20 Conversation with Mr Worldly Wiseman. wicket-gate before me; for there, as I am informed, I shall be put into a way to be rid of my heavy burden. WORLD. Hast thou a wife and children? CHR. Yes; but I am so laden with this burden, that I cannot take that pleasure in them as formerly; methinks I am as if I had none, 1 Cor. vii. 29. WORLD. Wilt thou hearken to me if I give thee counsel ? CHR. If it be good, I will; for I stand in need of good counsel. WORLD. I would advise thee, then, that thou with all speed get thyself rid of thy burden; for Worldly Wiseman's counsel thou wilt never be settled in thy mind till to Christian. then nor canst thou enjoy the benefits of the blessings which God hath bestowed upon thee till then. CHR. That is that which I seek for, even to be rid of this heavy burden; but get it off myself I cannot ; nor is there any man in our country that can take it off my shoulders; therefore am I going this way, as I told you, that I may be rid of my burden. WORLD. Who bid thee go this way to be rid of thy burden? CHR. A man that appeared to me to be a very great and honourable person: his name, as I remember, is Evangelist. demneth Evan WORLD. I beshrew him for his counsel! there is Mr Worldly not a more dangerous and troublesome way Wiseman con- in the world than is that into which he gelist's counsel. hath directed thee; and that thou shalt find, if thou wilt be ruled by his counsel. Thou hast met with something, as I perceive, already; for I see the dirt of the Slough of Despond is upon thee; but that slough is the beginning of the sorrows that do attend those that go on in that way. Here me, I am older than thou: thou art like to meet with in the way which thou goest wearisomeness, painfulness, hunger, perils, nakedness, sword, lions, dragons, darkness, and, * Wish a curse to. Conversation with Mr Worldly Wiseman. 21 in a word, death, and what not. These things are certainly true, having been confirmed by many testimonies. And why should a man so carelessly cast away himself, by giving heed to a stranger? youngChristian. CHR. Why, sir, this burden upon my back is more terrible to me than all these things which The frame of you have mentioned: nay, methinks I care the heart of a not what I meet with in the if so be way, I can also meet with deliverance from my burden. WORLD. How camest thou by thy burden at first? CHR. By reading this book in my hand. He does not should be seri WORLD. I thought so; and it has happened unto thee as to other weak men, who, meddling with things too high for them, do suddenly like that men fall into thy distractions; which distractions ous in reading do not only unman men, as thine I the Bible. ceive have done thee, but they run them upon desperate ventures, to obtain they know not what. per CHR. I know what I would obtain; it is ease from my heavy burden. WORLD. But why wilt thou seek for ease this way, seeing so many dangers attend it? especially since (hadst thou but patience to hear me) I could direct thee to the obtaining of what thou desirest, without the dangers that thou in this way wilt run thyself into. Yea. and the remedy is at hand. Besides, I will add, that instead of those dangers, thou shalt meet with much safety, friendship, and content. CHR. Pray, sir, open this secret to me. WORLD. Why, in yonder village (the village is named Morality) there dwells a gentleman whose name is Legality, a very judicious man, and a man of a very good name, that has skill to help men off with such burdens as thine is from their shoul- rality before the He prefers Moders; yea, to my knowledge, he hath done strait gate. a great deal of good this way; ay, and besides, he hath skill to cure those that are somewhat crazed in their wits with their burdens. To him, as I said, thou mayest go, and be helped presently. His house is not quite a 22 Christian afraid of Mount Sinai. mile from this place; and if he should not be at home himself, he hath a pretty young man to his son, whose name is Civility, that can do it (to speak on) as well as the old gentleman himself: there, I say, thou mayest be eased of thy burden; and if thou art not minded to go back to thy former habitation (as indeed I would not wish thee), thou mayest send for thy wife and children to thee to this village, where there are houses now standing empty, one of which thou mayest have at a reasonable rate: provision is there also cheap and good; and that which will make thy life the more happy is, to be sure there thou shalt live by honest neighbours, in credit and good fashion. Now was Christian somewhat at a stand; but preChristian snared sently he concluded, If this be true which by Mr Worldly this gentleman hath said, my wisest course is to take his advice; and with that he thus Wiseman's words. further spake. CHR. Sir, which is my way to this honest man's house? WORLD. Do you see yonder high hill? Mount Sinai. CHR. Yes, very well. WORLD. By that hill you must go, and the first house you come at is his. nai would fall on So Christian turned out of his way to go to Mr LeChristian afraid gality's house for help: but behold, when that Mount Si- he was got now hard by the hill, it seemed his head. so high, and also that side of it that was next the wayside did hang so much over, that Christian was afraid to venture farther, lest the hill should fall on his head; wherefore there he stood still, and wotted* not what to do. Also his burden now seemed heavier to him than while he was in his way. There came also flashes of fire, Exod. xix. 16, 18, out of the hill, that made Christian afraid that he should be burned: here therefore he did sweat and quake for fear, Heb. xii. 21. And now he began to be sorry that he had taken Mr Worldly Wiseman's counsel: and with that he saw Evangelist coming to meet him, at the sight also of whom * Knew. Evangelist convinces him of his error. 23 he began to blush for shame. So Evangelist drew nearer and nearer; and coming up to him, Evangelist findhe looked upon him with a severe and eth Christian undreadful countenance, and thus began to reason with Christian. der Mount Sinai. Evangelist rea Christian. EVAN. What dost thou here, Christian? said he, at which words Christian knew not what to answer; wherefore at present he stood speech- sons afresh with less before him. Then said Evangelist further, Art not thou the man that I found crying without the walls of the city of Destruction? CHR. Yes, dear sir, I am the man. EVAN. Did not I direct thee the way to the little wicket-gate? CHR. Yes, dear sir, said Christian. EVAN. How is it, then, that thou art so quickly turned aside? For thou art now out of the way. CHR. I met with a gentleman so soon as I had got over the Slough of Despond, who persuaded me that I might, in the village before me, find a man that could take off my burden. EVAN. What was he? CHR. He looked like a gentleman, and talked much to me, and got me at last to yield: so I came hither; but when I beheld this hill, and how it hangs over the way, I suddenly made a stand; lest it should fall on my head. EVAN. What said that gentleman to you CHR. Why, he asked me whither I was going; and I told him. EVAN. And what said he then? CHR. He asked me if I had a family and I told him. But, said I, I am so laden with the burden that is on my back, that I cannot take pleasure in them as formerly. EVAN. And what said he then? CHR. He bid me with speed get rid of my burden; and I told him it was ease that I sought. And, said I, I am therefore going to yonder gate, to receive further .24 Evangelist convinces him of his error. direction how I may get to the place of deliverance. So he said that he would show me a better way, and short, not so attended with difficulties as the way, sir, that you set me in; which way, said he, will direct you to a gentleman's house that hath skill to take off these burdens: so I believed him, and turned out of that way into this, if haply I might be soon eased of my burden. But when I came to this place, and beheld things as they are, I stopped, for fear (as I said) of danger: but I now know not what to do. Evangelist con EVAN. Then said Evangelist, Stand still a little, that I may show thee the words of God. So he vinces him of stood trembling. Then said Evangelist, his error. "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven," Heb. xii. 25. He said, moreover, "Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him," Heb. x. 38. He also did thus apply them: Thou art the man that art running into misery; thou hast begun to reject the counsel of the Most High, and to draw back thy foot from the way of peace, even almost to the hazarding of thy perdition. Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying, Woe is me, for I am undone ! At the sight of which Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, "All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men," Matt. xii. 31. "Be not faithless, but believing," John xx. 27. Then did Christian again a little revive, and stood up trembling, as at first, before Evangelist. Then Evangelist proceeded, saying, Give more earnest heed to the things that I shall tell thee of. I will now show thee who it was that deluded thee, and who it was also to whom he sent thee. That man that met thee is Mr Worldly one Worldly Wiseman; and rightly is he so scribed by Evan- called; partly because he savoureth only of the doctrine of this world, 1 John iv. 5, (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to Wiseman de gelist. |