They say, you are a spot among Christians; and that religion fareth
the worse for your ungodly conversation; that some have already
stumbled at your wicked ways, and that more are in danger of being
destroyed thereby; your religion, and an ale-house, and covetousness,
and uncleanness, and swearing, and lying, and vain-company keeping,
&c., will stand together. The proverb is true of you which is
said of a whore, to wit, that she is a shame to all women; so are
you a shame to all professors.
TALK. Since you are ready to take up reports and to judge so rashly
as you do, I cannot but conclude you are some peevish or melancholy
man, not fit to be discoursed with; and so adieu.
{206} CHR. Then came up Christian, and said to his brother, I told
you how it would happen: your words and his lusts could not agree;
he had rather leave your company than reform his life. But he is
gone, as I said; let him go, the loss is no man's but his own; he
has saved us the trouble of going from him; for he continuing (as
I suppose he will do) as he is, he would have been but a blot in our
company: besides, the apostle says, "From such withdraw thyself."
FAITH. But I am glad we had this little discourse with him; it
may happen that he will think of it again: however, I have dealt
plainly with him, and so am clear of his blood, if he perisheth.
{207} CHR. You did well to talk so plainly to him as you did;
there is but little of this faithful dealing with men now-a-days,
and that makes religion to stink so in the nostrils of many, as it
doth; for they are these talkative fools whose religion is only in
word, and are debauched and vain in their conversation, that (being
so much admitted into the fellowship of the godly) do puzzle the
world, blemish Christianity, and grieve the sincere. I wish that
all men would deal with such as you have done: then should they
either be made more conformable to religion, or the company of
saints would be too hot for them. Then did Faithful say,
How Talkative at first lifts up his plumes!
How bravely doth he speak! How he presumes
To drive down all before him! But so soon
As Faithful talks of heart-work, like the moon
That's past the full, into the wane he goes.
And so will all, but he that HEART-WORK knows.
{208} Thus they went on talking of what they had seen by the way,
and so made that way easy which would otherwise, no doubt, have
been tedious to them; for now they went through a wilderness.
{209} Now, when they were got almost quite out of this wilderness,
Faithful chanced to cast his eye back, and espied one coming after
them, and he knew him. Oh! said Faithful to his brother, who
comes yonder? Then Christian looked, and said, It is my good friend
Evangelist. Ay, and my good friend too, said Faithful, for it was
he that set me in the way to the gate. Now was Evangelist come up
to them, and thus saluted them:
{210} EVAN. Peace be with you, dearly beloved; and peace be to your
helpers.
CHR. Welcome, welcome, my good Evangelist, the sight of
thy countenance brings to my remembrance thy ancient kindness and
unwearied labouring for my eternal good.
FAITH. And a thousand times welcome, said good Faithful. Thy
company, O sweet Evangelist, how desirable it is to us poor pilgrims!
EVAN. Then said Evangelist, How hath it fared with you, my friends,
since the time of our last parting? What have you met with, and
how have you behaved yourselves?
{211} Then Christian and Faithful told him of all things that had
happened to them in the way; and how, and with what difficulty,
they had arrived at that place.
{212} EVAN. Right glad am I, said Evangelist, not that you have
met with trials, but that you have been victors; and for that you
have, notwithstanding many weaknesses, continued in the way to this
very day.
I say, right glad am I of this thing, and that for mine own sake
and yours. I have sowed, and you have reaped: and the day is
coming, when both he that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice
together; that is, if you hold out: "for in due season ye shall
reap, if ye faint not." [John 4:36, Gal. 6:9] The crown is before
you, and it is an incorruptible one; so run, that you may obtain
it. [1 Cor. 9:24-27] Some there be that set out for this crown,
and, after they have gone far for it, another comes in, and takes
it from them: hold fast, therefore, that you have; let no man
take your crown. [Rev. 3:11] You are not yet out of the gun-shot
of the devil; you have not resisted unto blood, striving against
sin; let the kingdom be always before you, and believe steadfastly
concerning things that are invisible. 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 lusts thereof, "for they are deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked"; set your faces like a
flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side.
{213} CHR. Then Christian thanked him for his exhortation; but
told him, withal, that they would have him speak further 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 also how they might resist and overcome
them. To which request Faithful also consented. So Evangelist
began as followeth:--
EVAN. My sons, you have heard, in the words of the truth of
the gospel, that you must, through many tribulations, enter into
the kingdom of heaven. And, again, that in every city bonds and
afflictions abide in you; and therefore you cannot expect that you
should go long on your pilgrimage without them, in some sort or
other. You have found something of the truth of these testimonies
upon you already, and more will immediately follow; for now, as
you see, you are almost out of this wilderness, and therefore you
will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you;
and in that town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will
strain hard but they will kill you; and be you sure that one or
both of you must seal the testimony which you hold, with blood; but
be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a crown of
life.
{214} He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural,
and his pain perhaps great, he will yet have the better of his
fellow; not only because he will be arrived at the Celestial City
soonest, 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 shall find fulfilled what I have here related,
then remember your friend, and quit yourselves like men, and commit
the keeping of your souls to your God in well-doing, as unto a
faithful Creator.
{215} Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the
wilderness, they presently saw 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 lighter than
vanity; and, also because all that is there sold, or that cometh
thither, is vanity. As is the saying of the wise, "all that cometh
is vanity." [Eccl. 1; 2:11,17; 11:8; Isa. 11:17]
{216} This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient
standing; I will show you the original of it.
Almost five thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to
the Celestial 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, should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last
all the year long: therefore at this fair are all such merchandise
sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles,
countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts,
as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants,
lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones,
and what not.
And, moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen juggling
cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of
every kind.
Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders,
adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.
{217} And as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several
rows and streets, under their proper names, where such and such
wares are vended; so here likewise you have the proper places,
rows, streets, (viz. countries and kingdoms), where the wares of
this fair are soonest to be found. Here is the Britain Row, the
French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where
several sorts of vanities are to be sold. But, as in other fairs,
some one commodity is as the chief of all the fair, so the ware
of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair; only
our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.
{218} Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just
through this town where this lusty fair is kept; and he that will
go to the city, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out
of the world. [1 Cor. 5:10] The Prince of princes himself, when
here, went through this town to his own country, and that upon a
fair day too; yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief lord
of this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities; yea, would
have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him reverence
as he went through the town. [Matt. 4:8, Luke 4:5-7] Yea, because
he was such a person of honour, Beelzebub had him from street to
street, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little
time, that he might, if possible, allure the Blessed One to cheapen
and buy some of his vanities; but he had no mind to the merchandise,
and therefore left the town, without laying out so much as one
farthing upon these vanities. This fair, therefore, is an ancient
thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.
{219} Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this
fair. Well, so they did: but, behold, even as they entered into
the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town
itself as it were in a hubbub about them; and that for several
reasons: for--
{220} First, The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment
as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in that fair.
The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them:
some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, and some they
are outlandish men. [1 Cor. 2:7-8]
{221} Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel, so they did
likewise at their speech; for few could understand what they said;
they naturally spoke the language of Canaan, but they that kept
the fair were the men of this world; so that, from one end of the
fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other.
{222} Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers
was, that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares; they
cared not so much as to look upon them; and if they called upon them
to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears, and cry, Turn
away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and look upwards, signifying
that their trade and traffic was in heaven. [Ps. 119:37, Phil.
3:19-20]
{223} One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to
say unto them, What will ye buy? But they, looking gravely upon
him, answered, "We buy the truth." [Prov. 23:23] At that there
was an occasion taken to despise the men the more; some mocking,
some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon
others to smite them. At last things came to a hubbub and great
stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded. Now was
word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly
came down, and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take these
men into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned. So
the men were brought to examination; and they that sat upon them,
asked them whence they came, whither they went, and what they did
there, in such an unusual garb? The men told them that they were
pilgrims and strangers in the world, and that they were going to
their own country, which was the heavenly Jerusalem, [Heb. 11:13-16]
and that they had given no occasion to the men of the town, nor
yet to the merchandisers, thus to abuse them, and to let them in
their journey, except it was for that, when one asked them what
they would buy, they said they would buy the truth. But they that
were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other
than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into
a confusion in the fair. Therefore they took them and beat them,
and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage, that
they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair.
Behold Vanity Fair! the Pilgrims there
Are chain'd and stand beside:
Even so it was our Lord pass'd here,
And on Mount Calvary died.
{224} There, therefore, they lay for some time, and were made the
objects of any man's sport, or malice, or revenge, the great one of
the fair laughing still at all that befell them. But the men being
patient, and not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise,
blessing, and good words for bad, and kindness for injuries done,
some men in the fair that were more observing, and less prejudiced
than the rest, began to check and blame the baser sort for their
continual abuses done by them to the men; they, therefore, in
angry manner, let fly at them again, counting them as bad as the
men in the cage, and telling them that they seemed confederates, and
should be made partakers of their misfortunes. The other replied
that, for aught they could see, the men were quiet, and sober, and
intended nobody any harm; and that there were many that traded in
their fair that were more worthy to be put into the cage, yea, and
pillory too, than were the men they had abused. Thus, after divers
words had passed on both sides, the men behaving themselves all
the while very wisely and soberly before them, they fell to some
blows among themselves, and did harm one to another. Then were
these two poor men brought before their examiners again, and there
charged as being guilty of the late hubbub that had been in the
fair. So they beat them pitifully, and hanged irons upon them,
and led them in chains up and down the fair, for an example and a
terror to others, lest any should speak in their behalf, or join
themselves unto them. But Christian and Faithful behaved themselves
yet more wisely, and received the ignominy and shame that was
cast upon them, with so much meekness and patience, that it won to
their side, though but few in comparison of the rest, several of
the men in the fair. This put the other party yet into greater
rage, insomuch that they concluded the death of these two men.
Wherefore they threatened, that the cage nor irons should serve
their turn, but that they should die, for the abuse they had done,
and for deluding the men of the fair.
Then were they remanded to the cage again, until further order
should be taken with them. So they put them in, and made their
feet fast in the stocks.
{225} Here, therefore, they called again to mind what they had heard
from their faithful friend Evangelist, and were the more confirmed
in their way and sufferings by what he told them would happen to
them. They also now comforted each other, that whose lot it was
to suffer, even he should have the best of it; therefore each man
secretly wished that he might have that preferment: but committing
themselves to the all-wise disposal of Him that ruleth all things,
with much content, they abode in the condition in which they were,
until they should be otherwise disposed of.
{226} Then a convenient time being appointed, they brought them
forth to their trial, in order to their condemnation. When the
time was come, they were brought before their enemies and arraigned.
The judge's name was Lord Hate-good. Their indictment was one and
the same in substance, though somewhat varying in form, the contents
whereof were this:--
{227} "That they were enemies to and disturbers of their trade;
that they had made commotions and divisions in the town, and had
won a party to their own most dangerous opinions, in contempt of
the law of their prince."
Now, FAITHFUL, play the man, speak for thy God:
Fear not the wicked's malice; nor their rod:
Speak boldly, man, the truth is on thy side:
Die for it, and to life in triumph ride.
{228} Faithful's answer for himself
Then Faithful began to answer, that he had only set himself against
that which hath set itself against Him that is higher than the
highest. And, said he, as for disturbance, I make none, being
myself a man of peace; the parties that were won to us, were won
by beholding our truth and innocence, and they are only turned from
the worse to the better. And as to the king you talk of, since he
is Beelzebub, the enemy of our Lord, I defy him and all his angels.
{229} Then proclamation was made, that they that had aught to say
for their lord the king against the prisoner at the bar, should
forthwith appear and give in their evidence. So there came in
three witnesses, to wit, Envy, Superstition, and Pickthank. They
were then asked if they knew the prisoner at the bar; and what they
had to say for their lord the king against him.
{230} Then stood forth Envy, and said to this effect: My Lord, I
have known this man a long time, and will attest upon my oath before
this honourable bench, that he is--