DECEIVERS If the Shepherds did not bid them beware of the Flatterer? They answered, Yes; but we did not imagine, said they, that this fine- FINE SPOKEN. spoken man had been he. THEY ARE WHIPT, AND Then I saw in my dream, that he commanded them to lie down; which when they did, he chastised them sore, to teach them the good way wherein they should walk.1 And as he chastised them, he said, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent."2 This done, he bids them go on their way, and take good heed to the other directions of the Shepherds. So they thanked him for all his kindness, and went softly along the right way, singing, Come hither, you that walk along the way, They 're scourg'd to boot: let this your caution be. Now, after a while, they perceived, afar off, one coming softly and alone, all along the highway, to meet them. Then said Christian to his fellow, Yonder is a man with his back towards Zion, and he is coming to meet us. THE ATHEIST Hope. I see him: let us take heed to ourselves now, lest he should prove a Flatterer also. So he drew nearer, and at last came up to MEETS THEM. them. His name was Atheist, and he asked them, Whither they were going? Chr. We are going to Mount Zion. 1 Deut. xxv. 2. 2 Cor. iv. 17. 2 Rev. iii. 19. AT THEM. HE LAUGHS Then Atheist fell into a very great laughter. Chr. What's the meaning of your laughter? Ath. I laugh to see what ignorant persons you are, to take upon you so tedious a journey, and yet are like to have nothing but your travel for your pains. Chr. Why, man! do you think we shall not be received? THEY REASON TOGETHER. Ath. Received! There is not such a place as you dream of in all this World. Chr. But there is in the World to come. Ath. When I was at home in mine own country, I heard as you now affirm; and, from that hearing, went out to see, and have been seeking this City these twenty years, but find no more of it than I did the first day I set out.3 Chr. We have both heard, and believe that there is such a place to be found. THE ATHEIST CONTENT IN Ath. Had not I, when at home, beTAKES UP HIS lieved, I had not come thus far to seek; but finding none, (and yet I should, had there been such a place to be found, for I have gone to seek it farther than you,) I am going back again, and will seek to refresh myself with the things that I then cast away, for hopes of that which I now see is not. CHRISTIAN PROVETH HIS BROTHER. Then said Christian to Hopeful, his companion, Is it true which this man hath said? HOPEFUL'S GRA Hope. Take heed, he is one of the CIOUS ANSWER. Flatterers; remember what it hath cost us once already for our hearkening to such kind of 3 Eccl. x. 15. fellows. What! no Mount Zion! Did we not see from the Delectable Mountains the Gate of the City? Also, are we not now to walk by faith? Let us go on, lest the man with the whip overtake us again. You should have taught me that lesson, which I will round you MENTS IS A HELP in the ears withal: "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth REMEMBRANCE OF FORMER CHASTISE AGAINST PRESENT TEMPTATIONS. to err from the words of knowledge."4 I say, my brother, cease to hear him, and let us "believe to the saving of the soul."5 A FRUIT OF AN Chr. My brother, I did not put the question to thee for that I doubted of the truth of our belief myself, but to prove thee, and to fetch from thee a proof of the honesty of thy HONEST HEART. heart. As for this man, I know that he is blinded by the god of this world. Let thee and I go on, knowing that we have belief of the truth, and "no lie is of the truth."6 Hope. Now do I rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So they turned away from the man, and he, laughing at them, went his way. THEY COME TO THE I then saw in my dream, that they went on until they came into a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy to sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian, I do HOPEFUL BEGINS now begin to grow so drowsy, that I TO BE DROWSY. can scarcely hold open mine eyes; let us lie down here, and take one nap. 4 Prov. xix: 27. 5 Heb. x. 39. 6 1 John, ii. 21. N HIM AWAKE. CHRISTIAN KEEPS By no means, said the other, lest, sleeping, we never awake more. Hope. Why, my brother? Sleep is sweet to the labouring man; we may be refreshed, if we take a nap. Chr. Do you not remember that one of the Shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground? He meant by that, that we should beware of sleeping: "Wherefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober."7 HE IS THANKFUL. Hope. I acknowledge myself in a fault; and had I been here alone, I had, by sleeping, run the danger of death. I see it is true that the wise man saith, "Two are better than one."8 Hitherto hath thy company been my mercy; and thou shalt have a good reward for thy labour. GOOD DISCOURSE PREVENTETH DROWSINESS. Now then, said Christian, to prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse. With all my heart, said the other. Hope. Where God began with us. begin, if you please. Chr. I will sing you first this song. THE DREAM ER'S NOTE. But do you When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither, Then Christian began and said, I will ask you a question: How came you to think at first of doing as you do now? THEY BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING Hope. Do you mean how I came at first to look after the good of my soul? Chr. Yes, that is my meaning. Hope. I continued a great while in the delight of those things which were seen and sold at our Fair; things which I believe now would have, had I continued in them still, drowned me in perdition and destruction. Chr. What things were they? Hope. All the treasures and riches HOPEFUL'S LIFE BEof the world. Also I delighted much FORE CONVERSION. in rioting, revelling, drinking, swearing, lying, uncleanness, Sabbath - breaking, and what not, that tended to destroy the soul. But I found at last, by hearing and considering of things that are divine, which indeed I heard of you, as also of beloved Faithful that was put to death, for his faith and good living, in Vanity-fair, "that the end of these things is death;"9 and that, "for these things' sake, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience."1 Chr. And did you presently fall under the power of this conviction? Hope. No; I was not willing pre- HOPEFUL AT FIRST sently to know the evil of sin, nor the damnation that follows upon SHUTS HIS EYES AGAINST THE LIGHT. the commission of it; but endeavoured, when my mind at first began to be shaken with the word, to shut my eyes against the light thereof. 9 Rom. vi. 21-23. 1 Eph. v. 6. |