he knew him. Oh! faid Faithful to his Brother, who comes yonder? Then Chriftian looked, and said, It is my good Friend Evangelift: Ay, and my good Friend too, faid Faithful, for it was he that fet me the Way to the Gate. Now • Evangelift was Evangelift come up unto them, and thus faluted them: overtakes abem again. + They are glad at the Sight of bim. Evang. Peace be with you, dearly beloved; and Peace be your Helpers. Chr. Welcome, welcome, my good Evangelift, the Sight of thy Countenance brings to my Remembrance thy ancient Kindness and unwearried Labours for my eternal Good. Faith. Faith. And a thoufand times Welcome, faid good Faithful; thy Company, O fweet Evangelift, how defirable is it to us poor Pilgrims! Evang. Then faid Evangelift, How hath it fared with you my Friends, fince the Time of our laft parting? What have you met with, and how have you behaved yourselves. Then Chriftian and Faithful told him of all Things that had happened to them in the Way; and how, and with what Difficulty they had arrived to that Place. Evang. Right glad am I, faid Evan-* His Exhorgelist, not that you have met with Trials, tation to them. but that you have been Victors, and for that you have, notwithstanding many Weakneffes, continued in the Way to this very Day. ye Gal. vi. 9, I fay, right glad am I of this Thing, John iv. 36. and that for mine own Sake and yours: I have fowed, and you have reaped; and the Day is coming, when both he that fowed, and they that reap, fhall rejoice together; that is, if you hold out, for in due Time hall reap, if you faint not. The Crown is before you, and it Rev. iii. 11. is an incorruptible one; fo run, that you may obtain it. Some there be that fet out for this Crown, and after they have gone far for it, another comes in and takes it from them: Hold faft therefore that you have, let no Man take your Crown: You are not yet out of the Gunfhot of the Devil: You have not refifted unto. Blood, ftriving against Sin: Let the They do thank him for his the Kingdom be always before you, and believe stedfastly concerning Things that are invifible: Let nothing that is on this Side the other World get within you: And above all, look well to your own Hearts and to the Lufts thereof, for they are deceitful above all Things, and desperately wicked; fet your Faces like a Flint: you have all Power in Heaven and Earth on your Side.. Chr. Then Chriflian thanked him for his Exhortation; but told him withal, that Exhortation. they would have him fpeak farther to them for their Help the rest of the Way; and the rather, for that they well knew that he was a Prophet, and could tell them of Things that might happen unto them, and how they might refift and overcome them. To which Request Faithful alfo confented. So Evangelift began as with in Vani followeth : •He predicteth Evang. My Sons, you have heard in what Troubles the Words of the Truth of the Gofpel, they all meet that you must through many Tribulaty Fair, and tions enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. encourageth And again, That in every City, Bonds and them to Stead- Afflictions abide you; and therefore fastness. you cannot expect that you fhould go long on your Pilgrimage without them, in fome fort or other: You have found fomething of the Truth of thefe Teftimonies upon you already, and more will immediately follow; for now, as you see, you are almoft out of this Wilderness, and therefore you will foon come into a Town that you will by and by fee before you; and in that Town you will be 5 hard * hard befet with Enemies, who will train hard but they will kill you; and be you fure that one or both of you must' feal the Testimony which you hold, with Blood; but be you faithful unto Death, and the King will give you a Crown of Life. He that fhall die there although He whofe his Death will be unnatural, and his Lot it will be there to fuffer Pains perhaps great, he will yet have will have the the better of his Fellow; not only be- Better of his cause he will be arrived at the Coeleftial Fellow. City foonest, but because he will escape many Miseries that the other will meet with in the rest of his Journey, But when you are come to the Town, and fhall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember your Friend, and quit yourselves like Men, and commit the Keeping of your fouls to your God in Well-doing, as unto a Faithful Creator. Then I faw in my Dream, that when they were got out of the Wilderness, they prefently faw a Town before them, and the Name of that Town is Vanity; and at the Town there is a Fair kept called Vanity-Fair: It is kept all the Year long; it beareth the Name of Vanity-Fair, because the Town where it is kept is light- Pfal. xl. 17. er than Vanity; and alfo, becaufe all that Ecclef. i. is there fold, or that cometh thither, is ch. ii. 11. 17. Vanity. As is the Saying of the Wife, All that cometh is Vanity. This Fair is no new-erected Business, but a Thing of ancient Standing: I will shew you the Original of it. † Almost The Anti Fair. * Almost five Thousand Years agone, quity of this there were Pilgrims walking to the Cœleftial City, as these two honest Persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their Companions, perceiving by the Path that the Pilgrims made, that their Way to the City lay through this Town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a Fair; a Fair, wherein fhould be fold all Sorts of Vanity, and that it should laft all the Year long; therefore, at this Fair, are all fuch Merchandizes fold, † as Houfes, Lands, Trades, Places, Honours, Preferments, Titles, Countries, Kingdoms, Lufts, Pleasures; and Delights of all Sorts, as Whores, Bawds, Wives, Husbands, Children, Mafters, Servants, Lives, Blood, Bodies, Souls, Silver, Gold, Pearls, precious Stones, and what not? The Merchandize of this Fair. And moreover, at this Fair there is at all Times to be feen Jugglings, Cheats, Games, Plays, Fools, Apes, Knaves, and Rogues, and that of every Kind. Here are to be feen too, and that for nothing, Thefts, Murders, Adulteries, Falfe-iwearers, and that of a Blood-red Colour. And as in other Fairs of lefs Moment, there are feveral Rows and Streets under their proper Names, where fuch and Behold VANITY-FAIR; the Pilgrims there Are chain'd and ftow'd befide: Even fo it was our LORD pafs'd here, And on Mount Calvary died. |