Now, I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was
fenced on either side with a wall that was called Salvation. Up this
way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great
difficulty, because of the load on his back.
He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that
place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a tomb. So I saw
in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden
loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to
tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the tomb,
where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
[Illustration: Christian Before the Cross.
Page 50]
Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, "He
hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death." Then he stood
still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that
the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked,
therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head
sent the water down his cheeks. Now, as he stood looking and weeping,
behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with "Peace be
to thee." So the first said to him, "Thy sins be forgiven thee;" the
second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with a change of
garments; the third also set a mark on his forehead, and gave him a roll
with a seal upon it, which he bade him look on as he ran, and that he
should give it in at the heavenly gate; so they went their way. Then
Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on, singing:
"Thus far did I come laden with my sin;
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither; what a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?
Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that was there put to shame for me!"
[Sidenote: SIMPLE, SLOTH, PRESUMPTION]
I saw then in my dream that he went on thus, even until he came to the
bottom, where he saw, a little out of the way, three men fast asleep,
with fetters upon their heels. The name of one was Simple, of another
Sloth, and of the third Presumption.
Christian, then, seeing them lie in this case, went to them, if perhaps
he might awake them, and cried, "You are like them that sleep on the top
of a mast; for the deep sea is under you, a gulf that hath no bottom:
awake, therefore, and come away; be willing, also, and I will help you
off with your irons." He also told them, "If he that goeth about like a
roaring lion comes by, you will certainly become a prey to his teeth."
With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this sort: Simple
said, "I see no danger." Sloth said, "Yet a little more sleep." And
Presumption said, "Every tub must stand upon his own bottom." And so
they lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his way.
[Sidenote: FORMALIST AND HYPOCRISY]
Yet was he troubled to think that men in that danger should so little
care for the kindness of him that so offered to help them, both by
awakening of them, advising them, and offering to help them off with
their irons. And, as he was troubled thereabout, he espied two men come
tumbling over the wall on the left hand of the narrow way; and they made
up apace to him. The name of one was Formalist, and the name of the
other was Hypocrisy. So, as I said, they drew up unto him, who thus
began talking with them:
CHRIS. Gentlemen, whence came you, and whither go you?
FORM. and HYP. We were born in the land of Vain-glory, and are going for
praise to Mount Zion.
CHRIS. Why came you not in at the gate which standeth at the beginning
of the way? Know ye not that it is written, "He that cometh not in by
the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber?"
FORM. and HYP. They said that to go to the gate for entrance was, by all
their countrymen, counted too far about; and that therefore their usual
way was to make a short cut of it, and to climb over the wall as they
had done.
CHRIS. But will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the
city whither we are bound, thus to disobey His will?
FORM. and HYP. They told him, that as for that, he needed not trouble
his head thereabout; for what they did they had custom for, and could
show, if need were, testimony that could prove it for more than a
thousand years.
CHRIS. "But," said Christian, "will it stand a trial at law?"
FORM. and HYP. They told him that custom, it being of so long standing
as above a thousand years, would doubtless now be admitted as a thing
according to law by a fair judge. "And besides," said they, "if we get
into the way, what matter is it which way we may get in? If we are in,
we are in: thou art but in the way, who, as we perceive, came in at the
gate; and we are also in the way, that came tumbling over the wall:
wherein, now, is thy condition better than ours?"
CHRIS. I walk by the rule of my Master; you walk by the rude working
of your fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way;
therefore I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way.
You come in by yourselves without His word, and shall go out by
yourselves without His mercy.
To this they made him but little answer; only they bid him look to
himself. Then I saw that they went on every man in his way, without much
talking one with another; save that these two men told Christian, that,
as to law and rules, they doubted not but that they should as carefully
do them as he. "Therefore," said they, "we see not wherein thou
differest from us, but by the coat which is on thy back, which was, as
we believe given thee by some of thy neighbors to hide the shame of thy
nakedness."
CHRIS. By laws and rules you will not be saved, since you came not in by
the door. And as for this coat that is on my back, it was given to me by
the Lord of the place whither I go; and that, as you say, to cover my
nakedness with. And I take it as a token of His kindness to me; for I
had nothing but rags before. And besides, thus I comfort myself as I go.
Surely, think I, when I come to the gate of the city, the Lord thereof
will know me for good, since I have His coat on my back; a coat that He
gave me freely in the day that He stripped me of my rags. I have
moreover, a mark in my forehead, of which perhaps you have taken no
notice, which one of my Lord's most intimate friends fixed there the day
that my burden fell off my shoulders. I will tell you, moreover, that I
had then given me a roll sealed, to comfort me by reading as I go in the
way; I was also bid to give it in at the heavenly gate, in token of my
certain going in after it; all which things, I doubt, you want, and want
them because you came not in at the gate.
To these things they gave him no answer; only they looked upon each
other, and laughed. Then I saw that they went on all, save that
Christian kept before, who had no more talk but with himself, and
sometimes sighingly, and sometimes comfortably; also he would be often
reading in the roll that one of the Shining Ones gave him, by which he
was refreshed.
[Sidenote: THE HILL OF DIFFICULTY]
I beheld then that they all went on till they came to the foot of the
Hill Difficulty, at the bottom of which was a spring. There were also in
the same place two other ways, besides that which came straight from the
gate; one turned to the left hand, and the other to the right, at the
bottom of the hill; but the narrow way lay right up the hill, and the
name of that going up the side of the hill is called Difficulty.
Christian now went to the spring, and drank thereof to refresh himself,
and then began to go up the hill, saying:
"The hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend,
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up, heart, let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though _difficult_, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though _easy_, where the end is woe."
The other two also came to the foot of the hill. But when they saw that
the hill was steep and high, and that there were two other ways to go;
and supposing also that these two ways might meet again with that up
which Christian went, on the other side of the hill; therefore they were
resolved to go in those ways. Now, the name of one of those ways was
Danger, and the name of the other Destruction. So the one took the way
which is called Danger, which led him into a great wood; and the other
took directly up the way to destruction, which led him into a wide
field, full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell, and rose no
more.
I looked then after Christian, to see him go up the hill, where I
perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering
upon his hands and his knees, because of the steepness of the place.
Now, about the midway to the top of the hill was a pleasant arbor, made
by the Lord of the hill for the refreshment of weary travelers. Thither,
therefore, Christian got, where also he sat down to rest him; then he
pulled his roll out of his bosom, and read therein to his comfort; he
also now began afresh to take a review of the coat or garment that was
given him as he stood by the cross. Thus pleasing himself a while, he at
last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained
him in that place until it was almost night; and in his sleep his roll
fell out of his hand. Now, as he was sleeping, there came one to him,
and awaked him, saying, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard;[3] consider her
ways, and be wise." And, with that, Christian suddenly started up, and
sped on his way, and went apace till he came to the top of the hill.
[3] Idle one.
[Sidenote: TIMOROUS AND MISTRUST]
Now, when he was got up to the top of the hill, there came two men
running amain: the name of the one was Timorous, and of the other
Mistrust; to whom Christian said, "Sirs, what's the matter? You run the
wrong way." Timorous answered, that they were going to the city of Zion,
and had got up that difficult place: "but," said he, "the farther we go,
the more danger we meet with; wherefore we turned, and are going back
again."
"Yes," said Mistrust, "for just before us lie a couple of lions in the
way, whether sleeping or waking we know not; and we could not think, if
we came within reach, but they would presently pull us in pieces."
CHRIS. Then said Christian, "You make me afraid; but whither shall I fly
to be safe? If I go back to my own country, that is prepared for fire
and brimstone, and I shall certainly perish there; if I can get to the
Celestial City, I am sure to be in safety there: I must venture. To go
back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life
everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward." So Mistrust and Timorous
ran down the hill, and Christian went on his way. But, thinking again of
what he heard from the men, he felt in his bosom for his roll, and found
it not. Then was Christian in great distress, and knew not what to do;
for he wanted that which used to comfort him, and that which should have
been his pass into the Celestial City. Here, therefore, he began to be
greatly troubled, and knew not what to do. At last he bethought himself
that he had slept in the arbor that is on the side of the hill; and,
falling down upon his knees, he asked God's forgiveness for that his
foolish act, and then went back to look for his roll. But all the way he
went back, who can sufficiently set forth the sorrow of Christian's
heart? Sometimes he sighed, sometimes he wept, and oftentimes he blamed
himself for being so foolish to fall asleep in that place, which was
erected only for a little refreshment from his weariness. Thus,
therefore, he went back, carefully looking on this side and on that, all
the way as he went, if happily he might find his roll that had been his
comfort so many times in his journey. He went thus till he came again
within sight of the arbor where he sat and slept; but that sight renewed
his sorrow the more, by bringing again, even afresh, his evil of
sleeping into his mind. Thus, therefore, he now went on, bewailing his
sinful sleep, saying, "O wretched man that I am, that I should sleep in
the day-time; that I should sleep in the midst of difficulty! that I
should so indulge myself, as to use that rest for ease to my flesh which
the Lord of the hill hath builded only for the relief of the spirits of
pilgrims! How many steps have I taken in vain! Thus it happened to
Israel; for their sin they were sent back again by the way of the Red
Sea; and I am made to tread those steps with sorrow which I might have
trod with delight, had it not been for this sinful sleep. How far might
I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread those steps
thrice over which I needed not to have trod but once; yea, also, now I
am like to be benighted, for the day is almost spent. Oh that I had not
slept!"
[Sidenote: CHRISTIAN RECOVERS HIS ROLL]
Now, by this time he was come to the arbor again, where for awhile he
sat down and wept; but at last (as Providence would have it), looking
sorrowfully down under the settle, there he espied his roll, the which
he, with trembling and haste, caught up, and put it into his bosom. But
who can tell how joyful this man was when he had got his roll again? for
this roll was the assurance of his life and acceptance at the desired
haven. Therefore he laid it up in his bosom, giving thanks to God for
directing his eye to the place where it lay, and with joy and tears
betook himself again to his journey. But oh, how nimbly now did he go up
the rest of the hill! Yet, before he got up, the sun went down upon
Christian; and this made him again recall the folly of his sleeping to
his remembrance; and thus he began again to condole with himself, "Oh,
thou sinful sleep! how for thy sake am I like to be benighted in my
journey. I must walk without the sun, darkness must cover the path of my
feet, and I must hear the noise of the doleful creatures, because of my
sinful sleep." Now also he remembered the story that Mistrust and
Timorous told him, of how they were frighted with the sight of the
lions. Then said Christian to himself again, "These beasts range in the
night for their prey; and if they should meet with me in the dark, how
should I avoid them? how should I escape being torn in pieces?" Thus he
went on his way. But, while he was thus bewailing his unhappy mistake,
he lifted up his eyes, and behold there was a very stately palace before
him, the name of which was Beautiful, and it stood just by the highway
side.
[Sidenote: WATCHFUL THE PORTER]
So I saw in my dream that he made haste, and went forward, that, if
possible, he might get lodging there. Now, before he had gone far, he
entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off the
Porter's lodge; and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he
espied two lions in the way. Now, thought he, I see the dangers by which
Mistrust and Timorous were driven back. (The lions were chained, but he
saw not the chains). Then he was afraid, and thought also himself to go
back after them; for he thought nothing but death was before him. But
the Porter at the lodge, whose name is Watchful, perceiving that
Christian made a halt as if he would go back, cried out unto him,
saying, "Is thy strength so small? fear not the lions, for they are
chained, and are placed there for the trial of faith where it is, and
for the finding out of those that have none: keep in the midst of the
path, and no hurt shall come unto thee."
Then I saw that he went on trembling for fear of the lions; but, taking
good heed to the words of the Porter, he heard them roar, but they did
him no harm. Then he clapped his hands, and went on till he came and
stood before the gate where the Porter was. Then said Christian to the
Porter, "Sir, what house is this? and may I lodge here to-night?"
The Porter answered, "This house was built by the Lord of the hill, and
He built it for the relief and security of pilgrims." The Porter also
asked whence he was, and whither he was going.
CHRIS. I am come from the City of Destruction, and am going to Mount
Zion; but, because the sun is now set, I desire, if I may, to lodge here
to-night.
PORT. What is your name?
CHRIS. My name is now Christian, but my name at the first was Graceless.
PORT. But how doth it happen that you come so late? The sun is set.
CHRIS. I had been here sooner, but that, wretched man that I am, I slept
in the arbor that stands on the hill-side. Nay, I had, notwithstanding
that, been here much sooner, but that in my sleep I lost my roll, and
came without it to the brow of the hill; and then, feeling for it and
finding it not, I was forced with sorrow of heart to go back to the
place where I slept my sleep, where I found it; and now I am come.
PORT. Well, I will call out one of the women of this place, who will, if
she likes your talk, bring you in to the rest of the family, according
to the rules of the house.
So Watchful the Porter rang a bell, at the sound of which came out of
the door of the house a grave and beautiful young woman, named
Discretion, and asked why she was called.
The Porter answered, "This man is on a journey from the City of
Destruction to Mount Zion; but, being weary and benighted, he asked me
if he might lodge here to-night; so I told him I would call for thee,
who, after speaking with him, mayest do as seemeth thee good, even
according to the law of the house."
[Sidenote: PIETY, PRUDENCE, CHARITY]
Then she asked him whence he was, and whither he was going; and he told
her. She asked him also how he got into the way; and he told her. Then
she asked him what he had seen and met with on the way; and he told her.
And at last she asked his name. So he said, "It is Christian; and I have
so much the more a desire to lodge here to-night, because, by what I
perceive, this place was built by the Lord of the hill for the relief
and safety of pilgrims." So she smiled, but the water stood in her eyes;
and after a little pause, she said, "I will call forth two or three of
my family." So she ran to the door, and called out Prudence, Piety, and
Charity, who, after a little more discourse with him brought him in to
the family; and many of them, meeting him at the threshold of the house,
said, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord: this house was built by the
Lord of the hill on purpose to entertain such pilgrims in." Then he
bowed his head, and followed them into the house. So, when he was come
in and sat down, they gave him something to drink, and agreed together,
that, until supper was ready, some of them should talk with Christian,
for the best use of the time; and they appointed Piety, Prudence, and
Charity to talk with him; and thus they began:
PIETY. Come, good Christian since we have been so loving to you to
receive you into our house this night, let us, if perhaps we may better
ourselves thereby, talk with you of all things that have happened to you
in your pilgrimage.
CHRIS. With a very good will, and I am glad that you are so well
disposed.
PIETY. What moved you at first to betake yourself to a pilgrim's life?
[Sidenote: CHRISTIAN'S ADVENTURES]
CHRIS. I was driven out of my native country by a dreadful sound that
was in mine ears; to wit, that certain destruction did await me, if I
abode in that place where I was.
PIETY. But how did it happen that you came out of your country this way?
CHRIS. It was as God would have it; for, when I was under the fears of
destruction, I did not know whither to go; but by chance there came a
man even to me, as I was trembling and weeping, whose name is
Evangelist, and he directed me to the wicket-gate, which else I should
never have found, and so set me in the way that hath led me directly to
this house.
PIETY. But did you not come by the house of the Interpreter?
CHRIS. Yes, and did see such things there, the remembrance of which will
stick by me as long as I live, especially three things; to wit, how
Christ, in despite of Satan, the Evil One maintains His work of grace
in the heart; how the man had sinned himself quite out of hopes of God's
mercy; and also the dream of him that thought in his sleep the day of
judgment was come.
PIETY. Why? did you hear him tell his dream?
CHRIS. Yes, and a dreadful one it was, I thought it made my heart ache
as he was telling of it; but yet I am glad I heard of it.
PIETY. Was that all you saw at the house of the Interpreter?
CHRIS. No; he took me, and had me where he showed me a stately palace;
and how the people were clad in gold that were in it; and how there came
a venturous man, and cut his way through the armed men that stood in the
door to keep him out; and how he was bid to come in and win eternal
glory. Methought those things did delight my heart. I would have stayed
at that good man's house a twelvemonth, but that I knew I had farther to
go.
PIETY. And what saw you else in the way?
CHRIS. Saw? Why, I went but a little farther, and I saw One, as I
thought in my mind, hang bleeding upon a tree; and the very sight of Him
made my burden fall off my back; for I groaned under a very heavy
burden, and then it fell down from off me. It was a strange thing to me,
for I never saw such a thing before; yea, and while I stood looking up
(for then I could not forbear looking), three Shining Ones came to me.
One of them told me that my sins were forgiven me; another stripped me
of my rags, and gave me this broidered coat which you see; and the third
set the mark which you see in my forehead, and gave me this sealed roll.
(And, with that, he plucked it out of his bosom.)
PIETY. But you saw more than this, did you not?
CHRIS. The things that I have told you were the best; yet some other
matters I saw; as namely I saw three men, Simple, Sloth, and
Presumption, lie asleep, a little out of the way as I came, with irons
upon their heels; but do you think I could wake them? I also saw
Formalist and Hypocrisy come tumbling over the wall, to go, as they
pretended, to Zion; but they were quickly lost, even as I myself did
tell them, but they would not believe. But, above all, I found it hard
work to get up this hill, and as hard to come by the lions' mouths; and
truly, if it had not been for the good man the Porter, that stands at
the gate, I do not know but that, after all, I might have gone back
again; but now I thank God I am here, and I thank you for receiving of
me.
Then Prudence thought good to ask him a few questions, and desired his
answer to them.
PRU. Do you think sometimes of the country from whence you came?
CHRIS. Yes, but with much shame and detestation. Truly, if I had been
mindful of that country from whence I came out, I might have had an
opportunity to have returned; but now I desire a better country, that
is, a heavenly one.
PRU. Do you not yet bear away with you in your thoughts some of the
things that you did in the former time?
CHRIS. Yes, but greatly against my will; especially my inward and sinful
thoughts, with which all my countrymen, as well as myself, were
delighted. But now all those things are my grief; and, might I but
choose mine own things, I would choose never to think of those things
more; but when I would be doing that which is best, that which is worst
is with me.
PRU. Do you not find sometimes as if those things were overcome, which
at other times are your trouble?
CHRIS. Yes, but that is but seldom; but they are to me golden hours in
which such things happen to me.
PRU. Can you remember by what means you find your annoyances, at times,
as if they were overcome?
CHRIS. Yes; when I think what I saw at the cross, that will do it; and
when I look upon my broidered coat, that will do it; also when I look
into the roll that I carry in my bosom, that will do it; and when my
thoughts wax warm about whither I am going, that will do it.
PRU. And what makes you so desirous to go to Mount Zion?
CHRIS. Why, there I hope to see Him alive that did hang dead on the
cross; and there I hope to be rid of all these things that to this day
are in me an annoyance to me. There, they say, there is no death; and
there I shall dwell with such company as I like best. For, to tell you
the truth, I love Him because I was by Him eased of my burden; and I am
weary of my inward sickness. I would fain be where I shall die no more,
and with the company that shall continually cry, "Holy, holy, holy!"
[Sidenote: CHARITY TALKS WITH CHRISTIAN]
CHAR. Then said Charity to Christian, "Have you a family? are you a
married man?"
CHRIS. I have a wife and four small children.
CHAR. And why did you not bring them along with you?
CHRIS. Then Christian wept, and said, "Oh, how willingly would I have
done it! but they were all of them utterly against my going on
pilgrimage."
CHAR. But you should have talked to them, and endeavored to have shown
them the danger of staying behind.
CHRIS. So I did, and told them also what God had shown to me of the
destruction of our city; but I seemed to them as one that mocked, and
they believed me not.
CHAR. And did you pray to God that He would bless your words to them?
CHRIS. Yes, and that with much affection; for you must think that my
wife and poor children are very dear unto me.
CHAR. But did you tell them of your own sorrow and fear of destruction?
for I suppose that you could see your destruction before you.
CHRIS. Yes, over, and over, and over. They might also see my fears in my
countenance, in my tears, and also in my trembling under the fear of the
judgment that did hang over our heads: but all was not enough to prevail
with them to come with me.
CHAR. But what could they say for themselves why they came not?
CHRIS. Why, my wife was afraid of losing this world, and my children
were given to the foolish delights of youth; so, what by one thing, and
what by another, they left me to wander in this manner alone.
CHAR. But did you not, with your vain life, hinder all that you by words
used by way of persuasion to bring them away with you?
CHRIS. Indeed, I cannot commend my life, for I am conscious to myself of
many failings therein. I know also, that a man, by his actions may soon
overthrow what, by proofs or persuasion, he doth labor to fasten upon
others for their good. Yet this I can say, I was very wary of giving
them occasion, by any unseemly action, to make them averse to going on
pilgrimage. Yea, for this very thing they would tell me I was too
precise, and that I denied myself of things (for their sakes) in which
they saw no evil. Nay, I think I may say that, if what they saw in me
did hinder them, it was my great tenderness in sinning against God, or
of doing any wrong to my neighbor.
CHAR. Indeed, Cain hated his brother because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous; and, if thy wife and children have been
offended with thee for this, they thereby show themselves to be
resolutely opposed to good: thou hast freed thy soul from their blood.
Now I saw in my dream, that thus they sat talking together till supper
was ready. So, when they had made ready, they sat down to meat. Now, the
table was furnished with fat things, and wine that was well refined; and
all their talk at the table was about the Lord of the hill; as, namely,
about what He had done, and wherefore He did what He did, and why He had
builded that house; and by what they said, I perceived that He had been
a great warrior, and had fought with and slain him that had the power of
death, but not without great danger to Himself, which made me love Him
the more.
For, as they said, and as I believe (said Christian), He did it with the
loss of much blood. But that which puts the glory of grace into all He
did, was, that He did it out of pure love to this country. And, besides,
there were some of them of the household that said they had seen and
spoken with Him since He did die on the cross; and they have declared
that they had it from His own lips, that He is such a lover of poor
pilgrims, that the like is not to be found from the east to the west.
They moreover gave an instance of what they affirmed; and that was, He
had stripped Himself of His glory, that He might do this for the poor;
and that they had heard Him say and affirm that He would not dwell in
the mountains of Zion alone. They said, moreover, that He had made many
pilgrims princes, though by nature they were beggars born, and their
home had been the dunghill.
Thus they talked together till late at night; and after they had
committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook
themselves to rest. The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber,
whose window opened towards the sunrising. The name of the chamber was
Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang:
"Where am I now? Is this the love and care
Of Jesus, for the men that pilgrims are,
Thus to provide that I should be forgiven,
And dwell already the next door to heaven?"
[Sidenote: THE VIRGINS READ TO CHRISTIAN]
So in the morning they all got up; and after some more talking together,
they told him that he should not depart till they had shown him the
rarities of that place. And first they took him into the study, where
they showed him records of the greatest age; in which, as I remember in
my dream, they showed him first the history of the Lord of the hill,
that He was the son of the Ancient of Days, and had lived from the
beginning. Here also were more fully written the acts that He had done,
and the names of many hundreds that He had taken into his service; and
how he had placed them in such houses that could neither by length of
days nor decays of nature be destroyed.
Then they read to him some of the worthy acts that some of His servants
had done; as, how they had conquered kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the enemies.
They then read again in another part of the records of the house, where
it was shown how willing their Lord was to receive into His favor any
even any, though they in time past had done great wrongs to His person
and rule. Here also were several other histories of many other famous
things, of all which Christian had a view; as of things both ancient and
modern, together with prophecies and foretellings of things that surely
come to pass, both to the dread and wonder of enemies, and the comfort
and happiness of pilgrims.
The next day they took him and led him into the armory, where they
showed him all manner of weapons which their Lord had provided for
pilgrims; as sword, shield, helmet, breast-plate, all-prayer, and shoes
that would not wear out. And there was here enough of this to harness
out as many men for the service of their Lord as there be stars in the
heaven for multitude.
They also showed him some of the things with which some of His servants
had done wonderful things. They showed him Moses' rod; the hammer and
nail with which Jael slew Sisera; the pitchers, trumpets, and lamps too,
with which Gideon put to flight the armies of Midian. Then they showed
him the ox's goad wherewith Shamgar slew six hundred men. They showed
him also the jaw-bone with which Samson did such mighty feats. They
showed him, moreover, the sling and stone with which David slew Goliath
of Gath, and the sword also with which their Lord will kill the Man of
Sin, in the day that He shall rise up to the battle. They showed him,
besides, many excellent things, with which Christian was much delighted.
This done, they went to their rest again.
Then I saw in my dream that on the morrow he got up to go forward, but
they desired him to stay till the next day also; "and then," said they,
"we will, if the day be clear, show you the Delectable Mountains;" which
they said would yet further add to his comfort, because they were nearer
the desired haven than the place where at present he was. So he
consented and stayed. When the morning was up, they led him to the top
of the house, and bid him look south. So he did, and behold, at a great
distance he saw a most pleasant mountainous country, beautified with
woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts, flowers also, with springs and
fountains, very lovely to behold. Then he asked the name of the country.
They said it was Immanuel's Land; "and it is as common," said they, "as
this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims. And when thou comest there,
from thence thou mayest see to the gate of the Celestial City, as the
shepherds that live there will make appear."
Now he bethought himself of setting forward, and they were willing he
should. "But first," said they, "let us go again into the armory." So
they did; and when he came there, they dressed him from head to foot
with armor of proof, lest perhaps he should meet with assaults in the
way. He being, therefore, thus armed, walked out with his friends to the
gate; and there he asked the Porter if he saw any pilgrim pass by. Then
the Porter answered, "Yes."
CHRIS. "Pray, did you know him?" said he.
PORT. I asked his name, and he told me it was Faithful.
CHRIS. "Oh," said Christian, "I know him, he is my townsman, my near
neighbor; he comes from the place where I was born. How far do you think
he may be before?"
PORT. He has got by this time below the hill.
CHRIS. "Well," said Christian, "good Porter, the Lord be with thee, and
add to all thy blessings much increase for the kindness thou has shown
to me!"
Then he began to go forward; but Discretion, Piety, Charity, and
Prudence would accompany him down to the foot of the hill. So they went
on together repeating their former discourses, till they came to go down
the hill. Then said Christian, "As it was difficult coming up, so far so
as I can see, it is dangerous going down." "Yes," said Prudence, "so it
is; for it is a hard matter for a man to go down the Valley of
Humiliation, as thou art now, and to catch no slip by the way;
therefore," said they, "are we come out to accompany thee down the
hill." So he began to go down, but very warily; yet he caught a slip or
two.
Then I saw in my dream that these good companions, when Christian was
gone down to the bottom of the hill, gave him a loaf of bread, a bottle
of wine, and a cluster of raisins; and then he went his way.