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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1886-h.zip b/1886-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9f44c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1886-h.zip diff --git a/1886-h/1886-h.htm b/1886-h/1886-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c87a68b --- /dev/null +++ b/1886-h/1886-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7722 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Bunyan Characters (Second Series)</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Bunyan Characters (Second Series), by Alexander Whyte</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bunyan Characters (Second Series), by +Alexander Whyte + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Bunyan Characters (Second Series) + + +Author: Alexander Whyte + +Release Date: April 13, 2005 [eBook #1886] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNYAN CHARACTERS (SECOND SERIES)*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1894 Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier edition by +David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<h1>BUNYAN CHARACTERS—SECOND SERIES<br /> +Lectures delivered in St. George’s Free Church Edinburgh<br /> +By Alexander Whyte, D.D.</h1> +<h2>IGNORANCE</h2> +<blockquote><p>“I was alive without the law once.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +<p>“I was now a brisk talker also myself in the matter of religion.”—<i>Bunyan</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is a new kind of pilgrim. There are not many pilgrims +like this bright brisk youth. A few more young gentlemen like +this, and the pilgrimage way would positively soon become fashionable +and popular, and be the thing to do. Had you met with this young +gentleman in society, had you noticed him beginning to come about your +church, you would have lost no time in finding out who he was. +I can well believe it, you would have replied. Indeed, I felt +sure of it. I must ask him to the house. I was quite struck +with his appearance and his manners. Yes; ask him at once to your +house; show him some pointed attentions and you will never regret it. +For if he goes to the bar and works even decently at his cases, he will +be first a sheriff and then a judge in no time. If he should take +to politics, he will be an under-secretary before his first parliament +is out. And if he takes to the church, which is not at all unlikely, +our West-end congregations will all be competing for him as their junior +colleague; and, if he elects either of our Established churches to exercise +his profession in it, he will have dined with Her Majesty while half +of his class-fellows are still half-starved probationers. Society +fathers will point him out with anger to their unsuccessful sons, and +society mothers will smile under their eyelids as they see him hanging +over their daughters.</p> +<p>Well, as this handsome and well-appointed youth stepped out of his +own neat little lane into the rough road on which our two pilgrims were +staggering upward, he felt somewhat ashamed to be seen in their company. +And I do not wonder. For a greater contrast you would not have +seen on any road in all that country that day. He was at your +very first sight of him a gentleman and the son of a gentleman. +A little over-dressed perhaps; as, also, a little lofty to the two rather +battered but otherwise decent enough men who, being so much older than +he, took the liberty of first accosting him. “Brisk” +is his biographer’s description of him. Feather-headed, +flippant, and almost impudent, you might have been tempted to say of +him had you joined the little party at that moment. But those +two tumbled, broken-winded, and, indeed, broken-hearted old men had +been, as an old author says, so emptied from vessel to vessel—they +had had a life of such sloughs and stiff climbs—they had been +in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness so often—that it was +no wonder that their dandiacal companion walked on a little ahead of +them. ‘Gentlemen,’ his fine clothes and his cane and +his head in the air all said to his two somewhat disreputable-looking +fellow-travellers,—“Gentlemen, you be utter strangers to +me: I know you not. And, besides, I take my pleasure in walking +alone, even more a great deal than in company, unless I like it better.” +But all his society manners, and all his costly and well-kept clothes, +and all his easy and self-confident airs did not impose upon the two +wary old pilgrims. They had seen too much of the world, and had +been too long mixing among all kinds of pilgrims, young and old, true +and false, to be easily imposed upon. Besides, as one could see +from their weather-beaten faces, and their threadbare garments, they +had found the upward way so dreadfully difficult that they both felt +a real apprehension as to the future of this light-hearted and light-headed +youth. “You may find some difficulty at the gate,” +somewhat bluntly broke in the oldest of the two pilgrims on their young +comrade. “I shall, no doubt, do at the gate as other good +people do,” replied the young gentleman briskly. “But +what have you to show at the gate that may cause that the gate be opened +to you?” “Why, I know my Lord’s will, and I +have been a good liver all my days, and I pay every man his own. +I pray, moreover, and I fast. I pay tithes, and give alms, and +have left my country for whither I am going.” Now, before +we go further: Do all you young gentlemen do as much as that? +Have you always been good livers? Have you paid every man and +woman their due? Do you pray to be called prayer? And, if +so, when, and where, and what for, and how long at a time? I do +not ask if your private prayer-book is like Bishop Andrewes’ <i>Devotions</i>, +which was so reduced to pulp with tears and sweat and the clenching +of his agonising hands that his literary executors were with difficulty +able to decipher it. Clito in the <i>Christian Perfection</i> +was so expeditious with his prayers that he used to boast that he could +both dress and do his devotions in a quarter of an hour. What +was the longest time you ever took to dress or undress and say your +prayers? Then, again, there is another Anglican young gentleman +in the same High Church book who always fasts on Good Friday and the +Thirtieth of January. Did you ever deny yourself a glass of wine +or a cigar or an opera ticket for the church or the poor? Could +you honestly say that you know what tithes are? And is there a +poor man or woman or child in this whole city who will by any chance +put your name into their prayers and praises at bedtime to-night? +I am afraid there are not many young gentlemen in this house to-night +who could cast a stone at that brisk lad Ignorance, Vain-Hope, door +in the side of the hill, and all. He was not far from the kingdom +of heaven; indeed, he got up to the very gate of it. How many +of you will get half as far?</p> +<p>Now (what think you?), was it not a very bold thing in John Bunyan, +whose own descent was of such a low and inconsiderable generation, his +father’s house being of that rank that is meanest and most despised +of all the families in the land—was it not almost too bold in +such a clown to take such a gentleman-scholar as Saul of Tarsus, the +future Apostle of the Lord, and put him into the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i>, and there go on to describe him as a very brisk lad and +nickname him with the nickname of Ignorance? For, in knowledge +of all kinds to be called knowledge, Gamaliel’s gold medallist +could have bought the unlettered tinker of Elstow in one end of the +market and sold him in the other. And nobody knew that better +than Bunyan did. And yet such a lion was he for the truth, such +a disciple of Luther was he, and such a defender and preacher of the +one doctrine of a standing or falling church, that he fills page after +page with the crass ignorance of the otherwise most learned of all the +New Testament men. Bunyan does not accuse the rising hope of the +Pharisees of school or of synagogue ignorance. That young Hebrew +Rabbi knew every jot and tittle of the law of Moses, and all the accumulated +traditions of the fathers to boot. But Bunyan has Paul himself +with him when he accuses and convicts Saul of an absolutely brutish +ignorance of his own heart and hidden nature. That so very brisk +lad was always boasting in himself of the day on which he was circumcised, +and of the old stock of which he had come; of his tribe, of his zeal, +of his blamelessness, and of the profit he had made of his educational +and ecclesiastical opportunities. Whereas Bunyan is fain to say +of himself in his <i>Grace Abounding</i> that he is “not able +to boast of noble blood or of a high-born state according to the flesh. +Though, all things considered, I magnify the Heavenly Majesty for that +by this door He brought me into this world to partake of the grace and +life that is in Christ by the Gospel.”</p> +<p>As we listen to the conversation that goes on between the two old +pilgrims and this smartly appointed youth, we find them striving hard, +but without any sign of success, to convince him of some of the things +from which he gets his somewhat severe name. For one thing, they +at last bluntly told him that he evidently did not know the very A B +C about himself. Till, when too hard pressed by the more ruthless +of the two old men, the exasperated youth at last frankly burst out: +“I will never believe that my heart is thus bad!” +There is a warm touch of Bunyan’s own experience here, mixed up +with his so dramatic development of Paul’s morsels of autobiography +that he lets drop in his Epistles to the Philippians and to the Galatians. +“Now was I become godly; now I was become a right honest man. +Though as yet I was nothing but a poor painted hypocrite, yet I was +proud of my godliness. I read my Bible, but as for Paul’s +Epistles, and such like Scriptures, I could not away with them; being, +as yet, but ignorant both of the corruptions of my nature and of the +want and worth of Jesus Christ to save me. The new birth did never +enter my mind, neither knew I the deceitfulness and treachery of my +own wicked heart. And as for secret thoughts, I took no notice +of them.” My brethren, old and young, what do you think +of all that? What have you to say to all that? Does all +that not open a window and let a flood of daylight into your own breast? +I am sure it does. That is the best portrait of you that ever +was painted. Do you not see yourself there as in a glass? +And do you not turn with disgust and loathing from the stupid and foolish +face? You complain and tell stories about how impostors and cheats +and liars have come to your door and have impudently thrust themselves +into your innermost rooms; but your own heart, if you only knew it, +is deceitful far above them all. Not the human heart as it stands +in confessions, and in catechisms, and in deep religious books, but +your own heart that beats out its blood-poison of self-deceit, and darkness, +and death day and night continually. “My heart is a good +heart,” said that poor ill-brought-up boy, who was already destroyed +by his father and his mother for lack of self-knowledge. I entirely +grant you that those two old sinners by this time were taking very pessimistic +and very melancholy views of human nature, and, therefore, of every +human being, young and old. They knew that no language had ever +been coined in any scripture, or creed, or catechism, or secret diary +of the deepest penitent, that even half uttered their own evil hearts; +and they had lived long enough to see that we are all cut out of one +web, are all dyed in one vat, and are all corrupted beyond all accusation +or confession in Adam’s corruption. But how was that poor, +mishandled lad to know or believe all that? He could not. +It was impossible. “You go so fast, gentlemen, that I cannot +keep pace with you. Go you on before and I will stay a while behind.” +Then said Christian to his companion: “It pities me much for this +poor lad, for it will certainly go ill with him at last.” +“Alas!” said Hopeful, “there are abundance in our +town in his condition: whole families, yea, whole streets, and that +of pilgrims too.” Is your family such a family as this? +And are you yourself just such a pilgrim as Ignorance was, and are you +hastening on to just such an end?</p> +<p>And then, as a consequence, being wholly ignorant of his own corruption +and condemnation in the sight of God, this miserable man must remain +ignorant and outside of all that God has done in Christ for corrupt +and condemned men. “I believe that Christ died for sinners +and that I shall be justified before God from the curse through His +gracious acceptance of my obedience to His law. Or, then, to take +it this way, Christ makes my duties that are religious acceptable to +His Father by virtue of His merits, and so shall I be justified.” +Now, I verify believe that nine out of ten of the young men who are +here to-night would subscribe that statement and never suspect there +was anything wrong with it or with themselves. And yet, what does +Christian, who, in this matter, is just John Bunyan, who again is just +the word of God—what does the old pilgrim say to this confession +of this young pilgrim’s faith? “Ignorance is thy name,” +he says, “and as thy name is, so art thou: even this thy answer +demonstrateth what I say. Ignorant thou art of what justifying +righteousness is, and as ignorant how to secure thy soul through the +faith of it from the heavy wrath of God. Yea, thou also art ignorant +of the true effect of saving faith in this righteousness of Christ’s, +which is to bow and win over the heart to God in Christ, to love His +name, His word, His ways, and His people.” Paul sums up +all his own early life in this one word, “ignorant of God’s +righteousness.” “Going about,” he says also, +“to establish our own righteousness, not submitting ourselves +to be justified by the righteousness that God has provided with such +wisdom and grace, and at such a cost in His Son Jesus Christ.” +Now, young men, I defy you to be better born, better brought up, or +to have better prospects than Saul of Tarsus had. I defy you to +have profited more by all your opportunities and advantages than he +had done. I defy you to be more blameless in your opening manhood +than he was. And yet it all went like smoke when he got a true +sight of himself, and, with that, a true sight of Christ and His justifying +righteousness. Read at home to-night, and read when alone, what +that great man of God says about all that in his classical epistle to +the Philippians, and refuse to sleep till you have made the same submission. +And, to-night, and all your days, let <i>submission</i>, Paul’s +splendid submission, be the soul and spirit of all your religious life. +Submission to be searched by God’s holy law as by a lighted candle: +submission to be justified from all that that candle discovers: submission +to take Christ as your life and righteousness, sanctification and redemption: +and submission of your mind and your will and your heart to Him at all +times and in all things. Nay, stay still, and say where you sit, +Lord, I submit. I submit on the spot to be pardoned. I submit +now to be saved. I submit in all things from this very hour and +house of God not any longer to be mine own, but to be Thine, O God, +Thine, Thine, for ever, in Jesus Christ Thy Son and my Saviour!</p> +<p>“But, one day, as I was passing in the field, and that, too, +with some dashes in my conscience, fearing lest all was not right, suddenly +this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy Righteousness is in heaven! +And, methought, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s +right hand. There, I saw, was my Righteousness. I also saw, +moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my Righteousness +better, nor my bad frame of heart that made my Righteousness worse: +for my Righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, and +to-day, and for ever. ’Twas glorious to me to see His exaltation, +and the worth and prevalency of His benefits. And that because +I could now look from myself to Him and should reckon that all those +graces of God that were now green in me were yet but like those crack-groats +and four-pence halfpennies that rich men carry in their purses when +their gold is in their trunks at home! Oh, I saw that day that +my gold was all in my trunk at home! Even in Christ, my Lord and +Saviour! Now, Christ was all to me: all my wisdom, all my righteousness, +all my sanctification and all my redemption.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Methinks in this God speaks,<br /> +No tinker hath such power.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>LITTLE-FAITH</h2> +<blockquote><p>“O thou of little faith.”—<i>Our Lord</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Little-Faith, let it never be forgotten, was, all the time, a good +man. With all his mistakes about himself, with his sad misadventure, +with all his loss of blood and of money, and with his whole after-lifetime +of doleful and bitter complaints,—all the time, Little-Faith was +all through, in a way, a good man. To keep us right on this all-important +point, and to prevent our being prematurely prejudiced against this +pilgrim because of his somewhat prejudicial name—because give +a dog a bad name, you know, and you had better hang him out of hand +at once—because, I say, of this pilgrim’s somewhat suspicious +name, his scrupulously just, and, indeed, kindly affected biographer +says of him, and says it of him not once nor twice, but over and over +and over again, that this Little-Faith was really all the time a truly +good man. And, more than that, this good man’s goodness +was not a new thing with him it was not a thing of yesterday. +This man had, happily to begin with, a good father and a good mother. +And if there was a good town in all those parts for a boy to be born +and brought up in it was surely the town of Sincere. “Train +up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart +from it.” Well, Little-Faith had been so trained up both +by his father and his mother and his schoolmaster and his minister, +and he never cost either of them a sore heart or even an hour’s +sleep. One who knew him well, as well, indeed, as only one young +man knows another, has been fain to testify, when suspicions have been +cast on the purity and integrity of his youth, that nothing will describe +this pilgrim so well in the days of his youth as just those beautiful +words out of the New Testament—“an example to all young +men in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith even, +and in purity”—and that, if there was one young man in all +that town of Sincere who kept his garments unspotted it was just our +pilgrim of to-night. Yes, said one who had known him all his days, +if the child is the father of the man, then Little-Faith, as you so +unaccountably to me call him, must have been all along a good man.</p> +<p>It was said long ago in <i>Vanity Fair</i> about our present Premier +that if he were a worse man he would be a better statesman. Now, +I do not repeat that in this place because I agree with it, but because +it helps to illustrate, as sometimes a violent paradox will help to +illustrate, a truth that does not lie all at once on the surface. +But it is no paradox or extravagance or anything but the simple truth +to say that if Little-Faith had had more and earlier discoveries made +to him of the innate evil of his own heart, even if it had been by that +innate evil bursting out of his heart and laying waste his good life, +he would either have been driven out of his little faith altogether +or driven into a far deeper faith. Had the commandment come to +him in the manner it came to Paul; had it come so as that the sinfulness +of his inward nature had revived, as Paul says, under its entrance; +then, either his great goodness or his little faith must have there +and then died. God’s truth and man’s goodness cannot +dwell together in the same heart. Either the truth will kill the +goodness, or the goodness will kill the truth. Little-Faith, in +short, was such a good man, and had always been such a good man, and +had led such an easy life in consequence, that his faith had not been +much exercised, and therefore had not grown, as it must have been exercised +and must have grown, had he not been such a good man. In short, +and to put it bluntly, had Little-Faith been a worse sinner, he would +have been a better saint. “<i>O felix culpa</i>!” +exclaimed a church father; “O happy fault, which found for us +sinners such a Redeemer.” An apostrophe which Bishop Ken +has put into these four bold lines—</p> +<blockquote><p>“What Adam did amiss,<br /> +Turned to our endless bliss;<br /> +O happy sin, which to atone,<br /> +Drew Filial God to leave His throne.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And John Calvin, the soberest of men, supports Augustine, the most +impulsive of men, in saying the same thing. All things which happen +to the saints are so overruled by God that what the world regards as +evil the issue shows to be good. For what Augustine says is true, +that even the sins of saints are, through the guiding providence of +God, so far from doing harm to them, that, on the contrary, they serve +to advance their salvation. And Richard Hooker, a theologian, +if possible, still more judicious than even John Calvin, says on this +same subject and in support of the same great father, “I am not +afraid to affirm it boldly with St. Augustine that men puffed up through +a proud opinion of their own sanctity and holiness receive a benefit +at the hands of God, and are assisted with His grace, when with His +grace they are not assisted, but permitted, and that grievously, to +transgress. Ask the very soul of Peter, and it shall undoubtedly +make you itself this answer: My eager protestations, made in the glory +of my ghostly strength, I am ashamed of; but those crystal tears, wherewith +my sin and weakness were bewailed, have procured my endless joy: my +strength hath been my ruin, and my fall my stay.” And our +own Samuel Rutherford is not likely to be left far behind by the best +of them when the grace of God is to be magnified. “Had sin +never been we should have wanted the mysterious Emmanuel, the Beloved, +the Chief among ten thousand, Christ, God-man, the Saviour of sinners. +For, no sick sinners, no soul-physician of sinners; no captive, no Redeemer; +no slave of hell, no lovely ransom-payer of heaven. Mary Magdalene +with her seven devils, Paul with his hands smoking with the blood of +the saints, and with his heart sick with malice and blasphemy against +Christ and His Church, and all the rest of the washen ones whose robes +are made fair in the blood of the Lamb, and all the multitude that no +man can number in that best of lands, are all but bits of free grace. +O what a depth of unsearchable wisdom to contrive that lovely plot of +free grace. Come, all intellectual capacities, and warm your hearts +at this fire. Come, all ye created faculties, and smell the precious +ointment of Christ. Oh come, sit down under His shadow and eat +the apples of life. Oh that angels would come, and generations +of men, and wonder, and admire, and fall down before the unsearchable +wisdom of this gospel-art of the unsearchable riches of Christ!” +And always pungent Thomas Shepard of New England: “You shall find +this, that there is not any carriage or passage of the Lord’s +providence toward thee but He will get a name to Himself, first and +last, by it. Hence you shall find that those very sins that dishonour +His name He will even by them get Himself a better name; for so far +will they be from casting you out of His love that He will actually +do thee good by them. Look and see if it is not so with thee? +Doth not thy weakness strengthen thee like Paul? Doth not thy +blindness make thee cry for light? And hath not God out of darkness +oftentimes brought light? Thou hast felt venom against Christ +and thy brother, and thou hast on that account loathed thyself the more. +Thy falls into sin make thee weary of it, watchful against it, long +to be rid of it. And thus He makes thy poison thy food, thy death +thy life, thy damnation thy salvation, and thy very greatest enemies +thy very best friends. And hence Mr. Fox said that he thanked +God more for his sins than for his good works. And the reason +is, God will have His name.” And, last, but not least, listen +to our old acquaintance, James Fraser of Brea: “I find advantages +by my sins: ‘<i>Peccare nocet, peccavisse vero juvat</i>.’ +I may say, as Mr. Fox said, my sins have, in a manner, done me more +good than my graces. Grace and mercy have more abounded where +sin had much abounded. I am by my sins made much more humble, +watchful, revengeful against myself. I am made to see a greater +need to depend more upon Him and to love Him the more. I find +that true which Shepard says, ‘sin loses strength by every new +fall.’” Have you followed all that, my brethren? +Or have you stumbled at it? Do you not understand it? Does +your superficial gin-horse mind incline to shake its empty head over +all this? I know that great names, and especially the great names +of your own party, go much farther with you than the truth goes, and +therefore I have sheltered this deep truth under a shield of great names. +For their sakes let this sure truth of God’s best saints lie in +peace and undisputed beside you till you arrive to understand it.</p> +<p>But, to proceed,—the thing was this. At this passage +there comes down from Broadway-gate a lane called Dead-Man’s-lane, +so called because of the murders that are commonly done there. +And this Little-Faith going on pilgrimage, as we now do, chanced to +sit down there and fell fast asleep. Yes; the thing was this: +This good man had never been what one would call really awake. +He was not a bad man, as men went in the town of Sincere, but he always +had a half-slept half-awakened look about his eyes, till now, at this +most unfortunate spot, he fell stone-dead asleep. You all know, +I shall suppose, what the apostle Paul and John Bunyan mean by sleep, +do you not? You all know, at any rate, to begin with, what sleep +means in the accident column of the morning papers. You all know +what sleep meant and what it involved and cost in the Thirsk signal-box +the other night. <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</a> +When a man is asleep, he is as good as dead, and other people are as +good as dead to him. He is dead to duty, to danger, to other people’s +lives, as well as to his own. He may be having pleasant dreams, +and may even be laughing aloud in his sleep, but that may only make +his awaking all the more hideous. He may awake just in time, or +he may awake just too late. Only, he is asleep and he neither +knows nor cares. Now, there is a sleep of the soul as well as +of the body. And as the soul is in worth, as the soul is in its +life and in its death to the body, so is its sleep. Many of you +sitting there are quite as dead to heaven and hell, to death and judgment, +and to what a stake other people as well as yourselves have in your +sleep as that poor sleeper in the signal-box was dead to what was coming +rushing on him through the black night. And as all his gnashing +of teeth at himself, and all his sobs before his judge and before the +laid-out dead, and before distracted widows and half-mad husbands did +not bring back that fatal moment when he fell asleep so sweetly, so +will it be with you. Lazarus! come forth! Wise and foolish +virgins both: Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Awake, thou that sleepest, +and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light!</p> +<p>And, with that, Guilt with a great club that was in his hand struck +Little-Faith on the head, and with that blow felled him to the earth, +where he lay bleeding as one that would soon bleed to death. Yes, +yes, all true to the very life. A man may be the boast and the +example of all the town, and yet, unknown to them all, and all but unknown +to himself till he is struck down, he may have had guilt enough on his +track all the time to lay him half dead at the mouth of Dead-Man’s-lane. +Good as was the certificate that all men in their honesty gave to Little-Faith, +yet even he had some bad enough memories behind him and within him had +he only kept them ever present with him. But, then, it was just +this that all along was the matter with Little-Faith. Till, somehow, +after that sad and yet not wholly evil sleep, all his past sins leapt +out into the light and suddenly became and remained all the rest of +his life like scarlet. So loaded, indeed, was the club of Guilt +with the nails and studs and clamps of secret aggravation, that every +nail and stud left its own bleeding bruise in the prostrate man’s +head. I have myself, says the narrator of Little-Faith’s +story, I have myself been engaged as he was, and I found it to be a +terrible thing. I would, as the saying is, have sold my life at +that moment for a penny; but that, as God would have it, I was clothed +with armour of proof: ay, and yet though I was thus harnessed, I found +it hard work to quit myself like a man. No man can tell what in +that combat attends us but he that hath been in the battle himself. +Great-Grace himself,—whoso looks well upon his face shall see +those cuts and scars that shall easily give demonstration of what I +say.</p> +<p>Most unfortunately there was no good Samaritan with his beast on +the road that day to take the half-dead man to an inn. And thus +it was that Little-Faith was left to lie in his blood till there was +almost no more blood left in him. Till at last, coming a little +to himself, he made a shift to scrabble on his way. When he was +able to look a little to himself, besides all his wounds and loss of +blood, he found that all his spending money was gone, and what was he +to do, a stranger in such a plight on a strange road? There was +nothing for it but he must just beg his way with many a hungry belly +for the remainder of his way. You all understand the parable at +this point? Our knowledge of gospel truth; our personal experience +of the life of God in our own soul; our sensible attainments in this +grace of the Spirit and in that; in secret prayer, in love to God, in +forgiveness of injuries, in goodwill to all men, and in self-denial +that no one knows of,—in things like these we possess what may +be called the pocket-money of the spiritual life. All these things, +at their best, are not the true jewel that no thief can break through +nor steal; but though they are not our best and truest riches, yet they +have their place and play their part in sending us up the pilgrim way. +By our long and close study of the word of God, if that is indeed our +case; by divine truth dwelling richly and experimentally in our hearts; +and by a hidden life that is its own witness, and which always has the +Holy Spirit’s seal set upon it that we are the children of God,—all +that keeps, and is designed by God to keep our hearts up amid the labours +and the faintings, the hopes and the fears of the spiritual life. +All that keeps us at the least and the worst above famine and beggary. +Now, the whole pity with Little-Faith was, that though he was not a +bad man, yet he never, even at his best days, had much of those things +that make a good and well-furnished pilgrim; and what little he had +he had now clean lost. He had never been much a reader of his +Bible; he had never sat over it as other men sat over their news-letters +and their romances. He had never had much taste or talent for +spiritual books of any kind. He was a good sort of man, but he +was not exactly the manner of man on whose broken heart the Holy Ghost +sets the broad seal of heaven. But for his dreadful misadventure, +he might have plodded on, a decent, humdrum, commonplace, everyday kind +of pilgrim; but when that catastrophe fell on him he had nothing to +fall back upon. The secret ways of faith and love and hope were +wholly unknown to him. He had no practice in importunate prayer. +He had never prayed a whole night all his life. He had never needed +to do so. For were we not told when we first met him what a blameless +and pure and true and good man he had always been? He did not +know how to find his way about in his Bible; and as for the maps and +guide-books that some pilgrims never let out of their hand, even when +he had some spending money about him, he never laid it out that way. +And a more helpless pilgrim than Little-Faith was all the rest of the +way you never saw. He was forced to beg as he went, says his historian. +That is to say, he had to lean upon and look to wiser and better-furnished +men than himself. He had to share their meals, look to them to +pay his bills, keep close to their company, walk in their foot-prints, +and at night borrow their oil, and it was only in this poor dependent +way that Little-Faith managed to struggle on to the end of his dim and +joyless journey.</p> +<p>It would have been far more becoming and far more profitable if Christian +and Hopeful, instead of falling out of temper and calling one another +bad names over the sad case of Little-Faith, had tried to tell one another +why that unhappy pilgrim’s faith was so small, and how both their +own faith and his might from that day have been made more. Hopeful, +for some reason or other, was in a rude and boastful mood of mind that +day, and Christian was more tart and snappish than we have ever before +seen him; and, altogether, the opportunity of learning something useful +out of Little-Faith’s story has been all but lost to us. +But, now, since there are so many of Little-Faith’s kindred among +ourselves—so many good men who are either half asleep in their +religious life or are begging their way from door to door—let +them be told, in closing, one or two out of many other ways in which +their too little faith may possibly be made stronger and more fruitful.</p> +<p>Well, then, faith, like everything else, once we have it, grows greater +by our continual exercise of it. Exercise, then, intentionally +and seriously and on system your faith every day. And exercise +it habitually and increasingly on your Bible, on heaven, and on Jesus +Christ. And let your faith on all these things, and places, and +persons, work by love,—by love and by imagination. Our love +is cold and our faith is small and weak for lack of imagination. +Read your Psalm, your Gospel, your Epistle every morning and every night +with your eye upon the object. Think you see the Psalmist amid +all his deep and divine experiences. Think you see Jesus Christ +speaking His parables, saying His prayers, and doing His good works. +Walk up and down with Him, observing His manner, His look, His gait, +His divinity in your humanity, till Galilee and Jerusalem become Scotland +and Edinburgh; that is, till He is as much with you, and more, than +He was with Peter and James and John. Never close your eye a single +night till you have again laid your hand on the very head of the Lamb +of God, and till you feel that your sin and guilt have all passed off +your hand and on upon His head. And never rise without, like William +Law, saluting the rising sun in the name of God, as if he had just been +created and sent up into your sky to let you see to serve God and your +neighbour for another day. And be often out of this world and +up in heaven. Beat all about you at building castles in the air; +you have more material and more reason. For is not faith the substance +of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen? Walk +often in heaven’s friendly streets. Pass often into heaven’s +many mansions filled with happy families. Imagine this unhappy +life at an end, and imagine yourself sent back to this probationary +world to play the man for a few short years before heaven finally calls +you home. Little-Faith was a good man, but there was no speculation +in his eyes and no secrets of love in his heart. And if your faith +also is little, and your spending money also is run low, try this way +of love and imagination. If you have a better way, then go on +with it and be happy yourself and helpful to others; but if your faith +is at a standstill and is stricken with barrenness, try my counsel of +putting more heart and more inward eye, more holy love and more heavenly +joy, into your frigid and sterile religion.</p> +<h2>THE FLATTERER</h2> +<blockquote><p>“A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth +a net for his feet.”—<i>The Wise Man</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Both Ignorance and Little-Faith would have had their revenge and +satisfaction upon Christian and Hopeful had they seen those two so Pharisaical +old men taken in the Flatterer’s net. For it was nothing +else but the swaggering pride of Hopeful over the pitiful case of Little-Faith, +taken along with the hard and hasty ways of Christian with that unhappy +youth Ignorance, that so soon laid them both down under the small cords +of the Shining One. This word of the wise man, that pride goeth +before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, was fulfilled +to the very letter in Christian and Hopeful that high-minded day. +At the same time, it must be admitted that Christian and Hopeful would +have been more than human if they had not both felt and let fall some +superiority, some scorn, and some impatience in the presence of such +a silly and upsetting stripling as Ignorance was; as, also, over the +story of such a poor-spirited and spunging creature as Little-Faith +was. Christian and Hopeful had just come down from their delightful +time among the Delectable Mountains, and they were as full as they could +hold of all kinds of knowledge, and faith, and hope, and assurance; +when, most unfortunately, as it turned out, they first came across Ignorance, +and then, after quarrelling with him, they fell out between themselves +over the case of Little-Faith. Their superior knowledge of the +truth, and their superior strength of faith, ought to have made them +more able to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and with the passing +moods, however provoking, of one another. But no. And their +impatience and contempt and bad temper all came at this crisis to such +a head with them that they could only be cured by the small cords and +the stinging words of the Shining One. The true key to this so +painful part of the parable hangs at our own girdle. We who have +been born and brought up in an evangelical church are thrown from time +to time into the company of men—ministers and people—who +have not had our advantages and opportunities. They have been +born, baptized, and brought up in communities and churches the clean +opposite of ours; and they are as ignorant of all New Testament religion +as Ignorance himself was; or, on the other hand, they are as full of +superstition and terror and spiritual starvation as Little-Faith was. +And then, instead of recollecting and laying to heart Who made us to +differ from such ignorance and such unbelief, and thus putting on love +and humility and patience toward our neighbours, we speak scornfully +and roughly to them, and boast ourselves over them, and as good as say +to them, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am wiser, wider-minded, +stronger, and better every way than thou. And then, ere ever we +are aware of what we are doing, we have let the arch-flatterer of religious +superiority and of spiritual pride seduce us aside out of the lowly +and heavenly way of love and humility till we are again brought back +to it with rebukes of conscience and with other chastisements. +You all understand, my brethren, that the man black of flesh but covered +with a white robe was no wayside seducer who met Christian and Hopeful +at that dangerous part of the road only and only on that high-minded +day. You know from yourselves surely that both Christian and Hopeful +carried that black but smooth-spoken man within themselves. The +Flatterer who led the two pilgrims so fatally wrong that day was just +their own heart taken out of their own bosom and personified and dramatised +by Bunyan’s dramatic genius, and so made to walk and talk and +flatter and puff up outside of themselves till they came again to see +who in reality he was and whence he came,—that is to say, till +they were brought to see what they themselves still were, and would +always be, when they were left to themselves. “Where did +you lie last night? asked the Shining One with the whip. With +the Shepherds on the Delectable Mountains, they answered. He asked +them then if they had not of those shepherds a note of direction for +the way? They answered, Yes. But did you not, said he, when +you were at a stand pluck out and read your note? They answered, +No. He asked them why? They said they forgot. He asked, +moreover if the shepherds did not bid them beware of the Flatterer? +They answered, Yes; but we did not imagine, said they, that this fine-spoken +man had been he.”</p> +<p>All good literature, both sacred and profane, both ancient and modern, +is full of the Flatterer. Let me not, protests Elihu in his powerful +speech in the book of Job, let me not accept any man’s person; +neither let me give flattering titles unto man, lest in so doing my +Maker should soon take me away. And the Psalmist in his powerful +description of the wicked men of his day: There is no faithfulness in +their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an +open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. And again: They +speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak. +But the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that +speaketh proud things. “The perpetual hyperbole” of +pure love becomes in the lips of impure love the impure bait that leads +the simple ones astray on the streets of the city as seen and heard +by the wise man out of his casement. My son, say unto wisdom, +Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman; that they +may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth +thee with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth +the covenant of her God. And then in the same book of Hebrew aphorisms +we find this text which Bunyan puts on the margin of the page: “A +man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” +And now, before we leave the ancient world, if you would not think it +beneath the dignity of the place we are in, I would like to read to +you a passage out of a round-about paper written by a satirist of Greece +about the time of Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem. You will easily +remark the difference of tone between the seriousness and pathos of +the Hebrew prophet and the light and chaffing touch of Theophrastus. +“The Flatterer is a person,” says that satirist of Greek +society, “who will say to you as he walks with you, ‘Do +you observe how people are looking at you? This happens to no +man in Athens but to you. A fine compliment was paid you yesterday +in the Porch. More than thirty persons were sitting there when +the question was started, Who is our foremost man? Every one mentioned +you first, and ended by coming back to your name.’ The Flatterer +will laugh also at your stalest joke, and will stuff his cloak into +his mouth as if he could not repress his amusement when you again tell +it. He will buy apples and pears and will give to your children +when you are by, and will kiss them all and will say, ‘Chicks +of a good father.’ Also, when he assists at the purchase +of slippers he will declare that the foot is more shapely than the shoe. +He is the first of the guests to praise the wine and to say as he reclines +next the host, ‘How delicate your fare always is’; and taking +up something from the table, ‘Now, how excellent that is!’” +And so on. Yes, we have heard it all over and over again in Modern +Athens also. The Greek fable also of the fox and the crow and +the piece of cheese is only another illustration of the truth that the +God of truth and integrity never left Himself without a witness. +Our own literature also is scattered full of the Flatterer and his too +willing dupes. “Of praise a mere glutton,” says Goldsmith +of David Garrick, “he swallowed what came. The puff of a +dunce he mistook it for fame.” “Delicious essence,” +exclaims Sterne, “how refreshing thou art to poor human nature! +How sweetly dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most +difficult and tortuous passages to the heart.” “He +that slanders me,” says Cowper, “paints me blacker than +I am, and he that flatters me whiter. They both daub me, and when +I look in the glass of conscience, I see myself disguised by both.” +And then he sings:</p> +<blockquote><p>“The worth of these three kingdoms I defy<br /> +To lure me to the baseness of a lie;<br /> +And of all lies (be that one poet’s boast),<br /> +The lie that flatters I abhor the most.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Now, praise, which is one of the best and sweetest things in human +life, so soon passes over into flattery, which is one of the worst things, +that something must here be said and laid to heart about praise also. +But, to begin with, praise itself must first be praised. There +is nothing nobler than true praise in him who speaks it, and there is +nothing dearer and sweeter to him who hears it. God Himself inhabits +the praises of Israel. All God’s works praise Him. +Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me. Praise waiteth for Thee, +O God, in Zion. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into +His courts with praise. Violence shall no more be heard in thy +land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call +thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. And such also is all +true praise between man and man. How deliciously sweet is praise! +How we labour after it! how we look for it and wait for it! and how +we languish and die if we do not get it! Again, when it comes +to us, how it cheers us up and makes our face to shine! For a +long time after it our step is so swift on the street and our face beams +so that all men can quite well see what has come to us. Praise +is like wine in our blood; it is new life to our fainting heart. +So much is this the case that a salutation of praise is to be our first +taste of heaven itself. It will wipe all tears off our eyes when +we hear our Lord saying to us, “Well done!” when all our +good works that we have done in the body shall be found unto praise +and honour and glory in the great day of Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>At the same time, this same love of praise is one of our most besetting +and fatal temptations as long as we are in this false and double and +deceptive world. Sin, God curse it! has corrupted and poisoned +everything, the very best things of this life, and when the best things +are corrupted and poisoned they become the worst things. And praise +does not escape this universal and fatal law. Weak, evil, and +self-seeking men are near us, and we lean upon them, look to them, and +listen to them. We make them our strength and support, and seek +repose and refreshment from them. They cannot be all or any of +these things to us; but we are far on in life, we are done with life, +before we have discovered that and will admit that. Most men never +discover and admit that till they are out of this life altogether. +Christ’s praise and the applause of His saints and angels are +so future and so far away from us, and man’s praise and the applause +of this world, hollow and false as it is, is so near us, that we feed +our souls on offal and garbage, when, already, in the witness of a good +conscience, we might be feasting our souls on the finest of the wheat, +and satisfying them with honey out of the rock. And, then, this +insatiable appetite of our hearts, being so degraded and perverted, +like all degraded and perverted appetites, becomes an iron-fast slave +to what it feeds upon. What miserable slaves we all are to the +approval and the praise of men! How they hold us in their bondage! +How we lick their hands and sit up on our haunches and go through our +postures for a crumb! How we crawl on our belly and lick their +feet for a stroke and a smile! What a hound’s life does +that man lead who lives upon the approval and the praise and the patronage +of men! What meanness fills his mind; what baseness fills his +heart! What a shameful leash he is led about the world in! +How kicked about and spat upon he is; while not half so much as he knows +all the time that he deserves to be! Better far be a dog at once +and bay the moon than be a man and fawn upon the praises of men.</p> +<p>If you would be a man at all, not to speak of a Christian man, starve +this appetite till you have quite extirpated it. You will never +be safe from it as long as it stirs within you. Extirpate it! +Extirpate it! You will never know true self-respect and you will +never deserve to know it, till you have wholly extirpated your appetite +for praise. Put your foot upon it, put it out of your heart. +Stop fishing for it, and when you see it coming, turn away and stop +your ears against it. And should it still insinuate itself, at +any rate do not repeat to others what has already so flattered and humbled +and weakened you. Telling it to others will only humble and weaken +you more. By repeating the praise that you have heard or read +about yourself you only expose yourself and purchase well-deserved contempt +for yourself. And, more than that, by fishing for praise you lay +yourself open to all sorts of flatterers. Honest men, men who +truly respect and admire you, will show you their dignified regard and +appreciation of you and your work by their silence; while your leaky +slaves will crowd around you with floods of praise that they know well +will please and purchase you. And when you cannot with all your +arts squeeze a drop out of those who love and honour you, gallons will +be poured upon you by those who have respect neither for themselves +nor for you. Faugh! Flee from flatterers, and take up only +with sternly true and faithful men. “I am much less regardful,” +says Richard Baxter, “of the approbation of men, and set much +lighter store by their praise and their blame, than I once did. +All worldly things appear most vain and unsatisfying to those who have +tried them most. But while I feel that this has had some hand +in my distaste for man’s praise, yet it is the increasing impression +on my heart of man’s nothingness and God’s transcendent +greatness; it is the brevity and vanity of all earthly things, taken +along with the nearness of eternity;—it is all this that has at +last lifted me above the blame and the praise of men.”</p> +<p>To conclude; let us make up our mind and determine to pass on to +God on the spot every syllable of praise that ever comes to our eyes +or our ears—if, in this cold, selfish, envious, and grudging world, +any syllable of praise ever should come to us. Even if pure and +generous and well-deserved praise should at any time come to us, all +that does not make it ours. The best earned usury is not the steward’s +own money to do with it what he likes. The principal and the interest, +and the trader too, are all his master’s. And, more than +that, after the wisest and the best trader has done his best, he will +remain, to himself at least, a most unprofitable servant. Pass +on then immediately, dutifully, and to its very last syllable, to God +all the praise that comes to you. Wash your hands of it and say, +Not unto us, O God, not unto us, but unto Thy name. And then, +to take the most selfish and hungry-hearted view of this whole matter, +what you thus pass on to God as not your own but His, He will soon, +and in a better and safer world, return again to the full with usury +to you, and you again to God, and He again to you, and so on, all down +the pure and true and sweet and blessed life of heaven.</p> +<h2>ATHEIST</h2> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . without God [literally, atheists] in the +world.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Yonder is a man with his back toward Zion, and he is coming +to meet us. So he drew nearer and nearer, and at last came up +to them. His name was Atheist, and he asked them whither they +were going? We are going to the Mount Zion, they answered. +Then Atheist fell into a very great laughter. What is the meaning +of your laughter? they asked. 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. Why, man? Do you +think we shall not be received? they said. Received! There +is no such place as you dream of in all this world. But there +is in the world to come, replied Christian. When I was at home, +Atheist went on, in mine own country I heard as you now affirm, and, +from that hearing, I went out to see, and have been seeking this city +you speak of this twenty years, but find no more of it than I did the +first day I set out. And, still laughing, he went his way.”</p> +<p>Having begun to tell us about Atheist, why did Bunyan not tell us +more? We would have thanked him warmly to-night for a little more +about this unhappy man. Why did the dreamer not take another eight +or ten pages in order to tell us, as only he could have told us, how +this man that is now Atheist had spent his past twenty years seeking +Mount Zion? Those precious unwritten pages are now buried in John +Strudwick’s vault in Bunhill Fields, and no other man has arisen +able to handle Bunyan’s biographic pen. Had Bunyan but put +off the entrance of Christian and Hopeful into the city till he had +told us something more about the twenty years it had taken this once +earnest pilgrim to become an atheist, how valuable an interpolation +that would have been! What was it that made this man to set out +so long ago for the Celestial City? What was it that so stoutly +determined him to leave off all his old companions and turn his back +on the sweet refreshments of his youth? How did he do at the Slough +of Despond? Did he come that way? What about the Wicket +Gate, and the House Beautiful, and the Interpreter’s House, and +the Delectable Mountains? What men, and especially what women, +did he meet and converse with on his way? What were his fortunes, +and what his misfortunes? How much did he lay out at Vanity Fair, +and on what? At what point of his twenty years’ way did +his youthful faith begin to shake, and his youthful love begin to become +lukewarm? And what was it that at last made him quite turn round +his back on Zion and his face to his own country? I cannot forgive +Bunyan to-night for not telling us the story of Atheist’s conversion, +his pilgrimage, and his apostasy in full.</p> +<p>At the same time, though it cannot be denied that Bunyan has lost +at this point a great opportunity for his genius and for our advantage,—at +the same time, he undoubtedly did a very courageous thing in introducing +Atheist at all; and, especially, in introducing him to us and making +him laugh so loudly at us when we are on the very borders of the land +of Beulah. A less courageous writer, and a writer less sure of +his ground, would have left out Atheist altogether; or, if he had felt +constrained to introduce him, would have introduced him at any other +period of our history rather than at this period. Under other +hands than Bunyan’s we would have met with this mocking reprobate +just outside the City of Destruction; or, perhaps, among the booths +of Vanity Fair; or, indeed, anywhere but where we now meet him. +And, that our greater-minded author does not let loose the laughter +of Atheist upon us till we are almost out of the body is a stroke of +skill and truth and boldness that makes us glad indeed that we possess +such a sketch at Bunyan’s hand at all, all too abrupt and all +too short as that sketch is. In the absence, then, of a full-length +and finished portrait of Atheist, we must be content to fall back on +some of the reflections and lessons that the mere mention of his name, +the spot he passes us on, and the ridicule of his laughter, all taken +together, awaken in our minds. One rapid stroke of such a brush +as that of John Bunyan conveys more to us than a full-length likeness, +with all the strongest colours, of any other artist would be able to +do.</p> +<p>1. One thing the life-long admiration of John Bunyan’s +books has helped to kindle and burn into my mind and my imagination +is this: What a universe of things is the heart of man! Were there +nothing else in the heart of man but all the places and all the persons +and all the adventures that John Bunyan saw in his sleep, what a world +that would open up in all our bosoms! All the pilgrims, good and +bad—they, or the seed and possibility of them all, are all in +your heart and in mine. All the cities, all the roads that lead +from one city to another, with all the paths and all the by-paths,—all +the adventures, experiences, endurances, conflicts, overthrows, victories,—all +are within us and never are to be seen anywhere else. Heaven and +hell, God and the devil, life and death, salvation and damnation, time +and eternity, all are within us. “There is no Mount Zion +in all this world,” bellowed out this blinded fool. “No; +I know that quite well,” quickly responded Christian; “but +there is in the world to come.” He would have said the whole +truth, and he would have been entirely right, had he taken time to add, +“and in the world within.” “And more,” +he should have said to Atheist, “much more in the world within +than in any possible world to come.” The Celestial City, +every Sabbath-school child begins gradually to understand, is not up +among the stars; till, as he grows older, he takes in the whole of the +New Testament truth that the kingdom of heaven is wholly within him. +You all understand, my brethren, that were we swept in a moment up to +the furthest star, by all that infinite flight we would not be one hair’s-breadth +nearer the heavenly city. That is not the right direction to that +city. The city whose builder and maker is God lies in quite a +different direction from that altogether; not by ascending up beyond +sun and moon and stars to all eternity would we ever get one hand’s-breadth +nearer God. But if you deny yourself sleep to-night till you have +read His book and bowed your knees in His closet; if, for His sake, +you deny yourself to-morrow when you are eating and drinking; as often +as you say, “Not my will, but Thine be done”; as often as +you humble yourself when others exalt themselves; as often as you refuse +praise and despise blame for His sake; as often as you forgive before +God your enemy, and rejoice with your friend,—Behold! the kingdom +of heaven, with its King and all His shining court of angels and saints +is around you;—is, indeed, within you. No; there is no such +place. Heaven is not in any place: heaven is in a person where +it is at all; and you are that person as often as you put off an earthly +and put on a heavenly mind. That mocking reprobate, with his secret +heart all through those twenty years hungering after the lusts of his +youth,—he was wholly right in what he so unintentionally said; +there is no such place in all this world. And, even if there were, +it would spue him and all who are like him out of its mouth.</p> +<p>2. And, then, in all that universe of things that fills that +bottomless pit and shoreless sea the human heart, there is nothing deeper +down in it than just its deep and unsearchable atheism. The very +deepest thing, and the most absolutely inexpugnable thing, in every +human heart is its theism; its original and inextinguishable convictions +about itself and about God. But, all but as deep as that—for +all around that, and all over that, and soaking all through that—there +lies a superincumbent mass of sullen, brutish, malignant atheism. +Nay, so deep down is the atheism of all our hearts, that it is only +one here and another there of the holiest and the ripest of God’s +saints who ever get down to it, or even get at their deepest within +sight of it. Robert Fleming tells us about Robert Bruce, that +he was a man that had much inward exercise about his own personal case, +and had been often assaulted anent that great foundation truth, if there +was a God. And often, when he had come up to the pulpit, after +being some time silent, which was his usual way, he would say, “I +think it is a great matter to believe there is a God”; telling +the people that it was another thing to believe that than they judged. +But it was also known to his friends what extraordinary confirmations +he had from the Lord therein, and what near familiarity he did attain +to in his heart-converse with God: Yea, truly, adds Fleming, some things +I have had thereanent that seem so strange and marvellous that I forbear +to set them down. And in Halyburton’s priceless <i>Memoirs</i> +we read: “Hereby I was brought into a doubt about the truths of +religion, the being of God, and things eternal. Whenever I was +in dangers or straits and would build upon these things, a suspicion +secretly haunted me, what if the things are not? This perplexity +was somewhat eased while one day I was reading how Robert Bruce was +shaken about the being of God, and how at length he came to the fullest +satisfaction.” And in another place: “Some days ago +reading Ex. ix. and x., and finding this, ‘That ye may know that +I am God’ frequently repeated, and elsewhere in passages innumerable, +as the end of God’s manifesting Himself in His word and works; +I observe from it that atheism is deeply rooted even in the Lord’s +people, seeing they need to be taught this so much. The great +difficulty that the whole of revelation has to grapple with is atheism; +its whole struggle is to recover man to his first impressions of a God. +This one point comprehends the whole of man’s recovery, just as +atheism is the whole of man’s apostasy.” And, again, +in another part of the same great book, Halyburton says: “I must +observe, also, the wise providence of God, that the greatest difficulties +that lie against religion are hid from atheists. All the objections +I meet with in their writings are not nearly so subtle as those which +are often suggested to myself. The reason of this is obvious from +the very nature of the thing—such persons take not a near-hand +view of religion, and while persons stand at a distance neither are +the advantages nor the difficulties of religion discerned.” +And now listen to Bunyan, that arch-atheist: “Whole floods of +blasphemies both against God, Christ, and the Scriptures were poured +upon my spirit, to my great confusion and astonishment. Against +the very being of God and of His only beloved Son; or, whether there +were, in truth, a God and a Christ, or no. Of all the temptations +that ever I met with in my life, to question the being of God and the +truth of the Gospel is the worst, and the worst to be borne. When +this temptation comes it takes away my girdle from me, and removeth +the foundation from under me.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Fool, said my Muse to me, look in thy heart and +write.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And John Bunyan looked into his own deep and holy heart, and out +of it he composed this incident of Atheist.</p> +<p>3. It may not be out of place at this point to look for a moment +at some of the things that agitate, stir up, and make the secret atheism +of our hearts to fluctuate and overflow. Butler has a fine passage +in which he points out that it is only the higher class of minds that +are tempted with speculative difficulties such as those were that assaulted +Christian and Hopeful after they were so near the end of their journey. +Coarse, commonplace, and mean-minded men have their probation appointed +them among coarse, mean, and commonplace things; whereas enlightened, +enlarged, and elevated men are exercised after the manner of Robert +Bruce, Thomas Halyburton, John Bunyan, and Butler himself. “The +chief temptations of the generality of the world are the ordinary motives +to injustice or unrestrained pleasure; but there are other persons without +this shallowness of temper; persons of a deeper sense as to what is +invisible and future. Now, these persons have their moral discipline +set them in that high region.” The profound bishop means +that while their appetites and their tempers are the stumbling-stones +of the most of men, the difficult problems of natural and revealed and +experimental religion are the test and the triumph of other men. +As we have just seen in the men mentioned above. Students, whose +temptations lie fully as much in their intellects as in their senses, +should buy (for a few pence) Halyburton’s Memoirs. “With +Halyburton,” says Dr. John Duncan, “I feel great intellectual +congruity. Halyburton was naturally a sceptic, but God gave that +sceptic great faith.”</p> +<p>Then again, what Atheist calls the “tediousness” of the +journey has undoubtedly a great hand in making some half-in-earnest +men sceptics, if not scoffers. Many of us here to-night who can +never now take this miserable man’s way out of the tedium of the +Christian life, yet most bitterly feel it. Whether that tedium +is inherent in that life, and inevitable to such men as we are who are +attempting that life; how far that feature belongs to the very essence +of the pilgrim life, and how far we import our own tedium into the pilgrimage; +the fact remains as Atheist puts it. As Atheist in this book says, +so the Atheist who is in our hearts often says: We are like to have +nothing for all our pains but a lifetime of tedious travel. Yes, +wherever the blame lies, there can be no doubt about it, that what this +hilarious scoffer calls the tediousness of the way is but a too common +experience among many of those who, tediousness and all, will still +cleave fast to it and will never leave it.</p> +<p>Then, again, great trials in life, great straits, dark and too-long-continued +providences, prayer unanswered, or not yet answered in the way we dictate, +bad men and bad causes growing like a green bay tree, and good men and +good work languishing and dying; these things, and many more things +such as these, of which this world of faith and patience is full, prove +quite too much for some men till they give themselves up to a state +of mind that is nothing better than atheism. “My evidences +and my certainty,” says Halyburton, “were not answerable +to the weight I was compelled to lay upon them.” A figure +which Goodwin in his own tender and graphic way takes up thus: “Set +pins in a wall and fix them in ever so loosely, yet, if you hang nothing +upon them they will seem to stand firm; but hang a heavy weight upon +them, or even give them the least jog as you pass, and the whole thing +will suddenly come down. The wall is God’s word, the slack +pin is our faith, and the weight and the jog are the heavy burdens and +the sudden shocks of life, and down our hearts go, wall and pin and +suspended vessel and all.”</p> +<p>When the church and her ministers, when the Scriptures and their +anomalies, and when the faults and failings of Christian men are made +the subject of mockery and laughter, the reverence, the fear, the awe, +the respect that all enter so largely into religion, and especially +into the religion of young people, is too easily destroyed; and not +seldom the first seeds of practical and sometimes of speculative atheism +are thus sown. The mischief that has been done by mockery and +laughter to the souls, especially of the young and the inexperienced, +only the great day will fully disclose.</p> +<p>And then, two men of great weight and authority with us, tell us +what we who are ministers would have found out without them: this, namely, +that the greatest atheists are they who are ever handling holy things +without feeling them.</p> +<p>“Is it true,” said Christian to Hopeful, his fellow, +“is it true what this man hath said?” “Take +heed,” said Hopeful, “remember what it hath cost us already +for hearkening to such kind of fellows. What! No Mount Zion! +Did we not see from the Delectable Mountains the gate of the City? +And, besides, are we not to walk by faith? Let us go on lest the +man with the whip overtakes us again.” Christian: “My +brother, I said that but to prove thee, and to fetch from thee a fruit +of the honesty of thy heart.” Many a deep and powerful passage +has Butler composed on that thesis which Hopeful here supplies him with; +and many a brilliant sermon has Newman preached on that same text till +he has made our “predispositions to faith” a fruitful and +an ever fresh commonplace to hundreds of preachers. Yes; the best +bulwark of faith is a good and honest heart. To such a happy heart +the truth is its own unshaken evidence. To whom can we go but +to Thee?—they who have such a heart protest. The whole bent +of such men’s minds is toward the truth of the gospel. Their +instincts keep them on the right way even when their reason and their +observation are both confounded. As Newman keeps on saying, they +are “easy of belief.” They cannot keep away from Christ +and His church. They cannot turn back. They must go on. +Though He slay them they will die yearning after Him. They often +fall into great error and into great guilt, but their seed remaineth +in them, and they cannot continue in error or in guilt, because they +are born of God. They are they in whom</p> +<blockquote><p>“Persuasion and belief<br /> +Have ripened into faith; and faith become<br /> +A passionate intuition.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>HOPEFUL</h2> +<blockquote><p>“We are saved by hope.”—<i>Paul</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p>Up till the time when Christian and Faithful passed through Vanity +Fair on their way to the Celestial City, Hopeful was one of the most +light-minded men in all that light-minded town. By his birth, +and both on his father’s and his mother’s side, Hopeful +was, to begin with, a youth of an unusually shallow and silly mind. +In the jargon of our day he was a man of a peculiarly optimistic temperament. +No one ever blamed him for being too subjective and introspective. +It took many sharp trials and many bitter disappointments to take the +inborn frivolity and superficiality out of this young man’s heart. +He was far on in his life, he was far on even in his religious life, +before you would have ever thought of calling him a serious-minded man. +Hopeful had been born and brought up to early manhood in the town of +Vanity, and he knew nothing better and desired nothing better than to +lay out his whole life and to rest all his hopes on the things of the +fair; on such things, that is, as houses, lands, places, honours, preferments, +titles, pleasures, and delights of all sorts. And that vain and +empty life went on with him, till, as he told his companion afterwards, +it had all ended with him in revelling, and drinking, and uncleanness, +and Sabbath-breaking, and all such things as destroyed his soul. +But in Hopeful’s happy case also the blood of the martyrs became +the seed of the church. Hopeful, as he was afterwards called, +had suffered so many bitter disappointments and shipwrecks of expectation +from the things of the fair, that is to say, from the houses, the places, +the preferments, the pleasures and what not, of the fair, that even +his heart was ripe for something better than any of those things, when, +as God would have it, Christian and Faithful came to the town. +Hopeful was still hanging about the booths of the fair; he was just +fingering his last sixpence over a commodity that he knew quite well +would be like gall in his belly as soon as he had bought it; when,—what +is that hubbub that rolls down the street? Hopeful was always +the first to see and to hear every new thing that came to the town, +and thus it was that he was soon in the thick of the tumult that rose +around Christian and Faithful. Had those two pilgrims come to +the town at any former time, Hopeful would have been among the foremost +to mock at and smite the two men; but, to-day, Hopeful’s heart +is so empty, and his purse also, that he is already won to their side +by the loving looks and the wise and sweet words of the two ill-used +men. Some of the men of the town said that the two pilgrims were +outlandish and bedlamite men, but Hopeful took courage to reprove some +of the foremost of the mob. Till, at last, when Faithful was at +the stake, it was all that his companions could do to keep back Hopeful +from leaping up on the burning pile and embracing the expiring man. +And then, when He who overrules all things so brought it about that +Christian escaped out of their hands, who should come forth and join +him at the upward gate of the city but just Hopeful, who not only joined +himself to the lonely pilgrim, but told him also that there were many +more of the men of the city who would take their time and follow after. +And thus, adds his biographer, when one died to make his testimony to +the truth, another rose up out of his ashes to be a companion to Christian.</p> +<p>When Madame Krudener was getting her foot measured by a pietist shoemaker, +she was so struck with the repose and the sweetness and the heavenly +joy of the poor man’s look and manner that she could not help +but ask him what had happened to him that he had such a look on his +countenance and such a light in his eye. She was miserable, though +she had all that heart could wish. She had all that made her one +of the most envied women in Europe; she had birth, talents, riches, +rank, and the friendship of princes and princesses, and yet she was +of all women the most miserable. And here was a poor chance shoemaker +whose whole heart was running over with a joy such that all her wealth +could not purchase to her heart one single drop of it. The simple +soul soon told her his secret; it was no secret: it was just Jesus Christ +who had done it all. And thus her poor shoemaker’s happy +face was the means of this great lady’s conversion. And, +in like manner, it was the beholding of Christian and Faithful in their +words and in their behaviour at the fair that decided Hopeful to join +himself to Christian and henceforth to be his companion.</p> +<p>What were the things, asked Christian of his young companion, that +first led you to leave off the vanities of the fair and to think to +be a pilgrim? Many things, replied Hopeful. Sometimes if +I did but meet a good man in the street. Or if mine head began +unaccountably, or mine heart, to ache. Or if some one of my companions +became suddenly sick. Or if I heard the bell toll that some one +was dead. But, especially, when I thought of myself that I must +quickly come to judgment. And then it is told in the best style +of the book how peace and rest and the beginning of true satisfaction +came to poor Hopeful’s heart at last. But you must promise +me to read the passage for yourselves before you sleep to-night; and +to read it again and again till, like Hopeful’s, your heart also +is full of joy, and your eyes full of tears, and your affections running +over with love to the name and to the people and to all the ways of +Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>And then, it is very encouraging and reassuring to us to see how +Hopeful’s true conversion so deepened and sobered and strengthened +his whole character. He remained to the end in his mental constitution +and whole temperament, as we say, the same man he had always been; but, +while remaining the same man, at the same time a most wonderful change +gradually began to come over him, till, by slow but sure degrees, he +became the Hopeful we know and look to and lean upon. To use his +own autobiographic words about himself, it was “by hearing and +considering of things that are Divine” that his natural levity +was so completely whipped out of his soul till he was made at last an +indispensable companion to Christian, strong-minded and serious-minded +man as he was. “Conversion to God,” says William Law, +“is often very sudden and instantaneous, unexpectedly raised from +variety of occasions. Thus, one by seeing only a withered tree, +another by reading the lives and deaths of the antediluvian fathers, +one by hearing of heaven, another of hell, one by reading of the love +or wrath of God, another of the sufferings of Christ, may find himself, +as it were, melted into penitence all of a sudden. It may be granted +also that the greatest sinner may in a moment be converted to God, and +may feel himself wounded in such a degree as perhaps those never were +who have been turning to God all their lives. But, then, it is +to be observed that this suddenness of change or flash of conviction +is by no means of the essence of true conversion. This stroke +of conversion is not to be considered as signifying our high state of +a new birth in Christ, or a proof that we are on a sudden made new creatures, +but that we are thus suddenly called upon and stirred up to look after +a newness of nature. The renewal of our first birth and state +is something entirely distinct from our first sudden conversion and +call to repentance. That is not a thing done in an instant, but +is a certain process, a gradual release from our captivity and disorder, +consisting of several stages and degrees, both of life and death, which +the soul must go through before it can have thoroughly put off the old +man. It is well worth observing that our Saviour’s greatest +trials were near the end of His life. This might sufficiently +show us that our first awakenings have carried us but a little way; +that we should not then begin to be self-assured of our own salvation, +but should remember that we stand at a great distance from, and are +in great ignorance of, our severest trials.” Such was the +way that Christian in his experience and in his wisdom talked to his +young companion till his outward trials and the consequent discoveries +he made of his own weakness and corruption made even Hopeful himself +a sober-minded and a thoughtful man. “Where pain ends, gain +ends too.”</p> +<p>Then, again, no one can read Hopeful’s remarkable history without +discovering this about him, that he showed best in adversity and distress, +just as he showed worst in deliverance and prosperity. It is a +fine lesson in Christian hope to descend into Giant Despair’s +dungeon and hear the older pilgrim groaning and the younger pilgrim +consoling him, and, again, to stand on the bank of the last river and +hear Hopeful holding up Christian’s drowning head. “Be +of good cheer, my brother, for I feel the bottom, and it is good!” +Bless Hopeful for that, all you whose deathbeds are still before you. +For never was more true and fit word spoken for a dying hour than that. +Read, till you have it by heart and in the dark, Hopeful’s whole +history, but especially his triumphant end. And have some one +bespoken beforehand to read Hopeful in the River to you when you have +in a great measure lost your senses, and when a great horror has taken +hold of your mind. “I sink in deep waters,” cried +Christian, as his sins came to his mind, even the sins which he had +committed both since and before he came to be a pilgrim. “But +I see the gate,” said Hopeful, “and men standing at it ready +to receive us.” “Read to me where I first cast my +anchor,” said John Knox to his weeping wife.</p> +<p>The Enchanted Ground, on the other hand, threatened to throw Hopeful +back again into his former light-minded state. And there is no +saying what shipwreck he might have made there had the older man not +been with him to steady and reprove and instruct him. As it was, +a touch now and then of his old vain temper returned to him till it +took all his companion’s watchfulness and wariness to carry them +both out of that second Vanity Fair. “I acknowledge myself +in a fault,” said Hopeful to Christian, “and had I been +here alone I had run in danger of death. Hitherto, thy company +hath been my mercy, and thou shalt have a good reward for all thy labour.”</p> +<p>Now, my brethren, in my opinion we owe a great debt of gratitude +to John Bunyan for the large and the displayed place he has given to +Hopeful in the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>. The fulness and +balance and proportion of the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> are features +of that wonderful book far too much overlooked. So far as my reading +goes I do not know any other author who has at all done the justice +to the saving grace of hope that John Bunyan has done both in his doctrinal +and in his allegorical works. Bunyan stands alone and supreme +not only for the insight, and the power with which he has constructed +the character and the career of Hopeful, but even for having given him +the space at all adequate to his merits and his services. In those +eighty-seven so suggestive pages that form the index to Dr. Thomas Goodwin’s +works I find some hundred and twenty-four references to “faith,” +while there are only two references to “hope.” And +that same oversight and neglect runs through all our religious literature, +and I suppose, as a consequence, through all our preaching too. +Now that is not the treatment the Bible gives to this so essential Christian +grace, as any one may see at a glance who takes the trouble to turn +up his Cruden. Hope has a great place alongside of faith and love +in the Holy Scriptures, and it has a correspondingly large and eloquent +place in Bunyan. Now, that being so, why is it that this so great +and so blessed grace has so fallen out of our sermons and out of our +hearts? May God grant that our reading of Hopeful’s autobiography +and his subsequent history to-night may do something to restore the +blessed grace of hope to its proper place both in our pulpit and in +all our hearts.</p> +<p>To kindle then, to quicken, and to anchor your hope, my brethren, +may I have God’s help to speak for a little longer to your hearts +concerning this neglected grace! For, what is hope? Hope +is a passion of the soul, wise or foolish, to be ashamed of or to be +proud of, just according to the thing hoped for, and just according +to the grounds of the hope. Hope is made up of these two ingredients—desire +and expectation. What we greatly desire we take no rest till we +find good grounds on which to build up our expectations of it; and when +we have found good grounds for our expectations, then a glad hope takes +possession of our hearts. Now, to begin with, how is it with your +desires? You are afraid to say much about your expectations and +your hopes. Well; let us come to your hearts’ desires.—Men +of God, I will enter into your hearts and I will tell you your hearts’ +desires better than you know them yourselves; for the heart is deceitful +above all things. The time was, when, like this young pilgrim +before he became a pilgrim, your desires were all set on houses, and +lands, and places, and honours, and preferments, and wives, and children, +and silver, and gold, and what not. These things at one time were +the utmost limit of your desires. But that has all been changed. +For now you have begun to desire a better city, that is, an heavenly. +What is your chief desire for this New Year? <a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> +Is it not a new heart? Is it not a clean heart? Is it not +a holy heart? Is it not that the Holy Ghost would write the golden +rule on the tables of your heart? Does not God know that it is +the deepest desire of your heart to be able to love your neighbour as +yourself? To be able to rejoice with him in his joy as well as +to weep with him in his sorrow? What would you not give never +again to feel envy in your heart at your brother, or straitness and +pining at his prosperity? One thing do I desire, said the Psalmist, +that mine ear may be nailed to the doorpost of my God: that I may always +be His servant, and may never wander from His service. Now, that +is your desire too. I am sure it is. You would not say it +of yourself, but I defy you to deny it when it is said about you. +Well, then, such things being found among your desires, what grounds +have you for expecting the fulfilment of such desires? What grounds? +The best of grounds and every ground. For you have the sure ground +of God’s word. And you have more than His word: you have +His very nature, and the very nature of things. For shall God +create such desires in any man’s heart only to starve and torture +that man? Impossible! It were blasphemy to suspect it. +No. Where God has made any man to be so far a partaker of the +Divine nature as to change all that man’s deepest desires, and +to turn them from vanity to wisdom, from earth to heaven, and from the +creature to the Creator, doubt not, wherever He has begun such a work, +that He will hasten to finish it. Yes; lift up your heavy hearts, +all ye who desire such things, for God hath sent His Son to say to you, +Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall +be filled. Only, keep desiring. Desire every day with a +stronger and a more inconsolable desire. Desire, and ground your +desire on God’s word, and then heave your hope like an anchor +within the veil whither the Forerunner is for you entered. May +I so hope? you say. May I venture to hope? Yes; not only +may you hope, but you must hope. You are commanded to hope. +It is as much your bounden duty to hope always, and to hope for the +greatest and best things, as it is to repent of your sins, to love God +and your neighbour, to keep yourself pure, and to set a watch on the +door of your lips. You have been destroyed, I confess and lament +it, for lack of knowledge about the nature, the grounds, and the duty +of hope. But make up now for past neglect. Hope steadfastly, +hope constantly, hope boldly; hope for the best things, the greatest +things, the most divine and the most blessed things. If you forget +to-night all else you have heard to-day, I implore you not any longer +to forget and neglect this, that hope is your immediate, constant, imperative +duty. No sin, no depth of corruption in your heart, no assault +on your heart from your conscience, can justify you in ceasing to hope. +Even when trouble “comes tumbling over the neck of all your reformations” +as it came tumbling on Hopeful, let that only drive you the more deeply +down into the true grounds of hope; even against hope rejoice in hope. +Remember the Psalmist in the hundred-and-thirtieth Psalm,—down +in the deeps, if ever a fallen sinner was. Yet hear him when you +cannot see him saying: I hope in Thy word! And—for it is +worthy to stand beside even that splendid psalm,—I beseech you +to read and lay to heart what Hopeful says about himself in his conversion +despair.</p> +<p>And then, as if to justify that hope, there always come with it such +sanctifying influences and such sure results. The hope that you +are one day to awaken in the Divine likeness will make you lie down +on your bed every night in self-examination, repentance, prayer, and +praise. The hope that your eyes are one day to see Christ as He +is will make you purify yourself as nothing else will. The hope +that you are to walk with Christ in white will make you keep your garments +clean; it will make you wash them many times every day in the blood +of the Lamb. The hope that you are to cast your crown at His feet +will make you watch that no man takes your crown from you. The +hope that you are to drink wine with Him in His Father’s kingdom +will reconcile you meanwhile to water, lest with your wine you stumble +any of His little ones. The hope of hearing Him say, Well done!—how +that will make you labour and endure and not faint! And the hope +that you shall one day enter in through the gates into the city, and +have a right to the tree of life,—how scrupulous that will make +you to keep all His commandments! And this is one of His commandments, +that you gird up the loins of your mind, and hope to the end for the +grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.</p> +<h2>TEMPORARY</h2> +<blockquote><p>“They are they, which, when they hear, receive +the word with joy; and have no root, which for a while believe, and +in time of temptation fall away.”—<i>Our Lord</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Well, then, did you not know about ten years ago one Temporary +in your parts who was a forward man in religion? Know him! replied +the other. Yes. For my house not being above three miles +from his house he would ofttimes come to me, and that with many tears. +Truly I pitied the man, and was not altogether without hope of him; +but one may see that it is not every one who cries Lord, Lord. +And now, since we are talking about him, let us a little inquire into +the reason of the sudden backsliding of him and such others. It +may be very profitable, said Christian, but do you begin. Well, +then, there are in my judgment several reasons for it.” +And then, with the older man’s entire approval, Hopeful sets forth +several reasons, taken from his own observation of backsliders, why +so many men’s religion is such a temporary thing; why so many +run well for a time, and then stand still, and then turn back.</p> +<p>1. The fear of man bringeth a snare, said Hopeful, moralising +over his old acquaintance Temporary. And how true that observation +is every evangelical minister knows to his deep disappointment. +A young man comes to his minister at some time of distress in his life, +or at some time of revival of religion in the community, or at an ordinary +communion season, and gives every sign that he is early and fairly embarked +on an honourable Christian life. He takes his place in the Church +of Christ, and he puts out his hand to her work, till we begin to look +forward with boastfulness to a life of great stability and great attainment +for that man. Our Lord, as we see from so many of His parables, +must have had many such cases among His first followers. Our Lord +might be speaking prophetically, as well as out of His own experience, +so well do His regretful and lamenting words fit into so many of our +own cases to-day. For, look at that young business man. +He has been born and brought up in the Church of Christ. He has +gladdened more hearts than he knows by the noble promise of his early +days. Many admiring and loving eyes have been turned on him as +he took so hopefully the upward way. But a sifting-time soon comes. +A time of temptation comes. A time comes when sides must be taken +in some moral, religious, ecclesiastical controversy. This young +man is at that moment a candidate for a post that will bring distinction, +wealth, and social influence to him who holds it. And the candidate +we are so much interested in is admittedly a man of such outstanding +talents that he would at once get the post were it not that the holder +of that post must not have his name so much associated with such and +such a church, such and such political and religious opinions, and such +and such public men. He is told that. Indeed, he is not +so dull as to need to be told that. He has seen that all along. +And at first it is a dreadful wrench to him. He feels how far +he is falling from his high ideals in life; and, at first, and for a +long time, it is a dreadful humiliation to him. But, then, there +are splendid compensations. And, better than that, there are some +good, and indeed compelling, reasons that begin to rise up in our minds +when we need them and begin to look for them, till what at first seemed +so mean and so contemptible, and so ungrateful, and so dishonourable, +as well as so spiritually perilous, comes to be faced and gone through +with positively on a ground of high principle, and, indeed, of stern +moral necessity. So deceitful is the human heart that you could +not believe what compelling reasons such a mean-spirited man will face +you with as to why he should leave all the ways he once so delighted +in for a piece of bread, and for the smile of the open enemies of his +church, and his faith, not to say his Saviour. You will meet with +several such men any afternoon coming home from their business. +Sometimes they have still some honest shame on their faces when they +meet you; but still oftener they pass you with a sullen hatred and a +fierce defiance. This is he who heard the word, and anon with +joy received it. Yet had he not root in himself, but dured for +a while; for when tribulation or persecution arose because of the word +by and by he was offended. They went out from us, says John, but +they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would no doubt +have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest +that they were not all of us.</p> +<p>2. Guilt, again, Hopeful went on, and to meditate terror, are +so grievous to most men, that they rather choose such ways as will but +harden their hearts still more and more. You all know what it +is to meditate terror? “Thine heart shall meditate terror,” +says the prophet, “when thou sayest to thyself, who among us shall +dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting +burnings?” The fifty-first Psalm is perhaps the best meditation +both of guilt and of terror that we have in the whole Bible. But +there are many other psalms and passages of psalms only second to the +fifty-first Psalm, such as the twenty-second, the thirty-eighth, the +sixty-ninth, and the hundred-and-thirtieth. Our Lord Himself also +was meditating terror in the garden of Gethsemane, and Paul both guilt +and terror when he imagined himself both an apostate preacher and a +castaway soul. And John’s meditations of terror in the Revelation +rose into those magnificent pictures of the Last Judgment with which +he has to all time covered the walls of the Seven Churches. In +his own <i>Grace Abounding</i> there are meditations of terror quite +worthy to stand beside the most terrible things of that kind that ever +were written, as also in many others of our author’s dramatical +and homiletical books. I read to you the other Sabbath morning +a meditation of terror that was found among Bishop Andrewes’ private +papers after his death. You will not all have forgotten that meditation, +but I will read it to you to-night again. “How fearful,” +says Andrewes, in his terror, “will Thy judgment be, O Lord, when +the thrones are set, and the angels stand around, and men are brought +in, and the books are opened, and all our works are inquired into, and +all our thoughts are examined, and all the hidden things of darkness! +What, O God, shall Thy judgment that day be upon me? Who shall +quench my flame, who shall lighten my darkness, if Thou pity me not? +Lord, as Thou art loving, give me tears, give me floods of tears, and +give me all that this day, before it be too late. For then will +be the incorruptible Judge, the horrible judgment-seat, the answer without +excuse, the inevitable charge, the shameful punishment, the endless +Gehenna, the pitiless angels, the yawning hell, the roaring stream of +fire, the unquenchable flame, the dark prison, the rayless darkness, +the bed of live coals, the unwearied worm, the indissoluble chains, +the bottomless chaos, the impassable wall, the inconsolable cry. +And none to stand by me; none to plead for me; none to snatch me out.” +Now, no Temporary ever possessed anything like that in his own handwriting +among his private papers. A meditation like that, written out +with his own hand, and hidden away under lock and key, will secure any +man from it, even if he had been appointed to backsliding and reprobation. +Bishop Andrewes, as any one will see who reads his <i>Private Devotions</i>, +was the chief of sinners; but his discovered and deciphered papers will +all speak for him when they are spread out before the great white throne, +“glorious in their deformity, being slubbered,” as his editors +say, “with his pious hands, and watered with his penitential tears.”</p> +<p>Thomas Shepard’s <i>Ten Virgins</i> is the most terrible book +upon Temporaries that ever was written. Temporaries never once +saw their true vileness, he keeps on saying. Temporaries are, +no doubt, wounded for sin sometimes, but never in the right place nor +to the right depth. And again, sin, and especially heart-sin, +is never really bitter to Temporaries. In an “exhortation +to all new beginners, and so to all others,” “Be sure,” +Shepard says, “your wound for sin at first is deep enough. +For all the error in a man’s faith and sanctification springs +from his first error in his humiliation. If a man’s humiliation +be false, or even weak or little, then his faith and his hold of Christ +are weak and little, and his sanctification counterfeit. But if +a man’s wound be right, and his humiliation deep enough, that +man’s faith will be right and his sanctification will be glorious. +The esteem of Christ is always little where sin lies light.” +And Hopeful himself says a thing at this point that is quite worthy +of Shepard himself, such is its depth and insight. He speaks of +the righteous actually <i>loving</i> the sight of their misery. +He does not explain what he means by that startling language because +he is talking all the time, as he knows quite well, to one who understood +all that before he was born. Nor will I attempt to explain or +to vindicate what he says. Those of you who love the sight of +your own misery as sinners will understand what Hopeful says without +any explanation; while those who do not understand him would only be +the more stumbled by any explanation of him. The love of the sight +of their misery, and the unearthly sweetness of their sorrow for sin, +are only another two of those provoking paradoxes of which the lives +of God’s true saints are full—paradoxes and impossibilities +and incoherencies that make the literature of experimental religion +to be positively hateful and unbearable to Temporary and to all his +self-seeking and apostate kindred.</p> +<p>3. But even where the consciences of such men are occasionally +awakened, proceeds Hopeful, in his so searching discovery of Temporaries, +yet their minds are not changed. There you are pretty near the +business, replied his fellow; for the bottom of all is, for want of +a change of their mind and will. Now, one would have been afraid +and ashamed for one moment to suspect that Temporary’s mind was +not completely changed, so “forward” was he at first in +his religion. But, no: forward before all his neighbours as Temporary +was, to begin with, yet all the time his mind was not really changed. +His forwardness did not properly spring out of his true mind at all, +but only out of his momentarily awakened conscience and his momentarily +excited heart. A sinner with a truly changed mind is never forward. +His mind is so changed that forwardness in anything is utterly alien +to it, and especially all forwardness in the profession of religion. +The change that had taken place in Temporary, whatever was the seat +of it, only led him to bully men like Christian and Hopeful, who would +not go fast enough for him. “Come,” said Pliable, +in the beginning of the book, “come on and let us mend our pace.” +“I cannot go so fast as I would,” humbly replied Christian, +“because of this burden on my back.” It is a common +observation among mountaineers that he who takes the hill at the greatest +spurt is the last climber to come to the top, and that many who so ostentatiously +make spurts at the bottom of the hill never come within sight of the +top at all. And this is one of the constant dangers that wait +on all revivals, religious retreats, conferences, and even communion +seasons. Our hot fits, the hotter they are, are only the more +likely, unless we take the greatest care, to cast us down into all the +more deadly a chill. It is this danger that our Lord points out +so plainly in His parable of apostasy. The same is he, says our +Lord, that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath +he not root in himself, but dureth for a while. In Hopeful’s +words, his mind and will were never changed with all his joy, only his +passing moods and his momentary emotions.</p> +<p>Multitudes of men who are as forward at first as Pliable and Temporary +were turn out at last to have no root in themselves; but here and there +you will discover a man who is all root together. There are some +men whose whole mind and heart and will, whose whole inward man, has +gone to root. All the strength and all the fatness of their religious +life retreat into its root. They have no leaves at all, and they +have too little fruit as yet; but you should see their roots. +Only, no eye but the eye of God can see sorrow for sin—secret +and sore humiliation on account of secret sin—the incessant agony +that goes on within between the flesh and the spirit, between sin and +grace, between very hell and heaven itself. To know your own evil +hearts, my brethren, say to you on that subject what any Temporary will, +is the very root of the whole matter to you. Whatever Dr. Newman’s +mistakes as to outward churches may have been, he was a master of the +human heart, the most difficult of all matters to master. Listen, +then, to what he says on the matter now in hand. “Now, unless +we have some just idea of our hearts and of sin, we can have no right +idea of a Moral Governor, a Saviour, or a Sanctifier; that is, in professing +to believe in them we shall be using words without attaching any distinct +meaning to them. Thus self-knowledge is at the root of all real +religious knowledge; and it is vain,—it is worse than vain,—it +is a deceit and a mischief, to think to understand the Christian doctrines +as a matter of course, merely by being taught by books, or by attending +sermons, or by any outward means, however excellent, taken by themselves. +For it is in proportion as we search our hearts and understand our own +nature that we understand what is meant by an Infinite Governor and +Judge; it is in proportion as we comprehend the nature of disobedience +and our actual sinfulness that we feel what is the blessing of the removal +of sin, redemption, pardon, sanctification, which otherwise are mere +words. God speaks to us primarily in our hearts. Self-knowledge +is the key to the precepts and doctrines of Scripture. The very +utmost that any outward notices of religion can do is to startle us +and make us turn inward and search our hearts; and then, when we have +experienced what it is to read ourselves, we shall profit by the doctrine +of the Church and the Bible.” My brethren, the temper in +which you receive that passage, and receive it from its author, may +be safely taken by you as a sure presage whether you are to turn out +a Temporary and a Castaway or no.</p> +<p>Now, to conclude with a word of admission, and, bound up with it, +a word of encouragement. After all that has been said, I fully +admit that we are all Temporaries to begin with. We all cool down +from our first heat in religion. We all halt from our first spurt. +We all turn back from faith and from duty and from privilege through +our fear of men, or through our corrupt love of ourselves, or through +our coarse-minded love of this present world. Only, those who +are appointed to perseverance, and through that to eternal life, always +kindle again; they are kindled again, and they love the return of their +lost warmth. They recover themselves and address themselves again +and again to the race that is still set before them. They prove +themselves not to be of those who draw back unto perdition, but of those +that believe to the saving of the soul. Now, if you have only +too good ground to suspect that you are but a temporary believer, what +are you to do to make your sure escape out of that perilous state? +What, but to keep on believing? You must cry constantly, Lord, +I believe, help Thou mine unbelief! When at any time you are under +any temptation or corruption, and you feel that your faith and your +love are letting slip their hold of Christ and of eternal life, then +knot your weak heart all the faster to the throne of grace, to the cross +of Christ, and to the gate of heaven. Give up all your mind and +heart, and all that is within you, to the one thing needful. Labour +night and day in your own heart at believing on Christ, at loving your +neighbour, and at discovering, denying, and crucifying yourself. +It will all pay you in the long run. For if you do all these things, +and persistently do them, then, though you are at this moment all but +dead to all divine things, and all but a reprobate, it will be found +at last that all the time your name was written among the elect in heaven.</p> +<p>The perseverance of the saints, the “five points” notwithstanding, +is not a foregone conclusion. The final perseverance of the ripest +and surest saint is all made up of ever-new beginnings in repentance, +in faith, in love, and in obedience. Begin, then, every new day +to repent anew, to return anew, to believe and to love anew. And +if all your New-Year repentances and returnings and reformations are +all already proved to be but temporary—even if they lie all around +you already a bitter mockery of all your professions—still, begin +again. Begin to-night, and begin again to-morrow morning. +Spend all the remainder of your days on earth beginning. And, +ere ever you are aware, the final perseverance of another predestinated +saint will be found accomplished in you.</p> +<h2>SECRET</h2> +<blockquote><p>“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear +Him.”—<i>David</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A truly religious life is always a secret life: it is a life hid, +as Paul has it, with Christ in God. The secret of the Lord, says +the Psalmist, is with them that fear Him. And thus it is that +when men begin to fear God, both their hearts and their lives are henceforth +full of all kinds of secrets that are known to themselves and to God +only. It was when Christiana’s fearful thoughts began to +work in her mind about her husband whom she had lost—it was when +all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly carriages to her dear friend +came into her mind in swarms, clogged her conscience, and loaded her +with guilt—it was then that Secret knocked at her door. +“Next morning,” so her opening history runs, “when +she was up, and had prayed to God, and talked with her children awhile, +one knocked hard at the door to whom she spake out, saying, If thou +comest in God’s name, come in. So he who was at the door +said, Amen, and opened the door, and saluted her with, Peace be to this +house. The which when he had done, he said, Christiana, knowest +thou wherefore I am come? Then she blushed and trembled, also +her heart began to wax warm with desires to know whence he came, and +what was his errand to her. So he said unto her, My name is Secret, +I dwell with those that are high. It is talked of where I dwell +as if thou hadst a desire to go thither; also, there is a report that +thou art aware now of the evil thou formerly didst to thy husband in +hardening of thy heart against his way, and in keeping of thy babes +in their ignorance. Christiana, the Merciful One has sent me to +tell thee that He is a God ready to forgive, and that He taketh delight +to multiply to pardon offences. He would also have thee know that +He inviteth thee to come into His presence, even to His table, and that +He will there feed thee with the fat of His house, and with the heritage +of Jacob thy father. Christiana at all this was greatly abashed +in herself, and she bowed her head to the ground, while her visitor +proceeded and said, Christiana, here is a letter for thee which I have +brought from thy husband’s King. So she took it and opened +it, and, as she opened it, it smelt after the manner of the best perfume; +also it was written in lettering of gold. The contents of the +letter was to this effect, that the King would have her do as did Christian +her husband, for that was the way to come to the city and to dwell in +His presence with joy for ever. At this the good woman was completely +overcome. So she said to her visitor, Sir, will you carry me and +my children with you that we may go and worship this King? Then +said the heavenly visitor, Christiana, the bitter is before the sweet. +Thou must through troubles, as did he that went before thee, enter this +celestial city.” And so on.</p> +<p>1. Now, to begin with, you will have noticed the way in which +Christiana was prepared for the entrance of Secret into her house. +She was a widow. She sat alone in that loneliness which only widows +know and understand. More than lonely, she was very miserable. +“Mark this,” says the author on the margin, “you that +are churls to your godly relations.” For this widow felt +sure that her husband had been taken from her because of her cruel behaviour +to him. Her past unnatural carriages toward her husband now rent +the very caul of her heart in sunder. And, again and again, about +that same time strange dreams would sometimes visit her. Dreams +such as this. She would see her husband in a place of bliss with +a harp in his hand, standing and playing upon it before One that sat +on a throne with a rainbow round His head. She saw also as if +he bowed his head with his face to the paved work that was under the +Prince’s feet, saying, I heartily thank my Lord and King for bringing +me to this place. You will easily see how ready this lone woman +was with all that for his entrance who knocked and said, Peace be to +this house, and handed her a letter of perfume from her husband’s +King. Then you will have remarked also some of the things this +visitor from on high said to her of the place whence he had come. +He told her, to begin with, how they sometimes talked about her in his +country. She thought that she was a lonely and forgotten widow, +and that no one cared what became of her. But her visitor assured +her she was quite wrong in thinking that. He had often himself +heard her name mentioned in conversation above; and the most hopeful +reports, he told her, were circulated from door to door that she was +actually all but started on the upward way. Yes, he said, and +we have a place prepared for you on the strength of these reports, a +place among the immortals close beside your husband. And all that, +as you will not wonder, was the beginning of Christiana’s secret +life. After that morning she never again felt alone or forgotten. +I am not alone, she would after that say, when any of her old neighbours +knocked at her door. No, I am not alone, but if thou comest in +God’s name, come in.</p> +<p>2. And from that day a long succession of secret providences +began to enter Christiana’s life, till, as time went on, her whole +life was filled full of secret providences. And not her present +life only, but her discoveries of God’s secret providences towards +her and hers became retrospective also, till both her own parentage +and birth, her husband’s parentage and birth also, the day she +first saw him, the day of their espousals, the day of their marriage, +and the day of his death, all shone out now as so many secret and special +providences of God toward her. Bishop Martensen has a fine passage +on the fragmentariness of our knowledge, not only of divine providence +as a whole, but even of those divine providences that fill up our own +lives. And he warns us that, till we have heard the “Prologue +in Heaven,” many a riddle in our lives must of necessity remain +unsolved. Christiana could not have told her inquiring children +what a prologue was, nor an epilogue either, but many were the wise +and winning discourses she held with her boys about their father now +in heaven, about her happiness in having had such a father for her children, +and about their happiness that the road was open before them to go to +where he now is. And there are many poor widows among ourselves +who are wiser than all their teachers, because they are in that school +of experience into which God takes His afflicted people and opens to +them His deepest secrets. They remember, with Job, when the secret +of the Lord was first upon their tabernacle. Their widowed hearts +are full of holy household memories. They remember the days when +the candle of the Lord shone upon their head when they washed their +steps with butter, and the rock poured them out rivers of oil. +And still, when, like Job also, they sit solitary among the ashes, the +secret of the Lord is only the more secretly and intimately with them. +John Bunyan was well fitted to be Christiana’s biographer, because +his own life was as full as it could hold of these same secret and special +providences. One day he was walking—so he tells us—in +a good man’s shop, bemoaning himself of his sad and doleful state—when +a mighty rushing wind came in through the window and seemed to carry +words of Scripture on its wings to Bunyan’s disconsolate soul. +He candidly tells us that he does not know, after twenty years’ +reflection, what to make of that strange dispensation. That it +took place, and that it left the most blessed results behind it, he +is sure; but as to how God did it, by what means, by what instruments, +both the rushing wind itself and the salutation that accompanied it, +he is fain to let lie till the day of judgment. And many of ourselves +have had strange dispensations too that we must leave alone, and seek +no other explanation of them for the present but the blessed results +of them. We have had divine descents into our lives that we can +never attempt to describe. Interpositions as plain to us as if +we had both seen and spoken with the angel who executed them. +Miraculous deliverances that throw many Old and New Testament miracles +into the shade. Providential adaptations and readjustments also, +as if all things were actually and openly and without a veil being made +to work together for our good. Extrications also; nets broken, +snares snapped, and such pavilions of safety and solace opened to us +that we can find no psalm secret and special enough in which to utter +our life-long astonishment. Importunate prayers anticipated, postponed, +denied, translated, transmuted, and then answered till our cup was too +full; sweet changed to bitter, and bitter changed to sweet, so wonderfully, +so graciously, and so often, that words fail us, and we can only now +laugh and now weep over it all. Poor Cowper knew something about +it—</p> +<blockquote><p>“God moves in a mysterious way<br /> + His wonders to perform;<br /> +He plants His footsteps in the sea,<br /> + And rides upon the storm.</p> +<p>“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,<br /> + The clouds ye so much dread<br /> +Are big with mercy, and shall break<br /> + In blessings on your head.</p> +<p>“Blind unbelief is sure to err,<br /> + And scan his work in vain;<br /> +God is His own interpreter,<br /> + And He will make it plain.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>3. Secret scriptures also—from that enlightening day +Christiana’s Bible became full of them. Peter says that +no prophecy is of any private interpretation; and, whatever he means +by that, what he says must be true. But Christiana would have +understood the apostle better if he had said the exact opposite of that,—if +not about the prophecies, at least about the psalms. Leave the +prophecies in this connection alone; but of the psalms it may safely +be said that it is neither the literal nor the historical nor the mystical +interpretation that gets at the heart of those supreme scriptures. +It is the private, personal, and, indeed, secret interpretation that +gets best at the deepest heart of the psalms. An old Bible came +into my hands the other day—a Bible that had seen service—and +it opened of its own accord at the Book of Psalms. On turning +over the yellow leaves I found a date and a deep indentation opposite +these words: “Commit thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him: +and He will bring it to pass.” And as I looked at the figures +on the margin, and at the underscored text, I felt as if I were on the +brink of an old-world secret. “Create in me a clean heart” +had a significant initial also; as had this: “The sacrifices of +God are a broken spirit.” The whole of the hundred-and-third +psalm was bracketed off from all public interpretation; while the tenth, +the cardinal verse of that secret psalm, had a special seal set upon +it. Judging from its stains and scars and other accidents, the +whole of the hundred-and-nineteenth psalm had been a special favourite; +while the hundred-and-forty-third also was all broidered round with +shorthand symbols. But the secret key of all those symbols and +dates and enigmatical marks was no longer to be found; it had been carried +away in the owner’s own heart. But, my head being full of +Christiana at the time, I felt as if I held her own old Bible in my +hand as I turned over those ancient leaves.</p> +<p>4. Our Lord so practised secrecy Himself in His fasting, in +His praying, and in His almsgiving, and He makes so much of that same +secrecy in all His teaching, as almost to make the essence of all true +religion to stand in its secrecy. “When thou prayest,” +says our Lord, “shut thy door and pray in secret.” +As much as to say that we are scarcely praying at all when we are praying +in public. Praying in public is so difficult that new beginners, +like His disciples, have to practise that so difficult art for a long +time in secret. Public prayer has so many besetting sins, it is +open to so many temptations, distractions, and corruptions, that it +is almost impossible to preserve the real essence of prayer in public +prayer. But in secret all those temptations and distractions are +happily absent. We have no temptation to be too long in secret +prayer, or too loud, or too eloquent. Stately old English goes +for nothing in secret prayer. We never need to go to our knees +in secret trembling, lest we lose the thread of our prayer, or forget +that so fit and so fine expression. The longer we are the better +in secret prayer. Much speaking is really a virtue in secret prayer; +much speaking and many repetitions. Also, we can put things into +our secret prayers that we dare not come within a thousand miles of +in the pulpit, or the prayer-meeting, or the family. We can enter +into the most plain-spoken particulars about ourselves in secret. +We can put our proper name upon ourselves, and upon our actions, and +especially upon our thoughts when our door is shut. Then, again, +we can pray for other people by name in secret; we can enter, so far +as we know them, into all their circumstances in a way it is impossible +to do anywhere but in the utmost secrecy. We can, in short, be +ourselves in secret; and, unless it is to please or to impress men, +we had better not pray at all unless we are ourselves when we are engaged +in it. You can be yourself, your very worst self; nay, you must +be, else you will not long pray in secret, and even if you did you would +not be heard. I do not remember that very much is said in so many +words in her after-history about Christiana’s habits of closet-prayer. +But that Secret taught her the way, and waited till she had tasted the +sweetness and the strength of being a good while on her knees alone, +I am safe to say; indeed, I read it between the lines in all her after-life. +She was rewarded openly in a way that testifies to much secret prayer; +that is to say, in the early conversion of her children, in the way +they settled in life, and such like things. Pray much for those +things in secret that you wish to possess openly.</p> +<p>5. But perhaps the best and most infallible evidence we can +have of the truth of our religion in this life is in the steady increase +of our secret sinfulness. Christiana had no trouble with her own +wicked heart so long as she was a woman of a wicked life. But +directly she became a new creature, her heart began to swarm, such is +her own expression, with sinful memories, sinful thoughts, and sinful +feelings; till she had need of some one ever near her, like Greatheart, +constantly to assure her that those cruel and deadly swarms, instead +of being a bad sign of her salvation, were the very best signs possible +of her good estate. Humility is the foundation of all our graces, +and there is no humility so deep and so ever-deepening as that evangelical +humility which in its turn rises out of and rests upon secret sinfulness. +Not upon acts of secret sin. Do not mistake me. Acts of +secret sin harden the heart and debauch the conscience. But I +speak of that secret, original, unexplored, and inexpugnable sinfulness +out of which all a sinner’s actual sins, both open sins and secret, +spring; and out of which a like life of open and actual sins would spring +in God’s very best saints, if only both He and they did not watch +night and day against them. Sensibility to sin, or rather to sinfulness, +is far and away the best evidence of sanctification that is possible +to us in this life. It is this keen and bitter sensibility that +secures, amid all oppositions and obstructions, the true saint’s +onward and upward progress. Were it not for the misery of their +own hearts, God’s best saints would fall asleep and go back like +other men. A sinful heart is the misery of all miseries. +It is the deepest and darkest of all dungeons. It is the most +painful and the most loathsome of all diseases. And the secrecy +of it all adds to the bitterness and the gall of it all. We may +know that other men’s hearts are as sinful as our own, but we +do not feel their sinfulness. We cannot sensibly feel humiliation, +bondage, sickness, and self-loathing on account of another man’s +envy, or ill-will, or resentment, or cruelty, or falsehood, or impurity. +All these things must be our own before we can enter into the pain and +the shame of them; but, when we do, then we taste what death and hell +are indeed. As I write these feeble words about it, a devil’s +shaft of envy that was shot all against my will into my heart this morning, +still, after a whole day, rankles and festers there. I have been +on my knees with it again and again; I have stood and looked into an +open grave to-day; but there it is sucking at my heart’s blood +still, like a leech of hell. Who can understand his errors? +Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Create in me a clean heart, +O God, O wretched man that I am! “Let a man,” says +William Law when he is enforcing humility, “but consider that +if the world knew all that of him which he knows of himself: if they +saw what vanity and what passions govern his inside, and what secret +tempers sully and corrupt his best actions, he would have no more pretence +to be honoured and admired for his goodness and wisdom than a rotten +and distempered body to be loved and admired for its beauty and comeliness. +This is so true, and so known to the hearts of almost all people, that +nothing would appear more dreadful to them than to have their hearts +fully discovered to the eyes of all beholders. And, perhaps, there +are very few people in the world who would not rather choose to die +than to have all their secret follies, the errors of their judgments, +the vanity of their minds, the falseness of their pretences, the frequency +of their vain and disorderly passions, their uneasinesses, hatreds, +envies, and vexations made known to all the world.” Where +did William Law get that terrible passage? Where could he get +it but in the secret heart of the miserable author of the <i>Serious +Call</i>?</p> +<p>6. The half cannot be told of the guilt and the corruption, +the pain and the shame and the manifold misery of secret sin; but all +that will be told, believed, and understood by all men long before the +full magnificence of their sanctification, and the superb transcendence +of their blessedness, will even begin to be described to God’s +secret saints. For, all that sleepless, cruel, and soul-killing +pain, and all that shameful and humbling corruption,—all that +means, all that is, so much holiness, so much heaven, working itself +out in the soul. All that is so much immortal life, spotless beauty, +and incorruptible joy already begun in the soul. Every such pang +in a holy heart is a death-pang of another sin and a birth-pang of another +grace. Brotherly love is at last being born never to die in that +heart where envy and malice and resentment and revenge are causing inward +agony. And humility and meekness and the whole mind of Christ +are there where pride and anger and ill-will are felt to be very hell +itself. And holiness, even as God is holy, will soon be there +for ever where the sinfulness of sin is a sinner’s acutest sorrow. +“As for me,” said one whose sin was ever before him, “I +will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I wake +with Thy likeness.”</p> +<h2>MRS. TIMOROUS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“But the fearful [literally, the timid and the +cowardly] shall have their part in the second death.”—<i>Revelation +xxi</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>No sooner had Secret bidden Christiana farewell than she began with +all her might to make ready for her great journey. “Come, +my children, let us pack up and begone to the gate that leads to the +Celestial City, that we may see your father and be with him, and with +his companions, in peace, according to the laws of that land.” +And then: “Come in, if you come in God’s name!” Christiana +called out, as two of her neighbours knocked at her door. “Having +little to do at home this morning,” said the elder of the two +women, “I have come across to kill a little time with you. +I spent last night with Mrs. Light-mind, and I have some good news for +you this morning.” “I am just preparing for a journey +this morning,” said Christiana, packing up all the time, “and +I have not so much as one moment to spare.” You know yourselves +what Christiana’s nervousness and almost impatience were. +You know how it upsets your good temper and all your civility when you +are packing up for a long absence from home, and some one comes in, +and will talk, and will not see how behindhand and how busy you are. +“For what journey, I pray you?” asked Mrs. Timorous, for +that was her visitor’s name. “Even to go after my +good husband,” the busy woman said, and with that she fell a-weeping. +But you must read the whole account of that eventful morning in Christiana’s +memoirs for yourselves till you have it, as Secret said, by root-of-heart. +On the understanding that you are not total strangers to that so excellently-written +passage I shall now venture a few observations upon it.</p> +<p>1. Well, to begin with, Mrs. Timorous was not a bad woman, +as women went in that town and in that day. Her companions,—her +gossips, as she would have called them,—were far worse women than +she was; and, had it not been for her family infirmity, had it not been +for that timid, hesitating, lukewarm, and half-and-half habit of mind +which she had inherited from her father, there is no saying what part +she might have played in the famous expedition of Christiana and Mercy +and the boys. Her father had been a pilgrim himself at one time; +but he had now for a long time been known in the town as a turncoat +and a temporary, and all his children had unhappily taken after their +father in that. Had her father held on as he at one time had begun—had +he held on in the face of all fear and all danger as Christiana’s +noble husband had done—to a certainty his daughter would have +started that morning with Christiana and her company, and would have +been, if a timid, easily scared, and troublesome pilgrim, yet as true +a pilgrim, and made as welcome at last, as, say, Miss Much-afraid, Mr. +Fearing, and Mr. Ready-to-halt were made. But her father’s +superficiality and shakiness, and at bottom his warm love of this world +and his lukewarm love of the world to come, had unfortunately all descended +to his daughter, till we find her actually reviling Christiana on that +decisive morning, and returning to her dish of tea and tittle-tattle +with Mrs. Bats-eyes, Mrs. Inconsiderate, Mrs. Light-mind, and Mrs. Know-nothing.</p> +<p>2. The thing that positively terrified Mrs. Timorous at the +very thought of setting out with Christiana that morning was that intolerable +way in which Christiana had begun to go back upon her past life as a +wife and a mother. Christiana could not hide her deep distress, +and, indeed, she did not much try. Such were the swarms of painful +memories that her husband’s late death, the visit of Secret, and +one thing and another had let loose upon Christiana’s mind, that +she could take pleasure in nothing but in how she was to escape away +from her past life, and how she could in any way mend it and make up +for it where she could not escape from it. “You may judge +yourself,” said Mrs. Timorous to Mrs. Light-mind, “whether +I was likely to find much entertainment with a woman like that!” +For, Mrs. Timorous too, you must know, had a past life of her own; and +it was that past life of hers all brought back by Christiana’s +words that morning that made Mrs. Timorous so revile her old friend +and return to the society we so soon see her with. Now, is not +this the case, that we all have swarms of evil memories that we dare +not face? There is no single relationship in life that we can +boldly look back upon and fully face. As son or as daughter, as +brother or as sister, as friend or as lover, as husband or as wife, +as minister or as member, as master or as servant—what swarms +of hornet-memories darken our hearts as we so look back! Let any +grown-up man, with some imagination, tenderness of heart, and integrity +of conscience, go back step by step, taking some time to it,—at +a new year, say, or a birthday, or on some such suitable occasion: let +him go over his past life back to his youth and childhood—and +what an intolerable burden will be laid on his heart before he is done! +What a panorama of scarlet pictures will pass before his inward eye! +What a forest of accusing fingers will be pointed at him! What +hissing curses will be spat at him both by the lips of the living and +the dead! What untold pains he will see that he has caused to +the innocent and the helpless! What desolating disappointments, +what shipwrecks of hope to this man and to that woman! What a +stone of stumbling he has been to many who on that stone have been for +ever broken and lost! What a rock of offence even his mere innocent +existence, all unknown to himself till afterwards, has been! Swarms, +said Christiana. Swarms of hornets armed, said Samson. And +many of us understand what that bitter word means better than any commentator +on Bunyan or on Milton can tell us. One of the holiest men the +Church of England ever produced, and one of her best devotional writers, +used to shut his door on the night of every first day of the week, and +on his knees spread out a prayer which always contained this passage: +“I worship Thee, O God, on my face. I smite my breast and +say with the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner; the chief of +sinners; a sinner far above the publican. Despise me not—an +unclean worm, a dead dog, a putrid corpse. Despise me not, despise +me not, O Lord. But look upon me with those eyes with which Thou +didst look upon Magdalene at the feast, Peter in the hall, and the thief +on the cross. O that mine eyes were a fountain of tears that I +might weep night and day before Thee! I despise and bruise myself +that my penitence is not deeper, is not fuller. Help Thou mine +impenitence, and more and more pierce, rend, and crush my heart. +My sins are more in number than the sand. My iniquities are multiplied, +and I have no relief.” Perish your Puritanism, and your +prayer-books too! I hear some high-minded and indignant man saying. +Perish your Celestial City and all my desire after it, before I say +the like of that about myself! Brave words, my brother; brave +words! But there have been men as blameless as you are, and as +brave-hearted over it, who, when the scales fell off their eyes, were +heard crying out ever after: O wretched man that I am! And: Have +mercy on me, the chief of sinners! And so, if it so please God, +will it yet be with you.</p> +<p>3. “Having had little to do this morning,” said +Mrs. Timorous to Mrs. Light-mind, “I went to give Christiana a +visit.” “Law,” I read in his most impressive +Life, “by this time was well turned fifty, but he rose as early +and was as soon at his desk as when he was still a new, enthusiastic, +and scrupulously methodical student at Cambridge.” Summer +and winter Law rose to his devotions and his studies at five o’clock, +not because he had imperative sermons to prepare, but because, in his +own words, it is more reasonable to suppose a person up early because +he is a Christian than because he is a labourer or a tradesman or a +servant. I have a great deal of business to do, he would say. +I have a hardened heart to change; I have still the whole spirit of +religion to get. When Law at any time felt a temptation to relax +his rule of early devotion, he again reminded himself how fast he was +becoming an old man, and how far back his sanctification still was, +till he flung himself out of bed and began to make himself a new heart +before the servants had lighted their fires or the farmers had yoked +their horses. Shame on you, he said to himself, to lie folded +up in a bed when you might be pouring out your heart in prayer and in +praise, and thus be preparing yourself for a place among those blessed +beings who rest not day and night saying, Holy, Holy, Holy. “I +have little to do this morning,” said Mrs. Timorous. “But +I am preparing for a journey,” said Christiana. “I +have now a price put into my hand to get gain, and I should be a fool +of the greatest size if I should have no heart to strike in with the +opportunity.”</p> +<p>4. Another thing that completely threw out Christiana’s +idle visitor and made her downright angry was the way she would finger +and kiss and read pieces out of the fragrant letter she held in her +hand. You will remember how Christiana came by that letter she +was now so fond of. “Here,” said Secret, “is +a letter I have brought thee from thy husband’s King.” +So she took it and opened it, and it smelt after the manner of the best +perfume; also it was written in letters of gold. “I advise +thee,” said Secret, “that thou put this letter in thy bosom, +that thou read therein to thy children until you have all got it by +root-of-heart.” “His messenger was here,” said +Christiana to Mrs. Timorous, “and has brought me a letter which +invites me to come.” And with that she plucked out the letter +and read to her out of it, and said: “What now do you say to all +that?” That, again, is so true to our own life. For +there is nothing that more distastes and disrelishes many people among +us than just that we should name to them our favourite books, and read +a passage out of them, and ask them to say what they think of such wonderful +words. Samuel Rutherford’s <i>Letters</i>, for instance; +a book that smells to some nostrils with the same heavenly perfume as +Secret’s own letter did. A book, moreover, that is written +in the same ink of gold. Ask at afternoon tea to-morrow, even +in so-called Christian homes, when any of the ladies round the table +last read, and how often they have read, <i>Grace Abounding, The Saint’s +Rest, The Religious Affections, Jeremy Taylor, Law, à Kempis, +Fénelon</i>, or such like, and they will smile to one another +and remark after you are gone on your strange taste for old-fashioned +and long-winded and introspective books. “Julia has buried +her husband and married her daughters, and since that she spends her +time in reading. She is always reading foolish and unedifying +books. She tells you every time she sees you that she is almost +at the end of the silliest book that ever she read in her life. +But the best of it is that it serves to dispose of a good deal of her +spare time. She tells you all romances are sad stuff, yet she +is very impatient till she can get all she can hear of. Histories +of intrigue and scandal are the books that Julia thinks are always too +short. The truth is, she lives upon folly and scandal and impertinence. +These things are the support of her dull hours. And yet she does +not see that in all this she is plainly telling you that she is in a +miserable, disordered, reprobate state of mind. Now, whether you +read her books or no, you perhaps think with her that it is a dull task +to read only religious and especially spiritual books. But when +you have the spirit of true religion, when you can think of God as your +only happiness, when you are not afraid of the joys of eternity, you +will think it a dull task to read any other books. When it is +the care of your soul to be humble, holy, pure, and heavenly-minded; +when you know anything of the guilt and misery of sin, or feel a real +need of salvation, then you will find religious and truly spiritual +books to be the greatest feast and joy of your mind and heart.” +Yes. And then we shall thank God every day we live that He raised +us up such helpers in our salvation as the gifted and gracious authors +we have been speaking of.</p> +<p>5. “The further I go the more danger I meet with,” +said old Timorous, the father, to Christian, when Christian asked him +on the Hill Difficulty why he was running the wrong way. “I, +too, was going to the City of Zion,” he said; “but the further +on I go the more danger I meet with.” And, in saying that, +the old runaway gave our persevering pilgrim something to think about +for all his days. For, again and again, and times without number, +Christian would have gone back too if only he had known where to go. +Go on, therefore, he must. To go back to him was simply impossible. +Every day he lived he felt the bitter truth of what that old apostate +had so unwittingly said. But, with all that he kept himself in +his onward way till, dangers and difficulties, death and hell and all, +he came to the blessed end of it. And that same has been the universal +experience of all the true and out-and-out saints of God in all time. +If poor old Timorous had only known it, if he had only had some one +beside him to remind him of it, the very thing that so fatally turned +him back was the best proof possible that he was on the right and the +only right way; ay, and fast coming, poor old castaway, to the very +city he had at one time set out to seek. Now, it is only too likely +that there are some of my hearers at this with it to-night, that they +are on the point of giving up the life of faith, and hope, and love, +and holy living; because the deeper they carry that life into their +own hearts the more impossible they find it to live that life there. +The more they aim their hearts at God’s law the more they despair +of ever coming within sight of it. My supremely miserable brother! +if this is any consolation to you, if you can take any crumb of consolation +out of it, let this be told you, that, as a matter of fact, all truly +holy men have in their heart of hearts had your very experience. +That is no strange and unheard-of thing which is passing within you. +And, indeed, if you could but believe it, that is one of the surest +signs and seals of a true and genuine child of God. Dante, one +of the bravest, but hardest bestead of God’s saints, was, just +like you, well-nigh giving up the mountain altogether when his Greatheart, +who was always at his side, divining what was going on within him, said +to him—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Those scars<br /> +That when they pain thee most then kindliest heal.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“The more I do,” complained one of Thomas Shepard’s +best friends to him, “the worse I am.” “The +best saints are the most sensible of sin,” wrote Samuel Rutherford. +And, again he wrote, “Sin rages far more in the godly than ever +it does in the ungodly.” And you dare not deny but that +Samuel Rutherford was one of the holiest men that ever lived, or that +in saying all that he was speaking of himself. And Newman: “Every +one who tries to do God’s will”—and that also is Newman +himself—“will feel himself to be full of all imperfection +and sin; and the more he succeeds in regulating his heart, the more +will he discern its original bitterness and guilt.” As our +own hymn has it:</p> +<blockquote><p>“They who fain would serve Thee best<br /> +Are conscious most of wrong within.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Without knowing it, Mrs. Timorous’s runaway father was speaking +the same language as the chief of the saints. Only he said, “Therefore +I have turned back,” whereas, first Christian, and then Christiana +his widow, said, “Yet I must venture!”</p> +<p>And so say you. Say, I must and I will venture! Say it; +clench your teeth and your hands and say it. Say that you are +determined to go on towards heaven where the holy are—absolutely +determined, though you are quite well aware that you are carrying up +with you the blackest, the wickedest, the most corrupt, and the most +abominable heart either out of hell or in it. Say that, say all +that, and still venture. Say all that and all the more venture. +Venture upon God of whom such reassuring things are said. Venture +upon the Son of God of whom His Father is represented as saying such +inviting things. Venture upon the cross. Survey the wondrous +cross and then make a bold venture upon it. Think who that is +who is bleeding to death upon the cross, and why? Look at Him +till you never afterwards can see anything else. Look at God’s +Eternal, Divine, Well-pleasing Son with all the wages of sin dealt out +to Him, body and soul, on that tree to the uttermost farthing. +And, devil incarnate though you indeed are, yet, say, if that spectacle +does not satisfy you, and encourage you, and carry your cowardice captive. +Venture! I say, venture! And if you find at last that you have +ventured too far—if you have sinned and corrupted yourself beyond +redemption—then it will be some consolation and distinction to +you in hell that you had out-sinned the infinite grace of God, and had +seen the end of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Timid sinner, +I but mock thee, therefore venture! Fearful sinner, venture! +Cowardly sinner, venture. Venture thyself upon thy God, upon Christ +thy Saviour, and upon His cross. Venture all thy guilt and all +thy corruption taken together upon Christ hanging upon His cross, and +make that tremendous venture now!</p> +<h2>MERCY</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain +mercy.”—<i>Our Lord</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The first time that we see Mercy she is standing one sunshine morning +knocking along with another at Christiana’s door. And all +that we afterwards hear of Mercy might be described as, A morning call +and all that came of it; or, How a godly matron led on a poor maid to +fall in love with her own salvation. John Bunyan, her biographer, +in all his devotion to Mercy, does not make it at all clear to us why +such a sweet and good girl as Mercy was could be on such intimate terms +with Mrs. Timorous and all her so questionable circle. Could it +be that Mercy’s mother was one of that unhappy set? And +had this dear little woman-child been brought up so as to know no better +than to figure in their assemblies, and go out on their morning rounds +with Mrs. Light-mind and Mrs. Know-nothing? Or, was poor Mercy +an orphan with no one to watch over her, and had her sweet face, her +handsome figure, and her winning manners made her one of the attractions +of old Madam Wanton’s midnight routs? However it came about, +there was Mercy out on a series of morning calls with a woman twice +her age, but a woman whose many years had taught her neither womanliness +nor wisdom. “If you come in God’s name, come in,” +a voice from the inside answered the knocking of Mrs. Timorous and Mercy, +her companion, at Christiana’s door. In all their rounds +that morning the two women had not been met with another salutation +like that; and that strange salutation so disconcerted and so confounded +them that they did not know whether to lift the latch and go in, or +to run away and leave those to go in who could take their delight in +such outlandish language. “If you come in God’s name, +come in.” At this the women were stunned, for this kind +of language they used not to hear or to perceive to drop from the lips +of Christiana. Yet they came in; but, behold, they found the good +woman preparing to be gone from her house. The conversation that +ensued was all carried on by the two elder women. For it was often +remarked about Mercy all her after-days that her voice was ever soft, +and low, and, especially, seldom heard. But her ears were not +idle. For all the time the debate went on—because by this +time the conversation had risen to be a debate—Mercy was taking +silent sides with Christiana and her distress and her intended enterprise, +till, when Mrs. Timorous reviled Christiana and said, “Come away, +Mercy, and leave her in her own hands,” Mercy by that time was +brought to a standstill. For, like a rose among thorns, Mercy +was thoughtful and wise and womanly far beyond her years. So much +so, that already she had made up her mind to offer herself as a maidservant +to help the widow with her work and to see her so far on her way, and, +indeed, though she kept that to herself, to go all the way with her, +if the way should prove open to her. First, her heart yearned +over Christiana; so she said within herself, If my neighbour will needs +be gone, I will go a little way with her to help her. Secondly, +her heart yearned over her own soul’s salvation, for what Christiana +had said had taken some hold upon Mercy’s mind. Wherefore +she said within herself, I will yet have more talk with this Christiana, +and if I find truth and life in what she shall say, myself with all +my heart shall also go with her. “Neighbour,” spoke +out Mercy to Mrs. Timorous, “I did indeed come with you to see +Christiana this morning, and since she is, as you see, a-taking of her +last farewell of her country, I think to walk this sunshine morning +a little way with her to help her on the way.” But she told +her not of her second reason, but kept that to herself. I would +fain go on with Mercy’s memoirs all night. But you will +take up that inviting thread for yourselves. And meantime I shall +stop here and gather up under two or three heads some of the more memorable +results and lessons of that sunshine-morning call.</p> +<p>1. Well, then, to begin with, there was something quite queen-like, +something absolutely commanding, about Christiana’s look and manner, +as well as about all she said and did that morning. Mercy’s +morning companion had all the advantages that dress and equipage could +give her; while Christiana stood in the middle of the floor in her housewife’s +clothes, covered with dust and surrounded with all her dismantled house; +but, with all that, there was something about Christiana that took Mercy’s +heart completely captive. All that Christiana had by this time +come through had blanched her cheek and whitened her hair: but all that +only the more commanded Mercy’s sensitive and noble soul. +To be open to impressions of that kind is one of the finest endowments +of a finely endowed nature; and, all through, the attentive reader of +her history will be sure to remark and imitate Mercy’s exquisite +and tenacious sensibility to all that is true and good, upright and +honourable and noble. And then, what a blessing it is to a girl +of Mercy’s mould to meet at opening womanhood with another woman, +be it a mother, a mistress, or a neighbour, whose character then, and +as life goes on, can supply the part of the supporting and sheltering +oak to the springing and clinging vine. Christiana being now the +new woman she was, as well as a woman of great natural wisdom, dignity, +and stability of character, the safety, the salvation of poor motherless +Mercy was as good as sure. Indeed, all Mercy’s subsequent +history is only one long and growing tribute to the worth, the constant +love, and the sleepless solicitude of this true mother in Israel.</p> +<p>2. Now, it was so, that, wholly unknown to all her companions, +young and old, in her own very remarkable words, Mercy had for a long +time been hungering with all her heart to meet with some genuinely good +people,—with some people, as she said herself,—“of +truth and of life.” These are remarkable words to hear drop +from the lips of a young girl, and especially a girl of Mercy’s +environment. Now, had there been anything hollow, had there been +one atom of insincerity or exaggeration about Christiana that morning, +had she talked too much, had all her actions not far more than borne +out all her words, had there not been in the broken-hearted woman a +depth of mind and a warmth of heart far beyond all her words, Mercy +would never have become a pilgrim. But the natural dignity of +Christiana’s character; her capable, commanding, resolute ways; +the reality, even to agony, of her sorrow for her past life—all +taken together with her iron-fast determination to enter at once on +a new life—all that carried Mercy’s heart completely captive. +Mercy felt that there was a solemnity, an awesomeness, and a mystery +about her new friend’s experiences and memories that it was not +for a child like herself to attempt to intrude into. But, all +the more because of that, a spell of love and fear and reverence lay +on Mercy’s heart and mind all her after-days from that so solemn +and so eventful morning when she first saw Christiana’s haggard +countenance and heard her remorseful cries. My so churlish carriages +to him! Now, such carriages between man and wife had often pained +and made ashamed Mercy’s maidenly heart beyond all expression. +Till she had sometimes said to herself, blushing with shame before herself +as she said it, that if ever she was a wife—may my tongue cleave +to the roof of my mouth before I say one churlish word to him who is +my husband! And thus it was that nothing that Christiana said +that morning in the uprush of her remorse moved Mercy more with pity +and with love than just what Christiana beat her breast about as concerning +her lost husband. Mercy used to say that she saw truth and life +enough in one hour that morning to sober and to solemnise and to warn +her to set a watch on the door of her lips for all her after-days.</p> +<p>3. Before Mrs. Timorous was well out of the door, Mercy had +already plucked off her gloves, and hung up her morning bonnet on a +nail in the wall, so much did her heart heave to help the cumbered widow +and her fatherless children. “If thou wilt, I will hire +thee,” said Christiana, “and thou shalt go with me as my +servant. Yet we will have all things common betwixt thee and me; +only, now thou art here, go along with me.” At this Mercy +fell on Christiana’s neck and kissed her mother; for after that +morning Christiana had always a daughter of her own, and Mercy a mother. +And you may be sure, with two such women working with all their might, +all things were soon ready for their happy departure.</p> +<p>Mr. Kerr Bain invites his readers to compare John Bunyan’s +Mercy at this point with William Law’s Miranda. I shall +not tarry to draw out the full comparison here, but shall content myself +with simply repeating Mr. Bain’s happy reference. Only, +I shall not content myself till all to whom my voice can reach, and +who are able to enjoy only a first-rate book, have Mr. Bain’s +book beside their <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>. That morning, +then, on which Mrs. Timorous, having nothing to do at home, set out +with Mercy on a round of calls—that was Mercy’s last idle +morning for all her days. For her mind was, ever after that, to +be always busying of herself in doing, for when she had nothing to do +for herself she would be making of hosen and garments for others, and +would bestow them upon those that had need. I will warrant her +a good housewife, quoth Mr. Brisk to himself. So much so that +at any place they stopped on the way, even for a day and a night to +rest and refresh themselves, Mercy would seek out all the poor and all +the old people, and ere ever she was aware what she was doing, already +a good report had spread abroad concerning the pilgrims and their pilgrimage. +At the same time, it must be told that poor Mercy’s heart was +more heavy for the souls of the poor people than for their naked bodies +and hungry bellies. So much was this so that when the shepherds, +Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, took her to a place where +she saw one Fool and one Want-wit washing of an Ethiopian with intention +to make him white, but the more they washed him the blacker he was, +Mercy blushed and felt guilty before the shepherds,—she so took +home to her charitable heart the bootless work of Fool and Want-wit. +Mercy put on the Salvationist bonnet at her first outset to the Celestial +City, and she never put it off till she came to that land where there +are no more poor to make hosen and hats for, and no more Ethiopians +to take to the fountain.</p> +<p>4. There are not a few young communicants here to-night, as +well as not a few who are afraid as yet to offer themselves for the +Lord’s table; and, as it so falls out to-night, Mercy’s +case contains both an encouragement and an example to all such. +For never surely had a young communicant less to go upon than Mercy +had that best morning of all her life. For she had nothing to +go upon but a great desire to help Christiana with her work; some desire +for truth and for life; and some first and feeble yearnings over her +own soul,—yearnings, however, that she kept entirely to herself. +That was all. She had no remorses like those which had ploughed +up Christiana’s cheeks into such channels of tears. She +had no dark past out of which swarms of hornets stung her guilty conscience. +Nor on the other hand, had she any such sweet dreams and inviting visions +as those that were sent to cheer and encourage the disconsolate widow. +She will have her own sweet dreams yet, that will make her laugh loud +out in her sleep. But that will be long after this, when she has +discovered how hard her heart is and how great God’s grace is. +“How shall I be ascertained,” she put it to Christiana, +“that I also shall be entertained? Had I but this hope, +from one that can tell, I would make no stick at all, but would go, +being helped by Him that can help, though the way was never so tedious. +Had I as good hope for a loving reception as you have, I think no Slough +of Despond would discourage me.” “Well,” said +the other, “you know your sore, and I know mine; and, good friend, +we shall all have enough evil before we come to our journey’s +end.” And soon after that, of all places on the upward way, +Mercy’s evil began at the Wicket Gate. “I have a companion,” +said Christiana, “that stands without. One that is much +dejected in her mind, for that she comes, as she thinks, without sending +for; whereas I was sent to by my husband’s King.” +So the porter opened the gate and looked out; but Mercy was fallen down +in a swoon, for she fainted and was afraid that the gate would not be +opened to her. “O sir,” she said, “I am faint; +there is scarce life left in me.” But he answered her that +one once said, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the +Lord, and my prayer came in into Thee, into Thy holy temple. Fear +not, but stand up upon thy feet, and tell me wherefore thou art come.” +“I am come, sir, into that for which I never was invited, as my +friend Christiana was. Her invitation was from the Lord, and mine +was but from her. Wherefore, I fear that I presume.” +Then said he to those that stood by, “Fetch something and give +it to Mercy to smell on, thereby to stay her fainting.” +So they fetched her a bundle of myrrh, and a while after she revived.—Let +young communicants be content with Mercy’s invitation. She +started for the City just because she liked to be beside a good woman +who was starting thither. She wished to help a good woman who +was going thither; and just a little desire began at first to awaken +in her heart to go to the city too. Till, having once set her +face to go up, one thing after another worked together to lead her up +till she, too, had her life full of those invitations and experiences +and interests and occupations and enjoyments that make Mercy’s +name so memorable, and her happy case such an example and such an inspiration, +to all God-fearing young women especially.</p> +<p>5. John Bunyan must be held responsible for the strong dash +of romance that he so boldly throws into Mercy’s memoirs. +But I shall postpone Mr. Brisk and his love-making and his answer to +another lecture. I shall not enter on Mercy’s love matters +here at all, but shall leave them to be read at home by those who like +to read romances. Only, since we have seen so much of Mercy as +a maiden, one longs to see how she turned out as a wife. I can +only imagine how Mercy turned out as a wife; but there is a picture +of a Scottish Covenanting girl as a married wife which always rises +up before my mind when I think of Mercy’s matronly days. +That picture might hang in Bunyan’s own peculiar gallery, so beautiful +is the drawing, and so warm and so eloquent the colouring. Take, +then, this portrait of one of the daughters of the Scottish Covenant. +“She was a woman of great worth, whom I therefore passionately +loved and inwardly honoured. A stately, beautiful, and comely +personage; truly pious and fearing the Lord. Of an evenly temper, +patient in our common tribulations and under her personal distresses. +A woman of bright natural parts, and of an uncommon stock of prudence; +of a quick and lively apprehension in things she applied herself to, +and of great presence of mind in surprising incidents. Sagacious +and acute in discerning the qualities of persons, and therefore not +easily imposed upon. [See Mr. Brisk’s interviews with Mercy.] +Modest and grave in her deportment, but naturally cheerful; wise and +affable in conversation, also having a good faculty at speaking and +expressing herself with assurance. Being a pattern of frugality +and wise management in household affairs, all such were therefore entirely +committed to her; well fitted for and careful of the virtuous education +of her children; remarkably useful in the countryside, both in the Merse +and in the Forest, through her skill in physic and surgery, which in +many instances a peculiar blessing appeared to be commanded upon from +heaven. And, finally, a crown to me in my public station and pulpit +appearances. During the time we have lived together we have passed +through a sea of trouble, as yet not seeing the shore but afar off.”</p> +<p>“The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught +him. What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the +son of my vows? Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is +far above rubies. Her children arise up and call her blessed; +her husband also, and he praiseth her. Favour is deceitful, and +beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”</p> +<h2>MR. BRISK</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Be ye not unequally yoked.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There were some severe precisians in John Bunyan’s day who +took the objection to the author of the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> +that he sometimes laughed too loud.</p> +<blockquote><p>“One may (I think) say, both he laughs and cries,<br /> +May well be guessed at by his watery eyes.<br /> +Some things are of that nature as to make<br /> +One’s fancy chuckle while his heart doth ake.<br /> +When Jacob saw his Rachel with the sheep,<br /> +At the same time he did both laugh and weep.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And even Dr. Cheever, in his excellent lectures on the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i>, confesses that though the Second Part never ceases for +a moment to tell the serious story of the Pilgrimage, at the same time, +it sometimes becomes so merry as almost to pass over into absolute comedy. +“There is one passage,” says Cheever, “which for exquisite +humour, quiet satire, and naturalness in the development of character +is scarcely surpassed in the language. It is the account of the +courtship between Mr. Brisk and Mercy which took place at the House +Beautiful.”</p> +<p>Now, the insertion of such an episode as that of Mr. Brisk into such +a book as the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> is only yet another proof +of the health, the strength, and the truth to nature of John Bunyan’s +mind. His was eminently an honest, straightforward, manly, English +understanding. A smaller man would not have ventured on Mr. Brisk +in such a book as the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>. But there +is no affectation, there is no prudery, there is no superiority to nature +in John Bunyan. He knew quite well that of the thousands of men +and women who were reading his <i>Pilgrim</i> there was no subject, +not even religion itself, that was taking up half so much of their thoughts +as just love-making and marriage. And, like the wise man and the +true teacher he was, he here points out to all his readers how well +true religion and the fullest satisfaction of the warmest and the most +universal of human affections can be both harmonised and made mutually +helpful. In Bunyan’s day love was too much left to the playwrights, +just as in our day it is too much left to the poets and the novelists. +And thus it is that in too many instances affection and passion have +taken full possession of the hearts and the lives of our young people +before any moral or religious lesson on these all-important subjects +has been given to them: any lesson such as John Bunyan so winningly +and so beautifully gives here. “This incident,” says +Thomas Scott, “is very properly introduced, and it is replete +with instruction.”</p> +<p>Now, Mr. Brisk, to begin with, was, so we are told, a young man of +some breeding,—that is to say, he was a young man of some social +position, some education, and of a certain good manner, at least on +the surface. In David Scott’s Illustrations Mr. Brisk stands +before us a handsome and well-dressed young man of the period, with +his well-belted doublet, his voluminous ruffles, his heavily-studded +cuffs, his small cane, his divided hair, and his delicate hand,—altogether +answering excellently to his name, were it not for the dashed look of +surprise with which he gets his answer, and, with what jauntiness he +can at the moment command, takes his departure. “Mr. Brisk +was a man of some breeding,” says Bunyan, “and that pretended +to religion; but a man that stuck very close to the world.” +That Mr. Brisk made any pretence to religion at any other time and in +any other place is not said; only that he put on that pretence with +his best clothes when he came once or twice or more to Mercy and offered +love to her at the House Beautiful. The man with the least religion +at other times, even the man with no pretence to religion at other times +at all, will pretend to some religion when he is in love with a young +woman of Mercy’s mind. And yet it would not be fair to say +that it is all pretence even in such a man at such a time. Grant +that a man is really in love; then, since all love is of the nature +of religion, for the time, the true lover is really on the borders of +a truly religious life. It may with perfect truth be said of all +men when they first fall in love that they are, for the time, not very +far away from the kingdom of heaven. For all love is good, so +far as it goes. God is Love; and all love, in the long-run, has +a touch of the divine nature in it. And for once, if never again, +every man who is deeply in love has a far-off glimpse of the beauty +of holiness, and a far-off taste of that ineffable sweetness of which +the satisfied saints of God sing so ecstatically. But, in too +many instances, a young man’s love having been kindled only by +the creature, and, never rising from her to his and her Creator, as +a rule, it sooner or later burns low and at last burns out, and leaves +nothing but embers and ashes in his once so ardent heart. Mr. +Brisk’s love-making might have ended in his becoming a pilgrim +but for this fatal flaw in his heart, that even in his love-making he +stuck so fast to the world. It is almost incredible: you may well +refuse to believe it—that any young man in love, and especially +a young gentleman of Mr. Brisk’s breeding, would approach his +mistress with the question how much she could earn a day. As Mr. +Brisk looks at Mercy’s lap so full of hats and hosen and says +it, I can see his natty cane beginning to lengthen itself out in his +soft-skinned hand and to send out teeth like a muck-rake. Give +Mr. Brisk another thirty years or so and he will be an ancient churl, +raking to himself the sticks and the straws and the dust of the earth, +neither looking up to nor regarding the celestial crown that is still +offered to him in exchange for his instrument.</p> +<p>“Now, Mercy was of a fair countenance, and, therefore, all +the more alluring.” But her fair countenance was really +no temptation to her. “Sit still, my daughter,” said +Naomi to Ruth in the Old Testament. And it was entirely Mercy’s +maidenly nature to sit still. Even before she had come to her +full womanhood under Christiana’s motherly care she would have +been an example to Ruth. Long ago, while Mercy was still a mere +girl, when Mrs. Light-mind said something to her one day that made her +blush, Mercy at last looked up in real anger and said, We women should +be wooed; we were not made to woo. And thus it was that all their +time at the House Beautiful Mercy stayed close at home and worked with +her needle and thread just as if she had been the plainest girl in all +the town. “I might have had husbands afore now,” she +said, with a cast of her head over the coat that lay on her lap, “though +I spake not of it to any. But they were such as did not like my +conditions, though never did any of them find fault with my person. +So they and I could not agree.” Once Mercy’s mouth +was opened on the subject of possible husbands it is a miracle that +she did not go on in confidence to name some of the husbands she might +have had. Mercy was too truthful and too honourable a maiden to +have said even on that subject what she did say if it had not been true. +No doubt she believed it true. And the belief so long as she mentioned +no names, did not break any man’s bones and did not spoil any +man’s market. Don’t set up too prudishly and say that +it is a pity that Mercy so far forgot herself as to make her little +confidential boast. We would not have had her without that little +boast. Keep-at-home, sit-still, hats and hosen and all—her +little boast only proves Mercy to have been at heart a true daughter +of Eve after all.</p> +<p>There is an old-fashioned word that comes up again and again in the +account of Mr. Brisk’s courtship,—a word that contains far +more interest and instruction for us than might on the surface appear. +When Mr. Brisk was rallied upon his ill-success with Mercy, he was wont +to say that undoubtedly Mistress Mercy was a very pretty lass, only +she was troubled with ill conditions. And then, when Mercy was +confiding to Prudence all about her possible husbands, she said that +they were all such as did not like her conditions. To which Prudence, +keeping her countenance, replied, that the men were but few in their +day that could abide the practice that was set forth by such conditions +as those of Mercy. Well, tossed out Mercy, if nobody will have +me I will die a maid, or my conditions shall be to me as a husband! +As I came again and again across that old seventeenth-century word “conditions,” +I said to myself, I feel sure that Dr. Murray of the Oxford Scriptorium +will have noted this striking passage. And on turning up the Sixth +Part of the <i>New English Dictionary</i>, there, to be sure, was the +old word standing in this present setting. Five long, rich, closely +packed columns stood under the head of “Condition”; and +amid a thousand illustrations of its use, the text: “1684, Bunyan, +Pilgr., ii. 84. He said that Mercy was a pretty lass, but troubled +with ill conditions.” Poor illiterate John Bunyan stood +in the centre of a group of learned and famous men, composed of Chaucer, +Wyclif, Skelton, Palsgrave, Raleigh, Featly, Richard Steel, and Walter +Scott—all agreeing in their use of our word, and all supplying +examples of its use in the best English books. By Mercy’s +conditions, then, is just meant her cast of mind, her moral nature, +her temper and her temperament, her dispositions and her inclinations, +her habits of thought, habits of heart, habits of life, and so on.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Mercy proudly, “if nobody will have +me, I will die a maid, or my conditions shall be to me as a husband. +For I cannot change my nature, and to have one that lies cross to me +in this,—that I purpose never to admit of as long as I live.” +By this time, though she is still little more than a girl, Mercy had +her habits formed, her character cast, and, more than all, her whole +heart irrevocably set on her soul’s salvation. And everything—husband +and children and all—must condition themselves to that, else she +will have none of them. She had sought first the kingdom of God +and His righteousness, and she will seek nothing, she will accept nothing—no, +not even a husband—who crosses her choice in that. She has +chosen her life, and her husband with it. Not the man as yet, +but the whole manner of the man. The conditions of the man, as +she said about herself; else she will boldly and bravely die a maid. +And there are multitudes of married women who, when they read this page +about Mercy, will gnash their teeth at the madness of their youth, and +will wildly wish that they only were maids again; and, then, like Mercy, +they would take good care to make for themselves husbands of their own +conditions too—of their own means, their own dispositions, inclinations, +tastes, and pursuits. For, according as our conditions to one +another are or are not in our marriages,</p> +<blockquote><p>“They locally contain or heaven or hell;<br /> +There is no third place in them.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>What untold good, then, may all our young women not get out of the +loving study of Mercy’s sweet, steadfast, noble character! +And what untold misery may they not escape! From first to last—and +we are not yet come to her last—I most affectionately recommend +Mercy to the hearts and minds of all young women here. Single +and married; setting out on pilgrimage and steadfastly persevering in +it; sitting still till the husband with the right conditions comes, +and then rising up with her warm, well-kept heart to meet him—if +any maiden here has no mother, or no elder sister, or no wise and prudent +friend like Prudence or Christiana to take counsel of—and even +if she has—let Mercy be her meditation and her model through all +her maidenly days.</p> +<p>“Nay, then,” said Mercy, “I will look no more on +him, for I purpose never to have a clog to my soul.” A pungent +resolve for every husband to read and to think to himself about, who +has married a wife with a soul. Let all husbands who have such +wives halt here and ask themselves with some imagination as to what +may sometimes go on, at communion times, say, in the souls of their +wives. It is not every wife, it is true, who has a soul to clog; +but some of our wives have. Well, now, let us ask ourselves: How +do we stand related to their souls? Do our wives, when examining +the state of their souls since they married us, have to say that at +one time they had hoped to be further on in the life of the soul than +they yet are? And are they compelled before God to admit that +the marriage they have made, and would make, has terribly hindered them? +Would they have been better women, would they have been living a better +life, and doing far more good in the world, if they had taken their +maidenly ideals, like Mercy, for a husband? Let us sometimes imagine +ourselves into the secrets of our wives’ souls, and ask if they +ever feel that they are unequally and injuriously yoked in their deepest +and best life. Do we ever see a tear falling in secret, or hear +a stolen sigh heaved, or stumble on them at a stealthy prayer? +A Roman lady on being asked why she sometimes let a sob escape her and +a tear fall, when she had such a gentleman of breeding and rank and +riches to her husband, touched her slipper with her finger and said: +“Is not that a well-made, a neat, and a costly shoe? And +yet you would not believe how it pinches and pains me sometimes.”</p> +<p>But some every whit as good women as Mercy was have purposed as nobly +and as firmly as Mercy did, and yet have wakened up, when it was too +late, to find that, with all their high ideals, and with all their prudence, +their husband is not in himself, and is not to them, what they at one +time felt sure he would be. Mercy had a sister named Bountiful, +who made that mistake and that dreadful discovery; and what Mercy had +seen of married life in her sister’s house almost absolutely turned +her against marriage altogether. “The one thing certain,” +says Thomas Mozley in his chapter on Ideal Wife and Husband, “is +that both wife and husband are different in the result from the expectation. +Age, illness, an increasing family, no family at all, household cares, +want of means, isolation, incompatible prejudices, quarrels, social +difficulties, and such like, all tell on married people, and make them +far other than they once promised to be.” When that awakening +comes there is only one solace, and women take to that supreme solace +much more often than men. And that solace, as you all know, is +true, if too late, religion. And even where true religion has +already been, there is still a deeper and a more inward religion suited +to the new experiences and the new needs of life. And if both +husband and wife in such a crisis truly betake themselves to Him who +gathereth the solitary into families, the result will be such a remarriage +of depth and tenderness, loyalty and mutual help, as their early dreams +never came within sight of. Not early love, not children, not +plenty of means, not all the best amenities of married life taken together, +will repair a marriage and keep a marriage in repair for one moment +like a living and an intense faith in God; a living and an intense love +to God; and then that faith in and love for one another that spring +out of God and out of His love alone.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The tree<br /> +Sucks kindlier nurture from a soil enriched<br /> +By its own fallen leaves; and man is made,<br /> +In heart and spirit, from deciduous hopes<br /> +And things that seem to perish.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>MR. SKILL</h2> +<blockquote><p>“The vine of Sodom.”—<i>Moses</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>With infinite delicacy John Bunyan here tells us the sad story of +Matthew’s sore sickness at the House Beautiful. The cause +of the sore sickness, its symptoms, its serious nature, and its complete +cures are all told with the utmost plainness; but, at the same time, +with the most exquisite delicacy. Bunyan calls the ancient physician +who is summoned in and who effects the cure, Mr. Skill, but you must +believe that Bunyan himself is Mr. Skill; and I question if this skilful +writer ever wrote a more skilful page than just this page that now lies +open before him who has the eyes to read it.</p> +<p>Matthew, it must always be remembered, was by this time a young man. +He was the eldest son of Christiana his mother, and for some time now +she had been a sorely burdened widow. Matthew’s father was +no longer near his son to watch over him and to warn him against the +temptations and the dangers that wait on opening manhood. And +thus his mother, with all her other cares, had to be both father and +mother to her eldest son; and, with all her good sense and all her long +and close acquaintance with the world, she was too fond a mother to +suspect any evil of her eldest son. And thus it was that Christiana +had nearly lost her eldest son before her eyes were open to the terrible +dangers he had for a long time been running. For it was so, that +the upward way that this household without a head had to travel lay +through a land full of all kinds of dangers both to the bodies and to +the souls of such travellers as they were. And what well-nigh +proved a fatal danger to Matthew lay right in his way. It was +Beelzebub’s orchard. Not that this young man’s way +lay through that orchard exactly; yet, walled up as was that orchard +with all its forbidden fruit, that evil fruit would hang over the wall +so that if any lusty youth wished to taste it, he had only to reach +up to the over-hanging branches and plash down on himself some of the +forbidden bunches. Now, that was just what Matthew had done. +Till we have him lying at the House Beautiful, not only not able to +enjoy the delights of the House and of the season, but so pained in +his bowels and so pulled together with inward pains, that he sometimes +cried out as if he were being torn to pieces. At that moment Mr. +Skill, the ancient physician, entered the sick-room, when, having a +little observed Matthew’s intense agony, with a certain mixture +of goodness and severity he recited these professional verses over the +trembling bed:</p> +<blockquote><p>“O conscience, who can stand against thy power?<br /> +Endure thy gripes and agonies one hour?<br /> +Stone, gout, strappado, racks, whatever is<br /> +Dreadful to sense, are only toys to this—<br /> +No pleasures, riches, honours, friends can tell<br /> +How to give ease to this, ’tis like to hell.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And then, turning to the sick man’s mother, who stood at the +bed’s head wringing her hands, the ancient leech said to her: +“This boy of yours has been tampering with the forbidden fruit!” +At which the angry mother turned on the well-approved physician as if +he had caused all the trouble that he had come to cure. But the +ancient man knew both the son and the mother too, and therefore he addressed +her with some asperity: “I tell you both that strong measures +must be taken instantly, else he will die.” When Mr. Skill +had seen that the first purge was too weak, he made him one to the purpose; +and it was made, as he so learnedly said, <i>ex carne et sanguine Christi</i>. +The pills were to be taken three at a time, fasting, in half a quarter +of a pint of the tears of repentance. After some coaxing, such +as mothers know best how to use, Matthew took the medicine and was soon +walking about again with a staff, and was able to go from room to room +of the hospitable and happy house. Understandest thou what thou +readest? said Philip the deacon to Queen Candace’s treasurer as +he sat down beside him in the chariot and opened up to him the fifty-third +of the prophet Isaiah. And, understandest thou what thou here +readest in Matthew and Mr. Skill?</p> +<p>1. Now, on this almost too closely veiled case I shall venture +to remark, in the first place, that multitudes of boys grow up into +young men, and go out of our most godly homes and into a whole world +of temptation without due warning being given them as to where they +are going. “I do marvel that none did warn him of it,” +said Mr. Skill, with some anger. What Matthew’s father might +have done in this matter had he been still in this world when his son +became a man in it we can only guess. As it was, it never entered +his mother’s too fond mind to take her fatherless boy by himself +when she saw Beelzebub’s orchard before him, and tell him what +Solomon told his son, and to point out to him the prophecy that King +Lemuel’s mother prophesied to her son. Poor Matthew was +a young man before his mother was aware of it. And, poor woman, +she only found that out when Mr. Skill was in the sick-room and was +looking at her with eyes that seemed to say to her that she had murdered +her child. She had loved too long to look on her first-born as +still a child. When he went at any time for a season out of her +sight, she had never followed him with her knowledge of the world; she +had never prevented him with an awakened and an anxious imagination; +till now she had got him home with no rest in his bones because of his +sin. And then she began to cry too late, O naughty boy, and, O +careless mother, what shall I do for my son!</p> +<p>2. “That food, to wit, that fruit,” said Mr. Skill, +“is even the most hurtful of all. It is the fruit of Beelzebub’s +orchard.” So it is. There is no fruit that hurts at +all like that fruit. How it hurts at the time, we see in Matthew’s +sick-room; and how it hurts all a man’s after days we see in Jacob, +and in Job, and in David, and in a thousand sin-sick souls of whose +psalms of remorse and repentance the world cannot contain all the books +that should be written. “And yet I marvel,” said the +indignant physician, “that none did warn him of it; many have +died thereof.” Oh if I could but get the ears of all the +sons of godly fathers and mothers who are beginning to tamper with Beelzebub’s +orchard-trees, I feel as if I could warn them to-night, and out of this +text, of what they are doing! I have known so many who have died +thereof. Oh if I could but save them in time from those gripes +of conscience that will pull them to pieces on the softest and the most +fragrant bed that shall ever be made for them on earth! It will +be well with them if they do not lie down torn to pieces on their bed +in hell, and curse the day they first plashed down into their youthful +hands the vine of Sodom. Both the way to hell and the way to heaven +are full of many kinds of hurtful fruits; but that species of fruit +that poor misguided Matthew plucked and ate after he had well passed +the gate that is at the head of the way is, by all men’s testimony, +by far the most hurtful of all forbidden fruits.</p> +<p>3. The whole scene in Matthew’s sick-room reads, after +all, less like a skilful invention than a real occurrence. Inventive +and realistic as John Bunyan is, there is surely something here that +goes beyond even his genius. After making all allowance for Bunyan’s +unparalleled powers of creation and narration, I am inclined to think, +the oftener I read it, that, after all, we have not so much John Bunyan +here as very Nature herself. Yes; John Gifford surely was Mr. +Skill. Sister Bosworth surely was Matthew’s mother. +And Matthew himself was Sister Bosworth’s eldest son, while one +John Bunyan, a travelling tinker, was busy with his furnaces and his +soldering-irons in Dame Bosworth’s kitchen. Young Bunyan, +with all his blackguardism, had never plashed down Beelzebub’s +orchard. He swears he never did, and we are bound to believe him. +But young Bosworth had been tampering with the forbidden fruit, and +Gifford saw at a glance what was wrong. John Gifford was first +an officer in the Royalist army, then a doctor in Bedford, and now a +Baptist Puritan pastor; and the young tinker looked up to Gifford as +the most wonderful man for learning in books and in bodies and souls +of men in all the world. And when Gifford talked over young Bosworth’s +bed half to himself and half to them about a medicine made <i>ex carne +et sanguine Christi</i>, the future author of the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i> never forgot the phrase. At a glance Gifford saw +what was the whole matter with the sick man. And painful as the +truth was to the sick man’s mother, and humiliating with a life-long +humiliation to the sick man himself, Gifford was not the man or the +minister to beat about the bush at such a solemn moment. “This +boy has been tampering with that which will kill him unless he gets +it taken off his conscience and out of his heart immediately.” +Now, this same divination into our pastoral cases is by far and away +the most difficult part of a minister’s work. It is easy +and pleasant with a fluent tongue to get through our pulpit work; but +to descend the pulpit stairs and deal with life, and with this and that +sin in the lives of our people,—that is another matter. +“We must labour,” says Richard Baxter in his <i>Reformed +Pastor</i>, “to be acquainted with the state of all our people +as fully as we can; both to know the persons and their inclinations +and conversation; to know what sins they are most in danger of, what +duties they neglect, and what temptations they are most liable to. +For, if we know not their temperament or their disease, we are likely +to prove but unsuccessful physicians.” But when we begin +to reform our pastorate to that pattern, we are soon compelled to set +down such entries in our secret diary as that of Thomas Shepard of Harvard +University: “Sabbath, 5th April 1641. Nothing I do, nay, +none under my shadow prosper. I so want wisdom for my place, and +to guide others.” Yes; for what wisdom is needed for the +place of a minister like John Gifford, John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, +and Thomas Shepard! What wisdom, what divine genius, to dive into +and divine the secret history of a soul from a twinge of conscience, +even from a drop of the eye, a tone of the voice, or a gesture of the +hand or of the head! And yet, with some natural taste for the +holy work, with study, with experience, and with life-long expert reading, +even a plain minister with no genius, but with some grace and truth, +may come to great eminence in the matters of the soul. And then, +with what an interest, solemn and awful, with what a sleepless interest +such a pastor goes about among his diseased, sin-torn, and scattered +flock! All their souls are naked and open under his divining eye. +They need not to tell him where they ail, and of what sickness they +are nigh unto death. That food, he says, with some sternness over +their sick-bed, I warned you of it; I told you with all plainness that +many have died of eating that fruit! “We must be ready,” +Baxter continues, “to give advice to those that come to us with +cases of conscience. A minister is not only for public preaching, +but to be a known counsellor for his people’s souls as the lawyer +is for their estates, and the physician is for their bodies. And +because the people are grown unacquainted with this office of the ministry, +and their own necessity and duty herein, it belongeth to us to acquaint +them herewith, and to press them publicly to come to us for advice concerning +their souls. We must not only be willing of the trouble, but draw +it upon ourselves by inviting them hereto. To this end it is very +necessary to be acquainted with practical cases and able to assist them +in trying their states. One word of seasonable and prudent advice +hath done that good that many sermons would not have done.”</p> +<p>4. As he went on pounding and preparing his well-approved pill, +the (at the bottom of his heart) kind old leech talked encouragingly +to the mother and to her sick son, and said: “Come, come; after +all, do not he too much cast down. Had we lived in the days of +the old medicine, I would have been compounding a purge out of the blood +of a goat, and the ashes of an heifer, and the juice of hyssop. +But I have a far better medicine under my hands here. This moment +I will make you a purge to the purpose.” And then the learned +man, half-doctor, half-divine, chanted again the sacred incantation +as he bent over his pestle and mortar, saying: <i>Ex carne et sanguine +Christi</i>! Those shrewd old eyes soon saw that, in spite of +all their defences and all their denials, damage had been done to the +conscience and the heart that nothing would set right but a frank admission +of the evil that had been done, and a prompt submission to the regimen +appointed and the medicine prepared. And how often we ministers +puddle and peddle with goat’s blood and heifer’s ashes and +hyssop juice when we should instantly prescribe stern fasting and secret +prayer and long spaces of repentance, and then the body and the blood +of Christ. How often our people cheat us into healing their hurt +slightly! How often they succeed in putting us off, after we are +called in, with their own account of their cases, and set us out on +a wild-goose chase! I myself have more than once presented young +men in their trouble with apologetic books, University sermons, and +watered-down explanations of the Confession and the Catechism, when, +had I known all I came afterwards to know, I would have sent them Bunyan’s +<i>Sighs from Hell</i>. I have sent soul-sick women also <i>The +Bruised Reed</i>, and <i>The Mission of the Comforter</i> with sympathising +inscriptions, and sweet scriptures written inside, when, had I had Mr. +Skill’s keen eyes in my stupid head, I would have gone to them +with the total abstinence pledge in my one hand, and Jeremy Taylor’s +<i>Holy Living and Dying</i> in my other. “No diet but that +which is wholesome!” almost in anger answered the sick man’s +mother. “I tell you,” the honest leech replied, in +more anger, “this boy has been tampering with Beelzebub’s +orchard. And many have died of it!”</p> +<p>5. It was while all the rest of the House Beautiful were supping +on lamb and wine, and while there was such music in the House that made +Mercy exclaim over it with wonder—it was at the smell of the supper +and at the sound of the psalmody that Matthew’s gripes seized +upon him worse than ever. All the time the others sat late into +the night Matthew lay on the rack pulled to pieces. After William +Law’s death at King’s Cliffe, his executors found among +his most secret papers a prayer he had composed for his own alone use +on a certain communion day when he was self-debarred from the Lord’s +table. I do not know for certain just what fruit the young non-juror +had stolen out of Beelzebub’s orchard before that communion season; +but I can see that he was in poor Matthew’s exact experience that +communion night,—literally torn to pieces with agonies of conscience +while all his fellow-worshippers were at the table of the Lord. +While the psalms and hymns are being sung at the supper-table, lay your +ear to Law’s closet door. “Whilst all Thy faithful +servants are on this day offering to Thee the comfortable sacrifice +of the body and the blood of Christ, and feasting at that holy table +which Thou hast ordained for the refreshment, joy, and comfort of their +souls, I, unhappy wretch, full of guilt, am justly denied any share +of these comforts that are common to the Christian world. O my +God, I am an unclean worm, a dead dog, a stinking carcass, justly removed +from that society of saints who this day kneel about Thine altar. +But, oh! suffer me to look toward Thy holy Sanctuary; suffer my soul +again to be in the place where Thine honour dwelleth. Reject not +the sacrifice of a broken heart, and do Thou be with me in secret, though +I am not fit to appear in Thy public worship. Lord, if Thou wilt +Thou canst make me clean. Lord, speak but the word, and Thy servant +shall be healed.” It is the fruit of Beelzebub’s orchard. +Many have died thereof.</p> +<p>6. “Pray, sir, make me up twelve boxes of them; for if +I can get these, I will never take other physic.” “These +same pills,” he replied, “are good also to prevent diseases +as well as to cure when one is sick. But, good woman, thou must +take these pills no other way but as I have prescribed; for if you do, +they will do no good.” I have taken one illustration from +William Law’s life; I shall take another from that world of such +illustrations and so close. “O God, let me never see such +another day as this. Let the dreadful punishment of this day never +be out of my mind.” And it never was. For, after that +day in hell, Law never laid down his head on his pillow that he did +not seem to remember that dreadful day. William Law would have +satisfied Dr. Skill for a convalescent. For he never felt that +he had any right to touch the body and blood of Christ, either at communion +times, or a thousand times every day, till he had again got ready his +heart of true repentance. My brethren, self-destroyed out of Beelzebub’s +orchard, and all my brethren, live a life henceforth of true repentance. +Not out of the sins of your youth only, but out of the best, the most +watchful, and the most blameless day you ever live, distil your half-pint +of repentance every night before you sleep. For, as dear old Skill +said, unless you do, neither flesh nor blood of Christ, nor anything +else, will do you any genuine good.</p> +<h2>THE SHEPHERD BOY</h2> +<blockquote><p>“He humbled Himself.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a boy +feeding his father’s sheep. The boy was in very mean clothes, +but of a very fresh and well-favoured countenance, and as he sat by +himself he sang. Hark, said Mr. Greatheart, to what the shepherd +boy saith. So they hearkened and he said:</p> +<blockquote><p> He that is down, needs fear no fall;<br /> +He that is low no pride:<br /> +He that is humble, ever shall<br /> +Have God to be his guide.</p> +<p> I am content with what I have,<br /> +Little be it or much:<br /> +And, Lord, contentment still I crave,<br /> +Because thou savest such.</p> +<p> Fulness to such a burden is<br /> +That go on pilgrimage:<br /> +Here little, and hereafter bliss,<br /> +Is best from age to age.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then said their guide, Do you hear him? I will dare say that +this boy lives a merrier life and wears more of that herb called Heart’s-ease +in his bosom than he that is clad in silk and velvet.”</p> +<p>Now, notwithstanding all that, nobody knew better than John Bunyan +knew, that no shepherd boy that ever lived on the face of the earth +ever sang that song; only one Boy ever sang that song, and He was not +the son of a shepherd at all, but the son of a carpenter. And, +saying that leads me on to say this before I begin, that I look for +a man of John Bunyan’s inventive and sanctified genius to arise +some day, and armed also to boot with all our latest and best New Testament +studies. When that sorely-needed man so arises he will take us +back to Nazareth where that carpenter’s Boy was brought up, and +he will let us see Him with our own eyes being brought up. He +will lead us into Mary’s house on Sabbath days, and into Joseph’s +workshop on week days, and he will show us the child Jesus, not so much +learning His letters and then putting on His carpenter’s clothes, +as learning obedience by the things that He every day suffered. +That choice author will show us our Lord, both before He had discovered +Himself to be our Lord, as well as after He had made that great discovery, +always clothing Himself with humility as with a garment; taking up His +yoke of meekness and lowly-mindedness every day, and never for one moment +laying it down. When some writer with as holy an imagination as +that of John Bunyan, and with as sweet an English style, and with a +New Testament scholarship of the first order so arises, and so addresses +himself to the inward life of our Lord, what a blessing to our children +that writer will be! For he will make them see and feel just what +all that was in which our Lord’s perfect humility consisted, and +how His perfect humility fulfilled itself in Him from day to day; up +through all His childhood days, school and synagogue days, workshop +and holy days, early manhood and mature manhood days; till He was so +meek in all His heart and so humble in all His mind that all men were +sent to Him to learn their meekness and their humility of Him. +I envy that gifted man the deep delight he will have in his work, and +the splendid reward he will have in the love and the debt of all coming +generations. Only, may he be really sent to us, and that soon! +Theodor Keim comes nearest a far-off glimpse of that eminent service +of any New Testament scholar I know. Jeremy Taylor and Thomas +Goodwin also, in their own time and in their own way, had occasional +inspirations toward this still-waiting treatment of the master-subject +of all learning and all genius—the inward sanctification, the +growth in grace, and then the self-discovery of the incarnate Son of +God. But, so let it please God, some contemporary scholar will +arise some day soon, combining in himself Goodwin’s incomparable +Christology, and Taylor’s incomparable eloquence, and Keim’s +incomparably digested learning, with John Bunyan’s incomparable +imagination and incomparable English style, and the waiting work will +be done, and theology for this life will take on its copestone. +In his absence, and till he comes, let us attempt a few annotations +to-night on this so-called shepherd boy’s song in the Valley of +Humiliation.</p> +<blockquote><p>He that is down, needs fear no fall.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The whole scenery of the surrounding valley is set before us in that +single eloquent stanza. The sweet-voiced boy sits well off the +wayside as he sings his song to himself. He looks up to the hill-tops +that hang over his valley, and every shining tooth of those many hill-tops +has for him its own evil legend. He thinks he sees a little heap +of bleaching bones just under where that eagle hangs and wheels and +screams. Not one traveller through these perilous parts in a thousand +gets down those cruel rocks unhurt; and many travellers have been irrecoverably +lost among those deadly rocks, and have never received Christian burial. +All the shepherds’ cottages and all the hostel supper-tables for +many miles round are full of terrible stories of the Hill Difficulty +and the Descent Dangerous. And thus it is that this shepherd boy +looks up with such fear at those sharp peaks and shining precipices, +and lifts his fresh and well-favoured countenance to heaven and sings +again: “He that is down, needs fear no fall.” Down +in his own esteem, that is. For this is a song of the heart rather +than of the highway. Down—safe, that is, from the steep +and slippery places of self-estimation, self-exaltation, self-satisfaction. +Down—so as to be delivered from all ambition and emulation and +envy. Down, and safe, thank God, from all pride, all high-mindedness, +and all stout-heartedness. Down from the hard and cruel hills, +and buried deep out of sight among those meadows where that herb grows +which is called Heart’s-ease. Down, where the green pastures +grow and the quiet waters flow. No, indeed; he that is down into +this sweet bottom needs fear no fall. For there is nowhere here +for a man to fall from. And, even if he did fall, he would only +fall upon a fragrance-breathing bed of lilies. The very herbs +and flowers here would conspire to hold him up. Many a day, as +He grew up, the carpenter’s son sat in that same valley and sang +that same song to His own humble and happy heart. He loved much +to be here. He loved also to walk these meadows, for He found +the air was pleasant. Methinks, He often said with Mercy, I am +as well in this valley as I have been anywhere else in My journey. +The place, methinks, suits with My spirit. I love to be in such +places where there is no rattling with coaches nor rumbling with wheels. +Methinks, also, here one may without much molestation be thinking what +he is, whence he came, and to what his King has called him.</p> +<blockquote><p>He that is low, no pride.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Low in his own eyes, that is. For pride goeth before destruction, +and a haughty spirit before a fall. Yes; but he who is low enough +already—none of the sure destructions that pride always works +shall ever come near to him. “The proud man,” says +Sir Henry Taylor, “is of all men the most vulnerable. ‘Who +calls?’ asks the old shepherd in <i>As You Like It</i>. +‘Your betters,’ is the insolent answer. And what is +the shepherd’s rejoinder? ‘Else are they very wretched.’ +By what retort, reprisal, or repartee could it have been made half so +manifest that the insult had lighted upon armour of proof? Such +is the invincible independence and invulnerability of humility.”</p> +<blockquote><p>He that is humble ever shall<br /> + Have God to be his guide.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>For thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that +is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart of the humble, +and to revive the heart of the contrite ones . . . All those things +hath Mine hand made, but to this man will I look, saith the Lord, even +to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at My +word . . . Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly; +but the proud He knoweth afar off . . . Likewise, ye younger, submit +yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, +and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud and giveth +grace to the humble . . . Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes +lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too +high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child +that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child . . +. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in +heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is +easy and My burden is light.</p> +<blockquote><p>I am content with what I have,<br /> + Little be it, or much:<br /> +And, Lord, contentment still I crave,<br /> + Because thou savest such.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The only thing this sweet singer is discontented with is his own +contentment. He will not be content as long as he has a shadow +of discontent left in his heart. And how blessed is such holy +discontent! For, would you know, asks Law, who is the greatest +saint in all the world? Well, it is not he who prays most or fasts +most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, +chastity, or justice. But it is he who is always thankful to God, +who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an +instance of God’s goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise +God for it. “Perhaps the shepherd’s boy,” says +Thomas Scott, “may refer to the obscure and quiet stations of +some pastors over small congregations, who live almost unknown to their +brethren, but are in a measure useful and very comfortable.” +Perhaps he does. And, whether he does or no, at any rate such +a song will suit some of our brethren very well as they go about among +their few and far-off flocks. They are not church leaders or popular +preachers. There is not much rattling with coaches or rumbling +with wheels at their church door. But, then, methinks, they have +their compensation. They are without much molestation. They +can be all the more thinking what they are, whence they came, and to +what their King has called them. Let them be happy in their shut-in +valleys. For I will dare to say that they wear more of that herb +called Heart’s-ease in their bosom than those ministers do they +are sometimes tempted to emulate. I will add in this place that +to the men who live and trace these grounds the Lord hath left a yearly +revenue to be faithfully paid them at certain seasons for their maintenance +by the way, and for their further encouragement to go on in their pilgrimage.</p> +<blockquote><p>Here little, and hereafter bliss,<br /> +Is best from age to age.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But, now, from the shepherd boy and from his valley and his song, +let us go on without any more poetry or parable to look our own selves +full in the face and to ask our own hearts whether they are the hearts +of really humble-minded and New Testament men or no. Dr. Newman, +“that subtle, devout man,” as Dr. Duncan calls him, says +that “humility is one of the most difficult of virtues both to +attain and to ascertain. It lies,” he says, “close +upon the heart itself, and its tests are exceedingly delicate and subtle. +Its counterfeits abound.” Most true. And yet humility +is not intended for experts in morals only, or for men of a rare religious +genius only. The plainest of men, the least skilled and the most +unlettered of men, may not only excel in humility, but may also be permitted +to know that they are indeed planted, and are growing slowly but surely +in that grace of all graces. No doubt our Lord had, so to describe +it, the most delicate and the most subtle of human minds; and, no doubt +whatever, He had the most practised skill in reading off what lay closest +to His own heart. And, then, it was just His attainment of the +most perfect humility, and then His absolute ascertainment of the same, +that enabled Him to say: Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. +At the same time, divine as the grace is, and divine as the insight +is that is able to trace it out in all its exquisite refinements of +thought and feeling in the sanctified soul, yet humility is a human +virtue after all, and it is open to all men to attain to it and intelligently +and lovingly to exercise it. The simplest and the least philosophical +soul now in this house may apply to himself some of the subtlest and +most sensitive tests of humility, as much as if he were Dr. Duncan or +Dr. Newman themselves; and may thus with all assurance of hope know +whether he is a counterfeit and a castaway or no.</p> +<p>Take this test for one, then. Explain this text to me: Phil. +ii. 3—“In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better +than himself.” Explain and illustrate that. Not from +a commentary, but straight out from your own heart. What does +your heart make of that scripture? Does your heart turn away from +that scripture almost in anger at it? Do you say you are certain +that there must be some other explanation of it than that? Do +you hold that this is just another of Paul’s perpetual hyperboles, +and that the New Testament is the last book in the world to be taken +as it reads? Yes; both bold and subtle father that he is: counterfeits +abound!</p> +<p>Another much blunter test, but, perhaps, a sufficiently sharp test, +is this: How do you receive correction and instruction? Does your +heart meekly and spontaneously and naturally take to correction and +instruction as the most natural and proper thing possible to you? +And do you immediately, and before all men, show forth and exhibit the +correction and the instruction? Or, does this rather take place? +Does your heart beat, and swell, and boil, and boil over at him who +dares to correct or counsel you? If this is a fair test to put +our humility to, how little humility there is among us! How few +men any of us could name among our friends to whom we would risk telling +all the things that behind their backs we point out continually to others? +We are terrified to face their pride. We once did it, and we are +not to do it again, if we can help it! Let a man not have too +many irons in the fire; let him examine himself just by these two tests +for the time—what he thinks of himself, and what he thinks of +those who attempt, and especially before other people, to set him right. +And after these two tests have been satisfied, others will no doubt +be supplied till that so humble man is made very humility itself.</p> +<p>And now, in the hope that there may be one or two men here who are +really and not counterfeitly in earnest to clothe themselves with humility +before God and man, let them take these two looms to themselves out +of which whole webs of such garments will be delivered to them every +day—their past life, and their present heart. With a past +life like ours, my brethren—and everyman knows his own—pride +is surely the maddest state of mind that any of us can allow ourselves +in. The first king of Bohemia kept his clouted old shoes ever +in his sight, that he might never forget that he had once been a ploughman. +And another wise king used to drink out of a coarse cup at table, and +excused himself to his guests that he had made the rude thing in his +rude potter days. Look with Primislaus and Agathocles at the hole +of the pit out of which you also have been dug; look often enough, deep +enough, and long enough, and you will be found passing up through the +Valley of Humiliation singing:</p> +<blockquote><p>“With us He dealt not as we sinn’d,<br /> +Nor did requite our ill!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Another excellent use of the past is, if you are equal to it, to +call yourself aloud sometimes, or in writing, some of the names that +other people who know your past are certainly calling you. It +is a terrible discipline, but it is the terror of the Lord, and He will +not let it hurt you too much. I was before a blasphemer, and a +persecutor, and injurious, says Paul. And, to show Titus, his +gospel-son, the way, he said to him: We ourselves were sometimes foolish, +disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in +malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. And John Bunyan +calls himself a blackguard, and many other worse names; only he swears +that neither with his soldiering nor with his tinkering hands did he +ever plash down Beelzebub’s orchard. But if you have done +that, or anything like that, call yourself aloud by your true name on +your knees to-night. William Law testifies, after five-and-twenty +years’ experience of it, that he never heard of any harm that +he had done to any in his house by his habit of singing his secret psalms +aloud, and sometimes, ere ever he was aware, bursting out in his penitential +prayers.</p> +<p>And, then, how any man with a man’s heart in his bosom for +a single day can escape being the chief of sinners, and consequently +the humblest of men for all the rest of his life on earth, passes my +comprehension! How a spark of pride can live in such a hell as +every human heart is would be past belief, did we not know that God +avenges sin by more sin; avenges Himself on a wicked and a false heart +by more wickedness and more falsehood, all ending in Satanic pride.</p> +<p>Too long as I have kept you in this valley to-night, I dare not let +you out of it till I have shared with you a few sentences on evangelical +humiliation out of that other so subtle and devout man, Jonathan Edwards. +But what special kind of humiliation is evangelical humiliation? you +will ask. Hear, then, what this master in Israel says. “Evangelical +humiliation is the sense that a Christian man has of his own utter insufficiency, +utter despicableness, and utter odiousness; with an always answerable +frame of heart. This humiliation is peculiar to the true saints. +It arises from the special influence of the Spirit of God implanting +and exercising supernatural and divine principles; and it is accompanied +with a sense of the transcendent beauty of divine things. And, +thus, God’s true saints all more or less see their own odiousness +on account of sin, and the exceedingly hateful nature of all sin. +The very essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility +as becomes a man in himself exceeding sinful but now under a dispensation +of grace. It consists in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself +nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious. This, indeed, +is the greatest and the most essential thing in true religion.” +And so on through a whole chapter of beaten gold. To which noble +chapter I shall only add that such teaching is as sweet, as strengthening, +and as reassuring to the truly Christian heart as it is bitter and hateful +to the counterfeit heart.</p> +<h2>OLD HONEST</h2> +<blockquote><p>“An honest heart.”—<i>Our Lord</i>.</p> +<p>Next tell them of Old Honest, who you found<br /> +With his white hairs treading the pilgrim’s ground;<br /> +Yea, tell them how plain-hearted this man was,<br /> +How after his good Lord he bare his cross:<br /> +Perhaps with some grey head this may prevail,<br /> +With Christ to fall in love, and sin bewail.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>You would have said that no pilgrim to the Celestial City could possibly +have come from a worse place, or a more unlikely place, than was that +place from which Christian and Christiana and Matthew and Mercy had +come. And yet so it was. For Old Honest, this most excellent +and every way most delightful old saint, hailed from a far less likely +place than even the City of Destruction. For he came, this rare +old soul, of all places in the world, from the Town of Stupidity. +So he tells us himself. And, partly to explain to us the humiliating +name of his native town, and partly to exhibit himself as a wonder to +many, the frank old gentleman goes on to tell us that his birthplace +actually lies four degrees further away from the sun than does the far-enough +away City of Destruction itself. So that you see this grey-haired +saint is all that he always said he was—a living witness to the +fact that his Lord is able to save to the uttermost, and to gather in +His Father’s elect from the utmost corner of the land. Men +are mountains of ice in my country, said Old Honest. I was one +of the biggest of those icebergs myself, he said. No man was ever +more cold and senseless to divine things than I was, and still sometimes +am. It takes the Sun of Righteousness all His might to melt the +men of my country. But that He can do it when He rises to do it, +and when He puts out His full strength to do it—Look at me! said +the genial old soul.</p> +<p>We have to construct this pilgrim’s birth and boyhood and youth +from his after-character and conversation; and we have no difficulty +at all in doing that. For, if the child is the father of the man, +then the man must be the outcome of the child, and we can have no hesitation +in picturing to ourselves what kind of child and boy and young man dear +Old Honest must always have been. He never was a bright child, +bright and beaming old man as he is. He was always slow and heavy +at his lessons; indeed, I would not like to repeat to you all the bad +names that his schoolmasters sometimes in their impatience called the +stupid child. Only, this was to be said of him, that dulness of +uptake and disappointment of his teachers were the worst things about +this poor boy; he was not so ill-behaved as many were who were made +more of. When his wits began to waken up after he had come some +length he had no little leeway to make up in his learning; but that +was the chief drawback to Old Honest’s pilgrimage. For one +thing, no young man had a cleaner record behind him than our Honest +had; his youthful garments were as unspotted as ever any pilgrim’s +garments were. Even as a young man he had had the good sense to +keep company with one Good-conscience; and that friend of his youth +kept true to Old Honest all his days, and even lent him his hand and +helped him over the river at last. In his own manly, hearty, blunt, +breezy, cheery, and genial way Old Honest is a pilgrim we could ill +have spared. Old Honest has a warm place all for himself in every +good and honest heart.</p> +<p>“Now, a little before the pilgrims stood an oak, and under +it when they came up to it they found an old pilgrim fast asleep; they +knew that he was a pilgrim by his clothes and his staff and his girdle. +So the guide, Mr. Greatheart, awaked him, and the old gentleman, as +he lifted up his eyes, cried out: What’s the matter? Who +are you? And what is your business here? Come, man, said +the guide, be not so hot; here is none but friends! Yet the old +man gets up and stands upon his guard, and will know of them what they +are.” That weather-beaten oak-tree under which we first +meet with Old Honest is an excellent emblem of the man. When he +sat down to rest his old bones that day he did not look out for a bank +of soft moss or for a bed of fragrant roses; that knotted oak-tree alone +had power to draw down under its sturdy trunk this heart of human oak. +It was a sight to see those thin grey haffets making a soft pillow of +that jutting knee of gnarled and knotty oak, and with his well-worn +quarterstaff held close in a hand all wrinkled skin and scraggy bone. +And from that day till he waved his quarterstaff when half over the +river and shouted, Grace reigns! there is no pilgrim of them all that +affords us half the good humour, sagacity, continual entertainment, +and brave encouragement we enjoy through this same old Christian gentleman.</p> +<p>1. Now, let us try to learn two or three lessons to-night from +Old Honest, his history, his character, and his conversation. +And, to begin with, let all those attend to Old Honest who are slow +in the uptake in the things of religion. O fools and slow of heart! +exclaimed our Lord at the two travellers to Emmaus. And this was +Old Honest to the letter when he first entered on the pilgrimage life; +he was slow as sloth itself in the things of the soul. I have +often wondered, said Greatheart, that any should come from your place; +for your town is worse than is the City of Destruction itself. +Yes, answered Honest, we lie more off from the sun, and so are more +cold and senseless. And his biographer here annotates on the margin +this reflection: “Stupefied ones are worse than merely carnal.” +So they are; though it takes some insight to see that, and some courage +to carry that through. Now, to be downright stupid in a man’s +natural intellects is sad enough, but to be stupid in the intellects +of the soul and of the spirit is far more sad. You will often +see this if you have any eyes in your head, and are not one of the stupid +people yourself. You will see very clever people in the intellects +of the head who are yet as stupid as the beasts in the stall in the +far nobler intellects of the heart. You will meet every day with +men and women who have received the best college education this city +can give them, who are yet stark stupid in everything that belongs to +true religion. They are quick to find out the inefficiency of +a university chair, or a schoolmaster’s desk, but they know no +more of what a New Testament pulpit has been set up for than the stupidest +sot in the city. The Divine Nature, human nature, sin, grace, +redemption, salvation, holiness, heart-corruption, spiritual life, prayer, +communion with God, a conversation and a treasure in heaven,—to +all these noblest of studies and divinest of exercises they are as a +beast before God. When you come upon a man who is a sot in his +senses and in his understanding, you expect him to be the same in his +spiritual life. But to meet with an expert in science, a classical +scholar, an author or a critic in letters, a leader in political or +ecclesiastical or municipal life, and yet to discover that he is as +stupid as any sot in the things of his own soul, is one of the saddest +and most disheartening sights you can see. Much sadder and much +more disheartening than to see stairs and streets of people who can +neither read nor write. And yet our city is full of such stupid +people. You will find as utter spiritual stupidity among the rich +and the lettered and the refined of this city as you will find among +the ignorant and the vicious and the criminal classes. Is stupidity +a sin? asks Thomas in his Forty-Sixth Question. And the great +schoolman answers himself, “Stupidity may come of natural incapacity, +in which case it is not a sin. But it may come, on the other hand, +of a man immersing his soul in the things of this world so as to shut +out all the things of God and of the world to come, in which case stupidity +is a deadly sin.” Now, from all that, you must already see +what you are to do in order to escape from your inborn and superinduced +stupidity. You are, like Old Honest, to open your gross, cold, +senseless heart to the Sun of Righteousness, and you are to take care +every day to walk abroad under His beams. You are to emigrate +south for your life, as our well-to-do invalids do, to where the sun +shines in his strength all the day. You are to choose such a minister, +buy and read such a literature, cultivate such an acquaintanceship, +and follow out such a new life of habits and practices as shall bring +you into the full sunshine, till your heart of ice is melted, and your +stupefied soul is filled with spiritual sensibility. For, “were +a man a mountain of ice,” said Old Honest, “yet if the Sun +of Righteousness will arise upon him his frozen heart shall feel a thaw; +and thus hath it been with me.” Your poets and your philosophers +have no resource against the stupidity that opposes them. “Even +the gods,” they complain, “fight unvictorious against stupidity.” +But your divines and your preachers have hope beside the dullest and +the stupidest and even the most imbruted. They point themselves +and their slowest and dullest-witted hearers to Old Honest, this rare +old saint; and they set up their pulpit with hope and boldness on the +very causeway of the town of Stupidity itself.</p> +<p>2. In the second place,—on this fine old pilgrim’s +birth and boyhood and youth. The apostle says that there is no +real difference between one of us and another; and what he says on that +subject must be true. No; there is really no difference compared +with the Celestial City whether a pilgrim is born in Stupidity, in Destruction, +in Vanity, or in Darkland. At the same time, nature, as well as +grace, is of God, and He maketh, when it pleaseth Him, one man to differ +in some most important respects from another. You see such differences +every day. Some children are naturally, and from their very infancy, +false and cruel, mean and greedy; while their brothers and sisters are +open and frank and generous. One son in a house is born a vulgar +snob, and one daughter a shallow-hearted and shameless little flirt; +while another brother is a born gentleman, and another sister a born +saint. Some children are tender-hearted, easily melted, and easily +moulded; while others in the same family are hard as stone and cold +as ice. Sometimes a noble and a truly Christian father will have +all his days to weep and pray over a son who is his shame; and then, +in the next generation, a grandson will be born to him who will more +than recover the lost image of his father’s father. And +so is it sometimes with father Adam’s family. Here and there, +in Darkland, in Destruction, and in Stupidity, a child will be born +with a surprising likeness to the first Adam in his first estate. +That happy child at his best is but the relics and ruins of his first +father; at the same time, in him the relics are more abundant and the +ruins more easy to trace out. And little Honest was such a well-born +child. For, Stupidity and all, there was a real inborn and inbred +integrity, uprightness, straightforwardness, and nobleness about this +little and not over-clever man-child. And, on the principle of +“to him that hath shall be given,” there was something like +a special providence that hedged this boy about from the beginning. +“I girded thee though thou hast not known Me” was never +out of Old Honest’s mouth as often as he remembered the days of +his own youth and heard other pilgrims mourning over theirs. “I +have surnamed thee though thou hast not known Me,” he would say +to himself in his sleep. Slow-witted as he was, no one had been +able to cheat young Honest out of his youthful integrity. He had +not been led, and he had led no one else, into the paths of the destroyer. +He could say about himself all that John Bunyan so boldly and so bluntly +said about himself when his enemies charged him with youthful immorality. +He left the town in nobody’s debt. He left the print of +his heels on no man or woman or child when he took his staff in his +hand to be a pilgrim. The upward walk of too many pilgrims is +less a walk than an escape and a flight. The avenger of men’s +blood and women’s honour has hunted many men deep into heaven’s +innermost gate. But Old Honest took his time. He walked, +if ever pilgrim walked, all the way with an easy mind. He lay +down to sleep under the oaks on the wayside, and smiled like a child +in his sleep. And, when he was suddenly awaked, instead of crying +out for mercy and starting to his heels, he grasped his staff and demanded +even of an armed man what business he had to break in on an honest pilgrim’s +midday repose! The King of the Celestial City had a few names +even in Stupidity which had not defiled their garments, and Old Honest +was one of them. And all his days his strength was as the strength +of ten, because his heart was pure.</p> +<p>3. At the same time, honesty is not holiness; and no one knew +that better than did this honest old saint. When any one spoke +to Old Honest about his blameless youth, the look in his eye made them +keep at arm’s-length as he growled out that without holiness no +man shall see God! Writing from Aberdeen to John Bell of Hentoun, +Samuel Rutherford says: “I beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, to +mind your country above; and now, when old age is come upon you, advise +with Christ before you put your foot into the last ship and turn your +back on this life. Many are beguiled with this that they are free +of scandalous sins. But common honesty will not take men to heaven. +Alas! that men should think that ever they met with Christ who had never +a sick night or a sore heart for sin. I have known a man turn +a key in a door and lock it by.” “I can,” says +John Owen, “and I do, commend moral virtues and honesty as much +as any man ought to do, and I am sure there is no grace where they are +not. Yet to make anything to be our holiness that is not derived +from Jesus Christ,—I know not what I do more abhor.” +“Are morally honest and sober men qualified for the Lord’s +Supper?” asks John Flavel. “No; civility and morality +do not make a man a worthy communicant. They are not the wedding +garment; but regenerating grace and faith in the smallest measure are.” +“My outside may be honest,” said this honest old pilgrim, +“while all the time my heart is most unholy. My life is +open to all men, but I must hide my heart with Christ in God.”</p> +<p>4. And then this racy-hearted old bachelor was as full of delight +in children, and in children’s parties, with all their sweetmeats +and nuts and games and riddles,—quite as much so—as if he +had been their very grandfather himself. Nay, this rosy-hearted +old rogue was as inveterate a matchmaker as if he had been a mother +of the world with a houseful of daughters on her hands and with the +sons of the nobility dangling around. It would make you wish you +could kiss the two dear old souls, Gaius the innkeeper and Old Honest +his guest, if you would only read how they laid their grey heads together +to help forward the love-making of Matthew and Mercy. Yes, it +would be a great pity, said Old Honest,—thinking with a sigh of +his own childless old age,—it would be a great pity if this excellent +family of our sainted brother should fail for want of children, and +die out like mine. And the two old plotters went together to the +mother of the bridegroom, and told her with an aspect of authority that +she must put no obstacle in her son’s way, but take Mercy as soon +as convenient into a closer relation to herself. And Gaius said +that he for his part would give the marriage supper. And I shall +make no will, said Honest, but hand all I have over to Matthew my son. +This is the way, said Old Honest; and he skipped and smiled and kissed +the cheek of the aged mother and said, Then thy two children shall preserve +thee and thy husband a posterity in the earth! Then he turned +to the boys and he said, Matthew, be thou like Matthew the publican, +not in vice, but in virtue. Samuel, he said, be thou like Samuel +the prophet, a man of faith and of prayer. Joseph, said he, be +thou like Joseph in Potiphar’s house, chaste, and one that flees +from temptation. And James, be thou like James the Just, and like +James the brother of our Lord. Mercy, he said, is thy name, and +by mercy shalt thou be sustained and carried through all thy difficulties +that shall assault thee in the way, till thou shalt come thither where +thou shalt look the Fountain of Mercy in the face with comfort. +And all this while the guide, Mr. Greatheart, was very much pleased, +and smiled upon the nimble old gentleman.</p> +<p>5. “Then it came to pass a while after that there was +a post in the town that inquired for Mr. Honest. So he came to +his house where he was, and delivered to his hands these lines, Thou +art commanded to be ready against this day seven night, to present thyself +before thy Lord at His Father’s house. And for a token that +my message is true, all thy daughters of music shall be brought low. +Then Mr. Honest called for his friends and said unto them, I die, but +shall make no will. As for my honesty, it shall go with me: let +him that comes after me be told of this. When the day that he +was to be gone was come he addressed himself to go over the river. +Now, the river at that time overflowed the banks at some places. +But Mr. Honest in his lifetime had spoken to one Good-conscience to +meet him there, the which he also did, and lent him his hand, and so +helped him over. The last words of Mr. Honest were, Grace reigns! +So he left the world.” Look at that picture and now look +at this: “They then addressed themselves to the water, and, entering, +Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, +he said, I sink in deep waves, the billows go over my head, all His +waters go over me. Then said the other, Be of good cheer, my brother, +I feel the bottom, and it is good. Then said Christian, Ah, my +friend, the sorrows of death have compassed me about; I shall not see +the land that flows with milk and honey. And with that a great +horror and darkness fell upon Christian, so that he could not see before +him; and all the words that he spoke still tended to discover that he +had horror of mind lest he should die in that river and never obtain +entrance in at the gate. Here also, as they that stood by perceived, +he was much in the troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, +both since and before he began to be a pilgrim. ’Twas also +observed that he was troubled with apparitions of hobgoblins and evil +spirits. Hopeful, therefore, had much ado to keep his brother’s +head above water. Yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, +and then ere a while he would rise up again half dead.” +My brethren, all my brethren, be not deceived; God is not mocked; for +whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Whom the Lord +loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. +Thou, O God, wast a God that forgavest them, but Thou tookest vengeance +on their inventions.</p> +<h2>MR. FEARING</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Happy is the man that feareth alway.”—<i>Solomon</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p>For humour, for pathos, for tenderness, for acute and sympathetic +insight at once into nature and grace, for absolutely artless literary +skill, and for the sweetest, most musical, and most exquisite English, +show me another passage in our whole literature to compare with John +Bunyan’s portrait of Mr. Fearing. You cannot do it. +I defy you to do it. Spenser, who, like John Bunyan, wrote an +elaborate allegory, says: It is not in me. Take all Mr. Fearing’s +features together, and even Shakespeare himself has no such heart-touching +and heart-comforting character. Addison may have some of the humour +and Lamb some of the tenderness; but, then, they have not the religion. +Scott has the insight into nature, but he has no eye at all for grace; +while Thackeray, who, in some respects, comes nearest to John Bunyan +of them all, would be the foremost to confess that he is not worthy +to touch the shoe-latchet of the Bedford tinker. As Dr. Duncan +said in his class one day when telling us to read Augustine’s +Autobiography and Halyburton’s:—“But,” he said, +“be prepared for this, that the tinker beats them all!” +“Methinks,” says Browning, “in this God speaks, no +tinker hath such powers.”</p> +<p>Now, as they walked along together, the guide asked the old gentleman +if he knew one Mr. Fearing that came on pilgrimage out of his parts. +“Yes,” said Mr. Honest, “very well. He was a +man that had the root of the matter in him; but he was one of the most +troublesome pilgrims that ever I met with in all my days.” +“I perceive you knew him,” said the guide, “for you +have given a very right character of him.” “Knew him!” +exclaimed Honest, “I was a great companion of his; I was with +him most an end. When he first began to think of what would come +upon us hereafter, I was with him.” “And I was his +guide,” said Greatheart, “from my Master’s house to +the gates of the Celestial City.” “Then,” said +Mr. Honest, “it seems he was well at last.” “Yes, +yes,” answered the guide, “I never had any doubt about him; +he was a man of a choice spirit, only he was always kept very low, and +that made his life so burdensome to himself and so troublesome to others. +He was, above many, tender of sin; he was so afraid of doing injuries +to others that he would often deny himself of that which was lawful +because he would not offend.” “But what,” asked +Honest, “should be the reason that such a good man should be all +his days so much in the dark?” “There are two sorts +of reasons for it,” said the guide; “one is, the wise God +will have it so: some must pipe and some must weep. Now, Mr. Fearing +was one that played upon this base. He and his fellows sound the +sackbut, whose notes are more doleful than the notes of other music +are. Though, indeed, some say that the base is the ground of music. +And, for my part, I care not at all for that profession that begins +not with heaviness of mind. The first string that the musician +usually touches is the base when he intends to put all in tune. +God also plays upon this string first when He sets the soul in tune +for Himself. Only, here was the imperfection of Mr. Fearing, that +he could play upon no other music but this till toward his latter end.”</p> +<p>1. Take Mr. Fearing, then, to begin with, at the Slough of +Despond. Christian and Pliable, they being heedless, did both +fall into that bog. But Mr. Fearing, whatever faults you may think +he had—and faults, too, that you think you could mend in him—at +any rate, he was never heedless. Everybody has his fault to find +with poor Mr. Fearing. Everybody blames poor Mr. Fearing. +Everybody can improve upon poor Mr. Fearing. But I will say again +for Mr. Fearing that he was never heedless. Had Peter been on +the road at that period he would have stood up for Mr. Fearing, and +would have taken his judges and would have said to them, with some scorn—Go +to, and pass the time of your sojourning here with something of the +same silence and the same fear! Christian’s excuse for falling +into the Slough was that fear so followed him that he fled the next +way, and so fell in. But Mr. Fearing had no such fear behind him +in his city as Christian had in his. All Mr. Fearing’s fears +were within himself. If you can take up the distinction between +actual and indwelling sin, between guilt and corruption, you have already +in that the whole key to Mr. Fearing. He was blamed and counselled +and corrected and pitied and patronised by every morning-cloud and early-dew +neophyte, while all the time he lived far down from the strife of tongues +where the root of the matter strikes its deep roots still deeper every +day. “It took him a whole month,” tells Greatheart, +“to face the Slough. But he would not go back neither. +Till, one sunshiny morning, nobody ever knew how, he ventured, and so +got over. But the fact of the matter is,” said the shrewd-headed +guide, “Mr. Fearing had, I think, a slough of despond in his own +mind; and a slough that he carried everywhere with him.” +Yes, that was it. Greatheart in that has hit the nail on the head. +With one happy stroke he has given us the whole secret of poor Mr. Fearing’s +life-long trouble. Just so; it was the slough in himself that +so kept poor Mr. Fearing back. This poor pilgrim, who had so little +to fear in his past life, had yet so much scum and filth, spume and +mire in his present heart, that how to get on the other side of that +cost him not a month’s roaring only, but all the months and all +the years till he went over the River not much above wet-shod. +And, till then, not twenty million cart-loads of wholesome instructions, +nor any number of good and substantial steps, would lift poor Mr. Fearing +over the ditch that ran so deep and so foul continually within himself. +“Yes, he had, I think, a slough of despond in his mind, a slough +that he carried everywhere with him, or else he never could have been +the man he was.” I, for one, thank the great-hearted guide +for that fine sentence.</p> +<p>2. It was a sight to see poor Mr. Fearing at the wicket gate. +“Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” He read +the inscription over the gate a thousand times, but every time he read +it his slough-filled heart said to him, Yes, but that is not for such +as you. Pilgrim after pilgrim came up the way, read the writing, +knocked, and was taken in; but still Mr. Fearing stood back, shaking +and shrinking. At last he ventured to take hold of the hammer +that hung on the gate and gave with it a small rap such as a mouse might +make. But small as the sound was, the Gatekeeper had had his eye +on his man all the time out of his watch-window; and before Mr. Fearing +had time to turn and run, Goodwill had him by the collar. But +that sudden assault only made Mr. Fearing sink to the earth, faint and +half-dead. “Peace be to thee, O trembling man!” said +Goodwill. “Come in, and welcome!” When he did +venture in, Mr. Fearing’s face was as white as a sheet. +You would have said that an officer had caught a thief if you had seen +poor Mr. Fearing hiding his face, and the Gatekeeper hauling him in. +And not all the entertainment for which the Gate was famous, nor all +the encouragement that Goodwill was able to speak, could make terrified +Mr. Fearing for once to smile. A more hard-to-entertain pilgrim, +all the Gate declared when he had gone, they had never had in their +hospitable house.</p> +<p>3. “So he came,” said the guide, “till he +came to our House; but as he behaved himself at the Gate, so he did +at my Master the Interpreter’s door. He lay about in the +cold a good while before he would adventure to call. Yet he would +not go back neither. And the nights were cold and long then. +At last I think I looked out of the window, and perceiving a man to +be up and down about the door, I went out to him, and asked what he +was; but, poor man, the water stood in his eyes. So I perceived +what he wanted. I went in, therefore, and told it in the house, +and we showed the thing to our Lord. So He sent me out again to +entreat him to come in, but I dare say I had hard work to do it. +At last he came in, and I will say that for my Lord, He carried it wonderful +lovingly to Mr. Fearing. There were but a few good bits at the +table, but some of it was laid upon his trencher.” In this +way the guide tells us his first introduction to Mr. Fearing, and how +Mr. Fearing behaved himself in the Interpreter’s House. +For instance, in the parlour full of dust, when the Interpreter said +that the dust is original sin and inward corruption, you would have +thought that the Interpreter had stabbed poor Mr. Fearing to the heart, +so did he break out and weep. Before the damsel could come with +the pitcher, Mr. Fearing’s eyes alone would have laid the dust, +they were such a fountain of tears. When he saw Passion and Patience, +each one in his chair—“I am that child in rags,” said +Mr. Fearing; “I have already received all my good things!” +Also, at the wall where the fire burned because oil was poured into +it from the other side, he perversely turned that fire also against +himself. And when they came to the man in the iron cage, you could +not have told whether the miserable man inside the cage or the miserable +man outside of it sighed the loudest. And so on, through all the +significant rooms. The spider-room overwhelmed him altogether, +till his sobs and the beating of his breast were heard all over the +house. The robin also when gobbling up spiders he made an emblem +of himself, and the tree that was rotten at the heart,—till the +Interpreter’s patience with this so perverse pilgrim was fairly +worn out. So the Interpreter shut up his significant rooms, and +had this so troublesome pilgrim into his own chamber, and there carried +it so tenderly to Mr. Fearing that at last he did seem to have taken +some little heart of grace. “And then we,” said Greatheart, +“set forward, and I went before him; but the man was of few words, +only he would often sigh aloud.”</p> +<p>4. “Dumpish at the House Beautiful” is his biographer’s +not very respectful comment on the margin of the history. There +were too many merry-hearted damsels running up and down that house for +Mr. Fearing. He could not lift his eyes but one of those too-tripping +maidens was looking at him. He could not stir a foot but he suddenly +ran against a talking and laughing bevy of them. There was one +thing he loved above everything, and that was to overhear the talk that +went on at that season in that house about the City above, and about +the King of that City, and about His wonderful ways with pilgrims, and +the entertainment they all got who entered that City. But to get +a word out of Mr. Fearing upon any of these subjects,—all the +king’s horses could not have dragged it out of him. Only, +the screen was always seen to move during such conversations, till it +soon came to be known to all the house who was behind the screen. +And the talkers only talked a little louder as the screen moved, and +took up, with a smile to one another, another and a yet more comforting +topic.</p> +<p>The Rarity Rooms also were more to Mr. Fearing than his necessary +food. He would be up in the morning and waiting at the doors of +those rooms before the keepers had come with their keys. And they +had to tell him that the candles were to be put out at night before +he would go away. He was always reading, as if he had never read +it before, the pedigree of the Lord of the Hill. Moses’ +rod, Shamgar’s goad, David’s sling and stone, and what not—he +laughed and danced and sang like a child around these ancient tables. +The armoury-room also held him, where were the swords, and shields, +and helmets, and breast-plates, and shoes that would not wear out. +You would have thought you had your man all right as long as you had +him alone among these old relics; but, let supper be ready, and the +house gathered, and Mr. Fearing was as dumpish as ever. Eat he +would not, drink he would not, nor would he sit at the same table with +those who ate and drank with such gladness. I remembered Mr. Fearing +at the House Beautiful when I was present at a communion season some +time back in Ross-shire. The church was half full of Mr. Fearing’s +close kindred that communion morning. For, all that the minister +himself could do, and all that the assisting minister could do—no! +to the table those self-examined, self-condemned, fear-filled souls +would not come. The two ministers, like Mr. Greatheart’s +Master, carried it wonderful lovingly with those poor saints that day; +but those who are in deed, and not in name only, passing the time of +their sojourning here in fear—they cannot all at once be lifted +above all their fears, even by the ablest action sermons, or by the +most wise and tender table-addresses. And, truth to tell, though +you will rebuke me all the way home to-night for saying it, my heart +sat somewhat nearer to those old people who were perhaps a little too +dumpish in their repentance and their faith and their hope that morning, +than it did to those who took to the table with a light heart. +I know all your flippant cant about gospel liberty and against Highland +introspection, as you call it—as well as all your habitual neglect +of a close and deep self-examination, as Paul called it; but I tell +you all to-night that it would be the salvation of your soul if you +too worked your way up to every returning Lord’s table with much +more fear and much more trembling. Let a man examine himself, +Saxon as well as Celt, in Edinburgh as well as in Ross-shire, and so +let him eat of that flesh and drink of that blood. “These +pills,” said Mr. Skill, “are to be taken three at a time +fasting in half a quarter of a pint of the tears of repentance; these +pills are good to prevent diseases, as well as to cure when one is sick. +Yea, I dare say it, and stand to it, that if a man will but use this +physic as he should, it will make him live for ever. But thou +must give these pills no other way but as I have prescribed; for, if +you do, they will do no good.” “Then he and I set +forward,” said the guide, “and I went before; but my man +was of but few words, only he would often sigh aloud.”</p> +<p>5. As to the Hill Difficulty, that was no stick at all to Mr. +Fearing; and as for the lions, he pulled their whiskers and snapped +his fingers in their dumfoundered faces. For you must know that +Mr. Fearing’s trouble was not about such things as these at all; +his only fear was about his acceptance at last. He beat Mr. Greatheart +himself at getting down into the Valley of Humiliation, till the guide +was fain to confess that he went down as well as he ever saw man go +down in all his life. This pilgrim cared not how mean he was, +so he might be but happy at last. That is the reason why so many +of God’s best saints take so kindly and so quietly to things that +drive other men mad. You wonder sometimes when you see an innocent +man sit down quietly under accusations and insults and injuries that +you spend all the rest of your life resenting and repaying. And +that is the reason also that so many of God’s best saints in other +ages and other communions used to pursue evangelical humility and ascetic +poverty and seclusion till they obliterated themselves out of all human +remembrance, and buried themselves in retreats of silence and of prayer. +Yes, you are quite right. A garment of sackcloth may cover an +unsanctified heart; and the fathers of the desert did not all escape +the depths of Satan and the plague of their own heart. Quite true. +A contrite heart may be carried about an applauding city in a coach +and six; and a crucified heart may be clothed in purple and fine linen, +and may fare sumptuously every day. A saint of God will sometimes +sit on a throne with a more weaned mind than that with which Elijah +or the Baptist will macerate themselves in the wilderness. Every +man who is really set on heaven must find his own way thither; and he +who is really intent on his own way thither will neither have the time +nor the heart to throw stones at his brother who thinks he has discovered +his own best way. All the pilgrims who got to the City at last +did not get down Difficulty and through Humiliation so well as Mr. Fearing +did; nor was it absolutely necessary that they should. It was +not to lay down an iron-fast rule for others, but it was only to amuse +the way with his account of Mr. Fearing, that the guide went on to say: +“Yes, I think there was a kind of sympathy betwixt that valley +and my man. For I never saw him better in all his pilgrimage than +when he was in that valley. For here he would lie down, embrace +the ground, and kiss the very flowers that grew in this valley. +He would now be up every morning by break of day, tracing and walking +to and fro in that valley.”</p> +<p>6. Now, do you think you could guess how Mr. Fearing conducted +himself in Vanity Fair? Your guess is important to us and to you +to-night; for it will show whether or no John Bunyan and Mr. Greatheart +have spent their strength for nought and in vain on you. It will +show whether or no you have got inside of Mr. Fearing with all that +has been said; and thus, inside of yourself. Guess, then. +How did Mr. Fearing do in Vanity Fair, do you think? To give you +a clue, recollect that he was the timidest of souls. And remember +how you have often been afraid to look at things in a shop window lest +the shopkeeper should come out and hold you to the thing you were looking +at. Remember also that you are the life-long owners of some things +just because they were thrown at your head. Remember how you sauntered +into a sale on one occasion, and, out of sheer idleness and pure fun, +made a bid, and to your consternation the encumbrance was knocked down +to your name; and it fills up your house to-day till you would give +ten times its value to some one to take it away for ever out of your +sight. Well, what was it that those who were so shamelessly and +so pesteringly cadging about places, and titles, and preferments, and +wives, and gold, and silver, and such like—what was it they prevailed +on this poor stupid countryman to cheapen and buy? Do you guess, +or do you give it up? Well, Greatheart himself was again and again +almost taken in; and would have been had not Mr. Fearing been beside +him. But Mr. Fearing looked at all the jugglers, and cheats, and +knaves, and apes, and fools as if he would have bitten a firebrand. +“I thought he would have fought with all the men of the fair; +I feared there we should have both been knock’d o’ th’ +head, so hot was he against their fooleries.” And then—for +Greatheart was a bit of a philosopher, and liked to entertain and while +the away with tracing things up to their causes—“it was +all,” he said, “because Mr. Fearing was so tender of sin. +He was above many tender of sin. He was so afraid, not for himself +only, but of doing injury to others, that he would deny himself the +purchase and possession and enjoyment even of that which was lawful, +because he would not offend.” “All this while,” +says Bunyan himself, in the eighty-second paragraph of <i>Grace Abounding</i>, +“as to the act of sinning I was never more tender than now. +I durst not take a pin or a stick, though but so big as a straw, for +my conscience now was sore and would smart at every touch. I could +not now tell how to speak my words for fear I should misplace them.” +“The highest flames,” says Jeremy Taylor in his <i>Life +of Christ</i>, “are the most tremulous.”</p> +<p>7. “But when he was come at the river where was no bridge, +there, again, Mr. Fearing was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he +should be drowned for ever, and so never see that Face with comfort +that he had come so many miles to behold. And here also I took +notice of what was very remarkable; the water of that river was lower +at this time than ever I saw it in all my life, so he went over at last +not much above wet-shod.” Then said Christiana, “This +relation of Mr. Fearing has done me good. I thought nobody had +been like me, but I see there was some semblance betwixt this good man +and I, only we differed in two things. His troubles were so great +that they broke out, but mine I kept within. His also lay so hard +upon him that he could not knock at the houses provided for entertainment, +but my trouble was always such that it made me knock the louder.” +“If I might also speak my heart,” said Mercy, “I must +say that something of him has also dwelt in me. For I have ever +been more afraid of the lake, and the loss of a place in Paradise, than +I have been of the loss of other things. Oh! thought I, may I +have the happiness to have a habitation there: ’tis enough though +I part with all the world to win it.” Then said Matthew, +“Fear was one thing that made me think that I was far from having +that within me that accompanies salvation; but if it was so with such +a good man as he, why may it not also go well with me?” +“No fears, no grace,” said James. “Though there +is not always grace where there is fear of hell; yet, to be sure, there +is no grace where there is no fear of God.” “Well +said, James,” said Greatheart; “thou hast hit the mark, +for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; and, to be sure, they +that want the beginning have neither middle nor end.” But +we shall here conclude our discourse of Mr. Fearing after we have sent +after him this farewell:—</p> +<blockquote><p> “It is because<br /> +Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear.<br /> +Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so<br /> +For thee the bitterness of death is past.<br /> +Also, because already in thy soul<br /> +The judgment is begun. That day of doom,<br /> +One and the same for this collected world—<br /> +That solemn consummation for all flesh,<br /> +Is, in the case of each, anticipate<br /> +Upon his death; and, as the last great day<br /> +In the particular judgment is rehearsed,<br /> +So now, too, ere thou comest to the Throne,<br /> +A presage falls upon thee, as a ray<br /> +Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot.<br /> +That calm and joy uprising in thy soul<br /> +Is first-fruit to thy recompense,<br /> +And heaven begun.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>FEEBLE-MIND</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Comfort the feeble-minded.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Feeble-mind shall first tell you his own story in his own words, +and then I shall perhaps venture a few observations upon his history +and his character.</p> +<p>“I am but a sickly man, as you see,” said Feeble-mind +to Greatheart, “and because Death did usually knock once a day +at my door, I thought I should never be well at home. So I betook +myself to a pilgrim’s life, and have travelled hither from the +town of Uncertain, where I and my father were born. I am a man +of no strength at all of body, nor yet of mind; but would, if I could, +though I can but crawl, spend my life in the pilgrim’s way. +When I came at the gate that is at the head of the way, the Lord of +that place did entertain me freely. Neither objected he against +my weakly looks, nor against my feeble mind; but gave me such things +as were necessary for my journey, and bade me hope to the end. +When I came to the house of the Interpreter I received much kindness +there; and, because the Hill Difficulty was judged too hard for me, +I was carried up that hill by one of his servants. Indeed I have +found much relief from pilgrims, though none were willing to go so softly +as I am forced to do. Yet, still, as they came on, they bid me +be of good cheer, and said that it was the will of their Lord that comfort +should be given to the feeble-minded, and so went on their own pace. +I look for brunts by the way; but this I have resolved on, to wit, to +run when I can, to go when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot +go. As to the main, I thank Him that loves me, I am fixed. +My way is before me, my mind is beyond the river that has no bridge, +though I am, as you see, but of a feeble mind.”</p> +<p>Then said old Mr. Honest, “Have you not some time ago been +acquainted with one Mr. Fearing, a pilgrim?” “Acquainted +with him! yes. He came from the town of Stupidity, which lies +four degrees to the northward of the City of Destruction, and as many +off where I was born. Yet we were well acquainted; for, indeed, +he was mine uncle, my father’s brother. He and I have been +much of a temper; he was a little shorter than I, but yet we were much +of a complexion.” “I perceive that you know him,” +said Mr. Honest, “and I am apt to believe also that you were related +one to another; for you have his whitely look, a cast like his with +your eye, and your speech is much alike.”</p> +<p>“Alas!” Feeble-mind went on, “I want a suitable +companion. You are all lusty and strong, but I, as you see, am +weak. I choose therefore rather to come behind, lest, by reason +of my many infirmities, I should be both a burden to myself and to you. +I am, as I said, a man of a weak and feeble mind, and shall be offended +and made weak at that which others can bear. I shall like no laughing; +I shall like no gay attire; I shall like no unprofitable questions. +Nay, I am so weak a man as to be offended with what others have a liberty +to do. I do not yet know all the truth. I am a very ignorant +Christian man. Sometimes, if I hear some rejoice in the Lord, +it troubles me because I cannot do so too. It is with me as with +a weak man among the strong, or as with a sickly man among the healthy, +or as a lamp despised.” “But, brother,” said +Greatheart, “I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded +and to support the weak.” Thus therefore, they went on—Mr. +Greatheart and Mr. Honest went before; Christiana and her children went +next; and Mr. Feeble-mind and Mr. Ready-to-halt came behind with his +crutches.</p> +<p>1. In the first place, a single word as to Feeble-mind’s +family tree.</p> +<p>Thackeray says that <i>The Peerage</i> is the Family Bible of every +true-born Englishman. Every genuine Englishman, he tells us, teaches +that sacred book diligently to his children. He talks out of it +to them when he sits in the house and when he walks by the way. +He binds it upon his children’s hands, and it is as a frontlet +between their eyes. He writes its names upon the doorposts of +his house, and makes pictures out of it upon his gates. Now, John +Bunyan was a born Englishman in his liking for a family tree. +He had no such tree himself—scarcely so much as a bramble bush; +but, all the same, let the tinker take his pen in hand, and the pedigrees +and genealogies of all his pilgrims are sure to be set forth as much +as if they were to form the certificates that those pilgrims were to +hand in at the gate.</p> +<p>Feeble-mind, then, was of an old, a well-rooted and a wide-spread +race. The county of Indecision was full of that ancient stock. +They had intermarried in-and-in also till their small stature, their +whitely look, the droop of their eye, and their weak leaky speech all +made them to be easily recognised wherever they went. It was Feeble-mind’s +salvation that Death had knocked at his door every day from his youth +up. He was feeble in body as well as in mind; only the feebleness +of his body had put a certain strength into his mind; the only strength +he ever showed, indeed, was the strength that had its roots in a weak +constitution at which sickness and death struck their dissolving blows +every day. To escape death, both the first and the second death, +any man with a particle of strength left would run with all his might; +and Feeble-mind had strength enough somewhere among his weak joints +to make him say, “But this I have resolved on, to wit, to run +when I can, to go when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot go. +As to the main, I am fixed!”</p> +<p>2. At the Wicket Gate pilgrim Feeble-mind met with nothing +but the kindest and the most condescending entertainment. It was +the gatekeepers way to become all things to all men. The gatekeeper’s +nature was all in his name; for he was all Goodwill together. +No kind of pilgrim ever came wrong to Goodwill. He never found +fault with any. Only let them knock and come in and he will see +to all the rest. The way is full of all the gatekeeper’s +kind words and still kinder actions. Every several pilgrim has +his wager with all the rest that no one ever got such kindness at the +gate as he got. And even Feeble-mind gave the gatekeeper this +praise—“The Lord of the place,” he said, “did +entertain me freely. Neither objected he against my weakly looks +nor against my feeble mind. But he gave me such things as were +necessary for my journey, and bade me hope to the end.” +All things considered, that is perhaps the best praise that Goodwill +and his house ever earned. For, to receive and to secure Feeble-mind +as a pilgrim—to make it impossible for Feeble-mind to entertain +a scruple or a suspicion that was not removed beforehand—to make +it impossible for Feeble-mind to find in all the house and in all its +grounds so much as a straw over which he could stumble—that was +extraordinary attention, kindness, and condescension in Goodwill and +all his good-willed house. “Go on, go on, dear Mr. Feeble +mind,” said Goodwill giving his hand to Mr. Fearing’s nephew, +“go on: keep your feeble mind open to the truth, and still hope +to the end!”</p> +<p>3. “As to the Interpreter’s House, I received much +kindness there.” That is all. But in that short speech +I think there must he hid no little shame and remorse. No words +could possibly be a severer condemnation of Feeble-mind than his own +two or three so irrelevant words about the Interpreter’s house. +No doubt at all, Feeble-mind received kindness there; but that is not +the point. That noble house was not built at such cost, and fitted +up, and kept open all the year round, and filled with fresh furniture +from year to year, merely that those who passed through its significant +rooms might report that they had received no rudeness at the hands of +the Interpreter. “‘Come,’ said the Interpreter +to Feeble-mind, ‘and I will show thee what will be profitable +to thee.’ So he commanded his man to light the candle and +bid Feeble-mind follow him. But it was all to no use. Feeble-mind +had neither the taste nor the capacity for the significant rooms. +Nay, as one after another of those rich rooms was opened to him, Feeble-mind +took a positive dislike to them. Nothing interested him; nothing +instructed him. But many things stumbled and angered him. +The parlour full of dust, and how the dust was raised and laid; Passion +and Patience; the man in the iron cage; the spider-room; the muck-rake +room; the robin with its red breast and its pretty note, and yet with +its coarse food; the tree, green outside but rotten at the heart,—all +the thanks the Interpreter took that day for all that from Feeble-mind +was in such speeches as these: You make me lose my head. I do +not know where I am. I did not leave the town of Uncertain to +be confused and perplexed in my mind with sights and sounds like these. +Let me out at the door I came in at, and I shall go back to the gate. +Goodwill had none of these unhappy rooms in his sweet house!” +Nothing could exceed the kindness of the Interpreter himself; but his +house was full of annoyances and offences and obstructions to Mr. Feeble-mind. +He did not like the Interpreter’s house, and he got out of it +as fast as he could, with his mind as feeble as when he entered it; +and, what was worse, with his temper not a little ruffled.</p> +<p>And we see this very same intellectual laziness, this very same downright +dislike at divine truth, in our own people every day. There are +in every congregation people who take up their lodgings at the gate +and refuse to go one step farther on the way. A visit to the Interpreter’s +House always upsets them. It turns their empty head. They +do not know where they are. They will not give what mind they +have to divine truth, all you can do to draw them on to it, till they +die as feeble-minded, as ignorant, and as inexperienced as they were +born. They never read a religious book that has any brain or heart +in it. The feeble <i>Lives</i> of feeble-minded Christians, written +by feeble-minded authors, and published by feeble-minded publishers,—we +all know the spoon-meat that multitudes of our people go down to their +second childhood upon. Jonathan Edwards—a name they never +hear at home, but one of the most masculine and seraphic of interpreters—has +a noble discourse on The Importance and Advantage of a thorough Knowledge +of Divine Truth. “Consider yourselves,” he says, “as +scholars or disciples put into the school of Christ, and therefore be +diligent to make proficiency in Christian knowledge. Content not +yourselves with this, that you have been taught your Catechism in your +childhood, and that you know as much of the principles of religion as +is necessary to salvation. Let not your teachers have cause to +complain that while they spend and are spent to impart knowledge to +you, you take little pains to learn. Be assiduous in reading the +Holy Scriptures. And when you read, observe what you read. +Observe how things come in. Compare one scripture with another. +Procure and diligently use other books which may help you to grow in +this knowledge. There are many excellent books extant which might +greatly forward you in this knowledge. There is a great defect +in many, that through a lothness to be at a little expense, they provide +themselves with no more helps of this nature.” Weighty, +wise, and lamentably true words.</p> +<p>“Mundanus,” says William Law, “is a man of excellent +parts, and clear apprehension. He is well advanced in age, and +has made a great figure in business. He has aimed at the greatest +perfection in everything. The only thing which has not fallen +under his improvement, nor received any benefit from his judicious mind, +is his devotion; this is just in the same poor state it was when he +was six years of age, and the old man prays now in that little form +of words which his mother used to hear him repeat night and morning. +This Mundanus that hardly ever saw the poorest utensil without considering +how it might be made or used to better advantage, has gone on all his +life long praying in the same manner as when he was a child; without +ever considering how much better or oftener he might pray; without considering +how improvable the spirit of devotion is, how many helps a wise and +reasonable man may call to his assistance, and how necessary it is that +our prayers should be enlarged, varied, and suited to the particular +state and condition of our lives. How poor and pitiable is the +conduct of this man of sense, who has so much judgment and understanding +in everything but that which is the whole wisdom of man!” +How true to every syllable is that! How simple-looking, and yet +how manly, and able, and noble! We close our young men’s +session with Law and Butler to-night, and I cannot believe that our +session with those two giants has left one feeble mind in the two classes; +they were all weeded out after the first fortnight of the session; though, +after all is done, there are still plenty left both among old and young +in the congregation. Even Homer sometimes nods; and I cannot but +think that John Bunyan has made a slip in saying that Feeble-mind enjoyed +the Interpreter’s House. At any rate, I wish I could say +as much about all the feeble minds known to me.</p> +<p>4. The Hill Difficulty, which might have helped to make a man +of Feeble-mind, saw a laughable, if it had not been such a lamentable, +spectacle. For it saw this poor creature hanging as limp as wet +linen on the back of one of the Interpreter’s sweating servants. +Your little boy will explain the parable to you. Shall I do this? +or, shall I rather do that? asks Feeble-mind at every stop. Would +it be right? or, would it be wrong? Shall I read that book? +Shall I go to that ball? Shall I marry that man? Tell me +what to do. Give me your hand. Take me up upon your back, +and carry me over this difficult hill. “I was carried up +that,” says poor Feeble-mind, “by one of his servants.”</p> +<p>5. “The one calamity of Mr. Feeble-mind’s history,” +says our ablest commentator on Bunyan, “was the finest mercy of +his history.” That one calamity was his falling into Giant +Slay-good’s hands, and his finest mercy was his rescue by Greatheart, +and his consequent companionship with his deliverer, with Mr. Honest, +and with Christiana and her party till they came to the river. +You constantly see the same thing in the life of the Church and of the +Christian Family. Some calamity throws a weak, ignorant, and immoral +creature into close contact with a minister or an elder or a Christian +visitor, who not only relieves him from his present distress, but continues +to keep his eye upon his new acquaintance, introduces him to wise and +good friends, invites him to his house, gives him books to read, and +keeps him under good influences, till, of a weak, feeble, and sometimes +vicious character, he is made a Christian man, till he is able for himself +to say, It was good for me to be afflicted; the one calamity of my history +has been my best mercy!</p> +<p>6. Feeble-mind, I am ashamed to have to admit, behaved himself +in a perfectly scandalous manner at the house of Gaius mine host. +He went beyond all bounds during those eventful weeks. Those weeks +were one long temptation to Feeble-mind—and he went down in a +pitiful way before his temptation. Two marriages and two honeymoons, +with suppers and dances every night, made the old hostelry like very +Pandemonium itself to poor Feeble-mind. He would have had Matthew’s +and James’s marriages conducted next door to a funeral. +Because he would not eat flesh himself, he protested against Gaius killing +a sheep. “Man,” said old Honest, almost laying his +quarterstaff over Feeble-mind’s shoulders—“Man, dost +thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and +ale?” “I shall like no laughing,” said Feeble-mind; +“I shall like no gay attire; I shall like no unprofitable questions.” +I think it took some self-conceit to refuse to sit at table beside Christiana +because of her gay attire. And I hope Mercy did not give up dressing +well, even after she was married, to please that weak-minded old churl. +And as to unprofitable questions—we are all tempted to think that +question unprofitable which our incapacity or our ignorance keeps us +silent upon at table. We think that topic both ill-timed and impertinent +and unsafe to which we are not invited to contribute anything. +“I am a very ignorant man,” he went on to say; and, if that +was said in any humility, Feeble-mind never said a truer word. +“It is with me as it is with a weak man among the strong, or as +with a sick man among the healthy, or as a lamp despised in the thought +of him that is at ease.” All which only brought Greatheart +out in his very best colours. “But, brother,” said +the guide, “I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded, +and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will +wait for you, we will lend you our help, we will deny ourselves of some +things, both opinionative and practical, for your sake; we will not +enter into doubtful disputations before you; we will be made all things +to you rather than that you shall be left behind.”</p> +<p>7. The first thing that did Mr. Feeble-mind any real good was +his being made military guard over the women and the children while +the men went out to demolish Doubting Castle. <i>Quis custodiet</i>? +you will smile and say when you hear that. Who shall protect the +protector? you will say. But wait a little. Greatheart knew +his business. For not only did Feeble-mind rise to the occasion, +when he was put to it; but, more than that, he was the soul of good +company at supper-time that night. “Jocund and merry” +are the very words. Yes; give your feeble and fault-finding folk +something to do. Send them to teach a class. Send them down +into a mission district. Lay a sense of responsibility upon them. +Leave them to deal with this and that emergency themselves. Cease +carrying them on your back, and lay weak and evil and self-willed people +on their back. Let them feel that they are of some real use. +As Matthew Arnold says, Let the critic but try practice, and you will +make a new man of him. As Greatheart made of Feeble-mind by making +him mount guard over the Celestial caravan while the fighting men were +all up at Doubting Castle.</p> +<p>8. “Mark this,” says Mr. Feeble-mind’s biographer +on the early margin of his history, lest we should be tempted to forget +the good parts of this troublesome and provoking pilgrim—“Mark +this.” This, namely, which Feeble-mind says to his guide. +“As to the main, I thank Him that loves me, I am fixed. +My way is before me, my mind is beyond the river that has no bridge, +though I am, as you see, but of a feeble mind.” And that +leads us with returning regard and love to turn to the end of his history, +where we read: “After this Mr. Feeble-mind had tidings brought +him that the post sounded his horn at his chamber door. Then he +came in and told him, saying, I am come to tell thee that thy Master +hath need of thee, and that in very little time thou must behold His +face in brightness. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends, +and told them what errand had been brought to him, and what token he +had received of the truth of the message. As for my feeble mind +he said, that I shall leave behind me, for I shall have no need of that +in the place whither I go. Nor is it worth bestowing upon the +poorest pilgrim. Wherefore, when I am gone, I desire that you +would bury it in a dung-hill. This done, and the day being come +in which he was about to depart, he entered the river as the rest. +His last words were, Hold out, faith and patience! So he went +over to the other side.”</p> +<h2>GREAT-HEART</h2> +<blockquote><p>“—when thou shalt enlarge my heart.”—<i>David</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On Sabbath, the 12th December 1886, I heard the late Canon Liddon +preach a sermon in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in which he classed Oliver +Cromwell with Alexander the Sixth and with Richard the Third. +I had taken my estimate of the great Protector’s character largely +from Carlyle’s famous book, and you can judge with what feelings +I heard the canon’s comparison. And, besides, I had been +wont to think of the Protector as having entered largely into John Bunyan’s +portrait of Greatheart, the pilgrim guide. And the researches +and the judgments of Dr. Gardiner have only gone to convince me, the +eloquent canon notwithstanding, that Bunyan could not have chosen a +better contemporary groundwork for his Greatheart than just the great +Puritan soldier. Cromwell’s “mental struggles before +his conversion,” his life-long “searchings of heart,” +his “utter absence of vindictiveness,” his unequalled capacity +for “seeing into the heart of a situation,” and his own +“all-embracing hospitality of heart”—all have gone +to reassure me that my first guess as to Bunyan’s employment of +the Protector’s matchless personality and services had not been +so far astray. And the oftener I read the noble history of Greatheart, +the better I seem to hear, beating behind his fine figure, by far the +greatest heart that ever ruled over the realm of England.</p> +<p>1. The first time that we catch a glimpse of Greatheart’s +weather-beaten and sword-seamed face is when he is taking a stolen look +out of the window at Mr. Fearing, who is conducting himself more like +a chicken than a man around the Interpreter’s door. And +from that moment till Mr. Fearing shouted “Grace reigns!” +as he cleared the last river, never sportsman surely stalked a startled +deer so patiently and so skilfully and so successfully as Greatheart +circumvented that chicken-hearted pilgrim. “At last I looked +out of the window, and perceiving a man to be up and down about the +door, I went out to him and asked him what he was; but, poor man, the +water stood ill his eyes. So I perceived what he wanted. +I went in, therefore, and told it in the house, and we showed the thing +to our Lord. So He sent me out again to entreat him to come in; +but I dare say I had hard work to do it.” Greatheart’s +whole account of Mr. Fearing always brings the water to my eyes also. +It is indeed a delicious piece of English prose. If I were a professor +of <i>belles lettres</i> instead of what I am, I would compel all my +students, under pain of rustication, to get those three or four classical +pages by heart till they could neither perpetrate nor tolerate bad English +any more. This camp-fire tale, told by an old soldier, about a +troublesome young recruit and all his adventures, touches, surely, the +high-water mark of sweet and undefiled English. Greatheart was +not the first soldier who could handle both the sword and the pen, and +he has not been the last. But not Cæsar and not Napier themselves +ever handled those two instruments better.</p> +<p>2. Greatheart had just returned to his Master’s house +from having seen Mr. Fearing safely through all his troubles and well +over the river, when, behold, another caravan of pilgrims is ready for +his convoy. For Greatheart, you must know, was the Interpreter’s +armed servant. When at any time Greatheart was off duty, which +in those days was but seldom, he took up his quarters again in the Interpreter’s +house. As he says himself, he came back from the river-side only +to look out of the Interpreter’s window to see if there was any +more work on the way for him to do. And, as good luck would have +it, as has been said, the guide was just come back from his adventures +with Mr. Fearing when a pilgrim party, than which he had never seen +one more to his mind, was introduced to him by his Master, the Interpreter. +“The Interpreter,” so we read at this point, “then +called for a man-servant of his, one Greatheart, and bid him take sword, +and helmet, and shield, and take these, my daughters,” said he, +“and conduct them to the house called Beautiful, at which place +they will rest next. So he took his weapons and went before them, +and the Interpreter said, God-speed.”</p> +<p>3. Now I saw in my dream that they went on, and Greatheart +went before them, so they came to the place where Christian’s +burden fell off his back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, +they made a pause, and here also they blessed God. “Now,” +said Christiana, “it comes to my mind what was said to us at the +gate; to wit, that we should have pardon by word and by deed. +What it is to have pardon by deed, Mr. Greatheart, I suppose you know; +wherefore, if you please, let us hear your discourse thereof.” +“So then, to speak to the question,” said Greatheart. +You have all heard about the “question-day” at Highland +communions. That day is so called because questions that have +arisen in the minds of “the men” in connection with doctrine +and with experience are on that day set forth, debated out, and solved +by much meditation and prayer; age, saintliness, doctrinal and experimental +reading, and personal experience all making their contribution to the +solution of the question in hand. Just such a question, then, +and handled in such a manner, was that question which whiled the way +and cheated the toil till the pilgrims came to the House Beautiful. +The great doctrinal and experimental Puritans, with Hooker at their +head, put forth their full strength and laid out their finest work just +on this same question that Christiana gave out at the place, somewhat +ascending, upon which stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, +a sepulchre. But not the great Comment on The Galatians itself, +next to the Holy Bible as it is, as most fit for a wounded conscience; +no, nor that perfect mass of purest gold, The Learned Discourse of Justification, +nor anything else of that kind known to me, is for one moment, to compare +in beauty, in tenderness, in eloquence, in scriptural depth, and in +scriptural simplicity with Greatheart’s noble resolution of Christiana’s +question which he made on the way from the Interpreter’s house +to the House Beautiful. “This is brave!” exclaimed +that mother in Israel, when the guide had come to an end. “Methinks +it makes my heart to bleed to think that He should bleed for me. +O Thou loving One! O Thou blessed One! Thou deservest to +have me, for Thou hast bought me. No marvel that this made the +water to stand in my husband’s eyes, and that it made him trudge +so nimbly on. O Mercy, that thy father and thy mother were here; +yea, and Mrs. Timorous too! Nay, I wish now with all my heart +that here was Madam Wanton too. Surely, surely their hearts would +be affected here!” Promise me to read at home Greatheart’s +discourse on the Righteousness of Christ, and you will thank me for +having exacted the promise.</p> +<p>The incongruity of a soldier handling such questions, and especially +in such a style, has stumbled some of John Bunyan’s fault-finding +readers. The same incongruity stumbled “the Honourable Colonel +Hacker, at Peebles or elsewhere,” to whom Cromwell sent these +from Edinburgh on the 25th December 1650—“But indeed I was +not satisfied with your last speech to me about Empson, that he was +a better preacher than fighter or soldier—or words to that effect. +Truly, I think that he that prays and preaches best will fight best. +I know nothing that will give like courage and confidence as the knowledge +of God in Christ will; and I bless God to see any in this army able +and willing to impart the knowledge they have for the good of others. +I pray you receive Captain Empson lovingly: I dare assure you he is +a good man and a good officer; I would we had no worse.”</p> +<p>4. “Will you not go in and stay till morning?” +said the porter to Greatheart, at the gate of the House Beautiful. +“No,” said the guide; “I will return to my lord to-night.” +“O sir!” cried Christiana and Mercy, “we know not +how to be willing you should leave us in our pilgrimage. Oh that +we might have your company till our journey’s end.” +Then said James, the youngest of the boys, “Pray be persuaded +to go with us and help us, because we are so weak and the way so dangerous +as it is.” “I am at my lord’s commandment,” +said Greatheart. “If he shall allow me to be your guide +quite through, I shall willingly wait upon you. But here you failed +at first; for when he bid me come thus far with you, then you should +have begged me of him to have gone quite through with you, and he would +have granted your request. However, at present, I must withdraw, +and so, good Christiana, Mercy, and my brave children, adieu!” +“Help lost for want of asking for,” is our author’s +condemnatory comment on the margin at this point in the history. +And there is not a single page in my history, or in yours, my brethren, +on which the same marginal lament is not written. What help we +would have had on our Lord’s promise if we had but taken the trouble +to ask for it! And what help we once had, and have now lost, just +because when we had it we did not ask for a continuance of it! +“No,” said Greatheart to the porter, and to the two women, +and to James—“No. I will return to my lord to-night. +I am at my lord’s commandment; only, if he shall still allot me +I shall willingly wait upon you.”</p> +<p>Now, what with the House Beautiful, so full of the most delightful +company; what with music in the house and music in the heart; what with +Mr. Brisk’s courtship of Mercy, Matthew’s illness, Mr. Skill’s +cure of the sick man, and what not—a whole month passed by like +a day in that so happy house. But at last Christiana and Mercy +signified it to those of the house that it was time for them to be up +and going. Then said Joseph to his mother, “It is convenient +that you send back to the house of Mr. Interpreter to pray him to grant +that Mr. Greatheart should be sent to us that he may be our conductor +the rest of our way.” “Good boy,” said she, +“I had almost forgot.” So she drew up a petition and +prayed Mr. Watchful the porter to send it by some fit man to her good +friend, Mr. Interpreter; who, when it was come and he had seen the contents +of the petition, said to the messenger, “Go, tell them that I +will send him.” . . . Now, about this time one knocked at the +door. So the porter opened, and, behold, Mr. Greatheart was there! +But when he came in, what joy was there! Then said Mr. Greatheart +to the two women, “My lord has sent each of you a bottle of wine, +and also some parched corn, together with a couple of pomegranates. +He has also sent the boys some figs and raisins to refresh you on your +way.” “The weak may sometimes call the strong to prayers,” +I read again in the margin opposite the mention of Joseph’s name. +Not that I am strong, and not that she is weak, but one of my people +I spent an hour with last afternoon whom you would to a certainty have +called weak had you seen her and her surrounding,—she so called +me to prayer that I had to hurry home and go straight to it. And +all last night and all this morning I have had as many pomegranates +as I could eat and as much wine as I could drink. Yes; you attend +to what the weakest will sometimes say to you, and they will often put +you on the way to get Greatheart back again with a load of wines and +fruits and corn on his shoulder to refresh you on your journey. +“Good boy!” said Christiana to Joseph her youngest son, +“Good boy! I had almost forgot!”</p> +<p>5. When old Mr. Honest began to nod after the good supper that +Gaius mine host gave to the pilgrims, “What, sir,” cried +Greatheart, “you begin to be drowsy; come, rub up; now here’s +a riddle for you.” Then said Mr. Honest, “Let’s +hear it.” Then said Mr. Greatheart,</p> +<blockquote><p>“He that will kill, must first be overcome;<br /> +Who live abroad would, first must die at home.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Hah!” said Mr. Honest, “it is a hard one; hard +to expound, and harder still to practise.” Yes; this after-supper +riddle of Mr. Greatheart is a hard one in both respects; and for this +reason, because the learned and much experienced guide—learned +with all that his life-long quarters in the Interpreter’s House +could teach him, and experienced with a lifetime’s accumulated +experience of the pilgrim life—has put all his learning and all +his life into these two mysterious lines. But old Honest, once +he had sufficiently rubbed up his eyes and his intellects, gave the +answer:</p> +<blockquote><p>“He first by grace must conquered be<br /> + That sin would mortify.<br /> +And who, that lives, would convince me,<br /> + Unto himself must die.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Exactly; shrewd old Honest; you have hit off both Greatheart and +his riddle too. You have dived into the deepest heart of the Interpreter’s +man-servant. “The magnanimous man” was Aristotle’s +masterpiece. That great teacher of mind and morals created for +the Greek world their Greatheart. But, “thou must understand,” +says Bunyan to his readers, “that I never went to school to Aristotle +or Plato. No; but to Paul, who taught Bunyan that what Aristotle +calls magnanimity is really pride—taught him that, till there +is far more of the Christian religion in those two doggerel lines at +Gaius’s supper-table than there is in all The Ethics taken together. +And it is only from a personal experience of the same life as that which +the guide puts here into his riddle that any man’s proud heart +will become really humble and thus really great, really enlarged, and +of an all-embracing hospitality like Cromwell’s and Greatheart’s +and John Bunyan’s own. Would you, then, become a Greatheart +too? And would you be employed in your day as they were employed +in their day? Then expound to yourself, and practise, and follow +out that deep riddle with which Greatheart so woke up old Honest:</p> +<blockquote><p>“He that will kill, must first be overcome;<br /> +Who live abroad would, first must die at home.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>6. Greatheart again and again at the river-side, Greatheart +sending pilgrim after pilgrim over the river with rapture, and he himself +still summoned to turn his back on the Celestial City, and to retrace +his steps through the land of Beulah, through the Valley of the Shadow +of Death, and through the Valley of Humiliation, and back to the Interpreter’s +house to take on another and another and another convoy of fresh pilgrims, +and his own abundant entrance still put off and never to come,—our +hearts bleed for poor Greatheart. Back and forward, back and forward, +year after year, this noble soul uncomplainingly goes. And, ever +as he waves his hand to another pilgrim entering with trumpets within +the gates, he salutes his next pilgrim charge with the brave words: +“Yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait +betwixt two: having a desire to depart and to be with Christ. +Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you, for your +furtherance and joy of faith by my coming to you again.” +If Greatheart could not “usher himself out of this life” +along with Christiana, and Mercy, and Mr. Honest, and Standfast, and +Valiant-for-truth—if he had still to toil back and bleed his way +up again at the head of another happy band of pilgrims—well, after +all is said, what had the Celestial City itself to give to Greatheart +better than such blessed work? With every such returning journey +he got a more and more enlarged, detached, hospitable, and Christ-like +heart, and the King’s palace in very glory itself had nothing +better in store for this soldier-guide than that. A nobler heaven +Greatheart could not taste than he had already in himself, as he championed +another and another pilgrim company from his Master’s earthly +gate to his Master’s heavenly gate. Like Paul, his apostolic +prototype, Greatheart sometimes vacillated just for a moment when he +came a little too near heaven, and felt its magnificent and almost dissolving +attractions full in his soul. You will see Greatheart’s +mind staggering for a moment between rest and labour, between war and +peace, between “Christ” on earth and “Christ” +in heaven—you will see all that set forth with great sympathy +and great ability in Principal Rainy’s new book on Paul’s +Epistle to the Philippians, and in the chapter entitled, The Apostle’s +Choice between Living and Dying.</p> +<p>Then there came a summons for Mr. Standfast. At which he called +to him Mr. Greatheart, and said unto him, “Sir, although it was +not my hap to be much in your good company in the days of my pilgrimage, +yet, since the time I knew you, you have been profitable to me. +When I came from home I left behind me a wife and five small children. +Let me entreat you, at your return (for I know that you will go and +return to your master’s house in hopes that you may be a conductor +to more of the holy pilgrims), that you send to my family and let them +be acquainted with all that hath and shall happen to me. Tell +them, moreover, of my happy arrival to this place, and of the present +late blessed condition I am in, and so on for many other messages and +charges.” Yes, Mr. Standfast; very good. But I would +have liked you on your deathbed much better if you had had a word to +spare from yourself and your wife and your children for poor Greatheart +himself, who had neither wife nor children, nor near hope of heaven, +but only your trust and charge and many suchlike trusts and charges +to carry out when you are at home and free of all trust and all charge +and all care. But yours is the way of all the pilgrims—so +long, at least, as they are in this selfish life. Let them and +their children only be well looked after, and they have not many thoughts +or many words left for those who sweat and bleed to death for them and +theirs. They lean on this and that Greatheart all their own way +up, and then they leave their widows and children to lean on whatever +Greatheart is sent to meet them; but it is not one pilgrim in ten who +takes the thought or has the heart to send a message to Mr. Greatheart +himself for his own consolation and support. I read that Mr. Ready-to-halt +alone, good soul, had the good feeling to do it. He thanked Mr. +Greatheart for his conduct and for his kindness, and so addressed himself +to his journey. All the same, noble Greatheart! go on in thy magnanimous +work. Take back all their errands. Seek out at any trouble +all their wives and children. Embark again and again on all thy +former battles and hardships for the good of other men. But be +assured that all this thy labour is not in vain in thy Lord. Be +well assured that not one drop of thy blood or thy sweat or thy tears +shall fall to the ground on that day when they that be wise shall shine +as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness +as the stars for ever and ever. Go back, then, from thy well-earned +rest, O brave Greatheart! go back to thy waiting task. Put on +again thy whole armour. Receive again, and again fulfil, thy Master’s +commission, till He has no more commissions left for thy brave heart +and thy bold hand to execute. And, one glorious day, while thou +art still returning to thy task, it shall suddenly sound in thy dutiful +ears:—“Well done! good and faithful servant!” +And then thou too</p> +<blockquote><p>“Shalt hang thy trumpet in the hall<br /> +And study war no more.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>MR. READY-TO-HALT</h2> +<blockquote><p>“For I am ready to halt.”—<i>David</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Ready-to-halt is the Mephibosheth of the pilgrimage. While +Mephibosheth was still a child in arms, his nurse let the young prince +fall, and from that day to the day of his death he was lame in both +his feet. Mephibosheth’s life-long lameness, and then David’s +extraordinary grace to the disinherited cripple in commanding him to +eat continually at the king’s table; in those two points we have +all that we know about Mr. Ready-to-halt also. We have no proper +portrait, as we say, of Mr. Ready-to-halt. Mr. Ready-to-halt is +but a name on John Bunyan’s pages—a name set upon two crutches; +but, then, his simple name is so suggestive and his two crutches are +so eloquent, that I feel as if we might venture to take this life-long +lameter and his so serviceable crutches for our character-lecture to-night.</p> +<p>John Bunyan, who could so easily and so delightfully have done it, +has given us no information at all about Mr. Ready-to-halt’s early +days. For once his English passion for a pedigree has not compelled +our author’s pen. We would have liked immensely to have +been told the name, and to have seen displayed the whole family tree +of young Ready-to-halt’s father; and, especially, of his mother. +Who was his nurse also? And did she ever forgive herself for the +terrible injury she had done her young master? What were his occupations +and amusements as a little cripple boy? Who made him his first +crutch? Of what wood was it made? And at what age, and under +whose kind and tender directions did he begin to use it? And, +then, with such an infirmity, what ever put it into Mr. Ready-to-halt’s +head to attempt the pilgrimage? For the pilgrimage was a task +and a toil that took all the limbs and all the lungs and all the labours +and all the endurances that the strongest and the bravest of men could +bring to bear upon it. How did this complete cripple ever get +through the Slough, and first up and then down the Hill Difficulty, +and past all the lions, and over a thousand other obstacles and stumbling-blocks, +till he arrived at mine host’s so hospitable door? The first +surprised sight we get of this so handicapped pilgrim is when Greatheart +and Feeble-mind are in the heat of their discourse at the hostelry door. +At that moment Mr. Ready-to-halt came by with his crutches in his hand, +and he also was going on pilgrimage. Thus, therefore, they went +on. Mr. Greatheart and Mr. Honest went on before, Christiana and +her children went next, and Mr. Feeble-mind and Mr. Ready-to-halt came +behind with his crutches.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Put by the curtains, look within my veil,<br /> +Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail,<br /> +There, if thou seekest them, such things to find,<br /> +As will be helpful to an honest mind.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>1. Well, then, when we put by the curtains and turn up the +metaphors, what do we find? What, but just this, that poor Mr. +Ready-to-halt was, after all, the greatest and the best believer, as +the New Testament would have called him, in all the pilgrimage. +We have not found so great faith as that of Mr. Ready-to-halt, no, not +in the very best of the pilgrim bands. Each several pilgrim had, +no doubt, his own good qualities; but, at pure and downright believing—at +taking God at His bare and simple word—Mr. Ready-to-halt beat +them all. All that flashes in upon us from one shining word that +stands on the margin of our so metaphorical author. This single +word, the “promises,” hangs like a key of gold beside the +first mention of Mr. Ready-to-halt’s crutches—a key such +that in a moment it throws open the whole of Mr. Ready-to-halt’s +otherwise lockfast and secret and inexplicable life. There it +all is, as plain as a pike-staff now! Yes; Mr. Ready-to-halt’s +crutches are just the divine promises. I wonder I did not see +that all the time. Why, I could compose all his past life myself +now. I have his father and his mother and his nurse at my finger-ends +now. This poor pilgrim—unless it would be impertinence to +call him poor any more—had no limbs to be called limbs. +Such limbs as he had were only an encumbrance to this unique pedestrian. +All the limbs he had were in his crutches. He had not one atom +of strength to lean upon apart from his crutches. A bone, a muscle, +a tendon, a sinew, may be ill-nourished, undeveloped, green, and unknit, +but, at the worst, they are inside of a man and they are his own. +But a crutch, of however good wood it may be made, and however good +a lame man may be at using it—still, a crutch at its best is but +an outside additament; it is not really and originally a part of a man’s +very self at all. And yet a lame man is not himself without his +crutch. Other men do not need to give a moment’s forethought +when they wish to rise up to walk, or to run, or to leap, or to dance. +But the lame man has to wait till his crutches are brought to him; and +then, after slowly and painfully hoisting himself up upon his crutches, +with great labour, he at last takes the road. Mr. Ready-to-halt, +then, is a man of God; but he is one of those men of God who have no +godliness within themselves. He has no inward graces. He +has no past experiences. He has no attainments that he can for +one safe moment take his stand upon, or even partly lean upon. +Mr. Ready-to-halt is absolutely and always dependent upon the promises. +The promises of God in Holy Scripture are this man’s very life. +All his religion stands in the promises. Take away the promises, +and Mr. Ready-to-halt is a heap of heaving rags on the roadside. +He cannot take a single step unless upon a promise. But, at the +same time, give Mr. Ready-to-halt a promise in his hand and he will +wade the Slough upon it, and scale up and slide down the Hill Difficulty +upon it, and fight a lion, and even brain Beelzebub with it, till he +will with a grudge and a doubt exchange it even for the chariots and +the horses that wait him at the river. What a delight our Lord +would have taken in Mr. Ready-to-halt had He come across him on His +way to the passover! How He would have given Mr. Ready-to-halt +His arm; how He would have made Himself late by walking with him, and +would still have waited for him! Nay, had that been a day of chap-books +in carpenters’ shops and on the village stalls, how He would have +had Mr. Ready-to-halt’s story by heart had any brass-worker in +Galilee told the history! Our Lord was within an inch of telling +that story Himself, when He showed Thomas His hands and His side. +And at another time and in another place we might well have had Mr. +Ready-to-halt as one more of our Lord’s parables for the common +people. Only, He left the delight and the reward of drawing out +this parable to one He already saw and dearly loved in a far-off island +of the sea, the Puritan tinker of Evangelical England.</p> +<p>2. And now, after all that, would you think it going too far +if I were to say that in making Himself like unto all His brethren, +our Lord made Himself like Mr. Ready-to-halt too? Indeed He did. +And it was because his Lord did this, that Mr. Ready-to-halt so loved +his Lord as to follow Him upon crutches. It would not be thought +seemly, perhaps, to carry the figure too close to our Lord. But, +figure apart, it is only orthodox and scriptural to say that our Lord +accomplished His pilgrimage and finished His work leaning all along +upon His Father’s promises. Esaias is very bold about this +also, for he tells his readers again and again that their Messiah, when +He comes, will have to be held up. He will have to be encouraged, +comforted, and carried through by Jehovah. And in one remarkable +passage he lets us see Jehovah hooping Messiah’s staff first with +brass, and then with silver, and then with gold. Let Thomas Goodwin’s +genius set the heavenly scene full before us. “You have +it dialoguewise set forth,” says that great preacher. “First +Christ shows His commission, telling God how He had called Him and fitted +Him for the work of redemption, and He would know what reward He should +receive of Him for so great an undertaking. God at first offers +low; only the elect of Israel. Christ thinks these too few, and +not worth so great a labour and work, because few of the Jews would +come in; and therefore He says that He would labour in vain if this +were all His recompense; and yet withal He tells God that seeing His +heart is so much set on saving sinners, to satisfy Him, He will do it +even for those few. Upon this God comes off more freely, and openeth +His heart more largely to Him, as meaning more amply to content Him +for His pains in dying. ‘It is a light thing,’ says +God to Him, ‘that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the +tribes of Jacob—that is not worth Thy dying for. I value +Thy sufferings more than so. I will give Thee for a salvation +to the ends of the earth.’ Upon this He made a promise to +Christ, a promise which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world +began. God cannot lie, and, most of all, not to His Son.”</p> +<p>And, then, more even than that. This same deep divine tells +us that it is a certain rule in divinity that, whatsoever we receive +from Christ, that He Himself first receives in Himself for us. +All the promises of God’s word are made and fulfilled to Christ +first, and so to us in and after Him. In other words, our Lord’s +life was so planned for Him in heaven and was so followed out and fulfilled +by Him on earth, that, to take up the metaphor again, He actually tried +every crutch and every staff with His own hands and with His own armpits; +He actually leaned again and again His own whole weight upon every several +one of them. Every single promise, the most unlikely for Him to +lean upon and to plead, yet, be sure of it, He somehow made experiment +upon them all, and made sure that there was sufficient and serviceable +grace within and under every one of them. So that, Mr. Ready-to-halt, +there is no possible staff you can take into your hand that has not +already been in the hand of your Lord. Think of that, O Mr. Ready-to-halt! +Reverence, then, and almost worship thy staff! Throw all thy weight +upon thy staff. Confide all thy weakness to it. Talk to +it as thou walkest with it. Make it talk to thee. Worm out +of it all its secrets about its first Owner. And let it instruct +thee about how He walked with it and how He handled it. The Bible +is very bold with its Master. It calls Him by the most startling +names sometimes. There is no name that a penitent and a returning +sinner goes by that the Bible does not put somewhere upon the sinner’s +Saviour. And in one place it as good as calls Him Ready-to-halt +in as many words. Nay, it lets us see Him halting altogether for +a time; ay, oftener than once; and only taking the road again, when +a still stronger staff was put into his trembling hand. And if +John had but had room in his crowded gospel he would have given us the +very identical psalm with which our Lord took to the upward way again, +strong in His new staff. “For I am ready to halt,” +was His psalm in the house of His pilgrimage, “and My sorrow is +continually before Me. Mine enemies are lively, and they are strong; +and they that hate Me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that +render evil for good are Mine adversaries; because I follow the thing +that good is. Forsake Me not, O Lord; O My God, be not far from +Me. Make haste to help Me, O Lord My salvation.”</p> +<p>3. Among all the devout and beautiful fables of the “dispensation +of paganism,” there is nothing finer than the fable of blind Tiresias +and his staff. By some sad calamity this old prophet had lost +the sight of his eyes, and to compensate their servant for that great +loss the gods endowed him with a staff with eyes. As Aaron’s +rod budded before the testimony and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds, +so Tiresias’ staff budded eyes, and divine eyes too, for the blind +prophet’s guidance and direction. Tiresias had but to take +his heaven-given staff in his hand, when, straightway, such a divinity +entered into the staff that it both saw for him with divine eyes, and +heard for him with divine ears, and then led him and directed him, and +never once in all his after journeys let him go off the right way. +All other men about him, prophets and priests both, often lost their +way, but Tiresias after his blindness, never, till Tiresias and his +staff became a proverb and a parable in the land. And just such +a staff, just such a crutch, just such a pair of crutches, were the +crutches of our own so homely Mr. Ready-to-halt. With all their +lusty limbs, all the other pilgrims often stumbled and went out of their +way till they had to be helped up, led back, and their faces set right +again. But, last as Mr. Ready-to-halt always came in the procession—behind +even the women and the children as his crutches always kept him—you +will seek in vain for the dot of those crutches on any by-path or on +any wrong road. No; the fact is, if you wish to go to the same +city, and are afraid you lose the way; as Evangelist said, “Do +you see yon shining light?” so I would say to you to-night, “Do +you see these crutch-marks on the road?” Well, keep your +feet in the prints of these crutches, and as sure as you do that they +will lead you straight to a chariot and horses, which, again, will carry +you inside the city gates. For Mr. Ready-to-halt’s crutches +have not only eyes like Tiresias’ staff, they have ears also, +and hands and feet. A lamp also burns on those crutches; and wine +and oil distil from their wonderful wood. Happy blindness that +brings such a staff! Happy exchange! eyes full of earth and sin +for eyes full of heaven and holiness!</p> +<p>4. “They began to be merry,” says our Lord, telling +the story of the heart-broken father who had got back his younger son +from a far country. And even Feeble-mind and Ready-to-halt begin +to be merry on the green that day after Doubting Castle has fallen to +Greatheart’s arms. Now, Christiana, if need was, could play +upon the viol, and her daughter Mercy upon the lute; and, since they +were so merry disposed, she played them a lesson, and Mr. Ready-to-halt +would dance. So he paid a boy a penny to hold one of his crutches, +and, taking Miss Much-afraid by the hand, to dancing they went. +And, I promise you he footed it well; the lame man leaped as an hart; +also the girl was to be commended, for she answered the music handsomely. +In spite of his life-long infirmity, there was deep down in Mr. Ready-to-halt +an unsuspected fund of good-humour. There was no heartier merriment +on the green that day than was the merriment that Mr. Ready-to-halt +knocked out of his nimble crutch. “True, he could not dance +without one crutch in his hand.” True, dear and noble Bunyan, +thou canst not write a single page at any time or on any subject without +thy genius and thy tenderness and thy divine grace marking the page +as thine own alone!</p> +<p>5. The next time we see Mr. Ready-to-halt he is coming in on +his crutches to see Christiana, for she has sent for him to see him. +So she said to him, “Thy travel hither hath been with difficulty, +but that will make thy rest the sweeter.” And then in process +of time there came a post to the town and his business this time was +with Mr. Ready-to-halt. “I am come to thee in the name of +Him whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches. And +my message is to tell thee that He expects thee at His table to sup +with Him in His kingdom the next day after Easter.” “I +am sent for,” said Mr. Ready-to-halt to his fellow-pilgrims, “and +God shall surely visit you also. These crutches,” he said, +“I bequeath to my son that shall tread in my steps, with an hundred +warm wishes that he may prove better than I have done.” +Isaac was a child of promise, and Mr. Ready-to-halt had an Isaac also +on whom his last thoughts turned. Isaac had been born to Abraham +by a special and extraordinary and supernatural interposition of the +grace and the power of God; and Mr. Ready-to-halt had always looked +on himself as a second Abraham in that respect. A second Abraham, +and more. True, his son was not yet a pilgrim; perhaps he was +too young to be so called; but Greatheart will take back the old man’s +crutches—Greatheart was both man-of-war and beast-of-burden to +the pilgrims and their wives and children—and will in spare hours +teach young Ready-to-halt the use of the crutch, till the son can use +with the same effect as his father his father’s instrument. +Is your child a child of promise? Is he to you a product of nature, +or of grace? Did you receive him and his brothers and sisters +from God after you were as good as dead? Did you ever steal in +when his nurse was at supper and say over his young cradle, He hath +not dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities? +Is it in your will laid up with Christ in God about your crutches and +your son what Mr. Ready-to-halt dictated on his deathbed? And +does God know that there is no wish in your old heart a hundred times +so warm for your son as is this wish,—that he may prove better +at handling God’s promises than you have been? Then, happy +son, who has old Mr. Ready-to-halt for his father!</p> +<p>6. “He whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon +crutches, expects thee at His table the next day after Easter.” +Take comfort, cripples! Had it been said that the King so expects +Greatheart, or Standfast, or Valiant-for-truth, that would have been +after the manner of the kings of this world. But to insist on +having Mr. Ready-to-halt beside Him by such and such a day; to send +such a post to a pilgrim who has not a single sound bone in all his +body; to a sinner without a single trustworthy grace in all his heart; +to a poor and simple believer who has nothing in his hand but one of +God’s own promises—Who is a king like unto our King? +Surely King David was never a better type of Christ than when he said +to Mephibosheth, lame in both his feet from his nurse’s arms: +“Fear not, Mephibosheth, for I will surely show thee kindness, +and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.” And Mephibosheth +shall always be our spokesman when he bows himself and says in return: +“What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead +dog as I am?”</p> +<h2>VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH</h2> +<blockquote><p>“—They are not valiant for the truth.”—<i>Jeremiah</i></p> +<p>“—Ye should contend earnestly for the faith.”—<i>Jude</i>.</p> +<p>“Forget not Master Valiant-for-the-Truth,<br /> +That man of courage, tho’ a very youth.<br /> +Tell every one his spirit was so stout,<br /> +No man could ever make him face about.”<br /> +<i>Bunyan</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“I am of Dark-land, for there was I born, and there my father +and mother are still.” “Dark-land,” said the +guide; “doth not that lie upon the same coast as the City of Destruction?” +“Yes, it doth,” replied Valiant-for-truth. “And +had I not found incommodity there, I had not forsaken it at all; but +finding it altogether unsuitable to me, and very unprofitable for me, +I forsook it for this way. Now, that which caused me to come on +pilgrimage was this. We had one Mr. Tell-true came into our parts, +and he told it about what Christian had done, that went from the City +of Destruction. That man so told the story of Christian and his +travels that my heart fell into a burning haste to be gone after him, +nor could my father and mother stay me, so I got from them, and am come +thus far on my way.”</p> +<p>1. A very plain and practical lesson is already read to us +all in Valiant-for-truth’s explanation of his own pilgrimage. +He tells the guide that he was made a pilgrim just by having the story +of The Pilgrim told to him. All that Tell-true did was just to +recite the story of the pilgrim, when young Valiant’s heart fell +into a burning haste to be a pilgrim too. My brethren, could any +lesson be plainer? Read the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> with +your children. And, after a time, read it again till they call +it beautiful, and till you see the same burning haste in their hearts +that young Valiant felt in his heart. Circulate the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i>. Make opportunities to give the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i> to the telegraph boys and errand boys at your door. +Never go on a holiday without taking a dozen cheap and tasteful copies +of <i>The Pilgrim</i> to give to boys and girls in the country. +Make sure that no one, old or young, of your acquaintance, in town or +country, is without a good copy of <i>The Pilgrim</i>. And the +darker their house is, make all the more sure that John Bunyan is in +it.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Now may this little book a blessing be,<br /> +To those that love this little book and me<br /> +And may its buyer have no cause to say<br /> +His money is but lost or thrown away.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>2. But the great lesson of Valiant’s so impressive life +lies in the tremendous fight he had with three ruffians who all set +upon him at once and well-nigh made an end of him. For, when we +put by the curtains here again, and turn up the metaphors, what do we +find? What, but a lesson of first-rate importance for many men +among ourselves; for many public men, many ministers, and many other +much-in-earnest men. For Valiant, as his name tells us, was set +to contend for the truth. He had the truth. The truth was +put into his keeping, and he was bound to defend it. He was thrown +into a life of controversy, and thus into all the terrible temptations—worse +than the temptations to whoredom or wine—that accompany a life +of controversy. The three scoundrels that fell upon Valiant at +the mouth of the lane were Wildhead, Inconsiderate, and Pragmatic. +In other words, the besetting temptations of many men who are set as +defenders of the truth in religion, as well as in other matters, is +to be wild-headed, inconsiderate, self-conceited, and intolerably arrogant. +The bloody battle that Valiant fought, you must know, was not fought +at the mouth of any dark lane in the midnight city, nor on the side +of any lonely road in the moonless country. This terrible fight +was fought in Valiant’s own heart. For Valiant was none +of your calculating and cold-blooded friends of the truth. He +did not wait till he saw the truth walking in silver slippers. +Let any man lay a finger on the truth, or wag a tongue against the truth, +and he will have to settle it with Valiant. His love for the truth +was a passion. There was a fierceness in his love for the truth +that frightened ordinary men even when they were on his own side. +Valiant would have died for the truth without a murmur. But, with +all that, Valiant had to learn a hard and a cruel lesson. He had +to learn that he, the best friend of truth as he thought he was, was +at the same time, as a matter of fact, the greatest enemy that the truth +had. He had to take home the terrible discovery that no man had +hurt the truth so much as he had done. Save me from my friend! +the truth was heard to say, as often as she saw him taking up his weapons +in her behalf. We see all that every day. We see Wildhead +at his disservice of the truth every day. Sometimes above his +own name, and sometimes with grace enough to be ashamed to give his +name, in the newspapers. Sometimes on the platform; sometimes +in the pulpit; and sometimes at the dinner-table. But always to +the detriment of the truth. In blind fury he rushes at the character +and the good name of men who were servants of the truth before he was +born, and whose shield he is not worthy to bear. How shall Wildhead +be got to see that he and the like of him are really the worst friends +the truth can possibly have? Will he never learn that in his wild-bull +gorings at men and at movements, he is both hurting himself and hurting +the truth as no sworn enemy of his and of the truth can do? Will +he never see what an insolent fool he is to go on imputing bad motives +to other men, when he ought to be prostrate before God on account of +his own? More than one wild-headed student of William Law has +told me what a blessing they have got from that great man’s teaching +on the subject of controversy. Will the Wildheads here to-night +take a line or two out of that peace-making author and lay them to heart? +“My dear L-, take notice of this, that no truths, however solid +and well-grounded, will help you to any divine life, but only so far +as they are taught, nourished, and strengthened by an unction from above; +and that nothing more dries and extinguishes this heavenly unction than +a talkative reasoning temper that is always catching at every opportunity +of hearing or telling some religious matters. Stop your ears and +shut your eyes to all religious tales . . . I would no more bring a +false charge against a deist than I would bear false witness against +an apostle. And if I knew how to do the deists more justice in +debate I would gladly do it . . . And as the gospel requires me to be +as glad to see piety, equity, strict sobriety, and extensive charity +in a Jew or a Gentile as in a Christian; as it obliges me to look with +pleasure upon their virtues, and to be thankful to God that such persons +have so much of true and sound Christianity in them; so it cannot be +an unchristian spirit to be as glad to see truths in one party of Christians +as in another, and to look with pleasure upon any good doctrines that +are held by any sect of Christian people, and to be thankful to God +that they have so much of the genuine saving truths of the gospel among +them . . . Selfishness and partiality are very inhuman and base qualities +even in the things of this world, but in the doctrines of religion they +are of a far baser nature. In the present divided state of the +Church, truth itself is torn and divided asunder; and, therefore, he +is the only true Catholic who has more of truth and less of error than +is hedged in by any divided part. To see this will enable us to +live in a divided part unhurt by its division, and keep us in a true +liberty and fitness to be edified and assisted by all the good that +we hear or see in any other part of the Church. And thus, uniting +in heart and spirit with all that is holy and good in all Churches, +we enter into the true communion of saints, and become real members +of the Holy Catholic Church, though we are confined to the outward worship +of only one particular part of it. And thus we will like no truth +the less because Ignatius Loyola or John Bunyan were very jealous for +it, nor have the less aversion to any error because Dr. Trapp or George +Fox had brought it forth.” If Wildhead would take a winter +of William Law, it would sweeten his temper, and civilise his manners, +and renew his heart.</p> +<p>3. Inconsiderate, again, is the shallow creature he is, and +does the endless mischief that he does, largely for lack of imagination. +He never thinks—neither before he speaks nor after he has spoken. +He never put himself in another man’s place all his days. +He is incapable of doing that. He has neither the head nor the +heart to do that. He never once said, How would I like that said +about me? or, How would I like that done to me? or, How would that look +and taste and feel to me if I were in So-and-so’s place? +It needs genius to change places with other men; it needs a grace beyond +all genius; and this poor headless and heartless creature does not know +what genius is. It needs imagination, the noblest gift of the +mind, and it needs love, the noblest grace of the heart, to consider +the case of other people, and to see, as Butler says, that we differ +as much from other people as they differ from us. And it is by +far the noblest use of the imagination, far nobler than carving a Laocoon, +or painting a Last Judgment, or writing a “Paradiso” or +a “Paradise Lost,” to put ourselves into the places of other +men so as to see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, and sympathise +with their principles, and even with their prejudices. Now, the +inconsiderate man has so little imagination and so little love that +he is sitting here and does not know what I am saying; and what suspicion +he has of what I am saying is just enough to make him dislike both me +and what I am saying too. But his dull suspicion and his blind +dislike are more than made up for by the love and appreciation of those +lovers and defenders of the truth who painfully feel how wild and inconsiderate, +how hot-headed, how thoughtless, and how reckless their past service +even of God’s truth has been.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The King is full of grace and fair regard.<br /> +Consideration, like an angel, came<br /> +And whipp’d the offending Adam out of him.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>4. And as to Pragmatic, I would not call you a stupid person +even though you confided to me that you had never heard this footpad’s +name till to-night. John Bunyan has been borrowing Latin again, +and not to the improvement of his style, or to the advantage of his +readers. It would be insufferably pragmatic in me to begin to +set John Bunyan right in his English; but I had rather offend the shades +of a hundred John Bunyans than leave my most unlettered hearer without +his full and proper Sabbath-night lesson. The third armed thief, +then, that fell upon Valiant was, under other names, Impertinence, Meddlesomeness, +Officiousness, Over-Interference. Pragmatic,—by whatever +name he calls himself, there is no mistaking him. He is never +satisfied. He is never pleased. He is never thankful. +He is always setting his superiors right. He is like the Psalmist +in one thing, he has more understanding than all his teachers. +And he enjoys nothing more than in letting them know that. There +is nothing he will not correct you in—from cutting for the stone +to commanding the Channel Fleet. Now, if all that has put any +visual image of Pragmatic into your mind, you will see at once what +an enemy he too is fitted to be to the truth. For the truth does +not stand in points, but in principles. The truth does not dwell +in the letter but in the spirit. The truth is not served by setting +other people right, but by seeing every day and in every thing how far +wrong we are ourselves. The truth is like charity in this, that +it begins at home. It is like charity in this also, that it never +behaves itself unseemly. A pragmatical man, taken along with an +inconsiderate man, and then a wild-headed man added on to them, are +three about as fatal hands as any truth could fall into. The worst +enemy of the truth must pity the truth, and feel his hatred at the truth +relenting, when he sees her under the championship of Wildhead, Inconsiderate, +and Pragmatic.</p> +<p>5. The first time we see Valiant-for-truth he is standing at +the mouth of Dead-man’s-lane with his sword in his hand and with +his face all bloody. “They have left upon me, as you see,” +said the bleeding man, “some of the marks of their valour, and +have also carried away with them some of mine.” And, in +like manner, we see Paul with the blood of Barnabas still upon him when +he is writing the thirteenth of First Corinthians; and John with the +blood of the Samaritans still upon him down to his old age when he is +writing his First Epistle; and John Bunyan with the blood of the Quakers +upon him when he is covertly writing this page of his autobiography +under the veil of Valiant-for-truth; and William Law with the blood +of Bishop Hoadly and John Wesley dropping on the paper as he pens that +golden passage which ends with Dr. Trapp and George Fox. Where +did you think Paul got that splendid passage about charity? Where +did you think William Law got that companion passage about Church divisions, +and about the Church Catholic? Where are such passages ever got +by inspired apostles, or by any other men, but out of their own bloody +battles with their own wild-headedness, intolerance, dislike, and resentment? +Where do you suppose I got the true key to the veiled metaphor of Valiant-for-truth? +It does not exactly hang on the doorpost of his history. Where, +then, could I get it but off the inside wall of my own place of repentance? +Just as you understand what I am now labouring to say, not from my success +in saying it, but from your own trespasses against humility and love, +your unadvised speeches, and your wild and whirling words. Without +shame and remorse, without self-condemnation and self-contempt, none +of those great passages of Paul, or John, or Bunyan, or Law were ever +written; and without a like shame, remorse, self-condemnation, and self-contempt +they are not rightly read.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Oh! who shall dare in this frail scene<br /> +On holiest, happiest thoughts to lean,<br /> +On Friendship, Kindred, or on Love?<br /> +Since not Apostles’ hands can clasp<br /> +Each other in so firm a grasp,<br /> +But they shall change and variance prove.</p> +<p>“But sometimes even beneath the moon<br /> +The Saviour gives a gracious boon,<br /> +When reconciled Christians meet,<br /> +And face to face, and heart to heart,<br /> +High thoughts of Holy love impart<br /> +In silence meek, or converse sweet.</p> +<p>“Oh then the glory and the bliss<br /> +When all that pained or seemed amiss<br /> +Shall melt with earth and sin away!<br /> +When saints beneath their Saviour’s eye,<br /> +Filled with each other’s company,<br /> +Shall spend in love the eternal day!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>6. Then said Greatheart to Mr. Valiant-for-truth, “Thou +hast worthily behaved thyself; let me see thy sword.” So +he showed it him. When he had taken it in his hand and had looked +thereon a while, the guide said: “Ha! it is a right Jerusalem +blade!” “It is so,” replied its owner. +“Let a man have one of these blades with a hand to wield it, and +skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with it. Its +edges will never blunt. It will cut flesh, and bones, and soul, +and spirit, and all.” Both Damascus and Toledo blades were +famous in former days for their tenacity and flexibility, and for the +beauty and the edge of their steel. But even a Damascus blade +would be worthless in a weak, cowardly, or unskilled hand; while even +a poor sword in the hand of a good swordsman will do excellent execution. +And much more so when you have both a first-rate sword and a first-rate +swordsman, such as both Valiant and his Jerusalem blade were. +Ha! yes. This is a right wonderful blade we have now in our hand. +For this sword was forged in no earthly fire; and it was whetted to +its unapproachable sharpness on no earthly whetstone. But, best +of all for us, when a good soldier of Jesus Christ has this sword girt +on his thigh he is able then to go forth against himself with it; against +his own only and worst enemy—that is, against himself. As +here, against his own wildness of head and pride of heart. Against +his own want of consideration also. “My people do not consider.” +As also against himself as a lawless invader of other men’s freedom +of judgment, following of truth, public honour, and good name. +As the Arabian warriors see themselves and dress themselves in their +swords as in a glass, so did Valiant-for-truth see the thoughts and +intents, the joints and the marrow of his own disordered soul in his +Jerusalem blade. In the sheen of it he could see himself even +when the darkness covered him; and with its two edges all his after-life +he slew both all real error in other men and all real evil in himself. +“Thou hast done well,” said Greatheart the guide. +“Thou hast resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Thou +shalt abide by us, come in and go out with us, for we are thy companions.”</p> +<p>7. “Sir,” said the widow indeed to Valiant-for-truth, +“sir, you have in all places shown yourself true-hearted.” +The first time she ever saw this man that she is now seeing for the +last time on this side the river, his own mother would not have known +him, he was so hacked to pieces with the swords of his three assailants. +But as she washed the blood off the mangled man’s head and face +and hands, she soon saw beneath all his bloody wounds a true, a brave, +and a generous-hearted soldier of the Cross. The heart is always +the man. And this woman had lived long enough with men to have +discovered that. And with all his sears she saw that it was at +bottom the truth of his heart that had cast him into so many bloody +encounters. There were men in that company, and men near the river +too, with far fewer marks of battle, and even of defeat, upon them, +who did not get this noble certificate and its accompanying charge and +trust from this clear-eyed widow. And, then, she had never forgot—how +could she?—his exclamation, and almost embrace of her as of his +own mother, when he burst out with his eyes full of blood, “Why, +is this Christian’s wife? What! and going on pilgrimage +too? It glads my heart! Good man! How joyful will +he be when he shall see her and her children enter after him in at the +gates into the city!” He would have been hacked a hundred +times worse than he was before the widow of Christian, and the mother +of his children, would have seen anything but the manliest beauty in +a young soldier who could salute an old woman in that way. It +gladdened her heart to hear him, you may be sure, as much as it gladdened +his heart to see her. And that was the reason that she actually +set Greatheart himself aside, and left her children under this young +man’s sword and shield. “I would also entreat you +to have an eye to my children,” she said. Young men, has +any dying mother committed her children, if you at any time see them +faint, to you? Have you ever spoken so comfortably to any poor +widow about her sainted husband that she has passed by some of our foremost +citizens, and has astonished and offended her lawyers by putting a stripling +like you into the trusteeship? Did ever any dying mother say to +you that she had seen you to be so true-hearted at all times that she +entreated you to have an eye to her children? Speaking at this +point for myself, I would rather see my son so trusted at such an hour +by such a woman than I would see him the Chancellor of Her Majesty’s +Exchequer, or the Governor of the Bank of England. And so to-night +would you.</p> +<h2>STANDFAST</h2> +<blockquote><p>“So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In his supplementary picture of Standfast John Bunyan is seen at +his very best, both as a religious teacher and as an English author. +On the Enchanted Ground Standfast is set before us with extraordinary +insight, sagacity, and wisdom; and then in the terrible river he is +set before us with an equally extraordinary rapture and transport; while, +in all that, Bunyan composes in English of a strength and a beauty and +a music in which he positively surpasses himself. Just before +he closes his great book John Bunyan rises up and once more puts forth +his very fullest strength, both as a minister of religion and as a classical +writer, when he takes Standfast down into that river which that pilgrim +tells us has been such a terror to so many, and the thought of which +has so often affrighted himself.</p> +<p>When Greatheart and his charge were almost at the end of the Enchanted +Ground, so we read, they perceived that a little before them was a solemn +noise as of one that was much concerned. So they went on and looked +before them. And behold, they saw, as they thought, a man upon +his knees, with hands and eyes lift up, and speaking, as they thought, +earnestly to one that was above. They drew nigh, but could not +tell what he said; so they went softly till he had done. When +he had done, he got up and began to run towards the Celestial City. +“So-ho, friend, let us have your company,” called out the +guide. At that the man stopped, and they came up to him. +“I know this man,” said Mr. Honest; “his name, I know, +is Standfast, and he is certainly a right good pilgrim.” +Then follows a conversation between Mr. Honest and Mr. Standfast, in +which some compliments and courtesies are exchanged, such as are worthy +of such men, met at such a time and in such a place. “Well, +but, brother,” said Valiant-for-truth, “tell us, I pray +thee, what was it that was the cause of thy being upon thy knees even +now? Was it for that some special mercy laid obligations upon +thee, or how?” And then Standfast tells how as he was coming +along musing with himself, Madam Bubble presented herself to him and +offered him three things. “I was both aweary and sleepy +and also as poor as a howlet, and all that the wicked witch knew. +And still she followed me with her enticements. Then I betook +me, as you saw, to my knees, and with hands lift up and cries, I prayed +to Him who had said that He would help. So just as you came up +the gentlewoman went her way. Then I continued to give thanks +for my great deliverance; for I verify believe she intended me no good, +but rather sought to make stop of me in my journey. What a mercy +is it that I did resist her, for whither might she not have drawn me?” +And then, after all this discourse, there was a mixture of joy and trembling +among the pilgrims, but at last they broke out and sang:</p> +<blockquote><p>“What danger is the pilgrim in,<br /> +How many are his foes,<br /> +How many ways there are to sin,<br /> +No living mortal knows!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>1. “Well, as I was coming along I was musing with myself,” +said Standfast. You understand what it is to come along musing +with yourself, do you not, my brethren? “I will muse on +the work of Thy hands,” says the Psalmist. And again, “While +I was musing the fire burned.” Well, Standfast was much +given to musing, just as David was. Each several pilgrim has his +own way of occupying himself on the road; but Standfast could never +get his fill just of musing. Standfast loved solitude. Standfast +liked nothing better than to walk long stretches at a time all by himself +alone. Standfast was like the apostle when he preferred to take +the twenty miles from Troas to Assos on foot and alone, rather than +to round the cape on shipboard in a crowd. “Minding himself +to go afoot,” says the apostle’s companion. It would +have made a precious chapter in the Acts of the Apostles had the author +of that book been able to give his readers some of Paul’s musings +as he crossed the Troad on foot that day. But in the absence of +Paul’s musings we have here the musings of a man whom Paul would +not have shaken off had he foregathered with him on that lonely road. +For Standfast was in a deep and serious muse mile after mile, when, +who should step into the middle of his path right before him but Madam +Bubble with her body and her purse and her bed? Now, had this +hungry howlet of a pilgrim been at that moment in any other but a musing +mood of mind, he had to a certainty sold himself, soul and body, Celestial +City and all, to that impudent slut. But, as He would have it +who overrules Madam Bubble’s descents, and all things, Standfast +was at that moment in one of his most musing moods, and all her smiles +and all her offers fell flat and poor upon him. Cultivate Standfast’s +mood of mind, my brethren. Walk a good deal alone. Strike +across country from time to time alone and have good long walks and +talks with yourself. And when you know that you are passing places +of temptation see that your thoughts, and even your imaginations, are +well occupied with solemn considerations about the certain issue of +such and such temptations; and then, to you, as to Standfast,</p> +<blockquote><p>“The arrow seen beforehand slacks its flight.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>2. But, musing alone, the arrow seen beforehand, and all, Standfast +would have been a lost man on that lonely road that day had he not instantly +betaken himself to his knees. And it was while Standfast was still +on his knees that the ascending pilgrims heard that concerned and solemn +noise a little ahead of them. Did you ever suddenly come across +a man on his knees? Did you ever surprise a man at prayer as Greatheart +and his companions surprised Standfast? I do not ask, Did you +ever enter a room and find a family around their morning or evening +altar? We have all done that. And it left its own impression +upon us. But did you ever spring a surprise upon a man on his +knees alone and in broad daylight? I did the other day. +It was between eleven and twelve o’clock in the forenoon when +I asked a clerk if his master was in. Yes, he said, and opened +his master’s door. When, before I was aware, I had almost +fallen over a man on his knees and with his face in his hands. +“I pray thee,” said Valiant-for-truth, “tell us what +it was that drew thee to thy knees even now. Was it that some +special mercy laid its obligations on thee, or how?” I did +not say that exactly to my kneeling friend, though it was on the point +of my tongue to say it. My dear friend, I knew, had his own difficulties, +though he was not exactly as poor as a howlet. And it might have +been about some of his investments that had gone out of joint that he +went that forenoon to Him who had said that He would help. Or, +like the author of the <i>Christian Perfection</i> and <i>The Spirit +of Prayer</i>, it was the sixth hour of the day, and he may have gone +to his knees for his clerks, or for his boys at school, or for himself +and for the man in the same business with himself right across the street. +I knew that my friend had the charming book at home in which such counsels +as these occur: “If masters were thus to remember their servants, +beseeching God to bless them, letting no day pass without a full performance +of this devotion, the benefit would be as great to themselves as to +their servants.” And perhaps my friend, after setting his +clerks their several tasks for the day, was now asking grace of God +for each one of them that they might not be eye-servants and men-pleasers, +but the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. +Or, again, he may have read in that noble book this passage: “If +a father were daily to make some particular prayer to God that He would +please to inspire his children with true piety, great humility, and +strict temperance, what could be more likely to make the father himself +become exemplary in these virtues?” Now, my friend (who +can tell?) may just that morning have lost his temper with his son; +or he may last night have indulged himself too much in eating, or in +drinking, or in debate, or in detraction; and that may have made it +impossible for him to fix his whole mind on his office work that morning. +Or, just to make another guess, when he opened the book I had asked +him to buy and read, he may have lighted on this heavenly passage: “Lastly, +if all people when they feel the first approaches of resentment or envy +or contempt towards others; or if in all little disagreements and misunderstandings +whatever they should have recourse at such times to a more particular +and extraordinary intercession with God for such persons as had roused +their envy, resentment, or discontent—this would be a certain +way to prevent the growth of all uncharitable tempers.” +You may think that I am taking a roundabout way of accounting for my +friend’s so concerned attitude at twelve o’clock that business +day; but the whole thing seemed to me so unusual at such a time and +in such a place that I was led to such guesses as these to account for +it. In so guessing I see now that I was intruding myself into +matters I had no business with; but all that day I could not keep my +mind off my blushing friend. For, like Mr. Standfast, my dear +friend blushed as he stood up and offered me the chair he had been kneeling +at. “But, why, did you see me?” said Mr. Standfast. +“Yes, I did,” quoth the other, “and with all my heart +I was glad at the sight.” “And what did you think?” +said Mr. Standfast.</p> +<p>3. “Was it,” asked Valiant-for-truth, in a holy +curiosity, “was it some special mercy that brought thee to thy +knees even now?” Yes; Valiant-for-truth had exactly hit +it. Gracious wits, like great wits, jump together. “Yes,” +confessed Standfast, “I continue to give thanks for my great deliverance.” +My brethren, you all pray importunately in your time of sore trouble. +Everybody does that. But do you feel an obligation, like Standfast, +to abide still on your knees long after your trouble is past? +Nature herself will teach us to pray; but it needs grace, and great +grace continually renewed, to teach us to praise, and to continue all +our days to praise. How we once prayed, ay, as earnestly, and +as concernedly, and as careless as to who should see or hear us as Standfast +himself! How some of us here to-night used to walk across a whole +country all the time praying! How we hoodwinked people in order +to get away from them to pray for twenty miles at a time all by ourselves! +Under that bush—it still stands to mark the spot; in that wood, +long since cut down into ploughed land—we could show our children +the spot to this day where we prayed, till a miracle was wrought in +our behalf. Yes, till God sent from above and took us as He never +took a psalmist, and set our feet upon a still more wonderful rock. +How He, yes, HE, with His own hand cut the cords, broke the net, and +set us free! Come, all ye that fear God! we then said, and said +it with all sincerity too. And yet, how have we forgotten what +He did for our soul? We start like a guilty thing surprised when +we think how long it is since we had a spell of thanksgiving. +Shame on us! What treacherous hearts we have! What short +memories we have! How soon we forgive ourselves, and so forget +the forgiveness of our God! Brethren, let us still lay plans for +praise as we used to do for prayer. If our friends will go out +with us, let us at least insist on walking home alone. Let us +say with Paul that we get sick at sea; and, besides, that we have some +calls to make and some small accounts to settle before we leave the +country. Tell them not to wait dinner for us. And then let +us take plenty of time. Let us stop at all our old stations and +call back all our old terrors; let us repeat aloud our old psalms—the +twenty-fifth, the fifty-first, the hundred and third, and the hundred +and thirtieth. We used to terrify people with our prayers as Standfast +terrified the young pilgrims that day; let us surprise and delight them +now with our psalms of thanksgiving. For, with all our disgraceful +ingratitude in the past, if William Law is right, we are even yet not +far from being great saints, if he is not wrong when he asks: “Would +you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he +who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is +most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice. But it is he +who is most thankful to God, and who has a heart always ready to praise +God. This is the perfection of all virtues. Joy in God and +thankfulness to God is the highest perfection of a divine and holy life.” +Well, then, what an endless cause of joy and thankfulness have we! +Let us acknowledge it, and henceforth employ it; and we shall, please +God, even yet be counted as not low down but high up among the saints +and the servants of God.</p> +<p>4. Christiana said many kind and wise and beautiful things +to all the other pilgrims before she entered the river, but it was observed +that though she sent for Mr. Standfast, she said not one word to him +when he came; she just gave him her ring. “The touch is +human and affecting,” says Mr. Louis Stevenson, in his delightful +paper on Bagster’s “Bunyan,” in the <i>Magazine of +Art</i>. By the way, do you who are lovers of Bunyan literature +know that remarkable and delicious paper? The Messrs. Bagster +should secure that paper and should issue an <i>edition de luxe</i> +of their neglected “Bunyan,” with Mr. Stevenson’s +paper for a preface and introduction. Bagster’s “Illustrated +Bunyan,” with an introduction on the illustrations by Mr. Louis +Stevenson, if I am not much mistaken, would sell by the thousand.</p> +<p>5. Lord Rosebery knows books and loves books, and he has called +attention to the surpassing beauty of the English in the deathbed scenes +of the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>. And every lover of pure, +tender, and noble English must, like the Foreign Secretary, have all +those precious pages by heart. Were it not that we all have a +cowardly fear at death ourselves, and think it wicked and cruel even +to hint at his approaching death even to a fast-dying man, we would +never let any of our friends lie down on his sick-bed without having +a reassuring and victorious page of the <i>Pilgrim</i> read to him every +day. If the doctors would allow me, I would have these heavenly +pages reprinted in sick-bed type for all my people. But I am afraid +at the doctors. And thus one after another of my people passes +away without the fortification and the foretaste that the deathbeds +of Christian, and Christiana, and Hopeful, and Mr. Fearing, and Mr. +Feeble-mind, and Mr. Honest, and Mr. Standfast would most surely have +given to them. Especially the deathbed, if I must so call it, +of Mr. Standfast. But as Christiana said nothing that could be +heard to Mr. Standfast about his or her latter end, but just looked +into his eyes and gave him her ring, so I may not be able to say all +that is in my heart when your doctor is standing close by. But +you will understand what I would fain say, will you not? You will +remember, and will have this heavenly book read to you alternately with +your Bible, will you not? Even the most godless doctor will give +way to you when you tell him that you know as well as he does just how +it is with you, and that you are to have your own way for the last time. +I know a doctor who first forbade her minister and her family to tell +his patient that she was dying, and at the same time told them to take +away from her bedside all such alarming books as the <i>Pilgrim’s +Progress</i> and the <i>Saint’s Rest</i>, and to read to her a +reassuring chapter out of <i>Old Mortality</i> and <i>Pickwick</i>.</p> +<p>It will, no doubt, put the best-prepared of us into a deep muse, +as it put Standfast, when we are first told that we must at once prepare +ourselves for a change of life. But I for one would not for worlds +miss that solemn warning, and that last musing-time. It will all +be just as my Master pleases; but if it is within His will I shall till +then continue to petition Him that I may have a passage over the river +like the passage of Standfast. Or, if that may not now be, then, +at least, a musing-time like his. The post from the Celestial +City brought Mr. Standfast’s summons “open” in his +hand. And thus it was that Standfast’s translation did not +take him by surprise. Standfast was not plunged suddenly and without +warning into the terrible river. He took the open summons into +big own hand and read it out like a man. After which he went, +as his manner was, for a good while into a deep and undisturbed muse. +As soon as he came out of his muse he would have Greatheart to be sent +for. And then their last conversation together proceeded. +And no one interfered with the two brave-hearted men. No one interposed, +or said that Greatheart would exhaust or alarm Standfast, or would injuriously +hasten his end. Not only so, but all the way till he was half +over the river, Standfast kept up his own side of the noble conversation. +And it is his side of that half-earthly, whole-heavenly conversation +that I would like to have put into suitable type and scattered broadcast +over all our sick-beds.</p> +<p>6. “Tell me,” says Valdes to Julia in his <i>Christian +Alphabet</i>, “have you ever crossed a deep river by a ford?” +“Yes,” says Julia, “I have, many times.” +“And have you remarked how that by looking upon the water it seemed +as though your head swam, so that, if you had not assisted yourself, +either by closing your eyes, or by fixing them on the opposite shore, +you would have fallen into the water in great danger of drowning?” +“Yes, I have noticed that.” “And have you seen +how by keeping always for your object the view of the land that lies +on the other side, you have not felt that swimming of the head, and +so have suffered no danger of drowning?” “I have noticed +that too,” replied Julia. Now, it was exactly this same +way of looking, not at the black and swirling river, but at the angelic +conduct waiting for him at the further bank, and then at the open gate +of the Celestial City,—it was this that kept Standfast’s +head so steady and his heart like a glowing coal while he stood and +talked in the middle of the giddy stream. You would have thought +it was Paul himself talking to himself on the road to Assos. For +I defy even the apostle himself to have talked better or more boldly +to himself even on the solid midday road than Standfast talked to himself +in the bridgeless river. “I see myself,” he said, +“at the end of my journey now. My toilsome days are all +ended. I am going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns, +and that face that was spat upon for me. I loved to hear my Lord +spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth +I have coveted to set my foot also. His name has been to me as +a civet-box; yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His word I did use +to gather for my food, and for antidotes against my faintings. +He has held me, and I have kept me from my iniquities. Yea, my +steps He has strengthened in my way.” Now, while Standfast +was thus in discourse his countenance changed, his strong man bowed +down under him, and after he had said “Take me!” he ceased +to be seen of them. But how glorious it was to see how the open +region was now filled with horses and chariots, with trumpeters and +pipers, and with singers and players on stringed instruments, all to +welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one another in at +the beautiful gate of the city!</p> +<h2>MADAM BUBBLE</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”—<i>Solomon</i>.</p> +<p>“I have overcome the world.”—<i>Our Lord</i>.</p> +<p>“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. +For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the +eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. +And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.”—<i>John</i>.</p> +<p>“This bubble world.”—<i>Quarles</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Madam Bubble’s portrait was first painted by the Preacher. +And he painted her portrait with extraordinary insight, boldness, and +truthfulness. There is that in the Preacher’s portrait of +Madam Bubble which only comes of the artist having mixed his colours, +as Milman says that Tacitus mixed his ink, with resentment and with +remorse. Out of His reading of Solomon and Moses and the Prophets +on this same subject, as well as out of His own observation and experience, +conflict and conquest, our Lord added some strong and deep and inward +touches of His own to that well-known picture, and then named it by +the New Testament name of the World. And then, after Him, His +longest-lived disciple set forth the same mother and her three daughters +under the three names that still stick to them to this day,—the +lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. +But it was reserved for John Bunyan to fill up and to finish those outlines +of Scripture and to pour over the whole work his own depth and strength +of colour, till, altogether, Madam Bubble stands out as yet another +masterpiece of our dreamer’s astonishing genius. Let us +take our stand before this heaving canvas, then, till we have taken +attentive note of some of John Bunyan’s inimitable touches and +strokes and triumphs of truth and art. “One in very pleasant +attire, but old . . . This woman is a witch . . . I am the mistress +of the world, she said, and men are made happy by me . . . A tall, comely +dame, something of a swarthy complexion.” In the newly discovered +portrait of a woman, by Albert Dürer, one of the marks of its genuineness +is the way that the great artist’s initials A. D. are pencilled +in on the embroidery of the lady’s bodice. And you will +note in this gentlewoman’s open dress also how J. B. is inextricably +woven in. “She wears a great purse by her side also, and +her hand is often in her purse fingering her money. Yea, this +is she that has bought off many a man from a pilgrim’s life after +he had fairly begun it. She is a bold and an impudent slut also, +for she will talk with any man. If there be one cunning to make +money in any place, she will speak well of him from house to house . +. . She has given it out in some places also that she is a goddess, +and therefore some do actually worship her . . . She has her times and +open places of cheating, and she will say and avow it that none can +show a good comparable to hers. And thus she has brought many +to the halter, and ten thousand times more to hell. None can tell +of the mischief that she does. She makes variance betwixt rulers +and subjects, betwixt parents and children, ’twixt neighbour and +neighbour, ’twixt a man and his wife, ’twixt a man and himself, +’twixt the flesh and the heart.” And so on in the +great original. “Had she stood by all this while,” +said Standfast, whose eyes were still full of her, “you could +not have set Madam Bubble more amply before me, nor have better described +her features.” “He that drew her picture was a good +limner,” said Mr. Honest, “and he that so wrote of her said +true”.</p> +<p>1. “I am the mistress of this world,” says Madam +Bubble. And though all the time she is a bold and impudent slut, +yet it is the simple truth that she does sit as a queen over this world +and over the men of this world. For Madam Bubble has a royal family +like all other sovereigns. She has a court of her own, too, with +its ball-room presentations and its birthday honours. She has +a cabinet council also, and a bar and a bench with their pleadings and +their decisions. Far more than all that, she has a church which +she has established and of which she is the head; and a faith also of +which she is the defender. She has a standing army also for the +extension and the protection of her dominions. She levies taxes, +too, and sends out ambassadors, and makes treaties, and forms offensive +and defensive alliances. But what a bubble all this World is to +him whose eyes have at last been opened to see the hollowness and the +heartlessness of it all! For all its pursuits and all its possessions, +from a child’s rattle to a king’s sceptre, all is one great +bubble. Wealth, fame, place, power; art, science, letters; politics, +churches, sacraments, and scriptures—all are so many bubbles in +Madam Bubble’s World. This wicked enchantress, if she does +not find all these things bubbles already, by one touch of her evil +wand she makes them so. She turns gold into dross, God into an +idle name, and His Word into words only; unless when in her malice she +turns it into a fruitful ground of debate and contention; a ground of +malice and hatred and ill-will. Vanity of vanities; all is vanity +and vexation of spirit. Still, she sits a queen and a goddess +to a great multitude: to all men, to begin with. And, like a goddess, +she sheds abroad her spirit in her people’s hearts and lifts up +upon them for a time the light of her countenance.</p> +<p>2. “I am the mistress of the world,” she says, +“and men are made happy by me.”—I would like to see +one of them. I have seen many men to whom Madam Bubble had said +that if they would be ruled by her she would make them great and happy. +But though I have seen not a few who have believed her and let themselves +be ruled by her, I have never yet seen one happy man among them.—The +truth is, Madam Bubble is not able to make men happy even if she wished +to do it. She is not happy herself, and she cannot dispense to +others what she does not possess. And, yet, such are her sorceries +that, while her old dupes die in thousands every day, new dupes are +born to her every day in still greater numbers. New dupes who +run to the same excess of folly with her that their fathers ran; new +dupes led in the same mad dance after Madam Bubble and her three daughters. +But, always, and to all men, what a bubble both the mother and all her +daughters are! How they all make promises like their lying mother, +and how, like her, they all lead men, if not to the halter and to hell, +as Greatheart said, yet to a life of vanity and to a death of disappointment +and despair! What bubbles of empty hopes both she and her three +children blow up in the brains of men! What pictures of untold +happiness they paint in the imaginations of men! What pleasures, +what successes in life, what honours and what rewards she pledges herself +to see bestowed! “She has her times and open places of cheating,” +said one who knew her and all her ways well. And when men and +women are still young and inexperienced, that is one of her great cheating +times. At some seasons of the year, and in some waters, to the +fisherman’s surprise and confusion, the fish will sometimes take +his bare hook; a bit of a red rag is a deadly bait. And Madam +Bubble’s poorest and most perfunctory busking is quite enough +for the foolish fish she angles for. And not in our salad days +only, when we are still green in judgment, but even to grey hairs, this +wicked witch continues to entrap us to our ruin. Love, in all +its phases and in all its mixtures, first deludes the very young; and +then place, and power, and fame, and money are the bait she busks for +the middle-aged and the old; and always with the same bubble end. +The whole truth is that without God, the living and ever-present God, +in all ages of it and in all parts and experiences of it, our human +life is one huge bubble. A far-shining, high-soaring bubble; but +sooner or later seen and tasted to be a bubble—a deceit-filled, +poison-filled bubble.—Happy by her! All men happy by her! +The impudent slut!</p> +<p>3. Another thing about this slut is this, that “she will +talk with any man.” She makes up to us and makes eyes at +us just as if we were free to accept and return her three offers. +And still she talks to us and offers us the same things she offered +to Standfast till, to escape her and her offers, he betook himself to +his knees. Nay, truth to tell, after she had deceived us and ensnared +us till we lay in her net cursing both her and ourselves, so bold and +so impudent and so persistent is this temptress slut, and such fools +and idiots are we, that we soon lay our eyes on her painted beauty again +and our heads in her loathsome lap; our heads on that block over which +the axe hangs by an angry hair. “She will talk with any +man.” No doubt; but, then, it takes two to make a talk, +and the sad thing is that there are few men among us so wise, so steadfast, +and so experienced in her ways that they will not on occasion let Madam +Bubble talk her talk to them, and talk back again to her. The +oldest saint, the oftenest sold and most dearly redeemed sinner, needs +to suspect himself to the end, till he is clear out of Madam Bubble’s +enchanted ground and for ever over that river of deliverance which shall +sweep Madam Bubble and all her daughters into the dead sea for ever.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The grey-haired saint may fail at last,<br /> + The surest guide a wanderer prove;<br /> +Death only binds us fast<br /> + To the bright shore of love.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>4. “She highly commends the rich,” the guide goes +on about Madam Bubble, “and if there be one cunning to get money +in any place she will speak well of him from house to house.” +“The world,” says Faber, “is not altogether matter, +nor yet altogether spirit. It is not man only, nor Satan only, +nor is it exactly sin. It is an infection, an inspiration, an +atmosphere, a life, a colouring matter, a pageantry, a fashion, a taste, +a witchery. None of all these names suit it, and all of them suit +it. Meanwhile its power over the human creation is terrific, its +presence ubiquitous, its deceitfulness incredible. It can find +a home under every heart beneath the poles. It is wider than the +catholic church, and it is masterful, lawless, and intrusive within +it. We are all living in it, breathing it, acting under its influence, +being cheated by its appearances, and unwarily admitting its principles.” +Let young ministers who wish to preach to their people on the World—after +studying what the Preacher, and the Saviour, and John, and John Bunyan +say about the World,—still read Faber’s powerful chapter +in his <i>Creator and Creature</i>. Yes; Madam Bubble finds a +home for herself in every heart beneath the poles. The truth is +Madam Bubble has no home, as she has no existence, but in human hearts. +And all that Solomon, and our Saviour, and John, and John Bunyan, and +Frederick Faber say about the world and about Madam Bubble they really +say about the heart of man. It is we, you and I, my brethren, +who so highly commend the rich. It is we ourselves here who speak +well from house to house of him whose father or whose self has been +cunning to get money. We either speak well or ill of them. +We either are sick with envy at them, or we fawn upon them and fall +down before them. How men rise in our esteem in the degree that +their money increases! With what reverence and holy awe we look +up at them as if they were gods and the sons of gods! They become +more than mortal men to our reverent imaginations. How happy, +how all but blessed they must be! we say to ourselves. Within +those park gates, under those high towers, in that silver-mounted carriage, +surrounded with all those liveried servants, and loved and honoured +by all those arriving and leaving guests—what happiness that rich +man must have! We are either eaten up of lean-eyed envy of this +and that rich man, or we positively worship them as other men worship +God and His saints. Yes; Madam Bubble is our very mother. +She conceived us and she suckled us. We were brought up in her +nurture and admonition. We learned her Catechism, and her shrine +is in our heart to-night. Like her, if only a pilgrim is poor, +we scorn him. We will not know him. But if there be any +one, pilgrim or no, cunning to get money, we honour him, and we claim +him as our kindred and relation, our acquaintance and our friend. +We will speak often of him as such from house to house. Just see +if we will not. There is room in our hearts, Madam Bubble, there +is room in our hearts for thee!</p> +<p>5. “She loves them most that think best of her.” +But, surely, surely, the guide goes quite too far in blaming and being +hard upon poor Madam Bubble for that? For, to give her fair play, +she is not at all alone in that. Is the guide himself wholly above +that? Do we not all do that? Is there one in ten, is there +one in a thousand, who hates and humiliates himself because his love +of men and women goes up or down just as they think of him? Yes; +Greatheart is true to his great name in his whole portrait of Madam +Bubble also, and nowhere more true than in this present feature. +For when any man comes to have any true greatness in his heart—how +he despises and detests himself as he finds himself out in not only +claiming kindred and acquaintance with the rich and despising and denying +the poor; but, still more, in loving or hating other men just as they +love or hate him! The world loves her own. Yes; but he who +has been taken out of the world, and who has had the world taken out +of him, he loves—he strives to love, he goes to his knees every +day he lives to love—those who not only do not think well of him, +but who both think ill of him and speak ill of him. “Humility,” +says William Law, “does not consist in having a worse opinion +of ourselves than we deserve, or in abasing ourselves lower than we +really are. But as all virtue is founded in truth, so humility +is founded in a true and just sense of our weakness, misery, and sin. +He who rightly feels and lives in this sense of his condition lives +in humility. And, it may be added, when our hearts are wholly +clothed with humility we shall be prompt to approve the judgment and +to endorse the sentence of those who think and speak the least good +of us and the most evil.”</p> +<p>6. “’Twas she,” so the guide at last wound +up, “that set Absalom against his father, and Jeroboam against +his master. ’Twas she that persuaded Judas to sell his Lord, +and that prevailed with Demas to forsake the godly pilgrim’s life. +None can tell all the mischief that Madam Bubble does. She makes +variance between rulers and subjects, between parents and children, +’twixt neighbour and neighbour, ’twixt a man and his wife, +’twixt a man and himself, ’twixt the flesh and the heart.” +Now, I shall leave that last indictment and its lessons and its applications +to yourselves, my brethren. You will get far more good out of +this accumulated count against Madam Bubble if you explain it, and open +it up, and prove it, and illustrate it to yourselves. Explain, +then, in what way this sorceress set Absalom against his father and +Jeroboam against his master. Point out in what way she makes variance +between a ruler and his subjects, and give illustrations. Put +your finger on a parent and on a child between whom there is variance +at this moment on her account. And, if you are that parent or +that child, what have you done to remove that variance? Name two +neighbours that to your knowledge Madam Bubble has come between; and +say what you have done to be a peacemaker there. Set down what +you would say to a man and his wife so as to put them on their guard +against Madam Bubble ever coming in between them. And, last and +best of all, point out to yourself at what times and in what ways this +wicked witch tries to make variance between God’s Holy Spirit +striving within you and your own evil heart still strong within you. +When you are weary and sleepy and hungry as a howlet, and, Madam Bubble +and her three daughters make a ring round you, what do you do? +Do you ever take to your knees? Really and honestly, do you? +When you find yourself out looking with holy fear on a rich and lofty +relation, and with insufferable contempt on a poor and intrusive relation, +by what name do you call yourself? Write it down. And when +she would fain put variance between you and those who do not think well +of you, what steps do you take to foil her? Where and how do you +get strength at that supreme moment to think of others as you would +have them think of you? “Oh,” said Standfast, “what +a mercy it is that I did resist her! for to what might she not have +drawn me?”</p> +<h2>GAIUS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Gaius, mine host.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Goodman Gaius was the head of a hostel that stood on the side of +the highway well on to the Celestial City. The hostess of the +hostel was no more, and the old hostel-keeper did all her once well-done +work and his own proper work into the bargain. Every day he inspected +the whole house with his own eyes, down even to the kitchen and the +scullery. The good woman had left our host an only daughter; but, +“Keep her as much out of sight as is possible,” she said, +and so fell asleep. And Gaius remembered his wife’s last +testament every day, till none of the hostel customers knew that there +was so much as a young hostess in all the house. “Yes, gentlemen,” +replied the old innkeeper. “Yes, come in. It is late, +but I take you for true men, for you must know that my house is kept +open only for such.” So he took the large pilgrim party +to their several apartments with his own eyes, and then set about a +supper for those so late arrivals. Stamping with his foot, he +brought up the cook with the euphonious and eupeptic name, and that +quick-witted domestic soon had a supper on the table that would have +made a full man’s mouth water. “The sight of all this,” +said Matthew, as the under-cook laid the cloth and the trenchers, and +set the salt and the bread in order—“the sight of this cloth +and of this forerunner of a supper begetteth in me a greater appetite +to my food than I thought I had before.” So supper came +up; and first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table +before them, in order to show that they must begin their meal with prayer +and praise to God. These two dishes were very fresh and good, +and all the travellers did eat heartily well thereof. The next +was a bottle of wine red as blood. So Gaius said to them, “Drink +freely; this is the juice of the true vine that makes glad the heart +of God and man.” And they did drink and were very merry. +The next was a dish of milk well crumbed. At the sight of which +Gaius said, “Let the boys have that, that they may grow thereby.” +And so on, dish after dish, till the nuts came with the recitations +and the riddles and the saws and the stories over the nuts. Thus +the happy party sat talking till the break of day.</p> +<p>1. Now, it is natural to remark that the first thing about +a host is his hospitality. And that, too, whether our host is +but the head of a hostel like Goodman Gaius, or the head of a well-appointed +private house like Gaius’s neighbour, Mr. Mnason. The first +and the last thing about a host is his hospitality. “Say +little and do much” is the example and the injunction to all our +housekeepers that Rabban Shammai draws out of the eighteenth of Genesis. +“Be like your father Abraham,” he says, “on the plains +of Mamre, who only promised bread and water, but straightway set Sarah +to knead three measures of her finest meal, while he ran to the herd +and fetched a calf tender and good, and stood by the three men while +they did eat butter and milk under the tree. Make thy Thorah an +ordinance: say little and do much: and receive every man with a pleasant +expression of countenance.” Now, this was exactly what Gaius +our goodman did that night, with one exception, which we shall be constrained +to attend to afterwards. “It is late,” he said, “so +we cannot conveniently go out to seek food; but such as we have you +shall be welcome to, if that will content.” At the same +time Taste-that-which-is-good soon had a supper sent up to the table +fit for a prince: a supper of six courses at that time in the morning, +so that the sun was already in the sky when Old Honest closed his casement.</p> +<p>“Dining in company is a divine institution,” says Mr. +Edward White, in his delightful <i>Minor Moralities of Life</i>. +“Let Soyer’s art be honoured among all men,” he goes +on. “Cookery distinguishes mankind from the beasts that +perish. Happy is the woman whose daily table is the result of +forethought. Her husband shall rise up and call her blessed. +It is piteous when the culinary art is neglected in our young women’s +education. Let them, as St. Peter says, imitate Sarah. Let +them see how that venerable princess went quickly to her kneading-trough +and oven and prepared an extempore collation of cakes and pilau for +the angels. How few ladies, whether Gentiles or Jewesses, could +do the like in the present day!”</p> +<p>2. The wistful and punctilious attention that Goodman Gaius +paid to each individual guest of his was a fine feature in his munificent +hospitality. He made every one who crossed his doorstep, down +even to Mr. Fearing, feel at once at home, such was his exquisite as +well as his munificent hospitality. “Come, sir,” he +said, clapping that white-faced and trembling pilgrim on the shoulder, +“come, sir, be of good cheer, you are welcome to me and to my +house; and what thou hast a mind to, that call for freely: for what +thou wouldst have my servants will do for thee, and they will do it +for thee with a ready mind.” All the same, for a long time +Mr. Fearing was mortally afraid of the servants. He would as soon +have thought of stamping his foot for a duchess to come up as for any +of Gaius’s serving-maids. He was afraid to make any noise +in his room lest all the house should hear it. He was afraid to +touch anything in the room lest it should fall and be broken. +We ourselves, with all our assumed ease and elaborate abandon, are often +afraid to ring our bell even in an inn. Mr. Fearing would as soon +have pulled the tail of a rattlesnake. But before their sojourn +was over, the Guide was amazed at Mr. Fearing, for that hare-hearted +pilgrim would be doing things in the house that he himself would scarcely +do who had been in the house a thousand times. It was Gaius’s +exuberant heartiness that had demoralised Mr. Fearing and made him almost +too forward even for a wayside inn. In little things also Gaius, +mine host, showed his sensitive and solicitous hospitality. We +all know housekeepers, not to say innkeepers, and not otherwise ungenerous +housekeepers either who will grudge us a sixpennyworth of sticks and +coals in a cold night, and that, too, in a room furnished to overflowing +by Morton Brothers or the Messrs. Maple. We take a candlestick +and a dozen candles with us in the boot of the carriage when we wish +to read or write late into the night in that great house. Another +housekeeper, who would give you her only daughter with her wealthy dowry, +will sometimes be seen by all in her house to grudge you a fresh cup +of afternoon tea when you drop in to see her and her daughter. +She says to herself that it is to spare the servants the stairs; but, +all the time, under the stairs, the servants are blushing for the sometimes +unaccountable stinginess of their unusually munificent mistress. +I shall give you “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a +little and there a little” of Aristotle upon munificence in little +things till you come up to his pagan standard. “There is +a real greatness,” he says, “even in the way that some men +will buy a toy to a child. Even in the smallest matters the munificent +man will act munificently!” As Gaius, mine host, munificently +did.</p> +<p>3. Speaking of children, what a night of entertainment good +old Gaius gave the children of the pilgrim party! “Let the +boys have the crumbed milk,” he gave orders. “Butter +and honey shall they eat,” he exclaimed over them as that brimming +dish came up. “This was our Lord’s dish when He was +a child,” he said to the mother of the boys, “that He might +know to refuse the evil and to choose the good.” Then they +brought up a dish of apples, and they were very good-tasted fruit. +Then said Matthew, “May we eat apples, since they were such by +and with which the serpent beguiled our first mother?” Then +said Gaius,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Apples were they by which we were beguiled,<br /> +Yet sin, not apples, hath our souls defiled.<br /> +Apples forbid, if eat, corrupt the blood.<br /> +To eat such, when commanded, does us good.<br /> +Drink of His flagons then, thou Church, His Dove,<br /> +And eat His apples who are sick of love.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then said Matthew, “I make the scruple because I awhile since +was sick with eating of fruit.” “Forbidden fruit,” +said the host, “will make you sick, but not what our Lord hath +tolerated.” While they were thus talking they were presented +with another dish, and it was a dish of nuts. Then said some at +the table, “Nuts spoil tender teeth, especially the teeth of children,” +which when Gaius heard, he said,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Hard texts are nuts (I will not call them cheaters)<br /> +Whose shells do keep their kernels from the eaters;<br /> +Ope then the shells and you shall have the meat;<br /> +They here are brought for you to crack and eat.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then Samuel whispered to his mother and said, “Mother, this +is a very good man’s house; let us stay here a good while before +we go any farther.” The which Gaius the host overhearing, +said, “With a very good will, my child.”</p> +<p>4. Widower as old Gaius was, and never for a single hour forgot +that he was, there was a certain sweet and stately gallantry awakened +in his withered old heart at the sight of Christiana and Mercy, and +especially at the sight of Matthew and Mercy when they were seen together. +He seems to have fallen almost in love with that aged matron, as he +called her, and the days of his youth came back to him as he studied +the young damsel, who was to her as a daughter. And this set the +loquacious old innkeeper upon that famous oration about women which +every man who has a mother, or a wife, or a sister, or a daughter has +by heart. And from that he went on to discourse on the great advantages +of an early marriage. He was not the man, nor was he speaking +to a mother who was the woman, ever to become a vulgar and coarse-minded +matchmaker; at the same time, he liked to see Matthew and Mercy sent +out on a message together, leaving it to nature and to grace to do the +rest. The pros and cons of early marriage were often up at his +hearty table, but he always debated, and Gaius was a great debater, +that true hospitality largely consisted in throwing open the family +circle to let young people get well acquainted with one another in its +peace and sweetness. And Gaius both practised what he preached, +and at the same time endorsed his watchful wife’s last testament, +when he gave his daughter Phebe to James, Christiana’s second +son, and thus was left alone, poor old Gaius, when the happy honeymoon +party started upward from his hostel door.</p> +<p>5. Their next host was one Mr. Mnason, a Cyprusian by nation, +and an old disciple. “How far have you come to-day?” +he asked. “From the house of Gaius our friend,” they +said. “I promise you,” said he, “you have gone +a good stitch; you may well be weary; sit down.” So they +sat down. “Our great want a while since,” said Old +Honest, “was harbour and good company, and now I hope we have +both.” “For harbour,” said the host, “you +see what it is, but for good company that will appear in the trial.” +After they were a little rested Old Honest again asked his host if there +were any store of good people in that town; and, “How,” +he said, “shall we do to see some of them? For the sight +of good men to them that are going on pilgrimage is like to the appearing +of the moon and stars to them that are sailing upon the seas.” +Then Mr. Mnason stamped with his foot and his daughter Grace came up, +when he sent her out for five of his friends in the town, saying that +he had a guest or two in his house at present to whom he would like +to introduce them.</p> +<p>Now, this is another of the good qualities of a good host, to know +the best and the most suitable people in the town, and to be on such +terms with them that on short notice they will step across to help to +entertain such travellers as had come to Mr. Mnason’s table. +And it is an excellent thing to be sure that when we are so invited +we shall not only get a good dinner, but also, as good “kitchen” +with our dinner, good company and good conversation. It is nothing +short of a fine art to gather together and to seat suitably beside one +another good and suitable people as Mr. and Miss Mnason did in their +hospitable house that afternoon. And then, as to the talk: let +the host and the hostess introduce the guests, and then let the guests +introduce their own topics. And as far as possible, in a city +and a day like this, let our topics be books rather than people. +And let the books be the books that the guests have read rather than +those that the host and the hostess have read. Books are a fine +subject for a talk at table. Only, let great readers order their +learned and literary talk so as not to lead the less learned into temptation. +There is no finer exercise of fine feeling than to be able to carry +on a conversation about matters that other people present are ignorant +of, and at the same time to interest them, to set them at ease, and +to make them forget both you and themselves. I had a letter the +other day from an English Church clergyman, in which he tells me that +his bishop is coming this month to his vicarage for a kind of visitation +and retreat, and that they are to have William Law’s <i>Characters +and Characteristics</i> read aloud to them when the bishop and the assembled +clergy are at their meals. For my part, I would rather hear a +good all-round talk on that book by the bishop and his clergy after +they had all read the book over and over again at home. But such +readings at assembled meals have all along been a feature of the best +fraternal life in the Church of England and in some of the sister churches.</p> +<p>6. Now, after dining and supping repeatedly with garrulous +old Gaius, and with the all-but-silent Mr. Mnason, I have come home +ruminating again and again on this—that a good host, the best +host, lets his guests talk while he attends to the table. If the +truth may even be whispered to one’s-self about a table that one +has just left, Gaius did his best to spoil his good supper by his own +over-garrulity. It was good talk that he entertained his waiting +guests with, but we may have too much of a good thing. His oration +in praise of women was an excellent oration, had it been delivered in +another house than his own; and, say, when he was asked to give the +health of Christiana, or of Matthew the bridegroom and Mercy the bride, +it would then have been perfect; but not in his own house, and not when +his guests were waiting for their supper. On the other hand, you +should have seen that perfect gentleman, Mr. Mnason. For that +true old Christian and old English gentleman never once opened his mouth +after he had set his guests a-talking. He was too busy watching +when any man’s dish was again empty. He was too much delighted +to see that every one of his guests was having his punctual share of +the supper, and at the same time his full share of the talk. Mr. +Fearing’s small voice was far more pleasant to Mr. Mnason than +his own voice was in his own best story. As I opened my own door +the other night after supping with Mr. and Miss Mnason, I said to myself—One +thing I have again seen and learned to-night, and that is, that a host, +and still more a hostess, should talk less at their own table than their +most silent, most bashful, and most backward guest. “Make +this an ordinance for thee,” said Rabban Shammai to his sons in +the law; “receive all thy guests with a pleasant expression of +countenance, and then say little and do much.”</p> +<h2>CHRISTIAN</h2> +<blockquote><p>“The disciples were called Christians first at +Antioch.”—<i>Luke</i>.</p> +<p>“Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”—<i>King +Agrippa</i>.</p> +<p>“Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>All the other personages in the Pilgrim’s Progress come and +go; they all ascend the stage for a longer or shorter time, and then +pass off the stage and so pass out of our sight; but Christian in the +First Part, and Christiana in the Second Part, are never for a single +moment out of our sight. And, accordingly, we have had repeated +occasion and opportunity to learn many excellent lessons from the chief +pilgrim’s upward walk and heavenly conversation. But so +full and so rich are his life and his character, that some very important +things still remain to be collected before we finally close his history. +“Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost,” said our +Lord, after His miraculous meal of multiplied loaves and fishes with +His disciples. And in like manner I shall now proceed to gather +up some of the remaining fragments of Christian’s life and character +and experience. And I shall collect these fragments into the three +baskets of his book, his burden, and his sealed roll and certificate.</p> +<p>1. And first, a few things as to his book. “As +I slept I dreamed, and behold I saw a man clothed in rags standing in +a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, +and a great burden upon his back. I looked and saw him open the +book and read therein; and as he read he wept and trembled; and not +being able longer to contain he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, +What shall I do?” We hear a great deal in these advertising +days, and not one word too much, about the books that have influenced +and gone largely to the making of our great men; but Graceless, like +John Bunyan, his biographer, was a man of but one book. But, then, +that book was the most influential of all books; it was the Book of +books; it was God’s very own and peculiar Book. And those +of us who, like this man, have passed out of a graceless into a gracious +state will for ever remember how that same Book at that time influenced +us till it made us what we are and shall yet be. We read many +other good books at that epoch in our life, but it was the pure Bible +that we read and prayed over out of sight the most. We needed +no commentators or exegetes on our simple Bible in those days. +The great texts stood out to our eyes in those days as if they had been +written with a sunbeam; while all other books (and we read nothing but +the best books in those days) looked like twilight and rushlight beside +our Bible. In those immediate, direct, and intense days we would +have satisfied Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold themselves in the way we +read our Bible with our eye never off the object. The Four Last +Things were ever before us—death and judgment, heaven and hell. +“O my dear wife,” said Graceless, “and you the children +of my bowels, I your dear friend am in myself undone by reason of a +burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I am for certain informed +that this our city will be burned with fire from heaven, in which fearful +overthrow both myself, with thee my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall +miserably come to ruin, except (the which yet I see not) some way of +escape can be found whereby we may be delivered.” He would +walk also solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading and sometimes +praying; and thus for some days he spent his time. Graceless at +that time and at that stage would have satisfied the exigent author +of the <i>Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection</i> where he +says that “we are too apt also to think that we have sufficiently +read a book when we have so read it as to know what it contains. +This reading may be quite sufficient as to many books; but as to the +Bible we are not to think that we have read it enough because we have +often read and heard what it teaches. We must read our Bible, +not to know what it contains, but to fill our hearts with the spirit +of it.” And, again, and on this same point, “There +is this unerring key to the right use of the Bible. The Bible +has only one intent, and that is to make a man know, resist, and abhor +the working of his fallen earthly nature, and to turn the faith, hope, +and longing desire of his heart to God; and therefore we are only to +read our Bibles with this view and to learn this one lesson from it +. . . The critic looks into his books to see how Latin and Greek authors +have used the words ‘stranger’ and ‘pilgrim,’ +but the Christian, who knows that man lives in labour and toil, in sickness +and pain, in hunger and thirst, in heat and cold among the beasts of +the field, where evil spirits like roaring lions seek to devour him—he +only knows in what truth and reality man is a poor stranger and a distressed +pilgrim upon the earth.” John Bunyan read neither Plato +nor Aristotle, but he read David and Paul till he was the chief of sinners, +and till he was first the Graceless and then the Christian of his own +next-to-the-Bible book.</p> +<p>2. In the second place, and as to his burden. We are +supplied with no particulars as to the first beginnings, the gradual +make-up, and at last the terrible size of Christian’s burden. +What this pilgrim’s youthful life must have been in such a city +as his native city was, and while he was still a young man of such a +name and such a character in such a city, we are left to ourselves to +think and consider. Graceless was his name by nature, and his +life was as his name and his nature were. Still, as I have said, +we have no detailed and particular account of his early life when his +burden was still day and night in the making up. How long into +your life were you graceless, my brother? And what kind of life +did you lead day and night before you were persuaded or alarmed, as +the case may have been with you, into being a Christian? What +burdens do you carry on your broken back to this day that were made +up in the daylight or in the darkness by your own hands in your early +days? Were you early or were you too late in your conversion? +Or are you truly converted to God and to salvation even yet? And +are you at this moment still binding a burden on your back that you +shall never lay down on this side your grave—it may be, not on +this side your burning bed in hell? Ask yourselves all that before +God and before your own conscience, and make yourselves absolutely sure +that God at any rate is not mocked; and, therefore that you, too, shall +in the end reap exactly as you from the beginning have sown. “How +camest thou by thy burden at first?” asked Mr. Worldly-Wiseman +at the trembling pilgrim. “By reading this book in my hand,” +he answered. And, in the long run, it is always the Bible that +best creates a sinner’s burden, binds it on his back, and makes +it so terribly heavy to bear. Fear of death and judgment will +sometimes make up and bind on a sinner’s burden; and sometimes +the fear of man’s judgment on this side of death will do it. +Fear of being found out in some cases will make a man’s secret +sin far too heavy for him to bear. The throne of public opinion +is not a very white throne; at the same time, it is a coarse forecast +and a rough foretaste of the last judgment; and the fear of it not seldom +makes a man’s burden simply intolerable to him. Sometimes +a great sinner’s burden leads him to flight and outlawry; sometimes +to madness and self-murder; and sometimes, by the timeous and sufficient +grace of God, to the way of escape that our pilgrim took. Tenderness +of conscience, also, simple softness of heart and conscience, will sometimes +make a terrible burden out of what other men would call a very light +matter. Bind a burden on that iron pillar standing there, and +it will feel nothing and say nothing. But, bind the same burden +on that man in whose seat that dead pillar takes up a sitter’s +room, and he will make all that are in the house hear his sighs and +his groans. And lay an act of sin—an evil word or evil work +or evil thought—on one man among us, and he will walk about the +streets with as erect a head and as smiling a countenance and as light +a step as if he were an innocent child; while, lay half as much on his +neighbour, and it will so bruise him to the earth that all men will +take knowledge of him that he is a miserable man. Our Lord could +no doubt have carried His cross from the hall of judgment to the hill-top +without help had His back not been wet with blood. What with a +whole and an unwealed body, a well-rested and well-nourished body, He +could easily have carried, with His broken body and broken heart He +quite sank under. And so it is with His people. One of His +heart-broken, heart-bleeding people will sink down to death and hell +under a burden of sin and corruption that another of them will scarcely +feel or know or believe that it is there. Some sins again in themselves, +and by reason of several aggravations, are far more heavy to bear than +others, and by some sinners than others. I was reading Bishop +Andrewes to myself last night and came upon this pertinent passage. +“Sin: its measure, its harm, its scandal. Its quality: how +often—how long. The person by whom: his age, condition, +state, enlightenment. Its manner, motive, time, and place. +The folly of it, the ingratitude of it, the hardness of it, the presumptuousness +of it. By heart, by mouth, by deed. Against God, my neighbours, +my own body. By knowledge, by ignorance. Willingly and unwillingly. +Of old and of late. In boyhood and youth, in mature and old age. +Things done once, repeated often, hidden and open. Things done +in anger, and from the lust of the flesh and of the world. Before +and after my call. Asleep by night and awake by day. Things +remembered and things forgotten. Through the fiery darts of the +enemy, through the unclean desires of the flesh—I have sinned +against Thee. Have mercy on me, O God, and forgive me!” +That is the way some men’s burdens are made up to such gigantic +proportions and then bound on by such acute cords. That is the +way that Lancelot Andrewes and John Bunyan walked solitarily in the +fields, sometimes reading and sometimes praying, till the one of them +put himself into his immortal <i>Devotions</i>, and the other into his +immortal <i>Grace Abounding</i> and <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>.</p> +<p>“Then I saw in my dream that Christian asked the Gatekeeper +further if he could not help him off with his burden that was upon his +back, for as yet he had not got rid of it, nor could he by any means +get it off without help. He told him, ‘As to thy burden, +be content to bear it until thou comest to the place of deliverance, +for there it will fall from off thy back itself.’ Now I +saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced +on either side with a wall, and that wall is 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 sepulchre. So I saw in my dream that just +as Christian came up with the cross his burden loosed from off his back, +and began to tumble and so continued to do till it came to the mouth +of the sepulchre, where it fell in and I saw it no more. 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!’”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! Blest rather +be<br /> +The Man that there was put to shame for me.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But, then, how it could be that this so happy man was scarcely a +stone-cast past the cross when he had begun again to burden himself +with fresh sin, and thus to disinter all his former sin? How a +true pilgrim comes to have so many burdens to bear, and that till he +ceases to be any longer a pilgrim,—a burden of guilt, a burden +of corruption, and a burden of bare creaturehood,—I must leave +all that, and all the questions connected with all that, for you all +to think out and work out for yourselves; and you will not say any morning +on this earth, like Mrs. Timorous, that you have little to do.</p> +<p>3. The third of the three Shining Ones who saluted Christian +at the cross set a mark on his forehead, and put a roll with a seal +set upon it into his hand. A roll and a seal which he bid him +look on as he ran, and that he should give that roll in at the Celestial +Gate. Bunyan does not in all places come up to his usual clearness +in what he says about the sealed roll. We must believe that he +understood his own meaning and intention in all that he says, first +and last, about the roll, but he has not always made his meaning clear, +at least to one of his readers. Theological students, and, indeed, +all thoughtful Christian men, are invited to read Dr. Cunningham’s +powerful paper on Assurance in his <i>Reformers</i>. The whole +literature of Assurance is there taken up and weighed and sifted with +all that great writer’s incomparable learning and power and judgment. +Our Larger Catechism, also, is excellent on this subject; and this subject +is a favourite commonplace with all our best Calvinistic, Puritan, and +Evangelical authors. Let us take two or three passages out of +those authors just as a specimen, and so close.</p> +<p>“Can true believers”—Larger Catechism, Question +80—“Can true believers be infallibly assured that they are +in an estate of grace, and that they shall persevere therein to the +end? <i>Answer</i>: Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavour +to walk in all good conscience before Him may, without extraordinary +revelation, by faith grounded upon the truth of God’s promise, +and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves those graces +to which the promises of eternal life are made, and bearing witness +with their spirits that they are the children of God, they may be infallibly +assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere therein +unto salvation.” Question 81: “Are all true believers +at all times assured of their present being in a state of grace, and +that they shall be saved? <i>Answer</i>: Assurance of grace and +salvation not being of the essence of faith, true believers may wait +long before they obtain it, and, after the enjoyment thereof, may have +it weakened and intermitted through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, +and desertions; yet are they never left without such a presence and +support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair.” +“A Christian’s assurance,” says Fraser of Brea, “though +it does not firstly flow from his holiness, yet is ever after proportionable +to his holy walking. Faith is kept in a pure conscience. +Sin is like a blot of ink fallen upon our evidence. This I found +to be a truth.” “It was the speech of one to me,” +says Thomas Shepard of New England, “next to the donation of Christ, +no mercy like this, to deny assurance long; and why? For if the +Lord had not, I should have given way to a loose heart and life. +And this is a rule I have long held—long denial of assurance is +like fire to burn out some sin and then the Lord will speak peace.” +“Serve your God day and night faithfully,” says Dr. Goodwin. +“Walk humbly; and there is a promise of the Holy Ghost to come +and fill your hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious to rear you up +to the day of redemption. Sue this promise out, wait for it, rest +not in believing only, rest not in assurance by graces only; there is +a further assurance to be had.” “I would not give +a straw for that assurance,” says John Newton, “which sin +will not damp. If David had come from his adultery and still have +talked of his assurance, I should have despised his speech.” +“When we want the faith of assurance,” says Matthew Henry, +“let us live by the faith of adherence.” And then +the whole truth is in a nutshell in Isaiah and in John: “The effect +of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance for ever,” and +“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, +but in deed and in truth. And hereby we shall know that we are +of the truth, and so shall assure our hearts before Him.”</p> +<h2>CHRISTIANA</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Honour widows that are widows indeed.”—<i>Paul</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We know next to nothing of Christiana till after she is a widow indeed. +The names of her parents, and what kind of parents they were, the schools +and the boarding-schools to which they sent their daughter, her school +companions, the books she read, if she ever read any books at all, the +amusements she was indulged in and indulged herself in—on all +that her otherwise full and minute biographer is wholly silent. +He does not go back beyond her married life; he does not even go back +to the beginning of that. The only thing we are sure of about +Christiana’s early days is that she was an utterly ungodly woman +and that she married an utterly ungodly man. “Have you a +family? Are you a married man?” asked Charity of Christian +in the House Beautiful. “I have a wife and four small children,” +he replied. “And why did you not bring them along with you?” +Then Christian wept, and said: “Oh, how willingly would I have +done it; but they were all utterly averse to my going on pilgrimage.” +“But you should have talked to them,” said Charity, “and +have endeavoured to have shown them the danger of being behind.” +“So I did,” answered Christian. “And did you +pray to God that He would bless your counsel to them?” “Yes, +and with much affection; for you must think that my wife and poor children +were very dear unto me.” “But what could they say +for themselves why they came not?” “Why, my wife was +afraid of losing the world, and my children were given over to the foolish +delights of youth; so what with one thing and what with another, they +left me to wander in this manner alone.”</p> +<p>But what her husband’s conversion, good example, and most earnest +entreaties could not all do for his worldly wife, that his sudden death +speedily did. And thus it is that both Christiana’s best +life, all our interest in her, and all our information about her, dates, +sad to say, not from her espousal, nor from her marriage day, nor from +any part of her married life, but from her husband’s death. +Her maidenhood has no interest for us; all our interest is fixed on +her widowhood. This work of fiction now in our hands begins where +all other works of fiction end; for in the life of religion, you must +know, our best is always before us. Well, scarcely was her husband +dead when Christiana began to accuse herself of having killed him. +To take her own bitter words for it, the most agonising and remorseful +thoughts about her conduct to her husband stung her heart like so many +wasps. Ah yes! A wasp’s sting is but a blade of innocent +grass compared with the thoughts that have stung us all as we recalled +what we said and did to those who are now no more. There are graves +in the churchyard we dare not go near. “I have sinned away +your father!” she cried, as she threw herself on the earth at +the feet of her astounded children. “I have sinned away +your father and he is gone!” And yet there was no mark of +a bullet and no gash of a knife on his dead body, and no chemistry could +have extracted one grain of arsenic or of strychnine out of his blood. +But there are many ways of taking a man’s life besides those of +poison or a knife or a gunshot. Constant fault-finding, constant +correction and studied contempt before strangers, total want of sympathy +and encouragement, gloomy looks, rough remarks, all blame and never +a word of praise, things like these between man and wife will kill as +silently and as surely as poison or suffocation. Look at home, +my brethren, and ask yourselves what you will think of much of your +present conduct when it has borne its proper fruit. “Upon +this came into her mind by swarms all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly +carriages to her dear friend, which also clogged her conscience and +did load her with guilt. It all returned upon her like a flash +of lightning, and rent the caul of her heart asunder.” “That +which troubleth me most,” she would cry out, “is my churlish +carriages to him when he was under distress. I am that woman,” +she would cry out and would not be appeased—“I am that woman +that was so hardhearted as to slight my husband’s troubles, and +that left him to go on his journey alone. How like a churl I carried +myself to him in all that! And so guilt took hold of my mind,” +she said to the Interpreter, “and would have drawn me to the pond!”</p> +<p>A minister’s widow once told me that she had gone home after +hearing a sermon of mine on the text, “What profit is there in +my blood?” and had destroyed a paper of poison she had purchased +in her despair on the previous Saturday night. It was not a sermon +from her unconscious minister, but it was far better; it was a conversation +that Christiana held with her four boys that fairly and for ever put +all thought of the pond out of their mother’s remorseful mind. +“So Christiana,” as we read in the opening of her history—“so +Christiana called her sons together and began thus to address herself +unto them: My sons, I have, as you may perceive, been of late under +much exercise in my soul about the death of your father. My carriages +to your father in his distress are a great load on my conscience. +Come, my children, let us pack up and be gone to the gate, that we may +see your father and be with him, according to the laws of that land.” +I like that passage, I think, the best in all Christiana’s delightful +history—that passage which begins with these words: “So +she called her children together.” For when she called her +children together she opened to them both her heart and her conscience; +and from that day there was but one heart and one conscience in all +that happy house. I was walking alone on a country road the other +day, and as I was walking I was thinking about my pastoral work and +about my people and their children, when all at once I met one of my +people. My second sentence to him was: “This very moment +I was thinking about your sons. How are they getting on?” +He quite well understood me. He knew that I was not indifferent +as to how they were getting on in business, but he knew that I was alluding +more to the life of godliness and virtue in their hearts and in their +characters. “O sir,” he said, “you may give +your sons the skin off your back, but they will not give you their confidence!” +So had it been with Christian and his sons. He had never managed, +even in his religion, to get into the confidence of his sons; but when +their mother took them into her agonised confidence, from that day she +was in all their confidences, good and bad. You who are in your +children’s confidences will pray in secret for my lonely friend +with the skin off his back, will you not? that he may soon be able to +call his sons together so as to start together on a new life of family +love, and family trust, and family religion. That was a fine sight. +Who will make a picture of it? This widow indeed at the head of +her family council-table, and Matthew at the foot, and James and Joseph +and Samuel all in their places. “Come, my children, let +us pack up that we may see your father!” Then did her children +burst into tears for joy that the heart of their mother was so inclined.</p> +<p>From that first family council let us pass on to Christiana’s +last interview with her family and her other friends. Her biographer +introduces her triumphant translation with this happy comment on the +margin: “How welcome is death to them that have nothing to do +but die!” Well, that was exactly Christiana’s case. +She had so packed up at the beginning of her journey; she had so got +and had so kept the confidences of all her sons; she had seen them all +so married in the Lord, and thus so settled in a life of godliness and +virtue; she had, in short, lived the life of a widow indeed, till, when +the post came for her, she had nothing left to do but just to rise up +and follow him. His token to her was an arrow with a point sharpened +with love, let easily into her heart, which by degrees wrought so effectually +with her that at the time appointed she must be gone. We have +read of arrows of death sharpened sometimes with steel and sometimes +with poison; but this arrow, shot from heaven, was sharpened to a point +with love. Indeed, that arrow, or the very fellow of it, had been +shot into Christiana’s heart long ago when she stood at that spot +somewhat ascending where was a cross and a sepulchre; and, especially, +ever since the close of Greatheart’s great discourse on pardon +by deed. For the hearing of that famous discourse had made her +exclaim: “Oh! Thou loving One, it makes my heart bleed to +think that Thou shouldest bleed for me! Oh! Thou blessed +One, Thou deservest to have me, for Thou hast bought me! Thou +deservest to have me all, for Thou hast paid for me ten thousand times +more than I am worth!” Now it was with all that love working +effectually in her heart that Christiana called for her children to +give them her blessing. And what a comfort it was to her to see +them all around her with the mark of the kingdom on their foreheads, +and with their garments white. “My sons and my daughters,” +she said, “be you all ready against the time His post calls for +you.” Then she called for Mr. Valiant-for-truth, and entreated +him to have an eye on her children, and to speak comfortably to them +if at any time he saw them faint. And then she gave Mr. Standfast +her ring. “Behold,” she said, as Mr. Honest came in—“Behold +an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Then Mr. Ready-to-halt +came in, and then Mr. Despondency and his daughter Much-afraid, and +then Mr. Feeble-mind. Now the day drew on that Christiana must +be gone. So the road was full of people to see her take her journey. +But, behold! all the banks beyond the river were full of horses and +chariots which were come down from above to accompany her to the City +gates, so she came forth and entered the river with a beckon of farewell +to those that followed her to the river-side. The last word she +was heard to say here was, “I come, Lord, to be with Thee, and +to bless Thee.”</p> +<p>But with all this, you must not suppose that this good woman, this +mother in Israel, had forgotten her grandchildren. She would sooner +have forgotten her own children. But she was too good a woman +to forget either. For long ago, away back at the river on this +side the Delectable Mountains, she had said to her four daughters—I +must tell you exactly what she has said: “Here,” she said, +“in this meadow there are cotes and folds for sheep, and an house +is built here also for the nourishing and bringing up of those lambs, +even the babes of those women that go on pilgrimage. Also there +is One here who can have compassion and that can gather these lambs +with His arm and carry them in His bosom. This Man, she said, +will house and harbour and succour the little ones, so that none of +them shall be lacking in time to come. This Man, if any of them +go astray or be lost, He will bring them again, He will bind up that +which was broken, and will strengthen them that are sick. So they +were content to commit their little ones to that Man, and all this was +to be at the charge of the King, and so it was as a hospital to young +children and orphans.”</p> +<p>And now I shall sum up my chief impressions of Christiana under the +three heads of her mind, her heart, and her widowhood indeed.</p> +<p>1. The mother of Christian’s four sons was a woman of +real mind, as so many of the maidens, and wives, and widows of Puritan +England and Covenanting Scotland were. You gradually gather that +impression just from being beside her as the journey goes on. +She does not speak much; but, then, there is always something individual, +remarkable, and memorable in what she says. I have a notion of +my own that Christiana must have been a reader of that princely Puritan, +John Milton. And if that was so, that of itself would be certificate +enough as to her possession of mind. There is always a dignity +and a strength about her utterances that make us feel sure that she +had always had a mind far above her neighbours, Mrs. Bat’s-eyes, +Mrs. Light-mind, and Mrs. Know-nothing. The first time she opens +her mouth in our hearing she lets fall an expression that Milton had +just made famous in his <i>Samson</i>—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Ease to the body some, none to the mind<br /> +From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm<br /> +Of hornets armed no sooner found alone,<br /> +But rush upon me thronging, and present<br /> +Times past, what once I was, and what am now.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Nor can I leave this point without asserting it to you that no church +and no school of theology has ever developed the mind as well as sanctified +the heart of the common people like the preaching of the Puritan pulpit. +Matthew Arnold was not likely to over-estimate the good that Puritanism +had done to England. Indeed, in his earlier writings he sometimes +went out of his way to lament the hurt that the Puritan spirit had done +to liberality of life and mind in his native land. But in his +riper years we find him saying: “Certainly,” he says, “I +am not blind to the faults of the Puritan discipline, but it has been +an invaluable discipline for that poor, inattentive, and immoral creature, +man. And the more I read history and the more I see of mankind, +the more I recognise the value of the Puritan discipline.” +And in that same Address he “founded his best hopes for that so +enviable and unbounded country in which he was speaking, America, on +the fact that so many of its millions had passed through the Puritan +discipline.” John Milton was a product of that discipline +on the one hand, as John Bunyan was on the other. Christiana was +another of its products in the sphere of the family, just as Matthew +Arnold himself had some of his best qualities out of the same fruitful +school.</p> +<p>2. Her heart, her deep, strong, tender heart, is present on +every page of Christiana’s noble history. Her heart keeps +her often silent when the water in her eyes becomes all the more eloquent. +When she does let her heart utter itself in words, her words are fine +and memorable. As, for one instance, after Greatheart’s +discourse on redemption. “O Mercy, that thy father and mother +were here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous also. Nay, I wish with all my +heart now that here was Madam Wanton, too. Surely, surely, their +hearts would be affected, nor could the fear of the one, nor the powerful +lusts of the other, prevail with them to go home again, and to refuse +to become good pilgrims.” But it was not so much what she +said herself that brought out the depth and tenderness of Christiana’s +heart, it was rather the way her heart loosened other people’s +tongues. You must all have felt how some people’s presence +straitens your heart and sews up your mouth. While there are other +people, again, whose simple presence unseals your heart and makes you +eloquent. We ministers keenly feel that both in our public and +in our private ministrations. There are people in whose hard and +chilling presence we cannot even say grace as we should say it. +Whereas, we all know other people, people of a heart, that is, whose +presence somehow so touches our lips that we always when near them rise +far above ourselves. Christiana did not speak much to her guides +and instructors and companions, but they always spoke their best to +her, and it was her heart that did it.</p> +<p>3. And then a widow indeed is just a true and genuine widow; +a widow not in her name and in her weeds only, but still more in her +deep heart, in her whole life, and in her garnered experience. +“Honour widows that are widows indeed. Now, she that is +a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications +and in prayers night and day. Well reported of for good works; +if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she +have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, +if she have diligently followed every good work.” These +are the true marks and seals and occupations of a widow indeed. +And if she has had unparalleled trials and irreparable losses, she has +her corresponding consolations and compensations. For she has +a freedom to go about and do good, a liberty and an experience that +neither the unmarried maiden nor the married wife can possibly have. +She can do multitudes of things that in the nature of things neither +of them can attempt to do. Things that would be both unseemly +and impossible for other women to say or to do are both perfectly seemly +and wholly open for her to say and to do. Her widowhood is a sacred +shield to her. Her sorrow is a crown of honour and a sceptre of +authority to her. She is consulted by the young and the inexperienced, +by the forsaken and by the forlorn, as no other human being ever is. +She has come through this life, and by a long experience she knows this +world and the hearts that fill it and make it what it is. A widow +indeed can show a sympathy, and give a counsel, and speak with a weight +of wisdom that one’s own mother cannot always do. All you +who by God’s sad dispensation are now clothed in the “white +and wimpled folds” of widowhood, let your prayer and your endeavour +day and night be that God would guide and enable you to be widows indeed. +And, if you do, you shall want neither your occupation nor your honour.</p> +<h2>THE ENCHANTED GROUND</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, +neither is there any divination against Israel.”—<i>Balaam</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“I saw then in my dream that they went till they came into +a certain country whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy if he +came a stranger to it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull +and heavy of sleep, wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin +to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes; let us lie +down here and take one nap.” And then when we turn to the +same place in the Second Part we read thus: “By this time they +were got to the Enchanted Ground, where the air naturally tended to +make one drowsy. And that place was all grown over with briars +and thorns, excepting here and there, where was an enchanted arbour, +upon which, if a man sits, or in which if a man sleeps, ’tis a +question, say some, whether they shall ever rise or wake again in this +world. Now, they had not gone far, but a great mist and darkness +fell upon them all, so that they could scarce, for a great while, see +the one the other. Wherefore they were forced for some time to +feel for one another by words, for they walked not by sight. Nor +was there on all this ground so much as one inn or victualling-house +wherein to refresh the feebler sort. Then they came to an arbour, +warm, and promising much refreshing to the pilgrims, for it was finely +wrought above head, beautified with greens, and furnished with couches +and settles. It also had a soft couch on which the weary might +lean. This arbour was called The Slothful Man’s Friend, +on purpose to allure, if it might be, some of the pilgrims there to +take up their rest when weary. This, you must think, all things +considered, was tempting. I saw in my dream also that they went +on in this their solitary way till they came to a place at which a man +is very apt to lose his way. Now, though when it was light, their +guide could well enough tell how to miss those ways that led wrong, +yet in the dark he was put to a stand. But he had in his pocket +a map of all ways leading to or from the Celestial City, wherefore he +struck a light (for he never goes also without his tinder-box), and +takes a view of his book or map, which bids him be careful in that place +to turn to the right-hand way. Then I thought with myself, who +that goeth on pilgrimage but would have one of those maps about him, +that he may look when he is at a stand, which is the way to take?”</p> +<p>1. “But what is the meaning of all this?” asked +Christiana of the guide. “This Enchanted Ground,”—her +able and experienced friend answered her, “this is one of the +last refuges that the enemy to pilgrims has; wherefore it is, as you +see, placed almost at the end of the way, and so it standeth against +us with the more advantage. For when, thinks the enemy, will these +fools be so desirous to sit down as when they are weary, and when so +like to be weary as when almost at their journey’s end? +Therefore it is, I say, that the Enchanted Ground is placed so nigh +to the land Beulah and so near the end of their race; wherefore let +pilgrims look to themselves lest they fall asleep till none can waken +them.” “That masterpiece of Bunyan’s insight +into life, the Enchanted Ground,” says Mr. Louis Stevenson, “where +his allegory cuts so deep to people looking seriously on life.” +Yes, indeed, Bunyan’s insight into life! And his allegory +that cuts so deep! For a neophyte, and one with little insight +into life, or into himself, would go to look for this land of darkness +and thorns and pitfalls, alternated with arbours and settles and soft +couches—one new to life and to himself, I say, would naturally +expect to see all that confined to the region between the City of Destruction +and the Slough of Despond; or, at the worst, long before, and never +after, the House Beautiful. But Bunyan looked too straight at +life and too unflinchingly into his own heart to lay down his sub-Celestial +lands in that way; and when we begin to look with a like seriousness +on the religious life, and especially when we begin to look bold enough +and deep enough into our own heart, then we too shall freely acknowledge +the splendid master-stroke of Bunyan in the Enchanted Ground. +That this so terrible experience is laid down almost at the end of the +Celestial way—the blaze of light that pours upon our heads fairly +startles us, while at the same time it comforts us and assures us. +That this Enchanted Ground, which has proved so fatal to so many false +pilgrims, and so all but fatal to so many true pilgrims, should lie +around the very borders of Beulah, and should be within all but eye-shot +of the Celestial City itself,—that is something to be thankful +for, and something to lay up in the deepest and the most secret place +in our heart. That these pilgrims, after all their feastings and +entertainments—after the Delectable Mountains and the House Beautiful—should +all be plunged upon a land where there was not so much as a roadside +inn, where the ways were so dark and so long that the pilgrims had to +shout aloud in order to keep together, where, instead of moon or stars, +they had to walk in the spark of a small tinder-box—what an encouragement +and assurance to us is all that! That is no strange thing, then, +that is now happening to us, when, after our fine communion season, +we have suddenly fallen back into this deep darkness, and are cast into +these terrible temptations, and feel as if all our past experiences +and attainments and enjoyments had been but a self-delusion and a snare. +That we should all but have fallen fast asleep, and all but have ceased +both from watching against sin and from waiting upon God—well, +that is nothing more than Hopeful himself would have done had he not +had a wary old companion to watch over him, and to hold his eyes open. +Let all God’s people present who feel that they are nothing better +of all they have enjoyed of Scriptures and sacraments, but rather worse; +let all those who feel sure that they have wandered into a castaway +land, so dark, so thorny, so miry, and so lonely is their life—let +them read this masterpiece of John Bunyan again and again and take heart +of hope.</p> +<blockquote><p>“When Saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither<br /> +And hear how these two pilgrims talk together;<br /> +Yea, let them hear of them, in any wise,<br /> +Thus to keep ope their drowsy slumb’ring eyes;<br /> +Saints’ fellowship, if it be managed well,<br /> +Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>2. But far worse than all its briars and thorns, far more fatal +than all its ditches and pitfalls, were the enchanted arbours they came +on here and there planted up and down that evil land. For those +arbours are all of this fatal nature, that if a man falls asleep in +any of them it arises a question whether he shall ever come to himself +again in this world. Now, where there are no inns nor victualling-houses, +no Gaius and no Mr. Mnason, what a danger all those ill-intended arbours +scattered all up and down that country become! Well, then, the +first enchanted arbour that the pilgrims came to was built just inside +the borders of the land, and it was called The Stranger’s Arbour—so +many new-comers had lain down in it never to rise again. The young +and the inexperienced, with those who were naturally of a believing, +buoyant, easy mind, lay down in hundreds here. Hopeful’s +mind was naturally a mind of a soft and easy and self-indulgent cast; +and had he been alone that day, or had he had for a companion a man +of a less wary, less anxious, and less urgent mind than Christian was, +Hopeful had taken a nap, as he so confidingly called it—a fatal +nap in that arbour built by the enemy of pilgrims, just on purpose for +the young and the ignorant, the inexperienced and the self-indulgent.</p> +<p>3. The Slothful Man’s Arbour has been already described. +It was a warm arbour, and it promised much refreshing to the pilgrims. +It also had in it a soft couch on which the weary might lean. +“Let us lie down here and take just one nap; we shall be refreshed +if we take a nap!” “Do you not remember,” said +the other, “that one of the shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted +Ground? And he meant by that that we should beware of sleeping; +wherefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.” +Now, what is a nap? And what is it to take a nap in our religion? +The New Testament is full of warnings to those who read it and go by +it—most solemn and most fearful warnings—against <i>sleep</i>. +Now, have you any clear idea in your minds as to what this divinely +denounced sleep is? Sleep is good and necessary in our bodily +life. We would not live long if we did not sleep; we would soon +go out of our mind; we would soon lose our senses if we did not sleep. +Insomnia is one of the worst symptoms of our eager, restless, over-worked +age. “He giveth His beloved sleep”; and while they +sleep their corn grows they know not how. But sleep in the great +exhortation-passages of the Holy Scriptures does not mean rest and restoration; +it means in all those passages insensibility, stupidity, danger, and +death. In our nightly sleep, and in the measure of its soundness, +we are utterly dead to the world around us. Men may come into +our house and rob us of our most precious possessions; they may even +come up to our bed and murder us; our whole house may be in a blaze +about us; we may only awaken to leap out of sleep into eternity. +Now, we are all in a sleep like that in our souls. There is above +us, and around us, and beneath us, and within us the eternal world, +and we are all sound asleep; we are all stone-dead in the midst of it. +Devils and wicked men are stealing our treasures for eternity, and we +are sound asleep; hell is already kindling our bed beneath us, but we +smell not its flames, or we only catch the first gasp of them before +we make our everlasting bed among them. Therefore let us not sleep +as do others, but let us watch and be sober. What meanest thou, +O sleeper? arise and call upon thy God! When the guide shook Heedless +and Too-bold off their settles in that slothful arbour, the one of them +said with his eyes still shut, “I will pay you when I take my +money,” and the other said, “I will fight so long as I can +hold my sword in my hand.” At that one of the children laughed. +“What is the meaning of that?” asked Christiana. The +guide said: “They talk in their sleep.” So they did, +and so do all men. For this whole world is full of settles on +which men sleep and talk in their sleep. The newspapers to-morrow +morning will all be full to overflowing of what men have said and written +to-day and yesterday in their sleep. The shops and the banks and +the exchanges will all be full of men making promises and settling accounts +in their sleep. They will finger their purses, and grasp their +swords, and all in their sleep. And not children but devils will +laugh as they hear the folly that falls from men’s lips who are +besotted with spiritual sleep and drugged with spiritual and fleshly +sin. A dream cometh through the multitude of business. I +had just got this length in this lecture the other night when I went +to sleep. And in my sleep one of my people came to me and asked +me if I could make it quite clear and plain to him what it would be +for a man like him after a communion-time to begin to walk with God. +And I just wish I could make the things of the Enchanted Ground as plain +to myself and to you to-night as I was able to make a walk with God +plain to myself and to my visitor that night in my ministerial dream. +I often wish that my business mind worked as well in my study chair +and in my pulpit as it sometimes does in my bed and in my sleep. +“Now, I beheld in my dream that they talked more in their sleep +at this time than ever they did in all their journey. And being +in a muse thereabout, the gardener said even to me: Wherefore musest +thou at the matter? It is the nature of the fruit of the grapes +of those vineyards to go down so sweetly as to cause the lips of them +that are asleep to speak.” The reason my poor lips spake +so sweetly about a walk with God that night most have been because I +spent all the summer evening before walking with God and with you in +the vineyards of Beulah.</p> +<p>4. Listen to Samson, shorn of his locks, as he shakes himself +off a soft and sweetly-worked couch in The Sensual Man’s Arbour:</p> +<blockquote><p> “No, no;<br /> +It fits not; thou and I long since are twain;<br /> +Nor think me so unwary or accurst<br /> +To bring my feet again into the snare<br /> +Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains,<br /> +Though dearly to my cost, thy gins, and toils;<br /> +Thy fair enchanted cup and warbling charms<br /> +No more on me have power, their force is null’d;<br /> +So much of adder’s wisdom have I learnt<br /> +To fence my ear against thy sorceries.<br /> +If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men<br /> +Loved, honour’d, fear’d me, thou alone couldst hate me,<br /> +Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me;<br /> +How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby<br /> +Deceivable, in most things as a child,<br /> +Helpless, thence easily contemn’d, and scorn’d,<br /> +And last neglected? How wouldst thou insult,<br /> +When I must live uxorious to thy will<br /> +In perfect thraldom! How again betray me,<br /> +Bearing my words and doings to the lords<br /> +To gloss upon, and censuring, frown or smile!<br /> +This jail I count the house of liberty<br /> +To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>5. The love of money to some men is the root of all evil. +There came once a youth to St. Philip Neri and, flushed with joy, told +him that his parents after much entreaty had at length allowed him to +study law. St. Philip was not a man of many words. “What +then?” the saint simply asked the shining youth. “Then +I shall become a lawyer!” “And then?” pursued +Philip. “Then,” said the young man, “I shall +earn a nice sum of money, and I shall purchase a fine country house, +procure a carriage and horses, marry a handsome and rich wife, and lead +a delightful life!” “And then?” “Then,”—the +youth reflected as death and eternity arose before his eyes, and from +that day he began to take care of his immortal soul. Philip with +one word snatched that young man’s soul off The Rich Man’s +Settle.</p> +<p>6. The Vain Man’s Settle draws down many men to shame +and everlasting contempt. Praise a vain man or a vain woman aright +and enough and you will get them to do anything you like. Give +a vain man sufficient publicity in your paper or on your platform and +he will become a spy, a traitor, and cut-throat in your service. +The sorcerer’s cup of praise—keep it full enough in a vain +man’s hand, and he will sleep in the arbour of vanity till he +wakens in hell. Madam Bubble, the arch-enchantress, knows her +own, and she has, with her purse, her promotion, and her praise, bought +off many a promising pilgrim.</p> +<p>7. And then she, by virtue of whose sorceries this whole land +is drugged and enchanted, is such a bold slut that she will build a +Sacred Arbour even, and will fill it full of religious enchantment for +you rather than lose hold of you. She will consecrate places and +persons and periods for you if your taste lies that way; she will build +costly and stately churches for you; she will weave rich vestments and +carve rich vessels; she will employ all the arts; she will even sanctify +and set apart and seat aloft her holy men—what will she not do +to please you, to take you, to intoxicate and enchant you? She +will juggle for your soul equally well whether you are a country clown +in a feeing-market or a fine lady of æsthetic tastes and religious +sensibilities in the capital and the court. But I shall let Father +Faber speak, who can speak on this subject both with authority and with +attraction. “She can open churches, and light candles on +the altar, and intone <i>Te Deums</i> to the Majesty on high. +She can pass into the beauty of art, into the splendour of dress, and +into the magnificence of furniture. She can sit with high principles +on her lips discussing a religious vocation and praising God and sanctity. +On the benches of bishops and in the pages of good books you will find +her, and yet she is all the while the same huge evil creature.” +Yes; she is all the time the same Madam Bubble who offered to Standfast +her body, her purse, and her bed.</p> +<p>Now, would you know for yourself, like the communicant who came to +me in my sleep, how you are ever to get past all those arbours, and +settles, and seats, and couches, with all their sweet sorceries and +intoxicating enchantments—would you in earnest know that? +Then study well the case of one Standfast. Especially the time +when she who enchants this whole ground hereabouts set so upon that +pilgrim. In one word, it was this: he remembered his Lord; and, +like his Lord, he fell on his face; and as his Lord would have it, His +servant’s lips as they touched the ground touched also the healing +plant harmony and he was saved.</p> +<blockquote><p> “A small unsightly +root,<br /> +But of divine effect.<br /> +Unknown, and like esteem’d, and the dull swain<br /> +Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;<br /> +And yet more med’cinal is it than that moly<br /> +That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave;<br /> +He call’d it haemony, and gave it me,<br /> +And bade me keep it as of sovran use<br /> +’Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp,<br /> +Or ghastly furies’ apparition.<br /> +And now I find it true; for by this means<br /> +I knew the foul enchantress, though disguised,<br /> +Enter’d the very lime-twigs of her spells,<br /> +And yet came off. If you have this about you<br /> +(As I will give you when you go) you may<br /> +Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall:<br /> +Where if she be, with dauntless hardihood,<br /> +And brandished blade, rush on her, break her glass,<br /> +And shed her luscious liquor on the ground,<br /> +And seize her wand.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Prayer, my sin-beset brethren, standfast prayer, is the otherwise +unidentified haemony whose best habitat was the Garden of Gethsemane; +and with that holy root in your heart and in your mouth, there is “no +enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.”</p> +<h2>THE LAND OF BEULAH</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah.”—<i>Isaiah</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The first thing that John Bunyan tells us about the land of Beulah +is this—that the shortest and the best way to the Celestial City +lies directly through that land. The land of Beulah has its own +indigenous inhabitants indeed. Old men dwell in the streets of +Beulah, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. +The streets of the city also are full of boys and girls playing in the +streets thereof. The land of Beulah has its frequent visitors +also, and its welcome guests from the regions above. Some of the +shining ones come down from time to time and make a short sojourn in +Beulah. The angels in heaven have such a desire to see the lands +from which God’s saints come up that at certain seasons all the +suburbs of the Celestial City are full of those shining servants of +God and of the Lamb.</p> +<p>But what made the dreamer to smile and to talk so in his sleep was +when he saw that all the upward ways to the Celestial City ran through +the land of Beulah. He saw also in his dream how all the pilgrims +blamed themselves so bitterly now because they had misspent so much +of their time and strength in the ways below, and so had not come sooner +to see and to taste this blessed land. But, at the same time, +as it was, they all rejoiced with a great joy because that, after all +their delays and all their wanderings, their way still led them through +the borders of Beulah. Now, my dear fellow-communicants, how shall +we find our way at once, and without any more wanderings, into that +so desirable land? How shall we attain to walk its streets all +the rest of our days with our staff in our hand? How shall we +hope to see our boys and our girls playing in the streets of Beulah, +and eating all their days of its sweet and its healing fruits? +How shall we and our children with us henceforth escape the Slough of +Despond, and Giant Despair’s dungeon, and the Valley of the Shadow +of Death? The word, my brethren, the answer to all that, is nigh +unto us, even in our mouth and in our heart. For faith, simple +faith, will do all that both for us and for our children beside us. +A heart-feeding faith in God, in the word of God, and in the Son of +God, will do it. Faith, and then obedience. For obedience, +my brethren, is Beulah. All obedience is already Beulah. +Holy obedience will bring the whole of Beulah into your heart and into +mine at any moment. It is disobedience that makes so many of those +who otherwise are true pilgrims to miss so much of the land of Beulah. +Ask any affable old man with his staff in his hand for very age, and +he will tell you that it was his disobedience that kept him so long +out of the land of Beulah. While, let any man, and above all, +let any young man, begin early to live a life of believing obedience, +and he will grow up and grow old and see his children’s children +playing around his staff in the streets of Beulah. Let any young +man make the experiment for himself upon obedience and upon Beulah. +Let him not too easily believe any dreamer or even any seer about obedience +and about the land of Beulah. It is his own matter and not theirs; +and let him make experiment upon it all for his own satisfaction and +assurance. Let any young man, then, try prayer as his first step +into obedience, and especially secret prayer. Let him shut his +door to-night, and let him see if he is not already inside one of the +gates of Beulah. Let him deny himself every day also, if it is +only in a very little thing. Let him say sternly to his own heart +every hour of temptation, No! never! and on the spot a sweet waft of +Beulah’s finest spices will fall upon his face. “The +ineffable joy of renouncing joy” will every day make the lonely +wilderness of this world a constant Beulah to such a man. For, +to live at all times, in all places, and in all things for other men, +and never and in nothing for yourself—that is the deepest secret +of Beulah. To say it, if need be, three times to-night on your +face and in a sweat of blood, “Not my will, but Thine be done!”—that +will to-night turn the garden of Gethsemane itself into the very garden +of Glory. Do you doubt it? Are you not yet able to believe +it? Then hear about it from One who has Himself come through it. +Hear His word upon the whole matter who is the Way, the Truth, and the +Life. “Come unto Me,” says the King of Beulah, “all +ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. +Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, +and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and +My burden is light.” So after He had washed their feet, +and had taken His garments and was set down again, He said unto them, +“Know ye what I have done to you? For I have given you an +example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these +things, happy are ye if ye do them. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. +And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, +that He may abide with you for ever. If a man love Me, he will +keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him +and will make Our abode with him. Peace I leave with you, My peace +I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. These +things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that +your joy might be full. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name; +ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Father, +I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” +And thus I saw in my dream that their way lay right through the land +of Beulah, in which land they solaced themselves for a season.</p> +<p>2. “They solaced themselves.” Now, solace +is just the Latin <i>solatium</i>, which, again, is just a soothing, +an assuaging, a compensation, an indemnification. Well, that land +into which the pilgrims had now come was very soothing to their ruffled +spirits and to their weary hearts. It assuaged their many and +sore griefs also. It more than compensated them for all their +labours and all their afflictions. And it was a full indemnification +to them for all that they had forsaken and lost both in beginning to +be pilgrims and in enduring to the end. The children of Israel +had their first solace in their pilgrimage at Elim, where there were +twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they encamped +there by the waters. And then they had their last and crowning +solace when the spies came back from Eshcol with a cluster of grapes +that they bare between two upon a staff, with pomegranates and figs. +And Moses kept solacing his charge all the way through the weary wilderness +with such strong consolations as these: “For the Lord thy God +bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains +and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and +barley, and vines, and fig-trees; a land of oil-olive and honey; a land +wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack +anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills +thou mayest dig brass.” Our Lord spake solace to His doubting +and fainting disciples also in many such words as these: “Verily, +I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or +brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God’s sake, +who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the +world to come life everlasting.” The Mount of Transfiguration +also was His own Beulah-solace; and the Last Supper and the prayer with +which it wound up were given to our Lord and to His disciples as a very +Eshcol-cluster from the Paradise above. Now, I saw in my dream +that they solaced themselves in the land of Beulah for a season. +Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds. (The Latin +poets called the birds <i>solatia ruris</i>, because they refreshed +and cheered the rustic labourers with their sweet singing.) And +every day the flowers appeared in the earth, and the voice of the turtle +was heard in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and +day, for there is no night there.</p> +<p>3. “In this country the sun shineth night and day.” +How much Standfast must have enjoyed that land of light you may guess +when you recollect that he came from Darkland, which lies in the hemisphere +right opposite to the land of Beulah. In Darkland the sun never +shines to be called sunshine at all. All the days of his youth, +Standfast told his companions, he had sat beside his father and his +mother in that obscure land where to his sorrow his father and his mother +still sat. But in Beulah “the rose of evening becomes silently +and suddenly the rose of dawn.” This land lies beyond the +Valley of the Shadow of Death, neither could they from this place so +much as see Doubting Castle. Now, Doubting Castle is a dismal +place for any soul of man to be shut up into. And in that dark +hold there are dungeons dug for all kinds of doubting souls. There +are dungeons dug for the souls of men whose doubts are in their intellects, +as well as for those also whose doubts arise out of their hearts. +Some men read themselves into Doubting Castle, and some men sin and +sell themselves to its giant. God casts some of His own children +all their days into those dungeons as a punishment for their life of +disobedience; He casts others down into chains of darkness because of +their idleness and unfruitfulness. But Beulah is far away from +Doubting Castle. Beulah is a splendid spot for a studious man +to lodge in. For what a clear light shines night and day in Beulah! +To what far horizons a man’s eye will carry him in Beulah! +What large speculations rise before him who walks abroad in Beulah! +How clear the air is in Beulah, how clean the heart and how unclouded +the eye of its inhabitants! The King’s walks are in Beulah, +and the arbours where He delighteth to be. Blessed are the pure +in heart, for they shall be admitted to see God in the land of Beulah. +In the land of Beulah the sun shall no more be thy light by day, neither +for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall +be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory!</p> +<p>4. “In this land also the contract between the bride +and the bridegroom is renewed.” Now, there is no other day +so bitter in any man’s life as that day is on which his bridal +contract is broken off. And it is the very perfection and last +extremity of bitterness when his contract is broken off because of his +own past life. Let all those, then, who would fain enter into +that sweet contract think well about it beforehand. Let them look +back into all their past life. For all their past life will be +sure to find them out on the day of their espousals. If they have +their enemies—as all espoused men have—this is the hour +and the power of their enemies. The day on which any man’s +espousals are published is a small and local judgment-day to him. +For all the men, and, especially, all the women, who have ever been +injured by him, or who have injured themselves upon him; all the men +and all the women who for any reason, and for no reason, hate both him +and his happiness,—their tongues and their pens will take no sleep +till they have got his contract if they can, broken off. And even +when the bridegroom is too innocent, or the bride too true, or God too +good to let the contract continue long to be broken off, that great +goodness of God and that great trust of his contracted bride will only +make the bridegroom walk henceforth more softly and rejoice with more +trembling. And that is a most excellent mind. I know no +better mind in which any man, guilty or innocent, can enter on a married +life. I sometimes tell the bridegrooms that I can take a liberty +with to keep saying to themselves all the way up to the marriage altar +the tenth verse of the 103rd psalm; as well as when they come up afterwards +to the baptismal font: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins +nor rewarded us after our iniquities.” And it is surely +Beulah itself, at its very best, it is surely Beulah above itself, when +a happy bridegroom is full of that humble and happy mind, and when he +is in one and the same moment reconciled both to his bride on earth +and to his God and Father in heaven. In this land, therefore, +in the land of Beulah, the contract between the bride and the bridegroom +is renewed; yea, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride, so shall +thy God rejoice over thee.</p> +<p>5. The salaams and salutations also that they were met with +as often as they went out to walk in the streets thereof were a constant +surprise, satisfaction, and sweetness to the fearful pilgrims. +No passer-by ever once frowned or scowled upon them because their faces +were Zionward, as they do in our cities. No one ever treated them +with scorn or contempt because they were poor or unlettered. No +man’s face either turned dark at them or was turned away from +them as they passed up the street. They never, all the time they +abode in Beulah, took to the lanes of the city to escape the unkind +looks of any of its citizens. Greatheart’s hand was never +away from his helmet. His helmet was never well on his head. +His always bare and unhelmeted head said to all the men of Beulah, I +love and honour and trust you. You would not hurt a hair of my +head. And so on, till all the streets of Beulah were one buzz +of salutation, congratulation, and benediction. Here they heard +voices from out of the city, loud voices, saying, Say ye to the daughter +of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him. +Here all the inhabitants of the country called them the holy people, +the redeemed of the Lord, sought out, a city not forsaken.</p> +<p>6. Now, as they walked in this land they had more rejoicing +than in parts more remote from the kingdom to which they were bound. +And still drawing nigh to that city they had yet a more perfect view +thereof. It was builded of pearls and precious stones, also the +street thereof was paved with gold, so that by reason of the natural +glory of the city and the reflection of the sunbeams upon it, Christian +with desire fell sick. Hopeful also had a fit or two of the same +disease. Wherefore here they lay by it awhile, crying out because +of their pangs, If you see my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love. +There are in all good cases of recovery three successive stages of soul-sickness. +True, soul-sickness always runs its own course, and it always runs its +own course in its own order. This special sickness first shows +itself when the soul becomes sick with sin. We have that sickness +set forth in many a psalm, notably in the thirty-eighth psalm; and in +a multitude of other scriptures, both old and new, this evil disease +is dealt with if we had only the eyes and the heart to read such scriptures. +The second stage of this sickness is when a sinner is not so much sick +with the sin that dwelleth in him as sick of himself. Sinfulness +in its second stage becomes so incorporate with the sinner’s whole +life—sin so becomes the sinner’s very nature, and, indeed, +himself,—that all his former loathing of sin passes over henceforth +into loathing of himself. This is the most desperate stage in +any man’s sickness; but, bad as it is, incurable as it is, it +must be passed into before the third stage of the healing process can +either be experienced or understood. In the case in hand, by the +time the pilgrims had come to Beulah they had all had their full share +of sin and of themselves till they here entered on an altogether new +experience. “Christian with desire fell sick,” we +read, “and Hopeful also had a fit or two of the same disease. +Wherefore here they lay by it a while, crying out because of their pangs, +If you see my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love.” +David, Paul, Bernard, Bunyan himself, Rutherford, Brainerd, M’Cheyne, +and many others crowd in upon the mind. I shall but instance John +Flavel and Mrs. Jonathan Edwards, and so close. John Flavel being +once on a journey set himself to improve the time by meditation, when +his mind grew intent, till at length he had such ravishing tastes of +heavenly joys, and such a full assurance of his interest therein, that +he utterly lost the sight and sense of this world and all its concerns, +so that for hours he knew not where he was. At last, perceiving +himself to be faint, he sat down at a spring, where he refreshed himself, +earnestly desiring, if it were the will of God, that he might there +leave the world. His spirit reviving, he finished his journey +in the same delightful frame, and all that night the joy of the Lord +still overflowed him so that he seemed an inhabitant of the other world. +The only other case of love-sickness I shall touch on to-night I take +from under the pen of a sin-sick and love-sick author, who has been +truthfully described as “one of the first, if not the very first, +of the masters of human reason,” and, again, as “one of +the greatest of the sons of men.” “There is a young +lady in New-haven,” says Edwards, “who is so loved of that +Great Being who made and rules the world, that there are certain seasons +in which this Great Being in some way or other invisible comes to her +and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, so that she hardly +cares for anything but to meditate upon Him. She looks soon to +dwell wholly with Him, and to be ravished with His love and delight +for ever. Therefore, if you present all this world before her, +with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for +it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange +sweetness in her mind, and a singular piety in her affections; is most +just and conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade +her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her the whole +world. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, +and seems to have some one invisible always communing with her.” +And so on, all through her seraphic history. “Now, if such +things are too enthusiastic,” says the author of <i>A Careful +and a Strict Enquiry into the Freedom of the Will</i>, “if such +things are the offspring of a distempered brain, let my brain be possessed +evermore of that blessed distemper! If this be distraction, I +pray God that the whole world of mankind may all be seized with this +benign, meek, beneficent, beatific, glorious distraction! The +peace of God that passeth all understanding; rejoicing with joy unspeakable +and full of glory; God shining in our hearts, to give the light of the +knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ; with open face beholding +as in a glass the glory of God, and being changed into the same image +from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord; being called +out of darkness into marvellous light, and having the day-star arise +in our hearts! What a sweet distraction is that! And out +of what a heavenly distemper and out of what a sane enthusiasm has all +that come to us!”</p> +<blockquote><p>“More I would speak: but all my words are faint;<br /> +Celestial Love, what eloquence can paint?<br /> +No more, by mortal words, can be expressed,<br /> +But all Eternity shall tell the rest.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>THE SWELLING OF JORDAN</h2> +<blockquote><p>“The swelling of Jordan.”—<i>Jeremiah</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Fore-fancy your deathbed,” says Samuel Rutherford. +“Take an essay,” he says in his greatest book, that perfect +mine of gold and jewels, <i>Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself</i>—“Take +an essay and a lift at your death, and look at it before it actually +comes to your door.” And so we shall. Since it is +appointed to all men once to die, and after death the judgment; and +since our death and our judgment are the only two things that we are +absolutely sure about in our whole future, we shall henceforth fore-fancy +those two events much more than we have done in the past. And +to assist us in that; to quicken our fancy, to kindle it, to captivate +it, and to turn our fancy wholly to our salvation, we have all the entrancing +river-scenes in the <i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i> set before us; a +succession of scenes in which Bunyan positively revels in his exquisite +fancies, clothing them as he does, all the time, in language of the +utmost beauty, tenderness, pathos, power, and dignity. Let us +take our stand, then, on the bank of the river and watch how pilgrim +after pilgrim behaves himself in those terrible waters. We are +all voluntary spectators to-night, but we shall all be compulsory performers +before we know where we are.</p> +<p>1. On entering the river even Christian suddenly began to sink. +Fore-fancy that. All the words he spake still tended to discover +that he had great horror of mind and hearty fears that he would die +in that river; here also he was much in the troublesome thoughts of +the sins he had committed both since and before he began to be a pilgrim. +Fore-fancy that also, all you converted young men. Hopeful, therefore, +had much to do to keep his brother’s head above water; yea, sometimes +he would be quite gone down, and then in a while he would rise up again +half-dead. Then I saw in my dream that Christian was in a muse +a while; to whom also Hopeful added this word, “Be of good cheer; +Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” And with that Christian +broke out with a loud voice, “When thou passest through the waters +I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow +thee.” Then they both took courage and the enemy was after +that as still as a stone till they were gone over. Fore-fancy +that also. There is one other thing out of that crossing that +I hope I shall remember when I am in the river: “Be of good cheer,” +said Hopeful to his sinking fellow—“Be of good cheer, my +brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good.” “Hold +His hand fast,” wrote Samuel Rutherford to Lady Kenmure. +“He knows all the fords. You may be ducked in His company +but never drowned. Put in your foot, then, and wade after Him. +And be sure you set your feet always upon the stepping-stones.” +Yes; fore-fancy those stepping-stones, and often practise your feet +upon them before the time.</p> +<p>2. “Good woman,” said the post to Christiana, the +wife of Christian the pilgrim; “Hail, good woman, I bring thee +tidings that the Master calleth for thee, and expecteth thee to stand +in His presence in clothes of immortality within this ten days.” +Fore-fancy that also. Now the day was come that she must be gone. +And so the road was full of people to see her take her journey. +But, behold, all the banks beyond the river were full of horses and +chariots which were come down from above to accompany her to the city +gate. So she came forth and entered the river with a beckon of +farewell to those that followed her to the river-side. And thus +she went and entered in at the gate with all the ceremonies of joy that +her husband had done before her. Fore-fancy, if you can, some +of those ceremonies of joy.</p> +<p>3. When Mr. Fearing came to the river where was no bridge, +there again he was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he should be +drowned for ever and never see that Face with comfort he had come so +many miles to behold. And here also I took notice of what was +very remarkable; the water of that river was lower at this time than +ever I saw it in all my life. So he went over at last not much +above wet-shod. Fore-fancy and fore-arrange, if it be possible, +for a passage like that. When he was going tip to the gate Mr. +Greatheart began to take his leave of him, and to wish him a good reception +above. “I shall,” he said, “I shall.” +Be fore-assured, also, of a reception like that.</p> +<p>4. In process of time there came a post to the town again, +and his business was this time with Mr. Ready-to-halt. So he inquired +him out and said to him, “I am come to thee in the name of Him +whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches. And my +message is to tell thee that He expects thee at His table to sup with +Him in His kingdom the next day after Easter.” After this +Mr. Ready-to-halt called for his fellow-pilgrims and told them, saying, +“I am sent for, and God shall surely visit you also. These +crutches,” he said, “I bequeath to my son that he may tread +in my steps, with a hundred warm wishes that he may prove better than +I have done.” When he came to the brink of the river, he +said, “Now I shall have no more need of these crutches, since +yonder are horses and chariots for me to ride on.” The last +words he was heard to say were, “Welcome life!” Let +all ready-to-halt hearts fore-fancy all that.</p> +<p>5. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends and told them +what errand had been brought to him, and what token he had received +of the truth of the message. “As for my feeble mind,” +he said, “that I shall leave behind me, for I shall have no need +of that in the place whither I go. When I am gone, Mr. Valiant, +I desire that you would bury it in a dung-hill.” This done, +and the day being come in which he was to depart, he entered the river +as the rest. His last words were, “Hold out faith and patience.” +Fore-fancy such an end as that to your feeble mind also.</p> +<p>6. Did you ever know a family, or, rather, the relics of a +family, where there was just a decrepit old father and a lone daughter +left to nurse him through his second childhood? All his other +children are either married or dead; but both marriage and death have +spared Miss Much-afraid to watch over the dotage-days of Mr. Despondency; +till one summer afternoon the old man fell asleep in his chair to waken +where old men are for ever young. And in a day or two there were +two new graves side by side in the old churchyard. Even death +could not divide this old father and his trusty child. And so +when the time was come for them to depart, they went down together to +the brink of the river. The last words of Mr. Despondency were, +“Farewell night and welcome day.” His daughter went +through the river singing, but none could understand what it was she +said. Fore-fancy that, all you godly old men, with a daughter +who has made a husband and children to herself of her old father.</p> +<p>7. As I hear Old Honest shouting “Grace reigns!” +I always remember what a lady told me about a saying of her poor Irish +scullery-girl. The mistress and the servant were reading George +Eliot’s Life together in the kitchen, and when they came to her +deathbed, on the pillow of which Thomas A’Kempis lay open, “Mem,” +said the girl, “I used to read that old book in the convent; but +it is a better book to live upon than to die upon.” Now, +that was exactly Old Honest’s mind. He lived upon one book, +and then he died upon another. He lived according to the commandments +of God, but he died according to the comforts of the Gospel. Now, +we read in his history how that the river at that time overflowed its +banks in some places. But Mr. Honest had in his lifetime spoken +to one Good-conscience to meet him at the river, the which he also did, +and lent him his hand, and so helped him over. All the same, the +last words of Mr. Honest still were, “Grace reigns!” +And so he left the world. Fore-fancy whether or no you are making, +as one has said, “an assignation with terror” at that same +river-side.</p> +<p>8. Standfast was the last of the pilgrims to go over the river. +Standfast was left longest on this side the river because his Master +could best trust him here. His Master had to take away many of +His other servants from the evil to come, but He could trust Standfast. +You can safely trust a man who takes to his knees in every hour of temptation, +as Standfast was wont to do. “This river,” he said, +“has been a terror to many. Yea, the thoughts of it have +often frighted me also. The waters, indeed, are to the palate +bitter, and to the stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I am going +to, and of the conduct that awaits me on the other side, doth lie as +a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the end of my +journey, and my toilsome days are all ended. I am going now to +see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that face that was spit +upon for me. His name has been to me as a civet-box, yea, sweeter +than all perfumes. His word I did use to gather for my food, and +for antidotes against my faintings. He has held me up, and I have +kept myself from mine iniquities. Yea, my steps hath He strengthened +in the way.” Now, while he was thus in discourse his countenance +changed, his strong man bowed down under him, and after he had said, +“Take me, for I come to Thee,” he ceased to be seen of them. +Fore-fancy, if you have the face, an end like that for yourself.</p> +<p>This, then, is how Christian and Hopeful and Christiana and Old Honest +and all the rest did in the swelling river. But the important +point is, HOW WILL YOU DO? Have you ever fore-fancied how you +will do? Have you ever, among all your many imaginings, imagined +yourself on your deathbed? Have you ever thought you heard the +doctor whisper, “To-night”? Have you ever lain low +in your bed and listened to the death-rattle in your own throat? +And have you still listened to the awful silence in the house after +all was over? Have you ever shot in imagination the dreadful gulf +that stands fixed between life and death, and between time and eternity? +Have you ever tried to get a glimpse beforehand of your own place where +you will be an hour after your death, when they are putting the grave-clothes +on your still warm body, and when they are measuring your corpse for +your coffin? Where will you be by that time? Have you any +idea? Can you fancy it? Did you ever try? And if not, +why not? “My lord,” wrote Jeremy Taylor to the Earl +of Carbery, when sending him the first copy of the <i>Holy Dying</i>,—“My +lord, it is a great art to die well, and that art is to be learnt by +men in health; for he that prepares not for death before his last sickness +is like him that begins to study philosophy when he is going to dispute +publicly in the faculty. The precepts of dying well must be part +of the studies of them that live in health, because in other notices +an imperfect study may be supplied by a frequent exercise and a renewed +experience; but here, if we practise imperfectly once, we shall never +recover the error, for we die but once; and therefore it is necessary +that our skill be more exact since it cannot be mended by another trial.” +How wise, then, how far-seeing, how practical, and how urgent is the +prophet’s challenge and demand. “How wilt thou do +in the swelling of Jordan?”</p> +<p>1. Well, then, let us be practical before we close, and let +us descend to particulars. Let us take the prophet’s question +and run it through some parts and some practices of our daily life as +already dying men. And, to begin with, I have such a great faith +in good books, whether we are to live or die, that I am impelled to +ask you all at this point, and under shelter of this plain-spoken prophet, +What books have you laid in for your deathbed, and for the weeks and +months and even years before your death bed? What do you look +forward to be reading when Jordan is beginning to swell and roll for +you and to leap up toward your doorstep? If you get good from +good books—everybody does not—but supposing you are one +of those who do, what books can you absolutely count upon, without fail, +to put you in the best possible frame for the river, and for the convoy +across, and for the ceremonies of joy on the other side? What +special Scriptures will you have read every day to you? “Read,” +said John Knox to his weeping wife, “read where I first cast my +anchor.” An old lady I once knew used to say to me at every +visit, “The Fifty-first Psalm.” She was the daughter +of a Highland minister, and the wife of a Highland minister, and the +mother of a Highland minister, and of an elder to boot. “The +Fifty-first Psalm,” she said, and sometimes, “One of Hart’s +hymns also.” What is your favourite psalm and hymn? +Mr. James Taylor of Castle Street has several large-type libraries in +his catalogue. Mr. Taylor might start a much worse paying speculation +than a large-type library for the river-side; or, some select booklets +for deathbeds. The series might well open with “The Ninetieth +Psalm” in letters an inch deep. Scholars die as well as +illiterates, and there might be provided for them, among other things, +<i>The Phædo</i> in two languages, Plato’s and Jowett’s. +Then <i>The Seven Sayings from the Cross</i>. Bellarmine’s +<i>Art of Dying Well</i> would stand well beside John Bunyan’s +<i>Dying Sayings</i>. And, were I the editor, I would put in Bishop +Andrewes’ <i>Private Devotions</i>, if only for my own last use. +Then Richard Baxter’s <i>Saint’s Rest</i>, and John Howe’s +Platonico-Puritan book, <i>Blessedness of the Righteous</i>. Then +Bernard’s “New Jerusalem,” “The Sands of Time +are sinking,” “Rock of Ages,” and such like. +These are some of the little books I have within reach of my bed against +the hour when the post blows his first horn for me. You might +tell me some of your deathbed favourites.</p> +<p>2. Who will be your most welcome minister during your last +days on earth? For whom would you send to-night if the post were +suddenly to sound his horn at your side on your way home from church? +I can well believe it would not be your own minister. I have known +fathers and mothers in this congregation to send for other ministers +than their own minister when terrible trouble came upon them, and both +my conscience and my common sense absolutely approved of the step they +took. Five students were once sitting and talking together in +a city in which there was to be an execution to-morrow morning. +They were talking about the murderer who was to be executed in the morning, +and about the minister he had sent for to come to see him. And, +like students, they began to put it to one another—Suppose you +were to be executed to-morrow, for what minister in the city, or even +in the whole land, would you send? And, like students again, they +said—Let each one write down on a piece of paper the name of the +minister he would choose to be beside him at the last, and we shall +see each man’s last choice. They did so, when to their astonishment +it was discovered that they had all written the same minister’s +name! I do not know that they all went to his church every Sabbath +while they were young and, well, and not yet under sentence of death. +I do not think they did. For when I was in his church there was +only a handful of old and decayed-looking people in it. The chief +part of the congregation seemed to me to be a charity school. +And I gathered from all that a lesson—several lessons, and this +among the rest—that crowded passages do not always wait upon the +best pastors; and this also, that a waft of death soon discovers to +us a true minister from an incompetent and a counterfeit minister.</p> +<p>3. Writing to one of his correspondents about his correspondent’s +long-drawn-out deathbed, Samuel Rutherford said to him, “It is +long-drawn-out that you may have ample time to go over all your old +letters and all your still unsettled accounts before you take ship.” +Have you any such old letters lying still unanswered? Have you +any such old accounts lying still unsettled? Have you made full +reparation and restitution for all that you and yours have done amiss? +Fore-fancy that you will soon be summoned into His presence who has +said: “herefore, if thou bring thy gift before the altar, and +there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there +thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy +brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary +quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.” You know +all about Zacchaeus. I need not tell his story over again. +But as I write these lines I take up a London newspaper and my eyes +light on these lines: “William Avary was a man of remarkable gifts, +both of mind and character. He dedicated the residue of his strength +wholly to works of piety. In middle age he failed in business, +and in his old age, when better days came, he looked up such of his +old creditors as could be found and divided among them a sum of several +thousand pounds.” Look up such of your old creditors as +you can find, and that not in matters of money alone. And, be +sure you begin to do it now, before the horn blows. For, as sure +as you take your keys and open your old repositories, you will come +on things you had completely forgotten that will take more time and +more strength, ay, and more resources, than will then be at your disposal. +Even after you have begun at once and done all that you can do, you +will have to do at last as Samuel Rutherford told George Gillespie to +do: “Hand over all your bills, paid and unpaid, to your Surety. +Give Him the keys of the drawer, and let Him clear it out for Himself +after you are gone.”</p> +<p>4. And then, pray often to God for a clear mind between Him +and you, and for a quick, warm, and heaven-hungry heart at the last. +And take a promise from those who watch beside your bed that they will +not drug and stupefy you even though you should ask for it. Whatever +your pain, and it is all in God’s hand, make up your mind, if +it be possible, to bear it. It cannot be greater than the pain +of the cross, and your Saviour would not touch their drugs, however +well-intended. He determined to face the swelling of Jordan and +to enter His Father’s house with an unclouded mind. Try +your very uttermost to do the same. I cannot believe that the +thief even would have let the gall so much as touch his lips after Christ +had said to him, “To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!” +Well, if your mind was ever clear and keen, let it be at its clearest +and its keenest at the last. Let your mind and your heart be full +of repentance, and faith, and love, and hope, and all such saying graces, +and let them all be at their fullest and brightest exercise, at that +moment. Be on the very tip-toe of expectation as the end draws +near. Another pang, another gasp, one more unutterable sinking +of heart and flesh as if you were going down into the dreadful pit—and +then the abundant entrance, and the beatific vision! What wilt +thou do then? What wilt thou say then? Hast thou thy salutation +and thy song ready? And what will it be?</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</a> Delivered +November 27th, 1892.</p> +<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> January +1st, 1893.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNYAN CHARACTERS (SECOND SERIES)***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 1886-h.htm or 1886-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/8/1886 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Bunyan Characters (Second Series) + + +Author: Alexander Whyte + +Release Date: April 13, 2005 [eBook #1886] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNYAN CHARACTERS (SECOND SERIES)*** + + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1894 Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier edition by David +Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +BUNYAN CHARACTERS--SECOND SERIES +Lectures delivered in St. George's Free Church Edinburgh +By Alexander Whyte, D.D. + + +IGNORANCE + + + "I was alive without the law once."--_Paul_. + + "I was now a brisk talker also myself in the matter of + religion."--_Bunyan_. + +This is a new kind of pilgrim. There are not many pilgrims like this +bright brisk youth. A few more young gentlemen like this, and the +pilgrimage way would positively soon become fashionable and popular, and +be the thing to do. Had you met with this young gentleman in society, +had you noticed him beginning to come about your church, you would have +lost no time in finding out who he was. I can well believe it, you would +have replied. Indeed, I felt sure of it. I must ask him to the house. I +was quite struck with his appearance and his manners. Yes; ask him at +once to your house; show him some pointed attentions and you will never +regret it. For if he goes to the bar and works even decently at his +cases, he will be first a sheriff and then a judge in no time. If he +should take to politics, he will be an under-secretary before his first +parliament is out. And if he takes to the church, which is not at all +unlikely, our West-end congregations will all be competing for him as +their junior colleague; and, if he elects either of our Established +churches to exercise his profession in it, he will have dined with Her +Majesty while half of his class-fellows are still half-starved +probationers. Society fathers will point him out with anger to their +unsuccessful sons, and society mothers will smile under their eyelids as +they see him hanging over their daughters. + +Well, as this handsome and well-appointed youth stepped out of his own +neat little lane into the rough road on which our two pilgrims were +staggering upward, he felt somewhat ashamed to be seen in their company. +And I do not wonder. For a greater contrast you would not have seen on +any road in all that country that day. He was at your very first sight +of him a gentleman and the son of a gentleman. A little over-dressed +perhaps; as, also, a little lofty to the two rather battered but +otherwise decent enough men who, being so much older than he, took the +liberty of first accosting him. "Brisk" is his biographer's description +of him. Feather-headed, flippant, and almost impudent, you might have +been tempted to say of him had you joined the little party at that +moment. But those two tumbled, broken-winded, and, indeed, +broken-hearted old men had been, as an old author says, so emptied from +vessel to vessel--they had had a life of such sloughs and stiff +climbs--they had been in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness so +often--that it was no wonder that their dandiacal companion walked on a +little ahead of them. 'Gentlemen,' his fine clothes and his cane and his +head in the air all said to his two somewhat disreputable-looking fellow- +travellers,--"Gentlemen, you be utter strangers to me: I know you not. +And, besides, I take my pleasure in walking alone, even more a great deal +than in company, unless I like it better." But all his society manners, +and all his costly and well-kept clothes, and all his easy and +self-confident airs did not impose upon the two wary old pilgrims. They +had seen too much of the world, and had been too long mixing among all +kinds of pilgrims, young and old, true and false, to be easily imposed +upon. Besides, as one could see from their weather-beaten faces, and +their threadbare garments, they had found the upward way so dreadfully +difficult that they both felt a real apprehension as to the future of +this light-hearted and light-headed youth. "You may find some difficulty +at the gate," somewhat bluntly broke in the oldest of the two pilgrims on +their young comrade. "I shall, no doubt, do at the gate as other good +people do," replied the young gentleman briskly. "But what have you to +show at the gate that may cause that the gate be opened to you?" "Why, I +know my Lord's will, and I have been a good liver all my days, and I pay +every man his own. I pray, moreover, and I fast. I pay tithes, and give +alms, and have left my country for whither I am going." Now, before we +go further: Do all you young gentlemen do as much as that? Have you +always been good livers? Have you paid every man and woman their due? Do +you pray to be called prayer? And, if so, when, and where, and what for, +and how long at a time? I do not ask if your private prayer-book is like +Bishop Andrewes' _Devotions_, which was so reduced to pulp with tears and +sweat and the clenching of his agonising hands that his literary +executors were with difficulty able to decipher it. Clito in the +_Christian Perfection_ was so expeditious with his prayers that he used +to boast that he could both dress and do his devotions in a quarter of an +hour. What was the longest time you ever took to dress or undress and +say your prayers? Then, again, there is another Anglican young gentleman +in the same High Church book who always fasts on Good Friday and the +Thirtieth of January. Did you ever deny yourself a glass of wine or a +cigar or an opera ticket for the church or the poor? Could you honestly +say that you know what tithes are? And is there a poor man or woman or +child in this whole city who will by any chance put your name into their +prayers and praises at bedtime to-night? I am afraid there are not many +young gentlemen in this house to-night who could cast a stone at that +brisk lad Ignorance, Vain-Hope, door in the side of the hill, and all. He +was not far from the kingdom of heaven; indeed, he got up to the very +gate of it. How many of you will get half as far? + +Now (what think you?), was it not a very bold thing in John Bunyan, whose +own descent was of such a low and inconsiderable generation, his father's +house being of that rank that is meanest and most despised of all the +families in the land--was it not almost too bold in such a clown to take +such a gentleman-scholar as Saul of Tarsus, the future Apostle of the +Lord, and put him into the _Pilgrim's Progress_, and there go on to +describe him as a very brisk lad and nickname him with the nickname of +Ignorance? For, in knowledge of all kinds to be called knowledge, +Gamaliel's gold medallist could have bought the unlettered tinker of +Elstow in one end of the market and sold him in the other. And nobody +knew that better than Bunyan did. And yet such a lion was he for the +truth, such a disciple of Luther was he, and such a defender and preacher +of the one doctrine of a standing or falling church, that he fills page +after page with the crass ignorance of the otherwise most learned of all +the New Testament men. Bunyan does not accuse the rising hope of the +Pharisees of school or of synagogue ignorance. That young Hebrew Rabbi +knew every jot and tittle of the law of Moses, and all the accumulated +traditions of the fathers to boot. But Bunyan has Paul himself with him +when he accuses and convicts Saul of an absolutely brutish ignorance of +his own heart and hidden nature. That so very brisk lad was always +boasting in himself of the day on which he was circumcised, and of the +old stock of which he had come; of his tribe, of his zeal, of his +blamelessness, and of the profit he had made of his educational and +ecclesiastical opportunities. Whereas Bunyan is fain to say of himself +in his _Grace Abounding_ that he is "not able to boast of noble blood or +of a high-born state according to the flesh. Though, all things +considered, I magnify the Heavenly Majesty for that by this door He +brought me into this world to partake of the grace and life that is in +Christ by the Gospel." + +As we listen to the conversation that goes on between the two old +pilgrims and this smartly appointed youth, we find them striving hard, +but without any sign of success, to convince him of some of the things +from which he gets his somewhat severe name. For one thing, they at last +bluntly told him that he evidently did not know the very A B C about +himself. Till, when too hard pressed by the more ruthless of the two old +men, the exasperated youth at last frankly burst out: "I will never +believe that my heart is thus bad!" There is a warm touch of Bunyan's +own experience here, mixed up with his so dramatic development of Paul's +morsels of autobiography that he lets drop in his Epistles to the +Philippians and to the Galatians. "Now was I become godly; now I was +become a right honest man. Though as yet I was nothing but a poor +painted hypocrite, yet I was proud of my godliness. I read my Bible, but +as for Paul's Epistles, and such like Scriptures, I could not away with +them; being, as yet, but ignorant both of the corruptions of my nature +and of the want and worth of Jesus Christ to save me. The new birth did +never enter my mind, neither knew I the deceitfulness and treachery of my +own wicked heart. And as for secret thoughts, I took no notice of them." +My brethren, old and young, what do you think of all that? What have you +to say to all that? Does all that not open a window and let a flood of +daylight into your own breast? I am sure it does. That is the best +portrait of you that ever was painted. Do you not see yourself there as +in a glass? And do you not turn with disgust and loathing from the +stupid and foolish face? You complain and tell stories about how +impostors and cheats and liars have come to your door and have impudently +thrust themselves into your innermost rooms; but your own heart, if you +only knew it, is deceitful far above them all. Not the human heart as it +stands in confessions, and in catechisms, and in deep religious books, +but your own heart that beats out its blood-poison of self-deceit, and +darkness, and death day and night continually. "My heart is a good +heart," said that poor ill-brought-up boy, who was already destroyed by +his father and his mother for lack of self-knowledge. I entirely grant +you that those two old sinners by this time were taking very pessimistic +and very melancholy views of human nature, and, therefore, of every human +being, young and old. They knew that no language had ever been coined in +any scripture, or creed, or catechism, or secret diary of the deepest +penitent, that even half uttered their own evil hearts; and they had +lived long enough to see that we are all cut out of one web, are all dyed +in one vat, and are all corrupted beyond all accusation or confession in +Adam's corruption. But how was that poor, mishandled lad to know or +believe all that? He could not. It was impossible. "You go so fast, +gentlemen, that I cannot keep pace with you. Go you on before and I will +stay a while behind." Then said Christian to his companion: "It pities +me much for this poor lad, for it will certainly go ill with him at +last." "Alas!" said Hopeful, "there are abundance in our town in his +condition: whole families, yea, whole streets, and that of pilgrims too." +Is your family such a family as this? And are you yourself just such a +pilgrim as Ignorance was, and are you hastening on to just such an end? + +And then, as a consequence, being wholly ignorant of his own corruption +and condemnation in the sight of God, this miserable man must remain +ignorant and outside of all that God has done in Christ for corrupt and +condemned men. "I believe that Christ died for sinners and that I shall +be justified before God from the curse through His gracious acceptance of +my obedience to His law. Or, then, to take it this way, Christ makes my +duties that are religious acceptable to His Father by virtue of His +merits, and so shall I be justified." Now, I verify believe that nine +out of ten of the young men who are here to-night would subscribe that +statement and never suspect there was anything wrong with it or with +themselves. And yet, what does Christian, who, in this matter, is just +John Bunyan, who again is just the word of God--what does the old pilgrim +say to this confession of this young pilgrim's faith? "Ignorance is thy +name," he says, "and as thy name is, so art thou: even this thy answer +demonstrateth what I say. Ignorant thou art of what justifying +righteousness is, and as ignorant how to secure thy soul through the +faith of it from the heavy wrath of God. Yea, thou also art ignorant of +the true effect of saving faith in this righteousness of Christ's, which +is to bow and win over the heart to God in Christ, to love His name, His +word, His ways, and His people." Paul sums up all his own early life in +this one word, "ignorant of God's righteousness." "Going about," he says +also, "to establish our own righteousness, not submitting ourselves to be +justified by the righteousness that God has provided with such wisdom and +grace, and at such a cost in His Son Jesus Christ." Now, young men, I +defy you to be better born, better brought up, or to have better +prospects than Saul of Tarsus had. I defy you to have profited more by +all your opportunities and advantages than he had done. I defy you to be +more blameless in your opening manhood than he was. And yet it all went +like smoke when he got a true sight of himself, and, with that, a true +sight of Christ and His justifying righteousness. Read at home to-night, +and read when alone, what that great man of God says about all that in +his classical epistle to the Philippians, and refuse to sleep till you +have made the same submission. And, to-night, and all your days, let +_submission_, Paul's splendid submission, be the soul and spirit of all +your religious life. Submission to be searched by God's holy law as by a +lighted candle: submission to be justified from all that that candle +discovers: submission to take Christ as your life and righteousness, +sanctification and redemption: and submission of your mind and your will +and your heart to Him at all times and in all things. Nay, stay still, +and say where you sit, Lord, I submit. I submit on the spot to be +pardoned. I submit now to be saved. I submit in all things from this +very hour and house of God not any longer to be mine own, but to be +Thine, O God, Thine, Thine, for ever, in Jesus Christ Thy Son and my +Saviour! + +"But, one day, as I was passing in the field, and that, too, with some +dashes in my conscience, fearing lest all was not right, suddenly this +sentence fell upon my soul, Thy Righteousness is in heaven! And, +methought, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right +hand. There, I saw, was my Righteousness. I also saw, moreover, that it +was not my good frame of heart that made my Righteousness better, nor my +bad frame of heart that made my Righteousness worse: for my Righteousness +was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. +'Twas glorious to me to see His exaltation, and the worth and prevalency +of His benefits. And that because I could now look from myself to Him +and should reckon that all those graces of God that were now green in me +were yet but like those crack-groats and four-pence halfpennies that rich +men carry in their purses when their gold is in their trunks at home! Oh, +I saw that day that my gold was all in my trunk at home! Even in Christ, +my Lord and Saviour! Now, Christ was all to me: all my wisdom, all my +righteousness, all my sanctification and all my redemption." + + "Methinks in this God speaks, + No tinker hath such power." + + + + +LITTLE-FAITH + + + "O thou of little faith."--_Our Lord_. + +Little-Faith, let it never be forgotten, was, all the time, a good man. +With all his mistakes about himself, with his sad misadventure, with all +his loss of blood and of money, and with his whole after-lifetime of +doleful and bitter complaints,--all the time, Little-Faith was all +through, in a way, a good man. To keep us right on this all-important +point, and to prevent our being prematurely prejudiced against this +pilgrim because of his somewhat prejudicial name--because give a dog a +bad name, you know, and you had better hang him out of hand at +once--because, I say, of this pilgrim's somewhat suspicious name, his +scrupulously just, and, indeed, kindly affected biographer says of him, +and says it of him not once nor twice, but over and over and over again, +that this Little-Faith was really all the time a truly good man. And, +more than that, this good man's goodness was not a new thing with him it +was not a thing of yesterday. This man had, happily to begin with, a +good father and a good mother. And if there was a good town in all those +parts for a boy to be born and brought up in it was surely the town of +Sincere. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old +he will not depart from it." Well, Little-Faith had been so trained up +both by his father and his mother and his schoolmaster and his minister, +and he never cost either of them a sore heart or even an hour's sleep. +One who knew him well, as well, indeed, as only one young man knows +another, has been fain to testify, when suspicions have been cast on the +purity and integrity of his youth, that nothing will describe this +pilgrim so well in the days of his youth as just those beautiful words +out of the New Testament--"an example to all young men in word, in +conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith even, and in purity"--and +that, if there was one young man in all that town of Sincere who kept his +garments unspotted it was just our pilgrim of to-night. Yes, said one +who had known him all his days, if the child is the father of the man, +then Little-Faith, as you so unaccountably to me call him, must have been +all along a good man. + +It was said long ago in _Vanity Fair_ about our present Premier that if +he were a worse man he would be a better statesman. Now, I do not repeat +that in this place because I agree with it, but because it helps to +illustrate, as sometimes a violent paradox will help to illustrate, a +truth that does not lie all at once on the surface. But it is no paradox +or extravagance or anything but the simple truth to say that if Little- +Faith had had more and earlier discoveries made to him of the innate evil +of his own heart, even if it had been by that innate evil bursting out of +his heart and laying waste his good life, he would either have been +driven out of his little faith altogether or driven into a far deeper +faith. Had the commandment come to him in the manner it came to Paul; +had it come so as that the sinfulness of his inward nature had revived, +as Paul says, under its entrance; then, either his great goodness or his +little faith must have there and then died. God's truth and man's +goodness cannot dwell together in the same heart. Either the truth will +kill the goodness, or the goodness will kill the truth. Little-Faith, in +short, was such a good man, and had always been such a good man, and had +led such an easy life in consequence, that his faith had not been much +exercised, and therefore had not grown, as it must have been exercised +and must have grown, had he not been such a good man. In short, and to +put it bluntly, had Little-Faith been a worse sinner, he would have been +a better saint. "_O felix culpa_!" exclaimed a church father; "O happy +fault, which found for us sinners such a Redeemer." An apostrophe which +Bishop Ken has put into these four bold lines-- + + "What Adam did amiss, + Turned to our endless bliss; + O happy sin, which to atone, + Drew Filial God to leave His throne." + +And John Calvin, the soberest of men, supports Augustine, the most +impulsive of men, in saying the same thing. All things which happen to +the saints are so overruled by God that what the world regards as evil +the issue shows to be good. For what Augustine says is true, that even +the sins of saints are, through the guiding providence of God, so far +from doing harm to them, that, on the contrary, they serve to advance +their salvation. And Richard Hooker, a theologian, if possible, still +more judicious than even John Calvin, says on this same subject and in +support of the same great father, "I am not afraid to affirm it boldly +with St. Augustine that men puffed up through a proud opinion of their +own sanctity and holiness receive a benefit at the hands of God, and are +assisted with His grace, when with His grace they are not assisted, but +permitted, and that grievously, to transgress. Ask the very soul of +Peter, and it shall undoubtedly make you itself this answer: My eager +protestations, made in the glory of my ghostly strength, I am ashamed of; +but those crystal tears, wherewith my sin and weakness were bewailed, +have procured my endless joy: my strength hath been my ruin, and my fall +my stay." And our own Samuel Rutherford is not likely to be left far +behind by the best of them when the grace of God is to be magnified. "Had +sin never been we should have wanted the mysterious Emmanuel, the +Beloved, the Chief among ten thousand, Christ, God-man, the Saviour of +sinners. For, no sick sinners, no soul-physician of sinners; no captive, +no Redeemer; no slave of hell, no lovely ransom-payer of heaven. Mary +Magdalene with her seven devils, Paul with his hands smoking with the +blood of the saints, and with his heart sick with malice and blasphemy +against Christ and His Church, and all the rest of the washen ones whose +robes are made fair in the blood of the Lamb, and all the multitude that +no man can number in that best of lands, are all but bits of free grace. +O what a depth of unsearchable wisdom to contrive that lovely plot of +free grace. Come, all intellectual capacities, and warm your hearts at +this fire. Come, all ye created faculties, and smell the precious +ointment of Christ. Oh come, sit down under His shadow and eat the +apples of life. Oh that angels would come, and generations of men, and +wonder, and admire, and fall down before the unsearchable wisdom of this +gospel-art of the unsearchable riches of Christ!" And always pungent +Thomas Shepard of New England: "You shall find this, that there is not +any carriage or passage of the Lord's providence toward thee but He will +get a name to Himself, first and last, by it. Hence you shall find that +those very sins that dishonour His name He will even by them get Himself +a better name; for so far will they be from casting you out of His love +that He will actually do thee good by them. Look and see if it is not so +with thee? Doth not thy weakness strengthen thee like Paul? Doth not +thy blindness make thee cry for light? And hath not God out of darkness +oftentimes brought light? Thou hast felt venom against Christ and thy +brother, and thou hast on that account loathed thyself the more. Thy +falls into sin make thee weary of it, watchful against it, long to be rid +of it. And thus He makes thy poison thy food, thy death thy life, thy +damnation thy salvation, and thy very greatest enemies thy very best +friends. And hence Mr. Fox said that he thanked God more for his sins +than for his good works. And the reason is, God will have His name." +And, last, but not least, listen to our old acquaintance, James Fraser of +Brea: "I find advantages by my sins: '_Peccare nocet, peccavisse vero +juvat_.' I may say, as Mr. Fox said, my sins have, in a manner, done me +more good than my graces. Grace and mercy have more abounded where sin +had much abounded. I am by my sins made much more humble, watchful, +revengeful against myself. I am made to see a greater need to depend +more upon Him and to love Him the more. I find that true which Shepard +says, 'sin loses strength by every new fall.'" Have you followed all +that, my brethren? Or have you stumbled at it? Do you not understand +it? Does your superficial gin-horse mind incline to shake its empty head +over all this? I know that great names, and especially the great names +of your own party, go much farther with you than the truth goes, and +therefore I have sheltered this deep truth under a shield of great names. +For their sakes let this sure truth of God's best saints lie in peace and +undisputed beside you till you arrive to understand it. + +But, to proceed,--the thing was this. At this passage there comes down +from Broadway-gate a lane called Dead-Man's-lane, so called because of +the murders that are commonly done there. And this Little-Faith going on +pilgrimage, as we now do, chanced to sit down there and fell fast asleep. +Yes; the thing was this: This good man had never been what one would call +really awake. He was not a bad man, as men went in the town of Sincere, +but he always had a half-slept half-awakened look about his eyes, till +now, at this most unfortunate spot, he fell stone-dead asleep. You all +know, I shall suppose, what the apostle Paul and John Bunyan mean by +sleep, do you not? You all know, at any rate, to begin with, what sleep +means in the accident column of the morning papers. You all know what +sleep meant and what it involved and cost in the Thirsk signal-box the +other night. {1} When a man is asleep, he is as good as dead, and other +people are as good as dead to him. He is dead to duty, to danger, to +other people's lives, as well as to his own. He may be having pleasant +dreams, and may even be laughing aloud in his sleep, but that may only +make his awaking all the more hideous. He may awake just in time, or he +may awake just too late. Only, he is asleep and he neither knows nor +cares. Now, there is a sleep of the soul as well as of the body. And as +the soul is in worth, as the soul is in its life and in its death to the +body, so is its sleep. Many of you sitting there are quite as dead to +heaven and hell, to death and judgment, and to what a stake other people +as well as yourselves have in your sleep as that poor sleeper in the +signal-box was dead to what was coming rushing on him through the black +night. And as all his gnashing of teeth at himself, and all his sobs +before his judge and before the laid-out dead, and before distracted +widows and half-mad husbands did not bring back that fatal moment when he +fell asleep so sweetly, so will it be with you. Lazarus! come forth! +Wise and foolish virgins both: Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Awake, thou +that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light! + +And, with that, Guilt with a great club that was in his hand struck +Little-Faith on the head, and with that blow felled him to the earth, +where he lay bleeding as one that would soon bleed to death. Yes, yes, +all true to the very life. A man may be the boast and the example of all +the town, and yet, unknown to them all, and all but unknown to himself +till he is struck down, he may have had guilt enough on his track all the +time to lay him half dead at the mouth of Dead-Man's-lane. Good as was +the certificate that all men in their honesty gave to Little-Faith, yet +even he had some bad enough memories behind him and within him had he +only kept them ever present with him. But, then, it was just this that +all along was the matter with Little-Faith. Till, somehow, after that +sad and yet not wholly evil sleep, all his past sins leapt out into the +light and suddenly became and remained all the rest of his life like +scarlet. So loaded, indeed, was the club of Guilt with the nails and +studs and clamps of secret aggravation, that every nail and stud left its +own bleeding bruise in the prostrate man's head. I have myself, says the +narrator of Little-Faith's story, I have myself been engaged as he was, +and I found it to be a terrible thing. I would, as the saying is, have +sold my life at that moment for a penny; but that, as God would have it, +I was clothed with armour of proof: ay, and yet though I was thus +harnessed, I found it hard work to quit myself like a man. No man can +tell what in that combat attends us but he that hath been in the battle +himself. Great-Grace himself,--whoso looks well upon his face shall see +those cuts and scars that shall easily give demonstration of what I say. + +Most unfortunately there was no good Samaritan with his beast on the road +that day to take the half-dead man to an inn. And thus it was that +Little-Faith was left to lie in his blood till there was almost no more +blood left in him. Till at last, coming a little to himself, he made a +shift to scrabble on his way. When he was able to look a little to +himself, besides all his wounds and loss of blood, he found that all his +spending money was gone, and what was he to do, a stranger in such a +plight on a strange road? There was nothing for it but he must just beg +his way with many a hungry belly for the remainder of his way. You all +understand the parable at this point? Our knowledge of gospel truth; our +personal experience of the life of God in our own soul; our sensible +attainments in this grace of the Spirit and in that; in secret prayer, in +love to God, in forgiveness of injuries, in goodwill to all men, and in +self-denial that no one knows of,--in things like these we possess what +may be called the pocket-money of the spiritual life. All these things, +at their best, are not the true jewel that no thief can break through nor +steal; but though they are not our best and truest riches, yet they have +their place and play their part in sending us up the pilgrim way. By our +long and close study of the word of God, if that is indeed our case; by +divine truth dwelling richly and experimentally in our hearts; and by a +hidden life that is its own witness, and which always has the Holy +Spirit's seal set upon it that we are the children of God,--all that +keeps, and is designed by God to keep our hearts up amid the labours and +the faintings, the hopes and the fears of the spiritual life. All that +keeps us at the least and the worst above famine and beggary. Now, the +whole pity with Little-Faith was, that though he was not a bad man, yet +he never, even at his best days, had much of those things that make a +good and well-furnished pilgrim; and what little he had he had now clean +lost. He had never been much a reader of his Bible; he had never sat +over it as other men sat over their news-letters and their romances. He +had never had much taste or talent for spiritual books of any kind. He +was a good sort of man, but he was not exactly the manner of man on whose +broken heart the Holy Ghost sets the broad seal of heaven. But for his +dreadful misadventure, he might have plodded on, a decent, humdrum, +commonplace, everyday kind of pilgrim; but when that catastrophe fell on +him he had nothing to fall back upon. The secret ways of faith and love +and hope were wholly unknown to him. He had no practice in importunate +prayer. He had never prayed a whole night all his life. He had never +needed to do so. For were we not told when we first met him what a +blameless and pure and true and good man he had always been? He did not +know how to find his way about in his Bible; and as for the maps and +guide-books that some pilgrims never let out of their hand, even when he +had some spending money about him, he never laid it out that way. And a +more helpless pilgrim than Little-Faith was all the rest of the way you +never saw. He was forced to beg as he went, says his historian. That is +to say, he had to lean upon and look to wiser and better-furnished men +than himself. He had to share their meals, look to them to pay his +bills, keep close to their company, walk in their foot-prints, and at +night borrow their oil, and it was only in this poor dependent way that +Little-Faith managed to struggle on to the end of his dim and joyless +journey. + +It would have been far more becoming and far more profitable if Christian +and Hopeful, instead of falling out of temper and calling one another bad +names over the sad case of Little-Faith, had tried to tell one another +why that unhappy pilgrim's faith was so small, and how both their own +faith and his might from that day have been made more. Hopeful, for some +reason or other, was in a rude and boastful mood of mind that day, and +Christian was more tart and snappish than we have ever before seen him; +and, altogether, the opportunity of learning something useful out of +Little-Faith's story has been all but lost to us. But, now, since there +are so many of Little-Faith's kindred among ourselves--so many good men +who are either half asleep in their religious life or are begging their +way from door to door--let them be told, in closing, one or two out of +many other ways in which their too little faith may possibly be made +stronger and more fruitful. + +Well, then, faith, like everything else, once we have it, grows greater +by our continual exercise of it. Exercise, then, intentionally and +seriously and on system your faith every day. And exercise it habitually +and increasingly on your Bible, on heaven, and on Jesus Christ. And let +your faith on all these things, and places, and persons, work by love,--by +love and by imagination. Our love is cold and our faith is small and +weak for lack of imagination. Read your Psalm, your Gospel, your Epistle +every morning and every night with your eye upon the object. Think you +see the Psalmist amid all his deep and divine experiences. Think you see +Jesus Christ speaking His parables, saying His prayers, and doing His +good works. Walk up and down with Him, observing His manner, His look, +His gait, His divinity in your humanity, till Galilee and Jerusalem +become Scotland and Edinburgh; that is, till He is as much with you, and +more, than He was with Peter and James and John. Never close your eye a +single night till you have again laid your hand on the very head of the +Lamb of God, and till you feel that your sin and guilt have all passed +off your hand and on upon His head. And never rise without, like William +Law, saluting the rising sun in the name of God, as if he had just been +created and sent up into your sky to let you see to serve God and your +neighbour for another day. And be often out of this world and up in +heaven. Beat all about you at building castles in the air; you have more +material and more reason. For is not faith the substance of things hoped +for, and the evidence of things not seen? Walk often in heaven's +friendly streets. Pass often into heaven's many mansions filled with +happy families. Imagine this unhappy life at an end, and imagine +yourself sent back to this probationary world to play the man for a few +short years before heaven finally calls you home. Little-Faith was a +good man, but there was no speculation in his eyes and no secrets of love +in his heart. And if your faith also is little, and your spending money +also is run low, try this way of love and imagination. If you have a +better way, then go on with it and be happy yourself and helpful to +others; but if your faith is at a standstill and is stricken with +barrenness, try my counsel of putting more heart and more inward eye, +more holy love and more heavenly joy, into your frigid and sterile +religion. + + + + +THE FLATTERER + + + "A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his + feet."--_The Wise Man_. + +Both Ignorance and Little-Faith would have had their revenge and +satisfaction upon Christian and Hopeful had they seen those two so +Pharisaical old men taken in the Flatterer's net. For it was nothing +else but the swaggering pride of Hopeful over the pitiful case of Little- +Faith, taken along with the hard and hasty ways of Christian with that +unhappy youth Ignorance, that so soon laid them both down under the small +cords of the Shining One. This word of the wise man, that pride goeth +before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, was fulfilled to +the very letter in Christian and Hopeful that high-minded day. At the +same time, it must be admitted that Christian and Hopeful would have been +more than human if they had not both felt and let fall some superiority, +some scorn, and some impatience in the presence of such a silly and +upsetting stripling as Ignorance was; as, also, over the story of such a +poor-spirited and spunging creature as Little-Faith was. Christian and +Hopeful had just come down from their delightful time among the +Delectable Mountains, and they were as full as they could hold of all +kinds of knowledge, and faith, and hope, and assurance; when, most +unfortunately, as it turned out, they first came across Ignorance, and +then, after quarrelling with him, they fell out between themselves over +the case of Little-Faith. Their superior knowledge of the truth, and +their superior strength of faith, ought to have made them more able to +bear with the infirmities of the weak, and with the passing moods, +however provoking, of one another. But no. And their impatience and +contempt and bad temper all came at this crisis to such a head with them +that they could only be cured by the small cords and the stinging words +of the Shining One. The true key to this so painful part of the parable +hangs at our own girdle. We who have been born and brought up in an +evangelical church are thrown from time to time into the company of +men--ministers and people--who have not had our advantages and +opportunities. They have been born, baptized, and brought up in +communities and churches the clean opposite of ours; and they are as +ignorant of all New Testament religion as Ignorance himself was; or, on +the other hand, they are as full of superstition and terror and spiritual +starvation as Little-Faith was. And then, instead of recollecting and +laying to heart Who made us to differ from such ignorance and such +unbelief, and thus putting on love and humility and patience toward our +neighbours, we speak scornfully and roughly to them, and boast ourselves +over them, and as good as say to them, Stand by thyself, come not near to +me, for I am wiser, wider-minded, stronger, and better every way than +thou. And then, ere ever we are aware of what we are doing, we have let +the arch-flatterer of religious superiority and of spiritual pride seduce +us aside out of the lowly and heavenly way of love and humility till we +are again brought back to it with rebukes of conscience and with other +chastisements. You all understand, my brethren, that the man black of +flesh but covered with a white robe was no wayside seducer who met +Christian and Hopeful at that dangerous part of the road only and only on +that high-minded day. You know from yourselves surely that both +Christian and Hopeful carried that black but smooth-spoken man within +themselves. The Flatterer who led the two pilgrims so fatally wrong that +day was just their own heart taken out of their own bosom and personified +and dramatised by Bunyan's dramatic genius, and so made to walk and talk +and flatter and puff up outside of themselves till they came again to see +who in reality he was and whence he came,--that is to say, till they were +brought to see what they themselves still were, and would always be, when +they were left to themselves. "Where did you lie last night? asked the +Shining One with the whip. With the Shepherds on the Delectable +Mountains, they answered. He asked them then if they had not of those +shepherds a note of direction for the way? They answered, Yes. But did +you not, said he, when you were at a stand pluck out and read your note? +They answered, No. He asked them why? They said they forgot. He asked, +moreover if the shepherds did not bid them beware of the Flatterer? They +answered, Yes; but we did not imagine, said they, that this fine-spoken +man had been he." + +All good literature, both sacred and profane, both ancient and modern, is +full of the Flatterer. Let me not, protests Elihu in his powerful speech +in the book of Job, let me not accept any man's person; neither let me +give flattering titles unto man, lest in so doing my Maker should soon +take me away. And the Psalmist in his powerful description of the wicked +men of his day: There is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward +part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter +with their tongue. And again: They speak with flattering lips, and with +a double heart do they speak. But the Lord shall cut off all flattering +lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. "The perpetual +hyperbole" of pure love becomes in the lips of impure love the impure +bait that leads the simple ones astray on the streets of the city as seen +and heard by the wise man out of his casement. My son, say unto wisdom, +Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman; that they may +keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth thee +with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth +the covenant of her God. And then in the same book of Hebrew aphorisms +we find this text which Bunyan puts on the margin of the page: "A man +that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." And now, +before we leave the ancient world, if you would not think it beneath the +dignity of the place we are in, I would like to read to you a passage out +of a round-about paper written by a satirist of Greece about the time of +Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem. You will easily remark the difference of +tone between the seriousness and pathos of the Hebrew prophet and the +light and chaffing touch of Theophrastus. "The Flatterer is a person," +says that satirist of Greek society, "who will say to you as he walks +with you, 'Do you observe how people are looking at you? This happens to +no man in Athens but to you. A fine compliment was paid you yesterday in +the Porch. More than thirty persons were sitting there when the question +was started, Who is our foremost man? Every one mentioned you first, and +ended by coming back to your name.' The Flatterer will laugh also at +your stalest joke, and will stuff his cloak into his mouth as if he could +not repress his amusement when you again tell it. He will buy apples and +pears and will give to your children when you are by, and will kiss them +all and will say, 'Chicks of a good father.' Also, when he assists at +the purchase of slippers he will declare that the foot is more shapely +than the shoe. He is the first of the guests to praise the wine and to +say as he reclines next the host, 'How delicate your fare always is'; and +taking up something from the table, 'Now, how excellent that is!'" And +so on. Yes, we have heard it all over and over again in Modern Athens +also. The Greek fable also of the fox and the crow and the piece of +cheese is only another illustration of the truth that the God of truth +and integrity never left Himself without a witness. Our own literature +also is scattered full of the Flatterer and his too willing dupes. "Of +praise a mere glutton," says Goldsmith of David Garrick, "he swallowed +what came. The puff of a dunce he mistook it for fame." "Delicious +essence," exclaims Sterne, "how refreshing thou art to poor human nature! +How sweetly dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most +difficult and tortuous passages to the heart." "He that slanders me," +says Cowper, "paints me blacker than I am, and he that flatters me +whiter. They both daub me, and when I look in the glass of conscience, I +see myself disguised by both." And then he sings: + + "The worth of these three kingdoms I defy + To lure me to the baseness of a lie; + And of all lies (be that one poet's boast), + The lie that flatters I abhor the most." + +Now, praise, which is one of the best and sweetest things in human life, +so soon passes over into flattery, which is one of the worst things, that +something must here be said and laid to heart about praise also. But, to +begin with, praise itself must first be praised. There is nothing nobler +than true praise in him who speaks it, and there is nothing dearer and +sweeter to him who hears it. God Himself inhabits the praises of Israel. +All God's works praise Him. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me. Praise +waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion. Enter into His gates with +thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Violence shall no more be +heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou +shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. And such also is +all true praise between man and man. How deliciously sweet is praise! +How we labour after it! how we look for it and wait for it! and how we +languish and die if we do not get it! Again, when it comes to us, how it +cheers us up and makes our face to shine! For a long time after it our +step is so swift on the street and our face beams so that all men can +quite well see what has come to us. Praise is like wine in our blood; it +is new life to our fainting heart. So much is this the case that a +salutation of praise is to be our first taste of heaven itself. It will +wipe all tears off our eyes when we hear our Lord saying to us, "Well +done!" when all our good works that we have done in the body shall be +found unto praise and honour and glory in the great day of Jesus Christ. + +At the same time, this same love of praise is one of our most besetting +and fatal temptations as long as we are in this false and double and +deceptive world. Sin, God curse it! has corrupted and poisoned +everything, the very best things of this life, and when the best things +are corrupted and poisoned they become the worst things. And praise does +not escape this universal and fatal law. Weak, evil, and self-seeking +men are near us, and we lean upon them, look to them, and listen to them. +We make them our strength and support, and seek repose and refreshment +from them. They cannot be all or any of these things to us; but we are +far on in life, we are done with life, before we have discovered that and +will admit that. Most men never discover and admit that till they are +out of this life altogether. Christ's praise and the applause of His +saints and angels are so future and so far away from us, and man's praise +and the applause of this world, hollow and false as it is, is so near us, +that we feed our souls on offal and garbage, when, already, in the +witness of a good conscience, we might be feasting our souls on the +finest of the wheat, and satisfying them with honey out of the rock. And, +then, this insatiable appetite of our hearts, being so degraded and +perverted, like all degraded and perverted appetites, becomes an iron- +fast slave to what it feeds upon. What miserable slaves we all are to +the approval and the praise of men! How they hold us in their bondage! +How we lick their hands and sit up on our haunches and go through our +postures for a crumb! How we crawl on our belly and lick their feet for +a stroke and a smile! What a hound's life does that man lead who lives +upon the approval and the praise and the patronage of men! What meanness +fills his mind; what baseness fills his heart! What a shameful leash he +is led about the world in! How kicked about and spat upon he is; while +not half so much as he knows all the time that he deserves to be! Better +far be a dog at once and bay the moon than be a man and fawn upon the +praises of men. + +If you would be a man at all, not to speak of a Christian man, starve +this appetite till you have quite extirpated it. You will never be safe +from it as long as it stirs within you. Extirpate it! Extirpate it! You +will never know true self-respect and you will never deserve to know it, +till you have wholly extirpated your appetite for praise. Put your foot +upon it, put it out of your heart. Stop fishing for it, and when you see +it coming, turn away and stop your ears against it. And should it still +insinuate itself, at any rate do not repeat to others what has already so +flattered and humbled and weakened you. Telling it to others will only +humble and weaken you more. By repeating the praise that you have heard +or read about yourself you only expose yourself and purchase +well-deserved contempt for yourself. And, more than that, by fishing for +praise you lay yourself open to all sorts of flatterers. Honest men, men +who truly respect and admire you, will show you their dignified regard +and appreciation of you and your work by their silence; while your leaky +slaves will crowd around you with floods of praise that they know well +will please and purchase you. And when you cannot with all your arts +squeeze a drop out of those who love and honour you, gallons will be +poured upon you by those who have respect neither for themselves nor for +you. Faugh! Flee from flatterers, and take up only with sternly true +and faithful men. "I am much less regardful," says Richard Baxter, "of +the approbation of men, and set much lighter store by their praise and +their blame, than I once did. All worldly things appear most vain and +unsatisfying to those who have tried them most. But while I feel that +this has had some hand in my distaste for man's praise, yet it is the +increasing impression on my heart of man's nothingness and God's +transcendent greatness; it is the brevity and vanity of all earthly +things, taken along with the nearness of eternity;--it is all this that +has at last lifted me above the blame and the praise of men." + +To conclude; let us make up our mind and determine to pass on to God on +the spot every syllable of praise that ever comes to our eyes or our +ears--if, in this cold, selfish, envious, and grudging world, any +syllable of praise ever should come to us. Even if pure and generous and +well-deserved praise should at any time come to us, all that does not +make it ours. The best earned usury is not the steward's own money to do +with it what he likes. The principal and the interest, and the trader +too, are all his master's. And, more than that, after the wisest and the +best trader has done his best, he will remain, to himself at least, a +most unprofitable servant. Pass on then immediately, dutifully, and to +its very last syllable, to God all the praise that comes to you. Wash +your hands of it and say, Not unto us, O God, not unto us, but unto Thy +name. And then, to take the most selfish and hungry-hearted view of this +whole matter, what you thus pass on to God as not your own but His, He +will soon, and in a better and safer world, return again to the full with +usury to you, and you again to God, and He again to you, and so on, all +down the pure and true and sweet and blessed life of heaven. + + + + +ATHEIST + + + " . . . without God [literally, atheists] in the world."--_Paul_. + +"Yonder is a man with his back toward Zion, and he is coming to meet us. +So he drew nearer and nearer, and at last came up to them. His name was +Atheist, and he asked them whither they were going? We are going to the +Mount Zion, they answered. Then Atheist fell into a very great laughter. +What is the meaning of your laughter? they asked. 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. Why, man? Do +you think we shall not be received? they said. Received! There is no +such place as you dream of in all this world. But there is in the world +to come, replied Christian. When I was at home, Atheist went on, in mine +own country I heard as you now affirm, and, from that hearing, I went out +to see, and have been seeking this city you speak of this twenty years, +but find no more of it than I did the first day I set out. And, still +laughing, he went his way." + +Having begun to tell us about Atheist, why did Bunyan not tell us more? +We would have thanked him warmly to-night for a little more about this +unhappy man. Why did the dreamer not take another eight or ten pages in +order to tell us, as only he could have told us, how this man that is now +Atheist had spent his past twenty years seeking Mount Zion? Those +precious unwritten pages are now buried in John Strudwick's vault in +Bunhill Fields, and no other man has arisen able to handle Bunyan's +biographic pen. Had Bunyan but put off the entrance of Christian and +Hopeful into the city till he had told us something more about the twenty +years it had taken this once earnest pilgrim to become an atheist, how +valuable an interpolation that would have been! What was it that made +this man to set out so long ago for the Celestial City? What was it that +so stoutly determined him to leave off all his old companions and turn +his back on the sweet refreshments of his youth? How did he do at the +Slough of Despond? Did he come that way? What about the Wicket Gate, +and the House Beautiful, and the Interpreter's House, and the Delectable +Mountains? What men, and especially what women, did he meet and converse +with on his way? What were his fortunes, and what his misfortunes? How +much did he lay out at Vanity Fair, and on what? At what point of his +twenty years' way did his youthful faith begin to shake, and his youthful +love begin to become lukewarm? And what was it that at last made him +quite turn round his back on Zion and his face to his own country? I +cannot forgive Bunyan to-night for not telling us the story of Atheist's +conversion, his pilgrimage, and his apostasy in full. + +At the same time, though it cannot be denied that Bunyan has lost at this +point a great opportunity for his genius and for our advantage,--at the +same time, he undoubtedly did a very courageous thing in introducing +Atheist at all; and, especially, in introducing him to us and making him +laugh so loudly at us when we are on the very borders of the land of +Beulah. A less courageous writer, and a writer less sure of his ground, +would have left out Atheist altogether; or, if he had felt constrained to +introduce him, would have introduced him at any other period of our +history rather than at this period. Under other hands than Bunyan's we +would have met with this mocking reprobate just outside the City of +Destruction; or, perhaps, among the booths of Vanity Fair; or, indeed, +anywhere but where we now meet him. And, that our greater-minded author +does not let loose the laughter of Atheist upon us till we are almost out +of the body is a stroke of skill and truth and boldness that makes us +glad indeed that we possess such a sketch at Bunyan's hand at all, all +too abrupt and all too short as that sketch is. In the absence, then, of +a full-length and finished portrait of Atheist, we must be content to +fall back on some of the reflections and lessons that the mere mention of +his name, the spot he passes us on, and the ridicule of his laughter, all +taken together, awaken in our minds. One rapid stroke of such a brush as +that of John Bunyan conveys more to us than a full-length likeness, with +all the strongest colours, of any other artist would be able to do. + +1. One thing the life-long admiration of John Bunyan's books has helped +to kindle and burn into my mind and my imagination is this: What a +universe of things is the heart of man! Were there nothing else in the +heart of man but all the places and all the persons and all the +adventures that John Bunyan saw in his sleep, what a world that would +open up in all our bosoms! All the pilgrims, good and bad--they, or the +seed and possibility of them all, are all in your heart and in mine. All +the cities, all the roads that lead from one city to another, with all +the paths and all the by-paths,--all the adventures, experiences, +endurances, conflicts, overthrows, victories,--all are within us and +never are to be seen anywhere else. Heaven and hell, God and the devil, +life and death, salvation and damnation, time and eternity, all are +within us. "There is no Mount Zion in all this world," bellowed out this +blinded fool. "No; I know that quite well," quickly responded Christian; +"but there is in the world to come." He would have said the whole truth, +and he would have been entirely right, had he taken time to add, "and in +the world within." "And more," he should have said to Atheist, "much +more in the world within than in any possible world to come." The +Celestial City, every Sabbath-school child begins gradually to +understand, is not up among the stars; till, as he grows older, he takes +in the whole of the New Testament truth that the kingdom of heaven is +wholly within him. You all understand, my brethren, that were we swept +in a moment up to the furthest star, by all that infinite flight we would +not be one hair's-breadth nearer the heavenly city. That is not the +right direction to that city. The city whose builder and maker is God +lies in quite a different direction from that altogether; not by +ascending up beyond sun and moon and stars to all eternity would we ever +get one hand's-breadth nearer God. But if you deny yourself sleep to- +night till you have read His book and bowed your knees in His closet; if, +for His sake, you deny yourself to-morrow when you are eating and +drinking; as often as you say, "Not my will, but Thine be done"; as often +as you humble yourself when others exalt themselves; as often as you +refuse praise and despise blame for His sake; as often as you forgive +before God your enemy, and rejoice with your friend,--Behold! the kingdom +of heaven, with its King and all His shining court of angels and saints +is around you;--is, indeed, within you. No; there is no such place. +Heaven is not in any place: heaven is in a person where it is at all; and +you are that person as often as you put off an earthly and put on a +heavenly mind. That mocking reprobate, with his secret heart all through +those twenty years hungering after the lusts of his youth,--he was wholly +right in what he so unintentionally said; there is no such place in all +this world. And, even if there were, it would spue him and all who are +like him out of its mouth. + +2. And, then, in all that universe of things that fills that bottomless +pit and shoreless sea the human heart, there is nothing deeper down in it +than just its deep and unsearchable atheism. The very deepest thing, and +the most absolutely inexpugnable thing, in every human heart is its +theism; its original and inextinguishable convictions about itself and +about God. But, all but as deep as that--for all around that, and all +over that, and soaking all through that--there lies a superincumbent mass +of sullen, brutish, malignant atheism. Nay, so deep down is the atheism +of all our hearts, that it is only one here and another there of the +holiest and the ripest of God's saints who ever get down to it, or even +get at their deepest within sight of it. Robert Fleming tells us about +Robert Bruce, that he was a man that had much inward exercise about his +own personal case, and had been often assaulted anent that great +foundation truth, if there was a God. And often, when he had come up to +the pulpit, after being some time silent, which was his usual way, he +would say, "I think it is a great matter to believe there is a God"; +telling the people that it was another thing to believe that than they +judged. But it was also known to his friends what extraordinary +confirmations he had from the Lord therein, and what near familiarity he +did attain to in his heart-converse with God: Yea, truly, adds Fleming, +some things I have had thereanent that seem so strange and marvellous +that I forbear to set them down. And in Halyburton's priceless _Memoirs_ +we read: "Hereby I was brought into a doubt about the truths of religion, +the being of God, and things eternal. Whenever I was in dangers or +straits and would build upon these things, a suspicion secretly haunted +me, what if the things are not? This perplexity was somewhat eased while +one day I was reading how Robert Bruce was shaken about the being of God, +and how at length he came to the fullest satisfaction." And in another +place: "Some days ago reading Ex. ix. and x., and finding this, 'That ye +may know that I am God' frequently repeated, and elsewhere in passages +innumerable, as the end of God's manifesting Himself in His word and +works; I observe from it that atheism is deeply rooted even in the Lord's +people, seeing they need to be taught this so much. The great difficulty +that the whole of revelation has to grapple with is atheism; its whole +struggle is to recover man to his first impressions of a God. This one +point comprehends the whole of man's recovery, just as atheism is the +whole of man's apostasy." And, again, in another part of the same great +book, Halyburton says: "I must observe, also, the wise providence of God, +that the greatest difficulties that lie against religion are hid from +atheists. All the objections I meet with in their writings are not +nearly so subtle as those which are often suggested to myself. The +reason of this is obvious from the very nature of the thing--such persons +take not a near-hand view of religion, and while persons stand at a +distance neither are the advantages nor the difficulties of religion +discerned." And now listen to Bunyan, that arch-atheist: "Whole floods +of blasphemies both against God, Christ, and the Scriptures were poured +upon my spirit, to my great confusion and astonishment. Against the very +being of God and of His only beloved Son; or, whether there were, in +truth, a God and a Christ, or no. Of all the temptations that ever I met +with in my life, to question the being of God and the truth of the Gospel +is the worst, and the worst to be borne. When this temptation comes it +takes away my girdle from me, and removeth the foundation from under me." + + "Fool, said my Muse to me, look in thy heart and write." + +And John Bunyan looked into his own deep and holy heart, and out of it he +composed this incident of Atheist. + +3. It may not be out of place at this point to look for a moment at some +of the things that agitate, stir up, and make the secret atheism of our +hearts to fluctuate and overflow. Butler has a fine passage in which he +points out that it is only the higher class of minds that are tempted +with speculative difficulties such as those were that assaulted Christian +and Hopeful after they were so near the end of their journey. Coarse, +commonplace, and mean-minded men have their probation appointed them +among coarse, mean, and commonplace things; whereas enlightened, +enlarged, and elevated men are exercised after the manner of Robert +Bruce, Thomas Halyburton, John Bunyan, and Butler himself. "The chief +temptations of the generality of the world are the ordinary motives to +injustice or unrestrained pleasure; but there are other persons without +this shallowness of temper; persons of a deeper sense as to what is +invisible and future. Now, these persons have their moral discipline set +them in that high region." The profound bishop means that while their +appetites and their tempers are the stumbling-stones of the most of men, +the difficult problems of natural and revealed and experimental religion +are the test and the triumph of other men. As we have just seen in the +men mentioned above. Students, whose temptations lie fully as much in +their intellects as in their senses, should buy (for a few pence) +Halyburton's Memoirs. "With Halyburton," says Dr. John Duncan, "I feel +great intellectual congruity. Halyburton was naturally a sceptic, but +God gave that sceptic great faith." + +Then again, what Atheist calls the "tediousness" of the journey has +undoubtedly a great hand in making some half-in-earnest men sceptics, if +not scoffers. Many of us here to-night who can never now take this +miserable man's way out of the tedium of the Christian life, yet most +bitterly feel it. Whether that tedium is inherent in that life, and +inevitable to such men as we are who are attempting that life; how far +that feature belongs to the very essence of the pilgrim life, and how far +we import our own tedium into the pilgrimage; the fact remains as Atheist +puts it. As Atheist in this book says, so the Atheist who is in our +hearts often says: We are like to have nothing for all our pains but a +lifetime of tedious travel. Yes, wherever the blame lies, there can be +no doubt about it, that what this hilarious scoffer calls the tediousness +of the way is but a too common experience among many of those who, +tediousness and all, will still cleave fast to it and will never leave +it. + +Then, again, great trials in life, great straits, dark and +too-long-continued providences, prayer unanswered, or not yet answered in +the way we dictate, bad men and bad causes growing like a green bay tree, +and good men and good work languishing and dying; these things, and many +more things such as these, of which this world of faith and patience is +full, prove quite too much for some men till they give themselves up to a +state of mind that is nothing better than atheism. "My evidences and my +certainty," says Halyburton, "were not answerable to the weight I was +compelled to lay upon them." A figure which Goodwin in his own tender +and graphic way takes up thus: "Set pins in a wall and fix them in ever +so loosely, yet, if you hang nothing upon them they will seem to stand +firm; but hang a heavy weight upon them, or even give them the least jog +as you pass, and the whole thing will suddenly come down. The wall is +God's word, the slack pin is our faith, and the weight and the jog are +the heavy burdens and the sudden shocks of life, and down our hearts go, +wall and pin and suspended vessel and all." + +When the church and her ministers, when the Scriptures and their +anomalies, and when the faults and failings of Christian men are made the +subject of mockery and laughter, the reverence, the fear, the awe, the +respect that all enter so largely into religion, and especially into the +religion of young people, is too easily destroyed; and not seldom the +first seeds of practical and sometimes of speculative atheism are thus +sown. The mischief that has been done by mockery and laughter to the +souls, especially of the young and the inexperienced, only the great day +will fully disclose. + +And then, two men of great weight and authority with us, tell us what we +who are ministers would have found out without them: this, namely, that +the greatest atheists are they who are ever handling holy things without +feeling them. + +"Is it true," said Christian to Hopeful, his fellow, "is it true what +this man hath said?" "Take heed," said Hopeful, "remember what it hath +cost us already for hearkening to such kind of fellows. What! No Mount +Zion! Did we not see from the Delectable Mountains the gate of the City? +And, besides, are we not to walk by faith? Let us go on lest the man +with the whip overtakes us again." Christian: "My brother, I said that +but to prove thee, and to fetch from thee a fruit of the honesty of thy +heart." Many a deep and powerful passage has Butler composed on that +thesis which Hopeful here supplies him with; and many a brilliant sermon +has Newman preached on that same text till he has made our +"predispositions to faith" a fruitful and an ever fresh commonplace to +hundreds of preachers. Yes; the best bulwark of faith is a good and +honest heart. To such a happy heart the truth is its own unshaken +evidence. To whom can we go but to Thee?--they who have such a heart +protest. The whole bent of such men's minds is toward the truth of the +gospel. Their instincts keep them on the right way even when their +reason and their observation are both confounded. As Newman keeps on +saying, they are "easy of belief." They cannot keep away from Christ and +His church. They cannot turn back. They must go on. Though He slay +them they will die yearning after Him. They often fall into great error +and into great guilt, but their seed remaineth in them, and they cannot +continue in error or in guilt, because they are born of God. They are +they in whom + + "Persuasion and belief + Have ripened into faith; and faith become + A passionate intuition." + + + + +HOPEFUL + + + "We are saved by hope."--_Paul_ + +Up till the time when Christian and Faithful passed through Vanity Fair +on their way to the Celestial City, Hopeful was one of the most light- +minded men in all that light-minded town. By his birth, and both on his +father's and his mother's side, Hopeful was, to begin with, a youth of an +unusually shallow and silly mind. In the jargon of our day he was a man +of a peculiarly optimistic temperament. No one ever blamed him for being +too subjective and introspective. It took many sharp trials and many +bitter disappointments to take the inborn frivolity and superficiality +out of this young man's heart. He was far on in his life, he was far on +even in his religious life, before you would have ever thought of calling +him a serious-minded man. Hopeful had been born and brought up to early +manhood in the town of Vanity, and he knew nothing better and desired +nothing better than to lay out his whole life and to rest all his hopes +on the things of the fair; on such things, that is, as houses, lands, +places, honours, preferments, titles, pleasures, and delights of all +sorts. And that vain and empty life went on with him, till, as he told +his companion afterwards, it had all ended with him in revelling, and +drinking, and uncleanness, and Sabbath-breaking, and all such things as +destroyed his soul. But in Hopeful's happy case also the blood of the +martyrs became the seed of the church. Hopeful, as he was afterwards +called, had suffered so many bitter disappointments and shipwrecks of +expectation from the things of the fair, that is to say, from the houses, +the places, the preferments, the pleasures and what not, of the fair, +that even his heart was ripe for something better than any of those +things, when, as God would have it, Christian and Faithful came to the +town. Hopeful was still hanging about the booths of the fair; he was +just fingering his last sixpence over a commodity that he knew quite well +would be like gall in his belly as soon as he had bought it; when,--what +is that hubbub that rolls down the street? Hopeful was always the first +to see and to hear every new thing that came to the town, and thus it was +that he was soon in the thick of the tumult that rose around Christian +and Faithful. Had those two pilgrims come to the town at any former +time, Hopeful would have been among the foremost to mock at and smite the +two men; but, to-day, Hopeful's heart is so empty, and his purse also, +that he is already won to their side by the loving looks and the wise and +sweet words of the two ill-used men. Some of the men of the town said +that the two pilgrims were outlandish and bedlamite men, but Hopeful took +courage to reprove some of the foremost of the mob. Till, at last, when +Faithful was at the stake, it was all that his companions could do to +keep back Hopeful from leaping up on the burning pile and embracing the +expiring man. And then, when He who overrules all things so brought it +about that Christian escaped out of their hands, who should come forth +and join him at the upward gate of the city but just Hopeful, who not +only joined himself to the lonely pilgrim, but told him also that there +were many more of the men of the city who would take their time and +follow after. And thus, adds his biographer, when one died to make his +testimony to the truth, another rose up out of his ashes to be a +companion to Christian. + +When Madame Krudener was getting her foot measured by a pietist +shoemaker, she was so struck with the repose and the sweetness and the +heavenly joy of the poor man's look and manner that she could not help +but ask him what had happened to him that he had such a look on his +countenance and such a light in his eye. She was miserable, though she +had all that heart could wish. She had all that made her one of the most +envied women in Europe; she had birth, talents, riches, rank, and the +friendship of princes and princesses, and yet she was of all women the +most miserable. And here was a poor chance shoemaker whose whole heart +was running over with a joy such that all her wealth could not purchase +to her heart one single drop of it. The simple soul soon told her his +secret; it was no secret: it was just Jesus Christ who had done it all. +And thus her poor shoemaker's happy face was the means of this great +lady's conversion. And, in like manner, it was the beholding of +Christian and Faithful in their words and in their behaviour at the fair +that decided Hopeful to join himself to Christian and henceforth to be +his companion. + +What were the things, asked Christian of his young companion, that first +led you to leave off the vanities of the fair and to think to be a +pilgrim? Many things, replied Hopeful. Sometimes if I did but meet a +good man in the street. Or if mine head began unaccountably, or mine +heart, to ache. Or if some one of my companions became suddenly sick. Or +if I heard the bell toll that some one was dead. But, especially, when I +thought of myself that I must quickly come to judgment. And then it is +told in the best style of the book how peace and rest and the beginning +of true satisfaction came to poor Hopeful's heart at last. But you must +promise me to read the passage for yourselves before you sleep to-night; +and to read it again and again till, like Hopeful's, your heart also is +full of joy, and your eyes full of tears, and your affections running +over with love to the name and to the people and to all the ways of Jesus +Christ. + +And then, it is very encouraging and reassuring to us to see how +Hopeful's true conversion so deepened and sobered and strengthened his +whole character. He remained to the end in his mental constitution and +whole temperament, as we say, the same man he had always been; but, while +remaining the same man, at the same time a most wonderful change +gradually began to come over him, till, by slow but sure degrees, he +became the Hopeful we know and look to and lean upon. To use his own +autobiographic words about himself, it was "by hearing and considering of +things that are Divine" that his natural levity was so completely whipped +out of his soul till he was made at last an indispensable companion to +Christian, strong-minded and serious-minded man as he was. "Conversion +to God," says William Law, "is often very sudden and instantaneous, +unexpectedly raised from variety of occasions. Thus, one by seeing only +a withered tree, another by reading the lives and deaths of the +antediluvian fathers, one by hearing of heaven, another of hell, one by +reading of the love or wrath of God, another of the sufferings of Christ, +may find himself, as it were, melted into penitence all of a sudden. It +may be granted also that the greatest sinner may in a moment be converted +to God, and may feel himself wounded in such a degree as perhaps those +never were who have been turning to God all their lives. But, then, it +is to be observed that this suddenness of change or flash of conviction +is by no means of the essence of true conversion. This stroke of +conversion is not to be considered as signifying our high state of a new +birth in Christ, or a proof that we are on a sudden made new creatures, +but that we are thus suddenly called upon and stirred up to look after a +newness of nature. The renewal of our first birth and state is something +entirely distinct from our first sudden conversion and call to +repentance. That is not a thing done in an instant, but is a certain +process, a gradual release from our captivity and disorder, consisting of +several stages and degrees, both of life and death, which the soul must +go through before it can have thoroughly put off the old man. It is well +worth observing that our Saviour's greatest trials were near the end of +His life. This might sufficiently show us that our first awakenings have +carried us but a little way; that we should not then begin to be self- +assured of our own salvation, but should remember that we stand at a +great distance from, and are in great ignorance of, our severest trials." +Such was the way that Christian in his experience and in his wisdom +talked to his young companion till his outward trials and the consequent +discoveries he made of his own weakness and corruption made even Hopeful +himself a sober-minded and a thoughtful man. "Where pain ends, gain ends +too." + +Then, again, no one can read Hopeful's remarkable history without +discovering this about him, that he showed best in adversity and +distress, just as he showed worst in deliverance and prosperity. It is a +fine lesson in Christian hope to descend into Giant Despair's dungeon and +hear the older pilgrim groaning and the younger pilgrim consoling him, +and, again, to stand on the bank of the last river and hear Hopeful +holding up Christian's drowning head. "Be of good cheer, my brother, for +I feel the bottom, and it is good!" Bless Hopeful for that, all you +whose deathbeds are still before you. For never was more true and fit +word spoken for a dying hour than that. Read, till you have it by heart +and in the dark, Hopeful's whole history, but especially his triumphant +end. And have some one bespoken beforehand to read Hopeful in the River +to you when you have in a great measure lost your senses, and when a +great horror has taken hold of your mind. "I sink in deep waters," cried +Christian, as his sins came to his mind, even the sins which he had +committed both since and before he came to be a pilgrim. "But I see the +gate," said Hopeful, "and men standing at it ready to receive us." "Read +to me where I first cast my anchor," said John Knox to his weeping wife. + +The Enchanted Ground, on the other hand, threatened to throw Hopeful back +again into his former light-minded state. And there is no saying what +shipwreck he might have made there had the older man not been with him to +steady and reprove and instruct him. As it was, a touch now and then of +his old vain temper returned to him till it took all his companion's +watchfulness and wariness to carry them both out of that second Vanity +Fair. "I acknowledge myself in a fault," said Hopeful to Christian, "and +had I been here alone I had run in danger of death. Hitherto, thy +company hath been my mercy, and thou shalt have a good reward for all thy +labour." + +Now, my brethren, in my opinion we owe a great debt of gratitude to John +Bunyan for the large and the displayed place he has given to Hopeful in +the _Pilgrim's Progress_. The fulness and balance and proportion of the +_Pilgrim's Progress_ are features of that wonderful book far too much +overlooked. So far as my reading goes I do not know any other author who +has at all done the justice to the saving grace of hope that John Bunyan +has done both in his doctrinal and in his allegorical works. Bunyan +stands alone and supreme not only for the insight, and the power with +which he has constructed the character and the career of Hopeful, but +even for having given him the space at all adequate to his merits and his +services. In those eighty-seven so suggestive pages that form the index +to Dr. Thomas Goodwin's works I find some hundred and twenty-four +references to "faith," while there are only two references to "hope." And +that same oversight and neglect runs through all our religious +literature, and I suppose, as a consequence, through all our preaching +too. Now that is not the treatment the Bible gives to this so essential +Christian grace, as any one may see at a glance who takes the trouble to +turn up his Cruden. Hope has a great place alongside of faith and love +in the Holy Scriptures, and it has a correspondingly large and eloquent +place in Bunyan. Now, that being so, why is it that this so great and so +blessed grace has so fallen out of our sermons and out of our hearts? May +God grant that our reading of Hopeful's autobiography and his subsequent +history to-night may do something to restore the blessed grace of hope to +its proper place both in our pulpit and in all our hearts. + +To kindle then, to quicken, and to anchor your hope, my brethren, may I +have God's help to speak for a little longer to your hearts concerning +this neglected grace! For, what is hope? Hope is a passion of the soul, +wise or foolish, to be ashamed of or to be proud of, just according to +the thing hoped for, and just according to the grounds of the hope. Hope +is made up of these two ingredients--desire and expectation. What we +greatly desire we take no rest till we find good grounds on which to +build up our expectations of it; and when we have found good grounds for +our expectations, then a glad hope takes possession of our hearts. Now, +to begin with, how is it with your desires? You are afraid to say much +about your expectations and your hopes. Well; let us come to your +hearts' desires.--Men of God, I will enter into your hearts and I will +tell you your hearts' desires better than you know them yourselves; for +the heart is deceitful above all things. The time was, when, like this +young pilgrim before he became a pilgrim, your desires were all set on +houses, and lands, and places, and honours, and preferments, and wives, +and children, and silver, and gold, and what not. These things at one +time were the utmost limit of your desires. But that has all been +changed. For now you have begun to desire a better city, that is, an +heavenly. What is your chief desire for this New Year? {2} Is it not a +new heart? Is it not a clean heart? Is it not a holy heart? Is it not +that the Holy Ghost would write the golden rule on the tables of your +heart? Does not God know that it is the deepest desire of your heart to +be able to love your neighbour as yourself? To be able to rejoice with +him in his joy as well as to weep with him in his sorrow? What would you +not give never again to feel envy in your heart at your brother, or +straitness and pining at his prosperity? One thing do I desire, said the +Psalmist, that mine ear may be nailed to the doorpost of my God: that I +may always be His servant, and may never wander from His service. Now, +that is your desire too. I am sure it is. You would not say it of +yourself, but I defy you to deny it when it is said about you. Well, +then, such things being found among your desires, what grounds have you +for expecting the fulfilment of such desires? What grounds? The best of +grounds and every ground. For you have the sure ground of God's word. +And you have more than His word: you have His very nature, and the very +nature of things. For shall God create such desires in any man's heart +only to starve and torture that man? Impossible! It were blasphemy to +suspect it. No. Where God has made any man to be so far a partaker of +the Divine nature as to change all that man's deepest desires, and to +turn them from vanity to wisdom, from earth to heaven, and from the +creature to the Creator, doubt not, wherever He has begun such a work, +that He will hasten to finish it. Yes; lift up your heavy hearts, all ye +who desire such things, for God hath sent His Son to say to you, Blessed +are ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall be +filled. Only, keep desiring. Desire every day with a stronger and a +more inconsolable desire. Desire, and ground your desire on God's word, +and then heave your hope like an anchor within the veil whither the +Forerunner is for you entered. May I so hope? you say. May I venture to +hope? Yes; not only may you hope, but you must hope. You are commanded +to hope. It is as much your bounden duty to hope always, and to hope for +the greatest and best things, as it is to repent of your sins, to love +God and your neighbour, to keep yourself pure, and to set a watch on the +door of your lips. You have been destroyed, I confess and lament it, for +lack of knowledge about the nature, the grounds, and the duty of hope. +But make up now for past neglect. Hope steadfastly, hope constantly, +hope boldly; hope for the best things, the greatest things, the most +divine and the most blessed things. If you forget to-night all else you +have heard to-day, I implore you not any longer to forget and neglect +this, that hope is your immediate, constant, imperative duty. No sin, no +depth of corruption in your heart, no assault on your heart from your +conscience, can justify you in ceasing to hope. Even when trouble "comes +tumbling over the neck of all your reformations" as it came tumbling on +Hopeful, let that only drive you the more deeply down into the true +grounds of hope; even against hope rejoice in hope. Remember the +Psalmist in the hundred-and-thirtieth Psalm,--down in the deeps, if ever +a fallen sinner was. Yet hear him when you cannot see him saying: I hope +in Thy word! And--for it is worthy to stand beside even that splendid +psalm,--I beseech you to read and lay to heart what Hopeful says about +himself in his conversion despair. + +And then, as if to justify that hope, there always come with it such +sanctifying influences and such sure results. The hope that you are one +day to awaken in the Divine likeness will make you lie down on your bed +every night in self-examination, repentance, prayer, and praise. The +hope that your eyes are one day to see Christ as He is will make you +purify yourself as nothing else will. The hope that you are to walk with +Christ in white will make you keep your garments clean; it will make you +wash them many times every day in the blood of the Lamb. The hope that +you are to cast your crown at His feet will make you watch that no man +takes your crown from you. The hope that you are to drink wine with Him +in His Father's kingdom will reconcile you meanwhile to water, lest with +your wine you stumble any of His little ones. The hope of hearing Him +say, Well done!--how that will make you labour and endure and not faint! +And the hope that you shall one day enter in through the gates into the +city, and have a right to the tree of life,--how scrupulous that will +make you to keep all His commandments! And this is one of His +commandments, that you gird up the loins of your mind, and hope to the +end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of +Jesus Christ. + + + + +TEMPORARY + + + "They are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and + have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation + fall away."--_Our Lord_. + +"Well, then, did you not know about ten years ago one Temporary in your +parts who was a forward man in religion? Know him! replied the other. +Yes. For my house not being above three miles from his house he would +ofttimes come to me, and that with many tears. Truly I pitied the man, +and was not altogether without hope of him; but one may see that it is +not every one who cries Lord, Lord. And now, since we are talking about +him, let us a little inquire into the reason of the sudden backsliding of +him and such others. It may be very profitable, said Christian, but do +you begin. Well, then, there are in my judgment several reasons for it." +And then, with the older man's entire approval, Hopeful sets forth +several reasons, taken from his own observation of backsliders, why so +many men's religion is such a temporary thing; why so many run well for a +time, and then stand still, and then turn back. + +1. The fear of man bringeth a snare, said Hopeful, moralising over his +old acquaintance Temporary. And how true that observation is every +evangelical minister knows to his deep disappointment. A young man comes +to his minister at some time of distress in his life, or at some time of +revival of religion in the community, or at an ordinary communion season, +and gives every sign that he is early and fairly embarked on an +honourable Christian life. He takes his place in the Church of Christ, +and he puts out his hand to her work, till we begin to look forward with +boastfulness to a life of great stability and great attainment for that +man. Our Lord, as we see from so many of His parables, must have had +many such cases among His first followers. Our Lord might be speaking +prophetically, as well as out of His own experience, so well do His +regretful and lamenting words fit into so many of our own cases to-day. +For, look at that young business man. He has been born and brought up in +the Church of Christ. He has gladdened more hearts than he knows by the +noble promise of his early days. Many admiring and loving eyes have been +turned on him as he took so hopefully the upward way. But a sifting-time +soon comes. A time of temptation comes. A time comes when sides must be +taken in some moral, religious, ecclesiastical controversy. This young +man is at that moment a candidate for a post that will bring distinction, +wealth, and social influence to him who holds it. And the candidate we +are so much interested in is admittedly a man of such outstanding talents +that he would at once get the post were it not that the holder of that +post must not have his name so much associated with such and such a +church, such and such political and religious opinions, and such and such +public men. He is told that. Indeed, he is not so dull as to need to be +told that. He has seen that all along. And at first it is a dreadful +wrench to him. He feels how far he is falling from his high ideals in +life; and, at first, and for a long time, it is a dreadful humiliation to +him. But, then, there are splendid compensations. And, better than +that, there are some good, and indeed compelling, reasons that begin to +rise up in our minds when we need them and begin to look for them, till +what at first seemed so mean and so contemptible, and so ungrateful, and +so dishonourable, as well as so spiritually perilous, comes to be faced +and gone through with positively on a ground of high principle, and, +indeed, of stern moral necessity. So deceitful is the human heart that +you could not believe what compelling reasons such a mean-spirited man +will face you with as to why he should leave all the ways he once so +delighted in for a piece of bread, and for the smile of the open enemies +of his church, and his faith, not to say his Saviour. You will meet with +several such men any afternoon coming home from their business. Sometimes +they have still some honest shame on their faces when they meet you; but +still oftener they pass you with a sullen hatred and a fierce defiance. +This is he who heard the word, and anon with joy received it. Yet had he +not root in himself, but dured for a while; for when tribulation or +persecution arose because of the word by and by he was offended. They +went out from us, says John, but they were not of us; for if they had +been of us they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out +that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. + +2. Guilt, again, Hopeful went on, and to meditate terror, are so +grievous to most men, that they rather choose such ways as will but +harden their hearts still more and more. You all know what it is to +meditate terror? "Thine heart shall meditate terror," says the prophet, +"when thou sayest to thyself, who among us shall dwell with the devouring +fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The fifty- +first Psalm is perhaps the best meditation both of guilt and of terror +that we have in the whole Bible. But there are many other psalms and +passages of psalms only second to the fifty-first Psalm, such as the +twenty-second, the thirty-eighth, the sixty-ninth, and the hundred-and- +thirtieth. Our Lord Himself also was meditating terror in the garden of +Gethsemane, and Paul both guilt and terror when he imagined himself both +an apostate preacher and a castaway soul. And John's meditations of +terror in the Revelation rose into those magnificent pictures of the Last +Judgment with which he has to all time covered the walls of the Seven +Churches. In his own _Grace Abounding_ there are meditations of terror +quite worthy to stand beside the most terrible things of that kind that +ever were written, as also in many others of our author's dramatical and +homiletical books. I read to you the other Sabbath morning a meditation +of terror that was found among Bishop Andrewes' private papers after his +death. You will not all have forgotten that meditation, but I will read +it to you to-night again. "How fearful," says Andrewes, in his terror, +"will Thy judgment be, O Lord, when the thrones are set, and the angels +stand around, and men are brought in, and the books are opened, and all +our works are inquired into, and all our thoughts are examined, and all +the hidden things of darkness! What, O God, shall Thy judgment that day +be upon me? Who shall quench my flame, who shall lighten my darkness, if +Thou pity me not? Lord, as Thou art loving, give me tears, give me +floods of tears, and give me all that this day, before it be too late. +For then will be the incorruptible Judge, the horrible judgment-seat, the +answer without excuse, the inevitable charge, the shameful punishment, +the endless Gehenna, the pitiless angels, the yawning hell, the roaring +stream of fire, the unquenchable flame, the dark prison, the rayless +darkness, the bed of live coals, the unwearied worm, the indissoluble +chains, the bottomless chaos, the impassable wall, the inconsolable cry. +And none to stand by me; none to plead for me; none to snatch me out." +Now, no Temporary ever possessed anything like that in his own +handwriting among his private papers. A meditation like that, written +out with his own hand, and hidden away under lock and key, will secure +any man from it, even if he had been appointed to backsliding and +reprobation. Bishop Andrewes, as any one will see who reads his _Private +Devotions_, was the chief of sinners; but his discovered and deciphered +papers will all speak for him when they are spread out before the great +white throne, "glorious in their deformity, being slubbered," as his +editors say, "with his pious hands, and watered with his penitential +tears." + +Thomas Shepard's _Ten Virgins_ is the most terrible book upon Temporaries +that ever was written. Temporaries never once saw their true vileness, +he keeps on saying. Temporaries are, no doubt, wounded for sin +sometimes, but never in the right place nor to the right depth. And +again, sin, and especially heart-sin, is never really bitter to +Temporaries. In an "exhortation to all new beginners, and so to all +others," "Be sure," Shepard says, "your wound for sin at first is deep +enough. For all the error in a man's faith and sanctification springs +from his first error in his humiliation. If a man's humiliation be +false, or even weak or little, then his faith and his hold of Christ are +weak and little, and his sanctification counterfeit. But if a man's +wound be right, and his humiliation deep enough, that man's faith will be +right and his sanctification will be glorious. The esteem of Christ is +always little where sin lies light." And Hopeful himself says a thing at +this point that is quite worthy of Shepard himself, such is its depth and +insight. He speaks of the righteous actually _loving_ the sight of their +misery. He does not explain what he means by that startling language +because he is talking all the time, as he knows quite well, to one who +understood all that before he was born. Nor will I attempt to explain or +to vindicate what he says. Those of you who love the sight of your own +misery as sinners will understand what Hopeful says without any +explanation; while those who do not understand him would only be the more +stumbled by any explanation of him. The love of the sight of their +misery, and the unearthly sweetness of their sorrow for sin, are only +another two of those provoking paradoxes of which the lives of God's true +saints are full--paradoxes and impossibilities and incoherencies that +make the literature of experimental religion to be positively hateful and +unbearable to Temporary and to all his self-seeking and apostate kindred. + +3. But even where the consciences of such men are occasionally awakened, +proceeds Hopeful, in his so searching discovery of Temporaries, yet their +minds are not changed. There you are pretty near the business, replied +his fellow; for the bottom of all is, for want of a change of their mind +and will. Now, one would have been afraid and ashamed for one moment to +suspect that Temporary's mind was not completely changed, so "forward" +was he at first in his religion. But, no: forward before all his +neighbours as Temporary was, to begin with, yet all the time his mind was +not really changed. His forwardness did not properly spring out of his +true mind at all, but only out of his momentarily awakened conscience and +his momentarily excited heart. A sinner with a truly changed mind is +never forward. His mind is so changed that forwardness in anything is +utterly alien to it, and especially all forwardness in the profession of +religion. The change that had taken place in Temporary, whatever was the +seat of it, only led him to bully men like Christian and Hopeful, who +would not go fast enough for him. "Come," said Pliable, in the beginning +of the book, "come on and let us mend our pace." "I cannot go so fast as +I would," humbly replied Christian, "because of this burden on my back." +It is a common observation among mountaineers that he who takes the hill +at the greatest spurt is the last climber to come to the top, and that +many who so ostentatiously make spurts at the bottom of the hill never +come within sight of the top at all. And this is one of the constant +dangers that wait on all revivals, religious retreats, conferences, and +even communion seasons. Our hot fits, the hotter they are, are only the +more likely, unless we take the greatest care, to cast us down into all +the more deadly a chill. It is this danger that our Lord points out so +plainly in His parable of apostasy. The same is he, says our Lord, that +heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in +himself, but dureth for a while. In Hopeful's words, his mind and will +were never changed with all his joy, only his passing moods and his +momentary emotions. + +Multitudes of men who are as forward at first as Pliable and Temporary +were turn out at last to have no root in themselves; but here and there +you will discover a man who is all root together. There are some men +whose whole mind and heart and will, whose whole inward man, has gone to +root. All the strength and all the fatness of their religious life +retreat into its root. They have no leaves at all, and they have too +little fruit as yet; but you should see their roots. Only, no eye but +the eye of God can see sorrow for sin--secret and sore humiliation on +account of secret sin--the incessant agony that goes on within between +the flesh and the spirit, between sin and grace, between very hell and +heaven itself. To know your own evil hearts, my brethren, say to you on +that subject what any Temporary will, is the very root of the whole +matter to you. Whatever Dr. Newman's mistakes as to outward churches may +have been, he was a master of the human heart, the most difficult of all +matters to master. Listen, then, to what he says on the matter now in +hand. "Now, unless we have some just idea of our hearts and of sin, we +can have no right idea of a Moral Governor, a Saviour, or a Sanctifier; +that is, in professing to believe in them we shall be using words without +attaching any distinct meaning to them. Thus self-knowledge is at the +root of all real religious knowledge; and it is vain,--it is worse than +vain,--it is a deceit and a mischief, to think to understand the +Christian doctrines as a matter of course, merely by being taught by +books, or by attending sermons, or by any outward means, however +excellent, taken by themselves. For it is in proportion as we search our +hearts and understand our own nature that we understand what is meant by +an Infinite Governor and Judge; it is in proportion as we comprehend the +nature of disobedience and our actual sinfulness that we feel what is the +blessing of the removal of sin, redemption, pardon, sanctification, which +otherwise are mere words. God speaks to us primarily in our hearts. Self- +knowledge is the key to the precepts and doctrines of Scripture. The +very utmost that any outward notices of religion can do is to startle us +and make us turn inward and search our hearts; and then, when we have +experienced what it is to read ourselves, we shall profit by the doctrine +of the Church and the Bible." My brethren, the temper in which you +receive that passage, and receive it from its author, may be safely taken +by you as a sure presage whether you are to turn out a Temporary and a +Castaway or no. + +Now, to conclude with a word of admission, and, bound up with it, a word +of encouragement. After all that has been said, I fully admit that we +are all Temporaries to begin with. We all cool down from our first heat +in religion. We all halt from our first spurt. We all turn back from +faith and from duty and from privilege through our fear of men, or +through our corrupt love of ourselves, or through our coarse-minded love +of this present world. Only, those who are appointed to perseverance, +and through that to eternal life, always kindle again; they are kindled +again, and they love the return of their lost warmth. They recover +themselves and address themselves again and again to the race that is +still set before them. They prove themselves not to be of those who draw +back unto perdition, but of those that believe to the saving of the soul. +Now, if you have only too good ground to suspect that you are but a +temporary believer, what are you to do to make your sure escape out of +that perilous state? What, but to keep on believing? You must cry +constantly, Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief! When at any time +you are under any temptation or corruption, and you feel that your faith +and your love are letting slip their hold of Christ and of eternal life, +then knot your weak heart all the faster to the throne of grace, to the +cross of Christ, and to the gate of heaven. Give up all your mind and +heart, and all that is within you, to the one thing needful. Labour +night and day in your own heart at believing on Christ, at loving your +neighbour, and at discovering, denying, and crucifying yourself. It will +all pay you in the long run. For if you do all these things, and +persistently do them, then, though you are at this moment all but dead to +all divine things, and all but a reprobate, it will be found at last that +all the time your name was written among the elect in heaven. + +The perseverance of the saints, the "five points" notwithstanding, is not +a foregone conclusion. The final perseverance of the ripest and surest +saint is all made up of ever-new beginnings in repentance, in faith, in +love, and in obedience. Begin, then, every new day to repent anew, to +return anew, to believe and to love anew. And if all your New-Year +repentances and returnings and reformations are all already proved to be +but temporary--even if they lie all around you already a bitter mockery +of all your professions--still, begin again. Begin to-night, and begin +again to-morrow morning. Spend all the remainder of your days on earth +beginning. And, ere ever you are aware, the final perseverance of +another predestinated saint will be found accomplished in you. + + + + +SECRET + + + "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him."--_David_. + +A truly religious life is always a secret life: it is a life hid, as Paul +has it, with Christ in God. The secret of the Lord, says the Psalmist, +is with them that fear Him. And thus it is that when men begin to fear +God, both their hearts and their lives are henceforth full of all kinds +of secrets that are known to themselves and to God only. It was when +Christiana's fearful thoughts began to work in her mind about her husband +whom she had lost--it was when all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly +carriages to her dear friend came into her mind in swarms, clogged her +conscience, and loaded her with guilt--it was then that Secret knocked at +her door. "Next morning," so her opening history runs, "when she was up, +and had prayed to God, and talked with her children awhile, one knocked +hard at the door to whom she spake out, saying, If thou comest in God's +name, come in. So he who was at the door said, Amen, and opened the +door, and saluted her with, Peace be to this house. The which when he +had done, he said, Christiana, knowest thou wherefore I am come? Then +she blushed and trembled, also her heart began to wax warm with desires +to know whence he came, and what was his errand to her. So he said unto +her, My name is Secret, I dwell with those that are high. It is talked +of where I dwell as if thou hadst a desire to go thither; also, there is +a report that thou art aware now of the evil thou formerly didst to thy +husband in hardening of thy heart against his way, and in keeping of thy +babes in their ignorance. Christiana, the Merciful One has sent me to +tell thee that He is a God ready to forgive, and that He taketh delight +to multiply to pardon offences. He would also have thee know that He +inviteth thee to come into His presence, even to His table, and that He +will there feed thee with the fat of His house, and with the heritage of +Jacob thy father. Christiana at all this was greatly abashed in herself, +and she bowed her head to the ground, while her visitor proceeded and +said, Christiana, here is a letter for thee which I have brought from thy +husband's King. So she took it and opened it, and, as she opened it, it +smelt after the manner of the best perfume; also it was written in +lettering of gold. The contents of the letter was to this effect, that +the King would have her do as did Christian her husband, for that was the +way to come to the city and to dwell in His presence with joy for ever. +At this the good woman was completely overcome. So she said to her +visitor, Sir, will you carry me and my children with you that we may go +and worship this King? Then said the heavenly visitor, Christiana, the +bitter is before the sweet. Thou must through troubles, as did he that +went before thee, enter this celestial city." And so on. + +1. Now, to begin with, you will have noticed the way in which Christiana +was prepared for the entrance of Secret into her house. She was a widow. +She sat alone in that loneliness which only widows know and understand. +More than lonely, she was very miserable. "Mark this," says the author +on the margin, "you that are churls to your godly relations." For this +widow felt sure that her husband had been taken from her because of her +cruel behaviour to him. Her past unnatural carriages toward her husband +now rent the very caul of her heart in sunder. And, again and again, +about that same time strange dreams would sometimes visit her. Dreams +such as this. She would see her husband in a place of bliss with a harp +in his hand, standing and playing upon it before One that sat on a throne +with a rainbow round His head. She saw also as if he bowed his head with +his face to the paved work that was under the Prince's feet, saying, I +heartily thank my Lord and King for bringing me to this place. You will +easily see how ready this lone woman was with all that for his entrance +who knocked and said, Peace be to this house, and handed her a letter of +perfume from her husband's King. Then you will have remarked also some +of the things this visitor from on high said to her of the place whence +he had come. He told her, to begin with, how they sometimes talked about +her in his country. She thought that she was a lonely and forgotten +widow, and that no one cared what became of her. But her visitor assured +her she was quite wrong in thinking that. He had often himself heard her +name mentioned in conversation above; and the most hopeful reports, he +told her, were circulated from door to door that she was actually all but +started on the upward way. Yes, he said, and we have a place prepared +for you on the strength of these reports, a place among the immortals +close beside your husband. And all that, as you will not wonder, was the +beginning of Christiana's secret life. After that morning she never +again felt alone or forgotten. I am not alone, she would after that say, +when any of her old neighbours knocked at her door. No, I am not alone, +but if thou comest in God's name, come in. + +2. And from that day a long succession of secret providences began to +enter Christiana's life, till, as time went on, her whole life was filled +full of secret providences. And not her present life only, but her +discoveries of God's secret providences towards her and hers became +retrospective also, till both her own parentage and birth, her husband's +parentage and birth also, the day she first saw him, the day of their +espousals, the day of their marriage, and the day of his death, all shone +out now as so many secret and special providences of God toward her. +Bishop Martensen has a fine passage on the fragmentariness of our +knowledge, not only of divine providence as a whole, but even of those +divine providences that fill up our own lives. And he warns us that, +till we have heard the "Prologue in Heaven," many a riddle in our lives +must of necessity remain unsolved. Christiana could not have told her +inquiring children what a prologue was, nor an epilogue either, but many +were the wise and winning discourses she held with her boys about their +father now in heaven, about her happiness in having had such a father for +her children, and about their happiness that the road was open before +them to go to where he now is. And there are many poor widows among +ourselves who are wiser than all their teachers, because they are in that +school of experience into which God takes His afflicted people and opens +to them His deepest secrets. They remember, with Job, when the secret of +the Lord was first upon their tabernacle. Their widowed hearts are full +of holy household memories. They remember the days when the candle of +the Lord shone upon their head when they washed their steps with butter, +and the rock poured them out rivers of oil. And still, when, like Job +also, they sit solitary among the ashes, the secret of the Lord is only +the more secretly and intimately with them. John Bunyan was well fitted +to be Christiana's biographer, because his own life was as full as it +could hold of these same secret and special providences. One day he was +walking--so he tells us--in a good man's shop, bemoaning himself of his +sad and doleful state--when a mighty rushing wind came in through the +window and seemed to carry words of Scripture on its wings to Bunyan's +disconsolate soul. He candidly tells us that he does not know, after +twenty years' reflection, what to make of that strange dispensation. That +it took place, and that it left the most blessed results behind it, he is +sure; but as to how God did it, by what means, by what instruments, both +the rushing wind itself and the salutation that accompanied it, he is +fain to let lie till the day of judgment. And many of ourselves have had +strange dispensations too that we must leave alone, and seek no other +explanation of them for the present but the blessed results of them. We +have had divine descents into our lives that we can never attempt to +describe. Interpositions as plain to us as if we had both seen and +spoken with the angel who executed them. Miraculous deliverances that +throw many Old and New Testament miracles into the shade. Providential +adaptations and readjustments also, as if all things were actually and +openly and without a veil being made to work together for our good. +Extrications also; nets broken, snares snapped, and such pavilions of +safety and solace opened to us that we can find no psalm secret and +special enough in which to utter our life-long astonishment. Importunate +prayers anticipated, postponed, denied, translated, transmuted, and then +answered till our cup was too full; sweet changed to bitter, and bitter +changed to sweet, so wonderfully, so graciously, and so often, that words +fail us, and we can only now laugh and now weep over it all. Poor Cowper +knew something about it-- + + "God moves in a mysterious way + His wonders to perform; + He plants His footsteps in the sea, + And rides upon the storm. + + "Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, + The clouds ye so much dread + Are big with mercy, and shall break + In blessings on your head. + + "Blind unbelief is sure to err, + And scan his work in vain; + God is His own interpreter, + And He will make it plain." + +3. Secret scriptures also--from that enlightening day Christiana's Bible +became full of them. Peter says that no prophecy is of any private +interpretation; and, whatever he means by that, what he says must be +true. But Christiana would have understood the apostle better if he had +said the exact opposite of that,--if not about the prophecies, at least +about the psalms. Leave the prophecies in this connection alone; but of +the psalms it may safely be said that it is neither the literal nor the +historical nor the mystical interpretation that gets at the heart of +those supreme scriptures. It is the private, personal, and, indeed, +secret interpretation that gets best at the deepest heart of the psalms. +An old Bible came into my hands the other day--a Bible that had seen +service--and it opened of its own accord at the Book of Psalms. On +turning over the yellow leaves I found a date and a deep indentation +opposite these words: "Commit thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him: +and He will bring it to pass." And as I looked at the figures on the +margin, and at the underscored text, I felt as if I were on the brink of +an old-world secret. "Create in me a clean heart" had a significant +initial also; as had this: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." +The whole of the hundred-and-third psalm was bracketed off from all +public interpretation; while the tenth, the cardinal verse of that secret +psalm, had a special seal set upon it. Judging from its stains and scars +and other accidents, the whole of the hundred-and-nineteenth psalm had +been a special favourite; while the hundred-and-forty-third also was all +broidered round with shorthand symbols. But the secret key of all those +symbols and dates and enigmatical marks was no longer to be found; it had +been carried away in the owner's own heart. But, my head being full of +Christiana at the time, I felt as if I held her own old Bible in my hand +as I turned over those ancient leaves. + +4. Our Lord so practised secrecy Himself in His fasting, in His praying, +and in His almsgiving, and He makes so much of that same secrecy in all +His teaching, as almost to make the essence of all true religion to stand +in its secrecy. "When thou prayest," says our Lord, "shut thy door and +pray in secret." As much as to say that we are scarcely praying at all +when we are praying in public. Praying in public is so difficult that +new beginners, like His disciples, have to practise that so difficult art +for a long time in secret. Public prayer has so many besetting sins, it +is open to so many temptations, distractions, and corruptions, that it is +almost impossible to preserve the real essence of prayer in public +prayer. But in secret all those temptations and distractions are happily +absent. We have no temptation to be too long in secret prayer, or too +loud, or too eloquent. Stately old English goes for nothing in secret +prayer. We never need to go to our knees in secret trembling, lest we +lose the thread of our prayer, or forget that so fit and so fine +expression. The longer we are the better in secret prayer. Much +speaking is really a virtue in secret prayer; much speaking and many +repetitions. Also, we can put things into our secret prayers that we +dare not come within a thousand miles of in the pulpit, or the prayer- +meeting, or the family. We can enter into the most plain-spoken +particulars about ourselves in secret. We can put our proper name upon +ourselves, and upon our actions, and especially upon our thoughts when +our door is shut. Then, again, we can pray for other people by name in +secret; we can enter, so far as we know them, into all their +circumstances in a way it is impossible to do anywhere but in the utmost +secrecy. We can, in short, be ourselves in secret; and, unless it is to +please or to impress men, we had better not pray at all unless we are +ourselves when we are engaged in it. You can be yourself, your very +worst self; nay, you must be, else you will not long pray in secret, and +even if you did you would not be heard. I do not remember that very much +is said in so many words in her after-history about Christiana's habits +of closet-prayer. But that Secret taught her the way, and waited till +she had tasted the sweetness and the strength of being a good while on +her knees alone, I am safe to say; indeed, I read it between the lines in +all her after-life. She was rewarded openly in a way that testifies to +much secret prayer; that is to say, in the early conversion of her +children, in the way they settled in life, and such like things. Pray +much for those things in secret that you wish to possess openly. + +5. But perhaps the best and most infallible evidence we can have of the +truth of our religion in this life is in the steady increase of our +secret sinfulness. Christiana had no trouble with her own wicked heart +so long as she was a woman of a wicked life. But directly she became a +new creature, her heart began to swarm, such is her own expression, with +sinful memories, sinful thoughts, and sinful feelings; till she had need +of some one ever near her, like Greatheart, constantly to assure her that +those cruel and deadly swarms, instead of being a bad sign of her +salvation, were the very best signs possible of her good estate. Humility +is the foundation of all our graces, and there is no humility so deep and +so ever-deepening as that evangelical humility which in its turn rises +out of and rests upon secret sinfulness. Not upon acts of secret sin. Do +not mistake me. Acts of secret sin harden the heart and debauch the +conscience. But I speak of that secret, original, unexplored, and +inexpugnable sinfulness out of which all a sinner's actual sins, both +open sins and secret, spring; and out of which a like life of open and +actual sins would spring in God's very best saints, if only both He and +they did not watch night and day against them. Sensibility to sin, or +rather to sinfulness, is far and away the best evidence of sanctification +that is possible to us in this life. It is this keen and bitter +sensibility that secures, amid all oppositions and obstructions, the true +saint's onward and upward progress. Were it not for the misery of their +own hearts, God's best saints would fall asleep and go back like other +men. A sinful heart is the misery of all miseries. It is the deepest +and darkest of all dungeons. It is the most painful and the most +loathsome of all diseases. And the secrecy of it all adds to the +bitterness and the gall of it all. We may know that other men's hearts +are as sinful as our own, but we do not feel their sinfulness. We cannot +sensibly feel humiliation, bondage, sickness, and self-loathing on +account of another man's envy, or ill-will, or resentment, or cruelty, or +falsehood, or impurity. All these things must be our own before we can +enter into the pain and the shame of them; but, when we do, then we taste +what death and hell are indeed. As I write these feeble words about it, +a devil's shaft of envy that was shot all against my will into my heart +this morning, still, after a whole day, rankles and festers there. I +have been on my knees with it again and again; I have stood and looked +into an open grave to-day; but there it is sucking at my heart's blood +still, like a leech of hell. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse +Thou me from secret faults. Create in me a clean heart, O God, O +wretched man that I am! "Let a man," says William Law when he is +enforcing humility, "but consider that if the world knew all that of him +which he knows of himself: if they saw what vanity and what passions +govern his inside, and what secret tempers sully and corrupt his best +actions, he would have no more pretence to be honoured and admired for +his goodness and wisdom than a rotten and distempered body to be loved +and admired for its beauty and comeliness. This is so true, and so known +to the hearts of almost all people, that nothing would appear more +dreadful to them than to have their hearts fully discovered to the eyes +of all beholders. And, perhaps, there are very few people in the world +who would not rather choose to die than to have all their secret follies, +the errors of their judgments, the vanity of their minds, the falseness +of their pretences, the frequency of their vain and disorderly passions, +their uneasinesses, hatreds, envies, and vexations made known to all the +world." Where did William Law get that terrible passage? Where could he +get it but in the secret heart of the miserable author of the _Serious +Call_? + +6. The half cannot be told of the guilt and the corruption, the pain and +the shame and the manifold misery of secret sin; but all that will be +told, believed, and understood by all men long before the full +magnificence of their sanctification, and the superb transcendence of +their blessedness, will even begin to be described to God's secret +saints. For, all that sleepless, cruel, and soul-killing pain, and all +that shameful and humbling corruption,--all that means, all that is, so +much holiness, so much heaven, working itself out in the soul. All that +is so much immortal life, spotless beauty, and incorruptible joy already +begun in the soul. Every such pang in a holy heart is a death-pang of +another sin and a birth-pang of another grace. Brotherly love is at last +being born never to die in that heart where envy and malice and +resentment and revenge are causing inward agony. And humility and +meekness and the whole mind of Christ are there where pride and anger and +ill-will are felt to be very hell itself. And holiness, even as God is +holy, will soon be there for ever where the sinfulness of sin is a +sinner's acutest sorrow. "As for me," said one whose sin was ever before +him, "I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when +I wake with Thy likeness." + + + + +MRS. TIMOROUS + + + "But the fearful [literally, the timid and the cowardly] shall have + their part in the second death."--_Revelation xxi_. + +No sooner had Secret bidden Christiana farewell than she began with all +her might to make ready for her great journey. "Come, my children, let +us pack up and begone to the gate that leads to the Celestial City, that +we may see your father and be with him, and with his companions, in +peace, according to the laws of that land." And then: "Come in, if you +come in God's name!" Christiana called out, as two of her neighbours +knocked at her door. "Having little to do at home this morning," said +the elder of the two women, "I have come across to kill a little time +with you. I spent last night with Mrs. Light-mind, and I have some good +news for you this morning." "I am just preparing for a journey this +morning," said Christiana, packing up all the time, "and I have not so +much as one moment to spare." You know yourselves what Christiana's +nervousness and almost impatience were. You know how it upsets your good +temper and all your civility when you are packing up for a long absence +from home, and some one comes in, and will talk, and will not see how +behindhand and how busy you are. "For what journey, I pray you?" asked +Mrs. Timorous, for that was her visitor's name. "Even to go after my +good husband," the busy woman said, and with that she fell a-weeping. But +you must read the whole account of that eventful morning in Christiana's +memoirs for yourselves till you have it, as Secret said, by +root-of-heart. On the understanding that you are not total strangers to +that so excellently-written passage I shall now venture a few +observations upon it. + +1. Well, to begin with, Mrs. Timorous was not a bad woman, as women went +in that town and in that day. Her companions,--her gossips, as she would +have called them,--were far worse women than she was; and, had it not +been for her family infirmity, had it not been for that timid, +hesitating, lukewarm, and half-and-half habit of mind which she had +inherited from her father, there is no saying what part she might have +played in the famous expedition of Christiana and Mercy and the boys. Her +father had been a pilgrim himself at one time; but he had now for a long +time been known in the town as a turncoat and a temporary, and all his +children had unhappily taken after their father in that. Had her father +held on as he at one time had begun--had he held on in the face of all +fear and all danger as Christiana's noble husband had done--to a +certainty his daughter would have started that morning with Christiana +and her company, and would have been, if a timid, easily scared, and +troublesome pilgrim, yet as true a pilgrim, and made as welcome at last, +as, say, Miss Much-afraid, Mr. Fearing, and Mr. Ready-to-halt were made. +But her father's superficiality and shakiness, and at bottom his warm +love of this world and his lukewarm love of the world to come, had +unfortunately all descended to his daughter, till we find her actually +reviling Christiana on that decisive morning, and returning to her dish +of tea and tittle-tattle with Mrs. Bats-eyes, Mrs. Inconsiderate, Mrs. +Light-mind, and Mrs. Know-nothing. + +2. The thing that positively terrified Mrs. Timorous at the very thought +of setting out with Christiana that morning was that intolerable way in +which Christiana had begun to go back upon her past life as a wife and a +mother. Christiana could not hide her deep distress, and, indeed, she +did not much try. Such were the swarms of painful memories that her +husband's late death, the visit of Secret, and one thing and another had +let loose upon Christiana's mind, that she could take pleasure in nothing +but in how she was to escape away from her past life, and how she could +in any way mend it and make up for it where she could not escape from it. +"You may judge yourself," said Mrs. Timorous to Mrs. Light-mind, "whether +I was likely to find much entertainment with a woman like that!" For, +Mrs. Timorous too, you must know, had a past life of her own; and it was +that past life of hers all brought back by Christiana's words that +morning that made Mrs. Timorous so revile her old friend and return to +the society we so soon see her with. Now, is not this the case, that we +all have swarms of evil memories that we dare not face? There is no +single relationship in life that we can boldly look back upon and fully +face. As son or as daughter, as brother or as sister, as friend or as +lover, as husband or as wife, as minister or as member, as master or as +servant--what swarms of hornet-memories darken our hearts as we so look +back! Let any grown-up man, with some imagination, tenderness of heart, +and integrity of conscience, go back step by step, taking some time to +it,--at a new year, say, or a birthday, or on some such suitable +occasion: let him go over his past life back to his youth and +childhood--and what an intolerable burden will be laid on his heart +before he is done! What a panorama of scarlet pictures will pass before +his inward eye! What a forest of accusing fingers will be pointed at +him! What hissing curses will be spat at him both by the lips of the +living and the dead! What untold pains he will see that he has caused to +the innocent and the helpless! What desolating disappointments, what +shipwrecks of hope to this man and to that woman! What a stone of +stumbling he has been to many who on that stone have been for ever broken +and lost! What a rock of offence even his mere innocent existence, all +unknown to himself till afterwards, has been! Swarms, said Christiana. +Swarms of hornets armed, said Samson. And many of us understand what +that bitter word means better than any commentator on Bunyan or on Milton +can tell us. One of the holiest men the Church of England ever produced, +and one of her best devotional writers, used to shut his door on the +night of every first day of the week, and on his knees spread out a +prayer which always contained this passage: "I worship Thee, O God, on my +face. I smite my breast and say with the publican, God be merciful to me +a sinner; the chief of sinners; a sinner far above the publican. Despise +me not--an unclean worm, a dead dog, a putrid corpse. Despise me not, +despise me not, O Lord. But look upon me with those eyes with which Thou +didst look upon Magdalene at the feast, Peter in the hall, and the thief +on the cross. O that mine eyes were a fountain of tears that I might +weep night and day before Thee! I despise and bruise myself that my +penitence is not deeper, is not fuller. Help Thou mine impenitence, and +more and more pierce, rend, and crush my heart. My sins are more in +number than the sand. My iniquities are multiplied, and I have no +relief." Perish your Puritanism, and your prayer-books too! I hear some +high-minded and indignant man saying. Perish your Celestial City and all +my desire after it, before I say the like of that about myself! Brave +words, my brother; brave words! But there have been men as blameless as +you are, and as brave-hearted over it, who, when the scales fell off +their eyes, were heard crying out ever after: O wretched man that I am! +And: Have mercy on me, the chief of sinners! And so, if it so please +God, will it yet be with you. + +3. "Having had little to do this morning," said Mrs. Timorous to Mrs. +Light-mind, "I went to give Christiana a visit." "Law," I read in his +most impressive Life, "by this time was well turned fifty, but he rose as +early and was as soon at his desk as when he was still a new, +enthusiastic, and scrupulously methodical student at Cambridge." Summer +and winter Law rose to his devotions and his studies at five o'clock, not +because he had imperative sermons to prepare, but because, in his own +words, it is more reasonable to suppose a person up early because he is a +Christian than because he is a labourer or a tradesman or a servant. I +have a great deal of business to do, he would say. I have a hardened +heart to change; I have still the whole spirit of religion to get. When +Law at any time felt a temptation to relax his rule of early devotion, he +again reminded himself how fast he was becoming an old man, and how far +back his sanctification still was, till he flung himself out of bed and +began to make himself a new heart before the servants had lighted their +fires or the farmers had yoked their horses. Shame on you, he said to +himself, to lie folded up in a bed when you might be pouring out your +heart in prayer and in praise, and thus be preparing yourself for a place +among those blessed beings who rest not day and night saying, Holy, Holy, +Holy. "I have little to do this morning," said Mrs. Timorous. "But I am +preparing for a journey," said Christiana. "I have now a price put into +my hand to get gain, and I should be a fool of the greatest size if I +should have no heart to strike in with the opportunity." + +4. Another thing that completely threw out Christiana's idle visitor and +made her downright angry was the way she would finger and kiss and read +pieces out of the fragrant letter she held in her hand. You will +remember how Christiana came by that letter she was now so fond of. +"Here," said Secret, "is a letter I have brought thee from thy husband's +King." So she took it and opened it, and it smelt after the manner of +the best perfume; also it was written in letters of gold. "I advise +thee," said Secret, "that thou put this letter in thy bosom, that thou +read therein to thy children until you have all got it by root-of-heart." +"His messenger was here," said Christiana to Mrs. Timorous, "and has +brought me a letter which invites me to come." And with that she plucked +out the letter and read to her out of it, and said: "What now do you say +to all that?" That, again, is so true to our own life. For there is +nothing that more distastes and disrelishes many people among us than +just that we should name to them our favourite books, and read a passage +out of them, and ask them to say what they think of such wonderful words. +Samuel Rutherford's _Letters_, for instance; a book that smells to some +nostrils with the same heavenly perfume as Secret's own letter did. A +book, moreover, that is written in the same ink of gold. Ask at +afternoon tea to-morrow, even in so-called Christian homes, when any of +the ladies round the table last read, and how often they have read, +_Grace Abounding, The Saint's Rest, The Religious Affections, Jeremy +Taylor, Law, a Kempis, Fenelon_, or such like, and they will smile to one +another and remark after you are gone on your strange taste for +old-fashioned and long-winded and introspective books. "Julia has buried +her husband and married her daughters, and since that she spends her time +in reading. She is always reading foolish and unedifying books. She +tells you every time she sees you that she is almost at the end of the +silliest book that ever she read in her life. But the best of it is that +it serves to dispose of a good deal of her spare time. She tells you all +romances are sad stuff, yet she is very impatient till she can get all +she can hear of. Histories of intrigue and scandal are the books that +Julia thinks are always too short. The truth is, she lives upon folly +and scandal and impertinence. These things are the support of her dull +hours. And yet she does not see that in all this she is plainly telling +you that she is in a miserable, disordered, reprobate state of mind. Now, +whether you read her books or no, you perhaps think with her that it is a +dull task to read only religious and especially spiritual books. But +when you have the spirit of true religion, when you can think of God as +your only happiness, when you are not afraid of the joys of eternity, you +will think it a dull task to read any other books. When it is the care +of your soul to be humble, holy, pure, and heavenly-minded; when you know +anything of the guilt and misery of sin, or feel a real need of +salvation, then you will find religious and truly spiritual books to be +the greatest feast and joy of your mind and heart." Yes. And then we +shall thank God every day we live that He raised us up such helpers in +our salvation as the gifted and gracious authors we have been speaking +of. + +5. "The further I go the more danger I meet with," said old Timorous, +the father, to Christian, when Christian asked him on the Hill Difficulty +why he was running the wrong way. "I, too, was going to the City of +Zion," he said; "but the further on I go the more danger I meet with." +And, in saying that, the old runaway gave our persevering pilgrim +something to think about for all his days. For, again and again, and +times without number, Christian would have gone back too if only he had +known where to go. Go on, therefore, he must. To go back to him was +simply impossible. Every day he lived he felt the bitter truth of what +that old apostate had so unwittingly said. But, with all that he kept +himself in his onward way till, dangers and difficulties, death and hell +and all, he came to the blessed end of it. And that same has been the +universal experience of all the true and out-and-out saints of God in all +time. If poor old Timorous had only known it, if he had only had some +one beside him to remind him of it, the very thing that so fatally turned +him back was the best proof possible that he was on the right and the +only right way; ay, and fast coming, poor old castaway, to the very city +he had at one time set out to seek. Now, it is only too likely that +there are some of my hearers at this with it to-night, that they are on +the point of giving up the life of faith, and hope, and love, and holy +living; because the deeper they carry that life into their own hearts the +more impossible they find it to live that life there. The more they aim +their hearts at God's law the more they despair of ever coming within +sight of it. My supremely miserable brother! if this is any consolation +to you, if you can take any crumb of consolation out of it, let this be +told you, that, as a matter of fact, all truly holy men have in their +heart of hearts had your very experience. That is no strange and unheard- +of thing which is passing within you. And, indeed, if you could but +believe it, that is one of the surest signs and seals of a true and +genuine child of God. Dante, one of the bravest, but hardest bestead of +God's saints, was, just like you, well-nigh giving up the mountain +altogether when his Greatheart, who was always at his side, divining what +was going on within him, said to him-- + + "Those scars + That when they pain thee most then kindliest heal." + +"The more I do," complained one of Thomas Shepard's best friends to him, +"the worse I am." "The best saints are the most sensible of sin," wrote +Samuel Rutherford. And, again he wrote, "Sin rages far more in the godly +than ever it does in the ungodly." And you dare not deny but that Samuel +Rutherford was one of the holiest men that ever lived, or that in saying +all that he was speaking of himself. And Newman: "Every one who tries to +do God's will"--and that also is Newman himself--"will feel himself to be +full of all imperfection and sin; and the more he succeeds in regulating +his heart, the more will he discern its original bitterness and guilt." +As our own hymn has it: + + "They who fain would serve Thee best + Are conscious most of wrong within." + +Without knowing it, Mrs. Timorous's runaway father was speaking the same +language as the chief of the saints. Only he said, "Therefore I have +turned back," whereas, first Christian, and then Christiana his widow, +said, "Yet I must venture!" + +And so say you. Say, I must and I will venture! Say it; clench your +teeth and your hands and say it. Say that you are determined to go on +towards heaven where the holy are--absolutely determined, though you are +quite well aware that you are carrying up with you the blackest, the +wickedest, the most corrupt, and the most abominable heart either out of +hell or in it. Say that, say all that, and still venture. Say all that +and all the more venture. Venture upon God of whom such reassuring +things are said. Venture upon the Son of God of whom His Father is +represented as saying such inviting things. Venture upon the cross. +Survey the wondrous cross and then make a bold venture upon it. Think +who that is who is bleeding to death upon the cross, and why? Look at +Him till you never afterwards can see anything else. Look at God's +Eternal, Divine, Well-pleasing Son with all the wages of sin dealt out to +Him, body and soul, on that tree to the uttermost farthing. And, devil +incarnate though you indeed are, yet, say, if that spectacle does not +satisfy you, and encourage you, and carry your cowardice captive. +Venture! I say, venture! And if you find at last that you have ventured +too far--if you have sinned and corrupted yourself beyond redemption--then +it will be some consolation and distinction to you in hell that you had +out-sinned the infinite grace of God, and had seen the end of the +unsearchable riches of Christ. Timid sinner, I but mock thee, therefore +venture! Fearful sinner, venture! Cowardly sinner, venture. Venture +thyself upon thy God, upon Christ thy Saviour, and upon His cross. +Venture all thy guilt and all thy corruption taken together upon Christ +hanging upon His cross, and make that tremendous venture now! + + + + +MERCY + + + "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."--_Our Lord_. + +The first time that we see Mercy she is standing one sunshine morning +knocking along with another at Christiana's door. And all that we +afterwards hear of Mercy might be described as, A morning call and all +that came of it; or, How a godly matron led on a poor maid to fall in +love with her own salvation. John Bunyan, her biographer, in all his +devotion to Mercy, does not make it at all clear to us why such a sweet +and good girl as Mercy was could be on such intimate terms with Mrs. +Timorous and all her so questionable circle. Could it be that Mercy's +mother was one of that unhappy set? And had this dear little woman-child +been brought up so as to know no better than to figure in their +assemblies, and go out on their morning rounds with Mrs. Light-mind and +Mrs. Know-nothing? Or, was poor Mercy an orphan with no one to watch +over her, and had her sweet face, her handsome figure, and her winning +manners made her one of the attractions of old Madam Wanton's midnight +routs? However it came about, there was Mercy out on a series of morning +calls with a woman twice her age, but a woman whose many years had taught +her neither womanliness nor wisdom. "If you come in God's name, come +in," a voice from the inside answered the knocking of Mrs. Timorous and +Mercy, her companion, at Christiana's door. In all their rounds that +morning the two women had not been met with another salutation like that; +and that strange salutation so disconcerted and so confounded them that +they did not know whether to lift the latch and go in, or to run away and +leave those to go in who could take their delight in such outlandish +language. "If you come in God's name, come in." At this the women were +stunned, for this kind of language they used not to hear or to perceive +to drop from the lips of Christiana. Yet they came in; but, behold, they +found the good woman preparing to be gone from her house. The +conversation that ensued was all carried on by the two elder women. For +it was often remarked about Mercy all her after-days that her voice was +ever soft, and low, and, especially, seldom heard. But her ears were not +idle. For all the time the debate went on--because by this time the +conversation had risen to be a debate--Mercy was taking silent sides with +Christiana and her distress and her intended enterprise, till, when Mrs. +Timorous reviled Christiana and said, "Come away, Mercy, and leave her in +her own hands," Mercy by that time was brought to a standstill. For, +like a rose among thorns, Mercy was thoughtful and wise and womanly far +beyond her years. So much so, that already she had made up her mind to +offer herself as a maidservant to help the widow with her work and to see +her so far on her way, and, indeed, though she kept that to herself, to +go all the way with her, if the way should prove open to her. First, her +heart yearned over Christiana; so she said within herself, If my +neighbour will needs be gone, I will go a little way with her to help +her. Secondly, her heart yearned over her own soul's salvation, for what +Christiana had said had taken some hold upon Mercy's mind. Wherefore she +said within herself, I will yet have more talk with this Christiana, and +if I find truth and life in what she shall say, myself with all my heart +shall also go with her. "Neighbour," spoke out Mercy to Mrs. Timorous, +"I did indeed come with you to see Christiana this morning, and since she +is, as you see, a-taking of her last farewell of her country, I think to +walk this sunshine morning a little way with her to help her on the way." +But she told her not of her second reason, but kept that to herself. I +would fain go on with Mercy's memoirs all night. But you will take up +that inviting thread for yourselves. And meantime I shall stop here and +gather up under two or three heads some of the more memorable results and +lessons of that sunshine-morning call. + +1. Well, then, to begin with, there was something quite queen-like, +something absolutely commanding, about Christiana's look and manner, as +well as about all she said and did that morning. Mercy's morning +companion had all the advantages that dress and equipage could give her; +while Christiana stood in the middle of the floor in her housewife's +clothes, covered with dust and surrounded with all her dismantled house; +but, with all that, there was something about Christiana that took +Mercy's heart completely captive. All that Christiana had by this time +come through had blanched her cheek and whitened her hair: but all that +only the more commanded Mercy's sensitive and noble soul. To be open to +impressions of that kind is one of the finest endowments of a finely +endowed nature; and, all through, the attentive reader of her history +will be sure to remark and imitate Mercy's exquisite and tenacious +sensibility to all that is true and good, upright and honourable and +noble. And then, what a blessing it is to a girl of Mercy's mould to +meet at opening womanhood with another woman, be it a mother, a mistress, +or a neighbour, whose character then, and as life goes on, can supply the +part of the supporting and sheltering oak to the springing and clinging +vine. Christiana being now the new woman she was, as well as a woman of +great natural wisdom, dignity, and stability of character, the safety, +the salvation of poor motherless Mercy was as good as sure. Indeed, all +Mercy's subsequent history is only one long and growing tribute to the +worth, the constant love, and the sleepless solicitude of this true +mother in Israel. + +2. Now, it was so, that, wholly unknown to all her companions, young and +old, in her own very remarkable words, Mercy had for a long time been +hungering with all her heart to meet with some genuinely good +people,--with some people, as she said herself,--"of truth and of life." +These are remarkable words to hear drop from the lips of a young girl, +and especially a girl of Mercy's environment. Now, had there been +anything hollow, had there been one atom of insincerity or exaggeration +about Christiana that morning, had she talked too much, had all her +actions not far more than borne out all her words, had there not been in +the broken-hearted woman a depth of mind and a warmth of heart far beyond +all her words, Mercy would never have become a pilgrim. But the natural +dignity of Christiana's character; her capable, commanding, resolute +ways; the reality, even to agony, of her sorrow for her past life--all +taken together with her iron-fast determination to enter at once on a new +life--all that carried Mercy's heart completely captive. Mercy felt that +there was a solemnity, an awesomeness, and a mystery about her new +friend's experiences and memories that it was not for a child like +herself to attempt to intrude into. But, all the more because of that, a +spell of love and fear and reverence lay on Mercy's heart and mind all +her after-days from that so solemn and so eventful morning when she first +saw Christiana's haggard countenance and heard her remorseful cries. My +so churlish carriages to him! Now, such carriages between man and wife +had often pained and made ashamed Mercy's maidenly heart beyond all +expression. Till she had sometimes said to herself, blushing with shame +before herself as she said it, that if ever she was a wife--may my tongue +cleave to the roof of my mouth before I say one churlish word to him who +is my husband! And thus it was that nothing that Christiana said that +morning in the uprush of her remorse moved Mercy more with pity and with +love than just what Christiana beat her breast about as concerning her +lost husband. Mercy used to say that she saw truth and life enough in +one hour that morning to sober and to solemnise and to warn her to set a +watch on the door of her lips for all her after-days. + +3. Before Mrs. Timorous was well out of the door, Mercy had already +plucked off her gloves, and hung up her morning bonnet on a nail in the +wall, so much did her heart heave to help the cumbered widow and her +fatherless children. "If thou wilt, I will hire thee," said Christiana, +"and thou shalt go with me as my servant. Yet we will have all things +common betwixt thee and me; only, now thou art here, go along with me." +At this Mercy fell on Christiana's neck and kissed her mother; for after +that morning Christiana had always a daughter of her own, and Mercy a +mother. And you may be sure, with two such women working with all their +might, all things were soon ready for their happy departure. + +Mr. Kerr Bain invites his readers to compare John Bunyan's Mercy at this +point with William Law's Miranda. I shall not tarry to draw out the full +comparison here, but shall content myself with simply repeating Mr. +Bain's happy reference. Only, I shall not content myself till all to +whom my voice can reach, and who are able to enjoy only a first-rate +book, have Mr. Bain's book beside their _Pilgrim's Progress_. That +morning, then, on which Mrs. Timorous, having nothing to do at home, set +out with Mercy on a round of calls--that was Mercy's last idle morning +for all her days. For her mind was, ever after that, to be always +busying of herself in doing, for when she had nothing to do for herself +she would be making of hosen and garments for others, and would bestow +them upon those that had need. I will warrant her a good housewife, +quoth Mr. Brisk to himself. So much so that at any place they stopped on +the way, even for a day and a night to rest and refresh themselves, Mercy +would seek out all the poor and all the old people, and ere ever she was +aware what she was doing, already a good report had spread abroad +concerning the pilgrims and their pilgrimage. At the same time, it must +be told that poor Mercy's heart was more heavy for the souls of the poor +people than for their naked bodies and hungry bellies. So much was this +so that when the shepherds, Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, +took her to a place where she saw one Fool and one Want-wit washing of an +Ethiopian with intention to make him white, but the more they washed him +the blacker he was, Mercy blushed and felt guilty before the +shepherds,--she so took home to her charitable heart the bootless work of +Fool and Want-wit. Mercy put on the Salvationist bonnet at her first +outset to the Celestial City, and she never put it off till she came to +that land where there are no more poor to make hosen and hats for, and no +more Ethiopians to take to the fountain. + +4. There are not a few young communicants here to-night, as well as not +a few who are afraid as yet to offer themselves for the Lord's table; +and, as it so falls out to-night, Mercy's case contains both an +encouragement and an example to all such. For never surely had a young +communicant less to go upon than Mercy had that best morning of all her +life. For she had nothing to go upon but a great desire to help +Christiana with her work; some desire for truth and for life; and some +first and feeble yearnings over her own soul,--yearnings, however, that +she kept entirely to herself. That was all. She had no remorses like +those which had ploughed up Christiana's cheeks into such channels of +tears. She had no dark past out of which swarms of hornets stung her +guilty conscience. Nor on the other hand, had she any such sweet dreams +and inviting visions as those that were sent to cheer and encourage the +disconsolate widow. She will have her own sweet dreams yet, that will +make her laugh loud out in her sleep. But that will be long after this, +when she has discovered how hard her heart is and how great God's grace +is. "How shall I be ascertained," she put it to Christiana, "that I also +shall be entertained? Had I but this hope, from one that can tell, I +would make no stick at all, but would go, being helped by Him that can +help, though the way was never so tedious. Had I as good hope for a +loving reception as you have, I think no Slough of Despond would +discourage me." "Well," said the other, "you know your sore, and I know +mine; and, good friend, we shall all have enough evil before we come to +our journey's end." And soon after that, of all places on the upward +way, Mercy's evil began at the Wicket Gate. "I have a companion," said +Christiana, "that stands without. One that is much dejected in her mind, +for that she comes, as she thinks, without sending for; whereas I was +sent to by my husband's King." So the porter opened the gate and looked +out; but Mercy was fallen down in a swoon, for she fainted and was afraid +that the gate would not be opened to her. "O sir," she said, "I am +faint; there is scarce life left in me." But he answered her that one +once said, "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my +prayer came in into Thee, into Thy holy temple. Fear not, but stand up +upon thy feet, and tell me wherefore thou art come." "I am come, sir, +into that for which I never was invited, as my friend Christiana was. Her +invitation was from the Lord, and mine was but from her. Wherefore, I +fear that I presume." Then said he to those that stood by, "Fetch +something and give it to Mercy to smell on, thereby to stay her +fainting." So they fetched her a bundle of myrrh, and a while after she +revived.--Let young communicants be content with Mercy's invitation. She +started for the City just because she liked to be beside a good woman who +was starting thither. She wished to help a good woman who was going +thither; and just a little desire began at first to awaken in her heart +to go to the city too. Till, having once set her face to go up, one +thing after another worked together to lead her up till she, too, had her +life full of those invitations and experiences and interests and +occupations and enjoyments that make Mercy's name so memorable, and her +happy case such an example and such an inspiration, to all God-fearing +young women especially. + +5. John Bunyan must be held responsible for the strong dash of romance +that he so boldly throws into Mercy's memoirs. But I shall postpone Mr. +Brisk and his love-making and his answer to another lecture. I shall not +enter on Mercy's love matters here at all, but shall leave them to be +read at home by those who like to read romances. Only, since we have +seen so much of Mercy as a maiden, one longs to see how she turned out as +a wife. I can only imagine how Mercy turned out as a wife; but there is +a picture of a Scottish Covenanting girl as a married wife which always +rises up before my mind when I think of Mercy's matronly days. That +picture might hang in Bunyan's own peculiar gallery, so beautiful is the +drawing, and so warm and so eloquent the colouring. Take, then, this +portrait of one of the daughters of the Scottish Covenant. "She was a +woman of great worth, whom I therefore passionately loved and inwardly +honoured. A stately, beautiful, and comely personage; truly pious and +fearing the Lord. Of an evenly temper, patient in our common +tribulations and under her personal distresses. A woman of bright +natural parts, and of an uncommon stock of prudence; of a quick and +lively apprehension in things she applied herself to, and of great +presence of mind in surprising incidents. Sagacious and acute in +discerning the qualities of persons, and therefore not easily imposed +upon. [See Mr. Brisk's interviews with Mercy.] Modest and grave in her +deportment, but naturally cheerful; wise and affable in conversation, +also having a good faculty at speaking and expressing herself with +assurance. Being a pattern of frugality and wise management in household +affairs, all such were therefore entirely committed to her; well fitted +for and careful of the virtuous education of her children; remarkably +useful in the countryside, both in the Merse and in the Forest, through +her skill in physic and surgery, which in many instances a peculiar +blessing appeared to be commanded upon from heaven. And, finally, a +crown to me in my public station and pulpit appearances. During the time +we have lived together we have passed through a sea of trouble, as yet +not seeing the shore but afar off." + +"The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. What, +my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? Who +can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Her +children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth +her. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth +the Lord, she shall be praised." + + + + +MR. BRISK + + + "Be ye not unequally yoked."--_Paul_. + +There were some severe precisians in John Bunyan's day who took the +objection to the author of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ that he sometimes +laughed too loud. + + "One may (I think) say, both he laughs and cries, + May well be guessed at by his watery eyes. + Some things are of that nature as to make + One's fancy chuckle while his heart doth ake. + When Jacob saw his Rachel with the sheep, + At the same time he did both laugh and weep." + +And even Dr. Cheever, in his excellent lectures on the _Pilgrim's +Progress_, confesses that though the Second Part never ceases for a +moment to tell the serious story of the Pilgrimage, at the same time, it +sometimes becomes so merry as almost to pass over into absolute comedy. +"There is one passage," says Cheever, "which for exquisite humour, quiet +satire, and naturalness in the development of character is scarcely +surpassed in the language. It is the account of the courtship between +Mr. Brisk and Mercy which took place at the House Beautiful." + +Now, the insertion of such an episode as that of Mr. Brisk into such a +book as the _Pilgrim's Progress_ is only yet another proof of the health, +the strength, and the truth to nature of John Bunyan's mind. His was +eminently an honest, straightforward, manly, English understanding. A +smaller man would not have ventured on Mr. Brisk in such a book as the +_Pilgrim's Progress_. But there is no affectation, there is no prudery, +there is no superiority to nature in John Bunyan. He knew quite well +that of the thousands of men and women who were reading his _Pilgrim_ +there was no subject, not even religion itself, that was taking up half +so much of their thoughts as just love-making and marriage. And, like +the wise man and the true teacher he was, he here points out to all his +readers how well true religion and the fullest satisfaction of the +warmest and the most universal of human affections can be both harmonised +and made mutually helpful. In Bunyan's day love was too much left to the +playwrights, just as in our day it is too much left to the poets and the +novelists. And thus it is that in too many instances affection and +passion have taken full possession of the hearts and the lives of our +young people before any moral or religious lesson on these all-important +subjects has been given to them: any lesson such as John Bunyan so +winningly and so beautifully gives here. "This incident," says Thomas +Scott, "is very properly introduced, and it is replete with instruction." + +Now, Mr. Brisk, to begin with, was, so we are told, a young man of some +breeding,--that is to say, he was a young man of some social position, +some education, and of a certain good manner, at least on the surface. In +David Scott's Illustrations Mr. Brisk stands before us a handsome and +well-dressed young man of the period, with his well-belted doublet, his +voluminous ruffles, his heavily-studded cuffs, his small cane, his +divided hair, and his delicate hand,--altogether answering excellently to +his name, were it not for the dashed look of surprise with which he gets +his answer, and, with what jauntiness he can at the moment command, takes +his departure. "Mr. Brisk was a man of some breeding," says Bunyan, "and +that pretended to religion; but a man that stuck very close to the +world." That Mr. Brisk made any pretence to religion at any other time +and in any other place is not said; only that he put on that pretence +with his best clothes when he came once or twice or more to Mercy and +offered love to her at the House Beautiful. The man with the least +religion at other times, even the man with no pretence to religion at +other times at all, will pretend to some religion when he is in love with +a young woman of Mercy's mind. And yet it would not be fair to say that +it is all pretence even in such a man at such a time. Grant that a man +is really in love; then, since all love is of the nature of religion, for +the time, the true lover is really on the borders of a truly religious +life. It may with perfect truth be said of all men when they first fall +in love that they are, for the time, not very far away from the kingdom +of heaven. For all love is good, so far as it goes. God is Love; and +all love, in the long-run, has a touch of the divine nature in it. And +for once, if never again, every man who is deeply in love has a far-off +glimpse of the beauty of holiness, and a far-off taste of that ineffable +sweetness of which the satisfied saints of God sing so ecstatically. But, +in too many instances, a young man's love having been kindled only by the +creature, and, never rising from her to his and her Creator, as a rule, +it sooner or later burns low and at last burns out, and leaves nothing +but embers and ashes in his once so ardent heart. Mr. Brisk's +love-making might have ended in his becoming a pilgrim but for this fatal +flaw in his heart, that even in his love-making he stuck so fast to the +world. It is almost incredible: you may well refuse to believe it--that +any young man in love, and especially a young gentleman of Mr. Brisk's +breeding, would approach his mistress with the question how much she +could earn a day. As Mr. Brisk looks at Mercy's lap so full of hats and +hosen and says it, I can see his natty cane beginning to lengthen itself +out in his soft-skinned hand and to send out teeth like a muck-rake. Give +Mr. Brisk another thirty years or so and he will be an ancient churl, +raking to himself the sticks and the straws and the dust of the earth, +neither looking up to nor regarding the celestial crown that is still +offered to him in exchange for his instrument. + +"Now, Mercy was of a fair countenance, and, therefore, all the more +alluring." But her fair countenance was really no temptation to her. +"Sit still, my daughter," said Naomi to Ruth in the Old Testament. And +it was entirely Mercy's maidenly nature to sit still. Even before she +had come to her full womanhood under Christiana's motherly care she would +have been an example to Ruth. Long ago, while Mercy was still a mere +girl, when Mrs. Light-mind said something to her one day that made her +blush, Mercy at last looked up in real anger and said, We women should be +wooed; we were not made to woo. And thus it was that all their time at +the House Beautiful Mercy stayed close at home and worked with her needle +and thread just as if she had been the plainest girl in all the town. "I +might have had husbands afore now," she said, with a cast of her head +over the coat that lay on her lap, "though I spake not of it to any. But +they were such as did not like my conditions, though never did any of +them find fault with my person. So they and I could not agree." Once +Mercy's mouth was opened on the subject of possible husbands it is a +miracle that she did not go on in confidence to name some of the husbands +she might have had. Mercy was too truthful and too honourable a maiden +to have said even on that subject what she did say if it had not been +true. No doubt she believed it true. And the belief so long as she +mentioned no names, did not break any man's bones and did not spoil any +man's market. Don't set up too prudishly and say that it is a pity that +Mercy so far forgot herself as to make her little confidential boast. We +would not have had her without that little boast. Keep-at-home, +sit-still, hats and hosen and all--her little boast only proves Mercy to +have been at heart a true daughter of Eve after all. + +There is an old-fashioned word that comes up again and again in the +account of Mr. Brisk's courtship,--a word that contains far more interest +and instruction for us than might on the surface appear. When Mr. Brisk +was rallied upon his ill-success with Mercy, he was wont to say that +undoubtedly Mistress Mercy was a very pretty lass, only she was troubled +with ill conditions. And then, when Mercy was confiding to Prudence all +about her possible husbands, she said that they were all such as did not +like her conditions. To which Prudence, keeping her countenance, +replied, that the men were but few in their day that could abide the +practice that was set forth by such conditions as those of Mercy. Well, +tossed out Mercy, if nobody will have me I will die a maid, or my +conditions shall be to me as a husband! As I came again and again across +that old seventeenth-century word "conditions," I said to myself, I feel +sure that Dr. Murray of the Oxford Scriptorium will have noted this +striking passage. And on turning up the Sixth Part of the _New English +Dictionary_, there, to be sure, was the old word standing in this present +setting. Five long, rich, closely packed columns stood under the head of +"Condition"; and amid a thousand illustrations of its use, the text: +"1684, Bunyan, Pilgr., ii. 84. He said that Mercy was a pretty lass, but +troubled with ill conditions." Poor illiterate John Bunyan stood in the +centre of a group of learned and famous men, composed of Chaucer, Wyclif, +Skelton, Palsgrave, Raleigh, Featly, Richard Steel, and Walter Scott--all +agreeing in their use of our word, and all supplying examples of its use +in the best English books. By Mercy's conditions, then, is just meant +her cast of mind, her moral nature, her temper and her temperament, her +dispositions and her inclinations, her habits of thought, habits of +heart, habits of life, and so on. + +"Well," said Mercy proudly, "if nobody will have me, I will die a maid, +or my conditions shall be to me as a husband. For I cannot change my +nature, and to have one that lies cross to me in this,--that I purpose +never to admit of as long as I live." By this time, though she is still +little more than a girl, Mercy had her habits formed, her character cast, +and, more than all, her whole heart irrevocably set on her soul's +salvation. And everything--husband and children and all--must condition +themselves to that, else she will have none of them. She had sought +first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and she will seek +nothing, she will accept nothing--no, not even a husband--who crosses her +choice in that. She has chosen her life, and her husband with it. Not +the man as yet, but the whole manner of the man. The conditions of the +man, as she said about herself; else she will boldly and bravely die a +maid. And there are multitudes of married women who, when they read this +page about Mercy, will gnash their teeth at the madness of their youth, +and will wildly wish that they only were maids again; and, then, like +Mercy, they would take good care to make for themselves husbands of their +own conditions too--of their own means, their own dispositions, +inclinations, tastes, and pursuits. For, according as our conditions to +one another are or are not in our marriages, + + "They locally contain or heaven or hell; + There is no third place in them." + +What untold good, then, may all our young women not get out of the loving +study of Mercy's sweet, steadfast, noble character! And what untold +misery may they not escape! From first to last--and we are not yet come +to her last--I most affectionately recommend Mercy to the hearts and +minds of all young women here. Single and married; setting out on +pilgrimage and steadfastly persevering in it; sitting still till the +husband with the right conditions comes, and then rising up with her +warm, well-kept heart to meet him--if any maiden here has no mother, or +no elder sister, or no wise and prudent friend like Prudence or +Christiana to take counsel of--and even if she has--let Mercy be her +meditation and her model through all her maidenly days. + +"Nay, then," said Mercy, "I will look no more on him, for I purpose never +to have a clog to my soul." A pungent resolve for every husband to read +and to think to himself about, who has married a wife with a soul. Let +all husbands who have such wives halt here and ask themselves with some +imagination as to what may sometimes go on, at communion times, say, in +the souls of their wives. It is not every wife, it is true, who has a +soul to clog; but some of our wives have. Well, now, let us ask +ourselves: How do we stand related to their souls? Do our wives, when +examining the state of their souls since they married us, have to say +that at one time they had hoped to be further on in the life of the soul +than they yet are? And are they compelled before God to admit that the +marriage they have made, and would make, has terribly hindered them? +Would they have been better women, would they have been living a better +life, and doing far more good in the world, if they had taken their +maidenly ideals, like Mercy, for a husband? Let us sometimes imagine +ourselves into the secrets of our wives' souls, and ask if they ever feel +that they are unequally and injuriously yoked in their deepest and best +life. Do we ever see a tear falling in secret, or hear a stolen sigh +heaved, or stumble on them at a stealthy prayer? A Roman lady on being +asked why she sometimes let a sob escape her and a tear fall, when she +had such a gentleman of breeding and rank and riches to her husband, +touched her slipper with her finger and said: "Is not that a well-made, a +neat, and a costly shoe? And yet you would not believe how it pinches +and pains me sometimes." + +But some every whit as good women as Mercy was have purposed as nobly and +as firmly as Mercy did, and yet have wakened up, when it was too late, to +find that, with all their high ideals, and with all their prudence, their +husband is not in himself, and is not to them, what they at one time felt +sure he would be. Mercy had a sister named Bountiful, who made that +mistake and that dreadful discovery; and what Mercy had seen of married +life in her sister's house almost absolutely turned her against marriage +altogether. "The one thing certain," says Thomas Mozley in his chapter +on Ideal Wife and Husband, "is that both wife and husband are different +in the result from the expectation. Age, illness, an increasing family, +no family at all, household cares, want of means, isolation, incompatible +prejudices, quarrels, social difficulties, and such like, all tell on +married people, and make them far other than they once promised to be." +When that awakening comes there is only one solace, and women take to +that supreme solace much more often than men. And that solace, as you +all know, is true, if too late, religion. And even where true religion +has already been, there is still a deeper and a more inward religion +suited to the new experiences and the new needs of life. And if both +husband and wife in such a crisis truly betake themselves to Him who +gathereth the solitary into families, the result will be such a +remarriage of depth and tenderness, loyalty and mutual help, as their +early dreams never came within sight of. Not early love, not children, +not plenty of means, not all the best amenities of married life taken +together, will repair a marriage and keep a marriage in repair for one +moment like a living and an intense faith in God; a living and an intense +love to God; and then that faith in and love for one another that spring +out of God and out of His love alone. + + "The tree + Sucks kindlier nurture from a soil enriched + By its own fallen leaves; and man is made, + In heart and spirit, from deciduous hopes + And things that seem to perish." + + + + +MR. SKILL + + + "The vine of Sodom."--_Moses_. + +With infinite delicacy John Bunyan here tells us the sad story of +Matthew's sore sickness at the House Beautiful. The cause of the sore +sickness, its symptoms, its serious nature, and its complete cures are +all told with the utmost plainness; but, at the same time, with the most +exquisite delicacy. Bunyan calls the ancient physician who is summoned +in and who effects the cure, Mr. Skill, but you must believe that Bunyan +himself is Mr. Skill; and I question if this skilful writer ever wrote a +more skilful page than just this page that now lies open before him who +has the eyes to read it. + +Matthew, it must always be remembered, was by this time a young man. He +was the eldest son of Christiana his mother, and for some time now she +had been a sorely burdened widow. Matthew's father was no longer near +his son to watch over him and to warn him against the temptations and the +dangers that wait on opening manhood. And thus his mother, with all her +other cares, had to be both father and mother to her eldest son; and, +with all her good sense and all her long and close acquaintance with the +world, she was too fond a mother to suspect any evil of her eldest son. +And thus it was that Christiana had nearly lost her eldest son before her +eyes were open to the terrible dangers he had for a long time been +running. For it was so, that the upward way that this household without +a head had to travel lay through a land full of all kinds of dangers both +to the bodies and to the souls of such travellers as they were. And what +well-nigh proved a fatal danger to Matthew lay right in his way. It was +Beelzebub's orchard. Not that this young man's way lay through that +orchard exactly; yet, walled up as was that orchard with all its +forbidden fruit, that evil fruit would hang over the wall so that if any +lusty youth wished to taste it, he had only to reach up to the +over-hanging branches and plash down on himself some of the forbidden +bunches. Now, that was just what Matthew had done. Till we have him +lying at the House Beautiful, not only not able to enjoy the delights of +the House and of the season, but so pained in his bowels and so pulled +together with inward pains, that he sometimes cried out as if he were +being torn to pieces. At that moment Mr. Skill, the ancient physician, +entered the sick-room, when, having a little observed Matthew's intense +agony, with a certain mixture of goodness and severity he recited these +professional verses over the trembling bed: + + "O conscience, who can stand against thy power? + Endure thy gripes and agonies one hour? + Stone, gout, strappado, racks, whatever is + Dreadful to sense, are only toys to this-- + No pleasures, riches, honours, friends can tell + How to give ease to this, 'tis like to hell." + +And then, turning to the sick man's mother, who stood at the bed's head +wringing her hands, the ancient leech said to her: "This boy of yours has +been tampering with the forbidden fruit!" At which the angry mother +turned on the well-approved physician as if he had caused all the trouble +that he had come to cure. But the ancient man knew both the son and the +mother too, and therefore he addressed her with some asperity: "I tell +you both that strong measures must be taken instantly, else he will die." +When Mr. Skill had seen that the first purge was too weak, he made him +one to the purpose; and it was made, as he so learnedly said, _ex carne +et sanguine Christi_. The pills were to be taken three at a time, +fasting, in half a quarter of a pint of the tears of repentance. After +some coaxing, such as mothers know best how to use, Matthew took the +medicine and was soon walking about again with a staff, and was able to +go from room to room of the hospitable and happy house. Understandest +thou what thou readest? said Philip the deacon to Queen Candace's +treasurer as he sat down beside him in the chariot and opened up to him +the fifty-third of the prophet Isaiah. And, understandest thou what thou +here readest in Matthew and Mr. Skill? + +1. Now, on this almost too closely veiled case I shall venture to +remark, in the first place, that multitudes of boys grow up into young +men, and go out of our most godly homes and into a whole world of +temptation without due warning being given them as to where they are +going. "I do marvel that none did warn him of it," said Mr. Skill, with +some anger. What Matthew's father might have done in this matter had he +been still in this world when his son became a man in it we can only +guess. As it was, it never entered his mother's too fond mind to take +her fatherless boy by himself when she saw Beelzebub's orchard before +him, and tell him what Solomon told his son, and to point out to him the +prophecy that King Lemuel's mother prophesied to her son. Poor Matthew +was a young man before his mother was aware of it. And, poor woman, she +only found that out when Mr. Skill was in the sick-room and was looking +at her with eyes that seemed to say to her that she had murdered her +child. She had loved too long to look on her first-born as still a +child. When he went at any time for a season out of her sight, she had +never followed him with her knowledge of the world; she had never +prevented him with an awakened and an anxious imagination; till now she +had got him home with no rest in his bones because of his sin. And then +she began to cry too late, O naughty boy, and, O careless mother, what +shall I do for my son! + +2. "That food, to wit, that fruit," said Mr. Skill, "is even the most +hurtful of all. It is the fruit of Beelzebub's orchard." So it is. +There is no fruit that hurts at all like that fruit. How it hurts at the +time, we see in Matthew's sick-room; and how it hurts all a man's after +days we see in Jacob, and in Job, and in David, and in a thousand sin- +sick souls of whose psalms of remorse and repentance the world cannot +contain all the books that should be written. "And yet I marvel," said +the indignant physician, "that none did warn him of it; many have died +thereof." Oh if I could but get the ears of all the sons of godly +fathers and mothers who are beginning to tamper with Beelzebub's orchard- +trees, I feel as if I could warn them to-night, and out of this text, of +what they are doing! I have known so many who have died thereof. Oh if +I could but save them in time from those gripes of conscience that will +pull them to pieces on the softest and the most fragrant bed that shall +ever be made for them on earth! It will be well with them if they do not +lie down torn to pieces on their bed in hell, and curse the day they +first plashed down into their youthful hands the vine of Sodom. Both the +way to hell and the way to heaven are full of many kinds of hurtful +fruits; but that species of fruit that poor misguided Matthew plucked and +ate after he had well passed the gate that is at the head of the way is, +by all men's testimony, by far the most hurtful of all forbidden fruits. + +3. The whole scene in Matthew's sick-room reads, after all, less like a +skilful invention than a real occurrence. Inventive and realistic as +John Bunyan is, there is surely something here that goes beyond even his +genius. After making all allowance for Bunyan's unparalleled powers of +creation and narration, I am inclined to think, the oftener I read it, +that, after all, we have not so much John Bunyan here as very Nature +herself. Yes; John Gifford surely was Mr. Skill. Sister Bosworth surely +was Matthew's mother. And Matthew himself was Sister Bosworth's eldest +son, while one John Bunyan, a travelling tinker, was busy with his +furnaces and his soldering-irons in Dame Bosworth's kitchen. Young +Bunyan, with all his blackguardism, had never plashed down Beelzebub's +orchard. He swears he never did, and we are bound to believe him. But +young Bosworth had been tampering with the forbidden fruit, and Gifford +saw at a glance what was wrong. John Gifford was first an officer in the +Royalist army, then a doctor in Bedford, and now a Baptist Puritan +pastor; and the young tinker looked up to Gifford as the most wonderful +man for learning in books and in bodies and souls of men in all the +world. And when Gifford talked over young Bosworth's bed half to himself +and half to them about a medicine made _ex carne et sanguine Christi_, +the future author of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ never forgot the phrase. At +a glance Gifford saw what was the whole matter with the sick man. And +painful as the truth was to the sick man's mother, and humiliating with a +life-long humiliation to the sick man himself, Gifford was not the man or +the minister to beat about the bush at such a solemn moment. "This boy +has been tampering with that which will kill him unless he gets it taken +off his conscience and out of his heart immediately." Now, this same +divination into our pastoral cases is by far and away the most difficult +part of a minister's work. It is easy and pleasant with a fluent tongue +to get through our pulpit work; but to descend the pulpit stairs and deal +with life, and with this and that sin in the lives of our people,--that +is another matter. "We must labour," says Richard Baxter in his +_Reformed Pastor_, "to be acquainted with the state of all our people as +fully as we can; both to know the persons and their inclinations and +conversation; to know what sins they are most in danger of, what duties +they neglect, and what temptations they are most liable to. For, if we +know not their temperament or their disease, we are likely to prove but +unsuccessful physicians." But when we begin to reform our pastorate to +that pattern, we are soon compelled to set down such entries in our +secret diary as that of Thomas Shepard of Harvard University: "Sabbath, +5th April 1641. Nothing I do, nay, none under my shadow prosper. I so +want wisdom for my place, and to guide others." Yes; for what wisdom is +needed for the place of a minister like John Gifford, John Bunyan, +Richard Baxter, and Thomas Shepard! What wisdom, what divine genius, to +dive into and divine the secret history of a soul from a twinge of +conscience, even from a drop of the eye, a tone of the voice, or a +gesture of the hand or of the head! And yet, with some natural taste for +the holy work, with study, with experience, and with life-long expert +reading, even a plain minister with no genius, but with some grace and +truth, may come to great eminence in the matters of the soul. And then, +with what an interest, solemn and awful, with what a sleepless interest +such a pastor goes about among his diseased, sin-torn, and scattered +flock! All their souls are naked and open under his divining eye. They +need not to tell him where they ail, and of what sickness they are nigh +unto death. That food, he says, with some sternness over their sick-bed, +I warned you of it; I told you with all plainness that many have died of +eating that fruit! "We must be ready," Baxter continues, "to give advice +to those that come to us with cases of conscience. A minister is not +only for public preaching, but to be a known counsellor for his people's +souls as the lawyer is for their estates, and the physician is for their +bodies. And because the people are grown unacquainted with this office +of the ministry, and their own necessity and duty herein, it belongeth to +us to acquaint them herewith, and to press them publicly to come to us +for advice concerning their souls. We must not only be willing of the +trouble, but draw it upon ourselves by inviting them hereto. To this end +it is very necessary to be acquainted with practical cases and able to +assist them in trying their states. One word of seasonable and prudent +advice hath done that good that many sermons would not have done." + +4. As he went on pounding and preparing his well-approved pill, the (at +the bottom of his heart) kind old leech talked encouragingly to the +mother and to her sick son, and said: "Come, come; after all, do not he +too much cast down. Had we lived in the days of the old medicine, I +would have been compounding a purge out of the blood of a goat, and the +ashes of an heifer, and the juice of hyssop. But I have a far better +medicine under my hands here. This moment I will make you a purge to the +purpose." And then the learned man, half-doctor, half-divine, chanted +again the sacred incantation as he bent over his pestle and mortar, +saying: _Ex carne et sanguine Christi_! Those shrewd old eyes soon saw +that, in spite of all their defences and all their denials, damage had +been done to the conscience and the heart that nothing would set right +but a frank admission of the evil that had been done, and a prompt +submission to the regimen appointed and the medicine prepared. And how +often we ministers puddle and peddle with goat's blood and heifer's ashes +and hyssop juice when we should instantly prescribe stern fasting and +secret prayer and long spaces of repentance, and then the body and the +blood of Christ. How often our people cheat us into healing their hurt +slightly! How often they succeed in putting us off, after we are called +in, with their own account of their cases, and set us out on a wild-goose +chase! I myself have more than once presented young men in their trouble +with apologetic books, University sermons, and watered-down explanations +of the Confession and the Catechism, when, had I known all I came +afterwards to know, I would have sent them Bunyan's _Sighs from Hell_. I +have sent soul-sick women also _The Bruised Reed_, and _The Mission of +the Comforter_ with sympathising inscriptions, and sweet scriptures +written inside, when, had I had Mr. Skill's keen eyes in my stupid head, +I would have gone to them with the total abstinence pledge in my one +hand, and Jeremy Taylor's _Holy Living and Dying_ in my other. "No diet +but that which is wholesome!" almost in anger answered the sick man's +mother. "I tell you," the honest leech replied, in more anger, "this boy +has been tampering with Beelzebub's orchard. And many have died of it!" + +5. It was while all the rest of the House Beautiful were supping on lamb +and wine, and while there was such music in the House that made Mercy +exclaim over it with wonder--it was at the smell of the supper and at the +sound of the psalmody that Matthew's gripes seized upon him worse than +ever. All the time the others sat late into the night Matthew lay on the +rack pulled to pieces. After William Law's death at King's Cliffe, his +executors found among his most secret papers a prayer he had composed for +his own alone use on a certain communion day when he was self-debarred +from the Lord's table. I do not know for certain just what fruit the +young non-juror had stolen out of Beelzebub's orchard before that +communion season; but I can see that he was in poor Matthew's exact +experience that communion night,--literally torn to pieces with agonies +of conscience while all his fellow-worshippers were at the table of the +Lord. While the psalms and hymns are being sung at the supper-table, lay +your ear to Law's closet door. "Whilst all Thy faithful servants are on +this day offering to Thee the comfortable sacrifice of the body and the +blood of Christ, and feasting at that holy table which Thou hast ordained +for the refreshment, joy, and comfort of their souls, I, unhappy wretch, +full of guilt, am justly denied any share of these comforts that are +common to the Christian world. O my God, I am an unclean worm, a dead +dog, a stinking carcass, justly removed from that society of saints who +this day kneel about Thine altar. But, oh! suffer me to look toward Thy +holy Sanctuary; suffer my soul again to be in the place where Thine +honour dwelleth. Reject not the sacrifice of a broken heart, and do Thou +be with me in secret, though I am not fit to appear in Thy public +worship. Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean. Lord, speak but +the word, and Thy servant shall be healed." It is the fruit of +Beelzebub's orchard. Many have died thereof. + +6. "Pray, sir, make me up twelve boxes of them; for if I can get these, +I will never take other physic." "These same pills," he replied, "are +good also to prevent diseases as well as to cure when one is sick. But, +good woman, thou must take these pills no other way but as I have +prescribed; for if you do, they will do no good." I have taken one +illustration from William Law's life; I shall take another from that +world of such illustrations and so close. "O God, let me never see such +another day as this. Let the dreadful punishment of this day never be +out of my mind." And it never was. For, after that day in hell, Law +never laid down his head on his pillow that he did not seem to remember +that dreadful day. William Law would have satisfied Dr. Skill for a +convalescent. For he never felt that he had any right to touch the body +and blood of Christ, either at communion times, or a thousand times every +day, till he had again got ready his heart of true repentance. My +brethren, self-destroyed out of Beelzebub's orchard, and all my brethren, +live a life henceforth of true repentance. Not out of the sins of your +youth only, but out of the best, the most watchful, and the most +blameless day you ever live, distil your half-pint of repentance every +night before you sleep. For, as dear old Skill said, unless you do, +neither flesh nor blood of Christ, nor anything else, will do you any +genuine good. + + + + +THE SHEPHERD BOY + + + "He humbled Himself."--_Paul_. + +"Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a boy feeding his +father's sheep. The boy was in very mean clothes, but of a very fresh +and well-favoured countenance, and as he sat by himself he sang. Hark, +said Mr. Greatheart, to what the shepherd boy saith. So they hearkened +and he said: + + He that is down, needs fear no fall; + He that is low no pride: + He that is humble, ever shall + Have God to be his guide. + + I am content with what I have, + Little be it or much: + And, Lord, contentment still I crave, + Because thou savest such. + + Fulness to such a burden is + That go on pilgrimage: + Here little, and hereafter bliss, + Is best from age to age. + +Then said their guide, Do you hear him? I will dare say that this boy +lives a merrier life and wears more of that herb called Heart's-ease in +his bosom than he that is clad in silk and velvet." + +Now, notwithstanding all that, nobody knew better than John Bunyan knew, +that no shepherd boy that ever lived on the face of the earth ever sang +that song; only one Boy ever sang that song, and He was not the son of a +shepherd at all, but the son of a carpenter. And, saying that leads me +on to say this before I begin, that I look for a man of John Bunyan's +inventive and sanctified genius to arise some day, and armed also to boot +with all our latest and best New Testament studies. When that sorely- +needed man so arises he will take us back to Nazareth where that +carpenter's Boy was brought up, and he will let us see Him with our own +eyes being brought up. He will lead us into Mary's house on Sabbath +days, and into Joseph's workshop on week days, and he will show us the +child Jesus, not so much learning His letters and then putting on His +carpenter's clothes, as learning obedience by the things that He every +day suffered. That choice author will show us our Lord, both before He +had discovered Himself to be our Lord, as well as after He had made that +great discovery, always clothing Himself with humility as with a garment; +taking up His yoke of meekness and lowly-mindedness every day, and never +for one moment laying it down. When some writer with as holy an +imagination as that of John Bunyan, and with as sweet an English style, +and with a New Testament scholarship of the first order so arises, and so +addresses himself to the inward life of our Lord, what a blessing to our +children that writer will be! For he will make them see and feel just +what all that was in which our Lord's perfect humility consisted, and how +His perfect humility fulfilled itself in Him from day to day; up through +all His childhood days, school and synagogue days, workshop and holy +days, early manhood and mature manhood days; till He was so meek in all +His heart and so humble in all His mind that all men were sent to Him to +learn their meekness and their humility of Him. I envy that gifted man +the deep delight he will have in his work, and the splendid reward he +will have in the love and the debt of all coming generations. Only, may +he be really sent to us, and that soon! Theodor Keim comes nearest a far- +off glimpse of that eminent service of any New Testament scholar I know. +Jeremy Taylor and Thomas Goodwin also, in their own time and in their own +way, had occasional inspirations toward this still-waiting treatment of +the master-subject of all learning and all genius--the inward +sanctification, the growth in grace, and then the self-discovery of the +incarnate Son of God. But, so let it please God, some contemporary +scholar will arise some day soon, combining in himself Goodwin's +incomparable Christology, and Taylor's incomparable eloquence, and Keim's +incomparably digested learning, with John Bunyan's incomparable +imagination and incomparable English style, and the waiting work will be +done, and theology for this life will take on its copestone. In his +absence, and till he comes, let us attempt a few annotations to-night on +this so-called shepherd boy's song in the Valley of Humiliation. + + He that is down, needs fear no fall. + +The whole scenery of the surrounding valley is set before us in that +single eloquent stanza. The sweet-voiced boy sits well off the wayside +as he sings his song to himself. He looks up to the hill-tops that hang +over his valley, and every shining tooth of those many hill-tops has for +him its own evil legend. He thinks he sees a little heap of bleaching +bones just under where that eagle hangs and wheels and screams. Not one +traveller through these perilous parts in a thousand gets down those +cruel rocks unhurt; and many travellers have been irrecoverably lost +among those deadly rocks, and have never received Christian burial. All +the shepherds' cottages and all the hostel supper-tables for many miles +round are full of terrible stories of the Hill Difficulty and the Descent +Dangerous. And thus it is that this shepherd boy looks up with such fear +at those sharp peaks and shining precipices, and lifts his fresh and well- +favoured countenance to heaven and sings again: "He that is down, needs +fear no fall." Down in his own esteem, that is. For this is a song of +the heart rather than of the highway. Down--safe, that is, from the +steep and slippery places of self-estimation, self-exaltation, +self-satisfaction. Down--so as to be delivered from all ambition and +emulation and envy. Down, and safe, thank God, from all pride, all high- +mindedness, and all stout-heartedness. Down from the hard and cruel +hills, and buried deep out of sight among those meadows where that herb +grows which is called Heart's-ease. Down, where the green pastures grow +and the quiet waters flow. No, indeed; he that is down into this sweet +bottom needs fear no fall. For there is nowhere here for a man to fall +from. And, even if he did fall, he would only fall upon a +fragrance-breathing bed of lilies. The very herbs and flowers here would +conspire to hold him up. Many a day, as He grew up, the carpenter's son +sat in that same valley and sang that same song to His own humble and +happy heart. He loved much to be here. He loved also to walk these +meadows, for He found the air was pleasant. Methinks, He often said with +Mercy, I am as well in this valley as I have been anywhere else in My +journey. The place, methinks, suits with My spirit. I love to be in +such places where there is no rattling with coaches nor rumbling with +wheels. Methinks, also, here one may without much molestation be +thinking what he is, whence he came, and to what his King has called him. + + He that is low, no pride. + +Low in his own eyes, that is. For pride goeth before destruction, and a +haughty spirit before a fall. Yes; but he who is low enough already--none +of the sure destructions that pride always works shall ever come near to +him. "The proud man," says Sir Henry Taylor, "is of all men the most +vulnerable. 'Who calls?' asks the old shepherd in _As You Like It_. +'Your betters,' is the insolent answer. And what is the shepherd's +rejoinder? 'Else are they very wretched.' By what retort, reprisal, or +repartee could it have been made half so manifest that the insult had +lighted upon armour of proof? Such is the invincible independence and +invulnerability of humility." + + He that is humble ever shall + Have God to be his guide. + +For thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name +is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a +contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart of the humble, and to +revive the heart of the contrite ones . . . All those things hath Mine +hand made, but to this man will I look, saith the Lord, even to him that +is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at My word . . . +Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly; but the +proud He knoweth afar off . . . Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves +unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be +clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to +the humble . . . Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, +neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for +me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned +of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child . . . Take My yoke upon +you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find +rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. + + I am content with what I have, + Little be it, or much: + And, Lord, contentment still I crave, + Because thou savest such. + +The only thing this sweet singer is discontented with is his own +contentment. He will not be content as long as he has a shadow of +discontent left in his heart. And how blessed is such holy discontent! +For, would you know, asks Law, who is the greatest saint in all the +world? Well, it is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who +gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice. +But it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God +willeth, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and +has a heart always ready to praise God for it. "Perhaps the shepherd's +boy," says Thomas Scott, "may refer to the obscure and quiet stations of +some pastors over small congregations, who live almost unknown to their +brethren, but are in a measure useful and very comfortable." Perhaps he +does. And, whether he does or no, at any rate such a song will suit some +of our brethren very well as they go about among their few and far-off +flocks. They are not church leaders or popular preachers. There is not +much rattling with coaches or rumbling with wheels at their church door. +But, then, methinks, they have their compensation. They are without much +molestation. They can be all the more thinking what they are, whence +they came, and to what their King has called them. Let them be happy in +their shut-in valleys. For I will dare to say that they wear more of +that herb called Heart's-ease in their bosom than those ministers do they +are sometimes tempted to emulate. I will add in this place that to the +men who live and trace these grounds the Lord hath left a yearly revenue +to be faithfully paid them at certain seasons for their maintenance by +the way, and for their further encouragement to go on in their +pilgrimage. + + Here little, and hereafter bliss, + Is best from age to age. + +But, now, from the shepherd boy and from his valley and his song, let us +go on without any more poetry or parable to look our own selves full in +the face and to ask our own hearts whether they are the hearts of really +humble-minded and New Testament men or no. Dr. Newman, "that subtle, +devout man," as Dr. Duncan calls him, says that "humility is one of the +most difficult of virtues both to attain and to ascertain. It lies," he +says, "close upon the heart itself, and its tests are exceedingly +delicate and subtle. Its counterfeits abound." Most true. And yet +humility is not intended for experts in morals only, or for men of a rare +religious genius only. The plainest of men, the least skilled and the +most unlettered of men, may not only excel in humility, but may also be +permitted to know that they are indeed planted, and are growing slowly +but surely in that grace of all graces. No doubt our Lord had, so to +describe it, the most delicate and the most subtle of human minds; and, +no doubt whatever, He had the most practised skill in reading off what +lay closest to His own heart. And, then, it was just His attainment of +the most perfect humility, and then His absolute ascertainment of the +same, that enabled Him to say: Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. At +the same time, divine as the grace is, and divine as the insight is that +is able to trace it out in all its exquisite refinements of thought and +feeling in the sanctified soul, yet humility is a human virtue after all, +and it is open to all men to attain to it and intelligently and lovingly +to exercise it. The simplest and the least philosophical soul now in +this house may apply to himself some of the subtlest and most sensitive +tests of humility, as much as if he were Dr. Duncan or Dr. Newman +themselves; and may thus with all assurance of hope know whether he is a +counterfeit and a castaway or no. + +Take this test for one, then. Explain this text to me: Phil. ii. 3--"In +lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself." Explain +and illustrate that. Not from a commentary, but straight out from your +own heart. What does your heart make of that scripture? Does your heart +turn away from that scripture almost in anger at it? Do you say you are +certain that there must be some other explanation of it than that? Do +you hold that this is just another of Paul's perpetual hyperboles, and +that the New Testament is the last book in the world to be taken as it +reads? Yes; both bold and subtle father that he is: counterfeits abound! + +Another much blunter test, but, perhaps, a sufficiently sharp test, is +this: How do you receive correction and instruction? Does your heart +meekly and spontaneously and naturally take to correction and instruction +as the most natural and proper thing possible to you? And do you +immediately, and before all men, show forth and exhibit the correction +and the instruction? Or, does this rather take place? Does your heart +beat, and swell, and boil, and boil over at him who dares to correct or +counsel you? If this is a fair test to put our humility to, how little +humility there is among us! How few men any of us could name among our +friends to whom we would risk telling all the things that behind their +backs we point out continually to others? We are terrified to face their +pride. We once did it, and we are not to do it again, if we can help it! +Let a man not have too many irons in the fire; let him examine himself +just by these two tests for the time--what he thinks of himself, and what +he thinks of those who attempt, and especially before other people, to +set him right. And after these two tests have been satisfied, others +will no doubt be supplied till that so humble man is made very humility +itself. + +And now, in the hope that there may be one or two men here who are really +and not counterfeitly in earnest to clothe themselves with humility +before God and man, let them take these two looms to themselves out of +which whole webs of such garments will be delivered to them every +day--their past life, and their present heart. With a past life like +ours, my brethren--and everyman knows his own--pride is surely the +maddest state of mind that any of us can allow ourselves in. The first +king of Bohemia kept his clouted old shoes ever in his sight, that he +might never forget that he had once been a ploughman. And another wise +king used to drink out of a coarse cup at table, and excused himself to +his guests that he had made the rude thing in his rude potter days. Look +with Primislaus and Agathocles at the hole of the pit out of which you +also have been dug; look often enough, deep enough, and long enough, and +you will be found passing up through the Valley of Humiliation singing: + + "With us He dealt not as we sinn'd, + Nor did requite our ill!" + +Another excellent use of the past is, if you are equal to it, to call +yourself aloud sometimes, or in writing, some of the names that other +people who know your past are certainly calling you. It is a terrible +discipline, but it is the terror of the Lord, and He will not let it hurt +you too much. I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and +injurious, says Paul. And, to show Titus, his gospel-son, the way, he +said to him: We ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, +serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, +and hating one another. And John Bunyan calls himself a blackguard, and +many other worse names; only he swears that neither with his soldiering +nor with his tinkering hands did he ever plash down Beelzebub's orchard. +But if you have done that, or anything like that, call yourself aloud by +your true name on your knees to-night. William Law testifies, after five- +and-twenty years' experience of it, that he never heard of any harm that +he had done to any in his house by his habit of singing his secret psalms +aloud, and sometimes, ere ever he was aware, bursting out in his +penitential prayers. + +And, then, how any man with a man's heart in his bosom for a single day +can escape being the chief of sinners, and consequently the humblest of +men for all the rest of his life on earth, passes my comprehension! How +a spark of pride can live in such a hell as every human heart is would be +past belief, did we not know that God avenges sin by more sin; avenges +Himself on a wicked and a false heart by more wickedness and more +falsehood, all ending in Satanic pride. + +Too long as I have kept you in this valley to-night, I dare not let you +out of it till I have shared with you a few sentences on evangelical +humiliation out of that other so subtle and devout man, Jonathan Edwards. +But what special kind of humiliation is evangelical humiliation? you will +ask. Hear, then, what this master in Israel says. "Evangelical +humiliation is the sense that a Christian man has of his own utter +insufficiency, utter despicableness, and utter odiousness; with an always +answerable frame of heart. This humiliation is peculiar to the true +saints. It arises from the special influence of the Spirit of God +implanting and exercising supernatural and divine principles; and it is +accompanied with a sense of the transcendent beauty of divine things. +And, thus, God's true saints all more or less see their own odiousness on +account of sin, and the exceedingly hateful nature of all sin. The very +essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility as becomes a +man in himself exceeding sinful but now under a dispensation of grace. It +consists in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and +altogether contemptible and odious. This, indeed, is the greatest and +the most essential thing in true religion." And so on through a whole +chapter of beaten gold. To which noble chapter I shall only add that +such teaching is as sweet, as strengthening, and as reassuring to the +truly Christian heart as it is bitter and hateful to the counterfeit +heart. + + + + +OLD HONEST + + + "An honest heart."--_Our Lord_. + + Next tell them of Old Honest, who you found + With his white hairs treading the pilgrim's ground; + Yea, tell them how plain-hearted this man was, + How after his good Lord he bare his cross: + Perhaps with some grey head this may prevail, + With Christ to fall in love, and sin bewail. + +You would have said that no pilgrim to the Celestial City could possibly +have come from a worse place, or a more unlikely place, than was that +place from which Christian and Christiana and Matthew and Mercy had come. +And yet so it was. For Old Honest, this most excellent and every way +most delightful old saint, hailed from a far less likely place than even +the City of Destruction. For he came, this rare old soul, of all places +in the world, from the Town of Stupidity. So he tells us himself. And, +partly to explain to us the humiliating name of his native town, and +partly to exhibit himself as a wonder to many, the frank old gentleman +goes on to tell us that his birthplace actually lies four degrees further +away from the sun than does the far-enough away City of Destruction +itself. So that you see this grey-haired saint is all that he always +said he was--a living witness to the fact that his Lord is able to save +to the uttermost, and to gather in His Father's elect from the utmost +corner of the land. Men are mountains of ice in my country, said Old +Honest. I was one of the biggest of those icebergs myself, he said. No +man was ever more cold and senseless to divine things than I was, and +still sometimes am. It takes the Sun of Righteousness all His might to +melt the men of my country. But that He can do it when He rises to do +it, and when He puts out His full strength to do it--Look at me! said the +genial old soul. + +We have to construct this pilgrim's birth and boyhood and youth from his +after-character and conversation; and we have no difficulty at all in +doing that. For, if the child is the father of the man, then the man +must be the outcome of the child, and we can have no hesitation in +picturing to ourselves what kind of child and boy and young man dear Old +Honest must always have been. He never was a bright child, bright and +beaming old man as he is. He was always slow and heavy at his lessons; +indeed, I would not like to repeat to you all the bad names that his +schoolmasters sometimes in their impatience called the stupid child. +Only, this was to be said of him, that dulness of uptake and +disappointment of his teachers were the worst things about this poor boy; +he was not so ill-behaved as many were who were made more of. When his +wits began to waken up after he had come some length he had no little +leeway to make up in his learning; but that was the chief drawback to Old +Honest's pilgrimage. For one thing, no young man had a cleaner record +behind him than our Honest had; his youthful garments were as unspotted +as ever any pilgrim's garments were. Even as a young man he had had the +good sense to keep company with one Good-conscience; and that friend of +his youth kept true to Old Honest all his days, and even lent him his +hand and helped him over the river at last. In his own manly, hearty, +blunt, breezy, cheery, and genial way Old Honest is a pilgrim we could +ill have spared. Old Honest has a warm place all for himself in every +good and honest heart. + +"Now, a little before the pilgrims stood an oak, and under it when they +came up to it they found an old pilgrim fast asleep; they knew that he +was a pilgrim by his clothes and his staff and his girdle. So the guide, +Mr. Greatheart, awaked him, and the old gentleman, as he lifted up his +eyes, cried out: What's the matter? Who are you? And what is your +business here? Come, man, said the guide, be not so hot; here is none +but friends! Yet the old man gets up and stands upon his guard, and will +know of them what they are." That weather-beaten oak-tree under which we +first meet with Old Honest is an excellent emblem of the man. When he +sat down to rest his old bones that day he did not look out for a bank of +soft moss or for a bed of fragrant roses; that knotted oak-tree alone had +power to draw down under its sturdy trunk this heart of human oak. It +was a sight to see those thin grey haffets making a soft pillow of that +jutting knee of gnarled and knotty oak, and with his well-worn +quarterstaff held close in a hand all wrinkled skin and scraggy bone. And +from that day till he waved his quarterstaff when half over the river and +shouted, Grace reigns! there is no pilgrim of them all that affords us +half the good humour, sagacity, continual entertainment, and brave +encouragement we enjoy through this same old Christian gentleman. + +1. Now, let us try to learn two or three lessons to-night from Old +Honest, his history, his character, and his conversation. And, to begin +with, let all those attend to Old Honest who are slow in the uptake in +the things of religion. O fools and slow of heart! exclaimed our Lord at +the two travellers to Emmaus. And this was Old Honest to the letter when +he first entered on the pilgrimage life; he was slow as sloth itself in +the things of the soul. I have often wondered, said Greatheart, that any +should come from your place; for your town is worse than is the City of +Destruction itself. Yes, answered Honest, we lie more off from the sun, +and so are more cold and senseless. And his biographer here annotates on +the margin this reflection: "Stupefied ones are worse than merely +carnal." So they are; though it takes some insight to see that, and some +courage to carry that through. Now, to be downright stupid in a man's +natural intellects is sad enough, but to be stupid in the intellects of +the soul and of the spirit is far more sad. You will often see this if +you have any eyes in your head, and are not one of the stupid people +yourself. You will see very clever people in the intellects of the head +who are yet as stupid as the beasts in the stall in the far nobler +intellects of the heart. You will meet every day with men and women who +have received the best college education this city can give them, who are +yet stark stupid in everything that belongs to true religion. They are +quick to find out the inefficiency of a university chair, or a +schoolmaster's desk, but they know no more of what a New Testament pulpit +has been set up for than the stupidest sot in the city. The Divine +Nature, human nature, sin, grace, redemption, salvation, holiness, heart- +corruption, spiritual life, prayer, communion with God, a conversation +and a treasure in heaven,--to all these noblest of studies and divinest +of exercises they are as a beast before God. When you come upon a man +who is a sot in his senses and in his understanding, you expect him to be +the same in his spiritual life. But to meet with an expert in science, a +classical scholar, an author or a critic in letters, a leader in +political or ecclesiastical or municipal life, and yet to discover that +he is as stupid as any sot in the things of his own soul, is one of the +saddest and most disheartening sights you can see. Much sadder and much +more disheartening than to see stairs and streets of people who can +neither read nor write. And yet our city is full of such stupid people. +You will find as utter spiritual stupidity among the rich and the +lettered and the refined of this city as you will find among the ignorant +and the vicious and the criminal classes. Is stupidity a sin? asks +Thomas in his Forty-Sixth Question. And the great schoolman answers +himself, "Stupidity may come of natural incapacity, in which case it is +not a sin. But it may come, on the other hand, of a man immersing his +soul in the things of this world so as to shut out all the things of God +and of the world to come, in which case stupidity is a deadly sin." Now, +from all that, you must already see what you are to do in order to escape +from your inborn and superinduced stupidity. You are, like Old Honest, +to open your gross, cold, senseless heart to the Sun of Righteousness, +and you are to take care every day to walk abroad under His beams. You +are to emigrate south for your life, as our well-to-do invalids do, to +where the sun shines in his strength all the day. You are to choose such +a minister, buy and read such a literature, cultivate such an +acquaintanceship, and follow out such a new life of habits and practices +as shall bring you into the full sunshine, till your heart of ice is +melted, and your stupefied soul is filled with spiritual sensibility. +For, "were a man a mountain of ice," said Old Honest, "yet if the Sun of +Righteousness will arise upon him his frozen heart shall feel a thaw; and +thus hath it been with me." Your poets and your philosophers have no +resource against the stupidity that opposes them. "Even the gods," they +complain, "fight unvictorious against stupidity." But your divines and +your preachers have hope beside the dullest and the stupidest and even +the most imbruted. They point themselves and their slowest and dullest- +witted hearers to Old Honest, this rare old saint; and they set up their +pulpit with hope and boldness on the very causeway of the town of +Stupidity itself. + +2. In the second place,--on this fine old pilgrim's birth and boyhood +and youth. The apostle says that there is no real difference between one +of us and another; and what he says on that subject must be true. No; +there is really no difference compared with the Celestial City whether a +pilgrim is born in Stupidity, in Destruction, in Vanity, or in Darkland. +At the same time, nature, as well as grace, is of God, and He maketh, +when it pleaseth Him, one man to differ in some most important respects +from another. You see such differences every day. Some children are +naturally, and from their very infancy, false and cruel, mean and greedy; +while their brothers and sisters are open and frank and generous. One +son in a house is born a vulgar snob, and one daughter a shallow-hearted +and shameless little flirt; while another brother is a born gentleman, +and another sister a born saint. Some children are tender-hearted, +easily melted, and easily moulded; while others in the same family are +hard as stone and cold as ice. Sometimes a noble and a truly Christian +father will have all his days to weep and pray over a son who is his +shame; and then, in the next generation, a grandson will be born to him +who will more than recover the lost image of his father's father. And so +is it sometimes with father Adam's family. Here and there, in Darkland, +in Destruction, and in Stupidity, a child will be born with a surprising +likeness to the first Adam in his first estate. That happy child at his +best is but the relics and ruins of his first father; at the same time, +in him the relics are more abundant and the ruins more easy to trace out. +And little Honest was such a well-born child. For, Stupidity and all, +there was a real inborn and inbred integrity, uprightness, +straightforwardness, and nobleness about this little and not over-clever +man-child. And, on the principle of "to him that hath shall be given," +there was something like a special providence that hedged this boy about +from the beginning. "I girded thee though thou hast not known Me" was +never out of Old Honest's mouth as often as he remembered the days of his +own youth and heard other pilgrims mourning over theirs. "I have +surnamed thee though thou hast not known Me," he would say to himself in +his sleep. Slow-witted as he was, no one had been able to cheat young +Honest out of his youthful integrity. He had not been led, and he had +led no one else, into the paths of the destroyer. He could say about +himself all that John Bunyan so boldly and so bluntly said about himself +when his enemies charged him with youthful immorality. He left the town +in nobody's debt. He left the print of his heels on no man or woman or +child when he took his staff in his hand to be a pilgrim. The upward +walk of too many pilgrims is less a walk than an escape and a flight. The +avenger of men's blood and women's honour has hunted many men deep into +heaven's innermost gate. But Old Honest took his time. He walked, if +ever pilgrim walked, all the way with an easy mind. He lay down to sleep +under the oaks on the wayside, and smiled like a child in his sleep. And, +when he was suddenly awaked, instead of crying out for mercy and starting +to his heels, he grasped his staff and demanded even of an armed man what +business he had to break in on an honest pilgrim's midday repose! The +King of the Celestial City had a few names even in Stupidity which had +not defiled their garments, and Old Honest was one of them. And all his +days his strength was as the strength of ten, because his heart was pure. + +3. At the same time, honesty is not holiness; and no one knew that +better than did this honest old saint. When any one spoke to Old Honest +about his blameless youth, the look in his eye made them keep at arm's- +length as he growled out that without holiness no man shall see God! +Writing from Aberdeen to John Bell of Hentoun, Samuel Rutherford says: "I +beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, to mind your country above; and now, when +old age is come upon you, advise with Christ before you put your foot +into the last ship and turn your back on this life. Many are beguiled +with this that they are free of scandalous sins. But common honesty will +not take men to heaven. Alas! that men should think that ever they met +with Christ who had never a sick night or a sore heart for sin. I have +known a man turn a key in a door and lock it by." "I can," says John +Owen, "and I do, commend moral virtues and honesty as much as any man +ought to do, and I am sure there is no grace where they are not. Yet to +make anything to be our holiness that is not derived from Jesus Christ,--I +know not what I do more abhor." "Are morally honest and sober men +qualified for the Lord's Supper?" asks John Flavel. "No; civility and +morality do not make a man a worthy communicant. They are not the +wedding garment; but regenerating grace and faith in the smallest measure +are." "My outside may be honest," said this honest old pilgrim, "while +all the time my heart is most unholy. My life is open to all men, but I +must hide my heart with Christ in God." + +4. And then this racy-hearted old bachelor was as full of delight in +children, and in children's parties, with all their sweetmeats and nuts +and games and riddles,--quite as much so--as if he had been their very +grandfather himself. Nay, this rosy-hearted old rogue was as inveterate +a matchmaker as if he had been a mother of the world with a houseful of +daughters on her hands and with the sons of the nobility dangling around. +It would make you wish you could kiss the two dear old souls, Gaius the +innkeeper and Old Honest his guest, if you would only read how they laid +their grey heads together to help forward the love-making of Matthew and +Mercy. Yes, it would be a great pity, said Old Honest,--thinking with a +sigh of his own childless old age,--it would be a great pity if this +excellent family of our sainted brother should fail for want of children, +and die out like mine. And the two old plotters went together to the +mother of the bridegroom, and told her with an aspect of authority that +she must put no obstacle in her son's way, but take Mercy as soon as +convenient into a closer relation to herself. And Gaius said that he for +his part would give the marriage supper. And I shall make no will, said +Honest, but hand all I have over to Matthew my son. This is the way, +said Old Honest; and he skipped and smiled and kissed the cheek of the +aged mother and said, Then thy two children shall preserve thee and thy +husband a posterity in the earth! Then he turned to the boys and he +said, Matthew, be thou like Matthew the publican, not in vice, but in +virtue. Samuel, he said, be thou like Samuel the prophet, a man of faith +and of prayer. Joseph, said he, be thou like Joseph in Potiphar's house, +chaste, and one that flees from temptation. And James, be thou like +James the Just, and like James the brother of our Lord. Mercy, he said, +is thy name, and by mercy shalt thou be sustained and carried through all +thy difficulties that shall assault thee in the way, till thou shalt come +thither where thou shalt look the Fountain of Mercy in the face with +comfort. And all this while the guide, Mr. Greatheart, was very much +pleased, and smiled upon the nimble old gentleman. + +5. "Then it came to pass a while after that there was a post in the town +that inquired for Mr. Honest. So he came to his house where he was, and +delivered to his hands these lines, Thou art commanded to be ready +against this day seven night, to present thyself before thy Lord at His +Father's house. And for a token that my message is true, all thy +daughters of music shall be brought low. Then Mr. Honest called for his +friends and said unto them, I die, but shall make no will. As for my +honesty, it shall go with me: let him that comes after me be told of +this. When the day that he was to be gone was come he addressed himself +to go over the river. Now, the river at that time overflowed the banks +at some places. But Mr. Honest in his lifetime had spoken to one Good- +conscience to meet him there, the which he also did, and lent him his +hand, and so helped him over. The last words of Mr. Honest were, Grace +reigns! So he left the world." Look at that picture and now look at +this: "They then addressed themselves to the water, and, entering, +Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he +said, I sink in deep waves, the billows go over my head, all His waters +go over me. Then said the other, Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel +the bottom, and it is good. Then said Christian, Ah, my friend, the +sorrows of death have compassed me about; I shall not see the land that +flows with milk and honey. And with that a great horror and darkness +fell upon Christian, so that he could not see before him; and all the +words that he spoke still tended to discover that he had horror of mind +lest he should die in that river and never obtain entrance in at the +gate. Here also, as they that stood by perceived, he was much in the +troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, both since and +before he began to be a pilgrim. 'Twas also observed that he was +troubled with apparitions of hobgoblins and evil spirits. Hopeful, +therefore, had much ado to keep his brother's head above water. Yea, +sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then ere a while he would rise +up again half dead." My brethren, all my brethren, be not deceived; God +is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Whom +the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. +Thou, O God, wast a God that forgavest them, but Thou tookest vengeance +on their inventions. + + + + +MR. FEARING + + + "Happy is the man that feareth alway."--_Solomon_ + +For humour, for pathos, for tenderness, for acute and sympathetic insight +at once into nature and grace, for absolutely artless literary skill, and +for the sweetest, most musical, and most exquisite English, show me +another passage in our whole literature to compare with John Bunyan's +portrait of Mr. Fearing. You cannot do it. I defy you to do it. +Spenser, who, like John Bunyan, wrote an elaborate allegory, says: It is +not in me. Take all Mr. Fearing's features together, and even +Shakespeare himself has no such heart-touching and heart-comforting +character. Addison may have some of the humour and Lamb some of the +tenderness; but, then, they have not the religion. Scott has the insight +into nature, but he has no eye at all for grace; while Thackeray, who, in +some respects, comes nearest to John Bunyan of them all, would be the +foremost to confess that he is not worthy to touch the shoe-latchet of +the Bedford tinker. As Dr. Duncan said in his class one day when telling +us to read Augustine's Autobiography and Halyburton's:--"But," he said, +"be prepared for this, that the tinker beats them all!" "Methinks," says +Browning, "in this God speaks, no tinker hath such powers." + +Now, as they walked along together, the guide asked the old gentleman if +he knew one Mr. Fearing that came on pilgrimage out of his parts. "Yes," +said Mr. Honest, "very well. He was a man that had the root of the +matter in him; but he was one of the most troublesome pilgrims that ever +I met with in all my days." "I perceive you knew him," said the guide, +"for you have given a very right character of him." "Knew him!" +exclaimed Honest, "I was a great companion of his; I was with him most an +end. When he first began to think of what would come upon us hereafter, +I was with him." "And I was his guide," said Greatheart, "from my +Master's house to the gates of the Celestial City." "Then," said Mr. +Honest, "it seems he was well at last." "Yes, yes," answered the guide, +"I never had any doubt about him; he was a man of a choice spirit, only +he was always kept very low, and that made his life so burdensome to +himself and so troublesome to others. He was, above many, tender of sin; +he was so afraid of doing injuries to others that he would often deny +himself of that which was lawful because he would not offend." "But +what," asked Honest, "should be the reason that such a good man should be +all his days so much in the dark?" "There are two sorts of reasons for +it," said the guide; "one is, the wise God will have it so: some must +pipe and some must weep. Now, Mr. Fearing was one that played upon this +base. He and his fellows sound the sackbut, whose notes are more doleful +than the notes of other music are. Though, indeed, some say that the +base is the ground of music. And, for my part, I care not at all for +that profession that begins not with heaviness of mind. The first string +that the musician usually touches is the base when he intends to put all +in tune. God also plays upon this string first when He sets the soul in +tune for Himself. Only, here was the imperfection of Mr. Fearing, that +he could play upon no other music but this till toward his latter end." + +1. Take Mr. Fearing, then, to begin with, at the Slough of Despond. +Christian and Pliable, they being heedless, did both fall into that bog. +But Mr. Fearing, whatever faults you may think he had--and faults, too, +that you think you could mend in him--at any rate, he was never heedless. +Everybody has his fault to find with poor Mr. Fearing. Everybody blames +poor Mr. Fearing. Everybody can improve upon poor Mr. Fearing. But I +will say again for Mr. Fearing that he was never heedless. Had Peter +been on the road at that period he would have stood up for Mr. Fearing, +and would have taken his judges and would have said to them, with some +scorn--Go to, and pass the time of your sojourning here with something of +the same silence and the same fear! Christian's excuse for falling into +the Slough was that fear so followed him that he fled the next way, and +so fell in. But Mr. Fearing had no such fear behind him in his city as +Christian had in his. All Mr. Fearing's fears were within himself. If +you can take up the distinction between actual and indwelling sin, +between guilt and corruption, you have already in that the whole key to +Mr. Fearing. He was blamed and counselled and corrected and pitied and +patronised by every morning-cloud and early-dew neophyte, while all the +time he lived far down from the strife of tongues where the root of the +matter strikes its deep roots still deeper every day. "It took him a +whole month," tells Greatheart, "to face the Slough. But he would not go +back neither. Till, one sunshiny morning, nobody ever knew how, he +ventured, and so got over. But the fact of the matter is," said the +shrewd-headed guide, "Mr. Fearing had, I think, a slough of despond in +his own mind; and a slough that he carried everywhere with him." Yes, +that was it. Greatheart in that has hit the nail on the head. With one +happy stroke he has given us the whole secret of poor Mr. Fearing's life- +long trouble. Just so; it was the slough in himself that so kept poor +Mr. Fearing back. This poor pilgrim, who had so little to fear in his +past life, had yet so much scum and filth, spume and mire in his present +heart, that how to get on the other side of that cost him not a month's +roaring only, but all the months and all the years till he went over the +River not much above wet-shod. And, till then, not twenty million cart- +loads of wholesome instructions, nor any number of good and substantial +steps, would lift poor Mr. Fearing over the ditch that ran so deep and so +foul continually within himself. "Yes, he had, I think, a slough of +despond in his mind, a slough that he carried everywhere with him, or +else he never could have been the man he was." I, for one, thank the +great-hearted guide for that fine sentence. + +2. It was a sight to see poor Mr. Fearing at the wicket gate. "Knock, +and it shall be opened unto you." He read the inscription over the gate +a thousand times, but every time he read it his slough-filled heart said +to him, Yes, but that is not for such as you. Pilgrim after pilgrim came +up the way, read the writing, knocked, and was taken in; but still Mr. +Fearing stood back, shaking and shrinking. At last he ventured to take +hold of the hammer that hung on the gate and gave with it a small rap +such as a mouse might make. But small as the sound was, the Gatekeeper +had had his eye on his man all the time out of his watch-window; and +before Mr. Fearing had time to turn and run, Goodwill had him by the +collar. But that sudden assault only made Mr. Fearing sink to the earth, +faint and half-dead. "Peace be to thee, O trembling man!" said Goodwill. +"Come in, and welcome!" When he did venture in, Mr. Fearing's face was +as white as a sheet. You would have said that an officer had caught a +thief if you had seen poor Mr. Fearing hiding his face, and the +Gatekeeper hauling him in. And not all the entertainment for which the +Gate was famous, nor all the encouragement that Goodwill was able to +speak, could make terrified Mr. Fearing for once to smile. A more hard- +to-entertain pilgrim, all the Gate declared when he had gone, they had +never had in their hospitable house. + +3. "So he came," said the guide, "till he came to our House; but as he +behaved himself at the Gate, so he did at my Master the Interpreter's +door. He lay about in the cold a good while before he would adventure to +call. Yet he would not go back neither. And the nights were cold and +long then. At last I think I looked out of the window, and perceiving a +man to be up and down about the door, I went out to him, and asked what +he was; but, poor man, the water stood in his eyes. So I perceived what +he wanted. I went in, therefore, and told it in the house, and we showed +the thing to our Lord. So He sent me out again to entreat him to come +in, but I dare say I had hard work to do it. At last he came in, and I +will say that for my Lord, He carried it wonderful lovingly to Mr. +Fearing. There were but a few good bits at the table, but some of it was +laid upon his trencher." In this way the guide tells us his first +introduction to Mr. Fearing, and how Mr. Fearing behaved himself in the +Interpreter's House. For instance, in the parlour full of dust, when the +Interpreter said that the dust is original sin and inward corruption, you +would have thought that the Interpreter had stabbed poor Mr. Fearing to +the heart, so did he break out and weep. Before the damsel could come +with the pitcher, Mr. Fearing's eyes alone would have laid the dust, they +were such a fountain of tears. When he saw Passion and Patience, each +one in his chair--"I am that child in rags," said Mr. Fearing; "I have +already received all my good things!" Also, at the wall where the fire +burned because oil was poured into it from the other side, he perversely +turned that fire also against himself. And when they came to the man in +the iron cage, you could not have told whether the miserable man inside +the cage or the miserable man outside of it sighed the loudest. And so +on, through all the significant rooms. The spider-room overwhelmed him +altogether, till his sobs and the beating of his breast were heard all +over the house. The robin also when gobbling up spiders he made an +emblem of himself, and the tree that was rotten at the heart,--till the +Interpreter's patience with this so perverse pilgrim was fairly worn out. +So the Interpreter shut up his significant rooms, and had this so +troublesome pilgrim into his own chamber, and there carried it so +tenderly to Mr. Fearing that at last he did seem to have taken some +little heart of grace. "And then we," said Greatheart, "set forward, and +I went before him; but the man was of few words, only he would often sigh +aloud." + +4. "Dumpish at the House Beautiful" is his biographer's not very +respectful comment on the margin of the history. There were too many +merry-hearted damsels running up and down that house for Mr. Fearing. He +could not lift his eyes but one of those too-tripping maidens was looking +at him. He could not stir a foot but he suddenly ran against a talking +and laughing bevy of them. There was one thing he loved above +everything, and that was to overhear the talk that went on at that season +in that house about the City above, and about the King of that City, and +about His wonderful ways with pilgrims, and the entertainment they all +got who entered that City. But to get a word out of Mr. Fearing upon any +of these subjects,--all the king's horses could not have dragged it out +of him. Only, the screen was always seen to move during such +conversations, till it soon came to be known to all the house who was +behind the screen. And the talkers only talked a little louder as the +screen moved, and took up, with a smile to one another, another and a yet +more comforting topic. + +The Rarity Rooms also were more to Mr. Fearing than his necessary food. +He would be up in the morning and waiting at the doors of those rooms +before the keepers had come with their keys. And they had to tell him +that the candles were to be put out at night before he would go away. He +was always reading, as if he had never read it before, the pedigree of +the Lord of the Hill. Moses' rod, Shamgar's goad, David's sling and +stone, and what not--he laughed and danced and sang like a child around +these ancient tables. The armoury-room also held him, where were the +swords, and shields, and helmets, and breast-plates, and shoes that would +not wear out. You would have thought you had your man all right as long +as you had him alone among these old relics; but, let supper be ready, +and the house gathered, and Mr. Fearing was as dumpish as ever. Eat he +would not, drink he would not, nor would he sit at the same table with +those who ate and drank with such gladness. I remembered Mr. Fearing at +the House Beautiful when I was present at a communion season some time +back in Ross-shire. The church was half full of Mr. Fearing's close +kindred that communion morning. For, all that the minister himself could +do, and all that the assisting minister could do--no! to the table those +self-examined, self-condemned, fear-filled souls would not come. The two +ministers, like Mr. Greatheart's Master, carried it wonderful lovingly +with those poor saints that day; but those who are in deed, and not in +name only, passing the time of their sojourning here in fear--they cannot +all at once be lifted above all their fears, even by the ablest action +sermons, or by the most wise and tender table-addresses. And, truth to +tell, though you will rebuke me all the way home to-night for saying it, +my heart sat somewhat nearer to those old people who were perhaps a +little too dumpish in their repentance and their faith and their hope +that morning, than it did to those who took to the table with a light +heart. I know all your flippant cant about gospel liberty and against +Highland introspection, as you call it--as well as all your habitual +neglect of a close and deep self-examination, as Paul called it; but I +tell you all to-night that it would be the salvation of your soul if you +too worked your way up to every returning Lord's table with much more +fear and much more trembling. Let a man examine himself, Saxon as well +as Celt, in Edinburgh as well as in Ross-shire, and so let him eat of +that flesh and drink of that blood. "These pills," said Mr. Skill, "are +to be taken three at a time fasting in half a quarter of a pint of the +tears of repentance; these pills are good to prevent diseases, as well as +to cure when one is sick. Yea, I dare say it, and stand to it, that if a +man will but use this physic as he should, it will make him live for +ever. But thou must give these pills no other way but as I have +prescribed; for, if you do, they will do no good." "Then he and I set +forward," said the guide, "and I went before; but my man was of but few +words, only he would often sigh aloud." + +5. As to the Hill Difficulty, that was no stick at all to Mr. Fearing; +and as for the lions, he pulled their whiskers and snapped his fingers in +their dumfoundered faces. For you must know that Mr. Fearing's trouble +was not about such things as these at all; his only fear was about his +acceptance at last. He beat Mr. Greatheart himself at getting down into +the Valley of Humiliation, till the guide was fain to confess that he +went down as well as he ever saw man go down in all his life. This +pilgrim cared not how mean he was, so he might be but happy at last. That +is the reason why so many of God's best saints take so kindly and so +quietly to things that drive other men mad. You wonder sometimes when +you see an innocent man sit down quietly under accusations and insults +and injuries that you spend all the rest of your life resenting and +repaying. And that is the reason also that so many of God's best saints +in other ages and other communions used to pursue evangelical humility +and ascetic poverty and seclusion till they obliterated themselves out of +all human remembrance, and buried themselves in retreats of silence and +of prayer. Yes, you are quite right. A garment of sackcloth may cover +an unsanctified heart; and the fathers of the desert did not all escape +the depths of Satan and the plague of their own heart. Quite true. A +contrite heart may be carried about an applauding city in a coach and +six; and a crucified heart may be clothed in purple and fine linen, and +may fare sumptuously every day. A saint of God will sometimes sit on a +throne with a more weaned mind than that with which Elijah or the Baptist +will macerate themselves in the wilderness. Every man who is really set +on heaven must find his own way thither; and he who is really intent on +his own way thither will neither have the time nor the heart to throw +stones at his brother who thinks he has discovered his own best way. All +the pilgrims who got to the City at last did not get down Difficulty and +through Humiliation so well as Mr. Fearing did; nor was it absolutely +necessary that they should. It was not to lay down an iron-fast rule for +others, but it was only to amuse the way with his account of Mr. Fearing, +that the guide went on to say: "Yes, I think there was a kind of sympathy +betwixt that valley and my man. For I never saw him better in all his +pilgrimage than when he was in that valley. For here he would lie down, +embrace the ground, and kiss the very flowers that grew in this valley. +He would now be up every morning by break of day, tracing and walking to +and fro in that valley." + +6. Now, do you think you could guess how Mr. Fearing conducted himself +in Vanity Fair? Your guess is important to us and to you to-night; for +it will show whether or no John Bunyan and Mr. Greatheart have spent +their strength for nought and in vain on you. It will show whether or no +you have got inside of Mr. Fearing with all that has been said; and thus, +inside of yourself. Guess, then. How did Mr. Fearing do in Vanity Fair, +do you think? To give you a clue, recollect that he was the timidest of +souls. And remember how you have often been afraid to look at things in +a shop window lest the shopkeeper should come out and hold you to the +thing you were looking at. Remember also that you are the life-long +owners of some things just because they were thrown at your head. +Remember how you sauntered into a sale on one occasion, and, out of sheer +idleness and pure fun, made a bid, and to your consternation the +encumbrance was knocked down to your name; and it fills up your house to- +day till you would give ten times its value to some one to take it away +for ever out of your sight. Well, what was it that those who were so +shamelessly and so pesteringly cadging about places, and titles, and +preferments, and wives, and gold, and silver, and such like--what was it +they prevailed on this poor stupid countryman to cheapen and buy? Do you +guess, or do you give it up? Well, Greatheart himself was again and +again almost taken in; and would have been had not Mr. Fearing been +beside him. But Mr. Fearing looked at all the jugglers, and cheats, and +knaves, and apes, and fools as if he would have bitten a firebrand. "I +thought he would have fought with all the men of the fair; I feared there +we should have both been knock'd o' th' head, so hot was he against their +fooleries." And then--for Greatheart was a bit of a philosopher, and +liked to entertain and while the away with tracing things up to their +causes--"it was all," he said, "because Mr. Fearing was so tender of sin. +He was above many tender of sin. He was so afraid, not for himself only, +but of doing injury to others, that he would deny himself the purchase +and possession and enjoyment even of that which was lawful, because he +would not offend." "All this while," says Bunyan himself, in the eighty- +second paragraph of _Grace Abounding_, "as to the act of sinning I was +never more tender than now. I durst not take a pin or a stick, though +but so big as a straw, for my conscience now was sore and would smart at +every touch. I could not now tell how to speak my words for fear I +should misplace them." "The highest flames," says Jeremy Taylor in his +_Life of Christ_, "are the most tremulous." + +7. "But when he was come at the river where was no bridge, there, again, +Mr. Fearing was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he should be drowned for +ever, and so never see that Face with comfort that he had come so many +miles to behold. And here also I took notice of what was very +remarkable; the water of that river was lower at this time than ever I +saw it in all my life, so he went over at last not much above wet-shod." +Then said Christiana, "This relation of Mr. Fearing has done me good. I +thought nobody had been like me, but I see there was some semblance +betwixt this good man and I, only we differed in two things. His +troubles were so great that they broke out, but mine I kept within. His +also lay so hard upon him that he could not knock at the houses provided +for entertainment, but my trouble was always such that it made me knock +the louder." "If I might also speak my heart," said Mercy, "I must say +that something of him has also dwelt in me. For I have ever been more +afraid of the lake, and the loss of a place in Paradise, than I have been +of the loss of other things. Oh! thought I, may I have the happiness to +have a habitation there: 'tis enough though I part with all the world to +win it." Then said Matthew, "Fear was one thing that made me think that +I was far from having that within me that accompanies salvation; but if +it was so with such a good man as he, why may it not also go well with +me?" "No fears, no grace," said James. "Though there is not always +grace where there is fear of hell; yet, to be sure, there is no grace +where there is no fear of God." "Well said, James," said Greatheart; +"thou hast hit the mark, for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; +and, to be sure, they that want the beginning have neither middle nor +end." But we shall here conclude our discourse of Mr. Fearing after we +have sent after him this farewell:-- + + "It is because + Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear. + Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so + For thee the bitterness of death is past. + Also, because already in thy soul + The judgment is begun. That day of doom, + One and the same for this collected world-- + That solemn consummation for all flesh, + Is, in the case of each, anticipate + Upon his death; and, as the last great day + In the particular judgment is rehearsed, + So now, too, ere thou comest to the Throne, + A presage falls upon thee, as a ray + Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot. + That calm and joy uprising in thy soul + Is first-fruit to thy recompense, + And heaven begun." + + + + +FEEBLE-MIND + + + "Comfort the feeble-minded."--_Paul_. + +Feeble-mind shall first tell you his own story in his own words, and then +I shall perhaps venture a few observations upon his history and his +character. + +"I am but a sickly man, as you see," said Feeble-mind to Greatheart, "and +because Death did usually knock once a day at my door, I thought I should +never be well at home. So I betook myself to a pilgrim's life, and have +travelled hither from the town of Uncertain, where I and my father were +born. I am a man of no strength at all of body, nor yet of mind; but +would, if I could, though I can but crawl, spend my life in the pilgrim's +way. When I came at the gate that is at the head of the way, the Lord of +that place did entertain me freely. Neither objected he against my +weakly looks, nor against my feeble mind; but gave me such things as were +necessary for my journey, and bade me hope to the end. When I came to +the house of the Interpreter I received much kindness there; and, because +the Hill Difficulty was judged too hard for me, I was carried up that +hill by one of his servants. Indeed I have found much relief from +pilgrims, though none were willing to go so softly as I am forced to do. +Yet, still, as they came on, they bid me be of good cheer, and said that +it was the will of their Lord that comfort should be given to the feeble- +minded, and so went on their own pace. I look for brunts by the way; but +this I have resolved on, to wit, to run when I can, to go when I cannot +run, and to creep when I cannot go. As to the main, I thank Him that +loves me, I am fixed. My way is before me, my mind is beyond the river +that has no bridge, though I am, as you see, but of a feeble mind." + +Then said old Mr. Honest, "Have you not some time ago been acquainted +with one Mr. Fearing, a pilgrim?" "Acquainted with him! yes. He came +from the town of Stupidity, which lies four degrees to the northward of +the City of Destruction, and as many off where I was born. Yet we were +well acquainted; for, indeed, he was mine uncle, my father's brother. He +and I have been much of a temper; he was a little shorter than I, but yet +we were much of a complexion." "I perceive that you know him," said Mr. +Honest, "and I am apt to believe also that you were related one to +another; for you have his whitely look, a cast like his with your eye, +and your speech is much alike." + +"Alas!" Feeble-mind went on, "I want a suitable companion. You are all +lusty and strong, but I, as you see, am weak. I choose therefore rather +to come behind, lest, by reason of my many infirmities, I should be both +a burden to myself and to you. I am, as I said, a man of a weak and +feeble mind, and shall be offended and made weak at that which others can +bear. I shall like no laughing; I shall like no gay attire; I shall like +no unprofitable questions. Nay, I am so weak a man as to be offended +with what others have a liberty to do. I do not yet know all the truth. +I am a very ignorant Christian man. Sometimes, if I hear some rejoice in +the Lord, it troubles me because I cannot do so too. It is with me as +with a weak man among the strong, or as with a sickly man among the +healthy, or as a lamp despised." "But, brother," said Greatheart, "I +have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded and to support the +weak." Thus therefore, they went on--Mr. Greatheart and Mr. Honest went +before; Christiana and her children went next; and Mr. Feeble-mind and +Mr. Ready-to-halt came behind with his crutches. + +1. In the first place, a single word as to Feeble-mind's family tree. + +Thackeray says that _The Peerage_ is the Family Bible of every true-born +Englishman. Every genuine Englishman, he tells us, teaches that sacred +book diligently to his children. He talks out of it to them when he sits +in the house and when he walks by the way. He binds it upon his +children's hands, and it is as a frontlet between their eyes. He writes +its names upon the doorposts of his house, and makes pictures out of it +upon his gates. Now, John Bunyan was a born Englishman in his liking for +a family tree. He had no such tree himself--scarcely so much as a +bramble bush; but, all the same, let the tinker take his pen in hand, and +the pedigrees and genealogies of all his pilgrims are sure to be set +forth as much as if they were to form the certificates that those +pilgrims were to hand in at the gate. + +Feeble-mind, then, was of an old, a well-rooted and a wide-spread race. +The county of Indecision was full of that ancient stock. They had +intermarried in-and-in also till their small stature, their whitely look, +the droop of their eye, and their weak leaky speech all made them to be +easily recognised wherever they went. It was Feeble-mind's salvation +that Death had knocked at his door every day from his youth up. He was +feeble in body as well as in mind; only the feebleness of his body had +put a certain strength into his mind; the only strength he ever showed, +indeed, was the strength that had its roots in a weak constitution at +which sickness and death struck their dissolving blows every day. To +escape death, both the first and the second death, any man with a +particle of strength left would run with all his might; and Feeble-mind +had strength enough somewhere among his weak joints to make him say, "But +this I have resolved on, to wit, to run when I can, to go when I cannot +run, and to creep when I cannot go. As to the main, I am fixed!" + +2. At the Wicket Gate pilgrim Feeble-mind met with nothing but the +kindest and the most condescending entertainment. It was the gatekeepers +way to become all things to all men. The gatekeeper's nature was all in +his name; for he was all Goodwill together. No kind of pilgrim ever came +wrong to Goodwill. He never found fault with any. Only let them knock +and come in and he will see to all the rest. The way is full of all the +gatekeeper's kind words and still kinder actions. Every several pilgrim +has his wager with all the rest that no one ever got such kindness at the +gate as he got. And even Feeble-mind gave the gatekeeper this +praise--"The Lord of the place," he said, "did entertain me freely. +Neither objected he against my weakly looks nor against my feeble mind. +But he gave me such things as were necessary for my journey, and bade me +hope to the end." All things considered, that is perhaps the best praise +that Goodwill and his house ever earned. For, to receive and to secure +Feeble-mind as a pilgrim--to make it impossible for Feeble-mind to +entertain a scruple or a suspicion that was not removed beforehand--to +make it impossible for Feeble-mind to find in all the house and in all +its grounds so much as a straw over which he could stumble--that was +extraordinary attention, kindness, and condescension in Goodwill and all +his good-willed house. "Go on, go on, dear Mr. Feeble mind," said +Goodwill giving his hand to Mr. Fearing's nephew, "go on: keep your +feeble mind open to the truth, and still hope to the end!" + +3. "As to the Interpreter's House, I received much kindness there." That +is all. But in that short speech I think there must he hid no little +shame and remorse. No words could possibly be a severer condemnation of +Feeble-mind than his own two or three so irrelevant words about the +Interpreter's house. No doubt at all, Feeble-mind received kindness +there; but that is not the point. That noble house was not built at such +cost, and fitted up, and kept open all the year round, and filled with +fresh furniture from year to year, merely that those who passed through +its significant rooms might report that they had received no rudeness at +the hands of the Interpreter. "'Come,' said the Interpreter to Feeble- +mind, 'and I will show thee what will be profitable to thee.' So he +commanded his man to light the candle and bid Feeble-mind follow him. But +it was all to no use. Feeble-mind had neither the taste nor the capacity +for the significant rooms. Nay, as one after another of those rich rooms +was opened to him, Feeble-mind took a positive dislike to them. Nothing +interested him; nothing instructed him. But many things stumbled and +angered him. The parlour full of dust, and how the dust was raised and +laid; Passion and Patience; the man in the iron cage; the spider-room; +the muck-rake room; the robin with its red breast and its pretty note, +and yet with its coarse food; the tree, green outside but rotten at the +heart,--all the thanks the Interpreter took that day for all that from +Feeble-mind was in such speeches as these: You make me lose my head. I +do not know where I am. I did not leave the town of Uncertain to be +confused and perplexed in my mind with sights and sounds like these. Let +me out at the door I came in at, and I shall go back to the gate. +Goodwill had none of these unhappy rooms in his sweet house!" Nothing +could exceed the kindness of the Interpreter himself; but his house was +full of annoyances and offences and obstructions to Mr. Feeble-mind. He +did not like the Interpreter's house, and he got out of it as fast as he +could, with his mind as feeble as when he entered it; and, what was +worse, with his temper not a little ruffled. + +And we see this very same intellectual laziness, this very same downright +dislike at divine truth, in our own people every day. There are in every +congregation people who take up their lodgings at the gate and refuse to +go one step farther on the way. A visit to the Interpreter's House +always upsets them. It turns their empty head. They do not know where +they are. They will not give what mind they have to divine truth, all +you can do to draw them on to it, till they die as feeble-minded, as +ignorant, and as inexperienced as they were born. They never read a +religious book that has any brain or heart in it. The feeble _Lives_ of +feeble-minded Christians, written by feeble-minded authors, and published +by feeble-minded publishers,--we all know the spoon-meat that multitudes +of our people go down to their second childhood upon. Jonathan Edwards--a +name they never hear at home, but one of the most masculine and seraphic +of interpreters--has a noble discourse on The Importance and Advantage of +a thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth. "Consider yourselves," he says, +"as scholars or disciples put into the school of Christ, and therefore be +diligent to make proficiency in Christian knowledge. Content not +yourselves with this, that you have been taught your Catechism in your +childhood, and that you know as much of the principles of religion as is +necessary to salvation. Let not your teachers have cause to complain +that while they spend and are spent to impart knowledge to you, you take +little pains to learn. Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures. And +when you read, observe what you read. Observe how things come in. +Compare one scripture with another. Procure and diligently use other +books which may help you to grow in this knowledge. There are many +excellent books extant which might greatly forward you in this knowledge. +There is a great defect in many, that through a lothness to be at a +little expense, they provide themselves with no more helps of this +nature." Weighty, wise, and lamentably true words. + +"Mundanus," says William Law, "is a man of excellent parts, and clear +apprehension. He is well advanced in age, and has made a great figure in +business. He has aimed at the greatest perfection in everything. The +only thing which has not fallen under his improvement, nor received any +benefit from his judicious mind, is his devotion; this is just in the +same poor state it was when he was six years of age, and the old man +prays now in that little form of words which his mother used to hear him +repeat night and morning. This Mundanus that hardly ever saw the poorest +utensil without considering how it might be made or used to better +advantage, has gone on all his life long praying in the same manner as +when he was a child; without ever considering how much better or oftener +he might pray; without considering how improvable the spirit of devotion +is, how many helps a wise and reasonable man may call to his assistance, +and how necessary it is that our prayers should be enlarged, varied, and +suited to the particular state and condition of our lives. How poor and +pitiable is the conduct of this man of sense, who has so much judgment +and understanding in everything but that which is the whole wisdom of +man!" How true to every syllable is that! How simple-looking, and yet +how manly, and able, and noble! We close our young men's session with +Law and Butler to-night, and I cannot believe that our session with those +two giants has left one feeble mind in the two classes; they were all +weeded out after the first fortnight of the session; though, after all is +done, there are still plenty left both among old and young in the +congregation. Even Homer sometimes nods; and I cannot but think that +John Bunyan has made a slip in saying that Feeble-mind enjoyed the +Interpreter's House. At any rate, I wish I could say as much about all +the feeble minds known to me. + +4. The Hill Difficulty, which might have helped to make a man of Feeble- +mind, saw a laughable, if it had not been such a lamentable, spectacle. +For it saw this poor creature hanging as limp as wet linen on the back of +one of the Interpreter's sweating servants. Your little boy will explain +the parable to you. Shall I do this? or, shall I rather do that? asks +Feeble-mind at every stop. Would it be right? or, would it be wrong? +Shall I read that book? Shall I go to that ball? Shall I marry that +man? Tell me what to do. Give me your hand. Take me up upon your back, +and carry me over this difficult hill. "I was carried up that," says +poor Feeble-mind, "by one of his servants." + +5. "The one calamity of Mr. Feeble-mind's history," says our ablest +commentator on Bunyan, "was the finest mercy of his history." That one +calamity was his falling into Giant Slay-good's hands, and his finest +mercy was his rescue by Greatheart, and his consequent companionship with +his deliverer, with Mr. Honest, and with Christiana and her party till +they came to the river. You constantly see the same thing in the life of +the Church and of the Christian Family. Some calamity throws a weak, +ignorant, and immoral creature into close contact with a minister or an +elder or a Christian visitor, who not only relieves him from his present +distress, but continues to keep his eye upon his new acquaintance, +introduces him to wise and good friends, invites him to his house, gives +him books to read, and keeps him under good influences, till, of a weak, +feeble, and sometimes vicious character, he is made a Christian man, till +he is able for himself to say, It was good for me to be afflicted; the +one calamity of my history has been my best mercy! + +6. Feeble-mind, I am ashamed to have to admit, behaved himself in a +perfectly scandalous manner at the house of Gaius mine host. He went +beyond all bounds during those eventful weeks. Those weeks were one long +temptation to Feeble-mind--and he went down in a pitiful way before his +temptation. Two marriages and two honeymoons, with suppers and dances +every night, made the old hostelry like very Pandemonium itself to poor +Feeble-mind. He would have had Matthew's and James's marriages conducted +next door to a funeral. Because he would not eat flesh himself, he +protested against Gaius killing a sheep. "Man," said old Honest, almost +laying his quarterstaff over Feeble-mind's shoulders--"Man, dost thou +think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" +"I shall like no laughing," said Feeble-mind; "I shall like no gay +attire; I shall like no unprofitable questions." I think it took some +self-conceit to refuse to sit at table beside Christiana because of her +gay attire. And I hope Mercy did not give up dressing well, even after +she was married, to please that weak-minded old churl. And as to +unprofitable questions--we are all tempted to think that question +unprofitable which our incapacity or our ignorance keeps us silent upon +at table. We think that topic both ill-timed and impertinent and unsafe +to which we are not invited to contribute anything. "I am a very +ignorant man," he went on to say; and, if that was said in any humility, +Feeble-mind never said a truer word. "It is with me as it is with a weak +man among the strong, or as with a sick man among the healthy, or as a +lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease." All which only +brought Greatheart out in his very best colours. "But, brother," said +the guide, "I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded, and to +support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you, +we will lend you our help, we will deny ourselves of some things, both +opinionative and practical, for your sake; we will not enter into +doubtful disputations before you; we will be made all things to you +rather than that you shall be left behind." + +7. The first thing that did Mr. Feeble-mind any real good was his being +made military guard over the women and the children while the men went +out to demolish Doubting Castle. _Quis custodiet_? you will smile and +say when you hear that. Who shall protect the protector? you will say. +But wait a little. Greatheart knew his business. For not only did +Feeble-mind rise to the occasion, when he was put to it; but, more than +that, he was the soul of good company at supper-time that night. "Jocund +and merry" are the very words. Yes; give your feeble and fault-finding +folk something to do. Send them to teach a class. Send them down into a +mission district. Lay a sense of responsibility upon them. Leave them +to deal with this and that emergency themselves. Cease carrying them on +your back, and lay weak and evil and self-willed people on their back. +Let them feel that they are of some real use. As Matthew Arnold says, +Let the critic but try practice, and you will make a new man of him. As +Greatheart made of Feeble-mind by making him mount guard over the +Celestial caravan while the fighting men were all up at Doubting Castle. + +8. "Mark this," says Mr. Feeble-mind's biographer on the early margin of +his history, lest we should be tempted to forget the good parts of this +troublesome and provoking pilgrim--"Mark this." This, namely, which +Feeble-mind says to his guide. "As to the main, I thank Him that loves +me, I am fixed. My way is before me, my mind is beyond the river that +has no bridge, though I am, as you see, but of a feeble mind." And that +leads us with returning regard and love to turn to the end of his +history, where we read: "After this Mr. Feeble-mind had tidings brought +him that the post sounded his horn at his chamber door. Then he came in +and told him, saying, I am come to tell thee that thy Master hath need of +thee, and that in very little time thou must behold His face in +brightness. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends, and told them +what errand had been brought to him, and what token he had received of +the truth of the message. As for my feeble mind he said, that I shall +leave behind me, for I shall have no need of that in the place whither I +go. Nor is it worth bestowing upon the poorest pilgrim. Wherefore, when +I am gone, I desire that you would bury it in a dung-hill. This done, +and the day being come in which he was about to depart, he entered the +river as the rest. His last words were, Hold out, faith and patience! So +he went over to the other side." + + + + +GREAT-HEART + + + "--when thou shalt enlarge my heart."--_David_. + +On Sabbath, the 12th December 1886, I heard the late Canon Liddon preach +a sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral, in which he classed Oliver Cromwell +with Alexander the Sixth and with Richard the Third. I had taken my +estimate of the great Protector's character largely from Carlyle's famous +book, and you can judge with what feelings I heard the canon's +comparison. And, besides, I had been wont to think of the Protector as +having entered largely into John Bunyan's portrait of Greatheart, the +pilgrim guide. And the researches and the judgments of Dr. Gardiner have +only gone to convince me, the eloquent canon notwithstanding, that Bunyan +could not have chosen a better contemporary groundwork for his Greatheart +than just the great Puritan soldier. Cromwell's "mental struggles before +his conversion," his life-long "searchings of heart," his "utter absence +of vindictiveness," his unequalled capacity for "seeing into the heart of +a situation," and his own "all-embracing hospitality of heart"--all have +gone to reassure me that my first guess as to Bunyan's employment of the +Protector's matchless personality and services had not been so far +astray. And the oftener I read the noble history of Greatheart, the +better I seem to hear, beating behind his fine figure, by far the +greatest heart that ever ruled over the realm of England. + +1. The first time that we catch a glimpse of Greatheart's weather-beaten +and sword-seamed face is when he is taking a stolen look out of the +window at Mr. Fearing, who is conducting himself more like a chicken than +a man around the Interpreter's door. And from that moment till Mr. +Fearing shouted "Grace reigns!" as he cleared the last river, never +sportsman surely stalked a startled deer so patiently and so skilfully +and so successfully as Greatheart circumvented that chicken-hearted +pilgrim. "At last I looked out of the window, and perceiving a man to be +up and down about the door, I went out to him and asked him what he was; +but, poor man, the water stood ill his eyes. So I perceived what he +wanted. I went in, therefore, and told it in the house, and we showed +the thing to our Lord. So He sent me out again to entreat him to come +in; but I dare say I had hard work to do it." Greatheart's whole account +of Mr. Fearing always brings the water to my eyes also. It is indeed a +delicious piece of English prose. If I were a professor of _belles +lettres_ instead of what I am, I would compel all my students, under pain +of rustication, to get those three or four classical pages by heart till +they could neither perpetrate nor tolerate bad English any more. This +camp-fire tale, told by an old soldier, about a troublesome young recruit +and all his adventures, touches, surely, the high-water mark of sweet and +undefiled English. Greatheart was not the first soldier who could handle +both the sword and the pen, and he has not been the last. But not Caesar +and not Napier themselves ever handled those two instruments better. + +2. Greatheart had just returned to his Master's house from having seen +Mr. Fearing safely through all his troubles and well over the river, +when, behold, another caravan of pilgrims is ready for his convoy. For +Greatheart, you must know, was the Interpreter's armed servant. When at +any time Greatheart was off duty, which in those days was but seldom, he +took up his quarters again in the Interpreter's house. As he says +himself, he came back from the river-side only to look out of the +Interpreter's window to see if there was any more work on the way for him +to do. And, as good luck would have it, as has been said, the guide was +just come back from his adventures with Mr. Fearing when a pilgrim party, +than which he had never seen one more to his mind, was introduced to him +by his Master, the Interpreter. "The Interpreter," so we read at this +point, "then called for a man-servant of his, one Greatheart, and bid him +take sword, and helmet, and shield, and take these, my daughters," said +he, "and conduct them to the house called Beautiful, at which place they +will rest next. So he took his weapons and went before them, and the +Interpreter said, God-speed." + +3. Now I saw in my dream that they went on, and Greatheart went before +them, so they came to the place where Christian's burden fell off his +back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, they made a pause, and +here also they blessed God. "Now," said Christiana, "it comes to my mind +what was said to us at the gate; to wit, that we should have pardon by +word and by deed. What it is to have pardon by deed, Mr. Greatheart, I +suppose you know; wherefore, if you please, let us hear your discourse +thereof." "So then, to speak to the question," said Greatheart. You +have all heard about the "question-day" at Highland communions. That day +is so called because questions that have arisen in the minds of "the men" +in connection with doctrine and with experience are on that day set +forth, debated out, and solved by much meditation and prayer; age, +saintliness, doctrinal and experimental reading, and personal experience +all making their contribution to the solution of the question in hand. +Just such a question, then, and handled in such a manner, was that +question which whiled the way and cheated the toil till the pilgrims came +to the House Beautiful. The great doctrinal and experimental Puritans, +with Hooker at their head, put forth their full strength and laid out +their finest work just on this same question that Christiana gave out at +the place, somewhat ascending, upon which stood a cross, and a little +below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. But not the great Comment on The +Galatians itself, next to the Holy Bible as it is, as most fit for a +wounded conscience; no, nor that perfect mass of purest gold, The Learned +Discourse of Justification, nor anything else of that kind known to me, +is for one moment, to compare in beauty, in tenderness, in eloquence, in +scriptural depth, and in scriptural simplicity with Greatheart's noble +resolution of Christiana's question which he made on the way from the +Interpreter's house to the House Beautiful. "This is brave!" exclaimed +that mother in Israel, when the guide had come to an end. "Methinks it +makes my heart to bleed to think that He should bleed for me. O Thou +loving One! O Thou blessed One! Thou deservest to have me, for Thou +hast bought me. No marvel that this made the water to stand in my +husband's eyes, and that it made him trudge so nimbly on. O Mercy, that +thy father and thy mother were here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous too! Nay, I +wish now with all my heart that here was Madam Wanton too. Surely, +surely their hearts would be affected here!" Promise me to read at home +Greatheart's discourse on the Righteousness of Christ, and you will thank +me for having exacted the promise. + +The incongruity of a soldier handling such questions, and especially in +such a style, has stumbled some of John Bunyan's fault-finding readers. +The same incongruity stumbled "the Honourable Colonel Hacker, at Peebles +or elsewhere," to whom Cromwell sent these from Edinburgh on the 25th +December 1650--"But indeed I was not satisfied with your last speech to +me about Empson, that he was a better preacher than fighter or soldier--or +words to that effect. Truly, I think that he that prays and preaches +best will fight best. I know nothing that will give like courage and +confidence as the knowledge of God in Christ will; and I bless God to see +any in this army able and willing to impart the knowledge they have for +the good of others. I pray you receive Captain Empson lovingly: I dare +assure you he is a good man and a good officer; I would we had no worse." + +4. "Will you not go in and stay till morning?" said the porter to +Greatheart, at the gate of the House Beautiful. "No," said the guide; "I +will return to my lord to-night." "O sir!" cried Christiana and Mercy, +"we know not how to be willing you should leave us in our pilgrimage. Oh +that we might have your company till our journey's end." Then said +James, the youngest of the boys, "Pray be persuaded to go with us and +help us, because we are so weak and the way so dangerous as it is." "I +am at my lord's commandment," said Greatheart. "If he shall allow me to +be your guide quite through, I shall willingly wait upon you. But here +you failed at first; for when he bid me come thus far with you, then you +should have begged me of him to have gone quite through with you, and he +would have granted your request. However, at present, I must withdraw, +and so, good Christiana, Mercy, and my brave children, adieu!" "Help +lost for want of asking for," is our author's condemnatory comment on the +margin at this point in the history. And there is not a single page in +my history, or in yours, my brethren, on which the same marginal lament +is not written. What help we would have had on our Lord's promise if we +had but taken the trouble to ask for it! And what help we once had, and +have now lost, just because when we had it we did not ask for a +continuance of it! "No," said Greatheart to the porter, and to the two +women, and to James--"No. I will return to my lord to-night. I am at my +lord's commandment; only, if he shall still allot me I shall willingly +wait upon you." + +Now, what with the House Beautiful, so full of the most delightful +company; what with music in the house and music in the heart; what with +Mr. Brisk's courtship of Mercy, Matthew's illness, Mr. Skill's cure of +the sick man, and what not--a whole month passed by like a day in that so +happy house. But at last Christiana and Mercy signified it to those of +the house that it was time for them to be up and going. Then said Joseph +to his mother, "It is convenient that you send back to the house of Mr. +Interpreter to pray him to grant that Mr. Greatheart should be sent to us +that he may be our conductor the rest of our way." "Good boy," said she, +"I had almost forgot." So she drew up a petition and prayed Mr. Watchful +the porter to send it by some fit man to her good friend, Mr. +Interpreter; who, when it was come and he had seen the contents of the +petition, said to the messenger, "Go, tell them that I will send him." . +. . Now, about this time one knocked at the door. So the porter opened, +and, behold, Mr. Greatheart was there! But when he came in, what joy was +there! Then said Mr. Greatheart to the two women, "My lord has sent each +of you a bottle of wine, and also some parched corn, together with a +couple of pomegranates. He has also sent the boys some figs and raisins +to refresh you on your way." "The weak may sometimes call the strong to +prayers," I read again in the margin opposite the mention of Joseph's +name. Not that I am strong, and not that she is weak, but one of my +people I spent an hour with last afternoon whom you would to a certainty +have called weak had you seen her and her surrounding,--she so called me +to prayer that I had to hurry home and go straight to it. And all last +night and all this morning I have had as many pomegranates as I could eat +and as much wine as I could drink. Yes; you attend to what the weakest +will sometimes say to you, and they will often put you on the way to get +Greatheart back again with a load of wines and fruits and corn on his +shoulder to refresh you on your journey. "Good boy!" said Christiana to +Joseph her youngest son, "Good boy! I had almost forgot!" + +5. When old Mr. Honest began to nod after the good supper that Gaius +mine host gave to the pilgrims, "What, sir," cried Greatheart, "you begin +to be drowsy; come, rub up; now here's a riddle for you." Then said Mr. +Honest, "Let's hear it." Then said Mr. Greatheart, + + "He that will kill, must first be overcome; + Who live abroad would, first must die at home." + +"Hah!" said Mr. Honest, "it is a hard one; hard to expound, and harder +still to practise." Yes; this after-supper riddle of Mr. Greatheart is a +hard one in both respects; and for this reason, because the learned and +much experienced guide--learned with all that his life-long quarters in +the Interpreter's House could teach him, and experienced with a +lifetime's accumulated experience of the pilgrim life--has put all his +learning and all his life into these two mysterious lines. But old +Honest, once he had sufficiently rubbed up his eyes and his intellects, +gave the answer: + + "He first by grace must conquered be + That sin would mortify. + And who, that lives, would convince me, + Unto himself must die." + +Exactly; shrewd old Honest; you have hit off both Greatheart and his +riddle too. You have dived into the deepest heart of the Interpreter's +man-servant. "The magnanimous man" was Aristotle's masterpiece. That +great teacher of mind and morals created for the Greek world their +Greatheart. But, "thou must understand," says Bunyan to his readers, +"that I never went to school to Aristotle or Plato. No; but to Paul, who +taught Bunyan that what Aristotle calls magnanimity is really +pride--taught him that, till there is far more of the Christian religion +in those two doggerel lines at Gaius's supper-table than there is in all +The Ethics taken together. And it is only from a personal experience of +the same life as that which the guide puts here into his riddle that any +man's proud heart will become really humble and thus really great, really +enlarged, and of an all-embracing hospitality like Cromwell's and +Greatheart's and John Bunyan's own. Would you, then, become a Greatheart +too? And would you be employed in your day as they were employed in +their day? Then expound to yourself, and practise, and follow out that +deep riddle with which Greatheart so woke up old Honest: + + "He that will kill, must first be overcome; + Who live abroad would, first must die at home. + +6. Greatheart again and again at the river-side, Greatheart sending +pilgrim after pilgrim over the river with rapture, and he himself still +summoned to turn his back on the Celestial City, and to retrace his steps +through the land of Beulah, through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, +and through the Valley of Humiliation, and back to the Interpreter's +house to take on another and another and another convoy of fresh +pilgrims, and his own abundant entrance still put off and never to +come,--our hearts bleed for poor Greatheart. Back and forward, back and +forward, year after year, this noble soul uncomplainingly goes. And, +ever as he waves his hand to another pilgrim entering with trumpets +within the gates, he salutes his next pilgrim charge with the brave +words: "Yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt +two: having a desire to depart and to be with Christ. Nevertheless to +abide in the flesh is more needful for you, for your furtherance and joy +of faith by my coming to you again." If Greatheart could not "usher +himself out of this life" along with Christiana, and Mercy, and Mr. +Honest, and Standfast, and Valiant-for-truth--if he had still to toil +back and bleed his way up again at the head of another happy band of +pilgrims--well, after all is said, what had the Celestial City itself to +give to Greatheart better than such blessed work? With every such +returning journey he got a more and more enlarged, detached, hospitable, +and Christ-like heart, and the King's palace in very glory itself had +nothing better in store for this soldier-guide than that. A nobler +heaven Greatheart could not taste than he had already in himself, as he +championed another and another pilgrim company from his Master's earthly +gate to his Master's heavenly gate. Like Paul, his apostolic prototype, +Greatheart sometimes vacillated just for a moment when he came a little +too near heaven, and felt its magnificent and almost dissolving +attractions full in his soul. You will see Greatheart's mind staggering +for a moment between rest and labour, between war and peace, between +"Christ" on earth and "Christ" in heaven--you will see all that set forth +with great sympathy and great ability in Principal Rainy's new book on +Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, and in the chapter entitled, The +Apostle's Choice between Living and Dying. + +Then there came a summons for Mr. Standfast. At which he called to him +Mr. Greatheart, and said unto him, "Sir, although it was not my hap to be +much in your good company in the days of my pilgrimage, yet, since the +time I knew you, you have been profitable to me. When I came from home I +left behind me a wife and five small children. Let me entreat you, at +your return (for I know that you will go and return to your master's +house in hopes that you may be a conductor to more of the holy pilgrims), +that you send to my family and let them be acquainted with all that hath +and shall happen to me. Tell them, moreover, of my happy arrival to this +place, and of the present late blessed condition I am in, and so on for +many other messages and charges." Yes, Mr. Standfast; very good. But I +would have liked you on your deathbed much better if you had had a word +to spare from yourself and your wife and your children for poor +Greatheart himself, who had neither wife nor children, nor near hope of +heaven, but only your trust and charge and many suchlike trusts and +charges to carry out when you are at home and free of all trust and all +charge and all care. But yours is the way of all the pilgrims--so long, +at least, as they are in this selfish life. Let them and their children +only be well looked after, and they have not many thoughts or many words +left for those who sweat and bleed to death for them and theirs. They +lean on this and that Greatheart all their own way up, and then they +leave their widows and children to lean on whatever Greatheart is sent to +meet them; but it is not one pilgrim in ten who takes the thought or has +the heart to send a message to Mr. Greatheart himself for his own +consolation and support. I read that Mr. Ready-to-halt alone, good soul, +had the good feeling to do it. He thanked Mr. Greatheart for his conduct +and for his kindness, and so addressed himself to his journey. All the +same, noble Greatheart! go on in thy magnanimous work. Take back all +their errands. Seek out at any trouble all their wives and children. +Embark again and again on all thy former battles and hardships for the +good of other men. But be assured that all this thy labour is not in +vain in thy Lord. Be well assured that not one drop of thy blood or thy +sweat or thy tears shall fall to the ground on that day when they that be +wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn +many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Go back, then, +from thy well-earned rest, O brave Greatheart! go back to thy waiting +task. Put on again thy whole armour. Receive again, and again fulfil, +thy Master's commission, till He has no more commissions left for thy +brave heart and thy bold hand to execute. And, one glorious day, while +thou art still returning to thy task, it shall suddenly sound in thy +dutiful ears:--"Well done! good and faithful servant!" And then thou too + + "Shalt hang thy trumpet in the hall + And study war no more." + + + + +MR. READY-TO-HALT + + + "For I am ready to halt."--_David_. + +Mr. Ready-to-halt is the Mephibosheth of the pilgrimage. While +Mephibosheth was still a child in arms, his nurse let the young prince +fall, and from that day to the day of his death he was lame in both his +feet. Mephibosheth's life-long lameness, and then David's extraordinary +grace to the disinherited cripple in commanding him to eat continually at +the king's table; in those two points we have all that we know about Mr. +Ready-to-halt also. We have no proper portrait, as we say, of Mr. Ready- +to-halt. Mr. Ready-to-halt is but a name on John Bunyan's pages--a name +set upon two crutches; but, then, his simple name is so suggestive and +his two crutches are so eloquent, that I feel as if we might venture to +take this life-long lameter and his so serviceable crutches for our +character-lecture to-night. + +John Bunyan, who could so easily and so delightfully have done it, has +given us no information at all about Mr. Ready-to-halt's early days. For +once his English passion for a pedigree has not compelled our author's +pen. We would have liked immensely to have been told the name, and to +have seen displayed the whole family tree of young Ready-to-halt's +father; and, especially, of his mother. Who was his nurse also? And did +she ever forgive herself for the terrible injury she had done her young +master? What were his occupations and amusements as a little cripple +boy? Who made him his first crutch? Of what wood was it made? And at +what age, and under whose kind and tender directions did he begin to use +it? And, then, with such an infirmity, what ever put it into Mr. Ready- +to-halt's head to attempt the pilgrimage? For the pilgrimage was a task +and a toil that took all the limbs and all the lungs and all the labours +and all the endurances that the strongest and the bravest of men could +bring to bear upon it. How did this complete cripple ever get through +the Slough, and first up and then down the Hill Difficulty, and past all +the lions, and over a thousand other obstacles and stumbling-blocks, till +he arrived at mine host's so hospitable door? The first surprised sight +we get of this so handicapped pilgrim is when Greatheart and Feeble-mind +are in the heat of their discourse at the hostelry door. At that moment +Mr. Ready-to-halt came by with his crutches in his hand, and he also was +going on pilgrimage. Thus, therefore, they went on. Mr. Greatheart and +Mr. Honest went on before, Christiana and her children went next, and Mr. +Feeble-mind and Mr. Ready-to-halt came behind with his crutches. + + "Put by the curtains, look within my veil, + Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail, + There, if thou seekest them, such things to find, + As will be helpful to an honest mind." + +1. Well, then, when we put by the curtains and turn up the metaphors, +what do we find? What, but just this, that poor Mr. Ready-to-halt was, +after all, the greatest and the best believer, as the New Testament would +have called him, in all the pilgrimage. We have not found so great faith +as that of Mr. Ready-to-halt, no, not in the very best of the pilgrim +bands. Each several pilgrim had, no doubt, his own good qualities; but, +at pure and downright believing--at taking God at His bare and simple +word--Mr. Ready-to-halt beat them all. All that flashes in upon us from +one shining word that stands on the margin of our so metaphorical author. +This single word, the "promises," hangs like a key of gold beside the +first mention of Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches--a key such that in a +moment it throws open the whole of Mr. Ready-to-halt's otherwise lockfast +and secret and inexplicable life. There it all is, as plain as a pike- +staff now! Yes; Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches are just the divine +promises. I wonder I did not see that all the time. Why, I could +compose all his past life myself now. I have his father and his mother +and his nurse at my finger-ends now. This poor pilgrim--unless it would +be impertinence to call him poor any more--had no limbs to be called +limbs. Such limbs as he had were only an encumbrance to this unique +pedestrian. All the limbs he had were in his crutches. He had not one +atom of strength to lean upon apart from his crutches. A bone, a muscle, +a tendon, a sinew, may be ill-nourished, undeveloped, green, and unknit, +but, at the worst, they are inside of a man and they are his own. But a +crutch, of however good wood it may be made, and however good a lame man +may be at using it--still, a crutch at its best is but an outside +additament; it is not really and originally a part of a man's very self +at all. And yet a lame man is not himself without his crutch. Other men +do not need to give a moment's forethought when they wish to rise up to +walk, or to run, or to leap, or to dance. But the lame man has to wait +till his crutches are brought to him; and then, after slowly and +painfully hoisting himself up upon his crutches, with great labour, he at +last takes the road. Mr. Ready-to-halt, then, is a man of God; but he is +one of those men of God who have no godliness within themselves. He has +no inward graces. He has no past experiences. He has no attainments +that he can for one safe moment take his stand upon, or even partly lean +upon. Mr. Ready-to-halt is absolutely and always dependent upon the +promises. The promises of God in Holy Scripture are this man's very +life. All his religion stands in the promises. Take away the promises, +and Mr. Ready-to-halt is a heap of heaving rags on the roadside. He +cannot take a single step unless upon a promise. But, at the same time, +give Mr. Ready-to-halt a promise in his hand and he will wade the Slough +upon it, and scale up and slide down the Hill Difficulty upon it, and +fight a lion, and even brain Beelzebub with it, till he will with a +grudge and a doubt exchange it even for the chariots and the horses that +wait him at the river. What a delight our Lord would have taken in Mr. +Ready-to-halt had He come across him on His way to the passover! How He +would have given Mr. Ready-to-halt His arm; how He would have made +Himself late by walking with him, and would still have waited for him! +Nay, had that been a day of chap-books in carpenters' shops and on the +village stalls, how He would have had Mr. Ready-to-halt's story by heart +had any brass-worker in Galilee told the history! Our Lord was within an +inch of telling that story Himself, when He showed Thomas His hands and +His side. And at another time and in another place we might well have +had Mr. Ready-to-halt as one more of our Lord's parables for the common +people. Only, He left the delight and the reward of drawing out this +parable to one He already saw and dearly loved in a far-off island of the +sea, the Puritan tinker of Evangelical England. + +2. And now, after all that, would you think it going too far if I were +to say that in making Himself like unto all His brethren, our Lord made +Himself like Mr. Ready-to-halt too? Indeed He did. And it was because +his Lord did this, that Mr. Ready-to-halt so loved his Lord as to follow +Him upon crutches. It would not be thought seemly, perhaps, to carry the +figure too close to our Lord. But, figure apart, it is only orthodox and +scriptural to say that our Lord accomplished His pilgrimage and finished +His work leaning all along upon His Father's promises. Esaias is very +bold about this also, for he tells his readers again and again that their +Messiah, when He comes, will have to be held up. He will have to be +encouraged, comforted, and carried through by Jehovah. And in one +remarkable passage he lets us see Jehovah hooping Messiah's staff first +with brass, and then with silver, and then with gold. Let Thomas +Goodwin's genius set the heavenly scene full before us. "You have it +dialoguewise set forth," says that great preacher. "First Christ shows +His commission, telling God how He had called Him and fitted Him for the +work of redemption, and He would know what reward He should receive of +Him for so great an undertaking. God at first offers low; only the elect +of Israel. Christ thinks these too few, and not worth so great a labour +and work, because few of the Jews would come in; and therefore He says +that He would labour in vain if this were all His recompense; and yet +withal He tells God that seeing His heart is so much set on saving +sinners, to satisfy Him, He will do it even for those few. Upon this God +comes off more freely, and openeth His heart more largely to Him, as +meaning more amply to content Him for His pains in dying. 'It is a light +thing,' says God to Him, 'that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up +the tribes of Jacob--that is not worth Thy dying for. I value Thy +sufferings more than so. I will give Thee for a salvation to the ends of +the earth.' Upon this He made a promise to Christ, a promise which God, +who cannot lie, promised before the world began. God cannot lie, and, +most of all, not to His Son." + +And, then, more even than that. This same deep divine tells us that it +is a certain rule in divinity that, whatsoever we receive from Christ, +that He Himself first receives in Himself for us. All the promises of +God's word are made and fulfilled to Christ first, and so to us in and +after Him. In other words, our Lord's life was so planned for Him in +heaven and was so followed out and fulfilled by Him on earth, that, to +take up the metaphor again, He actually tried every crutch and every +staff with His own hands and with His own armpits; He actually leaned +again and again His own whole weight upon every several one of them. +Every single promise, the most unlikely for Him to lean upon and to +plead, yet, be sure of it, He somehow made experiment upon them all, and +made sure that there was sufficient and serviceable grace within and +under every one of them. So that, Mr. Ready-to-halt, there is no +possible staff you can take into your hand that has not already been in +the hand of your Lord. Think of that, O Mr. Ready-to-halt! Reverence, +then, and almost worship thy staff! Throw all thy weight upon thy staff. +Confide all thy weakness to it. Talk to it as thou walkest with it. Make +it talk to thee. Worm out of it all its secrets about its first Owner. +And let it instruct thee about how He walked with it and how He handled +it. The Bible is very bold with its Master. It calls Him by the most +startling names sometimes. There is no name that a penitent and a +returning sinner goes by that the Bible does not put somewhere upon the +sinner's Saviour. And in one place it as good as calls Him Ready-to-halt +in as many words. Nay, it lets us see Him halting altogether for a time; +ay, oftener than once; and only taking the road again, when a still +stronger staff was put into his trembling hand. And if John had but had +room in his crowded gospel he would have given us the very identical +psalm with which our Lord took to the upward way again, strong in His new +staff. "For I am ready to halt," was His psalm in the house of His +pilgrimage, "and My sorrow is continually before Me. Mine enemies are +lively, and they are strong; and they that hate Me wrongfully are +multiplied. They also that render evil for good are Mine adversaries; +because I follow the thing that good is. Forsake Me not, O Lord; O My +God, be not far from Me. Make haste to help Me, O Lord My salvation." + +3. Among all the devout and beautiful fables of the "dispensation of +paganism," there is nothing finer than the fable of blind Tiresias and +his staff. By some sad calamity this old prophet had lost the sight of +his eyes, and to compensate their servant for that great loss the gods +endowed him with a staff with eyes. As Aaron's rod budded before the +testimony and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds, so Tiresias' staff +budded eyes, and divine eyes too, for the blind prophet's guidance and +direction. Tiresias had but to take his heaven-given staff in his hand, +when, straightway, such a divinity entered into the staff that it both +saw for him with divine eyes, and heard for him with divine ears, and +then led him and directed him, and never once in all his after journeys +let him go off the right way. All other men about him, prophets and +priests both, often lost their way, but Tiresias after his blindness, +never, till Tiresias and his staff became a proverb and a parable in the +land. And just such a staff, just such a crutch, just such a pair of +crutches, were the crutches of our own so homely Mr. Ready-to-halt. With +all their lusty limbs, all the other pilgrims often stumbled and went out +of their way till they had to be helped up, led back, and their faces set +right again. But, last as Mr. Ready-to-halt always came in the +procession--behind even the women and the children as his crutches always +kept him--you will seek in vain for the dot of those crutches on any by- +path or on any wrong road. No; the fact is, if you wish to go to the +same city, and are afraid you lose the way; as Evangelist said, "Do you +see yon shining light?" so I would say to you to-night, "Do you see these +crutch-marks on the road?" Well, keep your feet in the prints of these +crutches, and as sure as you do that they will lead you straight to a +chariot and horses, which, again, will carry you inside the city gates. +For Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches have not only eyes like Tiresias' staff, +they have ears also, and hands and feet. A lamp also burns on those +crutches; and wine and oil distil from their wonderful wood. Happy +blindness that brings such a staff! Happy exchange! eyes full of earth +and sin for eyes full of heaven and holiness! + +4. "They began to be merry," says our Lord, telling the story of the +heart-broken father who had got back his younger son from a far country. +And even Feeble-mind and Ready-to-halt begin to be merry on the green +that day after Doubting Castle has fallen to Greatheart's arms. Now, +Christiana, if need was, could play upon the viol, and her daughter Mercy +upon the lute; and, since they were so merry disposed, she played them a +lesson, and Mr. Ready-to-halt would dance. So he paid a boy a penny to +hold one of his crutches, and, taking Miss Much-afraid by the hand, to +dancing they went. And, I promise you he footed it well; the lame man +leaped as an hart; also the girl was to be commended, for she answered +the music handsomely. In spite of his life-long infirmity, there was +deep down in Mr. Ready-to-halt an unsuspected fund of good-humour. There +was no heartier merriment on the green that day than was the merriment +that Mr. Ready-to-halt knocked out of his nimble crutch. "True, he could +not dance without one crutch in his hand." True, dear and noble Bunyan, +thou canst not write a single page at any time or on any subject without +thy genius and thy tenderness and thy divine grace marking the page as +thine own alone! + +5. The next time we see Mr. Ready-to-halt he is coming in on his +crutches to see Christiana, for she has sent for him to see him. So she +said to him, "Thy travel hither hath been with difficulty, but that will +make thy rest the sweeter." And then in process of time there came a +post to the town and his business this time was with Mr. Ready-to-halt. +"I am come to thee in the name of Him whom thou hast loved and followed, +though upon crutches. And my message is to tell thee that He expects +thee at His table to sup with Him in His kingdom the next day after +Easter." "I am sent for," said Mr. Ready-to-halt to his fellow-pilgrims, +"and God shall surely visit you also. These crutches," he said, "I +bequeath to my son that shall tread in my steps, with an hundred warm +wishes that he may prove better than I have done." Isaac was a child of +promise, and Mr. Ready-to-halt had an Isaac also on whom his last +thoughts turned. Isaac had been born to Abraham by a special and +extraordinary and supernatural interposition of the grace and the power +of God; and Mr. Ready-to-halt had always looked on himself as a second +Abraham in that respect. A second Abraham, and more. True, his son was +not yet a pilgrim; perhaps he was too young to be so called; but +Greatheart will take back the old man's crutches--Greatheart was both man- +of-war and beast-of-burden to the pilgrims and their wives and +children--and will in spare hours teach young Ready-to-halt the use of +the crutch, till the son can use with the same effect as his father his +father's instrument. Is your child a child of promise? Is he to you a +product of nature, or of grace? Did you receive him and his brothers and +sisters from God after you were as good as dead? Did you ever steal in +when his nurse was at supper and say over his young cradle, He hath not +dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities? +Is it in your will laid up with Christ in God about your crutches and +your son what Mr. Ready-to-halt dictated on his deathbed? And does God +know that there is no wish in your old heart a hundred times so warm for +your son as is this wish,--that he may prove better at handling God's +promises than you have been? Then, happy son, who has old Mr. Ready-to- +halt for his father! + +6. "He whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches, expects +thee at His table the next day after Easter." Take comfort, cripples! +Had it been said that the King so expects Greatheart, or Standfast, or +Valiant-for-truth, that would have been after the manner of the kings of +this world. But to insist on having Mr. Ready-to-halt beside Him by such +and such a day; to send such a post to a pilgrim who has not a single +sound bone in all his body; to a sinner without a single trustworthy +grace in all his heart; to a poor and simple believer who has nothing in +his hand but one of God's own promises--Who is a king like unto our King? +Surely King David was never a better type of Christ than when he said to +Mephibosheth, lame in both his feet from his nurse's arms: "Fear not, +Mephibosheth, for I will surely show thee kindness, and thou shalt eat +bread at my table continually." And Mephibosheth shall always be our +spokesman when he bows himself and says in return: "What is thy servant, +that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?" + + + + +VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH + + + "--They are not valiant for the truth."--_Jeremiah_ + + "--Ye should contend earnestly for the faith."--_Jude_. + + "Forget not Master Valiant-for-the-Truth, + That man of courage, tho' a very youth. + Tell every one his spirit was so stout, + No man could ever make him face about." + _Bunyan_. + +"I am of Dark-land, for there was I born, and there my father and mother +are still." "Dark-land," said the guide; "doth not that lie upon the +same coast as the City of Destruction?" "Yes, it doth," replied Valiant- +for-truth. "And had I not found incommodity there, I had not forsaken it +at all; but finding it altogether unsuitable to me, and very unprofitable +for me, I forsook it for this way. Now, that which caused me to come on +pilgrimage was this. We had one Mr. Tell-true came into our parts, and +he told it about what Christian had done, that went from the City of +Destruction. That man so told the story of Christian and his travels +that my heart fell into a burning haste to be gone after him, nor could +my father and mother stay me, so I got from them, and am come thus far on +my way." + +1. A very plain and practical lesson is already read to us all in +Valiant-for-truth's explanation of his own pilgrimage. He tells the +guide that he was made a pilgrim just by having the story of The Pilgrim +told to him. All that Tell-true did was just to recite the story of the +pilgrim, when young Valiant's heart fell into a burning haste to be a +pilgrim too. My brethren, could any lesson be plainer? Read the +_Pilgrim's Progress_ with your children. And, after a time, read it +again till they call it beautiful, and till you see the same burning +haste in their hearts that young Valiant felt in his heart. Circulate +the _Pilgrim's Progress_. Make opportunities to give the _Pilgrim's +Progress_ to the telegraph boys and errand boys at your door. Never go +on a holiday without taking a dozen cheap and tasteful copies of _The +Pilgrim_ to give to boys and girls in the country. Make sure that no +one, old or young, of your acquaintance, in town or country, is without a +good copy of _The Pilgrim_. And the darker their house is, make all the +more sure that John Bunyan is in it. + + "Now may this little book a blessing be, + To those that love this little book and me + And may its buyer have no cause to say + His money is but lost or thrown away." + +2. But the great lesson of Valiant's so impressive life lies in the +tremendous fight he had with three ruffians who all set upon him at once +and well-nigh made an end of him. For, when we put by the curtains here +again, and turn up the metaphors, what do we find? What, but a lesson of +first-rate importance for many men among ourselves; for many public men, +many ministers, and many other much-in-earnest men. For Valiant, as his +name tells us, was set to contend for the truth. He had the truth. The +truth was put into his keeping, and he was bound to defend it. He was +thrown into a life of controversy, and thus into all the terrible +temptations--worse than the temptations to whoredom or wine--that +accompany a life of controversy. The three scoundrels that fell upon +Valiant at the mouth of the lane were Wildhead, Inconsiderate, and +Pragmatic. In other words, the besetting temptations of many men who are +set as defenders of the truth in religion, as well as in other matters, +is to be wild-headed, inconsiderate, self-conceited, and intolerably +arrogant. The bloody battle that Valiant fought, you must know, was not +fought at the mouth of any dark lane in the midnight city, nor on the +side of any lonely road in the moonless country. This terrible fight was +fought in Valiant's own heart. For Valiant was none of your calculating +and cold-blooded friends of the truth. He did not wait till he saw the +truth walking in silver slippers. Let any man lay a finger on the truth, +or wag a tongue against the truth, and he will have to settle it with +Valiant. His love for the truth was a passion. There was a fierceness +in his love for the truth that frightened ordinary men even when they +were on his own side. Valiant would have died for the truth without a +murmur. But, with all that, Valiant had to learn a hard and a cruel +lesson. He had to learn that he, the best friend of truth as he thought +he was, was at the same time, as a matter of fact, the greatest enemy +that the truth had. He had to take home the terrible discovery that no +man had hurt the truth so much as he had done. Save me from my friend! +the truth was heard to say, as often as she saw him taking up his weapons +in her behalf. We see all that every day. We see Wildhead at his +disservice of the truth every day. Sometimes above his own name, and +sometimes with grace enough to be ashamed to give his name, in the +newspapers. Sometimes on the platform; sometimes in the pulpit; and +sometimes at the dinner-table. But always to the detriment of the truth. +In blind fury he rushes at the character and the good name of men who +were servants of the truth before he was born, and whose shield he is not +worthy to bear. How shall Wildhead be got to see that he and the like of +him are really the worst friends the truth can possibly have? Will he +never learn that in his wild-bull gorings at men and at movements, he is +both hurting himself and hurting the truth as no sworn enemy of his and +of the truth can do? Will he never see what an insolent fool he is to go +on imputing bad motives to other men, when he ought to be prostrate +before God on account of his own? More than one wild-headed student of +William Law has told me what a blessing they have got from that great +man's teaching on the subject of controversy. Will the Wildheads here to- +night take a line or two out of that peace-making author and lay them to +heart? "My dear L-, take notice of this, that no truths, however solid +and well-grounded, will help you to any divine life, but only so far as +they are taught, nourished, and strengthened by an unction from above; +and that nothing more dries and extinguishes this heavenly unction than a +talkative reasoning temper that is always catching at every opportunity +of hearing or telling some religious matters. Stop your ears and shut +your eyes to all religious tales . . . I would no more bring a false +charge against a deist than I would bear false witness against an +apostle. And if I knew how to do the deists more justice in debate I +would gladly do it . . . And as the gospel requires me to be as glad to +see piety, equity, strict sobriety, and extensive charity in a Jew or a +Gentile as in a Christian; as it obliges me to look with pleasure upon +their virtues, and to be thankful to God that such persons have so much +of true and sound Christianity in them; so it cannot be an unchristian +spirit to be as glad to see truths in one party of Christians as in +another, and to look with pleasure upon any good doctrines that are held +by any sect of Christian people, and to be thankful to God that they have +so much of the genuine saving truths of the gospel among them . . . +Selfishness and partiality are very inhuman and base qualities even in +the things of this world, but in the doctrines of religion they are of a +far baser nature. In the present divided state of the Church, truth +itself is torn and divided asunder; and, therefore, he is the only true +Catholic who has more of truth and less of error than is hedged in by any +divided part. To see this will enable us to live in a divided part +unhurt by its division, and keep us in a true liberty and fitness to be +edified and assisted by all the good that we hear or see in any other +part of the Church. And thus, uniting in heart and spirit with all that +is holy and good in all Churches, we enter into the true communion of +saints, and become real members of the Holy Catholic Church, though we +are confined to the outward worship of only one particular part of it. +And thus we will like no truth the less because Ignatius Loyola or John +Bunyan were very jealous for it, nor have the less aversion to any error +because Dr. Trapp or George Fox had brought it forth." If Wildhead would +take a winter of William Law, it would sweeten his temper, and civilise +his manners, and renew his heart. + +3. Inconsiderate, again, is the shallow creature he is, and does the +endless mischief that he does, largely for lack of imagination. He never +thinks--neither before he speaks nor after he has spoken. He never put +himself in another man's place all his days. He is incapable of doing +that. He has neither the head nor the heart to do that. He never once +said, How would I like that said about me? or, How would I like that done +to me? or, How would that look and taste and feel to me if I were in So- +and-so's place? It needs genius to change places with other men; it +needs a grace beyond all genius; and this poor headless and heartless +creature does not know what genius is. It needs imagination, the noblest +gift of the mind, and it needs love, the noblest grace of the heart, to +consider the case of other people, and to see, as Butler says, that we +differ as much from other people as they differ from us. And it is by +far the noblest use of the imagination, far nobler than carving a +Laocoon, or painting a Last Judgment, or writing a "Paradiso" or a +"Paradise Lost," to put ourselves into the places of other men so as to +see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, and sympathise with +their principles, and even with their prejudices. Now, the inconsiderate +man has so little imagination and so little love that he is sitting here +and does not know what I am saying; and what suspicion he has of what I +am saying is just enough to make him dislike both me and what I am saying +too. But his dull suspicion and his blind dislike are more than made up +for by the love and appreciation of those lovers and defenders of the +truth who painfully feel how wild and inconsiderate, how hot-headed, how +thoughtless, and how reckless their past service even of God's truth has +been. + + "The King is full of grace and fair regard. + Consideration, like an angel, came + And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him." + +4. And as to Pragmatic, I would not call you a stupid person even though +you confided to me that you had never heard this footpad's name till to- +night. John Bunyan has been borrowing Latin again, and not to the +improvement of his style, or to the advantage of his readers. It would +be insufferably pragmatic in me to begin to set John Bunyan right in his +English; but I had rather offend the shades of a hundred John Bunyans +than leave my most unlettered hearer without his full and proper Sabbath- +night lesson. The third armed thief, then, that fell upon Valiant was, +under other names, Impertinence, Meddlesomeness, Officiousness, +Over-Interference. Pragmatic,--by whatever name he calls himself, there +is no mistaking him. He is never satisfied. He is never pleased. He is +never thankful. He is always setting his superiors right. He is like +the Psalmist in one thing, he has more understanding than all his +teachers. And he enjoys nothing more than in letting them know that. +There is nothing he will not correct you in--from cutting for the stone +to commanding the Channel Fleet. Now, if all that has put any visual +image of Pragmatic into your mind, you will see at once what an enemy he +too is fitted to be to the truth. For the truth does not stand in +points, but in principles. The truth does not dwell in the letter but in +the spirit. The truth is not served by setting other people right, but +by seeing every day and in every thing how far wrong we are ourselves. +The truth is like charity in this, that it begins at home. It is like +charity in this also, that it never behaves itself unseemly. A +pragmatical man, taken along with an inconsiderate man, and then a wild- +headed man added on to them, are three about as fatal hands as any truth +could fall into. The worst enemy of the truth must pity the truth, and +feel his hatred at the truth relenting, when he sees her under the +championship of Wildhead, Inconsiderate, and Pragmatic. + +5. The first time we see Valiant-for-truth he is standing at the mouth +of Dead-man's-lane with his sword in his hand and with his face all +bloody. "They have left upon me, as you see," said the bleeding man, +"some of the marks of their valour, and have also carried away with them +some of mine." And, in like manner, we see Paul with the blood of +Barnabas still upon him when he is writing the thirteenth of First +Corinthians; and John with the blood of the Samaritans still upon him +down to his old age when he is writing his First Epistle; and John Bunyan +with the blood of the Quakers upon him when he is covertly writing this +page of his autobiography under the veil of Valiant-for-truth; and +William Law with the blood of Bishop Hoadly and John Wesley dropping on +the paper as he pens that golden passage which ends with Dr. Trapp and +George Fox. Where did you think Paul got that splendid passage about +charity? Where did you think William Law got that companion passage +about Church divisions, and about the Church Catholic? Where are such +passages ever got by inspired apostles, or by any other men, but out of +their own bloody battles with their own wild-headedness, intolerance, +dislike, and resentment? Where do you suppose I got the true key to the +veiled metaphor of Valiant-for-truth? It does not exactly hang on the +doorpost of his history. Where, then, could I get it but off the inside +wall of my own place of repentance? Just as you understand what I am now +labouring to say, not from my success in saying it, but from your own +trespasses against humility and love, your unadvised speeches, and your +wild and whirling words. Without shame and remorse, without +self-condemnation and self-contempt, none of those great passages of +Paul, or John, or Bunyan, or Law were ever written; and without a like +shame, remorse, self-condemnation, and self-contempt they are not rightly +read. + + "Oh! who shall dare in this frail scene + On holiest, happiest thoughts to lean, + On Friendship, Kindred, or on Love? + Since not Apostles' hands can clasp + Each other in so firm a grasp, + But they shall change and variance prove. + + "But sometimes even beneath the moon + The Saviour gives a gracious boon, + When reconciled Christians meet, + And face to face, and heart to heart, + High thoughts of Holy love impart + In silence meek, or converse sweet. + + "Oh then the glory and the bliss + When all that pained or seemed amiss + Shall melt with earth and sin away! + When saints beneath their Saviour's eye, + Filled with each other's company, + Shall spend in love the eternal day!" + +6. Then said Greatheart to Mr. Valiant-for-truth, "Thou hast worthily +behaved thyself; let me see thy sword." So he showed it him. When he +had taken it in his hand and had looked thereon a while, the guide said: +"Ha! it is a right Jerusalem blade!" "It is so," replied its owner. "Let +a man have one of these blades with a hand to wield it, and skill to use +it, and he may venture upon an angel with it. Its edges will never +blunt. It will cut flesh, and bones, and soul, and spirit, and all." +Both Damascus and Toledo blades were famous in former days for their +tenacity and flexibility, and for the beauty and the edge of their steel. +But even a Damascus blade would be worthless in a weak, cowardly, or +unskilled hand; while even a poor sword in the hand of a good swordsman +will do excellent execution. And much more so when you have both a first- +rate sword and a first-rate swordsman, such as both Valiant and his +Jerusalem blade were. Ha! yes. This is a right wonderful blade we have +now in our hand. For this sword was forged in no earthly fire; and it +was whetted to its unapproachable sharpness on no earthly whetstone. But, +best of all for us, when a good soldier of Jesus Christ has this sword +girt on his thigh he is able then to go forth against himself with it; +against his own only and worst enemy--that is, against himself. As here, +against his own wildness of head and pride of heart. Against his own +want of consideration also. "My people do not consider." As also +against himself as a lawless invader of other men's freedom of judgment, +following of truth, public honour, and good name. As the Arabian +warriors see themselves and dress themselves in their swords as in a +glass, so did Valiant-for-truth see the thoughts and intents, the joints +and the marrow of his own disordered soul in his Jerusalem blade. In the +sheen of it he could see himself even when the darkness covered him; and +with its two edges all his after-life he slew both all real error in +other men and all real evil in himself. "Thou hast done well," said +Greatheart the guide. "Thou hast resisted unto blood, striving against +sin. Thou shalt abide by us, come in and go out with us, for we are thy +companions." + +7. "Sir," said the widow indeed to Valiant-for-truth, "sir, you have in +all places shown yourself true-hearted." The first time she ever saw +this man that she is now seeing for the last time on this side the river, +his own mother would not have known him, he was so hacked to pieces with +the swords of his three assailants. But as she washed the blood off the +mangled man's head and face and hands, she soon saw beneath all his +bloody wounds a true, a brave, and a generous-hearted soldier of the +Cross. The heart is always the man. And this woman had lived long +enough with men to have discovered that. And with all his sears she saw +that it was at bottom the truth of his heart that had cast him into so +many bloody encounters. There were men in that company, and men near the +river too, with far fewer marks of battle, and even of defeat, upon them, +who did not get this noble certificate and its accompanying charge and +trust from this clear-eyed widow. And, then, she had never forgot--how +could she?--his exclamation, and almost embrace of her as of his own +mother, when he burst out with his eyes full of blood, "Why, is this +Christian's wife? What! and going on pilgrimage too? It glads my heart! +Good man! How joyful will he be when he shall see her and her children +enter after him in at the gates into the city!" He would have been +hacked a hundred times worse than he was before the widow of Christian, +and the mother of his children, would have seen anything but the manliest +beauty in a young soldier who could salute an old woman in that way. It +gladdened her heart to hear him, you may be sure, as much as it gladdened +his heart to see her. And that was the reason that she actually set +Greatheart himself aside, and left her children under this young man's +sword and shield. "I would also entreat you to have an eye to my +children," she said. Young men, has any dying mother committed her +children, if you at any time see them faint, to you? Have you ever +spoken so comfortably to any poor widow about her sainted husband that +she has passed by some of our foremost citizens, and has astonished and +offended her lawyers by putting a stripling like you into the +trusteeship? Did ever any dying mother say to you that she had seen you +to be so true-hearted at all times that she entreated you to have an eye +to her children? Speaking at this point for myself, I would rather see +my son so trusted at such an hour by such a woman than I would see him +the Chancellor of Her Majesty's Exchequer, or the Governor of the Bank of +England. And so to-night would you. + + + + +STANDFAST + + + "So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."--_Paul_. + +In his supplementary picture of Standfast John Bunyan is seen at his very +best, both as a religious teacher and as an English author. On the +Enchanted Ground Standfast is set before us with extraordinary insight, +sagacity, and wisdom; and then in the terrible river he is set before us +with an equally extraordinary rapture and transport; while, in all that, +Bunyan composes in English of a strength and a beauty and a music in +which he positively surpasses himself. Just before he closes his great +book John Bunyan rises up and once more puts forth his very fullest +strength, both as a minister of religion and as a classical writer, when +he takes Standfast down into that river which that pilgrim tells us has +been such a terror to so many, and the thought of which has so often +affrighted himself. + +When Greatheart and his charge were almost at the end of the Enchanted +Ground, so we read, they perceived that a little before them was a solemn +noise as of one that was much concerned. So they went on and looked +before them. And behold, they saw, as they thought, a man upon his +knees, with hands and eyes lift up, and speaking, as they thought, +earnestly to one that was above. They drew nigh, but could not tell what +he said; so they went softly till he had done. When he had done, he got +up and began to run towards the Celestial City. "So-ho, friend, let us +have your company," called out the guide. At that the man stopped, and +they came up to him. "I know this man," said Mr. Honest; "his name, I +know, is Standfast, and he is certainly a right good pilgrim." Then +follows a conversation between Mr. Honest and Mr. Standfast, in which +some compliments and courtesies are exchanged, such as are worthy of such +men, met at such a time and in such a place. "Well, but, brother," said +Valiant-for-truth, "tell us, I pray thee, what was it that was the cause +of thy being upon thy knees even now? Was it for that some special mercy +laid obligations upon thee, or how?" And then Standfast tells how as he +was coming along musing with himself, Madam Bubble presented herself to +him and offered him three things. "I was both aweary and sleepy and also +as poor as a howlet, and all that the wicked witch knew. And still she +followed me with her enticements. Then I betook me, as you saw, to my +knees, and with hands lift up and cries, I prayed to Him who had said +that He would help. So just as you came up the gentlewoman went her way. +Then I continued to give thanks for my great deliverance; for I verify +believe she intended me no good, but rather sought to make stop of me in +my journey. What a mercy is it that I did resist her, for whither might +she not have drawn me?" And then, after all this discourse, there was a +mixture of joy and trembling among the pilgrims, but at last they broke +out and sang: + + "What danger is the pilgrim in, + How many are his foes, + How many ways there are to sin, + No living mortal knows!" + +1. "Well, as I was coming along I was musing with myself," said +Standfast. You understand what it is to come along musing with yourself, +do you not, my brethren? "I will muse on the work of Thy hands," says +the Psalmist. And again, "While I was musing the fire burned." Well, +Standfast was much given to musing, just as David was. Each several +pilgrim has his own way of occupying himself on the road; but Standfast +could never get his fill just of musing. Standfast loved solitude. +Standfast liked nothing better than to walk long stretches at a time all +by himself alone. Standfast was like the apostle when he preferred to +take the twenty miles from Troas to Assos on foot and alone, rather than +to round the cape on shipboard in a crowd. "Minding himself to go +afoot," says the apostle's companion. It would have made a precious +chapter in the Acts of the Apostles had the author of that book been able +to give his readers some of Paul's musings as he crossed the Troad on +foot that day. But in the absence of Paul's musings we have here the +musings of a man whom Paul would not have shaken off had he foregathered +with him on that lonely road. For Standfast was in a deep and serious +muse mile after mile, when, who should step into the middle of his path +right before him but Madam Bubble with her body and her purse and her +bed? Now, had this hungry howlet of a pilgrim been at that moment in any +other but a musing mood of mind, he had to a certainty sold himself, soul +and body, Celestial City and all, to that impudent slut. But, as He +would have it who overrules Madam Bubble's descents, and all things, +Standfast was at that moment in one of his most musing moods, and all her +smiles and all her offers fell flat and poor upon him. Cultivate +Standfast's mood of mind, my brethren. Walk a good deal alone. Strike +across country from time to time alone and have good long walks and talks +with yourself. And when you know that you are passing places of +temptation see that your thoughts, and even your imaginations, are well +occupied with solemn considerations about the certain issue of such and +such temptations; and then, to you, as to Standfast, + + "The arrow seen beforehand slacks its flight." + +2. But, musing alone, the arrow seen beforehand, and all, Standfast +would have been a lost man on that lonely road that day had he not +instantly betaken himself to his knees. And it was while Standfast was +still on his knees that the ascending pilgrims heard that concerned and +solemn noise a little ahead of them. Did you ever suddenly come across a +man on his knees? Did you ever surprise a man at prayer as Greatheart +and his companions surprised Standfast? I do not ask, Did you ever enter +a room and find a family around their morning or evening altar? We have +all done that. And it left its own impression upon us. But did you ever +spring a surprise upon a man on his knees alone and in broad daylight? I +did the other day. It was between eleven and twelve o'clock in the +forenoon when I asked a clerk if his master was in. Yes, he said, and +opened his master's door. When, before I was aware, I had almost fallen +over a man on his knees and with his face in his hands. "I pray thee," +said Valiant-for-truth, "tell us what it was that drew thee to thy knees +even now. Was it that some special mercy laid its obligations on thee, +or how?" I did not say that exactly to my kneeling friend, though it was +on the point of my tongue to say it. My dear friend, I knew, had his own +difficulties, though he was not exactly as poor as a howlet. And it +might have been about some of his investments that had gone out of joint +that he went that forenoon to Him who had said that He would help. Or, +like the author of the _Christian Perfection_ and _The Spirit of Prayer_, +it was the sixth hour of the day, and he may have gone to his knees for +his clerks, or for his boys at school, or for himself and for the man in +the same business with himself right across the street. I knew that my +friend had the charming book at home in which such counsels as these +occur: "If masters were thus to remember their servants, beseeching God +to bless them, letting no day pass without a full performance of this +devotion, the benefit would be as great to themselves as to their +servants." And perhaps my friend, after setting his clerks their several +tasks for the day, was now asking grace of God for each one of them that +they might not be eye-servants and men-pleasers, but the servants of +Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Or, again, he may have read +in that noble book this passage: "If a father were daily to make some +particular prayer to God that He would please to inspire his children +with true piety, great humility, and strict temperance, what could be +more likely to make the father himself become exemplary in these +virtues?" Now, my friend (who can tell?) may just that morning have lost +his temper with his son; or he may last night have indulged himself too +much in eating, or in drinking, or in debate, or in detraction; and that +may have made it impossible for him to fix his whole mind on his office +work that morning. Or, just to make another guess, when he opened the +book I had asked him to buy and read, he may have lighted on this +heavenly passage: "Lastly, if all people when they feel the first +approaches of resentment or envy or contempt towards others; or if in all +little disagreements and misunderstandings whatever they should have +recourse at such times to a more particular and extraordinary +intercession with God for such persons as had roused their envy, +resentment, or discontent--this would be a certain way to prevent the +growth of all uncharitable tempers." You may think that I am taking a +roundabout way of accounting for my friend's so concerned attitude at +twelve o'clock that business day; but the whole thing seemed to me so +unusual at such a time and in such a place that I was led to such guesses +as these to account for it. In so guessing I see now that I was +intruding myself into matters I had no business with; but all that day I +could not keep my mind off my blushing friend. For, like Mr. Standfast, +my dear friend blushed as he stood up and offered me the chair he had +been kneeling at. "But, why, did you see me?" said Mr. Standfast. "Yes, +I did," quoth the other, "and with all my heart I was glad at the sight." +"And what did you think?" said Mr. Standfast. + +3. "Was it," asked Valiant-for-truth, in a holy curiosity, "was it some +special mercy that brought thee to thy knees even now?" Yes; Valiant-for- +truth had exactly hit it. Gracious wits, like great wits, jump together. +"Yes," confessed Standfast, "I continue to give thanks for my great +deliverance." My brethren, you all pray importunately in your time of +sore trouble. Everybody does that. But do you feel an obligation, like +Standfast, to abide still on your knees long after your trouble is past? +Nature herself will teach us to pray; but it needs grace, and great grace +continually renewed, to teach us to praise, and to continue all our days +to praise. How we once prayed, ay, as earnestly, and as concernedly, and +as careless as to who should see or hear us as Standfast himself! How +some of us here to-night used to walk across a whole country all the time +praying! How we hoodwinked people in order to get away from them to pray +for twenty miles at a time all by ourselves! Under that bush--it still +stands to mark the spot; in that wood, long since cut down into ploughed +land--we could show our children the spot to this day where we prayed, +till a miracle was wrought in our behalf. Yes, till God sent from above +and took us as He never took a psalmist, and set our feet upon a still +more wonderful rock. How He, yes, HE, with His own hand cut the cords, +broke the net, and set us free! Come, all ye that fear God! we then +said, and said it with all sincerity too. And yet, how have we forgotten +what He did for our soul? We start like a guilty thing surprised when we +think how long it is since we had a spell of thanksgiving. Shame on us! +What treacherous hearts we have! What short memories we have! How soon +we forgive ourselves, and so forget the forgiveness of our God! Brethren, +let us still lay plans for praise as we used to do for prayer. If our +friends will go out with us, let us at least insist on walking home +alone. Let us say with Paul that we get sick at sea; and, besides, that +we have some calls to make and some small accounts to settle before we +leave the country. Tell them not to wait dinner for us. And then let us +take plenty of time. Let us stop at all our old stations and call back +all our old terrors; let us repeat aloud our old psalms--the +twenty-fifth, the fifty-first, the hundred and third, and the hundred and +thirtieth. We used to terrify people with our prayers as Standfast +terrified the young pilgrims that day; let us surprise and delight them +now with our psalms of thanksgiving. For, with all our disgraceful +ingratitude in the past, if William Law is right, we are even yet not far +from being great saints, if he is not wrong when he asks: "Would you know +who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or +fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for +temperance, chastity, or justice. But it is he who is most thankful to +God, and who has a heart always ready to praise God. This is the +perfection of all virtues. Joy in God and thankfulness to God is the +highest perfection of a divine and holy life." Well, then, what an +endless cause of joy and thankfulness have we! Let us acknowledge it, +and henceforth employ it; and we shall, please God, even yet be counted +as not low down but high up among the saints and the servants of God. + +4. Christiana said many kind and wise and beautiful things to all the +other pilgrims before she entered the river, but it was observed that +though she sent for Mr. Standfast, she said not one word to him when he +came; she just gave him her ring. "The touch is human and affecting," +says Mr. Louis Stevenson, in his delightful paper on Bagster's "Bunyan," +in the _Magazine of Art_. By the way, do you who are lovers of Bunyan +literature know that remarkable and delicious paper? The Messrs. Bagster +should secure that paper and should issue an _edition de luxe_ of their +neglected "Bunyan," with Mr. Stevenson's paper for a preface and +introduction. Bagster's "Illustrated Bunyan," with an introduction on +the illustrations by Mr. Louis Stevenson, if I am not much mistaken, +would sell by the thousand. + +5. Lord Rosebery knows books and loves books, and he has called +attention to the surpassing beauty of the English in the deathbed scenes +of the _Pilgrim's Progress_. And every lover of pure, tender, and noble +English must, like the Foreign Secretary, have all those precious pages +by heart. Were it not that we all have a cowardly fear at death +ourselves, and think it wicked and cruel even to hint at his approaching +death even to a fast-dying man, we would never let any of our friends lie +down on his sick-bed without having a reassuring and victorious page of +the _Pilgrim_ read to him every day. If the doctors would allow me, I +would have these heavenly pages reprinted in sick-bed type for all my +people. But I am afraid at the doctors. And thus one after another of +my people passes away without the fortification and the foretaste that +the deathbeds of Christian, and Christiana, and Hopeful, and Mr. Fearing, +and Mr. Feeble-mind, and Mr. Honest, and Mr. Standfast would most surely +have given to them. Especially the deathbed, if I must so call it, of +Mr. Standfast. But as Christiana said nothing that could be heard to Mr. +Standfast about his or her latter end, but just looked into his eyes and +gave him her ring, so I may not be able to say all that is in my heart +when your doctor is standing close by. But you will understand what I +would fain say, will you not? You will remember, and will have this +heavenly book read to you alternately with your Bible, will you not? Even +the most godless doctor will give way to you when you tell him that you +know as well as he does just how it is with you, and that you are to have +your own way for the last time. I know a doctor who first forbade her +minister and her family to tell his patient that she was dying, and at +the same time told them to take away from her bedside all such alarming +books as the _Pilgrim's Progress_ and the _Saint's Rest_, and to read to +her a reassuring chapter out of _Old Mortality_ and _Pickwick_. + +It will, no doubt, put the best-prepared of us into a deep muse, as it +put Standfast, when we are first told that we must at once prepare +ourselves for a change of life. But I for one would not for worlds miss +that solemn warning, and that last musing-time. It will all be just as +my Master pleases; but if it is within His will I shall till then +continue to petition Him that I may have a passage over the river like +the passage of Standfast. Or, if that may not now be, then, at least, a +musing-time like his. The post from the Celestial City brought Mr. +Standfast's summons "open" in his hand. And thus it was that Standfast's +translation did not take him by surprise. Standfast was not plunged +suddenly and without warning into the terrible river. He took the open +summons into big own hand and read it out like a man. After which he +went, as his manner was, for a good while into a deep and undisturbed +muse. As soon as he came out of his muse he would have Greatheart to be +sent for. And then their last conversation together proceeded. And no +one interfered with the two brave-hearted men. No one interposed, or +said that Greatheart would exhaust or alarm Standfast, or would +injuriously hasten his end. Not only so, but all the way till he was +half over the river, Standfast kept up his own side of the noble +conversation. And it is his side of that half-earthly, whole-heavenly +conversation that I would like to have put into suitable type and +scattered broadcast over all our sick-beds. + +6. "Tell me," says Valdes to Julia in his _Christian Alphabet_, "have +you ever crossed a deep river by a ford?" "Yes," says Julia, "I have, +many times." "And have you remarked how that by looking upon the water +it seemed as though your head swam, so that, if you had not assisted +yourself, either by closing your eyes, or by fixing them on the opposite +shore, you would have fallen into the water in great danger of drowning?" +"Yes, I have noticed that." "And have you seen how by keeping always for +your object the view of the land that lies on the other side, you have +not felt that swimming of the head, and so have suffered no danger of +drowning?" "I have noticed that too," replied Julia. Now, it was +exactly this same way of looking, not at the black and swirling river, +but at the angelic conduct waiting for him at the further bank, and then +at the open gate of the Celestial City,--it was this that kept +Standfast's head so steady and his heart like a glowing coal while he +stood and talked in the middle of the giddy stream. You would have +thought it was Paul himself talking to himself on the road to Assos. For +I defy even the apostle himself to have talked better or more boldly to +himself even on the solid midday road than Standfast talked to himself in +the bridgeless river. "I see myself," he said, "at the end of my journey +now. My toilsome days are all ended. I am going now to see that head +that was crowned with thorns, and that face that was spat upon for me. I +loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of +His shoe in the earth I have coveted to set my foot also. His name has +been to me as a civet-box; yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His word I +did use to gather for my food, and for antidotes against my faintings. He +has held me, and I have kept me from my iniquities. Yea, my steps He has +strengthened in my way." Now, while Standfast was thus in discourse his +countenance changed, his strong man bowed down under him, and after he +had said "Take me!" he ceased to be seen of them. But how glorious it +was to see how the open region was now filled with horses and chariots, +with trumpeters and pipers, and with singers and players on stringed +instruments, all to welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one +another in at the beautiful gate of the city! + + + + +MADAM BUBBLE + + + "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."--_Solomon_. + + "I have overcome the world."--_Our Lord_. + + "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For + all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, + and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And + the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."--_John_. + + "This bubble world."--_Quarles_. + +Madam Bubble's portrait was first painted by the Preacher. And he +painted her portrait with extraordinary insight, boldness, and +truthfulness. There is that in the Preacher's portrait of Madam Bubble +which only comes of the artist having mixed his colours, as Milman says +that Tacitus mixed his ink, with resentment and with remorse. Out of His +reading of Solomon and Moses and the Prophets on this same subject, as +well as out of His own observation and experience, conflict and conquest, +our Lord added some strong and deep and inward touches of His own to that +well-known picture, and then named it by the New Testament name of the +World. And then, after Him, His longest-lived disciple set forth the +same mother and her three daughters under the three names that still +stick to them to this day,--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, +and the pride of life. But it was reserved for John Bunyan to fill up +and to finish those outlines of Scripture and to pour over the whole work +his own depth and strength of colour, till, altogether, Madam Bubble +stands out as yet another masterpiece of our dreamer's astonishing +genius. Let us take our stand before this heaving canvas, then, till we +have taken attentive note of some of John Bunyan's inimitable touches and +strokes and triumphs of truth and art. "One in very pleasant attire, but +old . . . This woman is a witch . . . I am the mistress of the world, she +said, and men are made happy by me . . . A tall, comely dame, something +of a swarthy complexion." In the newly discovered portrait of a woman, +by Albert Durer, one of the marks of its genuineness is the way that the +great artist's initials A. D. are pencilled in on the embroidery of the +lady's bodice. And you will note in this gentlewoman's open dress also +how J. B. is inextricably woven in. "She wears a great purse by her side +also, and her hand is often in her purse fingering her money. Yea, this +is she that has bought off many a man from a pilgrim's life after he had +fairly begun it. She is a bold and an impudent slut also, for she will +talk with any man. If there be one cunning to make money in any place, +she will speak well of him from house to house . . . She has given it out +in some places also that she is a goddess, and therefore some do actually +worship her . . . She has her times and open places of cheating, and she +will say and avow it that none can show a good comparable to hers. And +thus she has brought many to the halter, and ten thousand times more to +hell. None can tell of the mischief that she does. She makes variance +betwixt rulers and subjects, betwixt parents and children, 'twixt +neighbour and neighbour, 'twixt a man and his wife, 'twixt a man and +himself, 'twixt the flesh and the heart." And so on in the great +original. "Had she stood by all this while," said Standfast, whose eyes +were still full of her, "you could not have set Madam Bubble more amply +before me, nor have better described her features." "He that drew her +picture was a good limner," said Mr. Honest, "and he that so wrote of her +said true". + +1. "I am the mistress of this world," says Madam Bubble. And though all +the time she is a bold and impudent slut, yet it is the simple truth that +she does sit as a queen over this world and over the men of this world. +For Madam Bubble has a royal family like all other sovereigns. She has a +court of her own, too, with its ball-room presentations and its birthday +honours. She has a cabinet council also, and a bar and a bench with +their pleadings and their decisions. Far more than all that, she has a +church which she has established and of which she is the head; and a +faith also of which she is the defender. She has a standing army also +for the extension and the protection of her dominions. She levies taxes, +too, and sends out ambassadors, and makes treaties, and forms offensive +and defensive alliances. But what a bubble all this World is to him +whose eyes have at last been opened to see the hollowness and the +heartlessness of it all! For all its pursuits and all its possessions, +from a child's rattle to a king's sceptre, all is one great bubble. +Wealth, fame, place, power; art, science, letters; politics, churches, +sacraments, and scriptures--all are so many bubbles in Madam Bubble's +World. This wicked enchantress, if she does not find all these things +bubbles already, by one touch of her evil wand she makes them so. She +turns gold into dross, God into an idle name, and His Word into words +only; unless when in her malice she turns it into a fruitful ground of +debate and contention; a ground of malice and hatred and ill-will. Vanity +of vanities; all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Still, she sits a +queen and a goddess to a great multitude: to all men, to begin with. And, +like a goddess, she sheds abroad her spirit in her people's hearts and +lifts up upon them for a time the light of her countenance. + +2. "I am the mistress of the world," she says, "and men are made happy +by me."--I would like to see one of them. I have seen many men to whom +Madam Bubble had said that if they would be ruled by her she would make +them great and happy. But though I have seen not a few who have believed +her and let themselves be ruled by her, I have never yet seen one happy +man among them.--The truth is, Madam Bubble is not able to make men happy +even if she wished to do it. She is not happy herself, and she cannot +dispense to others what she does not possess. And, yet, such are her +sorceries that, while her old dupes die in thousands every day, new dupes +are born to her every day in still greater numbers. New dupes who run to +the same excess of folly with her that their fathers ran; new dupes led +in the same mad dance after Madam Bubble and her three daughters. But, +always, and to all men, what a bubble both the mother and all her +daughters are! How they all make promises like their lying mother, and +how, like her, they all lead men, if not to the halter and to hell, as +Greatheart said, yet to a life of vanity and to a death of disappointment +and despair! What bubbles of empty hopes both she and her three children +blow up in the brains of men! What pictures of untold happiness they +paint in the imaginations of men! What pleasures, what successes in +life, what honours and what rewards she pledges herself to see bestowed! +"She has her times and open places of cheating," said one who knew her +and all her ways well. And when men and women are still young and +inexperienced, that is one of her great cheating times. At some seasons +of the year, and in some waters, to the fisherman's surprise and +confusion, the fish will sometimes take his bare hook; a bit of a red rag +is a deadly bait. And Madam Bubble's poorest and most perfunctory +busking is quite enough for the foolish fish she angles for. And not in +our salad days only, when we are still green in judgment, but even to +grey hairs, this wicked witch continues to entrap us to our ruin. Love, +in all its phases and in all its mixtures, first deludes the very young; +and then place, and power, and fame, and money are the bait she busks for +the middle-aged and the old; and always with the same bubble end. The +whole truth is that without God, the living and ever-present God, in all +ages of it and in all parts and experiences of it, our human life is one +huge bubble. A far-shining, high-soaring bubble; but sooner or later +seen and tasted to be a bubble--a deceit-filled, poison-filled +bubble.--Happy by her! All men happy by her! The impudent slut! + +3. Another thing about this slut is this, that "she will talk with any +man." She makes up to us and makes eyes at us just as if we were free to +accept and return her three offers. And still she talks to us and offers +us the same things she offered to Standfast till, to escape her and her +offers, he betook himself to his knees. Nay, truth to tell, after she +had deceived us and ensnared us till we lay in her net cursing both her +and ourselves, so bold and so impudent and so persistent is this +temptress slut, and such fools and idiots are we, that we soon lay our +eyes on her painted beauty again and our heads in her loathsome lap; our +heads on that block over which the axe hangs by an angry hair. "She will +talk with any man." No doubt; but, then, it takes two to make a talk, +and the sad thing is that there are few men among us so wise, so +steadfast, and so experienced in her ways that they will not on occasion +let Madam Bubble talk her talk to them, and talk back again to her. The +oldest saint, the oftenest sold and most dearly redeemed sinner, needs to +suspect himself to the end, till he is clear out of Madam Bubble's +enchanted ground and for ever over that river of deliverance which shall +sweep Madam Bubble and all her daughters into the dead sea for ever. + + "The grey-haired saint may fail at last, + The surest guide a wanderer prove; + Death only binds us fast + To the bright shore of love." + +4. "She highly commends the rich," the guide goes on about Madam Bubble, +"and if there be one cunning to get money in any place she will speak +well of him from house to house." "The world," says Faber, "is not +altogether matter, nor yet altogether spirit. It is not man only, nor +Satan only, nor is it exactly sin. It is an infection, an inspiration, +an atmosphere, a life, a colouring matter, a pageantry, a fashion, a +taste, a witchery. None of all these names suit it, and all of them suit +it. Meanwhile its power over the human creation is terrific, its +presence ubiquitous, its deceitfulness incredible. It can find a home +under every heart beneath the poles. It is wider than the catholic +church, and it is masterful, lawless, and intrusive within it. We are +all living in it, breathing it, acting under its influence, being cheated +by its appearances, and unwarily admitting its principles." Let young +ministers who wish to preach to their people on the World--after studying +what the Preacher, and the Saviour, and John, and John Bunyan say about +the World,--still read Faber's powerful chapter in his _Creator and +Creature_. Yes; Madam Bubble finds a home for herself in every heart +beneath the poles. The truth is Madam Bubble has no home, as she has no +existence, but in human hearts. And all that Solomon, and our Saviour, +and John, and John Bunyan, and Frederick Faber say about the world and +about Madam Bubble they really say about the heart of man. It is we, you +and I, my brethren, who so highly commend the rich. It is we ourselves +here who speak well from house to house of him whose father or whose self +has been cunning to get money. We either speak well or ill of them. We +either are sick with envy at them, or we fawn upon them and fall down +before them. How men rise in our esteem in the degree that their money +increases! With what reverence and holy awe we look up at them as if +they were gods and the sons of gods! They become more than mortal men to +our reverent imaginations. How happy, how all but blessed they must be! +we say to ourselves. Within those park gates, under those high towers, +in that silver-mounted carriage, surrounded with all those liveried +servants, and loved and honoured by all those arriving and leaving +guests--what happiness that rich man must have! We are either eaten up +of lean-eyed envy of this and that rich man, or we positively worship +them as other men worship God and His saints. Yes; Madam Bubble is our +very mother. She conceived us and she suckled us. We were brought up in +her nurture and admonition. We learned her Catechism, and her shrine is +in our heart to-night. Like her, if only a pilgrim is poor, we scorn +him. We will not know him. But if there be any one, pilgrim or no, +cunning to get money, we honour him, and we claim him as our kindred and +relation, our acquaintance and our friend. We will speak often of him as +such from house to house. Just see if we will not. There is room in our +hearts, Madam Bubble, there is room in our hearts for thee! + +5. "She loves them most that think best of her." But, surely, surely, +the guide goes quite too far in blaming and being hard upon poor Madam +Bubble for that? For, to give her fair play, she is not at all alone in +that. Is the guide himself wholly above that? Do we not all do that? Is +there one in ten, is there one in a thousand, who hates and humiliates +himself because his love of men and women goes up or down just as they +think of him? Yes; Greatheart is true to his great name in his whole +portrait of Madam Bubble also, and nowhere more true than in this present +feature. For when any man comes to have any true greatness in his +heart--how he despises and detests himself as he finds himself out in not +only claiming kindred and acquaintance with the rich and despising and +denying the poor; but, still more, in loving or hating other men just as +they love or hate him! The world loves her own. Yes; but he who has +been taken out of the world, and who has had the world taken out of him, +he loves--he strives to love, he goes to his knees every day he lives to +love--those who not only do not think well of him, but who both think ill +of him and speak ill of him. "Humility," says William Law, "does not +consist in having a worse opinion of ourselves than we deserve, or in +abasing ourselves lower than we really are. But as all virtue is founded +in truth, so humility is founded in a true and just sense of our +weakness, misery, and sin. He who rightly feels and lives in this sense +of his condition lives in humility. And, it may be added, when our +hearts are wholly clothed with humility we shall be prompt to approve the +judgment and to endorse the sentence of those who think and speak the +least good of us and the most evil." + +6. "'Twas she," so the guide at last wound up, "that set Absalom against +his father, and Jeroboam against his master. 'Twas she that persuaded +Judas to sell his Lord, and that prevailed with Demas to forsake the +godly pilgrim's life. None can tell all the mischief that Madam Bubble +does. She makes variance between rulers and subjects, between parents +and children, 'twixt neighbour and neighbour, 'twixt a man and his wife, +'twixt a man and himself, 'twixt the flesh and the heart." Now, I shall +leave that last indictment and its lessons and its applications to +yourselves, my brethren. You will get far more good out of this +accumulated count against Madam Bubble if you explain it, and open it up, +and prove it, and illustrate it to yourselves. Explain, then, in what +way this sorceress set Absalom against his father and Jeroboam against +his master. Point out in what way she makes variance between a ruler and +his subjects, and give illustrations. Put your finger on a parent and on +a child between whom there is variance at this moment on her account. +And, if you are that parent or that child, what have you done to remove +that variance? Name two neighbours that to your knowledge Madam Bubble +has come between; and say what you have done to be a peacemaker there. +Set down what you would say to a man and his wife so as to put them on +their guard against Madam Bubble ever coming in between them. And, last +and best of all, point out to yourself at what times and in what ways +this wicked witch tries to make variance between God's Holy Spirit +striving within you and your own evil heart still strong within you. When +you are weary and sleepy and hungry as a howlet, and, Madam Bubble and +her three daughters make a ring round you, what do you do? Do you ever +take to your knees? Really and honestly, do you? When you find yourself +out looking with holy fear on a rich and lofty relation, and with +insufferable contempt on a poor and intrusive relation, by what name do +you call yourself? Write it down. And when she would fain put variance +between you and those who do not think well of you, what steps do you +take to foil her? Where and how do you get strength at that supreme +moment to think of others as you would have them think of you? "Oh," +said Standfast, "what a mercy it is that I did resist her! for to what +might she not have drawn me?" + + + + +GAIUS + + + "Gaius, mine host."--_Paul_. + +Goodman Gaius was the head of a hostel that stood on the side of the +highway well on to the Celestial City. The hostess of the hostel was no +more, and the old hostel-keeper did all her once well-done work and his +own proper work into the bargain. Every day he inspected the whole house +with his own eyes, down even to the kitchen and the scullery. The good +woman had left our host an only daughter; but, "Keep her as much out of +sight as is possible," she said, and so fell asleep. And Gaius +remembered his wife's last testament every day, till none of the hostel +customers knew that there was so much as a young hostess in all the +house. "Yes, gentlemen," replied the old innkeeper. "Yes, come in. It +is late, but I take you for true men, for you must know that my house is +kept open only for such." So he took the large pilgrim party to their +several apartments with his own eyes, and then set about a supper for +those so late arrivals. Stamping with his foot, he brought up the cook +with the euphonious and eupeptic name, and that quick-witted domestic +soon had a supper on the table that would have made a full man's mouth +water. "The sight of all this," said Matthew, as the under-cook laid the +cloth and the trenchers, and set the salt and the bread in order--"the +sight of this cloth and of this forerunner of a supper begetteth in me a +greater appetite to my food than I thought I had before." So supper came +up; and first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table +before them, in order to show that they must begin their meal with prayer +and praise to God. These two dishes were very fresh and good, and all +the travellers did eat heartily well thereof. The next was a bottle of +wine red as blood. So Gaius said to them, "Drink freely; this is the +juice of the true vine that makes glad the heart of God and man." And +they did drink and were very merry. The next was a dish of milk well +crumbed. At the sight of which Gaius said, "Let the boys have that, that +they may grow thereby." And so on, dish after dish, till the nuts came +with the recitations and the riddles and the saws and the stories over +the nuts. Thus the happy party sat talking till the break of day. + +1. Now, it is natural to remark that the first thing about a host is his +hospitality. And that, too, whether our host is but the head of a hostel +like Goodman Gaius, or the head of a well-appointed private house like +Gaius's neighbour, Mr. Mnason. The first and the last thing about a host +is his hospitality. "Say little and do much" is the example and the +injunction to all our housekeepers that Rabban Shammai draws out of the +eighteenth of Genesis. "Be like your father Abraham," he says, "on the +plains of Mamre, who only promised bread and water, but straightway set +Sarah to knead three measures of her finest meal, while he ran to the +herd and fetched a calf tender and good, and stood by the three men while +they did eat butter and milk under the tree. Make thy Thorah an +ordinance: say little and do much: and receive every man with a pleasant +expression of countenance." Now, this was exactly what Gaius our goodman +did that night, with one exception, which we shall be constrained to +attend to afterwards. "It is late," he said, "so we cannot conveniently +go out to seek food; but such as we have you shall be welcome to, if that +will content." At the same time Taste-that-which-is-good soon had a +supper sent up to the table fit for a prince: a supper of six courses at +that time in the morning, so that the sun was already in the sky when Old +Honest closed his casement. + +"Dining in company is a divine institution," says Mr. Edward White, in +his delightful _Minor Moralities of Life_. "Let Soyer's art be honoured +among all men," he goes on. "Cookery distinguishes mankind from the +beasts that perish. Happy is the woman whose daily table is the result +of forethought. Her husband shall rise up and call her blessed. It is +piteous when the culinary art is neglected in our young women's +education. Let them, as St. Peter says, imitate Sarah. Let them see how +that venerable princess went quickly to her kneading-trough and oven and +prepared an extempore collation of cakes and pilau for the angels. How +few ladies, whether Gentiles or Jewesses, could do the like in the +present day!" + +2. The wistful and punctilious attention that Goodman Gaius paid to each +individual guest of his was a fine feature in his munificent hospitality. +He made every one who crossed his doorstep, down even to Mr. Fearing, +feel at once at home, such was his exquisite as well as his munificent +hospitality. "Come, sir," he said, clapping that white-faced and +trembling pilgrim on the shoulder, "come, sir, be of good cheer, you are +welcome to me and to my house; and what thou hast a mind to, that call +for freely: for what thou wouldst have my servants will do for thee, and +they will do it for thee with a ready mind." All the same, for a long +time Mr. Fearing was mortally afraid of the servants. He would as soon +have thought of stamping his foot for a duchess to come up as for any of +Gaius's serving-maids. He was afraid to make any noise in his room lest +all the house should hear it. He was afraid to touch anything in the +room lest it should fall and be broken. We ourselves, with all our +assumed ease and elaborate abandon, are often afraid to ring our bell +even in an inn. Mr. Fearing would as soon have pulled the tail of a +rattlesnake. But before their sojourn was over, the Guide was amazed at +Mr. Fearing, for that hare-hearted pilgrim would be doing things in the +house that he himself would scarcely do who had been in the house a +thousand times. It was Gaius's exuberant heartiness that had demoralised +Mr. Fearing and made him almost too forward even for a wayside inn. In +little things also Gaius, mine host, showed his sensitive and solicitous +hospitality. We all know housekeepers, not to say innkeepers, and not +otherwise ungenerous housekeepers either who will grudge us a +sixpennyworth of sticks and coals in a cold night, and that, too, in a +room furnished to overflowing by Morton Brothers or the Messrs. Maple. We +take a candlestick and a dozen candles with us in the boot of the +carriage when we wish to read or write late into the night in that great +house. Another housekeeper, who would give you her only daughter with +her wealthy dowry, will sometimes be seen by all in her house to grudge +you a fresh cup of afternoon tea when you drop in to see her and her +daughter. She says to herself that it is to spare the servants the +stairs; but, all the time, under the stairs, the servants are blushing +for the sometimes unaccountable stinginess of their unusually munificent +mistress. I shall give you "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a +little and there a little" of Aristotle upon munificence in little things +till you come up to his pagan standard. "There is a real greatness," he +says, "even in the way that some men will buy a toy to a child. Even in +the smallest matters the munificent man will act munificently!" As +Gaius, mine host, munificently did. + +3. Speaking of children, what a night of entertainment good old Gaius +gave the children of the pilgrim party! "Let the boys have the crumbed +milk," he gave orders. "Butter and honey shall they eat," he exclaimed +over them as that brimming dish came up. "This was our Lord's dish when +He was a child," he said to the mother of the boys, "that He might know +to refuse the evil and to choose the good." Then they brought up a dish +of apples, and they were very good-tasted fruit. Then said Matthew, "May +we eat apples, since they were such by and with which the serpent +beguiled our first mother?" Then said Gaius, + + "Apples were they by which we were beguiled, + Yet sin, not apples, hath our souls defiled. + Apples forbid, if eat, corrupt the blood. + To eat such, when commanded, does us good. + Drink of His flagons then, thou Church, His Dove, + And eat His apples who are sick of love." + +Then said Matthew, "I make the scruple because I awhile since was sick +with eating of fruit." "Forbidden fruit," said the host, "will make you +sick, but not what our Lord hath tolerated." While they were thus +talking they were presented with another dish, and it was a dish of nuts. +Then said some at the table, "Nuts spoil tender teeth, especially the +teeth of children," which when Gaius heard, he said, + + "Hard texts are nuts (I will not call them cheaters) + Whose shells do keep their kernels from the eaters; + Ope then the shells and you shall have the meat; + They here are brought for you to crack and eat." + +Then Samuel whispered to his mother and said, "Mother, this is a very +good man's house; let us stay here a good while before we go any +farther." The which Gaius the host overhearing, said, "With a very good +will, my child." + +4. Widower as old Gaius was, and never for a single hour forgot that he +was, there was a certain sweet and stately gallantry awakened in his +withered old heart at the sight of Christiana and Mercy, and especially +at the sight of Matthew and Mercy when they were seen together. He seems +to have fallen almost in love with that aged matron, as he called her, +and the days of his youth came back to him as he studied the young +damsel, who was to her as a daughter. And this set the loquacious old +innkeeper upon that famous oration about women which every man who has a +mother, or a wife, or a sister, or a daughter has by heart. And from +that he went on to discourse on the great advantages of an early +marriage. He was not the man, nor was he speaking to a mother who was +the woman, ever to become a vulgar and coarse-minded matchmaker; at the +same time, he liked to see Matthew and Mercy sent out on a message +together, leaving it to nature and to grace to do the rest. The pros and +cons of early marriage were often up at his hearty table, but he always +debated, and Gaius was a great debater, that true hospitality largely +consisted in throwing open the family circle to let young people get well +acquainted with one another in its peace and sweetness. And Gaius both +practised what he preached, and at the same time endorsed his watchful +wife's last testament, when he gave his daughter Phebe to James, +Christiana's second son, and thus was left alone, poor old Gaius, when +the happy honeymoon party started upward from his hostel door. + +5. Their next host was one Mr. Mnason, a Cyprusian by nation, and an old +disciple. "How far have you come to-day?" he asked. "From the house of +Gaius our friend," they said. "I promise you," said he, "you have gone a +good stitch; you may well be weary; sit down." So they sat down. "Our +great want a while since," said Old Honest, "was harbour and good +company, and now I hope we have both." "For harbour," said the host, +"you see what it is, but for good company that will appear in the trial." +After they were a little rested Old Honest again asked his host if there +were any store of good people in that town; and, "How," he said, "shall +we do to see some of them? For the sight of good men to them that are +going on pilgrimage is like to the appearing of the moon and stars to +them that are sailing upon the seas." Then Mr. Mnason stamped with his +foot and his daughter Grace came up, when he sent her out for five of his +friends in the town, saying that he had a guest or two in his house at +present to whom he would like to introduce them. + +Now, this is another of the good qualities of a good host, to know the +best and the most suitable people in the town, and to be on such terms +with them that on short notice they will step across to help to entertain +such travellers as had come to Mr. Mnason's table. And it is an +excellent thing to be sure that when we are so invited we shall not only +get a good dinner, but also, as good "kitchen" with our dinner, good +company and good conversation. It is nothing short of a fine art to +gather together and to seat suitably beside one another good and suitable +people as Mr. and Miss Mnason did in their hospitable house that +afternoon. And then, as to the talk: let the host and the hostess +introduce the guests, and then let the guests introduce their own topics. +And as far as possible, in a city and a day like this, let our topics be +books rather than people. And let the books be the books that the guests +have read rather than those that the host and the hostess have read. +Books are a fine subject for a talk at table. Only, let great readers +order their learned and literary talk so as not to lead the less learned +into temptation. There is no finer exercise of fine feeling than to be +able to carry on a conversation about matters that other people present +are ignorant of, and at the same time to interest them, to set them at +ease, and to make them forget both you and themselves. I had a letter +the other day from an English Church clergyman, in which he tells me that +his bishop is coming this month to his vicarage for a kind of visitation +and retreat, and that they are to have William Law's _Characters and +Characteristics_ read aloud to them when the bishop and the assembled +clergy are at their meals. For my part, I would rather hear a good all- +round talk on that book by the bishop and his clergy after they had all +read the book over and over again at home. But such readings at +assembled meals have all along been a feature of the best fraternal life +in the Church of England and in some of the sister churches. + +6. Now, after dining and supping repeatedly with garrulous old Gaius, +and with the all-but-silent Mr. Mnason, I have come home ruminating again +and again on this--that a good host, the best host, lets his guests talk +while he attends to the table. If the truth may even be whispered to +one's-self about a table that one has just left, Gaius did his best to +spoil his good supper by his own over-garrulity. It was good talk that +he entertained his waiting guests with, but we may have too much of a +good thing. His oration in praise of women was an excellent oration, had +it been delivered in another house than his own; and, say, when he was +asked to give the health of Christiana, or of Matthew the bridegroom and +Mercy the bride, it would then have been perfect; but not in his own +house, and not when his guests were waiting for their supper. On the +other hand, you should have seen that perfect gentleman, Mr. Mnason. For +that true old Christian and old English gentleman never once opened his +mouth after he had set his guests a-talking. He was too busy watching +when any man's dish was again empty. He was too much delighted to see +that every one of his guests was having his punctual share of the supper, +and at the same time his full share of the talk. Mr. Fearing's small +voice was far more pleasant to Mr. Mnason than his own voice was in his +own best story. As I opened my own door the other night after supping +with Mr. and Miss Mnason, I said to myself--One thing I have again seen +and learned to-night, and that is, that a host, and still more a hostess, +should talk less at their own table than their most silent, most bashful, +and most backward guest. "Make this an ordinance for thee," said Rabban +Shammai to his sons in the law; "receive all thy guests with a pleasant +expression of countenance, and then say little and do much." + + + + +CHRISTIAN + + + "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."--_Luke_. + + "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."--_King Agrippa_. + + "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from + iniquity."--_Paul_. + +All the other personages in the Pilgrim's Progress come and go; they all +ascend the stage for a longer or shorter time, and then pass off the +stage and so pass out of our sight; but Christian in the First Part, and +Christiana in the Second Part, are never for a single moment out of our +sight. And, accordingly, we have had repeated occasion and opportunity +to learn many excellent lessons from the chief pilgrim's upward walk and +heavenly conversation. But so full and so rich are his life and his +character, that some very important things still remain to be collected +before we finally close his history. "Gather up the fragments that +nothing be lost," said our Lord, after His miraculous meal of multiplied +loaves and fishes with His disciples. And in like manner I shall now +proceed to gather up some of the remaining fragments of Christian's life +and character and experience. And I shall collect these fragments into +the three baskets of his book, his burden, and his sealed roll and +certificate. + +1. And first, a few things as to his book. "As I slept I dreamed, and +behold I saw a man clothed in rags standing in a certain place, with his +face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his +back. I looked and saw him open the book and read therein; and as he +read he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain he broke +out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?" We hear a great +deal in these advertising days, and not one word too much, about the +books that have influenced and gone largely to the making of our great +men; but Graceless, like John Bunyan, his biographer, was a man of but +one book. But, then, that book was the most influential of all books; it +was the Book of books; it was God's very own and peculiar Book. And +those of us who, like this man, have passed out of a graceless into a +gracious state will for ever remember how that same Book at that time +influenced us till it made us what we are and shall yet be. We read many +other good books at that epoch in our life, but it was the pure Bible +that we read and prayed over out of sight the most. We needed no +commentators or exegetes on our simple Bible in those days. The great +texts stood out to our eyes in those days as if they had been written +with a sunbeam; while all other books (and we read nothing but the best +books in those days) looked like twilight and rushlight beside our Bible. +In those immediate, direct, and intense days we would have satisfied +Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold themselves in the way we read our Bible +with our eye never off the object. The Four Last Things were ever before +us--death and judgment, heaven and hell. "O my dear wife," said +Graceless, "and you the children of my bowels, I your dear friend am in +myself undone by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I +am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire from +heaven, in which fearful overthrow both myself, with thee my wife, and +you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except (the which yet I +see not) some way of escape can be found whereby we may be delivered." He +would walk also solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading and sometimes +praying; and thus for some days he spent his time. Graceless at that +time and at that stage would have satisfied the exigent author of the +_Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection_ where he says that "we are +too apt also to think that we have sufficiently read a book when we have +so read it as to know what it contains. This reading may be quite +sufficient as to many books; but as to the Bible we are not to think that +we have read it enough because we have often read and heard what it +teaches. We must read our Bible, not to know what it contains, but to +fill our hearts with the spirit of it." And, again, and on this same +point, "There is this unerring key to the right use of the Bible. The +Bible has only one intent, and that is to make a man know, resist, and +abhor the working of his fallen earthly nature, and to turn the faith, +hope, and longing desire of his heart to God; and therefore we are only +to read our Bibles with this view and to learn this one lesson from it . +. . The critic looks into his books to see how Latin and Greek authors +have used the words 'stranger' and 'pilgrim,' but the Christian, who +knows that man lives in labour and toil, in sickness and pain, in hunger +and thirst, in heat and cold among the beasts of the field, where evil +spirits like roaring lions seek to devour him--he only knows in what +truth and reality man is a poor stranger and a distressed pilgrim upon +the earth." John Bunyan read neither Plato nor Aristotle, but he read +David and Paul till he was the chief of sinners, and till he was first +the Graceless and then the Christian of his own next-to-the-Bible book. + +2. In the second place, and as to his burden. We are supplied with no +particulars as to the first beginnings, the gradual make-up, and at last +the terrible size of Christian's burden. What this pilgrim's youthful +life must have been in such a city as his native city was, and while he +was still a young man of such a name and such a character in such a city, +we are left to ourselves to think and consider. Graceless was his name +by nature, and his life was as his name and his nature were. Still, as I +have said, we have no detailed and particular account of his early life +when his burden was still day and night in the making up. How long into +your life were you graceless, my brother? And what kind of life did you +lead day and night before you were persuaded or alarmed, as the case may +have been with you, into being a Christian? What burdens do you carry on +your broken back to this day that were made up in the daylight or in the +darkness by your own hands in your early days? Were you early or were +you too late in your conversion? Or are you truly converted to God and +to salvation even yet? And are you at this moment still binding a burden +on your back that you shall never lay down on this side your grave--it +may be, not on this side your burning bed in hell? Ask yourselves all +that before God and before your own conscience, and make yourselves +absolutely sure that God at any rate is not mocked; and, therefore that +you, too, shall in the end reap exactly as you from the beginning have +sown. "How camest thou by thy burden at first?" asked Mr. +Worldly-Wiseman at the trembling pilgrim. "By reading this book in my +hand," he answered. And, in the long run, it is always the Bible that +best creates a sinner's burden, binds it on his back, and makes it so +terribly heavy to bear. Fear of death and judgment will sometimes make +up and bind on a sinner's burden; and sometimes the fear of man's +judgment on this side of death will do it. Fear of being found out in +some cases will make a man's secret sin far too heavy for him to bear. +The throne of public opinion is not a very white throne; at the same +time, it is a coarse forecast and a rough foretaste of the last judgment; +and the fear of it not seldom makes a man's burden simply intolerable to +him. Sometimes a great sinner's burden leads him to flight and outlawry; +sometimes to madness and self-murder; and sometimes, by the timeous and +sufficient grace of God, to the way of escape that our pilgrim took. +Tenderness of conscience, also, simple softness of heart and conscience, +will sometimes make a terrible burden out of what other men would call a +very light matter. Bind a burden on that iron pillar standing there, and +it will feel nothing and say nothing. But, bind the same burden on that +man in whose seat that dead pillar takes up a sitter's room, and he will +make all that are in the house hear his sighs and his groans. And lay an +act of sin--an evil word or evil work or evil thought--on one man among +us, and he will walk about the streets with as erect a head and as +smiling a countenance and as light a step as if he were an innocent +child; while, lay half as much on his neighbour, and it will so bruise +him to the earth that all men will take knowledge of him that he is a +miserable man. Our Lord could no doubt have carried His cross from the +hall of judgment to the hill-top without help had His back not been wet +with blood. What with a whole and an unwealed body, a well-rested and +well-nourished body, He could easily have carried, with His broken body +and broken heart He quite sank under. And so it is with His people. One +of His heart-broken, heart-bleeding people will sink down to death and +hell under a burden of sin and corruption that another of them will +scarcely feel or know or believe that it is there. Some sins again in +themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are far more heavy to +bear than others, and by some sinners than others. I was reading Bishop +Andrewes to myself last night and came upon this pertinent passage. "Sin: +its measure, its harm, its scandal. Its quality: how often--how long. +The person by whom: his age, condition, state, enlightenment. Its +manner, motive, time, and place. The folly of it, the ingratitude of it, +the hardness of it, the presumptuousness of it. By heart, by mouth, by +deed. Against God, my neighbours, my own body. By knowledge, by +ignorance. Willingly and unwillingly. Of old and of late. In boyhood +and youth, in mature and old age. Things done once, repeated often, +hidden and open. Things done in anger, and from the lust of the flesh +and of the world. Before and after my call. Asleep by night and awake +by day. Things remembered and things forgotten. Through the fiery darts +of the enemy, through the unclean desires of the flesh--I have sinned +against Thee. Have mercy on me, O God, and forgive me!" That is the way +some men's burdens are made up to such gigantic proportions and then +bound on by such acute cords. That is the way that Lancelot Andrewes and +John Bunyan walked solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading and +sometimes praying, till the one of them put himself into his immortal +_Devotions_, and the other into his immortal _Grace Abounding_ and +_Pilgrim's Progress_. + +"Then I saw in my dream that Christian asked the Gatekeeper further if he +could not help him off with his burden that was upon his back, for as yet +he had not got rid of it, nor could he by any means get it off without +help. He told him, 'As to thy burden, be content to bear it until thou +comest to the place of deliverance, for there it will fall from off thy +back itself.' Now I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian +was to go was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall is +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 sepulchre. So I saw in my +dream that just as Christian came up with the cross his burden loosed +from off his back, and began to tumble and so continued to do till it +came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and I saw it no +more. 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!'" + + "Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! Blest rather be + The Man that there was put to shame for me." + +But, then, how it could be that this so happy man was scarcely a stone- +cast past the cross when he had begun again to burden himself with fresh +sin, and thus to disinter all his former sin? How a true pilgrim comes +to have so many burdens to bear, and that till he ceases to be any longer +a pilgrim,--a burden of guilt, a burden of corruption, and a burden of +bare creaturehood,--I must leave all that, and all the questions +connected with all that, for you all to think out and work out for +yourselves; and you will not say any morning on this earth, like Mrs. +Timorous, that you have little to do. + +3. The third of the three Shining Ones who saluted Christian at the +cross set a mark on his forehead, and put a roll with a seal set upon it +into his hand. A roll and a seal which he bid him look on as he ran, and +that he should give that roll in at the Celestial Gate. Bunyan does not +in all places come up to his usual clearness in what he says about the +sealed roll. We must believe that he understood his own meaning and +intention in all that he says, first and last, about the roll, but he has +not always made his meaning clear, at least to one of his readers. +Theological students, and, indeed, all thoughtful Christian men, are +invited to read Dr. Cunningham's powerful paper on Assurance in his +_Reformers_. The whole literature of Assurance is there taken up and +weighed and sifted with all that great writer's incomparable learning and +power and judgment. Our Larger Catechism, also, is excellent on this +subject; and this subject is a favourite commonplace with all our best +Calvinistic, Puritan, and Evangelical authors. Let us take two or three +passages out of those authors just as a specimen, and so close. + +"Can true believers"--Larger Catechism, Question 80--"Can true believers +be infallibly assured that they are in an estate of grace, and that they +shall persevere therein to the end? _Answer_: Such as truly believe in +Christ, and endeavour to walk in all good conscience before Him may, +without extraordinary revelation, by faith grounded upon the truth of +God's promise, and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves +those graces to which the promises of eternal life are made, and bearing +witness with their spirits that they are the children of God, they may be +infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall +persevere therein unto salvation." Question 81: "Are all true believers +at all times assured of their present being in a state of grace, and that +they shall be saved? _Answer_: Assurance of grace and salvation not +being of the essence of faith, true believers may wait long before they +obtain it, and, after the enjoyment thereof, may have it weakened and +intermitted through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and +desertions; yet are they never left without such a presence and support +of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair." "A +Christian's assurance," says Fraser of Brea, "though it does not firstly +flow from his holiness, yet is ever after proportionable to his holy +walking. Faith is kept in a pure conscience. Sin is like a blot of ink +fallen upon our evidence. This I found to be a truth." "It was the +speech of one to me," says Thomas Shepard of New England, "next to the +donation of Christ, no mercy like this, to deny assurance long; and why? +For if the Lord had not, I should have given way to a loose heart and +life. And this is a rule I have long held--long denial of assurance is +like fire to burn out some sin and then the Lord will speak peace." +"Serve your God day and night faithfully," says Dr. Goodwin. "Walk +humbly; and there is a promise of the Holy Ghost to come and fill your +hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious to rear you up to the day of +redemption. Sue this promise out, wait for it, rest not in believing +only, rest not in assurance by graces only; there is a further assurance +to be had." "I would not give a straw for that assurance," says John +Newton, "which sin will not damp. If David had come from his adultery +and still have talked of his assurance, I should have despised his +speech." "When we want the faith of assurance," says Matthew Henry, "let +us live by the faith of adherence." And then the whole truth is in a +nutshell in Isaiah and in John: "The effect of righteousness shall be +quietness and assurance for ever," and "My little children, let us not +love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we +shall know that we are of the truth, and so shall assure our hearts +before Him." + + + + +CHRISTIANA + + + "Honour widows that are widows indeed."--_Paul_. + +We know next to nothing of Christiana till after she is a widow indeed. +The names of her parents, and what kind of parents they were, the schools +and the boarding-schools to which they sent their daughter, her school +companions, the books she read, if she ever read any books at all, the +amusements she was indulged in and indulged herself in--on all that her +otherwise full and minute biographer is wholly silent. He does not go +back beyond her married life; he does not even go back to the beginning +of that. The only thing we are sure of about Christiana's early days is +that she was an utterly ungodly woman and that she married an utterly +ungodly man. "Have you a family? Are you a married man?" asked Charity +of Christian in the House Beautiful. "I have a wife and four small +children," he replied. "And why did you not bring them along with you?" +Then Christian wept, and said: "Oh, how willingly would I have done it; +but they were all utterly averse to my going on pilgrimage." "But you +should have talked to them," said Charity, "and have endeavoured to have +shown them the danger of being behind." "So I did," answered Christian. +"And did you pray to God that He would bless your counsel to them?" "Yes, +and with much affection; for you must think that my wife and poor +children were very dear unto me." "But what could they say for +themselves why they came not?" "Why, my wife was afraid of losing the +world, and my children were given over to the foolish delights of youth; +so what with one thing and what with another, they left me to wander in +this manner alone." + +But what her husband's conversion, good example, and most earnest +entreaties could not all do for his worldly wife, that his sudden death +speedily did. And thus it is that both Christiana's best life, all our +interest in her, and all our information about her, dates, sad to say, +not from her espousal, nor from her marriage day, nor from any part of +her married life, but from her husband's death. Her maidenhood has no +interest for us; all our interest is fixed on her widowhood. This work +of fiction now in our hands begins where all other works of fiction end; +for in the life of religion, you must know, our best is always before us. +Well, scarcely was her husband dead when Christiana began to accuse +herself of having killed him. To take her own bitter words for it, the +most agonising and remorseful thoughts about her conduct to her husband +stung her heart like so many wasps. Ah yes! A wasp's sting is but a +blade of innocent grass compared with the thoughts that have stung us all +as we recalled what we said and did to those who are now no more. There +are graves in the churchyard we dare not go near. "I have sinned away +your father!" she cried, as she threw herself on the earth at the feet of +her astounded children. "I have sinned away your father and he is gone!" +And yet there was no mark of a bullet and no gash of a knife on his dead +body, and no chemistry could have extracted one grain of arsenic or of +strychnine out of his blood. But there are many ways of taking a man's +life besides those of poison or a knife or a gunshot. Constant fault- +finding, constant correction and studied contempt before strangers, total +want of sympathy and encouragement, gloomy looks, rough remarks, all +blame and never a word of praise, things like these between man and wife +will kill as silently and as surely as poison or suffocation. Look at +home, my brethren, and ask yourselves what you will think of much of your +present conduct when it has borne its proper fruit. "Upon this came into +her mind by swarms all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly carriages to +her dear friend, which also clogged her conscience and did load her with +guilt. It all returned upon her like a flash of lightning, and rent the +caul of her heart asunder." "That which troubleth me most," she would +cry out, "is my churlish carriages to him when he was under distress. I +am that woman," she would cry out and would not be appeased--"I am that +woman that was so hardhearted as to slight my husband's troubles, and +that left him to go on his journey alone. How like a churl I carried +myself to him in all that! And so guilt took hold of my mind," she said +to the Interpreter, "and would have drawn me to the pond!" + +A minister's widow once told me that she had gone home after hearing a +sermon of mine on the text, "What profit is there in my blood?" and had +destroyed a paper of poison she had purchased in her despair on the +previous Saturday night. It was not a sermon from her unconscious +minister, but it was far better; it was a conversation that Christiana +held with her four boys that fairly and for ever put all thought of the +pond out of their mother's remorseful mind. "So Christiana," as we read +in the opening of her history--"so Christiana called her sons together +and began thus to address herself unto them: My sons, I have, as you may +perceive, been of late under much exercise in my soul about the death of +your father. My carriages to your father in his distress are a great +load on my conscience. Come, my children, let us pack up and be gone to +the gate, that we may see your father and be with him, according to the +laws of that land." I like that passage, I think, the best in all +Christiana's delightful history--that passage which begins with these +words: "So she called her children together." For when she called her +children together she opened to them both her heart and her conscience; +and from that day there was but one heart and one conscience in all that +happy house. I was walking alone on a country road the other day, and as +I was walking I was thinking about my pastoral work and about my people +and their children, when all at once I met one of my people. My second +sentence to him was: "This very moment I was thinking about your sons. +How are they getting on?" He quite well understood me. He knew that I +was not indifferent as to how they were getting on in business, but he +knew that I was alluding more to the life of godliness and virtue in +their hearts and in their characters. "O sir," he said, "you may give +your sons the skin off your back, but they will not give you their +confidence!" So had it been with Christian and his sons. He had never +managed, even in his religion, to get into the confidence of his sons; +but when their mother took them into her agonised confidence, from that +day she was in all their confidences, good and bad. You who are in your +children's confidences will pray in secret for my lonely friend with the +skin off his back, will you not? that he may soon be able to call his +sons together so as to start together on a new life of family love, and +family trust, and family religion. That was a fine sight. Who will make +a picture of it? This widow indeed at the head of her family council- +table, and Matthew at the foot, and James and Joseph and Samuel all in +their places. "Come, my children, let us pack up that we may see your +father!" Then did her children burst into tears for joy that the heart +of their mother was so inclined. + +From that first family council let us pass on to Christiana's last +interview with her family and her other friends. Her biographer +introduces her triumphant translation with this happy comment on the +margin: "How welcome is death to them that have nothing to do but die!" +Well, that was exactly Christiana's case. She had so packed up at the +beginning of her journey; she had so got and had so kept the confidences +of all her sons; she had seen them all so married in the Lord, and thus +so settled in a life of godliness and virtue; she had, in short, lived +the life of a widow indeed, till, when the post came for her, she had +nothing left to do but just to rise up and follow him. His token to her +was an arrow with a point sharpened with love, let easily into her heart, +which by degrees wrought so effectually with her that at the time +appointed she must be gone. We have read of arrows of death sharpened +sometimes with steel and sometimes with poison; but this arrow, shot from +heaven, was sharpened to a point with love. Indeed, that arrow, or the +very fellow of it, had been shot into Christiana's heart long ago when +she stood at that spot somewhat ascending where was a cross and a +sepulchre; and, especially, ever since the close of Greatheart's great +discourse on pardon by deed. For the hearing of that famous discourse +had made her exclaim: "Oh! Thou loving One, it makes my heart bleed to +think that Thou shouldest bleed for me! Oh! Thou blessed One, Thou +deservest to have me, for Thou hast bought me! Thou deservest to have me +all, for Thou hast paid for me ten thousand times more than I am worth!" +Now it was with all that love working effectually in her heart that +Christiana called for her children to give them her blessing. And what a +comfort it was to her to see them all around her with the mark of the +kingdom on their foreheads, and with their garments white. "My sons and +my daughters," she said, "be you all ready against the time His post +calls for you." Then she called for Mr. Valiant-for-truth, and entreated +him to have an eye on her children, and to speak comfortably to them if +at any time he saw them faint. And then she gave Mr. Standfast her ring. +"Behold," she said, as Mr. Honest came in--"Behold an Israelite indeed, +in whom is no guile!" Then Mr. Ready-to-halt came in, and then Mr. +Despondency and his daughter Much-afraid, and then Mr. Feeble-mind. Now +the day drew on that Christiana must be gone. So the road was full of +people to see her take her journey. But, behold! all the banks beyond +the river were full of horses and chariots which were come down from +above to accompany her to the City gates, so she came forth and entered +the river with a beckon of farewell to those that followed her to the +river-side. The last word she was heard to say here was, "I come, Lord, +to be with Thee, and to bless Thee." + +But with all this, you must not suppose that this good woman, this mother +in Israel, had forgotten her grandchildren. She would sooner have +forgotten her own children. But she was too good a woman to forget +either. For long ago, away back at the river on this side the Delectable +Mountains, she had said to her four daughters--I must tell you exactly +what she has said: "Here," she said, "in this meadow there are cotes and +folds for sheep, and an house is built here also for the nourishing and +bringing up of those lambs, even the babes of those women that go on +pilgrimage. Also there is One here who can have compassion and that can +gather these lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom. This Man, +she said, will house and harbour and succour the little ones, so that +none of them shall be lacking in time to come. This Man, if any of them +go astray or be lost, He will bring them again, He will bind up that +which was broken, and will strengthen them that are sick. So they were +content to commit their little ones to that Man, and all this was to be +at the charge of the King, and so it was as a hospital to young children +and orphans." + +And now I shall sum up my chief impressions of Christiana under the three +heads of her mind, her heart, and her widowhood indeed. + +1. The mother of Christian's four sons was a woman of real mind, as so +many of the maidens, and wives, and widows of Puritan England and +Covenanting Scotland were. You gradually gather that impression just +from being beside her as the journey goes on. She does not speak much; +but, then, there is always something individual, remarkable, and +memorable in what she says. I have a notion of my own that Christiana +must have been a reader of that princely Puritan, John Milton. And if +that was so, that of itself would be certificate enough as to her +possession of mind. There is always a dignity and a strength about her +utterances that make us feel sure that she had always had a mind far +above her neighbours, Mrs. Bat's-eyes, Mrs. Light-mind, and Mrs. Know- +nothing. The first time she opens her mouth in our hearing she lets fall +an expression that Milton had just made famous in his _Samson_-- + + "Ease to the body some, none to the mind + From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm + Of hornets armed no sooner found alone, + But rush upon me thronging, and present + Times past, what once I was, and what am now." + +Nor can I leave this point without asserting it to you that no church and +no school of theology has ever developed the mind as well as sanctified +the heart of the common people like the preaching of the Puritan pulpit. +Matthew Arnold was not likely to over-estimate the good that Puritanism +had done to England. Indeed, in his earlier writings he sometimes went +out of his way to lament the hurt that the Puritan spirit had done to +liberality of life and mind in his native land. But in his riper years +we find him saying: "Certainly," he says, "I am not blind to the faults +of the Puritan discipline, but it has been an invaluable discipline for +that poor, inattentive, and immoral creature, man. And the more I read +history and the more I see of mankind, the more I recognise the value of +the Puritan discipline." And in that same Address he "founded his best +hopes for that so enviable and unbounded country in which he was +speaking, America, on the fact that so many of its millions had passed +through the Puritan discipline." John Milton was a product of that +discipline on the one hand, as John Bunyan was on the other. Christiana +was another of its products in the sphere of the family, just as Matthew +Arnold himself had some of his best qualities out of the same fruitful +school. + +2. Her heart, her deep, strong, tender heart, is present on every page +of Christiana's noble history. Her heart keeps her often silent when the +water in her eyes becomes all the more eloquent. When she does let her +heart utter itself in words, her words are fine and memorable. As, for +one instance, after Greatheart's discourse on redemption. "O Mercy, that +thy father and mother were here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous also. Nay, I +wish with all my heart now that here was Madam Wanton, too. Surely, +surely, their hearts would be affected, nor could the fear of the one, +nor the powerful lusts of the other, prevail with them to go home again, +and to refuse to become good pilgrims." But it was not so much what she +said herself that brought out the depth and tenderness of Christiana's +heart, it was rather the way her heart loosened other people's tongues. +You must all have felt how some people's presence straitens your heart +and sews up your mouth. While there are other people, again, whose +simple presence unseals your heart and makes you eloquent. We ministers +keenly feel that both in our public and in our private ministrations. +There are people in whose hard and chilling presence we cannot even say +grace as we should say it. Whereas, we all know other people, people of +a heart, that is, whose presence somehow so touches our lips that we +always when near them rise far above ourselves. Christiana did not speak +much to her guides and instructors and companions, but they always spoke +their best to her, and it was her heart that did it. + +3. And then a widow indeed is just a true and genuine widow; a widow not +in her name and in her weeds only, but still more in her deep heart, in +her whole life, and in her garnered experience. "Honour widows that are +widows indeed. Now, she that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in +God, and continueth in supplications and in prayers night and day. Well +reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have +lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have +relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." +These are the true marks and seals and occupations of a widow indeed. And +if she has had unparalleled trials and irreparable losses, she has her +corresponding consolations and compensations. For she has a freedom to +go about and do good, a liberty and an experience that neither the +unmarried maiden nor the married wife can possibly have. She can do +multitudes of things that in the nature of things neither of them can +attempt to do. Things that would be both unseemly and impossible for +other women to say or to do are both perfectly seemly and wholly open for +her to say and to do. Her widowhood is a sacred shield to her. Her +sorrow is a crown of honour and a sceptre of authority to her. She is +consulted by the young and the inexperienced, by the forsaken and by the +forlorn, as no other human being ever is. She has come through this +life, and by a long experience she knows this world and the hearts that +fill it and make it what it is. A widow indeed can show a sympathy, and +give a counsel, and speak with a weight of wisdom that one's own mother +cannot always do. All you who by God's sad dispensation are now clothed +in the "white and wimpled folds" of widowhood, let your prayer and your +endeavour day and night be that God would guide and enable you to be +widows indeed. And, if you do, you shall want neither your occupation +nor your honour. + + + + +THE ENCHANTED GROUND + + + "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any + divination against Israel."--_Balaam_. + +"I saw then in my dream that they went till they came into a certain +country whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy if he came a +stranger to it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy of +sleep, wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin to grow so drowsy +that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes; let us lie down here and take one +nap." And then when we turn to the same place in the Second Part we read +thus: "By this time they were got to the Enchanted Ground, where the air +naturally tended to make one drowsy. And that place was all grown over +with briars and thorns, excepting here and there, where was an enchanted +arbour, upon which, if a man sits, or in which if a man sleeps, 'tis a +question, say some, whether they shall ever rise or wake again in this +world. Now, they had not gone far, but a great mist and darkness fell +upon them all, so that they could scarce, for a great while, see the one +the other. Wherefore they were forced for some time to feel for one +another by words, for they walked not by sight. Nor was there on all +this ground so much as one inn or victualling-house wherein to refresh +the feebler sort. Then they came to an arbour, warm, and promising much +refreshing to the pilgrims, for it was finely wrought above head, +beautified with greens, and furnished with couches and settles. It also +had a soft couch on which the weary might lean. This arbour was called +The Slothful Man's Friend, on purpose to allure, if it might be, some of +the pilgrims there to take up their rest when weary. This, you must +think, all things considered, was tempting. I saw in my dream also that +they went on in this their solitary way till they came to a place at +which a man is very apt to lose his way. Now, though when it was light, +their guide could well enough tell how to miss those ways that led wrong, +yet in the dark he was put to a stand. But he had in his pocket a map of +all ways leading to or from the Celestial City, wherefore he struck a +light (for he never goes also without his tinder-box), and takes a view +of his book or map, which bids him be careful in that place to turn to +the right-hand way. Then I thought with myself, who that goeth on +pilgrimage but would have one of those maps about him, that he may look +when he is at a stand, which is the way to take?" + +1. "But what is the meaning of all this?" asked Christiana of the guide. +"This Enchanted Ground,"--her able and experienced friend answered her, +"this is one of the last refuges that the enemy to pilgrims has; +wherefore it is, as you see, placed almost at the end of the way, and so +it standeth against us with the more advantage. For when, thinks the +enemy, will these fools be so desirous to sit down as when they are +weary, and when so like to be weary as when almost at their journey's +end? Therefore it is, I say, that the Enchanted Ground is placed so nigh +to the land Beulah and so near the end of their race; wherefore let +pilgrims look to themselves lest they fall asleep till none can waken +them." "That masterpiece of Bunyan's insight into life, the Enchanted +Ground," says Mr. Louis Stevenson, "where his allegory cuts so deep to +people looking seriously on life." Yes, indeed, Bunyan's insight into +life! And his allegory that cuts so deep! For a neophyte, and one with +little insight into life, or into himself, would go to look for this land +of darkness and thorns and pitfalls, alternated with arbours and settles +and soft couches--one new to life and to himself, I say, would naturally +expect to see all that confined to the region between the City of +Destruction and the Slough of Despond; or, at the worst, long before, and +never after, the House Beautiful. But Bunyan looked too straight at life +and too unflinchingly into his own heart to lay down his sub-Celestial +lands in that way; and when we begin to look with a like seriousness on +the religious life, and especially when we begin to look bold enough and +deep enough into our own heart, then we too shall freely acknowledge the +splendid master-stroke of Bunyan in the Enchanted Ground. That this so +terrible experience is laid down almost at the end of the Celestial +way--the blaze of light that pours upon our heads fairly startles us, +while at the same time it comforts us and assures us. That this +Enchanted Ground, which has proved so fatal to so many false pilgrims, +and so all but fatal to so many true pilgrims, should lie around the very +borders of Beulah, and should be within all but eye-shot of the Celestial +City itself,--that is something to be thankful for, and something to lay +up in the deepest and the most secret place in our heart. That these +pilgrims, after all their feastings and entertainments--after the +Delectable Mountains and the House Beautiful--should all be plunged upon +a land where there was not so much as a roadside inn, where the ways were +so dark and so long that the pilgrims had to shout aloud in order to keep +together, where, instead of moon or stars, they had to walk in the spark +of a small tinder-box--what an encouragement and assurance to us is all +that! That is no strange thing, then, that is now happening to us, when, +after our fine communion season, we have suddenly fallen back into this +deep darkness, and are cast into these terrible temptations, and feel as +if all our past experiences and attainments and enjoyments had been but a +self-delusion and a snare. That we should all but have fallen fast +asleep, and all but have ceased both from watching against sin and from +waiting upon God--well, that is nothing more than Hopeful himself would +have done had he not had a wary old companion to watch over him, and to +hold his eyes open. Let all God's people present who feel that they are +nothing better of all they have enjoyed of Scriptures and sacraments, but +rather worse; let all those who feel sure that they have wandered into a +castaway land, so dark, so thorny, so miry, and so lonely is their +life--let them read this masterpiece of John Bunyan again and again and +take heart of hope. + + "When Saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither + And hear how these two pilgrims talk together; + Yea, let them hear of them, in any wise, + Thus to keep ope their drowsy slumb'ring eyes; + Saints' fellowship, if it be managed well, + Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell." + +2. But far worse than all its briars and thorns, far more fatal than all +its ditches and pitfalls, were the enchanted arbours they came on here +and there planted up and down that evil land. For those arbours are all +of this fatal nature, that if a man falls asleep in any of them it arises +a question whether he shall ever come to himself again in this world. +Now, where there are no inns nor victualling-houses, no Gaius and no Mr. +Mnason, what a danger all those ill-intended arbours scattered all up and +down that country become! Well, then, the first enchanted arbour that +the pilgrims came to was built just inside the borders of the land, and +it was called The Stranger's Arbour--so many new-comers had lain down in +it never to rise again. The young and the inexperienced, with those who +were naturally of a believing, buoyant, easy mind, lay down in hundreds +here. Hopeful's mind was naturally a mind of a soft and easy and self- +indulgent cast; and had he been alone that day, or had he had for a +companion a man of a less wary, less anxious, and less urgent mind than +Christian was, Hopeful had taken a nap, as he so confidingly called it--a +fatal nap in that arbour built by the enemy of pilgrims, just on purpose +for the young and the ignorant, the inexperienced and the self-indulgent. + +3. The Slothful Man's Arbour has been already described. It was a warm +arbour, and it promised much refreshing to the pilgrims. It also had in +it a soft couch on which the weary might lean. "Let us lie down here and +take just one nap; we shall be refreshed if we take a nap!" "Do you not +remember," said the other, "that one of the shepherds bid us beware of +the Enchanted Ground? And he meant by that that we should beware of +sleeping; wherefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and +be sober." Now, what is a nap? And what is it to take a nap in our +religion? The New Testament is full of warnings to those who read it and +go by it--most solemn and most fearful warnings--against _sleep_. Now, +have you any clear idea in your minds as to what this divinely denounced +sleep is? Sleep is good and necessary in our bodily life. We would not +live long if we did not sleep; we would soon go out of our mind; we would +soon lose our senses if we did not sleep. Insomnia is one of the worst +symptoms of our eager, restless, over-worked age. "He giveth His beloved +sleep"; and while they sleep their corn grows they know not how. But +sleep in the great exhortation-passages of the Holy Scriptures does not +mean rest and restoration; it means in all those passages insensibility, +stupidity, danger, and death. In our nightly sleep, and in the measure +of its soundness, we are utterly dead to the world around us. Men may +come into our house and rob us of our most precious possessions; they may +even come up to our bed and murder us; our whole house may be in a blaze +about us; we may only awaken to leap out of sleep into eternity. Now, we +are all in a sleep like that in our souls. There is above us, and around +us, and beneath us, and within us the eternal world, and we are all sound +asleep; we are all stone-dead in the midst of it. Devils and wicked men +are stealing our treasures for eternity, and we are sound asleep; hell is +already kindling our bed beneath us, but we smell not its flames, or we +only catch the first gasp of them before we make our everlasting bed +among them. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch +and be sober. What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise and call upon thy God! +When the guide shook Heedless and Too-bold off their settles in that +slothful arbour, the one of them said with his eyes still shut, "I will +pay you when I take my money," and the other said, "I will fight so long +as I can hold my sword in my hand." At that one of the children laughed. +"What is the meaning of that?" asked Christiana. The guide said: "They +talk in their sleep." So they did, and so do all men. For this whole +world is full of settles on which men sleep and talk in their sleep. The +newspapers to-morrow morning will all be full to overflowing of what men +have said and written to-day and yesterday in their sleep. The shops and +the banks and the exchanges will all be full of men making promises and +settling accounts in their sleep. They will finger their purses, and +grasp their swords, and all in their sleep. And not children but devils +will laugh as they hear the folly that falls from men's lips who are +besotted with spiritual sleep and drugged with spiritual and fleshly sin. +A dream cometh through the multitude of business. I had just got this +length in this lecture the other night when I went to sleep. And in my +sleep one of my people came to me and asked me if I could make it quite +clear and plain to him what it would be for a man like him after a +communion-time to begin to walk with God. And I just wish I could make +the things of the Enchanted Ground as plain to myself and to you to-night +as I was able to make a walk with God plain to myself and to my visitor +that night in my ministerial dream. I often wish that my business mind +worked as well in my study chair and in my pulpit as it sometimes does in +my bed and in my sleep. "Now, I beheld in my dream that they talked more +in their sleep at this time than ever they did in all their journey. And +being in a muse thereabout, the gardener said even to me: Wherefore +musest thou at the matter? It is the nature of the fruit of the grapes +of those vineyards to go down so sweetly as to cause the lips of them +that are asleep to speak." The reason my poor lips spake so sweetly +about a walk with God that night most have been because I spent all the +summer evening before walking with God and with you in the vineyards of +Beulah. + +4. Listen to Samson, shorn of his locks, as he shakes himself off a soft +and sweetly-worked couch in The Sensual Man's Arbour: + + "No, no; + It fits not; thou and I long since are twain; + Nor think me so unwary or accurst + To bring my feet again into the snare + Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains, + Though dearly to my cost, thy gins, and toils; + Thy fair enchanted cup and warbling charms + No more on me have power, their force is null'd; + So much of adder's wisdom have I learnt + To fence my ear against thy sorceries. + If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men + Loved, honour'd, fear'd me, thou alone couldst hate me, + Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me; + How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby + Deceivable, in most things as a child, + Helpless, thence easily contemn'd, and scorn'd, + And last neglected? How wouldst thou insult, + When I must live uxorious to thy will + In perfect thraldom! How again betray me, + Bearing my words and doings to the lords + To gloss upon, and censuring, frown or smile! + This jail I count the house of liberty + To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter." + +5. The love of money to some men is the root of all evil. There came +once a youth to St. Philip Neri and, flushed with joy, told him that his +parents after much entreaty had at length allowed him to study law. St. +Philip was not a man of many words. "What then?" the saint simply asked +the shining youth. "Then I shall become a lawyer!" "And then?" pursued +Philip. "Then," said the young man, "I shall earn a nice sum of money, +and I shall purchase a fine country house, procure a carriage and horses, +marry a handsome and rich wife, and lead a delightful life!" "And then?" +"Then,"--the youth reflected as death and eternity arose before his eyes, +and from that day he began to take care of his immortal soul. Philip +with one word snatched that young man's soul off The Rich Man's Settle. + +6. The Vain Man's Settle draws down many men to shame and everlasting +contempt. Praise a vain man or a vain woman aright and enough and you +will get them to do anything you like. Give a vain man sufficient +publicity in your paper or on your platform and he will become a spy, a +traitor, and cut-throat in your service. The sorcerer's cup of +praise--keep it full enough in a vain man's hand, and he will sleep in +the arbour of vanity till he wakens in hell. Madam Bubble, the +arch-enchantress, knows her own, and she has, with her purse, her +promotion, and her praise, bought off many a promising pilgrim. + +7. And then she, by virtue of whose sorceries this whole land is drugged +and enchanted, is such a bold slut that she will build a Sacred Arbour +even, and will fill it full of religious enchantment for you rather than +lose hold of you. She will consecrate places and persons and periods for +you if your taste lies that way; she will build costly and stately +churches for you; she will weave rich vestments and carve rich vessels; +she will employ all the arts; she will even sanctify and set apart and +seat aloft her holy men--what will she not do to please you, to take you, +to intoxicate and enchant you? She will juggle for your soul equally +well whether you are a country clown in a feeing-market or a fine lady of +aesthetic tastes and religious sensibilities in the capital and the +court. But I shall let Father Faber speak, who can speak on this subject +both with authority and with attraction. "She can open churches, and +light candles on the altar, and intone _Te Deums_ to the Majesty on high. +She can pass into the beauty of art, into the splendour of dress, and +into the magnificence of furniture. She can sit with high principles on +her lips discussing a religious vocation and praising God and sanctity. +On the benches of bishops and in the pages of good books you will find +her, and yet she is all the while the same huge evil creature." Yes; she +is all the time the same Madam Bubble who offered to Standfast her body, +her purse, and her bed. + +Now, would you know for yourself, like the communicant who came to me in +my sleep, how you are ever to get past all those arbours, and settles, +and seats, and couches, with all their sweet sorceries and intoxicating +enchantments--would you in earnest know that? Then study well the case +of one Standfast. Especially the time when she who enchants this whole +ground hereabouts set so upon that pilgrim. In one word, it was this: he +remembered his Lord; and, like his Lord, he fell on his face; and as his +Lord would have it, His servant's lips as they touched the ground touched +also the healing plant harmony and he was saved. + + "A small unsightly root, + But of divine effect. + Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swain + Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon; + And yet more med'cinal is it than that moly + That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; + He call'd it haemony, and gave it me, + And bade me keep it as of sovran use + 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp, + Or ghastly furies' apparition. + And now I find it true; for by this means + I knew the foul enchantress, though disguised, + Enter'd the very lime-twigs of her spells, + And yet came off. If you have this about you + (As I will give you when you go) you may + Boldly assault the necromancer's hall: + Where if she be, with dauntless hardihood, + And brandished blade, rush on her, break her glass, + And shed her luscious liquor on the ground, + And seize her wand." + +Prayer, my sin-beset brethren, standfast prayer, is the otherwise +unidentified haemony whose best habitat was the Garden of Gethsemane; and +with that holy root in your heart and in your mouth, there is "no +enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against +Israel." + + + + +THE LAND OF BEULAH + + + "Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah."--_Isaiah_. + +The first thing that John Bunyan tells us about the land of Beulah is +this--that the shortest and the best way to the Celestial City lies +directly through that land. The land of Beulah has its own indigenous +inhabitants indeed. Old men dwell in the streets of Beulah, and every +man with his staff in his hand for very age. The streets of the city +also are full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. The land +of Beulah has its frequent visitors also, and its welcome guests from the +regions above. Some of the shining ones come down from time to time and +make a short sojourn in Beulah. The angels in heaven have such a desire +to see the lands from which God's saints come up that at certain seasons +all the suburbs of the Celestial City are full of those shining servants +of God and of the Lamb. + +But what made the dreamer to smile and to talk so in his sleep was when +he saw that all the upward ways to the Celestial City ran through the +land of Beulah. He saw also in his dream how all the pilgrims blamed +themselves so bitterly now because they had misspent so much of their +time and strength in the ways below, and so had not come sooner to see +and to taste this blessed land. But, at the same time, as it was, they +all rejoiced with a great joy because that, after all their delays and +all their wanderings, their way still led them through the borders of +Beulah. Now, my dear fellow-communicants, how shall we find our way at +once, and without any more wanderings, into that so desirable land? How +shall we attain to walk its streets all the rest of our days with our +staff in our hand? How shall we hope to see our boys and our girls +playing in the streets of Beulah, and eating all their days of its sweet +and its healing fruits? How shall we and our children with us henceforth +escape the Slough of Despond, and Giant Despair's dungeon, and the Valley +of the Shadow of Death? The word, my brethren, the answer to all that, +is nigh unto us, even in our mouth and in our heart. For faith, simple +faith, will do all that both for us and for our children beside us. A +heart-feeding faith in God, in the word of God, and in the Son of God, +will do it. Faith, and then obedience. For obedience, my brethren, is +Beulah. All obedience is already Beulah. Holy obedience will bring the +whole of Beulah into your heart and into mine at any moment. It is +disobedience that makes so many of those who otherwise are true pilgrims +to miss so much of the land of Beulah. Ask any affable old man with his +staff in his hand for very age, and he will tell you that it was his +disobedience that kept him so long out of the land of Beulah. While, let +any man, and above all, let any young man, begin early to live a life of +believing obedience, and he will grow up and grow old and see his +children's children playing around his staff in the streets of Beulah. +Let any young man make the experiment for himself upon obedience and upon +Beulah. Let him not too easily believe any dreamer or even any seer +about obedience and about the land of Beulah. It is his own matter and +not theirs; and let him make experiment upon it all for his own +satisfaction and assurance. Let any young man, then, try prayer as his +first step into obedience, and especially secret prayer. Let him shut +his door to-night, and let him see if he is not already inside one of the +gates of Beulah. Let him deny himself every day also, if it is only in a +very little thing. Let him say sternly to his own heart every hour of +temptation, No! never! and on the spot a sweet waft of Beulah's finest +spices will fall upon his face. "The ineffable joy of renouncing joy" +will every day make the lonely wilderness of this world a constant Beulah +to such a man. For, to live at all times, in all places, and in all +things for other men, and never and in nothing for yourself--that is the +deepest secret of Beulah. To say it, if need be, three times to-night on +your face and in a sweat of blood, "Not my will, but Thine be done!"--that +will to-night turn the garden of Gethsemane itself into the very garden +of Glory. Do you doubt it? Are you not yet able to believe it? Then +hear about it from One who has Himself come through it. Hear His word +upon the whole matter who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. "Come +unto Me," says the King of Beulah, "all ye that labour and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, +for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. +For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." So after He had washed +their feet, and had taken His garments and was set down again, He said +unto them, "Know ye what I have done to you? For I have given you an +example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these +things, happy are ye if ye do them. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. +And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that +He may abide with you for ever. If a man love Me, he will keep My words; +and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and will make Our +abode with him. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as +the world giveth, give I unto you. These things have I spoken unto you +that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. +Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, +that your joy may be full. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast +given Me, be with Me where I am." And thus I saw in my dream that their +way lay right through the land of Beulah, in which land they solaced +themselves for a season. + +2. "They solaced themselves." Now, solace is just the Latin _solatium_, +which, again, is just a soothing, an assuaging, a compensation, an +indemnification. Well, that land into which the pilgrims had now come +was very soothing to their ruffled spirits and to their weary hearts. It +assuaged their many and sore griefs also. It more than compensated them +for all their labours and all their afflictions. And it was a full +indemnification to them for all that they had forsaken and lost both in +beginning to be pilgrims and in enduring to the end. The children of +Israel had their first solace in their pilgrimage at Elim, where there +were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they +encamped there by the waters. And then they had their last and crowning +solace when the spies came back from Eshcol with a cluster of grapes that +they bare between two upon a staff, with pomegranates and figs. And +Moses kept solacing his charge all the way through the weary wilderness +with such strong consolations as these: "For the Lord thy God bringeth +thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths +that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and +vines, and fig-trees; a land of oil-olive and honey; a land wherein thou +shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a +land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig +brass." Our Lord spake solace to His doubting and fainting disciples +also in many such words as these: "Verily, I say unto you, there is no +man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children +for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in +this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." The Mount +of Transfiguration also was His own Beulah-solace; and the Last Supper +and the prayer with which it wound up were given to our Lord and to His +disciples as a very Eshcol-cluster from the Paradise above. Now, I saw +in my dream that they solaced themselves in the land of Beulah for a +season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds. (The +Latin poets called the birds _solatia ruris_, because they refreshed and +cheered the rustic labourers with their sweet singing.) And every day +the flowers appeared in the earth, and the voice of the turtle was heard +in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day, for there is +no night there. + +3. "In this country the sun shineth night and day." How much Standfast +must have enjoyed that land of light you may guess when you recollect +that he came from Darkland, which lies in the hemisphere right opposite +to the land of Beulah. In Darkland the sun never shines to be called +sunshine at all. All the days of his youth, Standfast told his +companions, he had sat beside his father and his mother in that obscure +land where to his sorrow his father and his mother still sat. But in +Beulah "the rose of evening becomes silently and suddenly the rose of +dawn." This land lies beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, neither +could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Now, Doubting +Castle is a dismal place for any soul of man to be shut up into. And in +that dark hold there are dungeons dug for all kinds of doubting souls. +There are dungeons dug for the souls of men whose doubts are in their +intellects, as well as for those also whose doubts arise out of their +hearts. Some men read themselves into Doubting Castle, and some men sin +and sell themselves to its giant. God casts some of His own children all +their days into those dungeons as a punishment for their life of +disobedience; He casts others down into chains of darkness because of +their idleness and unfruitfulness. But Beulah is far away from Doubting +Castle. Beulah is a splendid spot for a studious man to lodge in. For +what a clear light shines night and day in Beulah! To what far horizons +a man's eye will carry him in Beulah! What large speculations rise +before him who walks abroad in Beulah! How clear the air is in Beulah, +how clean the heart and how unclouded the eye of its inhabitants! The +King's walks are in Beulah, and the arbours where He delighteth to be. +Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall be admitted to see God in +the land of Beulah. In the land of Beulah the sun shall no more be thy +light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; +but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory! + +4. "In this land also the contract between the bride and the bridegroom +is renewed." Now, there is no other day so bitter in any man's life as +that day is on which his bridal contract is broken off. And it is the +very perfection and last extremity of bitterness when his contract is +broken off because of his own past life. Let all those, then, who would +fain enter into that sweet contract think well about it beforehand. Let +them look back into all their past life. For all their past life will be +sure to find them out on the day of their espousals. If they have their +enemies--as all espoused men have--this is the hour and the power of +their enemies. The day on which any man's espousals are published is a +small and local judgment-day to him. For all the men, and, especially, +all the women, who have ever been injured by him, or who have injured +themselves upon him; all the men and all the women who for any reason, +and for no reason, hate both him and his happiness,--their tongues and +their pens will take no sleep till they have got his contract if they +can, broken off. And even when the bridegroom is too innocent, or the +bride too true, or God too good to let the contract continue long to be +broken off, that great goodness of God and that great trust of his +contracted bride will only make the bridegroom walk henceforth more +softly and rejoice with more trembling. And that is a most excellent +mind. I know no better mind in which any man, guilty or innocent, can +enter on a married life. I sometimes tell the bridegrooms that I can +take a liberty with to keep saying to themselves all the way up to the +marriage altar the tenth verse of the 103rd psalm; as well as when they +come up afterwards to the baptismal font: "He hath not dealt with us +after our sins nor rewarded us after our iniquities." And it is surely +Beulah itself, at its very best, it is surely Beulah above itself, when a +happy bridegroom is full of that humble and happy mind, and when he is in +one and the same moment reconciled both to his bride on earth and to his +God and Father in heaven. In this land, therefore, in the land of +Beulah, the contract between the bride and the bridegroom is renewed; +yea, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride, so shall thy God rejoice +over thee. + +5. The salaams and salutations also that they were met with as often as +they went out to walk in the streets thereof were a constant surprise, +satisfaction, and sweetness to the fearful pilgrims. No passer-by ever +once frowned or scowled upon them because their faces were Zionward, as +they do in our cities. No one ever treated them with scorn or contempt +because they were poor or unlettered. No man's face either turned dark +at them or was turned away from them as they passed up the street. They +never, all the time they abode in Beulah, took to the lanes of the city +to escape the unkind looks of any of its citizens. Greatheart's hand was +never away from his helmet. His helmet was never well on his head. His +always bare and unhelmeted head said to all the men of Beulah, I love and +honour and trust you. You would not hurt a hair of my head. And so on, +till all the streets of Beulah were one buzz of salutation, +congratulation, and benediction. Here they heard voices from out of the +city, loud voices, saying, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy +salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him. Here all the +inhabitants of the country called them the holy people, the redeemed of +the Lord, sought out, a city not forsaken. + +6. Now, as they walked in this land they had more rejoicing than in +parts more remote from the kingdom to which they were bound. And still +drawing nigh to that city they had yet a more perfect view thereof. It +was builded of pearls and precious stones, also the street thereof was +paved with gold, so that by reason of the natural glory of the city and +the reflection of the sunbeams upon it, Christian with desire fell sick. +Hopeful also had a fit or two of the same disease. Wherefore here they +lay by it awhile, crying out because of their pangs, If you see my +beloved, tell him that I am sick of love. There are in all good cases of +recovery three successive stages of soul-sickness. True, soul-sickness +always runs its own course, and it always runs its own course in its own +order. This special sickness first shows itself when the soul becomes +sick with sin. We have that sickness set forth in many a psalm, notably +in the thirty-eighth psalm; and in a multitude of other scriptures, both +old and new, this evil disease is dealt with if we had only the eyes and +the heart to read such scriptures. The second stage of this sickness is +when a sinner is not so much sick with the sin that dwelleth in him as +sick of himself. Sinfulness in its second stage becomes so incorporate +with the sinner's whole life--sin so becomes the sinner's very nature, +and, indeed, himself,--that all his former loathing of sin passes over +henceforth into loathing of himself. This is the most desperate stage in +any man's sickness; but, bad as it is, incurable as it is, it must be +passed into before the third stage of the healing process can either be +experienced or understood. In the case in hand, by the time the pilgrims +had come to Beulah they had all had their full share of sin and of +themselves till they here entered on an altogether new experience. +"Christian with desire fell sick," we read, "and Hopeful also had a fit +or two of the same disease. Wherefore here they lay by it a while, +crying out because of their pangs, If you see my beloved, tell him that I +am sick of love." David, Paul, Bernard, Bunyan himself, Rutherford, +Brainerd, M'Cheyne, and many others crowd in upon the mind. I shall but +instance John Flavel and Mrs. Jonathan Edwards, and so close. John +Flavel being once on a journey set himself to improve the time by +meditation, when his mind grew intent, till at length he had such +ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such a full assurance of his +interest therein, that he utterly lost the sight and sense of this world +and all its concerns, so that for hours he knew not where he was. At +last, perceiving himself to be faint, he sat down at a spring, where he +refreshed himself, earnestly desiring, if it were the will of God, that +he might there leave the world. His spirit reviving, he finished his +journey in the same delightful frame, and all that night the joy of the +Lord still overflowed him so that he seemed an inhabitant of the other +world. The only other case of love-sickness I shall touch on to-night I +take from under the pen of a sin-sick and love-sick author, who has been +truthfully described as "one of the first, if not the very first, of the +masters of human reason," and, again, as "one of the greatest of the sons +of men." "There is a young lady in New-haven," says Edwards, "who is so +loved of that Great Being who made and rules the world, that there are +certain seasons in which this Great Being in some way or other invisible +comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, so that she +hardly cares for anything but to meditate upon Him. She looks soon to +dwell wholly with Him, and to be ravished with His love and delight for +ever. Therefore, if you present all this world before her, with the +richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is +unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her +mind, and a singular piety in her affections; is most just and +conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do +anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her the whole world. She +loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have +some one invisible always communing with her." And so on, all through +her seraphic history. "Now, if such things are too enthusiastic," says +the author of _A Careful and a Strict Enquiry into the Freedom of the +Will_, "if such things are the offspring of a distempered brain, let my +brain be possessed evermore of that blessed distemper! If this be +distraction, I pray God that the whole world of mankind may all be seized +with this benign, meek, beneficent, beatific, glorious distraction! The +peace of God that passeth all understanding; rejoicing with joy +unspeakable and full of glory; God shining in our hearts, to give the +light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ; with open face +beholding as in a glass the glory of God, and being changed into the same +image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord; being +called out of darkness into marvellous light, and having the day-star +arise in our hearts! What a sweet distraction is that! And out of what +a heavenly distemper and out of what a sane enthusiasm has all that come +to us!" + + "More I would speak: but all my words are faint; + Celestial Love, what eloquence can paint? + No more, by mortal words, can be expressed, + But all Eternity shall tell the rest." + + + + +THE SWELLING OF JORDAN + + + "The swelling of Jordan."--_Jeremiah_. + +"Fore-fancy your deathbed," says Samuel Rutherford. "Take an essay," he +says in his greatest book, that perfect mine of gold and jewels, _Christ +Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself_--"Take an essay and a lift at your +death, and look at it before it actually comes to your door." And so we +shall. Since it is appointed to all men once to die, and after death the +judgment; and since our death and our judgment are the only two things +that we are absolutely sure about in our whole future, we shall +henceforth fore-fancy those two events much more than we have done in the +past. And to assist us in that; to quicken our fancy, to kindle it, to +captivate it, and to turn our fancy wholly to our salvation, we have all +the entrancing river-scenes in the _Pilgrim's Progress_ set before us; a +succession of scenes in which Bunyan positively revels in his exquisite +fancies, clothing them as he does, all the time, in language of the +utmost beauty, tenderness, pathos, power, and dignity. Let us take our +stand, then, on the bank of the river and watch how pilgrim after pilgrim +behaves himself in those terrible waters. We are all voluntary +spectators to-night, but we shall all be compulsory performers before we +know where we are. + +1. On entering the river even Christian suddenly began to sink. Fore- +fancy that. All the words he spake still tended to discover that he had +great horror of mind and hearty fears that he would die in that river; +here also he was much in the troublesome thoughts of the sins he had +committed both since and before he began to be a pilgrim. Fore-fancy +that also, all you converted young men. Hopeful, therefore, had much to +do to keep his brother's head above water; yea, sometimes he would be +quite gone down, and then in a while he would rise up again half-dead. +Then I saw in my dream that Christian was in a muse a while; to whom also +Hopeful added this word, "Be of good cheer; Jesus Christ maketh thee +whole." And with that Christian broke out with a loud voice, "When thou +passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers +they shall not overflow thee." Then they both took courage and the enemy +was after that as still as a stone till they were gone over. Fore-fancy +that also. There is one other thing out of that crossing that I hope I +shall remember when I am in the river: "Be of good cheer," said Hopeful +to his sinking fellow--"Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, +and it is good." "Hold His hand fast," wrote Samuel Rutherford to Lady +Kenmure. "He knows all the fords. You may be ducked in His company but +never drowned. Put in your foot, then, and wade after Him. And be sure +you set your feet always upon the stepping-stones." Yes; fore-fancy +those stepping-stones, and often practise your feet upon them before the +time. + +2. "Good woman," said the post to Christiana, the wife of Christian the +pilgrim; "Hail, good woman, I bring thee tidings that the Master calleth +for thee, and expecteth thee to stand in His presence in clothes of +immortality within this ten days." Fore-fancy that also. Now the day +was come that she must be gone. And so the road was full of people to +see her take her journey. But, behold, all the banks beyond the river +were full of horses and chariots which were come down from above to +accompany her to the city gate. So she came forth and entered the river +with a beckon of farewell to those that followed her to the river-side. +And thus she went and entered in at the gate with all the ceremonies of +joy that her husband had done before her. Fore-fancy, if you can, some +of those ceremonies of joy. + +3. When Mr. Fearing came to the river where was no bridge, there again +he was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he should be drowned for ever and +never see that Face with comfort he had come so many miles to behold. And +here also I took notice of what was very remarkable; the water of that +river was lower at this time than ever I saw it in all my life. So he +went over at last not much above wet-shod. Fore-fancy and fore-arrange, +if it be possible, for a passage like that. When he was going tip to the +gate Mr. Greatheart began to take his leave of him, and to wish him a +good reception above. "I shall," he said, "I shall." Be fore-assured, +also, of a reception like that. + +4. In process of time there came a post to the town again, and his +business was this time with Mr. Ready-to-halt. So he inquired him out +and said to him, "I am come to thee in the name of Him whom thou hast +loved and followed, though upon crutches. And my message is to tell thee +that He expects thee at His table to sup with Him in His kingdom the next +day after Easter." After this Mr. Ready-to-halt called for his fellow- +pilgrims and told them, saying, "I am sent for, and God shall surely +visit you also. These crutches," he said, "I bequeath to my son that he +may tread in my steps, with a hundred warm wishes that he may prove +better than I have done." When he came to the brink of the river, he +said, "Now I shall have no more need of these crutches, since yonder are +horses and chariots for me to ride on." The last words he was heard to +say were, "Welcome life!" Let all ready-to-halt hearts fore-fancy all +that. + +5. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends and told them what errand +had been brought to him, and what token he had received of the truth of +the message. "As for my feeble mind," he said, "that I shall leave +behind me, for I shall have no need of that in the place whither I go. +When I am gone, Mr. Valiant, I desire that you would bury it in a dung- +hill." This done, and the day being come in which he was to depart, he +entered the river as the rest. His last words were, "Hold out faith and +patience." Fore-fancy such an end as that to your feeble mind also. + +6. Did you ever know a family, or, rather, the relics of a family, where +there was just a decrepit old father and a lone daughter left to nurse +him through his second childhood? All his other children are either +married or dead; but both marriage and death have spared Miss Much-afraid +to watch over the dotage-days of Mr. Despondency; till one summer +afternoon the old man fell asleep in his chair to waken where old men are +for ever young. And in a day or two there were two new graves side by +side in the old churchyard. Even death could not divide this old father +and his trusty child. And so when the time was come for them to depart, +they went down together to the brink of the river. The last words of Mr. +Despondency were, "Farewell night and welcome day." His daughter went +through the river singing, but none could understand what it was she +said. Fore-fancy that, all you godly old men, with a daughter who has +made a husband and children to herself of her old father. + +7. As I hear Old Honest shouting "Grace reigns!" I always remember what +a lady told me about a saying of her poor Irish scullery-girl. The +mistress and the servant were reading George Eliot's Life together in the +kitchen, and when they came to her deathbed, on the pillow of which +Thomas A'Kempis lay open, "Mem," said the girl, "I used to read that old +book in the convent; but it is a better book to live upon than to die +upon." Now, that was exactly Old Honest's mind. He lived upon one book, +and then he died upon another. He lived according to the commandments of +God, but he died according to the comforts of the Gospel. Now, we read +in his history how that the river at that time overflowed its banks in +some places. But Mr. Honest had in his lifetime spoken to one +Good-conscience to meet him at the river, the which he also did, and lent +him his hand, and so helped him over. All the same, the last words of +Mr. Honest still were, "Grace reigns!" And so he left the world. Fore- +fancy whether or no you are making, as one has said, "an assignation with +terror" at that same river-side. + +8. Standfast was the last of the pilgrims to go over the river. +Standfast was left longest on this side the river because his Master +could best trust him here. His Master had to take away many of His other +servants from the evil to come, but He could trust Standfast. You can +safely trust a man who takes to his knees in every hour of temptation, as +Standfast was wont to do. "This river," he said, "has been a terror to +many. Yea, the thoughts of it have often frighted me also. The waters, +indeed, are to the palate bitter, and to the stomach cold; yet the +thoughts of what I am going to, and of the conduct that awaits me on the +other side, doth lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at +the end of my journey, and my toilsome days are all ended. I am going +now to see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that face that was +spit upon for me. His name has been to me as a civet-box, yea, sweeter +than all perfumes. His word I did use to gather for my food, and for +antidotes against my faintings. He has held me up, and I have kept +myself from mine iniquities. Yea, my steps hath He strengthened in the +way." Now, while he was thus in discourse his countenance changed, his +strong man bowed down under him, and after he had said, "Take me, for I +come to Thee," he ceased to be seen of them. Fore-fancy, if you have the +face, an end like that for yourself. + +This, then, is how Christian and Hopeful and Christiana and Old Honest +and all the rest did in the swelling river. But the important point is, +HOW WILL YOU DO? Have you ever fore-fancied how you will do? Have you +ever, among all your many imaginings, imagined yourself on your deathbed? +Have you ever thought you heard the doctor whisper, "To-night"? Have you +ever lain low in your bed and listened to the death-rattle in your own +throat? And have you still listened to the awful silence in the house +after all was over? Have you ever shot in imagination the dreadful gulf +that stands fixed between life and death, and between time and eternity? +Have you ever tried to get a glimpse beforehand of your own place where +you will be an hour after your death, when they are putting the grave- +clothes on your still warm body, and when they are measuring your corpse +for your coffin? Where will you be by that time? Have you any idea? Can +you fancy it? Did you ever try? And if not, why not? "My lord," wrote +Jeremy Taylor to the Earl of Carbery, when sending him the first copy of +the _Holy Dying_,--"My lord, it is a great art to die well, and that art +is to be learnt by men in health; for he that prepares not for death +before his last sickness is like him that begins to study philosophy when +he is going to dispute publicly in the faculty. The precepts of dying +well must be part of the studies of them that live in health, because in +other notices an imperfect study may be supplied by a frequent exercise +and a renewed experience; but here, if we practise imperfectly once, we +shall never recover the error, for we die but once; and therefore it is +necessary that our skill be more exact since it cannot be mended by +another trial." How wise, then, how far-seeing, how practical, and how +urgent is the prophet's challenge and demand. "How wilt thou do in the +swelling of Jordan?" + +1. Well, then, let us be practical before we close, and let us descend +to particulars. Let us take the prophet's question and run it through +some parts and some practices of our daily life as already dying men. +And, to begin with, I have such a great faith in good books, whether we +are to live or die, that I am impelled to ask you all at this point, and +under shelter of this plain-spoken prophet, What books have you laid in +for your deathbed, and for the weeks and months and even years before +your death bed? What do you look forward to be reading when Jordan is +beginning to swell and roll for you and to leap up toward your doorstep? +If you get good from good books--everybody does not--but supposing you +are one of those who do, what books can you absolutely count upon, +without fail, to put you in the best possible frame for the river, and +for the convoy across, and for the ceremonies of joy on the other side? +What special Scriptures will you have read every day to you? "Read," +said John Knox to his weeping wife, "read where I first cast my anchor." +An old lady I once knew used to say to me at every visit, "The +Fifty-first Psalm." She was the daughter of a Highland minister, and the +wife of a Highland minister, and the mother of a Highland minister, and +of an elder to boot. "The Fifty-first Psalm," she said, and sometimes, +"One of Hart's hymns also." What is your favourite psalm and hymn? Mr. +James Taylor of Castle Street has several large-type libraries in his +catalogue. Mr. Taylor might start a much worse paying speculation than a +large-type library for the river-side; or, some select booklets for +deathbeds. The series might well open with "The Ninetieth Psalm" in +letters an inch deep. Scholars die as well as illiterates, and there +might be provided for them, among other things, _The Phaedo_ in two +languages, Plato's and Jowett's. Then _The Seven Sayings from the +Cross_. Bellarmine's _Art of Dying Well_ would stand well beside John +Bunyan's _Dying Sayings_. And, were I the editor, I would put in Bishop +Andrewes' _Private Devotions_, if only for my own last use. Then Richard +Baxter's _Saint's Rest_, and John Howe's Platonico-Puritan book, +_Blessedness of the Righteous_. Then Bernard's "New Jerusalem," "The +Sands of Time are sinking," "Rock of Ages," and such like. These are +some of the little books I have within reach of my bed against the hour +when the post blows his first horn for me. You might tell me some of +your deathbed favourites. + +2. Who will be your most welcome minister during your last days on +earth? For whom would you send to-night if the post were suddenly to +sound his horn at your side on your way home from church? I can well +believe it would not be your own minister. I have known fathers and +mothers in this congregation to send for other ministers than their own +minister when terrible trouble came upon them, and both my conscience and +my common sense absolutely approved of the step they took. Five students +were once sitting and talking together in a city in which there was to be +an execution to-morrow morning. They were talking about the murderer who +was to be executed in the morning, and about the minister he had sent for +to come to see him. And, like students, they began to put it to one +another--Suppose you were to be executed to-morrow, for what minister in +the city, or even in the whole land, would you send? And, like students +again, they said--Let each one write down on a piece of paper the name of +the minister he would choose to be beside him at the last, and we shall +see each man's last choice. They did so, when to their astonishment it +was discovered that they had all written the same minister's name! I do +not know that they all went to his church every Sabbath while they were +young and, well, and not yet under sentence of death. I do not think +they did. For when I was in his church there was only a handful of old +and decayed-looking people in it. The chief part of the congregation +seemed to me to be a charity school. And I gathered from all that a +lesson--several lessons, and this among the rest--that crowded passages +do not always wait upon the best pastors; and this also, that a waft of +death soon discovers to us a true minister from an incompetent and a +counterfeit minister. + +3. Writing to one of his correspondents about his correspondent's long- +drawn-out deathbed, Samuel Rutherford said to him, "It is long-drawn-out +that you may have ample time to go over all your old letters and all your +still unsettled accounts before you take ship." Have you any such old +letters lying still unanswered? Have you any such old accounts lying +still unsettled? Have you made full reparation and restitution for all +that you and yours have done amiss? Fore-fancy that you will soon be +summoned into His presence who has said: "herefore, if thou bring thy +gift before the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught +against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; +first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. +Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." +You know all about Zacchaeus. I need not tell his story over again. But +as I write these lines I take up a London newspaper and my eyes light on +these lines: "William Avary was a man of remarkable gifts, both of mind +and character. He dedicated the residue of his strength wholly to works +of piety. In middle age he failed in business, and in his old age, when +better days came, he looked up such of his old creditors as could be +found and divided among them a sum of several thousand pounds." Look up +such of your old creditors as you can find, and that not in matters of +money alone. And, be sure you begin to do it now, before the horn blows. +For, as sure as you take your keys and open your old repositories, you +will come on things you had completely forgotten that will take more time +and more strength, ay, and more resources, than will then be at your +disposal. Even after you have begun at once and done all that you can +do, you will have to do at last as Samuel Rutherford told George +Gillespie to do: "Hand over all your bills, paid and unpaid, to your +Surety. Give Him the keys of the drawer, and let Him clear it out for +Himself after you are gone." + +4. And then, pray often to God for a clear mind between Him and you, and +for a quick, warm, and heaven-hungry heart at the last. And take a +promise from those who watch beside your bed that they will not drug and +stupefy you even though you should ask for it. Whatever your pain, and +it is all in God's hand, make up your mind, if it be possible, to bear +it. It cannot be greater than the pain of the cross, and your Saviour +would not touch their drugs, however well-intended. He determined to +face the swelling of Jordan and to enter His Father's house with an +unclouded mind. Try your very uttermost to do the same. I cannot +believe that the thief even would have let the gall so much as touch his +lips after Christ had said to him, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in +Paradise!" Well, if your mind was ever clear and keen, let it be at its +clearest and its keenest at the last. Let your mind and your heart be +full of repentance, and faith, and love, and hope, and all such saying +graces, and let them all be at their fullest and brightest exercise, at +that moment. Be on the very tip-toe of expectation as the end draws +near. Another pang, another gasp, one more unutterable sinking of heart +and flesh as if you were going down into the dreadful pit--and then the +abundant entrance, and the beatific vision! What wilt thou do then? What +wilt thou say then? Hast thou thy salutation and thy song ready? And +what will it be? + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{1} Delivered November 27th, 1892. + +{2} January 1st, 1893. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNYAN CHARACTERS (SECOND SERIES)*** + + +******* This file should be named 1886.txt or 1886.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/8/1886 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk +from the 1894 Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier edition. + + + + + +BUNYAN CHARACTERS (Second Series) +Lectures delivered in St. George's Free Church Edinburgh + + + + +IGNORANCE + + + +"I was alive without the law once."--Paul. + +"I was now a brisk talker also myself in the matter of religion."-- +Bunyan. + +This is a new kind of pilgrim. There are not many pilgrims like +this bright brisk youth. A few more young gentlemen like this, and +the pilgrimage way would positively soon become fashionable and +popular, and be the thing to do. Had you met with this young +gentleman in society, had you noticed him beginning to come about +your church, you would have lost no time in finding out who he was. +I can well believe it, you would have replied. Indeed, I felt sure +of it. I must ask him to the house. I was quite struck with his +appearance and his manners. Yes; ask him at once to your house; +show him some pointed attentions and you will never regret it. For +if he goes to the bar and works even decently at his cases, he will +be first a sheriff and then a judge in no time. If he should take +to politics, he will be an under-secretary before his first +parliament is out. And if he takes to the church, which is not at +all unlikely, our West-end congregations will all be competing for +him as their junior colleague; and, if he elects either of our +Established churches to exercise his profession in it, he will have +dined with Her Majesty while half of his class-fellows are still +half-starved probationers. Society fathers will point him out with +anger to their unsuccessful sons, and society mothers will smile +under their eyelids as they see him hanging over their daughters. + +Well, as this handsome and well-appointed youth stepped out of his +own neat little lane into the rough road on which our two pilgrims +were staggering upward, he felt somewhat ashamed to be seen in +their company. And I do not wonder. For a greater contrast you +would not have seen on any road in all that country that day. He +was at your very first sight of him a gentleman and the son of a +gentleman. A little over-dressed perhaps; as, also, a little lofty +to the two rather battered but otherwise decent enough men who, +being so much older than he, took the liberty of first accosting +him. "Brisk" is his biographer's description of him. Feather- +headed, flippant, and almost impudent, you might have been tempted +to say of him had you joined the little party at that moment. But +those two tumbled, broken-winded, and, indeed, broken-hearted old +men had been, as an old author says, so emptied from vessel to +vessel--they had had a life of such sloughs and stiff climbs--they +had been in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness so often--that +it was no wonder that their dandiacal companion walked on a little +ahead of them. 'Gentlemen,' his fine clothes and his cane and his +head in the air all said to his two somewhat disreputable-looking +fellow-travellers,--"Gentlemen, you be utter strangers to me: I +know you not. And, besides, I take my pleasure in walking alone, +even more a great deal than in company, unless I like it better." +But all his society manners, and all his costly and well-kept +clothes, and all his easy and self-confident airs did not impose +upon the two wary old pilgrims. They had seen too much of the +world, and had been too long mixing among all kinds of pilgrims, +young and old, true and false, to be easily imposed upon. Besides, +as one could see from their weather-beaten faces, and their +threadbare garments, they had found the upward way so dreadfully +difficult that they both felt a real apprehension as to the future +of this light-hearted and light-headed youth. "You may find some +difficulty at the gate," somewhat bluntly broke in the oldest of +the two pilgrims on their young comrade. "I shall, no doubt, do at +the gate as other good people do," replied the young gentleman +briskly. "But what have you to show at the gate that may cause +that the gate be opened to you?" "Why, I know my Lord's will, and +I have been a good liver all my days, and I pay every man his own. +I pray, moreover, and I fast. I pay tithes, and give alms, and +have left my country for whither I am going." Now, before we go +further: Do all you young gentlemen do as much as that? Have you +always been good livers? Have you paid every man and woman their +due? Do you pray to be called prayer? And, if so, when, and +where, and what for, and how long at a time? I do not ask if your +private prayer-book is like Bishop Andrewes' Devotions, which was +so reduced to pulp with tears and sweat and the clenching of his +agonising hands that his literary executors were with difficulty +able to decipher it. Clito in the Christian Perfection was so +expeditious with his prayers that he used to boast that he could +both dress and do his devotions in a quarter of an hour. What was +the longest time you ever took to dress or undress and say your +prayers? Then, again, there is another Anglican young gentleman in +the same High Church book who always fasts on Good Friday and the +Thirtieth of January. Did you ever deny yourself a glass of wine +or a cigar or an opera ticket for the church or the poor? Could +you honestly say that you know what tithes are? And is there a +poor man or woman or child in this whole city who will by any +chance put your name into their prayers and praises at bedtime to- +night? I am afraid there are not many young gentlemen in this +house tonight who could cast a stone at that brisk lad Ignorance, +Vain-Hope, door in the side of the hill, and all. He was not far +from the kingdom of heaven; indeed, he got up to the very gate of +it. How many of you will get half as far? + +Now (what think you?), was it not a very bold thing in John Bunyan, +whose own descent was of such a low and inconsiderable generation, +his father's house being of that rank that is meanest and most +despised of all the families in the land--was it not almost too +bold in such a clown to take such a gentleman-scholar as Saul of +Tarsus, the future Apostle of the Lord, and put him into the +Pilgrim's Progress, and there go on to describe him as a very brisk +lad and nickname him with the nickname of Ignorance? For, in +knowledge of all kinds to be called knowledge, Gamaliel's gold +medallist could have bought the unlettered tinker of Elstow in one +end of the market and sold him in the other. And nobody knew that +better than Bunyan did. And yet such a lion was he for the truth, +such a disciple of Luther was he, and such a defender and preacher +of the one doctrine of a standing or falling church, that he fills +page after page with the crass ignorance of the otherwise most +learned of all the New Testament men. Bunyan does not accuse the +rising hope of the Pharisees of school or of synagogue ignorance. +That young Hebrew Rabbi knew every jot and tittle of the law of +Moses, and all the accumulated traditions of the fathers to boot. +But Bunyan has Paul himself with him when he accuses and convicts +Saul of an absolutely brutish ignorance of his own heart and hidden +nature. That so very brisk lad was always boasting in himself of +the day on which he was circumcised, and of the old stock of which +he had come; of his tribe, of his zeal, of his blamelessness, and +of the profit he had made of his educational and ecclesiastical +opportunities. Whereas Bunyan is fain to say of himself in his +Grace Abounding that he is "not able to boast of noble blood or of +a high-born state according to the flesh. Though, all things +considered, I magnify the Heavenly Majesty for that by this door He +brought me into this world to partake of the grace and life that is +in Christ by the Gospel." + +As we listen to the conversation that goes on between the two old +pilgrims and this smartly appointed youth, we find them striving +hard, but without any sign of success, to convince him of some of +the things from which he gets his somewhat severe name. For one +thing, they at last bluntly told him that he evidently did not know +the very A B C about himself. Till, when too hard pressed by the +more ruthless of the two old men, the exasperated youth at last +frankly burst out: "I will never believe that my heart is thus +bad!" There is a warm touch of Bunyan's own experience here, mixed +up with his so dramatic development of Paul's morsels of +autobiography that he lets drop in his Epistles to the Philippians +and to the Galatians. "Now was I become godly; now I was become a +right honest man. Though as yet I was nothing but a poor painted +hypocrite, yet I was proud of my godliness. I read my Bible, but +as for Paul's Epistles, and such like Scriptures, I could not away +with them; being, as yet, but ignorant both of the corruptions of +my nature and of the want and worth of Jesus Christ to save me. +The new birth did never enter my mind, neither knew I the +deceitfulness and treachery of my own wicked heart. And as for +secret thoughts, I took no notice of them." My brethren, old and +young, what do you think of all that? What have you to say to all +that? Does all that not open a window and let a flood of daylight +into your own breast? I am sure it does. That is the best +portrait of you that ever was painted. Do you not see yourself +there as in a glass? And do you not turn with disgust and loathing +from the stupid and foolish face? You complain and tell stories +about how impostors and cheats and liars have come to your door and +have impudently thrust themselves into your innermost rooms; but +your own heart, if you only knew it, is deceitful far above them +all. Not the human heart as it stands in confessions, and in +catechisms, and in deep religious books, but your own heart that +beats out its blood-poison of self-deceit, and darkness, and death +day and night continually. "My heart is a good heart," said that +poor ill-brought-up boy, who was already destroyed by his father +and his mother for lack of self-knowledge. I entirely grant you +that those two old sinners by this time were taking very +pessimistic and very melancholy views of human nature, and, +therefore, of every human being, young and old. They knew that no +language had ever been coined in any scripture, or creed, or +catechism, or secret diary of the deepest penitent, that even half +uttered their own evil hearts; and they had lived long enough to +see that we are all cut out of one web, are all dyed in one vat, +and are all corrupted beyond all accusation or confession in Adam's +corruption. But how was that poor, mishandled lad to know or +believe all that? He could not. It was impossible. "You go so +fast, gentlemen, that I cannot keep pace with you. Go you on +before and I will stay a while behind. Then said Christian to his +companion: "It pities me much for this poor lad, for it will +certainly go ill with him at last." "Alas!" said Hopeful, "there +are abundance in our town in his condition: whole families, yea, +whole streets, and that of pilgrims too." Is your family such a +family as this? And are you yourself just such a pilgrim as +Ignorance was, and are you hastening on to just such an end? + +And then, as a consequence, being wholly ignorant of his own +corruption and condemnation in the sight of God, this miserable man +must remain ignorant and outside of all that God has done in Christ +for corrupt and condemned men. "I believe that Christ died for +sinners and that I shall be justified before God from the curse +through His gracious acceptance of my obedience to His law. Or, +then, to take it this way, Christ makes my duties that are +religious acceptable to His Father by virtue of His merits, and so +shall I be justified." Now, I verify believe that nine out of ten +of the young men who are here to-night would subscribe that +statement and never suspect there was anything wrong with it or +with themselves. And yet, what does Christian, who, in this +matter, is just John Bunyan, who again is just the word of God-- +what does the old pilgrim say to this confession of this young +pilgrim's faith? "Ignorance is thy name," he says, "and as thy +name is, so art thou: even this thy answer demonstrateth what I +say. Ignorant thou art of what justifying righteousness is, and as +ignorant how to secure thy soul through the faith of it from the +heavy wrath of God. Yea, thou also art ignorant of the true effect +of saving faith in this righteousness of Christ's, which is to bow +and win over the heart to God in Christ, to love His name, His +word, His ways, and His people." Paul sums up all his own early +life in this one word, "ignorant of God's righteousness." "Going +about," he says also, "to establish our own righteousness, not +submitting ourselves to be justified by the righteousness that God +has provided with such wisdom and grace, and at such a cost in His +Son Jesus Christ." Now, young men, I defy you to be better born, +better brought up, or to have better prospects than Saul of Tarsus +had. I defy you to have profited more by all your opportunities +and advantages than he had done. I defy you to be more blameless +in your opening manhood than he was. And yet it all went like +smoke when he got a true sight of himself, and, with that, a true +sight of Christ and His justifying righteousness. Read at home to- +night, and read when alone, what that great man of God says about +all that in his classical epistle to the Philippians, and refuse to +sleep till you have made the same submission. And, to-night, and +all your days, let SUBMISSION, Paul's splendid submission, be the +soul and spirit of all your religious life. Submission to be +searched by God's holy law as by a lighted candle: submission to +be justified from all that that candle discovers: submission to +take Christ as your life and righteousness, sanctification and +redemption: and submission of your mind and your will and your +heart to Him at all times and in all things. Nay, stay still, and +say where you sit, Lord, I submit. I submit on the spot to be +pardoned. I submit now to be saved. I submit in all things from +this very hour and house of God not any longer to be mine own, but +to be Thine, O God, Thine, Thine, for ever, in Jesus Christ Thy Son +and my Saviour! + +"But, one day, as I was passing in the field, and that, too, with +some dashes in my conscience, fearing lest all was not right, +suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy Righteousness is in +heaven! And, methought, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus +Christ at God's right hand. There, I saw, was my Righteousness. I +also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that +made my Righteousness better, nor my bad frame of heart that made +my Righteousness worse: for my Righteousness was Jesus Christ +Himself, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. 'Twas +glorious to me to see His exaltation, and the worth and prevalency +of His benefits. And that because I could now look from myself to +Him and should reckon that all those graces of God that were now +green in me were yet but like those crack-groats and four-pence +halfpennies that rich men carry in their purses when their gold is +in their trunks at home! Oh, I saw that day that my gold was all +in my trunk at home! Even in Christ, my Lord and Saviour! Now, +Christ was all to me: all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my +sanctification and all my redemption." + + +"Methinks in this God speaks, +No tinker hath such power." + + + +LITTLE-FAITH + + + +"O thou of little faith."--Our Lord. + +Little-Faith, let it never be forgotten, was, all the time, a good +man. With all his mistakes about himself, with his sad +misadventure, with all his loss of blood and of money, and with his +whole after-lifetime of doleful and bitter complaints,--all the +time, Little-Faith was all through, in a way, a good man. To keep +us right on this all-important point, and to prevent our being +prematurely prejudiced against this pilgrim because of his somewhat +prejudicial name--because give a dog a bad name, you know, and you +had better hang him out of hand at once--because, I say, of this +pilgrim's somewhat suspicious name, his scrupulously just, and, +indeed, kindly affected biographer says of him, and says it of him +not once nor twice, but over and over and over again, that this +Little-Faith was really all the time a truly good man. And, more +than that, this good man's goodness was not a new thing with him it +was not a thing of yesterday. This man had, happily to begin with, +a good father and a good mother. And if there was a good town in +all those parts for a boy to be born and brought up in it was +surely the town of Sincere. "Train up a child in the way he should +go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Well, Little- +Faith had been so trained up both by his father and his mother and +his schoolmaster and his minister, and he never cost either of them +a sore heart or even an hour's sleep. One who knew him well, as +well, indeed, as only one young man knows another, has been fain to +testify, when suspicions have been cast on the purity and integrity +of his youth, that nothing will describe this pilgrim so well in +the days of his youth as just those beautiful words out of the New +Testament--"an example to all young men in word, in conversation, +in charity, in spirit, in faith even, and in purity"--and that, if +there was one young man in all that town of Sincere who kept his +garments unspotted it was just our pilgrim of to-night. Yes, said +one who had known him all his days, if the child is the father of +the man, then Little-Faith, as you so unaccountably to me call him, +must have been all along a good man. + +It was said long ago in Vanity Fair about our present Premier that +if he were a worse man he would be a better statesman. Now, I do +not repeat that in this place because I agree with it, but because +it helps to illustrate, as sometimes a violent paradox will help to +illustrate, a truth that does not lie all at once on the surface. +But it is no paradox or extravagance or anything but the simple +truth to say that if Little-Faith had had more and earlier +discoveries made to him of the innate evil of his own heart, even +if it had been by that innate evil bursting out of his heart and +laying waste his good life, he would either have been driven out of +his little faith altogether or driven into a far deeper faith. Had +the commandment come to him in the manner it came to Paul; had it +come so as that the sinfulness of his inward nature had revived, as +Paul says, under its entrance; then, either his great goodness or +his little faith must have there and then died. God's truth and +man's goodness cannot dwell together in the same heart. Either the +truth will kill the goodness, or the goodness will kill the truth. +Little-Faith, in short, was such a good man, and had always been +such a good man, and had led such an easy life in consequence, that +his faith had not been much exercised, and therefore had not grown, +as it must have been exercised and must have grown, had he not been +such a good man. In short, and to put it bluntly, had Little-Faith +been a worse sinner, he would have been a better saint. "O felix +culpa!" exclaimed a church father; "O happy fault, which found for +us sinners such a Redeemer." An apostrophe which Bishop Ken has +put into these four bold lines - + + +"What Adam did amiss, +Turned to our endless bliss; +O happy sin, which to atone, +Drew Filial God to leave His throne." + + +And John Calvin, the soberest of men, supports Augustine, the most +impulsive of men, in saying the same thing. All things which +happen to the saints are so overruled by God that what the world +regards as evil the issue shows to be good. For what Augustine +says is true, that even the sins of saints are, through the guiding +providence of God, so far from doing harm to them, that, on the +contrary, they serve to advance their salvation. And Richard +Hooker, a theologian, if possible, still more judicious than even +John Calvin, says on this same subject and in support of the same +great father, "I am not afraid to affirm it boldly with St. +Augustine that men puffed up through a proud opinion of their own +sanctity and holiness receive a benefit at the hands of God, and +are assisted with His grace, when with His grace they are not +assisted, but permitted, and that grievously, to transgress. Ask +the very soul of Peter, and it shall undoubtedly make you itself +this answer: My eager protestations, made in the glory of my +ghostly strength, I am ashamed of; but those crystal tears, +wherewith my sin and weakness were bewailed, have procured my +endless joy: my strength hath been my ruin, and my fall my stay." +And our own Samuel Rutherford is not likely to be left far behind +by the best of them when the grace of God is to be magnified. "Had +sin never been we should have wanted the mysterious Emmanuel, the +Beloved, the Chief among ten thousand, Christ, God-man, the Saviour +of sinners. For, no sick sinners, no soul-physician of sinners; no +captive, no Redeemer; no slave of hell, no lovely ransom-payer of +heaven. Mary Magdalene with her seven devils, Paul with his hands +smoking with the blood of the saints, and with his heart sick with +malice and blasphemy against Christ and His Church, and all the +rest of the washen ones whose robes are made fair in the blood of +the Lamb, and all the multitude that no man can number in that best +of lands, are all but bits of free grace. O what a depth of +unsearchable wisdom to contrive that lovely plot of free grace. +Come, all intellectual capacities, and warm your hearts at this +fire. Come, all ye created faculties, and smell the precious +ointment of Christ. Oh come, sit down under His shadow and eat the +apples of life. Oh that angels would come, and generations of men, +and wonder, and admire, and fall down before the unsearchable +wisdom of this gospel-art of the unsearchable riches of Christ!" +And always pungent Thomas Shepard of New England: "You shall find +this, that there is not any carriage or passage of the Lord's +providence toward thee but He will get a name to Himself, first and +last, by it. Hence you shall find that those very sins that +dishonour His name He will even by them get Himself a better name; +for so far will they be from casting you out of His love that He +will actually do thee good by them. Look and see if it is not so +with thee? Doth not thy weakness strengthen thee like Paul? Doth +not thy blindness make thee cry for light? And hath not God out of +darkness oftentimes brought light? Thou hast felt venom against +Christ and thy brother, and thou hast on that account loathed +thyself the more. Thy falls into sin make thee weary of it, +watchful against it, long to be rid of it. And thus He makes thy +poison thy food, thy death thy life, thy damnation thy salvation, +and thy very greatest enemies thy very best friends. And hence Mr. +Fox said that he thanked God more for his sins than for his good +works. And the reason is, God will have His name." And, last, but +not least, listen to our old acquaintance, James Fraser of Brea: +"I find advantages by my sins: 'Peccare nocet, peccavisse vero +juvat.' I may say, as Mr. Fox said, my sins have, in a manner, +done me more good than my graces. Grace and mercy have more +abounded where sin had much abounded. I am by my sins made much +more humble, watchful, revengeful against myself. I am made to see +a greater need to depend more upon Him and to love Him the more. I +find that true which Shepard says, 'sin loses strength by every new +fall.'" Have you followed all that, my brethren? Or have you +stumbled at it? Do you not understand it? Does your superficial +gin-horse mind incline to shake its empty head over all this? I +know that great names, and especially the great names of your own +party, go much farther with you than the truth goes, and therefore +I have sheltered this deep truth under a shield of great names. +For their sakes let this sure truth of God's best saints lie in +peace and undisputed beside you till you arrive to understand it. + +But, to proceed,--the thing was this. At this passage there comes +down from Broadway-gate a lane called Dead-Man's-lane, so called +because of the murders that are commonly done there. And this +Little-Faith going on pilgrimage, as we now do, chanced to sit down +there and fell fast asleep. Yes; the thing was this: This good +man had never been what one would call really awake. He was not a +bad man, as men went in the town of Sincere, but he always had a +half-slept half-awakened look about his eyes, till now, at this +most unfortunate spot, he fell stone-dead asleep. You all know, I +shall suppose, what the apostle Paul and John Bunyan mean by sleep, +do you not? You all know, at any rate, to begin with, what sleep +means in the accident column of the morning papers. You all know +what sleep meant and what it involved and cost in the Thirsk +signal-box the other night. {1} When a man is asleep, he is as +good as dead, and other people are as good as dead to him. He is +dead to duty, to danger, to other people's lives, as well as to his +own. He may be having pleasant dreams, and may even be laughing +aloud in his sleep, but that may only make his awaking all the more +hideous. He may awake just in time, or he may awake just too late. +Only, he is asleep and he neither knows nor cares. Now, there is a +sleep of the soul as well as of the body. And as the soul is in +worth, as the soul is in its life and in its death to the body, so +is its sleep. Many of you sitting there are quite as dead to +heaven and hell, to death and judgment, and to what a stake other +people as well as yourselves have in your sleep as that poor +sleeper in the signal-box was dead to what was coming rushing on +him through the black night. And as all his gnashing of teeth at +himself, and all his sobs before his judge and before the laid-out +dead, and before distracted widows and half-mad husbands did not +bring back that fatal moment when he fell asleep so sweetly, so +will it be with you. Lazarus! come forth! Wise and foolish +virgins both: Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Awake, thou that +sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee +light! + +And, with that, Guilt with a great club that was in his hand struck +Little-Faith on the head, and with that blow felled him to the +earth, where he lay bleeding as one that would soon bleed to death. +Yes, yes, all true to the very life. A man may be the boast and +the example of all the town, and yet, unknown to them all, and all +but unknown to himself till he is struck down, he may have had +guilt enough on his track all the time to lay him half dead at the +mouth of Dead-Man's-lane. Good as was the certificate that all men +in their honesty gave to Little-Faith, yet even he had some bad +enough memories behind him and within him had he only kept them +ever present with him. But, then, it was just this that all along +was the matter with Little-Faith. Till, somehow, after that sad +and yet not wholly evil sleep, all his past sins leapt out into the +light and suddenly became and remained all the rest of his life +like scarlet. So loaded, indeed, was the club of Guilt with the +nails and studs and clamps of secret aggravation, that every nail +and stud left its own bleeding bruise in the prostrate man's head. +I have myself, says the narrator of Little-Faith's story, I have +myself been engaged as he was, and I found it to be a terrible +thing. I would, as the saying is, have sold my life at that moment +for a penny; but that, as God would have it, I was clothed with +armour of proof: ay, and yet though I was thus harnessed, I found +it hard work to quit myself like a man. No man can tell what in +that combat attends us but he that hath been in the battle himself. +Great-Grace himself,--whoso looks well upon his face shall see +those cuts and scars that shall easily give demonstration of what I +say. + +Most unfortunately there was no good Samaritan with his beast on +the road that day to take the half-dead man to an inn. And thus it +was that Little-Faith was left to lie in his blood till there was +almost no more blood left in him. Till at last, coming a little to +himself, he made a shift to scrabble on his way. When he was able +to look a little to himself, besides all his wounds and loss of +blood, he found that all his spending money was gone, and what was +he to do, a stranger in such a plight on a strange road? There was +nothing for it but he must just beg his way with many a hungry +belly for the remainder of his way. You all understand the parable +at this point? Our knowledge of gospel truth; our personal +experience of the life of God in our own soul; our sensible +attainments in this grace of the Spirit and in that; in secret +prayer, in love to God, in forgiveness of injuries, in good-will to +all men, and in self-denial that no one knows of,--in things like +these we possess what may be called the pocket-money of the +spiritual life. All these things, at their best, are not the true +jewel that no thief can break through nor steal; but though they +are not our best and truest riches, yet they have their place and +play their part in sending us up the pilgrim way. By our long and +close study of the word of God, if that is indeed our case; by +divine truth dwelling richly and experimentally in our hearts; and +by a hidden life that is its own witness, and which always has the +Holy Spirit's seal set upon it that we are the children of God,-- +all that keeps, and is designed by God to keep our hearts up amid +the labours and the faintings, the hopes and the fears of the +spiritual life. All that keeps us at the least and the worst above +famine and beggary. Now, the whole pity with Little-Faith was, +that though he was not a bad man, yet he never, even at his best +days, had much of those things that make a good and well-furnished +pilgrim; and what little he had he had now clean lost. He had +never been much a reader of his Bible; he had never sat over it as +other men sat over their news-letters and their romances. He had +never had much taste or talent for spiritual books of any kind. He +was a good sort of man, but he was not exactly the manner of man on +whose broken heart the Holy Ghost sets the broad seal of heaven. +But for his dreadful misadventure, he might have plodded on, a +decent, humdrum, commonplace, everyday kind of pilgrim; but when +that catastrophe fell on him he had nothing to fall back upon. The +secret ways of faith and love and hope were wholly unknown to him. +He had no practice in importunate prayer. He had never prayed a +whole night all his life. He had never needed to do so. For were +we not told when we first met him what a blameless and pure and +true and good man he had always been? He did not know how to find +his way about in his Bible; and as for the maps and guide-books +that some pilgrims never let out of their hand, even when he had +some spending money about him, he never laid it out that way. And +a more helpless pilgrim than Little-Faith was all the rest of the +way you never saw. He was forced to beg as he went, says his +historian. That is to say, he had to lean upon and look to wiser +and better-furnished men than himself. He had to share their +meals, look to them to pay his bills, keep close to their company, +walk in their foot-prints, and at night borrow their oil, and it +was only in this poor dependent way that Little-Faith managed to +struggle on to the end of his dim and joyless journey. + +It would have been far more becoming and far more profitable if +Christian and Hopeful, instead of falling out of temper and calling +one another bad names over the sad case of Little-Faith, had tried +to tell one another why that unhappy pilgrim's faith was so small, +and how both their own faith and his might from that day have been +made more. Hopeful, for some reason or other, was in a rude and +boastful mood of mind that day, and Christian was more tart and +snappish than we have ever before seen him; and, altogether, the +opportunity of learning something useful out of Little-Faith's +story has been all but lost to us. But, now, since there are so +many of Little-Faith's kindred among ourselves--so many good men +who are either half asleep in their religious life or are begging +their way from door to door--let them be told, in closing, one or +two out of many other ways in which their too little faith may +possibly be made stronger and more fruitful. + +Well, then, faith, like everything else, once we have it, grows +greater by our continual exercise of it. Exercise, then, +intentionally and seriously and on system your faith every day. +And exercise it habitually and increasingly on your Bible, on +heaven, and on Jesus Christ. And let your faith on all these +things, and places, and persons, work by love,--by love and by +imagination. Our love is cold and our faith is small and weak for +lack of imagination. Read your Psalm, your Gospel, your Epistle +every morning and every night with your eye upon the object. Think +you see the Psalmist amid all his deep and divine experiences. +Think you see Jesus Christ speaking His parables, saying His +prayers, and doing His good works. Walk up and down with Him, +observing His manner, His look, His gait, His divinity in your +humanity, till Galilee and Jerusalem become Scotland and Edinburgh; +that is, till He is as much with you, and more, than He was with +Peter and James and John. Never close your eye a single night till +you have again laid your hand on the very head of the Lamb of God, +and till you feel that your sin and guilt have all passed off your +hand and on upon His head. And never rise without, like William +Law, saluting the rising sun in the name of God, as if he had just +been created and sent up into your sky to let you see to serve God +and your neighbour for another day. And be often out of this world +and up in heaven. Beat all about you at building castles in the +air; you have more material and more reason. For is not faith the +substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen? +Walk often in heaven's friendly streets. Pass often into heaven's +many mansions filled with happy families. Imagine this unhappy +life at an end, and imagine yourself sent back to this probationary +world to play the man for a few short years before heaven finally +calls you home. Little-Faith was a good man, but there was no +speculation in his eyes and no secrets of love in his heart. And +if your faith also is little, and your spending money also is run +low, try this way of love and imagination. If you have a better +way, then go on with it and be happy yourself and helpful to +others; but if your faith is at a standstill and is stricken with +barrenness, try my counsel of putting more heart and more inward +eye, more holy love and more heavenly joy, into your frigid and +sterile religion. + + + +THE FLATTERER + + + +"A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his +feet."--The Wise Man. + +Both Ignorance and Little-Faith would have had their revenge and +satisfaction upon Christian and Hopeful had they seen those two so +Pharisaical old men taken in the Flatterer's net. For it was +nothing else but the swaggering pride of Hopeful over the pitiful +case of Little-Faith, taken along with the hard and hasty ways of +Christian with that unhappy youth Ignorance, that so soon laid them +both down under the small cords of the Shining One. This word of +the wise man, that pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty +spirit before a fall, was fulfilled to the very letter in Christian +and Hopeful that high-minded day. At the same time, it must be +admitted that Christian and Hopeful would have been more than human +if they had not both felt and let fall some superiority, some +scorn, and some impatience in the presence of such a silly and +upsetting stripling as Ignorance was; as, also, over the story of +such a poor-spirited and spunging creature as Little-Faith was. +Christian and Hopeful had just come down from their delightful time +among the Delectable Mountains, and they were as full as they could +hold of all kinds of knowledge, and faith, and hope, and assurance; +when, most unfortunately, as it turned out, they first came across +Ignorance, and then, after quarrelling with him, they fell out +between themselves over the case of Little-Faith. Their superior +knowledge of the truth, and their superior strength of faith, ought +to have made them more able to bear with the infirmities of the +weak, and with the passing moods, however provoking, of one +another. But no. And their impatience and contempt and bad temper +all came at this crisis to such a head with them that they could +only be cured by the small cords and the stinging words of the +Shining One. The true key to this so painful part of the parable +hangs at our own girdle. We who have been born and brought up in +an evangelical church are thrown from time to time into the company +of men--ministers and people--who have not had our advantages and +opportunities. They have been born, baptized, and brought up in +communities and churches the clean opposite of ours; and they are +as ignorant of all New Testament religion as Ignorance himself was; +or, on the other hand, they are as full of superstition and terror +and spiritual starvation as Little-Faith was. And then, instead of +recollecting and laying to heart Who made us to differ from such +ignorance and such unbelief, and thus putting on love and humility +and patience toward our neighbours, we speak scornfully and roughly +to them, and boast ourselves over them, and as good as say to them, +Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am wiser, wider- +minded, stronger, and better every way than thou. And then, ere +ever we are aware of what we are doing, we have let the arch- +flatterer of religious superiority and of spiritual pride seduce us +aside out of the lowly and heavenly way of love and humility till +we are again brought back to it with rebukes of conscience and with +other chastisements. You all understand, my brethren, that the man +black of flesh but covered with a white robe was no wayside seducer +who met Christian and Hopeful at that dangerous part of the road +only and only on that high-minded day. You know from yourselves +surely that both Christian and Hopeful carried that black but +smooth-spoken man within themselves. The Flatterer who led the two +pilgrims so fatally wrong that day was just their own heart taken +out of their own bosom and personified and dramatised by Bunyan's +dramatic genius, and so made to walk and talk and flatter and puff +up outside of themselves till they came again to see who in reality +he was and whence he came,--that is to say, till they were brought +to see what they themselves still were, and would always be, when +they were left to themselves. "Where did you lie last night? asked +the Shining One with the whip. With the Shepherds on the +Delectable Mountains, they answered. He asked them then if they +had not of those shepherds a note of direction for the way? They +answered, Yes. But did you not, said he, when you were at a stand +pluck out and read your note? They answered, No. He asked them +why? They said they forgot. He asked, moreover if the shepherds +did not bid them beware of the Flatterer? They answered, Yes; but +we did not imagine, said they, that this fine-spoken man had been +he." + +All good literature, both sacred and profane, both ancient and +modern, is full of the Flatterer. Let me not, protests Elihu in +his powerful speech in the book of Job, let me not accept any man's +person; neither let me give flattering titles unto man, lest in so +doing my Maker should soon take me away. And the Psalmist in his +powerful description of the wicked men of his day: There is no +faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; +their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. +And again: They speak with flattering lips, and with a double +heart do they speak. But the Lord shall cut off all flattering +lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. "The perpetual +hyperbole" of pure love becomes in the lips of impure love the +impure bait that leads the simple ones astray on the streets of the +city as seen and heard by the wise man out of his casement. My +son, say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding +thy kinswoman; that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from +the stranger which flattereth thee with her words, which forsaketh +the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. +And then in the same book of Hebrew aphorisms we find this text +which Bunyan puts on the margin of the page: "A man that +flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet." And now, +before we leave the ancient world, if you would not think it +beneath the dignity of the place we are in, I would like to read to +you a passage out of a round-about paper written by a satirist of +Greece about the time of Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem. You will +easily remark the difference of tone between the seriousness and +pathos of the Hebrew prophet and the light and chaffing touch of +Theophrastus. "The Flatterer is a person," says that satirist of +Greek society, "who will say to you as he walks with you, 'Do you +observe how people are looking at you? This happens to no man in +Athens but to you. A fine compliment was paid you yesterday in the +Porch. More than thirty persons were sitting there when the +question was started, Who is our foremost man? Every one mentioned +you first, and ended by coming back to your name." The Flatterer +will laugh also at your stalest joke, and will stuff his cloak into +his mouth as if he could not repress his amusement when you again +tell it. He will buy apples and pears and will give to your +children when you are by, and will kiss them all and will say, +'Chicks of a good father.' Also, when he assists at the purchase +of slippers he will declare that the foot is more shapely than the +shoe. He is the first of the guests to praise the wine and to say +as he reclines next the host, 'How delicate your fare always is'; +and taking up something from the table, 'Now, how excellent that +is!'" And so on. Yes, we have heard it all over and over again in +Modern Athens also. The Greek fable also of the fox and the crow +and the piece of cheese is only another illustration of the truth +that the God of truth and integrity never left Himself without a +witness. Our own literature also is scattered full of the +Flatterer and his too willing dupes. "Of praise a mere glutton," +says Goldsmith of David Garrick, "he swallowed what came. The puff +of a dunce he mistook it for fame." "Delicious essence," exclaims +Sterne, "how refreshing thou art to poor human nature! How sweetly +dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most +difficult and tortuous passages to the heart." "He that slanders +me," says Cowper, "paints me blacker than I am, and he that +flatters me whiter. They both daub me, and when I look in the +glass of conscience, I see myself disguised by both." And then he +sings: + + +"The worth of these three kingdoms I defy +To lure me to the baseness of a lie; +And of all lies (be that one poet's boast), +The lie that flatters I abhor the most." + + +Now, praise, which is one of the best and sweetest things in human +life, so soon passes over into flattery, which is one of the worst +things, that something must here be said and laid to heart about +praise also. But, to begin with, praise itself must first be +praised. There is nothing nobler than true praise in him who +speaks it, and there is nothing dearer and sweeter to him who hears +it. God Himself inhabits the praises of Israel. All God's works +praise Him. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me. Praise waiteth +for Thee, O God, in Zion. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, +and into His courts with praise. Violence shall no more be heard +in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou +shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. And such +also is all true praise between man and man. How deliciously sweet +is praise! How we labour after it! how we look for it and wait for +it! and how we languish and die if we do not get it! Again, when +it comes to us, how it cheers us up and makes our face to shine! +For a long time after it our step is so swift on the street and our +face beams so that all men can quite well see what has come to us. +Praise is like wine in our blood; it is new life to our fainting +heart. So much is this the case that a salutation of praise is to +be our first taste of heaven itself. It will wipe all tears off +our eyes when we hear our Lord saying to us, "Well done!" when all +our good works that we have done in the body shall be found unto +praise and honour and glory in the great day of Jesus Christ. + +At the same time, this same love of praise is one of our most +besetting and fatal temptations as long as we are in this false and +double and deceptive world. Sin, God curse it! has corrupted and +poisoned everything, the very best things of this life, and when +the best things are corrupted and poisoned they become the worst +things. And praise does not escape this universal and fatal law. +Weak, evil, and self-seeking men are near us, and we lean upon +them, look to them, and listen to them. We make them our strength +and support, and seek repose and refreshment from them. They +cannot be all or any of these things to us; but we are far on in +life, we are done with life, before we have discovered that and +will admit that. Most men never discover and admit that till they +are out of this life altogether. Christ's praise and the applause +of His saints and angels are so future and so far away from us, and +man's praise and the applause of this world, hollow and false as it +is, is so near us, that we feed our souls on offal and garbage, +when, already, in the witness of a good conscience, we might be +feasting our souls on the finest of the wheat, and satisfying them +with honey out of the rock. And, then, this insatiable appetite of +our hearts, being so degraded and perverted, like all degraded and +perverted appetites, becomes an iron-fast slave to what it feeds +upon. What miserable slaves we all are to the approval and the +praise of men! How they hold us in their bondage! How we lick +their hands and sit up on our haunches and go through our postures +for a crumb! How we crawl on our belly and lick their feet for a +stroke and a smile! What a hound's life does that man lead who +lives upon the approval and the praise and the patronage of men! +What meanness fills his mind; what baseness fills his heart! What +a shameful leash he is led about the world in! How kicked about +and spat upon he is; while not half so much as he knows all the +time that he deserves to be! Better far be a dog at once and bay +the moon than be a man and fawn upon the praises of men. + +If you would be a man at all, not to speak of a Christian man, +starve this appetite till you have quite extirpated it. You will +never be safe from it as long as it stirs within you. Extirpate +it! Extirpate it! You will never know true self-respect and you +will never deserve to know it, till you have wholly extirpated your +appetite for praise. Put your foot upon it, put it out of your +heart. Stop fishing for it, and when you see it coming, turn away +and stop your ears against it. And should it still insinuate +itself, at any rate do not repeat to others what has already so +flattered and humbled and weakened you. Telling it to others will +only humble and weaken you more. By repeating the praise that you +have heard or read about yourself you only expose yourself and +purchase well-deserved contempt for yourself. And, more than that, +by fishing for praise you lay yourself open to all sorts of +flatterers. Honest men, men who truly respect and admire you, will +show you their dignified regard and appreciation of you and your +work by their silence; while your leaky slaves will crowd around +you with floods of praise that they know well will please and +purchase you. And when you cannot with all your arts squeeze a +drop out of those who love and honour you, gallons will be poured +upon you by those who have respect neither for themselves nor for +you. Faugh! Flee from flatterers, and take up only with sternly +true and faithful men. "I am much less regardful," says Richard +Baxter, "of the approbation of men, and set much lighter store by +their praise and their blame, than I once did. All worldly things +appear most vain and unsatisfying to those who have tried them +most. But while I feel that this has had some hand in my distaste +for man's praise, yet it is the increasing impression on my heart +of man's nothingness and God's transcendent greatness; it is the +brevity and vanity of all earthly things, taken along with the +nearness of eternity;--it is all this that has at last lifted me +above the blame and the praise of men." + +To conclude; let us make up our mind and determine to pass on to +God on the spot every syllable of praise that ever comes to our +eyes or our ears--if, in this cold, selfish, envious, and grudging +world, any syllable of praise ever should come to us. Even if pure +and generous and well-deserved praise should at any time come to +us, all that does not make it ours. The best earned usury is not +the steward's own money to do with it what he likes. The principal +and the interest, and the trader too, are all his master's. And, +more than that, after the wisest and the best trader has done his +best, he will remain, to himself at least, a most unprofitable +servant. Pass on then immediately, dutifully, and to its very last +syllable, to God all the praise that comes to you. Wash your hands +of it and say, Not unto us, O God, not unto us, but unto Thy name. +And then, to take the most selfish and hungry-hearted view of this +whole matter, what you thus pass on to God as not your own but His, +He will soon, and in a better and safer world, return again to the +full with usury to you, and you again to God, and He again to you, +and so on, all down the pure and true and sweet and blessed life of +heaven. + + + +ATHEIST + + + +" . . . without God [literally, atheists] in the world."--Paul. + +"Yonder is a man with his back toward Zion, and he is coming to +meet us. So he drew nearer and nearer, and at last came up to +them. His name was Atheist, and he asked them whither they were +going? We are going to the Mount Zion, they answered. Then +Atheist fell into a very great laughter. What is the meaning of +your laughter? they asked. 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. Why, man? Do you +think we shall not be received? they said. Received! There is no +such place as you dream of in all this world. But there is in the +world to come, replied Christian. When I was at home, Atheist went +on, in mine own country I heard as you now affirm, and, from that +hearing, I went out to see, and have been seeking this city you +speak of this twenty years, but find no more of it than I did the +first day I set out. And, still laughing, he went his way." + +Having begun to tell us about Atheist, why did Bunyan not tell us +more? We would have thanked him warmly to-night for a little more +about this unhappy man. Why did the dreamer not take another eight +or ten pages in order to tell us, as only he could have told us, +how this man that is now Atheist had spent his past twenty years +seeking Mount Zion? Those precious unwritten pages are now buried +in John Strudwick's vault in Bunhill Fields, and no other man has +arisen able to handle Bunyan's biographic pen. Had Bunyan but put +off the entrance of Christian and Hopeful into the city till he had +told us something more about the twenty years it had taken this +once earnest pilgrim to become an atheist, how valuable an +interpolation that would have been! What was it that made this man +to set out so long ago for the Celestial City? What was it that so +stoutly determined him to leave off all his old companions and turn +his back on the sweet refreshments of his youth? How did he do at +the Slough of Despond? Did he come that way? What about the +Wicket Gate, and the House Beautiful, and the Interpreter's House, +and the Delectable Mountains? What men, and especially what women, +did he meet and converse with on his way? What were his fortunes, +and what his misfortunes? How much did he lay out at Vanity Fair, +and on what? At what point of his twenty years' way did his +youthful faith begin to shake, and his youthful love begin to +become lukewarm? And what was it that at last made him quite turn +round his back on Zion and his face to his own country? I cannot +forgive Bunyan to-night for not telling us the story of Atheist's +conversion, his pilgrimage, and his apostasy in full. + +At the same time, though it cannot be denied that Bunyan has lost +at this point a great opportunity for his genius and for our +advantage,--at the same time, he undoubtedly did a very courageous +thing in introducing Atheist at all; and, especially, in +introducing him to us and making him laugh so loudly at us when we +are on the very borders of the land of Beulah. A less courageous +writer, and a writer less sure of his ground, would have left out +Atheist altogether; or, if he had felt constrained to introduce +him, would have introduced him at any other period of our history +rather than at this period. Under other hands than Bunyan's we +would have met with this mocking reprobate just outside the City of +Destruction; or, perhaps, among the booths of Vanity Fair; or, +indeed, anywhere but where we now meet him. And, that our greater- +minded author does not let loose the laughter of Atheist upon us +till we are almost out of the body is a stroke of skill and truth +and boldness that makes us glad indeed that we possess such a +sketch at Bunyan's hand at all, all too abrupt and all too short as +that sketch is. In the absence, then, of a full-length and +finished portrait of Atheist, we must be content to fall back on +some of the reflections and lessons that the mere mention of his +name, the spot he passes us on, and the ridicule of his laughter, +all taken together, awaken in our minds. One rapid stroke of such +a brush as that of John Bunyan conveys more to us than a full- +length likeness, with all the strongest colours, of any other +artist would be able to do. + +1. One thing the life-long admiration of John Bunyan's books has +helped to kindle and burn into my mind and my imagination is this: +What a universe of things is the heart of man! Were there nothing +else in the heart of man but all the places and all the persons and +all the adventures that John Bunyan saw in his sleep, what a world +that would open up in all our bosoms! All the pilgrims, good and +bad--they, or the seed and possibility of them all, are all in your +heart and in mine. All the cities, all the roads that lead from +one city to another, with all the paths and all the by-paths,--all +the adventures, experiences, endurances, conflicts, overthrows, +victories,--all are within us and never are to be seen anywhere +else. Heaven and hell, God and the devil, life and death, +salvation and damnation, time and eternity, all are within us. +"There is no Mount Zion in all this world," bellowed out this +blinded fool. "No; I know that quite well," quickly responded +Christian; "but there is in the world to come." He would have said +the whole truth, and he would have been entirely right, had he +taken time to add, "and in the world within." "And more," he +should have said to Atheist, "much more in the world within than in +any possible world to come." The Celestial City, every Sabbath- +school child begins gradually to understand, is not up among the +stars; till, as he grows older, he takes in the whole of the New +Testament truth that the kingdom of heaven is wholly within him. +You all understand, my brethren, that were we swept in a moment up +to the furthest star, by all that infinite flight we would not be +one hair's-breadth nearer the heavenly city. That is not the right +direction to that city. The city whose builder and maker is God +lies in quite a different direction from that altogether; not by +ascending up beyond sun and moon and stars to all eternity would we +ever get one hand's-breadth nearer God. But if you deny yourself +sleep to-night till you have read His book and bowed your knees in +His closet; if, for His sake, you deny yourself to-morrow when you +are eating and drinking; as often as you say, "Not my will, but +Thine be done"; as often as you humble yourself when others exalt +themselves; as often as you refuse praise and despise blame for His +sake; as often as you forgive before God your enemy, and rejoice +with your friend,--Behold! the kingdom of heaven, with its King and +all His shining court of angels and saints is around you;--is, +indeed, within you. No; there is no such place. Heaven is not in +any place: heaven is in a person where it is at all; and you are +that person as often as you put off an earthly and put on a +heavenly mind. That mocking reprobate, with his secret heart all +through those twenty years hungering after the lusts of his youth,- +-he was wholly right in what he so unintentionally said; there is +no such place in all this world. And, even if there were, it would +spue him and all who are like him out of its mouth. + +2. And, then, in all that universe of things that fills that +bottomless pit and shoreless sea the human heart, there is nothing +deeper down in it than just its deep and unsearchable atheism. The +very deepest thing, and the most absolutely inexpugnable thing, in +every human heart is its theism; its original and inextinguishable +convictions about itself and about God. But, all but as deep as +that--for all around that, and all over that, and soaking all +through that--there lies a superincumbent mass of sullen, brutish, +malignant atheism. Nay, so deep down is the atheism of all our +hearts, that it is only one here and another there of the holiest +and the ripest of God's saints who ever get down to it, or even get +at their deepest within sight of it. Robert Fleming tells us about +Robert Bruce, that he was a man that had much inward exercise about +his own personal case, and had been often assaulted anent that +great foundation truth, if there was a God. And often, when he had +come up to the pulpit, after being some time silent, which was his +usual way, he would say, "I think it is a great matter to believe +there is a God"; telling the people that it was another thing to +believe that than they judged. But it was also known to his +friends what extraordinary confirmations he had from the Lord +therein, and what near familiarity he did attain to in his heart- +converse with God: Yea, truly, adds Fleming, some things I have +had thereanent that seem so strange and marvellous that I forbear +to set them down. And in Halyburton's priceless Memoirs we read: +"Hereby I was brought into a doubt about the truths of religion, +the being of God, and things eternal. Whenever I was in dangers or +straits and would build upon these things, a suspicion secretly +haunted me, what if the things are not? This perplexity was +somewhat eased while one day I was reading how Robert Bruce was +shaken about the being of God, and how at length he came to the +fullest satisfaction." And in another place: "Some days ago +reading Ex. ix. and x., and finding this, "That ye may know that I +am God" frequently repeated, and elsewhere in passages innumerable, +as the end of God's manifesting Himself in His word and works; I +observe from it that atheism is deeply rooted even in the Lord's +people, seeing they need to be taught this so much. The great +difficulty that the whole of revelation has to grapple with is +atheism; its whole struggle is to recover man to his first +impressions of a God. This one point comprehends the whole of +man's recovery, just as atheism is the whole of man's apostasy." +And, again, in another part of the same great book, Halyburton +says: "I must observe, also, the wise providence of God, that the +greatest difficulties that lie against religion are hid from +atheists. All the objections I meet with in their writings are not +nearly so subtle as those which are often suggested to myself. The +reason of this is obvious from the very nature of the thing--such +persons take not a near-hand view of religion, and while persons +stand at a distance neither are the advantages nor the difficulties +of religion discerned." And now listen to Bunyan, that arch- +atheist: "Whole floods of blasphemies both against God, Christ, +and the Scriptures were poured upon my spirit, to my great +confusion and astonishment. Against the very being of God and of +His only beloved Son; or, whether there were, in truth, a God and a +Christ, or no. Of all the temptations that ever I met with in my +life, to question the being of God and the truth of the Gospel is +the worst, and the worst to be borne. When this temptation comes +it takes away my girdle from me, and removeth the foundation from +under me." + + +"Fool, said my Muse to me, look in thy heart and write." + + +And John Bunyan looked into his own deep and holy heart, and out of +it he composed this incident of Atheist. + +3. It may not be out of place at this point to look for a moment +at some of the things that agitate, stir up, and make the secret +atheism of our hearts to fluctuate and overflow. Butler has a fine +passage in which he points out that it is only the higher class of +minds that are tempted with speculative difficulties such as those +were that assaulted Christian and Hopeful after they were so near +the end of their journey. Coarse, common-place, and mean-minded +men have their probation appointed them among coarse, mean, and +commonplace things; whereas enlightened, enlarged, and elevated men +are exercised after the manner of Robert Bruce, Thomas Halyburton, +John Bunyan, and Butler himself. "The chief temptations of the +generality of the world are the ordinary motives to injustice or +unrestrained pleasure; but there are other persons without this +shallowness of temper; persons of a deeper sense as to what is +invisible and future. Now, these persons have their moral +discipline set them in that high region." The profound bishop +means that while their appetites and their tempers are the +stumbling-stones of the most of men, the difficult problems of +natural and revealed and experimental religion are the test and the +triumph of other men. As we have just seen in the men mentioned +above. Students, whose temptations lie fully as much in their +intellects as in their senses, should buy (for a few pence) +Halyburton's Memoirs. "With Halyburton," says Dr. John Duncan, "I +feel great intellectual congruity. Halyburton was naturally a +sceptic, but God gave that sceptic great faith." + +Then again, what Atheist calls the "tediousness" of the journey has +undoubtedly a great hand in making some half-in-earnest men +sceptics, if not scoffers. Many of us here to-night who can never +now take this miserable man's way out of the tedium of the +Christian life, yet most bitterly feel it. Whether that tedium is +inherent in that life, and inevitable to such men as we are who are +attempting that life; how far that feature belongs to the very +essence of the pilgrim life, and how far we import our own tedium +into the pilgrimage; the fact remains as Atheist puts it. As +Atheist in this book says, so the Atheist who is in our hearts +often says: We are like to have nothing for all our pains but a +lifetime of tedious travel. Yes, wherever the blame lies, there +can be no doubt about it, that what this hilarious scoffer calls +the tediousness of the way is but a too common experience among +many of those who, tediousness and all, will still cleave fast to +it and will never leave it. + +Then, again, great trials in life, great straits, dark and too- +long-continued providences, prayer unanswered, or not yet answered +in the way we dictate, bad men and bad causes growing like a green +bay tree, and good men and good work languishing and dying; these +things, and many more things such as these, of which this world of +faith and patience is full, prove quite too much for some men till +they give themselves up to a state of mind that is nothing better +than atheism. "My evidences and my certainty," says Halyburton, +"were not answerable to the weight I was compelled to lay upon +them." A figure which Goodwin in his own tender and graphic way +takes up thus: "Set pins in a wall and fix them in ever so +loosely, yet, if you hang nothing upon them they will seem to stand +firm; but hang a heavy weight upon them, or even give them the +least jog as you pass, and the whole thing will suddenly come down. +The wall is God's word, the slack pin is our faith, and the weight +and the jog are the heavy burdens and the sudden shocks of life, +and down our hearts go, wall and pin and suspended vessel and all. + +When the church and her ministers, when the Scriptures and their +anomalies, and when the faults and failings of Christian men are +made the subject of mockery and laughter, the reverence, the fear, +the awe, the respect that all enter so largely into religion, and +especially into the religion of young people, is too easily +destroyed; and not seldom the first seeds of practical and +sometimes of speculative atheism are thus sown. The mischief that +has been done by mockery and laughter to the souls, especially of +the young and the inexperienced, only the great day will fully +disclose. + +And then, two men of great weight and authority with us, tell us +what we who are ministers would have found out without them: this, +namely, that the greatest atheists are they who are ever handling +holy things without feeling them. + +"Is it true," said Christian to Hopeful, his fellow, "is it true +what this man hath said?" "Take heed," said Hopeful, "remember +what it hath cost us already for hearkening to such kind of +fellows. What! No Mount Zion! Did we not see from the Delectable +Mountains the gate of the City? And, besides, are we not to walk +by faith? Let us go on lest the man with the whip overtakes us +again." Christian: "My brother, I said that but to prove thee, +and to fetch from thee a fruit of the honesty of thy heart." Many +a deep and powerful passage has Butler composed on that thesis +which Hopeful here supplies him with; and many a brilliant sermon +has Newman preached on that same text till he has made our +"predispositions to faith" a fruitful and an ever fresh commonplace +to hundreds of preachers. Yes; the best bulwark of faith is a good +and honest heart. To such a happy heart the truth is its own +unshaken evidence. To whom can we go but to Thee?--they who have +such a heart protest. The whole bent of such men's minds is toward +the truth of the gospel. Their instincts keep them on the right +way even when their reason and their observation are both +confounded. As Newman keeps on saying, they are "easy of belief." +They cannot keep away from Christ and His church. They cannot turn +back. They must go on. Though He slay them they will die yearning +after Him. They often fall into great error and into great guilt, +but their seed remaineth in them, and they cannot continue in error +or in guilt, because they are born of God. They are they in whom + + +"Persuasion and belief +Have ripened into faith; and faith become +A passionate intuition." + + + +HOPEFUL + + + +"We are saved by hope."--Paul + +Up till the time when Christian and Faithful passed through Vanity +Fair on their way to the Celestial City, Hopeful was one of the +most light-minded men in all that light-minded town. By his birth, +and both on his father's and his mother's side, Hopeful was, to +begin with, a youth of an unusually shallow and silly mind. In the +jargon of our day he was a man of a peculiarly optimistic +temperament. No one ever blamed him for being too subjective and +introspective. It took many sharp trials and many bitter +disappointments to take the inborn frivolity and superficiality out +of this young man's heart. He was far on in his life, he was far +on even in his religious life, before you would have ever thought +of calling him a serious-minded man. Hopeful had been born and +brought up to early manhood in the town of Vanity, and he knew +nothing better and desired nothing better than to lay out his whole +life and to rest all his hopes on the things of the fair; on such +things, that is, as houses, lands, places, honours, preferments, +titles, pleasures, and delights of all sorts. And that vain and +empty life went on with him, till, as he told his companion +afterwards, it had all ended with him in revelling, and drinking, +and uncleanness, and Sabbath-breaking, and all such things as +destroyed his soul. But in Hopeful's happy case also the blood of +the martyrs became the seed of the church. Hopeful, as he was +afterwards called, had suffered so many bitter disappointments and +shipwrecks of expectation from the things of the fair, that is to +say, from the houses, the places, the preferments, the pleasures +and what not, of the fair, that even his heart was ripe for +something better than any of those things, when, as God would have +it, Christian and Faithful came to the town. Hopeful was still +hanging about the booths of the fair; he was just fingering his +last sixpence over a commodity that he knew quite well would be +like gall in his belly as soon as he had bought it; when,--what is +that hubbub that rolls down the street? Hopeful was always the +first to see and to hear every new thing that came to the town, and +thus it was that he was soon in the thick of the tumult that rose +around Christian and Faithful. Had those two pilgrims come to the +town at any former time, Hopeful would have been among the foremost +to mock at and smite the two men; but, to-day, Hopeful's heart is +so empty, and his purse also, that he is already won to their side +by the loving looks and the wise and sweet words of the two ill- +used men. Some of the men of the town said that the two pilgrims +were outlandish and bedlamite men, but Hopeful took courage to +reprove some of the foremost of the mob. Till, at last, when +Faithful was at the stake, it was all that his companions could do +to keep back Hopeful from leaping up on the burning pile and +embracing the expiring man. And then, when He who overrules all +things so brought it about that Christian escaped out of their +hands, who should come forth and join him at the upward gate of the +city but just Hopeful, who not only joined himself to the lonely +pilgrim, but told him also that there were many more of the men of +the city who would take their time and follow after. And thus, +adds his biographer, when one died to make his testimony to the +truth, another rose up out of his ashes to be a companion to +Christian. + +When Madame Krudener was getting her foot measured by a pietist +shoemaker, she was so struck with the repose and the sweetness and +the heavenly joy of the poor man's look and manner that she could +not help but ask him what had happened to him that he had such a +look on his countenance and such a light in his eye. She was +miserable, though she had all that heart could wish. She had all +that made her one of the most envied women in Europe; she had +birth, talents, riches, rank, and the friendship of princes and +princesses, and yet she was of all women the most miserable. And +here was a poor chance shoemaker whose whole heart was running over +with a joy such that all her wealth could not purchase to her heart +one single drop of it. The simple soul soon told her his secret; +it was no secret: it was just Jesus Christ who had done it all. +And thus her poor shoemaker's happy face was the means of this +great lady's conversion. And, in like manner, it was the beholding +of Christian and Faithful in their words and in their behaviour at +the fair that decided Hopeful to join himself to Christian and +henceforth to be his companion. + +What were the things, asked Christian of his young companion, that +first led you to leave off the vanities of the fair and to think to +be a pilgrim? Many things, replied Hopeful. Sometimes if I did +but meet a good man in the street. Or if mine head began +unaccountably, or mine heart, to ache. Or if some one of my +companions became suddenly sick. Or if I heard the bell toll that +some one was dead. But, especially, when I thought of myself that +I must quickly come to judgment. And then it is told in the best +style of the book how peace and rest and the beginning of true +satisfaction came to poor Hopeful's heart at last. But you must +promise me to read the passage for yourselves before you sleep to- +night; and to read it again and again till, like Hopeful's, your +heart also is full of joy, and your eyes full of tears, and your +affections running over with love to the name and to the people and +to all the ways of Jesus Christ. + +And then, it is very encouraging and reassuring to us to see how +Hopeful's true conversion so deepened and sobered and strengthened +his whole character. He remained to the end in his mental +constitution and whole temperament, as we say, the same man he had +always been; but, while remaining the same man, at the same time a +most wonderful change gradually began to come over him, till, by +slow but sure degrees, he became the Hopeful we know and look to +and lean upon. To use his own autobiographic words about himself, +it was "by hearing and considering of things that are Divine" that +his natural levity was so completely whipped out of his soul till +he was made at last an indispensable companion to Christian, +strong-minded and serious-minded man as he was. "Conversion to +God," says William Law, "is often very sudden and instantaneous, +unexpectedly raised from variety of occasions. Thus, one by seeing +only a withered tree, another by reading the lives and deaths of +the antediluvian fathers, one by hearing of heaven, another of +hell, one by reading of the love or wrath of God, another of the +sufferings of Christ, may find himself, as it were, melted into +penitence all of a sudden. It may be granted also that the +greatest sinner may in a moment be converted to God, and may feel +himself wounded in such a degree as perhaps those never were who +have been turning to God all their lives. But, then, it is to be +observed that this suddenness of change or flash of conviction is +by no means of the essence of true conversion. This stroke of +conversion is not to be considered as signifying our high state of +a new birth in Christ, or a proof that we are on a sudden made new +creatures, but that we are thus suddenly called upon and stirred up +to look after a newness of nature. The renewal of our first birth +and state is something entirely distinct from our first sudden +conversion and call to repentance. That is not a thing done in an +instant, but is a certain process, a gradual release from our +captivity and disorder, consisting of several stages and degrees, +both of life and death, which the soul must go through before it +can have thoroughly put off the old man. It is well worth +observing that our Saviour's greatest trials were near the end of +His life. This might sufficiently show us that our first +awakenings have carried us but a little way; that we should not +then begin to be self-assured of our own salvation, but should +remember that we stand at a great distance from, and are in great +ignorance of, our severest trials." Such was the way that +Christian in his experience and in his wisdom talked to his young +companion till his outward trials and the consequent discoveries he +made of his own weakness and corruption made even Hopeful himself a +sober-minded and a thoughtful man. "Where pain ends, gain ends +too." + +Then, again, no one can read Hopeful's remarkable history without +discovering this about him, that he showed best in adversity and +distress, just as he showed worst in deliverance and prosperity. +It is a fine lesson in Christian hope to descend into Giant +Despair's dungeon and hear the older pilgrim groaning and the +younger pilgrim consoling him, and, again, to stand on the bank of +the last river and hear Hopeful holding up Christian's drowning +head. "Be of good cheer, my brother, for I feel the bottom, and it +is good!" Bless Hopeful for that, all you whose deathbeds are +still before you. For never was more true and fit word spoken for +a dying hour than that. Read, till you have it by heart and in the +dark, Hopeful's whole history, but especially his triumphant end. +And have some one bespoken beforehand to read Hopeful in the River +to you when you have in a great measure lost your senses, and when +a great horror has taken hold of your mind. "I sink in deep +waters," cried Christian, as his sins came to his mind, even the +sins which he had committed both since and before he came to be a +pilgrim. "But I see the gate," said Hopeful, "and men standing at +it ready to receive us." "Read to me where I first cast my +anchor," said John Knox to his weeping wife. + +The Enchanted Ground, on the other hand, threatened to throw +Hopeful back again into his former light-minded state. And there +is no saying what shipwreck he might have made there had the older +man not been with him to steady and reprove and instruct him. As +it was, a touch now and then of his old vain temper returned to him +till it took all his companion's watchfulness and wariness to carry +them both out of that second Vanity Fair. "I acknowledge myself in +a fault," said Hopeful to Christian, "and had I been here alone I +had run in danger of death. Hitherto, thy company hath been my +mercy, and thou shalt have a good reward for all thy labour." + +Now, my brethren, in my opinion we owe a great debt of gratitude to +John Bunyan for the large and the displayed place he has given to +Hopeful in the Pilgrim's Progress. The fulness and balance and +proportion of the Pilgrim's Progress are features of that wonderful +book far too much overlooked. So far as my reading goes I do not +know any other author who has at all done the justice to the saving +grace of hope that John Bunyan has done both in his doctrinal and +in his allegorical works. Bunyan stands alone and supreme not only +for the insight, and the power with which he has constructed the +character and the career of Hopeful, but even for having given him +the space at all adequate to his merits and his services. In those +eighty-seven so suggestive pages that form the index to Dr. Thomas +Goodwin's works I find some hundred and twenty-four references to +"faith," while there are only two references to "hope." And that +same oversight and neglect runs through all our religious +literature, and I suppose, as a consequence, through all our +preaching too. Now that is not the treatment the Bible gives to +this so essential Christian grace, as any one may see at a glance +who takes the trouble to turn up his Cruden. Hope has a great +place alongside of faith and love in the Holy Scriptures, and it +has a correspondingly large and eloquent place in Bunyan. Now, +that being so, why is it that this so great and so blessed grace +has so fallen out of our sermons and out of our hearts? May God +grant that our reading of Hopeful's autobiography and his +subsequent history to-night may do something to restore the blessed +grace of hope to its proper place both in our pulpit and in all our +hearts. + +To kindle then, to quicken, and to anchor your hope, my brethren, +may I have God's help to speak for a little longer to your hearts +concerning this neglected grace! For, what is hope? Hope is a +passion of the soul, wise or foolish, to be ashamed of or to be +proud of, just according to the thing hoped for, and just according +to the grounds of the hope. Hope is made up of these two +ingredients--desire and expectation. What we greatly desire we +take no rest till we find good grounds on which to build up our +expectations of it; and when we have found good grounds for our +expectations, then a glad hope takes possession of our hearts. +Now, to begin with, how is it with your desires? You are afraid to +say much about your expectations and your hopes. Well; let us come +to your hearts' desires.--Men of God, I will enter into your hearts +and I will tell you your hearts' desires better than you know them +yourselves; for the heart is deceitful above all things. The time +was, when, like this young pilgrim before he became a pilgrim, your +desires were all set on houses, and lands, and places, and honours, +and preferments, and wives, and children, and silver, and gold, and +what not. These things at one time were the utmost limit of your +desires. But that has all been changed. For now you have begun to +desire a better city, that is, an heavenly. What is your chief +desire for this New Year? {2} Is it not a new heart? Is it not a +clean heart? Is it not a holy heart? Is it not that the Holy +Ghost would write the golden rule on the tables of your heart? +Does not God know that it is the deepest desire of your heart to be +able to love your neighbour as yourself? To be able to rejoice +with him in his joy as well as to weep with him in his sorrow? +What would you not give never again to feel envy in your heart at +your brother, or straitness and pining at his prosperity? One +thing do I desire, said the Psalmist, that mine ear may be nailed +to the doorpost of my God: that I may always be His servant, and +may never wander from His service. Now, that is your desire too. +I am sure it is. You would not say it of yourself, but I defy you +to deny it when it is said about you. Well, then, such things +being found among your desires, what grounds have you for expecting +the fulfilment of such desires? What grounds? The best of grounds +and every ground. For you have the sure ground of God's word. And +you have more than His word: you have His very nature, and the +very nature of things. For shall God create such desires in any +man's heart only to starve and torture that man? Impossible! It +were blasphemy to suspect it. No. Where God has made any man to +be so far a partaker of the Divine nature as to change all that +man's deepest desires, and to turn them from vanity to wisdom, from +earth to heaven, and from the creature to the Creator, doubt not, +wherever He has begun such a work, that He will hasten to finish +it. Yes; lift up your heavy hearts, all ye who desire such things, +for God hath sent His Son to say to you, Blessed are ye that hunger +and thirst after righteousness, for ye shall be filled. Only, keep +desiring. Desire every day with a stronger and a more inconsolable +desire. Desire, and ground your desire on God's word, and then +heave your hope like an anchor within the veil whither the +Forerunner is for you entered. May I so hope? you say. May I +venture to hope? Yes; not only may you hope, but you must hope. +You are commanded to hope. It is as much your bounden duty to hope +always, and to hope for the greatest and best things, as it is to +repent of your sins, to love God and your neighbour, to keep +yourself pure, and to set a watch on the door of your lips. You +have been destroyed, I confess and lament it, for lack of knowledge +about the nature, the grounds, and the duty of hope. But make up +now for past neglect. Hope steadfastly, hope constantly, hope +boldly; hope for the best things, the greatest things, the most +divine and the most blessed things. If you forget to-night all +else you have heard to-day, I implore you not any longer to forget +and neglect this, that hope is your immediate, constant, imperative +duty. No sin, no depth of corruption in your heart, no assault on +your heart from your conscience, can justify you in ceasing to +hope. Even when trouble "comes tumbling over the neck of all your +reformations" as it came tumbling on Hopeful, let that only drive +you the more deeply down into the true grounds of hope; even +against hope rejoice in hope. Remember the Psalmist in the +hundred-and-thirtieth Psalm,--down in the deeps, if ever a fallen +sinner was. Yet hear him when you cannot see him saying: I hope +in Thy word! And--for it is worthy to stand beside even that +splendid psalm,--I beseech you to read and lay to heart what +Hopeful says about himself in his conversion despair. + +And then, as if to justify that hope, there always come with it +such sanctifying influences and such sure results. The hope that +you are one day to awaken in the Divine likeness will make you lie +down on your bed every night in self-examination, repentance, +prayer, and praise. The hope that your eyes are one day to see +Christ as He is will make you purify yourself as nothing else will. +The hope that you are to walk with Christ in white will make you +keep your garments clean; it will make you wash them many times +every day in the blood of the Lamb. The hope that you are to cast +your crown at His feet will make you watch that no man takes your +crown from you. The hope that you are to drink wine with Him in +His Father's kingdom will reconcile you meanwhile to water, lest +with your wine you stumble any of His little ones. The hope of +hearing Him say, Well done!--how that will make you labour and +endure and not faint! And the hope that you shall one day enter in +through the gates into the city, and have a right to the tree of +life,--how scrupulous that will make you to keep all His +commandments! And this is one of His commandments, that you gird +up the loins of your mind, and hope to the end for the grace that +is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. + + + +TEMPORARY + + + +"They are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; +and have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of +temptation fall away."--Our Lord. + +"Well, then, did you not know about ten years ago one Temporary in +your parts who was a forward man in religion? Know him! replied +the other. Yes. For my house not being above three miles from his +house he would ofttimes come to me, and that with many tears. +Truly I pitied the man, and was not altogether without hope of him; +but one may see that it is not every one who cries Lord, Lord. And +now, since we are talking about him, let us a little inquire into +the reason of the sudden backsliding of him and such others. It +may be very profitable, said Christian, but do you begin. Well, +then, there are in my judgment several reasons for it." And then, +with the older man's entire approval, Hopeful sets forth several +reasons, taken from his own observation of backsliders, why so many +men's religion is such a temporary thing; why so many run well for +a time, and then stand still, and then turn back. + +1. The fear of man bringeth a snare, said Hopeful, moralising over +his old acquaintance Temporary. And how true that observation is +every evangelical minister knows to his deep disappointment. A +young man comes to his minister at some time of distress in his +life, or at some time of revival of religion in the community, or +at an ordinary communion season, and gives every sign that he is +early and fairly embarked on an honourable Christian life. He +takes his place in the Church of Christ, and he puts out his hand +to her work, till we begin to look forward with boastfulness to a +life of great stability and great attainment for that man. Our +Lord, as we see from so many of His parables, must have had many +such cases among His first followers. Our Lord might be speaking +prophetically, as well as out of His own experience, so well do His +regretful and lamenting words fit into so many of our own cases to- +day. For, look at that young business man. He has been born and +brought up in the Church of Christ. He has gladdened more hearts +than he knows by the noble promise of his early days. Many +admiring and loving eyes have been turned on him as he took so +hopefully the upward way. But a sifting-time soon comes. A time +of temptation comes. A time comes when sides must be taken in some +moral, religious, ecclesiastical controversy. This young man is at +that moment a candidate for a post that will bring distinction, +wealth, and social influence to him who holds it. And the +candidate we are so much interested in is admittedly a man of such +outstanding talents that he would at once get the post were it not +that the holder of that post must not have his name so much +associated with such and such a church, such and such political and +religious opinions, and such and such public men. He is told that. +Indeed, he is not so dull as to need to be told that. He has seen +that all along. And at first it is a dreadful wrench to him. He +feels how far he is falling from his high ideals in life; and, at +first, and for a long time, it is a dreadful humiliation to him. +But, then, there are splendid compensations. And, better than +that, there are some good, and indeed compelling, reasons that +begin to rise up in our minds when we need them and begin to look +for them, till what at first seemed so mean and so contemptible, +and so ungrateful, and so dishonourable, as well as so spiritually +perilous, comes to be faced and gone through with positively on a +ground of high principle, and, indeed, of stern moral necessity. +So deceitful is the human heart that you could not believe what +compelling reasons such a mean-spirited man will face you with as +to why he should leave all the ways he once so delighted in for a +piece of bread, and for the smile of the open enemies of his +church, and his faith, not to say his Saviour. You will meet with +several such men any afternoon coming home from their business. +Sometimes they have still some honest shame on their faces when +they meet you; but still oftener they pass you with a sullen hatred +and a fierce defiance. This is he who heard the word, and anon +with joy received it. Yet had he not root in himself, but dured +for a while; for when tribulation or persecution arose because of +the word by and by he was offended. They went out from us, says +John, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they +would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they +might be made manifest that they were not all of us. + +2. Guilt, again, Hopeful went on, and to meditate terror, are so +grievous to most men, that they rather choose such ways as will but +harden their hearts still more and more. You all know what it is +to meditate terror? "Thine heart shall meditate terror," says the +prophet, "when thou sayest to thyself, who among us shall dwell +with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting +burnings?" The fifty-first Psalm is perhaps the best meditation +both of guilt and of terror that we have in the whole Bible. But +there are many other psalms and passages of psalms only second to +the fifty-first Psalm, such as the twenty-second, the thirty- +eighth, the sixty-ninth, and the hundred-and-thirtieth. Our Lord +Himself also was meditating terror in the garden of Gethsemane, and +Paul both guilt and terror when he imagined himself both an +apostate preacher and a castaway soul. And John's meditations of +terror in the Revelation rose into those magnificent pictures of +the Last Judgment with which he has to all time covered the walls +of the Seven Churches. In his own Grace Abounding there are +meditations of terror quite worthy to stand beside the most +terrible things of that kind that ever were written, as also in +many others of our author's dramatical and homiletical books. I +read to you the other Sabbath morning a meditation of terror that +was found among Bishop Andrewes' private papers after his death. +You will not all have forgotten that meditation, but I will read it +to you to-night again. "How fearful," says Andrewes, in his +terror, "will Thy judgment be, O Lord, when the thrones are set, +and the angels stand around, and men are brought in, and the books +are opened, and all our works are inquired into, and all our +thoughts are examined, and all the hidden things of darkness! +What, O God, shall Thy judgment that day be upon me? Who shall +quench my flame, who shall lighten my darkness, if Thou pity me +not? Lord, as Thou art loving, give me tears, give me floods of +tears, and give me all that this day, before it be too late. For +then will be the incorruptible Judge, the horrible judgment-seat, +the answer without excuse, the inevitable charge, the shameful +punishment, the endless Gehenna, the pitiless angels, the yawning +hell, the roaring stream of fire, the unquenchable flame, the dark +prison, the rayless darkness, the bed of live coals, the unwearied +worm, the indissoluble chains, the bottomless chaos, the impassable +wall, the inconsolable cry. And none to stand by me; none to plead +for me; none to snatch me out." Now, no Temporary ever possessed +anything like that in his own handwriting among his private papers. +A meditation like that, written out with his own hand, and hidden +away under lock and key, will secure any man from it, even if he +had been appointed to backsliding and reprobation. Bishop +Andrewes, as any one will see who reads his Private Devotions, was +the chief of sinners; but his discovered and deciphered papers will +all speak for him when they are spread out before the great white +throne, "glorious in their deformity, being slubbered," as his +editors say, "with his pious hands, and watered with his +penitential tears." + +Thomas Shepard's Ten Virgins is the most terrible book upon +Temporaries that ever was written. Temporaries never once saw +their true vileness, he keeps on saying. Temporaries are, no +doubt, wounded for sin sometimes, but never in the right place nor +to the right depth. And again, sin, and especially heart-sin, is +never really bitter to Temporaries. In an "exhortation to all new +beginners, and so to all others," "Be sure," Shepard says, "your +wound for sin at first is deep enough. For all the error in a +man's faith and sanctification springs from his first error in his +humiliation. If a man's humiliation be false, or even weak or +little, then his faith and his hold of Christ are weak and little, +and his sanctification counterfeit. But if a man's wound be right, +and his humiliation deep enough, that man's faith will be right and +his sanctification will be glorious. The esteem of Christ is +always little where sin lies light." And Hopeful himself says a +thing at this point that is quite worthy of Shepard himself, such +is its depth and insight. He speaks of the righteous actually +LOVING the sight of their misery. He does not explain what he +means by that startling language because he is talking all the +time, as he knows quite well, to one who understood all that before +he was born. Nor will I attempt to explain or to vindicate what he +says. Those of you who love the sight of your own misery as +sinners will understand what Hopeful says without any explanation; +while those who do not understand him would only be the more +stumbled by any explanation of him. The love of the sight of their +misery, and the unearthly sweetness of their sorrow for sin, are +only another two of those provoking paradoxes of which the lives of +God's true saints are full--paradoxes and impossibilities and +incoherencies that make the literature of experimental religion to +be positively hateful and unbearable to Temporary and to all his +self-seeking and apostate kindred. + +3. But even where the consciences of such men are occasionally +awakened, proceeds Hopeful, in his so searching discovery of +Temporaries, yet their minds are not changed. There you are pretty +near the business, replied his fellow; for the bottom of all is, +for want of a change of their mind and will. Now, one would have +been afraid and ashamed for one moment to suspect that Temporary's +mind was not completely changed, so "forward" was he at first in +his religion. But, no: forward before all his neighbours as +Temporary was, to begin with, yet all the time his mind was not +really changed. His forwardness did not properly spring out of his +true mind at all, but only out of his momentarily awakened +conscience and his momentarily excited heart. A sinner with a +truly changed mind is never forward. His mind is so changed that +forwardness in anything is utterly alien to it, and especially all +forwardness in the profession of religion. The change that had +taken place in Temporary, whatever was the seat of it, only led him +to bully men like Christian and Hopeful, who would not go fast +enough for him. "Come," said Pliable, in the beginning of the +book, "come on and let us mend our pace." "I cannot go so fast as +I would," humbly replied Christian, "because of this burden on my +back." It is a common observation among mountaineers that he who +takes the hill at the greatest spurt is the last climber to come to +the top, and that many who so ostentatiously make spurts at the +bottom of the hill never come within sight of the top at all. And +this is one of the constant dangers that wait on all revivals, +religious retreats, conferences, and even communion seasons. Our +hot fits, the hotter they are, are only the more likely, unless we +take the greatest care, to cast us down into all the more deadly a +chill. It is this danger that our Lord points out so plainly in +His parable of apostasy. The same is he, says our Lord, that +heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not +root in himself, but dureth for a while. In Hopeful's words, his +mind and will were never changed with all his joy, only his passing +moods and his momentary emotions. + +Multitudes of men who are as forward at first as Pliable and +Temporary were turn out at last to have no root in themselves; but +here and there you will discover a man who is all root together. +There are some men whose whole mind and heart and will, whose whole +inward man, has gone to root. All the strength and all the fatness +of their religious life retreat into its root. They have no leaves +at all, and they have too little fruit as yet; but you should see +their roots. Only, no eye but the eye of God can see sorrow for +sin--secret and sore humiliation on account of secret sin--the +incessant agony that goes on within between the flesh and the +spirit, between sin and grace, between very hell and heaven itself. +To know your own evil hearts, my brethren, say to you on that +subject what any Temporary will, is the very root of the whole +matter to you. Whatever Dr. Newman's mistakes as to outward +churches may have been, he was a master of the human heart, the +most difficult of all matters to master. Listen, then, to what he +says on the matter now in hand. "Now, unless we have some just +idea of our hearts and of sin, we can have no right idea of a Moral +Governor, a Saviour, or a Sanctifier; that is, in professing to +believe in them we shall be using words without attaching any +distinct meaning to them. Thus self-knowledge is at the root of +all real religious knowledge; and it is vain,--it is worse than +vain,--it is a deceit and a mischief, to think to understand the +Christian doctrines as a matter of course, merely by being taught +by books, or by attending sermons, or by any outward means, however +excellent, taken by themselves. For it is in proportion as we +search our hearts and understand our own nature that we understand +what is meant by an Infinite Governor and Judge; it is in +proportion as we comprehend the nature of disobedience and our +actual sinfulness that we feel what is the blessing of the removal +of sin, redemption, pardon, sanctification, which otherwise are +mere words. God speaks to us primarily in our hearts. Self- +knowledge is the key to the precepts and doctrines of Scripture. +The very utmost that any outward notices of religion can do is to +startle us and make us turn inward and search our hearts; and then, +when we have experienced what it is to read ourselves, we shall +profit by the doctrine of the Church and the Bible." My brethren, +the temper in which you receive that passage, and receive it from +its author, may be safely taken by you as a sure presage whether +you are to turn out a Temporary and a Castaway or no. + +Now, to conclude with a word of admission, and, bound up with it, a +word of encouragement. After all that has been said, I fully admit +that we are all Temporaries to begin with. We all cool down from +our first heat in religion. We all halt from our first spurt. We +all turn back from faith and from duty and from privilege through +our fear of men, or through our corrupt love of ourselves, or +through our coarse-minded love of this present world. Only, those +who are appointed to perseverance, and through that to eternal +life, always kindle again; they are kindled again, and they love +the return of their lost warmth. They recover themselves and +address themselves again and again to the race that is still set +before them. They prove themselves not to be of those who draw +back unto perdition, but of those that believe to the saving of the +soul. Now, if you have only too good ground to suspect that you +are but a temporary believer, what are you to do to make your sure +escape out of that perilous state? What, but to keep on believing? +You must cry constantly, Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief! +When at any time you are under any temptation or corruption, and +you feel that your faith and your love are letting slip their hold +of Christ and of eternal life, then knot your weak heart all the +faster to the throne of grace, to the cross of Christ, and to the +gate of heaven. Give up all your mind and heart, and all that is +within you, to the one thing needful. Labour night and day in your +own heart at believing on Christ, at loving your neighbour, and at +discovering, denying, and crucifying yourself. It will all pay you +in the long run. For if you do all these things, and persistently +do them, then, though you are at this moment all but dead to all +divine things, and all but a reprobate, it will be found at last +that all the time your name was written among the elect in heaven. + +The perseverance of the saints, the "five points" notwithstanding, +is not a foregone conclusion. The final perseverance of the ripest +and surest saint is all made up of ever-new beginnings in +repentance, in faith, in love, and in obedience. Begin, then, +every new day to repent anew, to return anew, to believe and to +love anew. And if all your New-Year repentances and returnings and +reformations are all already proved to be but temporary--even if +they lie all around you already a bitter mockery of all your +professions--still, begin again. Begin to-night, and begin again +to-morrow morning. Spend all the remainder of your days on earth +beginning. And, ere ever you are aware, the final perseverance of +another predestinated saint will be found accomplished in you. + + + +SECRET + + + +"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him."--David. + +A truly religious life is always a secret life: it is a life hid, +as Paul has it, with Christ in God. The secret of the Lord, says +the Psalmist, is with them that fear Him. And thus it is that when +men begin to fear God, both their hearts and their lives are +henceforth full of all kinds of secrets that are known to +themselves and to God only. It was when Christiana's fearful +thoughts began to work in her mind about her husband whom she had +lost--it was when all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly carriages +to her dear friend came into her mind in swarms, clogged her +conscience, and loaded her with guilt--it was then that Secret +knocked at her door. "Next morning," so her opening history runs, +"when she was up, and had prayed to God, and talked with her +children awhile, one knocked hard at the door to whom she spake +out, saying, If thou comest in God's name, come in. So he who was +at the door said, Amen, and opened the door, and saluted her with, +Peace be to this house. The which when he had done, he said, +Christiana, knowest thou wherefore I am come? Then she blushed and +trembled, also her heart began to wax warm with desires to know +whence he came, and what was his errand to her. So he said unto +her, My name is Secret, I dwell with those that are high. It is +talked of where I dwell as if thou hadst a desire to go thither; +also, there is a report that thou art aware now of the evil thou +formerly didst to thy husband in hardening of thy heart against his +way, and in keeping of thy babes in their ignorance. Christiana, +the Merciful One has sent me to tell thee that He is a God ready to +forgive, and that He taketh delight to multiply to pardon offences. +He would also have thee know that He inviteth thee to come into His +presence, even to His table, and that He will there feed thee with +the fat of His house, and with the heritage of Jacob thy father. +Christiana at all this was greatly abashed in herself, and she +bowed her head to the ground, while her visitor proceeded and said, +Christiana, here is a letter for thee which I have brought from thy +husband's King. So she took it and opened it, and, as she opened +it, it smelt after the manner of the best perfume; also it was +written in lettering of gold. The contents of the letter was to +this effect, that the King would have her do as did Christian her +husband, for that was the way to come to the city and to dwell in +His presence with joy for ever. At this the good woman was +completely overcome. So she said to her visitor, Sir, will you +carry me and my children with you that we may go and worship this +King? Then said the heavenly visitor, Christiana, the bitter is +before the sweet. Thou must through troubles, as did he that went +before thee, enter this celestial city." And so on. + +1. Now, to begin with, you will have noticed the way in which +Christiana was prepared for the entrance of Secret into her house. +She was a widow. She sat alone in that loneliness which only +widows know and understand. More than lonely, she was very +miserable. "Mark this," says the author on the margin, "you that +are churls to your godly relations." For this widow felt sure that +her husband had been taken from her because of her cruel behaviour +to him. Her past unnatural carriages toward her husband now rent +the very caul of her heart in sunder. And, again and again, about +that same time strange dreams would sometimes visit her. Dreams +such as this. She would see her husband in a place of bliss with a +harp in his hand, standing and playing upon it before One that sat +on a throne with a rainbow round His head. She saw also as if he +bowed his head with his face to the paved work that was under the +Prince's feet, saying, I heartily thank my Lord and King for +bringing me to this place. You will easily see how ready this lone +woman was with all that for his entrance who knocked and said, +Peace be to this house, and handed her a letter of perfume from her +husband's King. Then you will have remarked also some of the +things this visitor from on high said to her of the place whence he +had come. He told her, to begin with, how they sometimes talked +about her in his country. She thought that she was a lonely and +forgotten widow, and that no one cared what became of her. But her +visitor assured her she was quite wrong in thinking that. He had +often himself heard her name mentioned in conversation above; and +the most hopeful reports, he told her, were circulated from door to +door that she was actually all but started on the upward way. Yes, +he said, and we have a place prepared for you on the strength of +these reports, a place among the immortals close beside your +husband. And all that, as you will not wonder, was the beginning +of Christiana's secret life. After that morning she never again +felt alone or forgotten. I am not alone, she would after that say, +when any of her old neighbours knocked at her door. No, I am not +alone, but if thou comest in God's name, come in. + +2. And from that day a long succession of secret providences began +to enter Christiana's life, till, as time went on, her whole life +was filled full of secret providences. And not her present life +only, but her discoveries of God's secret providences towards her +and hers became retrospective also, till both her own parentage and +birth, her husband's parentage and birth also, the day she first +saw him, the day of their espousals, the day of their marriage, and +the day of his death, all shone out now as so many secret and +special providences of God toward her. Bishop Martensen has a fine +passage on the fragmentariness of our knowledge, not only of divine +providence as a whole, but even of those divine providences that +fill up our own lives. And he warns us that, till we have heard +the "Prologue in Heaven," many a riddle in our lives must of +necessity remain unsolved. Christiana could not have told her +inquiring children what a prologue was, nor an epilogue either, but +many were the wise and winning discourses she held with her boys +about their father now in heaven, about her happiness in having had +such a father for her children, and about their happiness that the +road was open before them to go to where he now is. And there are +many poor widows among ourselves who are wiser than all their +teachers, because they are in that school of experience into which +God takes His afflicted people and opens to them His deepest +secrets. They remember, with Job, when the secret of the Lord was +first upon their tabernacle. Their widowed hearts are full of holy +household memories. They remember the days when the candle of the +Lord shone upon their head when they washed their steps with +butter, and the rock poured them out rivers of oil. And still, +when, like Job also, they sit solitary among the ashes, the secret +of the Lord is only the more secretly and intimately with them. +John Bunyan was well fitted to be Christiana's biographer, because +his own life was as full as it could hold of these same secret and +special providences. One day he was walking--so he tells us--in a +good man's shop, bemoaning himself of his sad and doleful state-- +when a mighty rushing wind came in through the window and seemed to +carry words of Scripture on its wings to Bunyan's disconsolate +soul. He candidly tells us that he does not know, after twenty +years' reflection, what to make of that strange dispensation. That +it took place, and that it left the most blessed results behind it, +he is sure; but as to how God did it, by what means, by what +instruments, both the rushing wind itself and the salutation that +accompanied it, he is fain to let lie till the day of judgment. +And many of ourselves have had strange dispensations too that we +must leave alone, and seek no other explanation of them for the +present but the blessed results of them. We have had divine +descents into our lives that we can never attempt to describe. +Interpositions as plain to us as if we had both seen and spoken +with the angel who executed them. Miraculous deliverances that +throw many Old and New Testament miracles into the shade. +Providential adaptations and readjustments also, as if all things +were actually and openly and without a veil being made to work +together for our good. Extrications also; nets broken, snares +snapped, and such pavilions of safety and solace opened to us that +we can find no psalm secret and special enough in which to utter +our life-long astonishment. Importunate prayers anticipated, +postponed, denied, translated, transmuted, and then answered till +our cup was too full; sweet changed to bitter, and bitter changed +to sweet, so wonderfully, so graciously, and so often, that words +fail us, and we can only now laugh and now weep over it all. Poor +Cowper knew something about it - + + +"God moves in a mysterious way +His wonders to perform; +He plants His footsteps in the sea, +And rides upon the storm. + +Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, +The clouds ye so much dread +Are big with mercy, and shall break +In blessings on your head. + +"Blind unbelief is sure to err, +And scan his work in vain; +God is His own interpreter, +And He will make it plain. + + +3. Secret scriptures also--from that enlightening day Christiana's +Bible became full of them. Peter says that no prophecy is of any +private interpretation; and, whatever he means by that, what he +says must be true. But Christiana would have understood the +apostle better if he had said the exact opposite of that,--if not +about the prophecies, at least about the psalms. Leave the +prophecies in this connection alone; but of the psalms it may +safely be said that it is neither the literal nor the historical +nor the mystical interpretation that gets at the heart of those +supreme scriptures. It is the private, personal, and, indeed, +secret interpretation that gets best at the deepest heart of the +psalms. An old Bible came into my hands the other day--a Bible +that had seen service--and it opened of its own accord at the Book +of Psalms. On turning over the yellow leaves I found a date and a +deep indentation opposite these words: "Commit thy way unto the +Lord: trust also in Him: and He will bring it to pass." And as I +looked at the figures on the margin, and at the underscored text, I +felt as if I were on the brink of an old-world secret. "Create in +me a clean heart" had a significant initial also; as had this: +"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." The whole of the +hundred-and-third psalm was bracketed off from all public +interpretation; while the tenth, the cardinal verse of that secret +psalm, had a special seal set upon it. Judging from its stains and +scars and other accidents, the whole of the hundred-and-nineteenth +psalm had been a special favourite; while the hundred-and-forty- +third also was all broidered round with shorthand symbols. But the +secret key of all those symbols and dates and enigmatical marks was +no longer to be found; it had been carried away in the owner's own +heart. But, my head being full of Christiana at the time, I felt +as if I held her own old Bible in my hand as I turned over those +ancient leaves. + +4. Our Lord so practised secrecy Himself in His fasting, in His +praying, and in His almsgiving, and He makes so much of that same +secrecy in all His teaching, as almost to make the essence of all +true religion to stand in its secrecy. "When thou prayest," says +our Lord, "shut thy door and pray in secret." As much as to say +that we are scarcely praying at all when we are praying in public. +Praying in public is so difficult that new beginners, like His +disciples, have to practise that so difficult art for a long time +in secret. Public prayer has so many besetting sins, it is open to +so many temptations, distractions, and corruptions, that it is +almost impossible to preserve the real essence of prayer in public +prayer. But in secret all those temptations and distractions are +happily absent. We have no temptation to be too long in secret +prayer, or too loud, or too eloquent. Stately old English goes for +nothing in secret prayer. We never need to go to our knees in +secret trembling, lest we lose the thread of our prayer, or forget +that so fit and so fine expression. The longer we are the better +in secret prayer. Much speaking is really a virtue in secret +prayer; much speaking and many repetitions. Also, we can put +things into our secret prayers that we dare not come within a +thousand miles of in the pulpit, or the prayer-meeting, or the +family. We can enter into the most plain-spoken particulars about +ourselves in secret. We can put our proper name upon ourselves, +and upon our actions, and especially upon our thoughts when our +door is shut. Then, again, we can pray for other people by name in +secret; we can enter, so far as we know them, into all their +circumstances in a way it is impossible to do anywhere but in the +utmost secrecy. We can, in short, be ourselves in secret; and, +unless it is to please or to impress men, we had better not pray at +all unless we are ourselves when we are engaged in it. You can be +yourself, your very worst self; nay, you must be, else you will not +long pray in secret, and even if you did you would not be heard. I +do not remember that very much is said in so many words in her +after-history about Christiana's habits of closet-prayer. But that +Secret taught her the way, and waited till she had tasted the +sweetness and the strength of being a good while on her knees +alone, I am safe to say; indeed, I read it between the lines in all +her after-life. She was rewarded openly in a way that testifies to +much secret prayer; that is to say, in the early conversion of her +children, in the way they settled in life, and such like things. +Pray much for those things in secret that you wish to possess +openly. + +5. But perhaps the best and most infallible evidence we can have +of the truth of our religion in this life is in the steady increase +of our secret sinfulness. Christiana had no trouble with her own +wicked heart so long as she was a woman of a wicked life. But +directly she became a new creature, her heart began to swarm, such +is her own expression, with sinful memories, sinful thoughts, and +sinful feelings; till she had need of some one ever near her, like +Greatheart, constantly to assure her that those cruel and deadly +swarms, instead of being a bad sign of her salvation, were the very +best signs possible of her good estate. Humility is the foundation +of all our graces, and there is no humility so deep and so ever- +deepening as that evangelical humility which in its turn rises out +of and rests upon secret sinfulness. Not upon acts of secret sin. +Do not mistake me. Acts of secret sin harden the heart and debauch +the conscience. But I speak of that secret, original, unexplored, +and inexpugnable sinfulness out of which all a sinner's actual +sins, both open sins and secret, spring; and out of which a like +life of open and actual sins would spring in God's very best +saints, if only both He and they did not watch night and day +against them. Sensibility to sin, or rather to sinfulness, is far +and away the best evidence of sanctification that is possible to us +in this life. It is this keen and bitter sensibility that secures, +amid all oppositions and obstructions, the true saint's onward and +upward progress. Were it not for the misery of their own hearts, +God's best saints would fall asleep and go back like other men. A +sinful heart is the misery of all miseries. It is the deepest and +darkest of all dungeons. It is the most painful and the most +loathsome of all diseases. And the secrecy of it all adds to the +bitterness and the gall of it all. We may know that other men's +hearts are as sinful as our own, but we do not feel their +sinfulness. We cannot sensibly feel humiliation, bondage, +sickness, and self-loathing on account of another man's envy, or +ill-will, or resentment, or cruelty, or falsehood, or impurity. +All these things must be our own before we can enter into the pain +and the shame of them; but, when we do, then we taste what death +and hell are indeed. As I write these feeble words about it, a +devil's shaft of envy that was shot all against my will into my +heart this morning, still, after a whole day, rankles and festers +there. I have been on my knees with it again and again; I have +stood and looked into an open grave to-day; but there it is sucking +at my heart's blood still, like a leech of hell. Who can +understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Create +in me a clean heart, O God, O wretched man that I am! "Let a man," +says William Law when he is enforcing humility, "but consider that +if the world knew all that of him which he knows of himself: if +they saw what vanity and what passions govern his inside, and what +secret tempers sully and corrupt his best actions, he would have no +more pretence to be honoured and admired for his goodness and +wisdom than a rotten and distempered body to be loved and admired +for its beauty and comeliness. This is so true, and so known to +the hearts of almost all people, that nothing would appear more +dreadful to them than to have their hearts fully discovered to the +eyes of all beholders. And, perhaps, there are very few people in +the world who would not rather choose to die than to have all their +secret follies, the errors of their judgments, the vanity of their +minds, the falseness of their pretences, the frequency of their +vain and disorderly passions, their uneasinesses, hatreds, envies, +and vexations made known to all the world." Where did William Law +get that terrible passage? Where could he get it but in the secret +heart of the miserable author of the Serious Call? + +6. The half cannot be told of the guilt and the corruption, the +pain and the shame and the manifold misery of secret sin; but all +that will be told, believed, and understood by all men long before +the full magnificence of their sanctification, and the superb +transcendence of their blessedness, will even begin to be described +to God's secret saints. For, all that sleepless, cruel, and soul- +killing pain, and all that shameful and humbling corruption,--all +that means, all that is, so much holiness, so much heaven, working +itself out in the soul. All that is so much immortal life, +spotless beauty, and incorruptible joy already begun in the soul. +Every such pang in a holy heart is a death-pang of another sin and +a birth-pang of another grace. Brotherly love is at last being +born never to die in that heart where envy and malice and +resentment and revenge are causing inward agony. And humility and +meekness and the whole mind of Christ are there where pride and +anger and ill-will are felt to be very hell itself. And holiness, +even as God is holy, will soon be there for ever where the +sinfulness of sin is a sinner's acutest sorrow. "As for me," said +one whose sin was ever before him, "I will behold Thy face in +righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I wake with Thy likeness." + + + +MRS. TIMOROUS + + + +"But the fearful [literally, the timid and the cowardly] shall have +their part in the second death."--Revelation xxi. + +No sooner had Secret bidden Christiana farewell than she began with +all her might to make ready for her great journey. "Come, my +children, let us pack up and begone to the gate that leads to the +Celestial City, that we may see your father and be with him, and +with his companions, in peace, according to the laws of that land." +And then: "Come in, if you come in God's name!" Christiana called +out, as two of her neighbours knocked at her door. "Having little +to do at home this morning," said the elder of the two women, "I +have come across to kill a little time with you. I spent last +night with Mrs. Light-mind, and I have some good news for you this +morning." "I am just preparing for a journey this morning," said +Christiana, packing up all the time, "and I have not so much as one +moment to spare." You know yourselves what Christiana's +nervousness and almost impatience were. You know how it upsets +your good temper and all your civility when you are packing up for +a long absence from home, and some one comes in, and will talk, and +will not see how behindhand and how busy you are. "For what +journey, I pray you?" asked Mrs. Timorous, for that was her +visitor's name. "Even to go after my good husband," the busy woman +said, and with that she fell a-weeping. But you must read the +whole account of that eventful morning in Christiana's memoirs for +yourselves till you have it, as Secret said, by root-of-heart. On +the understanding that you are not total strangers to that so +excellently-written passage I shall now venture a few observations +upon it. + +1. Well, to begin with, Mrs. Timorous was not a bad woman, as +women went in that town and in that day. Her companions,--her +gossips, as she would have called them,--were far worse women than +she was; and, had it not been for her family infirmity, had it not +been for that timid, hesitating, lukewarm, and half-and-half habit +of mind which she had inherited from her father, there is no saying +what part she might have played in the famous expedition of +Christiana and Mercy and the boys. Her father had been a pilgrim +himself at one time; but he had now for a long time been known in +the town as a turncoat and a temporary, and all his children had +unhappily taken after their father in that. Had her father held on +as he at one time had begun--had he held on in the face of all fear +and all danger as Christiana's noble husband had done--to a +certainty his daughter would have started that morning with +Christiana and her company, and would have been, if a timid, easily +scared, and troublesome pilgrim, yet as true a pilgrim, and made as +welcome at last, as, say, Miss Much-afraid, Mr. Fearing, and Mr. +Ready-to-halt were made. But her father's superficiality and +shakiness, and at bottom his warm love of this world and his +lukewarm love of the world to come, had unfortunately all descended +to his daughter, till we find her actually reviling Christiana on +that decisive morning, and returning to her dish of tea and tittle- +tattle with Mrs. Bats-eyes, Mrs. Inconsiderate, Mrs. Light-mind, +and Mrs. Know-nothing. + +2. The thing that positively terrified Mrs. Timorous at the very +thought of setting out with Christiana that morning was that +intolerable way in which Christiana had begun to go back upon her +past life as a wife and a mother. Christiana could not hide her +deep distress, and, indeed, she did not much try. Such were the +swarms of painful memories that her husband's late death, the visit +of Secret, and one thing and another had let loose upon +Christiana's mind, that she could take pleasure in nothing but in +how she was to escape away from her past life, and how she could in +any way mend it and make up for it where she could not escape from +it. "You may judge yourself," said Mrs. Timorous to Mrs. Light- +mind, "whether I was likely to find much entertainment with a woman +like that!" For, Mrs. Timorous too, you must know, had a past life +of her own; and it was that past life of hers all brought back by +Christiana's words that morning that made Mrs. Timorous so revile +her old friend and return to the society we so soon see her with. +Now, is not this the case, that we all have swarms of evil memories +that we dare not face? There is no single relationship in life +that we can boldly look back upon and fully face. As son or as +daughter, as brother or as sister, as friend or as lover, as +husband or as wife, as minister or as member, as master or as +servant--what swarms of hornet-memories darken our hearts as we so +look back! Let any grown-up man, with some imagination, tenderness +of heart, and integrity of conscience, go back step by step, taking +some time to it,--at a new year, say, or a birthday, or on some +such suitable occasion: let him go over his past life back to his +youth and childhood--and what an intolerable burden will be laid on +his heart before he is done! What a panorama of scarlet pictures +will pass before his inward eye! What a forest of accusing fingers +will be pointed at him! What hissing curses will be spat at him +both by the lips of the living and the dead! What untold pains he +will see that he has caused to the innocent and the helpless! What +desolating disappointments, what shipwrecks of hope to this man and +to that woman! What a stone of stumbling he has been to many who +on that stone have been for ever broken and lost! What a rock of +offence even his mere innocent existence, all unknown to himself +till afterwards, has been! Swarms, said Christiana. Swarms of +hornets armed, said Samson. And many of us understand what that +bitter word means better than any commentator on Bunyan or on +Milton can tell us. One of the holiest men the Church of England +ever produced, and one of her best devotional writers, used to shut +his door on the night of every first day of the week, and on his +knees spread out a prayer which always contained this passage: "I +worship Thee, O God, on my face. I smite my breast and say with +the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner; the chief of sinners; +a sinner far above the publican. Despise me not--an unclean worm, +a dead dog, a putrid corpse. Despise me not, despise me not, O +Lord. But look upon me with those eyes with which Thou didst look +upon Magdalene at the feast, Peter in the hall, and the thief on +the cross. O that mine eyes were a fountain of tears that I might +weep night and day before Thee! I despise and bruise myself that +my penitence is not deeper, is not fuller. Help Thou mine +impenitence, and more and more pierce, rend, and crush my heart. +My sins are more in number than the sand. My iniquities are +multiplied, and I have no relief." Perish your Puritanism, and +your prayer-books too! I hear some high-minded and indignant man +saying. Perish your Celestial City and all my desire after it, +before I say the like of that about myself! Brave words, my +brother; brave words! But there have been men as blameless as you +are, and as brave-hearted over it, who, when the scales fell off +their eyes, were heard crying out ever after: O wretched man that +I am! And: Have mercy on me, the chief of sinners! And so, if it +so please God, will it yet be with you. + +3. "Having had little to do this morning," said Mrs. Timorous to +Mrs. Light-mind, "I went to give Christiana a visit." "Law," I +read in his most impressive Life, "by this time was well turned +fifty, but he rose as early and was as soon at his desk as when he +was still a new, enthusiastic, and scrupulously methodical student +at Cambridge." Summer and winter Law rose to his devotions and his +studies at five o'clock, not because he had imperative sermons to +prepare, but because, in his own words, it is more reasonable to +suppose a person up early because he is a Christian than because he +is a labourer or a tradesman or a servant. I have a great deal of +business to do, he would say. I have a hardened heart to change; I +have still the whole spirit of religion to get. When Law at any +time felt a temptation to relax his rule of early devotion, he +again reminded himself how fast he was becoming an old man, and how +far back his sanctification still was, till he flung himself out of +bed and began to make himself a new heart before the servants had +lighted their fires or the farmers had yoked their horses. Shame +on you, he said to himself, to lie folded up in a bed when you +might be pouring out your heart in prayer and in praise, and thus +be preparing yourself for a place among those blessed beings who +rest not day and night saying, Holy, Holy, Holy. "I have little to +do this morning," said Mrs. Timorous. "But I am preparing for a +journey," said Christiana. "I have now a price put into my hand to +get gain, and I should be a fool of the greatest size if I should +have no heart to strike in with the opportunity." + +4. Another thing that completely threw out Christiana's idle +visitor and made her downright angry was the way she would finger +and kiss and read pieces out of the fragrant letter she held in her +hand. You will remember how Christiana came by that letter she was +now so fond of. "Here," said Secret, "is a letter I have brought +thee from thy husband's King." So she took it and opened it, and +it smelt after the manner of the best perfume; also it was written +in letters of gold. " I advise thee," said Secret, "that thou put +this letter in thy bosom, that thou read therein to thy children +until you have all got it by root-of-heart." "His messenger was +here," said Christiana to Mrs. Timorous, "and has brought me a +letter which invites me to come." And with that she plucked out +the letter and read to her out of it, and said: "What now do you +say to all that?" That, again, is so true to our own life. For +there is nothing that more distastes and disrelishes many people +among us than just that we should name to them our favourite books, +and read a passage out of them, and ask them to say what they think +of such wonderful words. Samuel Rutherford's Letters, for +instance; a book that smells to some nostrils with the same +heavenly perfume as Secret's own letter did. A book, moreover, +that is written in the same ink of gold. Ask at afternoon tea to- +morrow, even in so-called Christian homes, when any of the ladies +round the table last read, and how often they have read, Grace +Abounding, The Saint's Rest, The Religious Affections, Jeremy +Taylor, Law, a Kempis, Fenelon, or such like, and they will smile +to one another and remark after you are gone on your strange taste +for old-fashioned and long-winded and introspective books. "Julia +has buried her husband and married her daughters, and since that +she spends her time in reading. She is always reading foolish and +unedifying books. She tells you every time she sees you that she +is almost at the end of the silliest book that ever she read in her +life. But the best of it is that it serves to dispose of a good +deal of her spare time. She tells you all romances are sad stuff, +yet she is very impatient till she can get all she can hear of. +Histories of intrigue and scandal are the books that Julia thinks +are always too short. The truth is, she lives upon folly and +scandal and impertinence. These things are the support of her dull +hours. And yet she does not see that in all this she is plainly +telling you that she is in a miserable, disordered, reprobate state +of mind. Now, whether you read her books or no, you perhaps think +with her that it is a dull task to read only religious and +especially spiritual books. But when you have the spirit of true +religion, when you can think of God as your only happiness, when +you are not afraid of the joys of eternity, you will think it a +dull task to read any other books. When it is the care of your +soul to be humble, holy, pure, and heavenly-minded; when you know +anything of the guilt and misery of sin, or feel a real need of +salvation, then you will find religious and truly spiritual books +to be the greatest feast and joy of your mind and heart." Yes. +And then we shall thank God every day we live that He raised us up +such helpers in our salvation as the gifted and gracious authors we +have been speaking of. + +5. "The further I go the more danger I meet with," said old +Timorous, the father, to Christian, when Christian asked him on the +Hill Difficulty why he was running the wrong way. "I, too, was +going to the City of Zion," he said; "but the further on I go the +more danger I meet with." And, in saying that, the old runaway +gave our persevering pilgrim something to think about for all his +days. For, again and again, and times without number, Christian +would have gone back too if only he had known where to go. Go on, +therefore, he must. To go back to him was simply impossible. +Every day he lived he felt the bitter truth of what that old +apostate had so unwittingly said. But, with all that he kept +himself in his onward way till, dangers and difficulties, death and +hell and all, he came to the blessed end of it. And that same has +been the universal experience of all the true and out-and-out +saints of God in all time. If poor old Timorous had only known it, +if he had only had some one beside him to remind him of it, the +very thing that so fatally turned him back was the best proof +possible that he was on the right and the only right way; ay, and +fast coming, poor old castaway, to the very city he had at one time +set out to seek. Now, it is only too likely that there are some of +my hearers at this with it tonight, that they are on the point of +giving up the life of faith, and hope, and love, and holy living; +because the deeper they carry that life into their own hearts the +more impossible they find it to live that life there. The more +they aim their hearts at God's law the more they despair of ever +coming within sight of it. My supremely miserable brother! if this +is any consolation to you, if you can take any crumb of consolation +out of it, let this be told you, that, as a matter of fact, all +truly holy men have in their heart of hearts had your very +experience. That is no strange and unheard-of thing which is +passing within you. And, indeed, if you could but believe it, that +is one of the surest signs and seals of a true and genuine child of +God. Dante, one of the bravest, but hardest bestead of God's +saints, was, just like you, well-nigh giving up the mountain +altogether when his Greatheart, who was always at his side, +divining what was going on within him, said to him - + + +"Those scars +That when they pain thee most then kindliest heal." + + +"The more I do," complained one of Thomas Shepard's best friends to +him, "the worse I am." "The best saints are the most sensible of +sin," wrote Samuel Rutherford. And, again he wrote, "Sin rages far +more in the godly than ever it does in the ungodly." And you dare +not deny but that Samuel Rutherford was one of the holiest men that +ever lived, or that in saying all that he was speaking of himself. +And Newman: "Every one who tries to do God's will"--and that also +is Newman himself--"will feel himself to be full of all +imperfection and sin; and the more he succeeds in regulating his +heart, the more will he discern its original bitterness and guilt." +As our own hymn has it: + +"They who fain would serve Thee best +Are conscious most of wrong within." + + +Without knowing it, Mrs. Timorous's runaway father was speaking the +same language as the chief of the saints. Only he said, "Therefore +I have turned back," whereas, first Christian, and then Christiana +his widow, said, "Yet I must venture!" + +And so say you. Say, I must and I will venture! Say it; clench +your teeth and your hands and say it. Say that you are determined +to go on towards heaven where the holy are--absolutely determined, +though you are quite well aware that you are carrying up with you +the blackest, the wickedest, the most corrupt, and the most +abominable heart either out of hell or in it. Say that, say all +that, and still venture. Say all that and all the more venture. +Venture upon God of whom such reassuring things are said. Venture +upon the Son of God of whom His Father is represented as saying +such inviting things. Venture upon the cross. Survey the wondrous +cross and then make a bold venture upon it. Think who that is who +is bleeding to death upon the cross, and why? Look at Him till you +never afterwards can see anything else. Look at God's Eternal, +Divine, Well-pleasing Son with all the wages of sin dealt out to +Him, body and soul, on that tree to the uttermost farthing. And, +devil incarnate though you indeed are, yet, say, if that spectacle +does not satisfy you, and encourage you, and carry your cowardice +captive. Venture! I say, venture! And if you find at last that +you have ventured too far--if you have sinned and corrupted +yourself beyond redemption--then it will be some consolation and +distinction to you in hell that you had out-sinned the infinite +grace of God, and had seen the end of the unsearchable riches of +Christ. Timid sinner, I but mock thee, therefore venture! Fearful +sinner, venture! Cowardly sinner, venture. Venture thyself upon +thy God, upon Christ thy Saviour, and upon His cross. Venture all +thy guilt and all thy corruption taken together upon Christ hanging +upon His cross, and make that tremendous venture now! + + + +MERCY + + + +"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."--Our +Lord. + +The first time that we see Mercy she is standing one sunshine +morning knocking along with another at Christiana's door. And all +that we afterwards hear of Mercy might be described as, A morning +call and all that came of it; or, How a godly matron led on a poor +maid to fall in love with her own salvation. John Bunyan, her +biographer, in all his devotion to Mercy, does not make it at all +clear to us why such a sweet and good girl as Mercy was could be on +such intimate terms with Mrs. Timorous and all her so questionable +circle. Could it be that Mercy's mother was one of that unhappy +set? And had this dear little woman-child been brought up so as to +know no better than to figure in their assemblies, and go out on +their morning rounds with Mrs. Light-mind and Mrs. Know-nothing? +Or, was poor Mercy an orphan with no one to watch over her, and had +her sweet face, her handsome figure, and her winning manners made +her one of the attractions of old Madam Wanton's midnight routs? +However it came about, there was Mercy out on a series of morning +calls with a woman twice her age, but a woman whose many years had +taught her neither womanliness nor wisdom. "If you come in God's +name, come in," a voice from the inside answered the knocking of +Mrs. Timorous and Mercy, her companion, at Christiana's door. In +all their rounds that morning the two women had not been met with +another salutation like that; and that strange salutation so +disconcerted and so confounded them that they did not know whether +to lift the latch and go in, or to run away and leave those to go +in who could take their delight in such outlandish language. "If +you come in God's name, come in." At this the women were stunned, +for this kind of language they used not to hear or to perceive to +drop from the lips of Christiana. Yet they came in; but, behold, +they found the good woman preparing to be gone from her house. The +conversation that ensued was all carried on by the two elder women. +For it was often remarked about Mercy all her after-days that her +voice was ever soft, and low, and, especially, seldom heard. But +her ears were not idle. For all the time the debate went on-- +because by this time the conversation had risen to be a debate-- +Mercy was taking silent sides with Christiana and her distress and +her intended enterprise, till, when Mrs. Timorous reviled +Christiana and said, "Come away, Mercy, and leave her in her own +hands," Mercy by that time was brought to a standstill. For, like +a rose among thorns, Mercy was thoughtful and wise and womanly far +beyond her years. So much so, that already she had made up her +mind to offer herself as a maidservant to help the widow with her +work and to see her so far on her way, and, indeed, though she kept +that to herself, to go all the way with her, if the way should +prove open to her. First, her heart yearned over Christiana; so +she said within herself, If my neighbour will needs be gone, I will +go a little way with her to help her. Secondly, her heart yearned +over her own soul's salvation, for what Christiana had said had +taken some hold upon Mercy's mind. Wherefore she said within +herself, I will yet have more talk with this Christiana, and if I +find truth and life in what she shall say, myself with all my heart +shall also go with her. "Neighbour," spoke out Mercy to Mrs. +Timorous, "I did indeed come with you to see Christiana this +morning, and since she is, as you see, a-taking of her last +farewell of her country, I think to walk this sunshine morning a +little way with her to help her on the way." But she told her not +of her second reason, but kept that to herself. I would fain go on +with Mercy's memoirs all night. But you will take up that inviting +thread for yourselves. And meantime I shall stop here and gather +up under two or three heads some of the more memorable results and +lessons of that sunshine-morning call. + +1. Well, then, to begin with, there was something quite queen- +like, something absolutely commanding, about Christiana's look and +manner, as well as about all she said and did that morning. +Mercy's morning companion had all the advantages that dress and +equipage could give her; while Christiana stood in the middle of +the floor in her housewife's clothes, covered with dust and +surrounded with all her dismantled house; but, with all that, there +was something about Christiana that took Mercy's heart completely +captive. All that Christiana had by this time come through had +blanched her cheek and whitened her hair: but all that only the +more commanded Mercy's sensitive and noble soul. To be open to +impressions of that kind is one of the finest endowments of a +finely endowed nature; and, all through, the attentive reader of +her history will be sure to remark and imitate Mercy's exquisite +and tenacious sensibility to all that is true and good, upright and +honourable and noble. And then, what a blessing it is to a girl of +Mercy's mould to meet at opening womanhood with another woman, be +it a mother, a mistress, or a neighbour, whose character then, and +as life goes on, can supply the part of the supporting and +sheltering oak to the springing and clinging vine. Christiana +being now the new woman she was, as well as a woman of great +natural wisdom, dignity, and stability of character, the safety, +the salvation of poor motherless Mercy was as good as sure. +Indeed, all Mercy's subsequent history is only one long and growing +tribute to the worth, the constant love, and the sleepless +solicitude of this true mother in Israel. + +2. Now, it was so, that, wholly unknown to all her companions, +young and old, in her own very remarkable words, Mercy had for a +long time been hungering with all her heart to meet with some +genuinely good people,--with some people, as she said herself,--"of +truth and of life." These are remarkable words to hear drop from +the lips of a young girl, and especially a girl of Mercy's +environment. Now, had there been anything hollow, had there been +one atom of insincerity or exaggeration about Christiana that +morning, had she talked too much, had all her actions not far more +than borne out all her words, had there not been in the broken- +hearted woman a depth of mind and a warmth of heart far beyond all +her words, Mercy would never have become a pilgrim. But the +natural dignity of Christiana's character; her capable, commanding, +resolute ways; the reality, even to agony, of her sorrow for her +past life--all taken together with her iron-fast determination to +enter at once on a new life--all that carried Mercy's heart +completely captive. Mercy felt that there was a solemnity, an +awesomeness, and a mystery about her new friend's experiences and +memories that it was not for a child like herself to attempt to +intrude into. But, all the more because of that, a spell of love +and fear and reverence lay on Mercy's heart and mind all her after- +days from that so solemn and so eventful morning when she first saw +Christiana's haggard countenance and heard her remorseful cries. +My so churlish carriages to him! Now, such carriages between man +and wife had often pained and made ashamed Mercy's maidenly heart +beyond all expression. Till she had sometimes said to herself, +blushing with shame before herself as she said it, that if ever she +was a wife--may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth before I +say one churlish word to him who is my husband! And thus it was +that nothing that Christiana said that morning in the uprush of her +remorse moved Mercy more with pity and with love than just what +Christiana beat her breast about as concerning her lost husband. +Mercy used to say that she saw truth and life enough in one hour +that morning to sober and to solemnise and to warn her to set a +watch on the door of her lips for all her after-days. + +3. Before Mrs. Timorous was well out of the door, Mercy had +already plucked off her gloves, and hung up her morning bonnet on a +nail in the wall, so much did her heart heave to help the cumbered +widow and her fatherless children. "If thou wilt, I will hire +thee," said Christiana, "and thou shalt go with me as my servant. +Yet we will have all things common betwixt thee and me; only, now +thou art here, go along with me." At this Mercy fell on +Christiana's neck and kissed her mother; for after that morning +Christiana had always a daughter of her own, and Mercy a mother. +And you may be sure, with two such women working with all their +might, all things were soon ready for their happy departure. + +Mr. Kerr Bain invites his readers to compare John Bunyan's Mercy at +this point with William Law's Miranda. I shall not tarry to draw +out the full comparison here, but shall content myself with simply +repeating Mr. Bain's happy reference. Only, I shall not content +myself till all to whom my voice can reach, and who are able to +enjoy only a first-rate book, have Mr. Bain's book beside their +Pilgrim's Progress. That morning, then, on which Mrs. Timorous, +having nothing to do at home, set out with Mercy on a round of +calls--that was Mercy's last idle morning for all her days. For +her mind was, ever after that, to be always busying of herself in +doing, for when she had nothing to do for herself she would be +making of hosen and garments for others, and would bestow them upon +those that had need. I will warrant her a good housewife, quoth +Mr. Brisk to himself. So much so that at any place they stopped on +the way, even for a day and a night to rest and refresh themselves, +Mercy would seek out all the poor and all the old people, and ere +ever she was aware what she was doing, already a good report had +spread abroad concerning the pilgrims and their pilgrimage. At the +same time, it must be told that poor Mercy's heart was more heavy +for the souls of the poor people than for their naked bodies and +hungry bellies. So much was this so that when the shepherds, +Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, took her to a place +where she saw one Fool and one Want-wit washing of an Ethiopian +with intention to make him white, but the more they washed him the +blacker he was, Mercy blushed and felt guilty before the +shepherds,--she so took home to her charitable heart the bootless +work of Fool and Want-wit. Mercy put on the Salvationist bonnet at +her first outset to the Celestial City, and she never put it off +till she came to that land where there are no more poor to make +hosen and hats for, and no more Ethiopians to take to the fountain. + +4. There are not a few young communicants here to-night, as well +as not a few who are afraid as yet to offer themselves for the +Lord's table; and, as it so falls out to-night, Mercy's case +contains both an encouragement and an example to all such. For +never surely had a young communicant less to go upon than Mercy had +that best morning of all her life. For she had nothing to go upon +but a great desire to help Christiana with her work; some desire +for truth and for life; and some first and feeble yearnings over +her own soul,--yearnings, however, that she kept entirely to +herself. That was all. She had no remorses like those which had +ploughed up Christiana's cheeks into such channels of tears. She +had no dark past out of which swarms of hornets stung her guilty +conscience. Nor on the other hand, had she any such sweet dreams +and inviting visions as those that were sent to cheer and encourage +the disconsolate widow. She will have her own sweet dreams yet, +that will make her laugh loud out in her sleep. But that will be +long after this, when she has discovered how hard her heart is and +how great God's grace is. "How shall I be ascertained," she put it +to Christiana, "that I also shall be entertained? Had I but this +hope, from one that can tell, I would make no stick at all, but +would go, being helped by Him that can help, though the way was +never so tedious. Had I as good hope for a loving reception as you +have, I think no Slough of Despond would discourage me." "Well," +said the other, "you know your sore, and I know mine; and, good +friend, we shall all have enough evil before we come to our +journey's end." And soon after that, of all places on the upward +way, Mercy's evil began at the Wicket Gate. "I have a companion," +said Christiana, "that stands without. One that is much dejected +in her mind, for that she comes, as she thinks, without sending +for; whereas I was sent to by my husband's King." So the porter +opened the gate and looked out; but Mercy was fallen down in a +swoon, for she fainted and was afraid that the gate would not be +opened to her. "O sir," she said, "I am faint; there is scarce +life left in me." But he answered her that one once said, "When my +soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came +in into Thee, into Thy holy temple. Fear not, but stand up upon +thy feet, and tell me wherefore thou art come." "I am come, sir, +into that for which I never was invited, as my friend Christiana +was. Her invitation was from the Lord, and mine was but from her. +Wherefore, I fear that I presume." Then said he to those that +stood by, "Fetch something and give it to Mercy to smell on, +thereby to stay her fainting." So they fetched her a bundle of +myrrh, and a while after she revived.--Let young communicants be +content with Mercy's invitation. She started for the City just +because she liked to be beside a good woman who was starting +thither. She wished to help a good woman who was going thither; +and just a little desire began at first to awaken in her heart to +go to the city too. Till, having once set her face to go up, one +thing after another worked together to lead her up till she, too, +had her life full of those invitations and experiences and +interests and occupations and enjoyments that make Mercy's name so +memorable, and her happy case such an example and such an +inspiration, to all God-fearing young women especially. + +5. John Bunyan must be held responsible for the strong dash of +romance that he so boldly throws into Mercy's memoirs. But I shall +postpone Mr. Brisk and his love-making and his answer to another +lecture. I shall not enter on Mercy's love matters here at all, +but shall leave them to be read at home by those who like to read +romances. Only, since we have seen so much of Mercy as a maiden, +one longs to see how she turned out as a wife. I can only imagine +how Mercy turned out as a wife; but there is a picture of a +Scottish Covenanting girl as a married wife which always rises up +before my mind when I think of Mercy's matronly days. That picture +might hang in Bunyan's own peculiar gallery, so beautiful is the +drawing, and so warm and so eloquent the colouring. Take, then, +this portrait of one of the daughters of the Scottish Covenant. +"She was a woman of great worth, whom I therefore passionately +loved and inwardly honoured. A stately, beautiful, and comely +personage; truly pious and fearing the Lord. Of an evenly temper, +patient in our common tribulations and under her personal +distresses. A woman of bright natural parts, and of an uncommon +stock of prudence; of a quick and lively apprehension in things she +applied herself to, and of great presence of mind in surprising +incidents. Sagacious and acute in discerning the qualities of +persons, and therefore not easily imposed upon. [See Mr. Brisk's +interviews with Mercy.] Modest and grave in her deportment, but +naturally cheerful; wise and affable in conversation, also having a +good faculty at speaking and expressing herself with assurance. +Being a pattern of frugality and wise management in household +affairs, all such were therefore entirely committed to her; well +fitted for and careful of the virtuous education of her children; +remarkably useful in the countryside, both in the Merse and in the +Forest, through her skill in physic and surgery, which in many +instances a peculiar blessing appeared to be commanded upon from +heaven. And, finally, a crown to me in my public station and +pulpit appearances. During the time we have lived together we have +passed through a sea of trouble, as yet not seeing the shore but +afar off." + +"The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. +What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my +vows? Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above +rubies. Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband +also, and he praiseth her. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is +vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." + + + +MR. BRISK + + + +"Be ye not unequally yoked."--Paul. + +There were some severe precisians in John Bunyan's day who took the +objection to the author of the Pilgrim's Progress that he sometimes +laughed too loud. + + +"One may (I think) say, both he laughs and cries, +May well be guessed at by his watery eyes. +Some things are of that nature as to make +One's fancy chuckle while his heart doth ake. +When Jacob saw his Rachel with the sheep, +At the same time he did both laugh and weep." + + +And even Dr. Cheever, in his excellent lectures on the Pilgrim's +Progress, confesses that though the Second Part never ceases for a +moment to tell the serious story of the Pilgrimage, at the same +time, it sometimes becomes so merry as almost to pass over into +absolute comedy. "There is one passage," says Cheever, "which for +exquisite humour, quiet satire, and naturalness in the development +of character is scarcely surpassed in the language. It is the +account of the courtship between Mr. Brisk and Mercy which took +place at the House Beautiful." + +Now, the insertion of such an episode as that of Mr. Brisk into +such a book as the Pilgrim's Progress is only yet another proof of +the health, the strength, and the truth to nature of John Bunyan's +mind. His was eminently an honest, straightforward, manly, English +understanding. A smaller man would not have ventured on Mr. Brisk +in such a book as the Pilgrim's Progress. But there is no +affectation, there is no prudery, there is no superiority to nature +in John Bunyan. He knew quite well that of the thousands of men +and women who were reading his Pilgrim there was no subject, not +even religion itself, that was taking up half so much of their +thoughts as just love-making and marriage. And, like the wise man +and the true teacher he was, he here points out to all his readers +how well true religion and the fullest satisfaction of the warmest +and the most universal of human affections can be both harmonised +and made mutually helpful. In Bunyan's day love was too much left +to the playwrights, just as in our day it is too much left to the +poets and the novelists. And thus it is that in too many instances +affection and passion have taken full possession of the hearts and +the lives of our young people before any moral or religious lesson +on these all-important subjects has been given to them: any lesson +such as John Bunyan so winningly and so beautifully gives here. +"This incident," says Thomas Scott, "is very properly introduced, +and it is replete with instruction." + +Now, Mr. Brisk, to begin with, was, so we are told, a young man of +some breeding,--that is to say, he was a young man of some social +position, some education, and of a certain good manner, at least on +the surface. In David Scott's Illustrations Mr. Brisk stands +before us a handsome and well-dressed young man of the period, with +his well-belted doublet, his voluminous ruffles, his heavily- +studded cuffs, his small cane, his divided hair, and his delicate +hand,--altogether answering excellently to his name, were it not +for the dashed look of surprise with which he gets his answer, and, +with what jauntiness he can at the moment command, takes his +departure. "Mr. Brisk was a man of some breeding," says Bunyan, +"and that pretended to religion; but a man that stuck very close to +the world." That Mr. Brisk made any pretence to religion at any +other time and in any other place is not said; only that he put on +that pretence with his best clothes when he came once or twice or +more to Mercy and offered love to her at the House Beautiful. The +man with the least religion at other times, even the man with no +pretence to religion at other times at all, will pretend to some +religion when he is in love with a young woman of Mercy's mind. +And yet it would not be fair to say that it is all pretence even in +such a man at such a time. Grant that a man is really in love; +then, since all love is of the nature of religion, for the time, +the true lover is really on the borders of a truly religious life. +It may with perfect truth be said of all men when they first fall +in love that they are, for the time, not very far away from the +kingdom of heaven. For all love is good, so far as it goes. God +is Love; and all love, in the long-run, has a touch of the divine +nature in it. And for once, if never again, every man who is +deeply in love has a far-off glimpse of the beauty of holiness, and +a far-off taste of that ineffable sweetness of which the satisfied +saints of God sing so ecstatically. But, in too many instances, a +young man's love having been kindled only by the creature, and, +never rising from her to his and her Creator, as a rule, it sooner +or later burns low and at last burns out, and leaves nothing but +embers and ashes in his once so ardent heart. Mr. Brisk's love- +making might have ended in his becoming a pilgrim but for this +fatal flaw in his heart, that even in his love-making he stuck so +fast to the world. It is almost incredible: you may well refuse +to believe it--that any young man in love, and especially a young +gentleman of Mr. Brisk's breeding, would approach his mistress with +the question how much she could earn a day. As Mr. Brisk looks at +Mercy's lap so full of hats and hosen and says it, I can see his +natty cane beginning to lengthen itself out in his soft-skinned +hand and to send out teeth like a muck-rake. Give Mr. Brisk +another thirty years or so and he will be an ancient churl, raking +to himself the sticks and the straws and the dust of the earth, +neither looking up to nor regarding the celestial crown that is +still offered to him in exchange for his instrument. + +"Now, Mercy was of a fair countenance, and, therefore, all the more +alluring." But her fair countenance was really no temptation to +her. "Sit still, my daughter," said Naomi to Ruth in the Old +Testament. And it was entirely Mercy's maidenly nature to sit +still. Even before she had come to her full womanhood under +Christiana's motherly care she would have been an example to Ruth. +Long ago, while Mercy was still a mere girl, when Mrs. Light-mind +said something to her one day that made her blush, Mercy at last +looked up in real anger and said, We women should be wooed; we were +not made to woo. And thus it was that all their time at the House +Beautiful Mercy stayed close at home and worked with her needle and +thread just as if she had been the plainest girl in all the town. +"I might have had husbands afore now," she said, with a cast of her +head over the coat that lay on her lap, "though I spake not of it +to any. But they were such as did not like my conditions, though +never did any of them find fault with my person. So they and I +could not agree." Once Mercy's mouth was opened on the subject of +possible husbands it is a miracle that she did not go on in +confidence to name some of the husbands she might have had. Mercy +was too truthful and too honourable a maiden to have said even on +that subject what she did say if it had not been true. No doubt +she believed it true. And the belief so long as she mentioned no +names, did not break any man's bones and did not spoil any man's +market. Don't set up too prudishly and say that it is a pity that +Mercy so far forgot herself as to make her little confidential +boast. We would not have had her without that little boast. Keep- +at-home, sit-still, hats and hosen and all--her little boast only +proves Mercy to have been at heart a true daughter of Eve after +all. + +There is an old-fashioned word that comes up again and again in the +account of Mr. Brisk's courtship,--a word that contains far more +interest and instruction for us than might on the surface appear. +When Mr. Brisk was rallied upon his ill-success with Mercy, he was +wont to say that undoubtedly Mistress Mercy was a very pretty lass, +only she was troubled with ill conditions. And then, when Mercy +was confiding to Prudence all about her possible husbands, she said +that they were all such as did not like her conditions. To which +Prudence, keeping her countenance, replied, that the men were but +few in their day that could abide the practice that was set forth +by such conditions as those of Mercy. Well, tossed out Mercy, if +nobody will have me I will die a maid, or my conditions shall be to +me as a husband! As I came again and again across that old +seventeenth-century word "conditions," I said to myself, I feel +sure that Dr. Murray of the Oxford Scriptorium will have noted this +striking passage. And on turning up the Sixth Part of the New +English Dictionary, there, to be sure, was the old word standing in +this present setting. Five long, rich, closely packed columns +stood under the head of "Condition"; and amid a thousand +illustrations of its use, the text: "1684, Bunyan, Pilgr., ii. 84. +He said that Mercy was a pretty lass, but troubled with ill +conditions." Poor illiterate John Bunyan stood in the centre of a +group of learned and famous men, composed of Chaucer, Wyclif, +Skelton, Palsgrave, Raleigh, Featly, Richard Steel, and Walter +Scott--all agreeing in their use of our word, and all supplying +examples of its use in the best English books. By Mercy's +conditions, then, is just meant her cast of mind, her moral nature, +her temper and her temperament, her dispositions and her +inclinations, her habits of thought, habits of heart, habits of +life, and so on. + +"Well," said Mercy proudly, "if nobody will have me, I will die a +maid, or my conditions shall be to me as a husband. For I cannot +change my nature, and to have one that lies cross to me in this,-- +that I purpose never to admit of as long as I live." By this time, +though she is still little more than a girl, Mercy had her habits +formed, her character cast, and, more than all, her whole heart +irrevocably set on her soul's salvation. And everything--husband +and children and all--must condition themselves to that, else she +will have none of them. She had sought first the kingdom of God +and His righteousness, and she will seek nothing, she will accept +nothing--no, not even a husband--who crosses her choice in that. +She has chosen her life, and her husband with it. Not the man as +yet, but the whole manner of the man. The conditions of the man, +as she said about herself; else she will boldly and bravely die a +maid. And there are multitudes of married women who, when they +read this page about Mercy, will gnash their teeth at the madness +of their youth, and will wildly wish that they only were maids +again; and, then, like Mercy, they would take good care to make for +themselves husbands of their own conditions too--of their own +means, their own dispositions, inclinations, tastes, and pursuits. +For, according as our conditions to one another are or are not in +our marriages, + + +"They locally contain or heaven or hell; +There is no third place in them." + + +What untold good, then, may all our young women not get out of the +loving study of Mercy's sweet, steadfast, noble character! And +what untold misery may they not escape! From first to last--and we +are not yet come to her last--I most affectionately recommend Mercy +to the hearts and minds of all young women here. Single and +married; setting out on pilgrimage and steadfastly persevering in +it; sitting still till the husband with the right conditions comes, +and then rising up with her warm, well-kept heart to meet him--if +any maiden here has no mother, or no elder sister, or no wise and +prudent friend like Prudence or Christiana to take counsel of--and +even if she has--let Mercy be her meditation and her model through +all her maidenly days. + +"Nay, then," said Mercy, "I will look no more on him, for I purpose +never to have a clog to my soul." A pungent resolve for every +husband to read and to think to himself about, who has married a +wife with a soul. Let all husbands who have such wives halt here +and ask themselves with some imagination as to what may sometimes +go on, at communion times, say, in the souls of their wives. It is +not every wife, it is true, who has a soul to clog; but some of our +wives have. Well, now, let us ask ourselves: How do we stand +related to their souls? Do our wives, when examining the state of +their souls since they married us, have to say that at one time +they had hoped to be further on in the life of the soul than they +yet are? And are they compelled before God to admit that the +marriage they have made, and would make, has terribly hindered +them? Would they have been better women, would they have been +living a better life, and doing far more good in the world, if they +had taken their maidenly ideals, like Mercy, for a husband? Let us +sometimes imagine ourselves into the secrets of our wives' souls, +and ask if they ever feel that they are unequally and injuriously +yoked in their deepest and best life. Do we ever see a tear +falling in secret, or hear a stolen sigh heaved, or stumble on them +at a stealthy prayer? A Roman lady on being asked why she +sometimes let a sob escape her and a tear fall, when she had such a +gentleman of breeding and rank and riches to her husband, touched +her slipper with her finger and said: "Is not that a well-made, a +neat, and a costly shoe? And yet you would not believe how it +pinches and pains me sometimes." + +But some every whit as good women as Mercy was have purposed as +nobly and as firmly as Mercy did, and yet have wakened up, when it +was too late, to find that, with all their high ideals, and with +all their prudence, their husband is not in himself, and is not to +them, what they at one time felt sure he would be. Mercy had a +sister named Bountiful, who made that mistake and that dreadful +discovery; and what Mercy had seen of married life in her sister's +house almost absolutely turned her against marriage altogether. +"The one thing certain," says Thomas Mozley in his chapter on Ideal +Wife and Husband, "is that both wife and husband are different in +the result from the expectation. Age, illness, an increasing +family, no family at all, household cares, want of means, +isolation, incompatible prejudices, quarrels, social difficulties, +and such like, all tell on married people, and make them far other +than they once promised to be." When that awakening comes there is +only one solace, and women take to that supreme solace much more +often than men. And that solace, as you all know, is true, if too +late, religion. And even where true religion has already been, +there is still a deeper and a more inward religion suited to the +new experiences and the new needs of life. And if both husband and +wife in such a crisis truly betake themselves to Him who gathereth +the solitary into families, the result will be such a remarriage of +depth and tenderness, loyalty and mutual help, as their early +dreams never came within sight of. Not early love, not children, +not plenty of means, not all the best amenities of married life +taken together, will repair a marriage and keep a marriage in +repair for one moment like a living and an intense faith in God; a +living and an intense love to God; and then that faith in and love +for one another that spring out of God and out of His love alone. + + +"The tree +Sucks kindlier nurture from a soil enriched +By its own fallen leaves; and man is made, +In heart and spirit, from deciduous hopes +And things that seem to perish." + + + +MR. SKILL + + + +"The vine of Sodom."--Moses. + +With infinite delicacy John Bunyan here tells us the sad story of +Matthew's sore sickness at the House Beautiful. The cause of the +sore sickness, its symptoms, its serious nature, and its complete +cures are all told with the utmost plainness; but, at the same +time, with the most exquisite delicacy. Bunyan calls the ancient +physician who is summoned in and who effects the cure, Mr. Skill, +but you must believe that Bunyan himself is Mr. Skill; and I +question if this skilful writer ever wrote a more skilful page than +just this page that now lies open before him who has the eyes to +read it. + +Matthew, it must always be remembered, was by this time a young +man. He was the eldest son of Christiana his mother, and for some +time now she had been a sorely burdened widow. Matthew's father +was no longer near his son to watch over him and to warn him +against the temptations and the dangers that wait on opening +manhood. And thus his mother, with all her other cares, had to be +both father and mother to her eldest son; and, with all her good +sense and all her long and close acquaintance with the world, she +was too fond a mother to suspect any evil of her eldest son. And +thus it was that Christiana had nearly lost her eldest son before +her eyes were open to the terrible dangers he had for a long time +been running. For it was so, that the upward way that this +household without a head had to travel lay through a land full of +all kinds of dangers both to the bodies and to the souls of such +travellers as they were. And what well-nigh proved a fatal danger +to Matthew lay right in his way. It was Beelzebub's orchard. Not +that this young man's way lay through that orchard exactly; yet, +walled up as was that orchard with all its forbidden fruit, that +evil fruit would hang over the wall so that if any lusty youth +wished to taste it, he had only to reach up to the over-hanging +branches and plash down on himself some of the forbidden bunches. +Now, that was just what Matthew had done. Till we have him lying +at the House Beautiful, not only not able to enjoy the delights of +the House and of the season, but so pained in his bowels and so +pulled together with inward pains, that he sometimes cried out as +if he were being torn to pieces. At that moment Mr. Skill, the +ancient physician, entered the sick-room, when, having a little +observed Matthew's intense agony, with a certain mixture of +goodness and severity he recited these professional verses over the +trembling bed: + + +"O conscience, who can stand against thy power? +Endure thy gripes and agonies one hour? +Stone, gout, strappado, racks, whatever is +Dreadful to sense, are only toys to this - +No pleasures, riches, honours, friends can tell +How to give ease to this, 'tis like to hell." + + +And then, turning to the sick man's mother, who stood at the bed's +head wringing her hands, the ancient leech said to her: "This boy +of yours has been tampering with the forbidden fruit!" At which +the angry mother turned on the well-approved physician as if he had +caused all the trouble that he had come to cure. But the ancient +man knew both the son and the mother too, and therefore he +addressed her with some asperity: "I tell you both that strong +measures must be taken instantly, else he will die." When Mr. +Skill had seen that the first purge was too weak, he made him one +to the purpose; and it was made, as he so learnedly said, ex carne +et sanguine Christi. The pills were to be taken three at a time, +fasting, in half a quarter of a pint of the tears of repentance. +After some coaxing, such as mothers know best how to use, Matthew +took the medicine and was soon walking about again with a staff, +and was able to go from room to room of the hospitable and happy +house. Understandest thou what thou readest? said Philip the +deacon to Queen Candace's treasurer as he sat down beside him in +the chariot and opened up to him the fifty-third of the prophet +Isaiah. And, understandest thou what thou here readest in Matthew +and Mr. Skill? + +1. Now, on this almost too closely veiled case I shall venture to +remark, in the first place, that multitudes of boys grow up into +young men, and go out of our most godly homes and into a whole +world of temptation without due warning being given them as to +where they are going. "I do marvel that none did warn him of it," +said Mr. Skill, with some anger. What Matthew's father might have +done in this matter had he been still in this world when his son +became a man in it we can only guess. As it was, it never entered +his mother's too fond mind to take her fatherless boy by himself +when she saw Beelzebub's orchard before him, and tell him what +Solomon told his son, and to point out to him the prophecy that +King Lemuel's mother prophesied to her son. Poor Matthew was a +young man before his mother was aware of it. And, poor woman, she +only found that out when Mr. Skill was in the sick-room and was +looking at her with eyes that seemed to say to her that she had +murdered her child. She had loved too long to look on her first- +born as still a child. When he went at any time for a season out +of her sight, she had never followed him with her knowledge of the +world; she had never prevented him with an awakened and an anxious +imagination; till now she had got him home with no rest in his +bones because of his sin. And then she began to cry too late, O +naughty boy, and, O careless mother, what shall I do for my son! + +2. "That food, to wit, that fruit," said Mr. Skill, "is even the +most hurtful of all. It is the fruit of Beelzebub's orchard." So +it is. There is no fruit that hurts at all like that fruit. How +it hurts at the time, we see in Matthew's sick-room; and how it +hurts all a man's after days we see in Jacob, and in Job, and in +David, and in a thousand sin-sick souls of whose psalms of remorse +and repentance the world cannot contain all the books that should +be written. "And yet I marvel," said the indignant physician, +"that none did warn him of it; many have died thereof." Oh if I +could but get the ears of all the sons of godly fathers and mothers +who are beginning to tamper with Beelzebub's orchard-trees, I feel +as if I could warn them to-night, and out of this text, of what +they are doing! I have known so many who have died thereof. Oh if +I could but save them in time from those gripes of conscience that +will pull them to pieces on the softest and the most fragrant bed +that shall ever be made for them on earth! It will be well with +them if they do not lie down torn to pieces on their bed in hell, +and curse the day they first plashed down into their youthful hands +the vine of Sodom. Both the way to hell and the way to heaven are +full of many kinds of hurtful fruits; but that species of fruit +that poor misguided Matthew plucked and ate after he had well +passed the gate that is at the head of the way is, by all men's +testimony, by far the most hurtful of all forbidden fruits. + +3. The whole scene in Matthew's sick-room reads, after all, less +like a skilful invention than a real occurrence. Inventive and +realistic as John Bunyan is, there is surely something here that +goes beyond even his genius. After making all allowance for +Bunyan's unparalleled powers of creation and narration, I am +inclined to think, the oftener I read it, that, after all, we have +not so much John Bunyan here as very Nature herself. Yes; John +Gifford surely was Mr. Skill. Sister Bosworth surely was Matthew's +mother. And Matthew himself was Sister Bosworth's eldest son, +while one John Bunyan, a travelling tinker, was busy with his +furnaces and his soldering-irons in Dame Bosworth's kitchen. Young +Bunyan, with all his blackguardism, had never plashed down +Beelzebub's orchard. He swears he never did, and we are bound to +believe him. But young Bosworth had been tampering with the +forbidden fruit, and Gifford saw at a glance what was wrong. John +Gifford was first an officer in the Royalist army, then a doctor in +Bedford, and now a Baptist Puritan pastor; and the young tinker +looked up to Gifford as the most wonderful man for learning in +books and in bodies and souls of men in all the world. And when +Gifford talked over young Bosworth's bed half to himself and half +to them about a medicine made ex carne et sanguine Christi, the +future author of the Pilgrim's Progress never forgot the phrase. +At a glance Gifford saw what was the whole matter with the sick +man. And painful as the truth was to the sick man's mother, and +humiliating with a life-long humiliation to the sick man himself, +Gifford was not the man or the minister to beat about the bush at +such a solemn moment. "This boy has been tampering with that which +will kill him unless he gets it taken off his conscience and out of +his heart immediately." Now, this same divination into our +pastoral cases is by far and away the most difficult part of a +minister's work. It is easy and pleasant with a fluent tongue to +get through our pulpit work; but to descend the pulpit stairs and +deal with life, and with this and that sin in the lives of our +people,--that is another matter. "We must labour," says Richard +Baxter in his Reformed Pastor, "to be acquainted with the state of +all our people as fully as we can; both to know the persons and +their inclinations and conversation; to know what sins they are +most in danger of, what duties they neglect, and what temptations +they are most liable to. For, if we know not their temperament or +their disease, we are likely to prove but unsuccessful physicians." +But when we begin to reform our pastorate to that pattern, we are +soon compelled to set down such entries in our secret diary as that +of Thomas Shepard of Harvard University: "Sabbath, 5th April 1641. +Nothing I do, nay, none under my shadow prosper. I so want wisdom +for my place, and to guide others." Yes; for what wisdom is needed +for the place of a minister like John Gifford, John Bunyan, Richard +Baxter, and Thomas Shepard! What wisdom, what divine genius, to +dive into and divine the secret history of a soul from a twinge of +conscience, even from a drop of the eye, a tone of the voice, or a +gesture of the hand or of the head! And yet, with some natural +taste for the holy work, with study, with experience, and with +life-long expert reading, even a plain minister with no genius, but +with some grace and truth, may come to great eminence in the +matters of the soul. And then, with what an interest, solemn and +awful, with what a sleepless interest such a pastor goes about +among his diseased, sin-torn, and scattered flock! All their souls +are naked and open under his divining eye. They need not to tell +him where they ail, and of what sickness they are nigh unto death. +That food, he says, with some sternness over their sick-bed, I +warned you of it; I told you with all plainness that many have died +of eating that fruit! "We must be ready," Baxter continues, "to +give advice to those that come to us with cases of conscience. A +minister is not only for public preaching, but to be a known +counsellor for his people's souls as the lawyer is for their +estates, and the physician is for their bodies. And because the +people are grown unacquainted with this office of the ministry, and +their own necessity and duty herein, it belongeth to us to acquaint +them herewith, and to press them publicly to come to us for advice +concerning their souls. We must not only be willing of the +trouble, but draw it upon ourselves by inviting them hereto. To +this end it is very necessary to be acquainted with practical cases +and able to assist them in trying their states. One word of +seasonable and prudent advice hath done that good that many sermons +would not have done." + +4. As he went on pounding and preparing his well-approved pill, +the (at the bottom of his heart) kind old leech talked +encouragingly to the mother and to her sick son, and said: "Come, +come; after all, do not he too much cast down. Had we lived in the +days of the old medicine, I would have been compounding a purge out +of the blood of a goat, and the ashes of an heifer, and the juice +of hyssop. But I have a far better medicine under my hands here. +This moment I will make you a purge to the purpose." And then the +learned man, half-doctor, half-divine, chanted again the sacred +incantation as he bent over his pestle and mortar, saying: Ex +carne et sanguine Christi! Those shrewd old eyes soon saw that, in +spite of all their defences and all their denials, damage had been +done to the conscience and the heart that nothing would set right +but a frank admission of the evil that had been done, and a prompt +submission to the regimen appointed and the medicine prepared. And +how often we ministers puddle and peddle with goat's blood and +heifer's ashes and hyssop juice when we should instantly prescribe +stern fasting and secret prayer and long spaces of repentance, and +then the body and the blood of Christ. How often our people cheat +us into healing their hurt slightly! How often they succeed in +putting us off, after we are called in, with their own account of +their cases, and set us out on a wild-goose chase! I myself have +more than once presented young men in their trouble with apologetic +books, University sermons, and watered-down explanations of the +Confession and the Catechism, when, had I known all I came +afterwards to know, I would have sent them Bunyan's Sighs from +Hell. I have sent soul-sick women also The Bruised Reed, and The +Mission of the Comforter with sympathising inscriptions, and sweet +scriptures written inside, when, had I had Mr. Skill's keen eyes in +my stupid head, I would have gone to them with the total abstinence +pledge in my one hand, and Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Dying in +my other. "No diet but that which is wholesome!" almost in anger +answered the sick man's mother. "I tell you," the honest leech +replied, in more anger, "this boy has been tampering with +Beelzebub's orchard. And many have died of it!" + +5. It was while all the rest of the House Beautiful were supping +on lamb and wine, and while there was such music in the House that +made Mercy exclaim over it with wonder--it was at the smell of the +supper and at the sound of the psalmody that Matthew's gripes +seized upon him worse than ever. All the time the others sat late +into the night Matthew lay on the rack pulled to pieces. After +William Law's death at King's Cliffe, his executors found among his +most secret papers a prayer he had composed for his own alone use +on a certain communion day when he was self-debarred from the +Lord's table. I do not know for certain just what fruit the young +non-juror had stolen out of Beelzebub's orchard before that +communion season; but I can see that he was in poor Matthew's exact +experience that communion night,--literally torn to pieces with +agonies of conscience while all his fellow-worshippers were at the +table of the Lord. While the psalms and hymns are being sung at +the supper-table, lay your ear to Law's closet door. "Whilst all +Thy faithful servants are on this day offering to Thee the +comfortable sacrifice of the body and the blood of Christ, and +feasting at that holy table which Thou hast ordained for the +refreshment, joy, and comfort of their souls, I, unhappy wretch, +full of guilt, am justly denied any share of these comforts that +are common to the Christian world. O my God, I am an unclean worm, +a dead dog, a stinking carcass, justly removed from that society of +saints who this day kneel about Thine altar. But, oh! suffer me to +look toward Thy holy Sanctuary; suffer my soul again to be in the +place where Thine honour dwelleth. Reject not the sacrifice of a +broken heart, and do Thou be with me in secret, though I am not fit +to appear in Thy public worship. Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst +make me clean. Lord, speak but the word, and Thy servant shall be +healed." It is the fruit of Beelzebub's orchard. Many have died +thereof. + +6. "Pray, sir, make me up twelve boxes of them; for if I can get +these, I will never take other physic." "These same pills," he +replied, "are good also to prevent diseases as well as to cure when +one is sick. But, good woman, thou must take these pills no other +way but as I have prescribed; for if you do, they will do no good." +I have taken one illustration from William Law's life; I shall take +another from that world of such illustrations and so close. "O +God, let me never see such another day as this. Let the dreadful +punishment of this day never be out of my mind." And it never was. +For, after that day in hell, Law never laid down his head on his +pillow that he did not seem to remember that dreadful day. William +Law would have satisfied Dr. Skill for a convalescent. For he +never felt that he had any right to touch the body and blood of +Christ, either at communion times, or a thousand times every day, +till he had again got ready his heart of true repentance. My +brethren, self-destroyed out of Beelzebub's orchard, and all my +brethren, live a life henceforth of true repentance. Not out of +the sins of your youth only, but out of the best, the most +watchful, and the most blameless day you ever live, distil your +half-pint of repentance every night before you sleep. For, as dear +old Skill said, unless you do, neither flesh nor blood of Christ, +nor anything else, will do you any genuine good. + + + +THE SHEPHERD BOY + + + +"He humbled Himself."--Paul. + +Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a boy feeding +his father's sheep. The boy was in very mean clothes, but of a +very fresh and well-favoured countenance, and as he sat by himself +he sang. Hark, said Mr. Greatheart, to what the shepherd boy +saith. So they hearkened and he said: + + +He that is down, needs fear no fall; +He that is low no pride: +He that is humble, ever shall +Have God to be his guide. +I am content with what I have, +Little be it or much: +And, Lord, contentment still I crave, +Because thou savest such. +Fulness to such a burden is +That go on pilgrimage: +Here little, and hereafter bliss, +Is best from age to age. + + +Then said their guide, Do you hear him? I will dare say that this +boy lives a merrier life and wears more of that herb called +Heart's-ease in his bosom than he that is clad in silk and velvet." + +Now, notwithstanding all that, nobody knew better than John Bunyan +knew, that no shepherd boy that ever lived on the face of the earth +ever sang that song; only one Boy ever sang that song, and He was +not the son of a shepherd at all, but the son of a carpenter. And, +saying that leads me on to say this before I begin, that I look for +a man of John Bunyan's inventive and sanctified genius to arise +some day, and armed also to boot with all our latest and best New +Testament studies. When that sorely-needed man so arises he will +take us back to Nazareth where that carpenter's Boy was brought up, +and he will let us see Him with our own eyes being brought up. He +will lead us into Mary's house on Sabbath days, and into Joseph's +workshop on week days, and he will show us the child Jesus, not so +much learning His letters and then putting on His carpenter's +clothes, as learning obedience by the things that He every day +suffered. That choice author will show us our Lord, both before He +had discovered Himself to be our Lord, as well as after He had made +that great discovery, always clothing Himself with humility as with +a garment; taking up His yoke of meekness and lowly-mindedness +every day, and never for one moment laying it down. When some +writer with as holy an imagination as that of John Bunyan, and with +as sweet an English style, and with a New Testament scholarship of +the first order so arises, and so addresses himself to the inward +life of our Lord, what a blessing to our children that writer will +be! For he will make them see and feel just what all that was in +which our Lord's perfect humility consisted, and how His perfect +humility fulfilled itself in Him from day to day; up through all +His childhood days, school and synagogue days, workshop and holy +days, early manhood and mature manhood days; till He was so meek in +all His heart and so humble in all His mind that all men were sent +to Him to learn their meekness and their humility of Him. I envy +that gifted man the deep delight he will have in his work, and the +splendid reward he will have in the love and the debt of all coming +generations. Only, may he be really sent to us, and that soon! +Theodor Keim comes nearest a far-off glimpse of that eminent +service of any New Testament scholar I know. Jeremy Taylor and +Thomas Goodwin also, in their own time and in their own way, had +occasional inspirations toward this still-waiting treatment of the +master-subject of all learning and all genius--the inward +sanctification, the growth in grace, and then the self-discovery of +the incarnate Son of God. But, so let it please God, some +contemporary scholar will arise some day soon, combining in himself +Goodwin's incomparable Christology, and Taylor's incomparable +eloquence, and Keim's incomparably digested learning, with John +Bunyan's incomparable imagination and incomparable English style, +and the waiting work will be done, and theology for this life will +take on its copestone. In his absence, and till he comes, let us +attempt a few annotations to-night on this so-called shepherd boy's +song in the Valley of Humiliation. + + +He that is down, needs fear no fall. + + +The whole scenery of the surrounding valley is set before us in +that single eloquent stanza. The sweet-voiced boy sits well off +the wayside as he sings his song to himself. He looks up to the +hill-tops that hang over his valley, and every shining tooth of +those many hill-tops has for him its own evil legend. "He thinks +he sees a little heap of bleaching bones just under where that +eagle hangs and wheels and screams. Not one traveller through +these perilous parts in a thousand gets down those cruel rocks +unhurt; and many travellers have been irrecoverably lost among +those deadly rocks, and have never received Christian burial. All +the shepherds' cottages and all the hostel supper-tables for many +miles round are full of terrible stories of the Hill Difficulty and +the Descent Dangerous. And thus it is that this shepherd boy looks +up with such fear at those sharp peaks and shining precipices, and +lifts his fresh and well-favoured countenance to heaven and sings +again: "He that is down, needs fear no fall." Down in his own +esteem, that is. For this is a song of the heart rather than of +the highway. Down--safe, that is, from the steep and slippery +places of self-estimation, self-exaltation, self-satisfaction. +Down--so as to be delivered from all ambition and emulation and +envy. Down, and safe, thank God, from all pride, all high- +mindedness, and all stout-heartedness. Down from the hard and +cruel hills, and buried deep out of sight among those meadows where +that herb grows which is called Heart's-ease. Down, where the +green pastures grow and the quiet waters flow. No, indeed; he that +is down into this sweet bottom needs fear no fall. For there is +nowhere here for a man to fall from. And, even if he did fall, he +would only fall upon a fragrance-breathing bed of lilies. The very +herbs and flowers here would conspire to hold him up. Many a day, +as He grew up, the carpenter's son sat in that same valley and sang +that same song to His own humble and happy heart. He loved much to +be here. He loved also to walk these meadows, for He found the air +was pleasant. Methinks, He often said with Mercy, I am as well in +this valley as I have been anywhere else in My journey. The place, +methinks, suits with My spirit. I love to be in such places where +there is no rattling with coaches nor rumbling with wheels. +Methinks, also, here one may without much molestation be thinking +what he is, whence he came, and to what his King has called him. + + +He that is low, no pride. + + +Low in his own eyes, that is. For pride goeth before destruction, +and a haughty spirit before a fall. Yes; but he who is low enough +already--none of the sure destructions that pride always works +shall ever come near to him. "The proud man," says Sir Henry +Taylor, "is of all men the most vulnerable. "Who calls?" asks the +old shepherd in As You Like It. "Your betters," is the insolent +answer. And what is the shepherd's rejoinder? "Else are they very +wretched." By what retort, reprisal, or repartee could it have +been made half so manifest that the insult had lighted upon armour +of proof? Such is the invincible independence and invulnerability +of humility." + + +He that is humble ever shall +Have God to be his guide. + + +For thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity, +whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him +also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart +of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones . . . +All those things hath Mine hand made, but to this man will I look, +saith the Lord, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, +and who trembleth at My word . . . Though the Lord be high, yet +hath He respect unto the lowly; but the proud He knoweth afar off . +. . Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, +all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; +for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble . . . +Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I +exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. +Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned +of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child . . . Take My +yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, +and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My +burden is light. + + +I am content with what I have, +Little be it, or much: +And, Lord, contentment still I crave, +Because thou savest such. + + +The only thing this sweet singer is discontented with is his own +contentment. He will not be content as long as he has a shadow of +discontent left in his heart. And how blessed is such holy +discontent! For, would you know, asks Law, who is the greatest +saint in all the world? Well, it is not he who prays most or fasts +most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for +temperance, chastity, or justice. But it is he who is always +thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who +receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a +heart always ready to praise God for it. "Perhaps the shepherd's +boy," says Thomas Scott, "may refer to the obscure and quiet +stations of some pastors over small congregations, who live almost +unknown to their brethren, but are in a measure useful and very +comfortable." Perhaps he does. And, whether he does or no, at any +rate such a song will suit some of our brethren very well as they +go about among their few and far-off flocks. They are not church +leaders or popular preachers. There is not much rattling with +coaches or rumbling with wheels at their church door. But, then, +methinks, they have their compensation. They are without much +molestation. They can be all the more thinking what they are, +whence they came, and to what their King has called them. Let them +be happy in their shut-in valleys. For I will dare to say that +they wear more of that herb called Heart's-ease in their bosom than +those ministers do they are sometimes tempted to emulate. I will +add in this place that to the men who live and trace these grounds +the Lord hath left a yearly revenue to be faithfully paid them at +certain seasons for their maintenance by the way, and for their +further encouragement to go on in their pilgrimage. + + +Here little, and hereafter bliss, +Is best from age to age. + + +But, now, from the shepherd boy and from his valley and his song, +let us go on without any more poetry or parable to look our own +selves full in the face and to ask our own hearts whether they are +the hearts of really humble-minded and New Testament men or no. +Dr. Newman, "that subtle, devout man," as Dr. Duncan calls him, +says that "humility is one of the most difficult of virtues both to +attain and to ascertain. It lies," he says, "close upon the heart +itself, and its tests are exceedingly delicate and subtle. Its +counterfeits abound." Most true. And yet humility is not intended +for experts in morals only, or for men of a rare religious genius +only. The plainest of men, the least skilled and the most +unlettered of men, may not only excel in humility, but may also be +permitted to know that they are indeed planted, and are growing +slowly but surely in that grace of all graces. No doubt our Lord +had, so to describe it, the most delicate and the most subtle of +human minds; and, no doubt whatever, He had the most practised +skill in reading off what lay closest to His own heart. And, then, +it was just His attainment of the most perfect humility, and then +His absolute ascertainment of the same, that enabled Him to say: +Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. At the same time, divine as +the grace is, and divine as the insight is that is able to trace it +out in all its exquisite refinements of thought and feeling in the +sanctified soul, yet humility is a human virtue after all, and it +is open to all men to attain to it and intelligently and lovingly +to exercise it. The simplest and the least philosophical soul now +in this house may apply to himself some of the subtlest and most +sensitive tests of humility, as much as if he were Dr. Duncan or +Dr. Newman themselves; and may thus with all assurance of hope know +whether he is a counterfeit and a castaway or no. + +Take this test for one, then. Explain this text to me: Phil. ii. +3--"In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than +himself." Explain and illustrate that. Not from a commentary, but +straight out from your own heart. What does your heart make of +that scripture? Does your heart turn away from that scripture +almost in anger at it? Do you say you are certain that there must +be some other explanation of it than that? Do you hold that this +is just another of Paul's perpetual hyperboles, and that the New +Testament is the last book in the world to be taken as it reads? +Yes; both bold and subtle father that he is: counterfeits abound! + +Another much blunter test, but, perhaps, a sufficiently sharp test, +is this: How do you receive correction and instruction? Does your +heart meekly and spontaneously and naturally take to correction and +instruction as the most natural and proper thing possible to you? +And do you immediately, and before all men, show forth and exhibit +the correction and the instruction? Or, does this rather take +place? Does your heart beat, and swell, and boil, and boil over at +him who dares to correct or counsel you? If this is a fair test to +put our humility to, how little humility there is among us! How +few men any of us could name among our friends to whom we would +risk telling all the things that behind their backs we point out +continually to others? We are terrified to face their pride. We +once did it, and we are not to do it again, if we can help it! Let +a man not have too many irons in the fire; let him examine himself +just by these two tests for the time--what he thinks of himself, +and what he thinks of those who attempt, and especially before +other people, to set him right. And after these two tests have +been satisfied, others will no doubt be supplied till that so +humble man is made very humility itself. + +And now, in the hope that there may be one or two men here who are +really and not counterfeitly in earnest to clothe themselves with +humility before God and man, let them take these two looms to +themselves out of which whole webs of such garments will be +delivered to them every day--their past life, and their present +heart. With a past life like ours, my brethren--and everyman knows +his own--pride is surely the maddest state of mind that any of us +can allow ourselves in. The first king of Bohemia kept his clouted +old shoes ever in his sight, that he might never forget that he had +once been a ploughman. And another wise king used to drink out of +a coarse cup at table, and excused himself to his guests that he +had made the rude thing in his rude potter days. Look with +Primislaus and Agathocles at the hole of the pit out of which you +also have been dug; look often enough, deep enough, and long +enough, and you will be found passing up through the Valley of +Humiliation singing: + + +"With us He dealt not as we sinn'd, +Nor did requite our ill!" + + +Another excellent use of the past is, if you are equal to it, to +call yourself aloud sometimes, or in writing, some of the names +that other people who know your past are certainly calling you. It +is a terrible discipline, but it is the terror of the Lord, and He +will not let it hurt you too much. I was before a blasphemer, and +a persecutor, and injurious, says Paul. And, to show Titus, his +gospel-son, the way, he said to him: We ourselves were sometimes +foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, +living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. And +John Bunyan calls himself a blackguard, and many other worse names; +only he swears that neither with his soldiering nor with his +tinkering hands did he ever plash down Beelzebub's orchard. But if +you have done that, or anything like that, call yourself aloud by +your true name on your knees to-night. William Law testifies, +after five-and-twenty years' experience of it, that he never heard +of any harm that he had done to any in his house by his habit of +singing his secret psalms aloud, and sometimes, ere ever he was +aware, bursting out in his penitential prayers. + +And, then, how any man with a man's heart in his bosom for a single +day can escape being the chief of sinners, and consequently the +humblest of men for all the rest of his life on earth, passes my +comprehension! How a spark of pride can live in such a hell as +every human heart is would be past belief, did we not know that God +avenges sin by more sin; avenges Himself on a wicked and a false +heart by more wickedness and more falsehood, all ending in Satanic +pride. + +Too long as I have kept you in this valley to-night, I dare not let +you out of it till I have shared with you a few sentences on +evangelical humiliation out of that other so subtle and devout man, +Jonathan Edwards. But what special kind of humiliation is +evangelical humiliation? you will ask. Hear, then, what this +master in Israel says. "Evangelical humiliation is the sense that +a Christian man has of his own utter insufficiency, utter +despicableness, and utter odiousness; with an always answerable +frame of heart. This humiliation is peculiar to the true saints. +It arises from the special influence of the Spirit of God +implanting and exercising supernatural and divine principles; and +it is accompanied with a sense of the transcendent beauty of divine +things. And, thus, God's true saints all more or less see their +own odiousness on account of sin, and the exceedingly hateful +nature of all sin. The very essence of evangelical humiliation +consists in such humility as becomes a man in himself exceeding +sinful but now under a dispensation of grace. It consists in a +mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether +contemptible and odious. This, indeed, is the greatest and the +most essential thing in true religion." And so on through a whole +chapter of beaten gold. To which noble chapter I shall only add +that such teaching is as sweet, as strengthening, and as reassuring +to the truly Christian heart as it is bitter and hateful to the +counterfeit heart. + + + +OLD HONEST + + + +"An honest heart."--Our Lord. + +Next tell them of Old Honest, who you found +With his white hairs treading the pilgrim's ground; +Yea, tell them how plain-hearted this man was, +How after his good Lord he bare his cross: +Perhaps with some grey head this may prevail, +With Christ to fall in love, and sin bewail. + +You would have said that no pilgrim to the Celestial City could +possibly have come from a worse place, or a more unlikely place, +than was that place from which Christian and Christiana and Matthew +and Mercy had come. And yet so it was. For Old Honest, this most +excellent and every way most delightful old saint, hailed from a +far less likely place than even the City of Destruction. For he +came, this rare old soul, of all places in the world, from the Town +of Stupidity. So he tells us himself. And, partly to explain to +us the humiliating name of his native town, and partly to exhibit +himself as a wonder to many, the frank old gentleman goes on to +tell us that his birthplace actually lies four degrees further away +from the sun than does the far-enough away City of Destruction +itself. So that you see this grey-haired saint is all that he +always said he was--a living witness to the fact that his Lord is +able to save to the uttermost, and to gather in His Father's elect +from the utmost corner of the land. Men are mountains of ice in my +country, said Old Honest. I was one of the biggest of those +icebergs myself, he said. No man was ever more cold and senseless +to divine things than I was, and still sometimes am. It takes the +Sun of Righteousness all His might to melt the men of my country. +But that He can do it when He rises to do it, and when He puts out +His full strength to do it--Look at me! said the genial old soul. + +We have to construct this pilgrim's birth and boyhood and youth +from his after-character and conversation; and we have no +difficulty at all in doing that. For, if the child is the father +of the man, then the man must be the outcome of the child, and we +can have no hesitation in picturing to ourselves what kind of child +and boy and young man dear Old Honest must always have been. He +never was a bright child, bright and beaming old man as he is. He +was always slow and heavy at his lessons; indeed, I would not like +to repeat to you all the bad names that his schoolmasters sometimes +in their impatience called the stupid child. Only, this was to be +said of him, that dulness of uptake and disappointment of his +teachers were the worst things about this poor boy; he was not so +ill-behaved as many were who were made more of. When his wits +began to waken up after he had come some length he had no little +leeway to make up in his learning; but that was the chief drawback +to Old Honest's pilgrimage. For one thing, no young man had a +cleaner record behind him than our Honest had; his youthful +garments were as unspotted as ever any pilgrim's garments were. +Even as a young man he had had the good sense to keep company with +one Good-conscience; and that friend of his youth kept true to Old +Honest all his days, and even lent him his hand and helped him over +the river at last. In his own manly, hearty, blunt, breezy, +cheery, and genial way Old Honest is a pilgrim we could ill have +spared. Old Honest has a warm place all for himself in every good +and honest heart. + +"Now, a little before the pilgrims stood an oak, and under it when +they came up to it they found an old pilgrim fast asleep; they knew +that he was a pilgrim by his clothes and his staff and his girdle. +So the guide, Mr. Greatheart, awaked him, and the old gentleman, as +he lifted up his eyes, cried out: What's the matter? Who are you? +And what is your business here? Come, man, said the guide, be not +so hot; here is none but friends! Yet the old man gets up and +stands upon his guard, and will know of them what they are." That +weather-beaten oak-tree under which we first meet with Old Honest +is an excellent emblem of the man. When he sat down to rest his +old bones that day he did not look out for a bank of soft moss or +for a bed of fragrant roses; that knotted oak-tree alone had power +to draw down under its sturdy trunk this heart of human oak. It +was a sight to see those thin grey haffets making a soft pillow of +that jutting knee of gnarled and knotty oak, and with his well-worn +quarterstaff held close in a hand all wrinkled skin and scraggy +bone. And from that day till he waved his quarterstaff when half +over the river and shouted, Grace reigns! there is no pilgrim of +them all that affords us half the good humour, sagacity, continual +entertainment, and brave encouragement we enjoy through this same +old Christian gentleman. + +1. Now, let us try to learn two or three lessons to-night from Old +Honest, his history, his character, and his conversation. And, to +begin with, let all those attend to Old Honest who are slow in the +uptake in the things of religion. O fools and slow of heart! +exclaimed our Lord at the two travellers to Emmaus. And this was +Old Honest to the letter when he first entered on the pilgrimage +life; he was slow as sloth itself in the things of the soul. I +have often wondered, said Greatheart, that any should come from +your place; for your town is worse than is the City of Destruction +itself. Yes, answered Honest, we lie more off from the sun, and so +are more cold and senseless. And his biographer here annotates on +the margin this reflection: "Stupefied ones are worse than merely +carnal." So they are; though it takes some insight to see that, +and some courage to carry that through. Now, to be downright +stupid in a man's natural intellects is sad enough, but to be +stupid in the intellects of the soul and of the spirit is far more +sad. You will often see this if you have any eyes in your head, +and are not one of the stupid people yourself. You will see very +clever people in the intellects of the head who are yet as stupid +as the beasts in the stall in the far nobler intellects of the +heart. You will meet every day with men and women who have +received the best college education this city can give them, who +are yet stark stupid in everything that belongs to true religion. +They are quick to find out the inefficiency of a university chair, +or a schoolmaster's desk, but they know no more of what a New +Testament pulpit has been set up for than the stupidest sot in the +city. The Divine Nature, human nature, sin, grace, redemption, +salvation, holiness, heart-corruption, spiritual life, prayer, +communion with God, a conversation and a treasure in heaven,--to +all these noblest of studies and divinest of exercises they are as +a beast before God. When you come upon a man who is a sot in his +senses and in his understanding, you expect him to be the same in +his spiritual life. But to meet with an expert in science, a +classical scholar, an author or a critic in letters, a leader in +political or ecclesiastical or municipal life, and yet to discover +that he is as stupid as any sot in the things of his own soul, is +one of the saddest and most disheartening sights you can see. Much +sadder and much more disheartening than to see stairs and streets +of people who can neither read nor write. And yet our city is full +of such stupid people. You will find as utter spiritual stupidity +among the rich and the lettered and the refined of this city as you +will find among the ignorant and the vicious and the criminal +classes. Is stupidity a sin? asks Thomas in his Forty-Sixth +Question. And the great schoolman answers himself, "Stupidity may +come of natural incapacity, in which case it is not a sin. But it +may come, on the other hand, of a man immersing his soul in the +things of this world so as to shut out all the things of God and of +the world to come, in which case stupidity is a deadly sin." Now, +from all that, you must already see what you are to do in order to +escape from your inborn and superinduced stupidity. You are, like +Old Honest, to open your gross, cold, senseless heart to the Sun of +Righteousness, and you are to take care every day to walk abroad +under His beams. You are to emigrate south for your life, as our +well-to-do invalids do, to where the sun shines in his strength all +the day. You are to choose such a minister, buy and read such a +literature, cultivate such an acquaintanceship, and follow out such +a new life of habits and practices as shall bring you into the full +sunshine, till your heart of ice is melted, and your stupefied soul +is filled with spiritual sensibility. For, were a man a mountain +of ice," said Old Honest, "yet if the Sun of Righteousness will +arise upon him his frozen heart shall feel a thaw; and thus hath it +been with me." Your poets and your philosophers have no resource +against the stupidity that opposes them. "Even the gods," they +complain, "fight unvictorious against stupidity." But your divines +and your preachers have hope beside the dullest and the stupidest +and even the most imbruted. They point themselves and their +slowest and dullest-witted hearers to Old Honest, this rare old +saint; and they set up their pulpit with hope and boldness on the +very causeway of the town of Stupidity itself. + +2. In the second place,--on this fine old pilgrim's birth and +boyhood and youth. The apostle says that there is no real +difference between one of us and another; and what he says on that +subject must be true. No; there is really no difference compared +with the Celestial City whether a pilgrim is born in Stupidity, in +Destruction, in Vanity, or in Darkland. At the same time, nature, +as well as grace, is of God, and He maketh, when it pleaseth Him, +one man to differ in some most important respects from another. +You see such differences every day. Some children are naturally, +and from their very infancy, false and cruel, mean and greedy; +while their brothers and sisters are open and frank and generous. +One son in a house is born a vulgar snob, and one daughter a +shallow-hearted and shameless little flirt; while another brother +is a born gentleman, and another sister a born saint. Some +children are tender-hearted, easily melted, and easily moulded; +while others in the same family are hard as stone and cold as ice. +Sometimes a noble and a truly Christian father will have all his +days to weep and pray over a son who is his shame; and then, in the +next generation, a grandson will be born to him who will more than +recover the lost image of his father's father. And so is it +sometimes with father Adam's family. Here and there, in Darkland, +in Destruction, and in Stupidity, a child will be born with a +surprising likeness to the first Adam in his first estate. That +happy child at his best is but the relics and ruins of his first +father; at the same time, in him the relics are more abundant and +the ruins more easy to trace out. And little Honest was such a +well-born child. For, Stupidity and all, there was a real inborn +and inbred integrity, uprightness, straightforwardness, and +nobleness about this little and not over-clever man-child. And, on +the principle of "to him that hath shall be given," there was +something like a special providence that hedged this boy about from +the beginning. "I girded thee though thou hast not known Me" was +never out of Old Honest's mouth as often as he remembered the days +of his own youth and heard other pilgrims mourning over theirs. "I +have surnamed thee though thou hast not known Me," he would say to +himself in his sleep. Slow-witted as he was, no one had been able +to cheat young Honest out of his youthful integrity. He had not +been led, and he had led no one else, into the paths of the +destroyer. He could say about himself all that John Bunyan so +boldly and so bluntly said about himself when his enemies charged +him with youthful immorality. He left the town in nobody's debt. +He left the print of his heels on no man or woman or child when he +took his staff in his hand to be a pilgrim. The upward walk of too +many pilgrims is less a walk than an escape and a flight. The +avenger of men's blood and women's honour has hunted many men deep +into heaven's innermost gate. But Old Honest took his time. He +walked, if ever pilgrim walked, all the way with an easy mind. He +lay down to sleep under the oaks on the wayside, and smiled like a +child in his sleep. And, when he was suddenly awaked, instead of +crying out for mercy and starting to his heels, he grasped his +staff and demanded even of an armed man what business he had to +break in on an honest pilgrim's mid-day repose! The King of the +Celestial City had a few names even in Stupidity which had not +defiled their garments, and Old Honest was one of them. And all +his days his strength was as the strength of ten, because his heart +was pure. + +3. At the same time, honesty is not holiness; and no one knew that +better than did this honest old saint. When any one spoke to Old +Honest about his blameless youth, the look in his eye made them +keep at arm's-length as he growled out that without holiness no man +shall see God! Writing from Aberdeen to John Bell of Hentoun, +Samuel Rutherford says: "I beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, to mind +your country above; and now, when old age is come upon you, advise +with Christ before you put your foot into the last ship and turn +your back on this life. Many are beguiled with this that they are +free of scandalous sins. But common honesty will not take men to +heaven. Alas! that men should think that ever they met with Christ +who had never a sick night or a sore heart for sin. I have known a +man turn a key in a door and lock it by." "I can," says John Owen, +"and I do, commend moral virtues and honesty as much as any man +ought to do, and I am sure there is no grace where they are not. +Yet to make anything to be our holiness that is not derived from +Jesus Christ,--I know not what I do more abhor." "Are morally +honest and sober men qualified for the Lord's Supper?" asks John +Flavel. "No; civility and morality do not make a man a worthy +communicant. They are not the wedding garment; but regenerating +grace and faith in the smallest measure are." "My outside may be +honest," said this honest old pilgrim, "while all the time my heart +is most unholy. My life is open to all men, but I must hide my +heart with Christ in God." + +4. And then this racy-hearted old bachelor was as full of delight +in children, and in children's parties, with all their sweetmeats +and nuts and games and riddles,--quite as much so--as if he had +been their very grandfather himself. Nay, this rosy-hearted old +rogue was as inveterate a matchmaker as if he had been a mother of +the world with a houseful of daughters on her hands and with the +sons of the nobility dangling around. It would make you wish you +could kiss the two dear old souls, Gaius the innkeeper and Old +Honest his guest, if you would only read how they laid their grey +heads together to help forward the love-making of Matthew and +Mercy. Yes, it would be a great pity, said Old Honest,--thinking +with a sigh of his own childless old age,--it would be a great pity +if this excellent family of our sainted brother should fail for +want of children, and die out like mine. And the two old plotters +went together to the mother of the bridegroom, and told her with an +aspect of authority that she must put no obstacle in her son's way, +but take Mercy as soon as convenient into a closer relation to +herself. And Gaius said that he for his part would give the +marriage supper. And I shall make no will, said Honest, but hand +all I have over to Matthew my son. This is the way, said Old +Honest; and he skipped and smiled and kissed the cheek of the aged +mother and said, Then thy two children shall preserve thee and thy +husband a posterity in the earth! Then he turned to the boys and +he said, Matthew, be thou like Matthew the publican, not in vice, +but in virtue. Samuel, he said, be thou like Samuel the prophet, a +man of faith and of prayer. Joseph, said he, be thou like Joseph +in Potiphar's house, chaste, and one that flees from temptation. +And James, be thou like James the Just, and like James the brother +of our Lord. Mercy, he said, is thy name, and by mercy shalt thou +be sustained and carried through all thy difficulties that shall +assault thee in the way, till thou shalt come thither where thou +shalt look the Fountain of Mercy in the face with comfort. And all +this while the guide, Mr. Greatheart, was very much pleased, and +smiled upon the nimble old gentleman. + +5. "Then it came to pass a while after that there was a post in +the town that inquired for Mr. Honest. So he came to his house +where he was, and delivered to his hands these lines, Thou art +commanded to be ready against this day seven night, to present +thyself before thy Lord at His Father's house. And for a token +that my message is true, all thy daughters of music shall be +brought low. Then Mr. Honest called for his friends and said unto +them, I die, but shall make no will. As for my honesty, it shall +go with me: let him that comes after me be told of this. When the +day that he was to be gone was come he addressed himself to go over +the river. Now, the river at that time overflowed the banks at +some places. But Mr. Honest in his lifetime had spoken to one +Good-conscience to meet him there, the which he also did, and lent +him his hand, and so helped him over. The last words of Mr. Honest +were, Grace reigns! So he left the world." Look at that picture +and now look at this: "They then addressed themselves to the +water, and, entering, Christian began to sink, and crying out to +his good friend Hopeful, he said, I sink in deep waves, the billows +go over my head, all His waters go over me. Then said the other, +Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good. +Then said Christian, Ah, my friend, the sorrows of death have +compassed me about; I shall not see the land that flows with milk +and honey. And with that a great horror and darkness fell upon +Christian, so that he could not see before him; and all the words +that he spoke still tended to discover that he had horror of mind +lest he should die in that river and never obtain entrance in at +the gate. Here also, as they that stood by perceived, he was much +in the troublesome thoughts of the sins that he had committed, both +since and before he began to be a pilgrim. 'Twas also observed +that he was troubled with apparitions of hobgoblins and evil +spirits. Hopeful, therefore, had much ado to keep his brother's +head above water. Yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and +then ere a while he would rise up again half dead." My brethren, +all my brethren, be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever +a man soweth that shall he also reap. Whom the Lord loveth He +chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Thou, O +God, wast a God that forgavest them, but Thou tookest vengeance on +their inventions. + + + +MR. FEARING + + + +"Happy is the man that feareth alway."--Solomon + +For humour, for pathos, for tenderness, for acute and sympathetic +insight at once into nature and grace, for absolutely artless +literary skill, and for the sweetest, most musical, and most +exquisite English, show me another passage in our whole literature +to compare with John Bunyan's portrait of Mr. Fearing. You cannot +do it. I defy you to do it. Spenser, who, like John Bunyan, wrote +an elaborate allegory, says: It is not in me. Take all Mr. +Fearing's features together, and even Shakespeare himself has no +such heart-touching and heart-comforting character. Addison may +have some of the humour and Lamb some of the tenderness; but, then, +they have not the religion. Scott has the insight into nature, but +he has no eye at all for grace; while Thackeray, who, in some +respects, comes nearest to John Bunyan of them all, would be the +foremost to confess that he is not worthy to touch the shoe-latchet +of the Bedford tinker. As Dr. Duncan said in his class one day +when telling us to read Augustine's Autobiography and +Halyburton's:- "But," he said, "be prepared for this, that the +tinker beats them all!" "Methinks," says Browning, "in this God +speaks, no tinker hath such powers." + +Now, as they walked along together, the guide asked the old +gentleman if he knew one Mr. Fearing that came on pilgrimage out of +his parts. "Yes," said Mr. Honest, "very well. He was a man that +had the root of the matter in him; but he was one of the most +troublesome pilgrims that ever I met with in all my days." "I +perceive you knew him," said the guide, "for you have given a very +right character of him." "Knew him!" exclaimed Honest, "I was a +great companion of his; I was with him most an end. When he first +began to think of what would come upon us hereafter, I was with +him." "And I was his guide," said Greatheart, "from my Master's +house to the gates of the Celestial City." "Then," said Mr. +Honest, "it seems he was well at last." "Yes, yes," answered the +guide, "I never had any doubt about him; he was a man of a choice +spirit, only he was always kept very low, and that made his life so +burdensome to himself and so troublesome to others. He was, above +many, tender of sin; he was so afraid of doing injuries to others +that he would often deny himself of that which was lawful because +he would not offend." "But what," asked Honest, "should be the +reason that such a good man should be all his days so much in the +dark?" "There are two sorts of reasons for it," said the guide; +"one is, the wise God will have it so: some must pipe and some +must weep. Now, Mr. Fearing was one that played upon this base. +He and his fellows sound the sackbut, whose notes are more doleful +than the notes of other music are. Though, indeed, some say that +the base is the ground of music. And, for my part, I care not at +all for that profession that begins not with heaviness of mind. +The first string that the musician usually touches is the base when +he intends to put all in tune. God also plays upon this string +first when He sets the soul in tune for Himself. Only, here was +the imperfection of Mr. Fearing, that he could play upon no other +music but this till toward his latter end." + +1. Take Mr. Fearing, then, to begin with, at the Slough of +Despond. Christian and Pliable, they being heedless, did both fall +into that bog. But Mr. Fearing, whatever faults you may think he +had--and faults, too, that you think you could mend in him--at any +rate, he was never heedless. Everybody has his fault to find with +poor Mr. Fearing. Everybody blames poor Mr. Fearing. Everybody +can improve upon poor Mr. Fearing. But I will say again for Mr. +Fearing that he was never heedless. Had Peter been on the road at +that period he would have stood up for Mr. Fearing, and would have +taken his judges and would have said to them, with some scorn--Go +to, and pass the time of your sojourning here with something of the +same silence and the same fear! Christian's excuse for falling +into the Slough was that fear so followed him that he fled the next +way, and so fell in. But Mr. Fearing had no such fear behind him +in his city as Christian had in his. All Mr. Fearing's fears were +within himself. If you can take up the distinction between actual +and indwelling sin, between guilt and corruption, you have already +in that the whole key to Mr. Fearing. He was blamed and counselled +and corrected and pitied and patronised by every morning-cloud and +early-dew neophyte, while all the time he lived far down from the +strife of tongues where the root of the matter strikes its deep +roots still deeper every day. "It took him a whole month," tells +Greatheart, "to face the Slough. But he would not go back neither. +Till, one sunshiny morning, nobody ever knew how, he ventured, and +so got over. But the fact of the matter is," said the shrewd- +headed guide, "Mr. Fearing had, I think, a slough of despond in his +own mind; and a slough that he carried everywhere with him." Yes, +that was it. Greatheart in that has hit the nail on the head. +With one happy stroke he has given us the whole secret of poor Mr. +Fearing's life-long trouble. Just so; it was the slough in himself +that so kept poor Mr. Fearing back. This poor pilgrim, who had so +little to fear in his past life, had yet so much scum and filth, +spume and mire in his present heart, that how to get on the other +side of that cost him not a month's roaring only, but all the +months and all the years till he went over the River not much above +wet-shod. And, till then, not twenty million cart-loads of +wholesome instructions, nor any number of good and substantial +steps, would lift poor Mr. Fearing over the ditch that ran so deep +and so foul continually within himself. "Yes, he had, I think, a +slough of despond in his mind, a slough that he carried everywhere +with him, or else he never could have been the man he was." I, for +one, thank the great-hearted guide for that fine sentence. + +2. It was a sight to see poor Mr. Fearing at the wicket gate. +"Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." He read the inscription +over the gate a thousand times, but every time he read it his +slough-filled heart said to him, Yes, but that is not for such as +you. Pilgrim after pilgrim came up the way, read the writing, +knocked, and was taken in; but still Mr. Fearing stood back, +shaking and shrinking. At last he ventured to take hold of the +hammer that hung on the gate and gave with it a small rap such as a +mouse might make. But small as the sound was, the Gatekeeper had +had his eye on his man all the time out of his watch-window; and +before Mr. Fearing had time to turn and run, Goodwill had him by +the collar. But that sudden assault only made Mr. Fearing sink to +the earth, faint and half-dead. "Peace be to thee, O trembling +man!" said Goodwill. "Come in, and welcome!" When he did venture +in, Mr. Fearing's face was as white as a sheet. You would have +said that an officer had caught a thief if you had seen poor Mr. +Fearing hiding his face, and the Gatekeeper hauling him in. And +not all the entertainment for which the Gate was famous, nor all +the encouragement that Goodwill was able to speak, could make +terrified Mr. Fearing for once to smile. A more hard-to-entertain +pilgrim, all the Gate declared when he had gone, they had never had +in their hospitable house. + +3. "So he came," said the guide, "till he came to our House; but +as he behaved himself at the Gate, so he did at my Master the +Interpreter's door. He lay about in the cold a good while before +he would adventure to call. Yet he would not go back neither. And +the nights were cold and long then. At last I think I looked out +of the window, and perceiving a man to be up and down about the +door, I went out to him, and asked what he was; but, poor man, the +water stood in his eyes. So I perceived what he wanted. I went +in, therefore, and told it in the house, and we showed the thing to +our Lord. So He sent me out again to entreat him to come in, but I +dare say I had hard work to do it. At last he came in, and I will +say that for my Lord, He carried it wonderful lovingly to Mr. +Fearing. There were but a few good bits at the table, but some of +it was laid upon his trencher." In this way the guide tells us his +first introduction to Mr. Fearing, and how Mr. Fearing behaved +himself in the Interpreter's House. For instance, in the parlour +full of dust, when the Interpreter said that the dust is original +sin and inward corruption, you would have thought that the +Interpreter had stabbed poor Mr. Fearing to the heart, so did he +break out and weep. Before the damsel could come with the pitcher, +Mr. Fearing's eyes alone would have laid the dust, they were such a +fountain of tears. When he saw Passion and Patience, each one in +his chair--"I am that child in rags," said Mr. Fearing; "I have +already received all my good things!" Also, at the wall where the +fire burned because oil was poured into it from the other side, he +perversely turned that fire also against himself. And when they +came to the man in the iron cage, you could not have told whether +the miserable man inside the cage or the miserable man outside of +it sighed the loudest. And so on, through all the significant +rooms. The spider-room overwhelmed him altogether, till his sobs +and the beating of his breast were heard all over the house. The +robin also when gobbling up spiders he made an emblem of himself, +and the tree that was rotten at the heart,--till the Interpreter's +patience with this so perverse pilgrim was fairly worn out. So the +Interpreter shut up his significant rooms, and had this so +troublesome pilgrim into his own chamber, and there carried it so +tenderly to Mr. Fearing that at last he did seem to have taken some +little heart of grace. "And then we," said Greatheart, "set +forward, and I went before him; but the man was of few words, only +he would often sigh aloud." + +4. "Dumpish at the House Beautiful" is his biographer's not very +respectful comment on the margin of the history. There were too +many merry-hearted damsels running up and down that house for Mr. +Fearing. He could not lift his eyes but one of those too-tripping +maidens was looking at him. He could not stir a foot but he +suddenly ran against a talking and laughing bevy of them. There +was one thing he loved above everything, and that was to overhear +the talk that went on at that season in that house about the City +above, and about the King of that City, and about His wonderful +ways with pilgrims, and the entertainment they all got who entered +that City. But to get a word out of Mr. Fearing upon any of these +subjects,--all the king's horses could not have dragged it out of +him. Only, the screen was always seen to move during such +conversations, till it soon came to be known to all the house who +was behind the screen. And the talkers only talked a little louder +as the screen moved, and took up, with a smile to one another, +another and a yet more comforting topic. + +The Rarity Rooms also were more to Mr. Fearing than his necessary +food. He would be up in the morning and waiting at the doors of +those rooms before the keepers had come with their keys. And they +had to tell him that the candles were to be put out at night before +he would go away. He was always reading, as if he had never read +it before, the pedigree of the Lord of the Hill. Moses' rod, +Shamgar's goad, David's sling and stone, and what not--he laughed +and danced and sang like a child around these ancient tables. The +armoury-room also held him, where were the swords, and shields, and +helmets, and breast-plates, and shoes that would not wear out. You +would have thought you had your man all right as long as you had +him alone among these old relics; but, let supper be ready, and the +house gathered, and Mr. Fearing was as dumpish as ever. Eat he +would not, drink he would not, nor would he sit at the same table +with those who ate and drank with such gladness. I remembered Mr. +Fearing at the House Beautiful when I was present at a communion +season some time back in Ross-shire. The church was half full of +Mr. Fearing's close kindred that communion morning. For, all that +the minister himself could do, and all that the assisting minister +could do--no! to the table those self-examined, self-condemned, +fear-filled souls would not come. The two ministers, like Mr. +Greatheart's Master, carried it wonderful lovingly with those poor +saints that day; but those who are in deed, and not in name only, +passing the time of their sojourning here in fear--they cannot all +at once be lifted above all their fears, even by the ablest action +sermons, or by the most wise and tender table-addresses. And, +truth to tell, though you will rebuke me all the way home to-night +for saying it, my heart sat somewhat nearer to those old people who +were perhaps a little too dumpish in their repentance and their +faith and their hope that morning, than it did to those who took to +the table with a light heart. I know all your flippant cant about +gospel liberty and against Highland introspection, as you call it-- +as well as all your habitual neglect of a close and deep self- +examination, as Paul called it; but I tell you all to-night that it +would be the salvation of your soul if you too worked your way up +to every returning Lord's table with much more fear and much more +trembling. Let a man examine himself, Saxon as well as Celt, in +Edinburgh as well as in Ross-shire, and so let him eat of that +flesh and drink of that blood. "These pills," said Mr. Skill, "are +to be taken three at a time fasting in half a quarter of a pint of +the tears of repentance; these pills are good to prevent diseases, +as well as to cure when one is sick. Yea, I dare say it, and stand +to it, that if a man will but use this physic as he should, it will +make him live for ever. But thou must give these pills no other +way but as I have prescribed; for, if you do, they will do no +good." "Then he and I set forward," said the guide, "and I went +before; but my man was of but few words, only he would often sigh +aloud." + +5. As to the Hill Difficulty, that was no stick at all to Mr. +Fearing; and as for the lions, he pulled their whiskers and snapped +his fingers in their dumfoundered faces. For you must know that +Mr. Fearing's trouble was not about such things as these at all; +his only fear was about his acceptance at last. He beat Mr. +Greatheart himself at getting down into the Valley of Humiliation, +till the guide was fain to confess that he went down as well as he +ever saw man go down in all his life. This pilgrim cared not how +mean he was, so he might be but happy at last. That is the reason +why so many of God's best saints take so kindly and so quietly to +things that drive other men mad. You wonder sometimes when you see +an innocent man sit down quietly under accusations and insults and +injuries that you spend all the rest of your life resenting and +repaying. And that is the reason also that so many of God's best +saints in other ages and other communions used to pursue +evangelical humility and ascetic poverty and seclusion till they +obliterated themselves out of all human remembrance, and buried +themselves in retreats of silence and of prayer. Yes, you are +quite right. A garment of sackcloth may cover an unsanctified +heart; and the fathers of the desert did not all escape the depths +of Satan and the plague of their own heart. Quite true. A +contrite heart may be carried about an applauding city in a coach +and six; and a crucified heart may be clothed in purple and fine +linen, and may fare sumptuously every day. A saint of God will +sometimes sit on a throne with a more weaned mind than that with +which Elijah or the Baptist will macerate themselves in the +wilderness. Every man who is really set on heaven must find his +own way thither; and he who is really intent on his own way thither +will neither have the time nor the heart to throw stones at his +brother who thinks he has discovered his own best way. All the +pilgrims who got to the City at last did not get down Difficulty +and through Humiliation so well as Mr. Fearing did; nor was it +absolutely necessary that they should. It was not to lay down an +iron-fast rule for others, but it was only to amuse the way with +his account of Mr. Fearing, that the guide went on to say: "Yes, I +think there was a kind of sympathy betwixt that valley and my man. +For I never saw him better in all his pilgrimage than when he was +in that valley. For here he would lie down, embrace the ground, +and kiss the very flowers that grew in this valley. He would now +be up every morning by break of day, tracing and walking to and fro +in that valley." + +6. Now, do you think you could guess how Mr. Fearing conducted +himself in Vanity Fair? Your guess is important to us and to you +to-night; for it will show whether or no John Bunyan and Mr. +Greatheart have spent their strength for nought and in vain on you. +It will show whether or no you have got inside of Mr. Fearing with +all that has been said; and thus, inside of yourself. Guess, then. +How did Mr. Fearing do in Vanity Fair, do you think? To give you a +clue, recollect that he was the timidest of souls. And remember +how you have often been afraid to look at things in a shop window +lest the shopkeeper should come out and hold you to the thing you +were looking at. Remember also that you are the lifelong owners of +some things just because they were thrown at your head. Remember +how you sauntered into a sale on one occasion, and, out of sheer +idleness and pure fun, made a bid, and to your consternation the +encumbrance was knocked down to your name; and it fills up your +house to-day till you would give ten times its value to some one to +take it away for ever out of your sight. Well, what was it that +those who were so shamelessly and so pesteringly cadging about +places, and titles, and preferments, and wives, and gold, and +silver, and such like--what was it they prevailed on this poor +stupid countryman to cheapen and buy? Do you guess, or do you give +it up? Well, Greatheart himself was again and again almost taken +in; and would have been had not Mr. Fearing been beside him. But +Mr. Fearing looked at all the jugglers, and cheats, and knaves, and +apes, and fools as if he would have bitten a firebrand. "I thought +he would have fought with all the men of the fair; I feared there +we should have both been knock'd o' th' head, so hot was he against +their fooleries." And then--for Greatheart was a bit of a +philosopher, and liked to entertain and while the away with tracing +things up to their causes--"it was all," he said, "because Mr. +Fearing was so tender of sin. He was above many tender of sin. He +was so afraid, not for himself only, but of doing injury to others, +that he would deny himself the purchase and possession and +enjoyment even of that which was lawful, because he would not +offend." "All this while," says Bunyan himself, in the eighty- +second paragraph of Grace Abounding, "as to the act of sinning I +was never more tender than now. I durst not take a pin or a stick, +though but so big as a straw, for my conscience now was sore and +would smart at every touch. I could not now tell how to speak my +words for fear I should misplace them." "The highest flames," says +Jeremy Taylor in his Life of Christ, "are the most tremulous." + +7. "But when he was come at the river where was no bridge, there, +again, Mr. Fearing was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he should be +drowned for ever, and so never see that Face with comfort that he +had come so many miles to behold. And here also I took notice of +what was very remarkable; the water of that river was lower at this +time than ever I saw it in all my life, so he went over at last not +much above wet-shod." Then said Christiana, "This relation of Mr. +Fearing has done me good. I thought nobody had been like me, but I +see there was some semblance betwixt this good man and I, only we +differed in two things. His troubles were so great that they broke +out, but mine I kept within. His also lay so hard upon him that he +could not knock at the houses provided for entertainment, but my +trouble was always such that it made me knock the louder." "If I +might also speak my heart," said Mercy, "I must say that something +of him has also dwelt in me. For I have ever been more afraid of +the lake, and the loss of a place in Paradise, than I have been of +the loss of other things. Oh! thought I, may I have the happiness +to have a habitation there: 'tis enough though I part with all the +world to win it." Then said Matthew, "Fear was one thing that made +me think that I was far from having that within me that accompanies +salvation; but if it was so with such a good man as he, why may it +not also go well with me?" "No fears, no grace," said James. +"Though there is not always grace where there is fear of hell; yet, +to be sure, there is no grace where there is no fear of God." +"Well said, James," said Greatheart; "thou hast hit the mark, for +the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; and, to be sure, they +that want the beginning have neither middle nor end." But we shall +here conclude our discourse of Mr. Fearing after we have sent after +him this farewell:- + + +"It is because +Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear. +Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so +For thee the bitterness of death is past. +Also, because already in thy soul +The judgment is begun. That day of doom, +One and the same for this collected world - +That solemn consummation for all flesh, +Is, in the case of each, anticipate +Upon his death; and, as the last great day +In the particular judgment is rehearsed, +So now, too, ere thou comest to the Throne, +A presage falls upon thee, as a ray +Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot. +That calm and joy uprising in thy soul +Is first-fruit to thy recompense, +And heaven begun." + + + +FEEBLE-MIND + + + +"Comfort the feeble-minded."--Paul. + +Feeble-mind shall first tell you his own story in his own words, +and then I shall perhaps venture a few observations upon his +history and his character. + +"I am but a sickly man, as you see," said Feeble-mind to +Greatheart, "and because Death did usually knock once a day at my +door, I thought I should never be well at home. So I betook myself +to a pilgrim's life, and have travelled hither from the town of +Uncertain, where I and my father were born. I am a man of no +strength at all of body, nor yet of mind; but would, if I could, +though I can but crawl, spend my life in the pilgrim's way. When I +came at the gate that is at the head of the way, the Lord of that +place did entertain me freely. Neither objected he against my +weakly looks, nor against my feeble mind; but gave me such things +as were necessary for my journey, and bade me hope to the end. +When I came to the house of the Interpreter I received much +kindness there; and, because the Hill Difficulty was judged too +hard for me, I was carried up that hill by one of his servants. +Indeed I have found much relief from pilgrims, though none were +willing to go so softly as I am forced to do. Yet, still, as they +came on, they bid me be of good cheer, and said that it was the +will of their Lord that comfort should be given to the feeble- +minded, and so went on their own pace. I look for brunts by the +way; but this I have resolved on, to wit, to run when I can, to go +when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot go. As to the main, +I thank Him that loves me, I am fixed. My way is before me, my +mind is beyond the river that has no bridge, though I am, as you +see, but of a feeble mind." + +Then said old Mr. Honest, "Have you not some time ago been +acquainted with one Mr. Fearing, a pilgrim?" "Acquainted with him! +yes. He came from the town of Stupidity, which lies four degrees +to the northward of the City of Destruction, and as many off where +I was born. Yet we were well acquainted; for, indeed, he was mine +uncle, my father's brother. He and I have been much of a temper; +he was a little shorter than I, but yet we were much of a +complexion." "I perceive that you know him," said Mr. Honest, "and +I am apt to believe also that you were related one to another; for +you have his whitely look, a cast like his with your eye, and your +speech is much alike." + +"Alas!" Feeble-mind went on, "I want a suitable companion. You are +all lusty and strong, but I, as you see, am weak. I choose +therefore rather to come behind, lest, by reason of my many +infirmities, I should be both a burden to myself and to you. I am, +as I said, a man of a weak and feeble mind, and shall be offended +and made weak at that which others can bear. I shall like no +laughing; I shall like no gay attire; I shall like no unprofitable +questions. Nay, I am so weak a man as to be offended with what +others have a liberty to do. I do not yet know all the truth. I +am a very ignorant Christian man. Sometimes, if I hear some +rejoice in the Lord, it troubles me because I cannot do so too. It +is with me as with a weak man among the strong, or as with a sickly +man among the healthy, or as a lamp despised." "But, brother," +said Greatheart, "I have it in commission to comfort the feeble- +minded and to support the weak." Thus therefore, they went on--Mr. +Greatheart and Mr. Honest went before; Christiana and her children +went next; and Mr. Feeble-mind and Mr. Ready-to-halt came behind +with his crutches. + +1. In the first place, a single word as to Feeble-mind's family +tree. + +Thackeray says that The Peerage is the Family Bible of every true- +born Englishman. Every genuine Englishman, he tells us, teaches +that sacred book diligently to his children. He talks out of it to +them when he sits in the house and when he walks by the way. He +binds it upon his children's hands, and it is as a frontlet between +their eyes. He writes its names upon the door-posts of his house, +and makes pictures out of it upon his gates. Now, John Bunyan was +a born Englishman in his liking for a family tree. He had no such +tree himself--scarcely so much as a bramble bush; but, all the +same, let the tinker take his pen in hand, and the pedigrees and +genealogies of all his pilgrims are sure to be set forth as much as +if they were to form the certificates that those pilgrims were to +hand in at the gate. + +Feeble-mind, then, was of an old, a well-rooted and a wide-spread +race. The county of Indecision was full of that ancient stock. +They had intermarried in-and-in also till their small stature, +their whitely look, the droop of their eye, and their weak leaky +speech all made them to be easily recognised wherever they went. +It was Feeble-mind's salvation that Death had knocked at his door +every day from his youth up. He was feeble in body as well as in +mind; only the feebleness of his body had put a certain strength +into his mind; the only strength he ever showed, indeed, was the +strength that had its roots in a weak constitution at which +sickness and death struck their dissolving blows every day. To +escape death, both the first and the second death, any man with a +particle of strength left would run with all his might; and Feeble- +mind had strength enough somewhere among his weak joints to make +him say, "But this I have resolved on, to wit, to run when I can, +to go when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot go. As to the +main, I am fixed!" + +2. At the Wicket Gate pilgrim Feeble-mind met with nothing but the +kindest and the most condescending entertainment. It was the +gatekeepers way to become all things to all men. The gatekeeper's +nature was all in his name; for he was all Goodwill together. No +kind of pilgrim ever came wrong to Goodwill. He never found fault +with any. Only let them knock and come in and he will see to all +the rest. The way is full of all the gatekeeper's kind words and +still kinder actions. Every several pilgrim has his wager with all +the rest that no one ever got such kindness at the gate as he got. +And even Feeble-mind gave the gatekeeper this praise--"The Lord of +the place," he said, "did entertain me freely. Neither objected he +against my weakly looks nor against my feeble mind. But he gave me +such things as were necessary for my journey, and bade me hope to +the end." All things considered, that is perhaps the best praise +that Goodwill and his house ever earned. For, to receive and to +secure Feeble-mind as a pilgrim--to make it impossible for Feeble- +mind to entertain a scruple or a suspicion that was not removed +beforehand--to make it impossible for Feeble-mind to find in all +the house and in all its grounds so much as a straw over which he +could stumble--that was extraordinary attention, kindness, and +condescension in Goodwill and all his good-willed house. "Go on, +go on, dear Mr. Feeble mind," said Goodwill giving his hand to Mr. +Fearing's nephew, "go on: keep your feeble mind open to the truth, +and still hope to the end!" + +3. "As to the Interpreter's House, I received much kindness +there." That is all. But in that short speech I think there must +he hid no little shame and remorse. No words could possibly be a +severer condemnation of Feeble-mind than his own two or three so +irrelevant words about the Interpreter's house. No doubt at all, +Feeble-mind received kindness there; but that is not the point. +That noble house was not built at such cost, and fitted up, and +kept open all the year round, and filled with fresh furniture from +year to year, merely that those who passed through its significant +rooms might report that they had received no rudeness at the hands +of the Interpreter. "Come," said the Interpreter to Feeble-mind, +"and I will show thee what will be profitable to thee." So he +commanded his man to light the candle and bid Feeble-mind follow +him. But it was all to no use. Feeble-mind had neither the taste +nor the capacity for the significant rooms. Nay, as one after +another of those rich rooms was opened to him, Feeble-mind took a +positive dislike to them. Nothing interested him; nothing +instructed him. But many things stumbled and angered him. The +parlour full of dust, and how the dust was raised and laid; Passion +and Patience; the man in the iron cage; the spider-room; the muck- +rake room; the robin with its red breast and its pretty note, and +yet with its coarse food; the tree, green outside but rotten at the +heart,--all the thanks the Interpreter took that day for all that +from Feeble-mind was in such speeches as these: You make me lose +my head. I do not know where I am. I did not leave the town of +Uncertain to be confused and perplexed in my mind with sights and +sounds like these. Let me out at the door I came in at, and I +shall go back to the gate. Goodwill had none of these unhappy +rooms in his sweet house!" Nothing could exceed the kindness of +the Interpreter himself; but his house was full of annoyances and +offences and obstructions to Mr. Feeble-mind. He did not like the +Interpreter's house, and he got out of it as fast as he could, with +his mind as feeble as when he entered it; and, what was worse, with +his temper not a little ruffled. + +And we see this very same intellectual laziness, this very same +downright dislike at divine truth, in our own people every day. +There are in every congregation people who take up their lodgings +at the gate and refuse to go one step farther on the way. A visit +to the Interpreter's House always upsets them. It turns their +empty head. They do not know where they are. They will not give +what mind they have to divine truth, all you can do to draw them on +to it, till they die as feeble-minded, as ignorant, and as +inexperienced as they were born. They never read a religious book +that has any brain or heart in it. The feeble Lives of feeble- +minded Christians, written by feeble-minded authors, and published +by feeble-minded publishers,--we all know the spoon-meat that +multitudes of our people go down to their second childhood upon. +Jonathan Edwards--a name they never hear at home, but one of the +most masculine and seraphic of interpreters--has a noble discourse +on The Importance and Advantage of a thorough Knowledge of Divine +Truth. "Consider yourselves," he says, "as scholars or disciples +put into the school of Christ, and therefore be diligent to make +proficiency in Christian knowledge. Content not yourselves with +this, that you have been taught your Catechism in your childhood, +and that you know as much of the principles of religion as is +necessary to salvation. Let not your teachers have cause to +complain that while they spend and are spent to impart knowledge to +you, you take little pains to learn. Be assiduous in reading the +Holy Scriptures. And when you read, observe what you read. +Observe how things come in. Compare one scripture with another. +Procure and diligently use other books which may help you to grow +in this knowledge. There are many excellent books extant which +might greatly forward you in this knowledge. There is a great +defect in many, that through a lothness to be at a little expense, +they provide themselves with no more helps of this nature." +Weighty, wise, and lamentably true words. + +"Mundanus," says William Law, "is a man of excellent parts, and +clear apprehension. He is well advanced in age, and has made a +great figure in business. He has aimed at the greatest perfection +in everything. The only thing which has not fallen under his +improvement, nor received any benefit from his judicious mind, is +his devotion; this is just in the same poor state it was when he +was six years of age, and the old man prays now in that little form +of words which his mother used to hear him repeat night and +morning. This Mundanus that hardly ever saw the poorest utensil +without considering how it might be made or used to better +advantage, has gone on all his life long praying in the same manner +as when he was a child; without ever considering how much better or +oftener he might pray; without considering how improvable the +spirit of devotion is, how many helps a wise and reasonable man may +call to his assistance, and how necessary it is that our prayers +should be enlarged, varied, and suited to the particular state and +condition of our lives. How poor and pitiable is the conduct of +this man of sense, who has so much judgment and understanding in +everything but that which is the whole wisdom of man!" How true to +every syllable is that! How simple-looking, and yet how manly, and +able, and noble! We close our young men's session with Law and +Butler to-night, and I cannot believe that our session with those +two giants has left one feeble mind in the two classes; they were +all weeded out after the first fortnight of the session; though, +after all is done, there are still plenty left both among old and +young in the congregation. Even Homer sometimes nods; and I cannot +but think that John Bunyan has made a slip in saying that Feeble- +mind enjoyed the Interpreter's House. At any rate, I wish I could +say as much about all the feeble minds known to me. + +4. The Hill Difficulty, which might have helped to make a man of +Feeble-mind, saw a laughable, if it had not been such a lamentable, +spectacle. For it saw this poor creature hanging as limp as wet +linen on the back of one of the Interpreter's sweating servants. +Your little boy will explain the parable to you. Shall I do this? +or, shall I rather do that? asks Feeble-mind at every stop. Would +it be right? or, would it be wrong? Shall I read that book? Shall +I go to that ball? Shall I marry that man? Tell me what to do. +Give me your hand. Take me up upon your back, and carry me over +this difficult hill. "I was carried up that," says poor Feeble- +mind, "by one of his servants." + +5. "The one calamity of Mr. Feeble-mind's history," says our +ablest commentator on Bunyan, "was the finest mercy of his +history." That one calamity was his falling into Giant Slay-good's +hands, and his finest mercy was his rescue by Greatheart, and his +consequent companionship with his deliverer, with Mr. Honest, and +with Christiana and her party till they came to the river. You +constantly see the same thing in the life of the Church and of the +Christian Family. Some calamity throws a weak, ignorant, and +immoral creature into close contact with a minister or an elder or +a Christian visitor, who not only relieves him from his present +distress, but continues to keep his eye upon his new acquaintance, +introduces him to wise and good friends, invites him to his house, +gives him books to read, and keeps him under good influences, till, +of a weak, feeble, and sometimes vicious character, he is made a +Christian man, till he is able for himself to say, It was good for +me to be afflicted; the one calamity of my history has been my best +mercy! + +6. Feeble-mind, I am ashamed to have to admit, behaved himself in +a perfectly scandalous manner at the house of Gaius mine host. He +went beyond all bounds during those eventful weeks. Those weeks +were one long temptation to Feeble-mind--and he went down in a +pitiful way before his temptation. Two marriages and two +honeymoons, with suppers and dances every night, made the old +hostelry like very Pandemonium itself to poor Feeble-mind. He +would have had Matthew's and James's marriages conducted next door +to a funeral. Because he would not eat flesh himself, he protested +against Gaius killing a sheep. "Man," said old Honest, almost +laying his quarterstaff over Feeble-mind's shoulders--"Man, dost +thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes +and ale?" "I shall like no laughing," said Feeble-mind; "I shall +like no gay attire; I shall like no unprofitable questions." I +think it took some self-conceit to refuse to sit at table beside +Christiana because of her gay attire. And I hope Mercy did not +give up dressing well, even after she was married, to please that +weak-minded old churl. And as to unprofitable questions--we are +all tempted to think that question unprofitable which our +incapacity or our ignorance keeps us silent upon at table. We +think that topic both ill-timed and impertinent and unsafe to which +we are not invited to contribute anything. "I am a very ignorant +man," he went on to say; and, if that was said in any humility, +Feeble-mind never said a truer word. "It is with me as it is with +a weak man among the strong, or as with a sick man among the +healthy, or as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at +ease." All which only brought Greatheart out in his very best +colours. "But, brother," said the guide, "I have it in commission +to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must +needs go along with us; we will wait for you, we will lend you our +help, we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionative and +practical, for your sake; we will not enter into doubtful +disputations before you; we will be made all things to you rather +than that you shall be left behind." + +7. The first thing that did Mr. Feeble-mind any real good was his +being made military guard over the women and the children while the +men went out to demolish Doubting Castle. Quis custodiet? you will +smile and say when you hear that. Who shall protect the protector? +you will say. But wait a little. Greatheart knew his business. +For not only did Feeble-mind rise to the occasion, when he was put +to it; but, more than that, he was the soul of good company at +supper-time that night. "Jocund and merry" are the very words. +Yes; give your feeble and fault-finding folk something to do. Send +them to teach a class. Send them down into a mission district. +Lay a sense of responsibility upon them. Leave them to deal with +this and that emergency themselves. Cease carrying them on your +back, and lay weak and evil and self-willed people on their back. +Let them feel that they are of some real use. As Matthew Arnold +says, Let the critic but try practice, and you will make a new man +of him. As Greatheart made of Feeble-mind by making him mount +guard over the Celestial caravan while the fighting men were all up +at Doubting Castle. + +8. "Mark this," says Mr. Feeble-mind's biographer on the early +margin of his history, lest we should be tempted to forget the good +parts of this troublesome and provoking pilgrim--"Mark this." +This, namely, which Feeble-mind says to his guide. "As to the +main, I thank Him that loves me, I am fixed. My way is before me, +my mind is beyond the river that has no bridge, though I am, as you +see, but of a feeble mind." And that leads us with returning +regard and love to turn to the end of his history, where we read: +"After this Mr. Feeble-mind had tidings brought him that the post +sounded his horn at his chamber door. Then he came in and told +him, saying, I am come to tell thee that thy Master hath need of +thee, and that in very little time thou must behold His face in +brightness. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends, and told +them what errand had been brought to him, and what token he had +received of the truth of the message. As for my feeble mind he +said, that I shall leave behind me, for I shall have no need of +that in the place whither I go. Nor is it worth bestowing upon the +poorest pilgrim. Wherefore, when I am gone, I desire that you +would bury it in a dung-hill. This done, and the day being come in +which he was about to depart, he entered the river as the rest. +His last words were, Hold out, faith and patience! So he went over +to the other side. + + + +GREAT-HEART + + + +"--when thou shalt enlarge my heart."--David. + +On Sabbath, the 12th December 1886, I heard the late Canon Liddon +preach a sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral, in which he classed Oliver +Cromwell with Alexander the Sixth and with Richard the Third. I +had taken my estimate of the great Protector's character largely +from Carlyle's famous book, and you can judge with what feelings I +heard the canon's comparison. And, besides, I had been wont to +think of the Protector as having entered largely into John Bunyan's +portrait of Greatheart, the pilgrim guide. And the researches and +the judgments of Dr. Gardiner have only gone to convince me, the +eloquent canon notwithstanding, that Bunyan could not have chosen a +better contemporary groundwork for his Greatheart than just the +great Puritan soldier. Cromwell's "mental struggles before his +conversion," his life-long "searchings of heart," his "utter +absence of vindictiveness," his unequalled capacity for "seeing +into the heart of a situation," and his own "all-embracing +hospitality of heart"--all have gone to reassure me that my first +guess as to Bunyan's employment of the Protector's matchless +personality and services had not been so far astray. And the +oftener I read the noble history of Greatheart, the better I seem +to hear, beating behind his fine figure, by far the greatest heart +that ever ruled over the realm of England. + +1. The first time that we catch a glimpse of Greatheart's weather- +beaten and sword-seamed face is when he is taking a stolen look out +of the window at Mr. Fearing, who is conducting himself more like a +chicken than a man around the Interpreter's door. And from that +moment till Mr. Fearing shouted "Grace reigns!" as he cleared the +last river, never sportsman surely stalked a startled deer so +patiently and so skilfully and so successfully as Greatheart +circumvented that chicken-hearted pilgrim. "At last I looked out +of the window, and perceiving a man to be up and down about the +door, I went out to him and asked him what he was; but, poor man, +the water stood ill his eyes. So I perceived what he wanted. I +went in, therefore, and told it in the house, and we showed the +thing to our Lord. So He sent me out again to entreat him to come +in; but I dare say I had hard work to do it." Greatheart's whole +account of Mr. Fearing always brings the water to my eyes also. It +is indeed a delicious piece of English prose. If I were a +professor of belles lettres instead of what I am, I would compel +all my students, under pain of rustication, to get those three or +four classical pages by heart till they could neither perpetrate +nor tolerate bad English any more. This camp-fire tale, told by an +old soldier, about a troublesome young recruit and all his +adventures, touches, surely, the high-water mark of sweet and +undefiled English. Greatheart was not the first soldier who could +handle both the sword and the pen, and he has not been the last. +But not Caesar and not Napier themselves ever handled those two +instruments better. + +2. Greatheart had just returned to his Master's house from having +seen Mr. Fearing safely through all his troubles and well over the +river, when, behold, another caravan of pilgrims is ready for his +convoy. For Greatheart, you must know, was the Interpreter's armed +servant. When at any time Greatheart was off duty, which in those +days was but seldom, he took up his quarters again in the +Interpreter's house. As he says himself, he came back from the +river-side only to look out of the Interpreter's window to see if +there was any more work on the way for him to do. And, as good +luck would have it, as has been said, the guide was just come back +from his adventures with Mr. Fearing when a pilgrim party, than +which he had never seen one more to his mind, was introduced to him +by his Master, the Interpreter. "The Interpreter," so we read at +this point, "then called for a man-servant of his, one Greatheart, +and bid him take sword, and helmet, and shield, and take these, my +daughters," said he, "and conduct them to the house called +Beautiful, at which place they will rest next. So he took his +weapons and went before them, and the Interpreter said, God-speed." + +3. Now I saw in my dream that they went on, and Greatheart went +before them, so they came to the place where Christian's burden +fell off his back and tumbled into a sepulchre. Here, then, they +made a pause, and here also they blessed God. "Now," said +Christiana, "it comes to my mind what was said to us at the gate; +to wit, that we should have pardon by word and by deed. What it is +to have pardon by deed, Mr. Greatheart, I suppose you know; +wherefore, if you please, let us hear your discourse thereof." "So +then, to speak to the question," said Greatheart. You have all +heard about the "question-day" at Highland communions. That day is +so called because questions that have arisen in the minds of "the +men" in connection with doctrine and with experience are on that +day set forth, debated out, and solved by much meditation and +prayer; age, saintliness, doctrinal and experimental reading, and +personal experience all making their contribution to the solution +of the question in hand. Just such a question, then, and handled +in such a manner, was that question which whiled the way and +cheated the toil till the pilgrims came to the House Beautiful. +The great doctrinal and experimental Puritans, with Hooker at their +head, put forth their full strength and laid out their finest work +just on this same question that Christiana gave out at the place, +somewhat ascending, upon which stood a cross, and a little below, +in the bottom, a sepulchre. But not the great Comment on The +Galatians itself, next to the Holy Bible as it is, as most fit for +a wounded conscience; no, nor that perfect mass of purest gold, The +Learned Discourse of Justification, nor anything else of that kind +known to me, is for one moment, to compare in beauty, in +tenderness, in eloquence, in scriptural depth, and in scriptural +simplicity with Greatheart's noble resolution of Christiana's +question which he made on the way from the Interpreter's house to +the House Beautiful. "This is brave!" exclaimed that mother in +Israel, when the guide had come to an end. "Methinks it makes my +heart to bleed to think that He should bleed for me. O Thou loving +One! O Thou blessed One! Thou deservest to have me, for Thou hast +bought me. No marvel that this made the water to stand in my +husband's eyes, and that it made him trudge so nimbly on. O Mercy, +that thy father and thy mother were here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous +too! Nay, I wish now with all my heart that here was Madam Wanton +too. Surely, surely their hearts would be affected here!" Promise +me to read at home Greatheart's discourse on the Righteousness of +Christ, and you will thank me for having exacted the promise. + +The incongruity of a soldier handling such questions, and +especially in such a style, has stumbled some of John Bunyan's +fault-finding readers. The same incongruity stumbled "the +Honourable Colonel Hacker, at Peebles or elsewhere," to whom +Cromwell sent these from Edinburgh on the 25th December 1650--"But +indeed I was not satisfied with your last speech to me about +Empson, that he was a better preacher than fighter or soldier--or +words to that effect. Truly, I think that he that prays and +preaches best will fight best. I know nothing that will give like +courage and confidence as the knowledge of God in Christ will; and +I bless God to see any in this army able and willing to impart the +knowledge they have for the good of others. I pray you receive +Captain Empson lovingly: I dare assure you he is a good man and a +good officer; I would we had no worse." + +4. "Will you not go in and stay till morning?" said the porter to +Greatheart, at the gate of the House Beautiful. "No," said the +guide; "I will return to my lord to-night." "O sir!" cried +Christiana and Mercy, "we know not how to be willing you should +leave us in our pilgrimage. Oh that we might have your company +till our journey's end." Then said James, the youngest of the +boys, "Pray be persuaded to go with us and help us, because we are +so weak and the way so dangerous as it is." "I am at my lord's +commandment," said Greatheart. "If he shall allow me to be your +guide quite through, I shall willingly wait upon you. But here you +failed at first; for when he bid me come thus far with you, then +you should have begged me of him to have gone quite through with +you, and he would have granted your request. However, at present, +I must withdraw, and so, good Christiana, Mercy, and my brave +children, adieu!" "Help lost for want of asking for," is our +author's condemnatory comment on the margin at this point in the +history. And there is not a single page in my history, or in +yours, my brethren, on which the same marginal lament is not +written. What help we would have had on our Lord's promise if we +had but taken the trouble to ask for it! And what help we once +had, and have now lost, just because when we had it we did not ask +for a continuance of it! "No," said Greatheart to the porter, and +to the two women, and to James--"No. I will return to my lord to- +night. I am at my lord's commandment; only, if he shall still +allot me I shall willingly wait upon you." + +Now, what with the House Beautiful, so full of the most delightful +company; what with music in the house and music in the heart; what +with Mr. Brisk's courtship of Mercy, Matthew's illness, Mr. Skill's +cure of the sick man, and what not--a whole month passed by like a +day in that so happy house. + +But at last Christiana and Mercy signified it to those of the house +that it was time for them to be up and going. Then said Joseph to +his mother, "It is convenient that you send back to the house of +Mr. Interpreter to pray him to grant that Mr. Greatheart should be +sent to us that he may be our conductor the rest of our way." +"Good boy,' said she, "I had almost forgot." So she drew up a +petition and prayed Mr. Watchful the porter to send it by some fit +man to her good friend, Mr. Interpreter; who, when it was come and +he had seen the contents of the petition, said to the messenger, +"Go, tell them that I will send him." . . . Now, about this time +one knocked at the door. So the porter opened, and, behold, Mr. +Greatheart was there! But when he came in, what joy was there! +Then said Mr. Greatheart to the two women, "My lord has sent each +of you a bottle of wine, and also some parched corn, together with +a couple of pomegranates. He has also sent the boys some figs and +raisins to refresh you on your way." "The weak may sometimes call +the strong to prayers," I read again in the margin opposite the +mention of Joseph's name. Not that I am strong, and not that she +is weak, but one of my people I spent an hour with last afternoon +whom you would to a certainty have called weak had you seen her and +her surrounding,--she so called me to prayer that I had to hurry +home and go straight to it. And all last night and all this +morning I have had as many pomegranates as I could eat and as much +wine as I could drink. Yes; you attend to what the weakest will +sometimes say to you, and they will often put you on the way to get +Greatheart back again with a load of wines and fruits and corn on +his shoulder to refresh you on your journey. "Good boy!" said +Christiana to Joseph her youngest son, "Good boy! I had almost +forgot!" + +5. When old Mr. Honest began to nod after the good supper that +Gaius mine host gave to the pilgrims, "What, sir," cried +Greatheart, "you begin to be drowsy; come, rub up; now here's a +riddle for you." Then said Mr. Honest, "Let's hear it." Then said +Mr. Greatheart, + + +"He that will kill, must first be overcome; +Who live abroad would, first must die at home." + + +"Hah!" said Mr. Honest, "it is a hard one; hard to expound, and +harder still to practise." Yes; this after-supper riddle of Mr. +Greatheart is a hard one in both respects; and for this reason, +because the learned and much experienced guide--learned with all +that his lifelong quarters in the Interpreter's House could teach +him, and experienced with a lifetime's accumulated experience of +the pilgrim life--has put all his learning and all his life into +these two mysterious lines. But old Honest, once he had +sufficiently rubbed up his eyes and his intellects, gave the +answer: + + +"He first by grace must conquered be +That sin would mortify. +And who, that lives, would convince me, +Unto himself must die." + + +Exactly; shrewd old Honest; you have hit off both Greatheart and +his riddle too. You have dived into the deepest heart of the +Interpreter's man-servant. "The magnanimous man" was Aristotle's +masterpiece. That great teacher of mind and morals created for the +Greek world their Greatheart. But, "thou must understand," says +Bunyan to his readers, "that I never went to school to Aristotle or +Plato. No; but to Paul, who taught Bunyan that what Aristotle +calls magnanimity is really pride--taught him that, till there is +far more of the Christian religion in those two doggerel lines at +Gaius's supper-table than there is in all The Ethics taken +together. And it is only from a personal experience of the same +life as that which the guide puts here into his riddle that any +man's proud heart will become really humble and thus really great, +really enlarged, and of an all-embracing hospitality like +Cromwell's and Greatheart's and John Bunyan's own. Would you, +then, become a Greatheart too? And would you be employed in your +day as they were employed in their day? Then expound to yourself, +and practise, and follow out that deep riddle with which Greatheart +so woke up old Honest: + + +"He that will kill, must first be overcome; +Who live abroad would, first must die at home. + + +6. Greatheart again and again at the riverside, Greatheart sending +pilgrim after pilgrim over the river with rapture, and he himself +still summoned to turn his back on the Celestial City, and to +retrace his steps through the land of Beulah, through the Valley of +the Shadow of Death, and through the Valley of Humiliation, and +back to the Interpreter's house to take on another and another and +another convoy of fresh pilgrims, and his own abundant entrance +still put off and never to come,--our hearts bleed for poor +Greatheart. Back and forward, back and forward, year after year, +this noble soul uncomplainingly goes. And, ever as he waves his +hand to another pilgrim entering with trumpets within the gates, he +salutes his next pilgrim charge with the brave words: "Yet what I +shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two: having +a desire to depart and to be with Christ. Nevertheless to abide in +the flesh is more needful for you, for your furtherance and joy of +faith by my coming to you again." If Greatheart could not "usher +himself out of this life" along with Christiana, and Mercy, and Mr. +Honest, and Standfast, and Valiant-for-truth--if he had still to +toil back and bleed his way up again at the head of another happy +band of pilgrims--well, after all is said, what had the Celestial +City itself to give to Greatheart better than such blessed work? +"With every such returning journey he got a more and more enlarged, +detached, hospitable, and Christ-like heart, and the King's palace +in very glory itself had nothing better in store for this soldier- +guide than that. A nobler heaven Greatheart could not taste than +he had already in himself, as he championed another and another +pilgrim company from his Master's earthly gate to his Master's +heavenly gate. Like Paul, his apostolic prototype, Greatheart +sometimes vacillated just for a moment when he came a little too +near heaven, and felt its magnificent and almost dissolving +attractions full in his soul. You will see Greatheart's mind +staggering for a moment between rest and labour, between war and +peace, between "Christ" on earth and "Christ" in heaven--you will +see all that set forth with great sympathy and great ability in +Principal Rainy's new book on Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, +and in the chapter entitled, The Apostle's Choice between Living +and Dying. + +Then there came a summons for Mr. Standfast. At which he called to +him Mr. Greatheart, and said unto him, "Sir, although it was not my +hap to be much in your good company in the days of my pilgrimage, +yet, since the time I knew you, you have been profitable to me. +When I came from home I left behind me a wife and five small +children. Let me entreat you, at your return (for I know that you +will go and return to your master's house in hopes that you may be +a conductor to more of the holy pilgrims), that you send to my +family and let them be acquainted with all that hath and shall +happen to me. Tell them, moreover, of my happy arrival to this +place, and of the present late blessed condition I am in, and so on +for many other messages and charges." Yes, Mr. Standfast; very +good. But I would have liked you on your deathbed much better if +you had had a word to spare from yourself and your wife and your +children for poor Greatheart himself, who had neither wife nor +children, nor near hope of heaven, but only your trust and charge +and many suchlike trusts and charges to carry out when you are at +home and free of all trust and all charge and all care. But yours +is the way of all the pilgrims--so long, at least, as they are in +this selfish life. Let them and their children only be well looked +after, and they have not many thoughts or many words left for those +who sweat and bleed to death for them and theirs. They lean on +this and that Greatheart all their own way up, and then they leave +their widows and children to lean on whatever Greatheart is sent to +meet them; but it is not one pilgrim in ten who takes the thought +or has the heart to send a message to Mr. Greatheart himself for +his own consolation and support. I read that Mr. Ready-to-halt +alone, good soul, had the good feeling to do it. He thanked Mr. +Greatheart for his conduct and for his kindness, and so addressed +himself to his journey. All the same, noble Greatheart! go on in +thy magnanimous work. Take back all their errands. Seek out at +any trouble all their wives and children. Embark again and again +on all thy former battles and hardships for the good of other men. +But be assured that all this thy labour is not in vain in thy Lord. +Be well assured that not one drop of thy blood or thy sweat or thy +tears shall fall to the ground on that day when they that be wise +shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn +many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Go back, +then, from thy well-earned rest, O brave Greatheart! go back to thy +waiting task. Put on again thy whole armour. Receive again, and +again fulfil, thy Master's commission, till He has no more +commissions left for thy brave heart and thy bold hand to execute. +And, one glorious day, while thou art still returning to thy task, +it shall suddenly sound in thy dutiful ears:- "Well done! good and +faithful servant!" And then thou too + + +"Shalt hang thy trumpet in the hall +And study war no more." + + + +MR. READY-TO-HALT + + + +"For I am ready to halt."--David. + +Mr. Ready-to-halt is the Mephibosheth of the pilgrimage. While +Mephibosheth was still a child in arms, his nurse let the young +prince fall, and from that day to the day of his death he was lame +in both his feet. Mephibosheth's life-long lameness, and then +David's extraordinary grace to the disinherited cripple in +commanding him to eat continually at the king's table; in those two +points we have all that we know about Mr. Ready-to-halt also. We +have no proper portrait, as we say, of Mr. Ready-to-halt. Mr. +Ready-to-halt is but a name on John Bunyan's pages--a name set upon +two crutches; but, then, his simple name is so suggestive and his +two crutches are so eloquent, that I feel as if we might venture to +take this life-long lameter and his so serviceable crutches for our +character-lecture to-night. + +John Bunyan, who could so easily and so delightfully have done it, +has given us no information at all about Mr. Ready-to-halt's early +days. For once his English passion for a pedigree has not +compelled our author's pen. We would have liked immensely to have +been told the name, and to have seen displayed the whole family +tree of young Ready-to-halt's father; and, especially, of his +mother. Who was his nurse also? And did she ever forgive herself +for the terrible injury she had done her young master? What were +his occupations and amusements as a little cripple boy? Who made +him his first crutch? Of what wood was it made? And at what age, +and under whose kind and tender directions did he begin to use it? +And, then, with such an infirmity, what ever put it into Mr. Ready- +to-halt's head to attempt the pilgrimage? For the pilgrimage was a +task and a toil that took all the limbs and all the lungs and all +the labours and all the endurances that the strongest and the +bravest of men could bring to bear upon it. How did this complete +cripple ever get through the Slough, and first up and then down the +Hill Difficulty, and past all the lions, and over a thousand other +obstacles and stumbling-blocks, till he arrived at mine host's so +hospitable door? The first surprised sight we get of this so +handicapped pilgrim is when Greatheart and Feeble-mind are in the +heat of their discourse at the hostelry door. At that moment Mr. +Ready-to-halt came by with his crutches in his hand, and he also +was going on pilgrimage. Thus, therefore, they went on. Mr. +Greatheart and Mr. Honest went on before, Christiana and her +children went next, and Mr. Feeble-mind and Mr. Ready-to-halt came +behind with his crutches. + + +"Put by the curtains, look within my veil, +Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail, +There, if thou seekest them, such things to find, +As will be helpful to an honest mind." + + +1. Well, then, when we put by the curtains and turn up the +metaphors, what do we find? What, but just this, that poor Mr. +Ready-to-halt was, after all, the greatest and the best believer, +as the New Testament would have called him, in all the pilgrimage. +We have not found so great faith as that of Mr. Ready-to-halt, no, +not in the very best of the pilgrim bands. Each several pilgrim +had, no doubt, his own good qualities; but, at pure and downright +believing--at taking God at His bare and simple word--Mr. Ready-to- +halt beat them all. All that flashes in upon us from one shining +word that stands on the margin of our so metaphorical author. This +single word, the "promises," hangs like a key of gold beside the +first mention of Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches--a key such that in a +moment it throws open the whole of Mr. Ready-to-halt's otherwise +lockfast and secret and inexplicable life. There it all is, as +plain as a pike-staff now! Yes; Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches are +just the divine promises. I wonder I did not see that all the +time. Why, I could compose all his past life myself now. I have +his father and his mother and his nurse at my finger-ends now. +This poor pilgrim--unless it would be impertinence to call him poor +any more--had no limbs to be called limbs. Such limbs as he had +were only an encumbrance to this unique pedestrian. All the limbs +he had were in his crutches. He had not one atom of strength to +lean upon apart from his crutches. A bone, a muscle, a tendon, a +sinew, may be ill-nourished, undeveloped, green, and unknit, but, +at the worst, they are inside of a man and they are his own. But a +crutch, of however good wood it may be made, and however good a +lame man may be at using it--still, a crutch at its best is but an +outside additament; it is not really and originally a part of a +man's very self at all. And yet a lame man is not himself without +his crutch. Other men do not need to give a moment's forethought +when they wish to rise up to walk, or to run, or to leap, or to +dance. But the lame man has to wait till his crutches are brought +to him; and then, after slowly and painfully hoisting himself up +upon his crutches, with great labour, he at last takes the road. +Mr. Ready-to-halt, then, is a man of God; but he is one of those +men of God who have no godliness within themselves. He has no +inward graces. He has no past experiences. He has no attainments +that he can for one safe moment take his stand upon, or even partly +lean upon. Mr. Ready-to-halt is absolutely and always dependent +upon the promises. The promises of God in Holy Scripture are this +man's very life. All his religion stands in the promises. Take +away the promises, and Mr. Ready-to-halt is a heap of heaving rags +on the roadside. He cannot take a single step unless upon a +promise. But, at the same time, give Mr. Ready-to-halt a promise +in his hand and he will wade the Slough upon it, and scale up and +slide down the Hill Difficulty upon it, and fight a lion, and even +brain Beelzebub with it, till he will with a grudge and a doubt +exchange it even for the chariots and the horses that wait him at +the river. What a delight our Lord would have taken in Mr. Ready- +to-halt had He come across him on His way to the passover! How He +would have given Mr. Ready-to-halt His arm; how He would have made +Himself late by walking with him, and would still have waited for +him! Nay, had that been a day of chap-books in carpenters' shops +and on the village stalls, how He would have had Mr. Ready-to- +halt's story by heart had any brass-worker in Galilee told the +history! Our Lord was within an inch of telling that story +Himself, when He showed Thomas His hands and His side. And at +another time and in another place we might well have had Mr. Ready- +to-halt as one more of our Lord's parables for the common people. +Only, He left the delight and the reward of drawing out this +parable to one He already saw and dearly loved in a far-off island +of the sea, the Puritan tinker of Evangelical England. + +2. And now, after all that, would you think it going too far if I +were to say that in making Himself like unto all His brethren, our +Lord made Himself like Mr. Ready-to-halt too? Indeed He did. And +it was because his Lord did this, that Mr. Ready-to-halt so loved +his Lord as to follow Him upon crutches. It would not be thought +seemly, perhaps, to carry the figure too close to our Lord. But, +figure apart, it is only orthodox and scriptural to say that our +Lord accomplished His pilgrimage and finished His work leaning all +along upon His Father's promises. Esaias is very bold about this +also, for he tells his readers again and again that their Messiah, +when He comes, will have to be held up. He will have to be +encouraged, comforted, and carried through by Jehovah. And in one +remarkable passage he lets us see Jehovah hooping Messiah's staff +first with brass, and then with silver, and then with gold. Let +Thomas Goodwin's genius set the heavenly scene full before us. +"You have it dialoguewise set forth," says that great preacher. +"First Christ shows His commission, telling God how He had called +Him and fitted Him for the work of redemption, and He would know +what reward He should receive of Him for so great an undertaking. +God at first offers low; only the elect of Israel. Christ thinks +these too few, and not worth so great a labour and work, because +few of the Jews would come in; and therefore He says that He would +labour in vain if this were all His recompense; and yet withal He +tells God that seeing His heart is so much set on saving sinners, +to satisfy Him, He will do it even for those few. Upon this God +comes off more freely, and openeth His heart more largely to Him, +as meaning more amply to content Him for His pains in dying. "It +is a light thing," says God to Him, "that Thou shouldest be My +servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob--that is not worth Thy +dying for. I value Thy sufferings more than so. I will give Thee +for a salvation to the ends of the earth." Upon this He made a +promise to Christ, a promise which God, who cannot lie, promised +before the world began. God cannot lie, and, most of all, not to +His Son." + +And, then, more even than that. This same deep divine tells us +that it is a certain rule in divinity that, whatsoever we receive +from Christ, that He Himself first receives in Himself for us. All +the promises of God's word are made and fulfilled to Christ first, +and so to us in and after Him. In other words, our Lord's life was +so planned for Him in heaven and was so followed out and fulfilled +by Him on earth, that, to take up the metaphor again, He actually +tried every crutch and every staff with His own hands and with His +own armpits; He actually leaned again and again His own whole +weight upon every several one of them. Every single promise, the +most unlikely for Him to lean upon and to plead, yet, be sure of +it, He somehow made experiment upon them all, and made sure that +there was sufficient and serviceable grace within and under every +one of them. So that, Mr. Ready-to-halt, there is no possible +staff you can take into your hand that has not already been in the +hand of your Lord. Think of that, O Mr. Ready-to-halt! Reverence, +then, and almost worship thy staff! Throw all thy weight upon thy +staff. Confide all thy weakness to it. Talk to it as thou walkest +with it. Make it talk to thee. Worm out of it all its secrets +about its first Owner. And let it instruct thee about how He +walked with it and how He handled it. The Bible is very bold with +its Master. It calls Him by the most startling names sometimes. +There is no name that a penitent and a returning sinner goes by +that the Bible does not put somewhere upon the sinner's Saviour. +And in one place it as good as calls Him Ready-to-halt in as many +words. Nay, it lets us see Him halting altogether for a time; ay, +oftener than once; and only taking the road again, when a still +stronger staff was put into his trembling hand. And if John had +but had room in his crowded gospel he would have given us the very +identical psalm with which our Lord took to the upward way again, +strong in His new staff. "For I am ready to halt," was His psalm +in the house of His pilgrimage, "and My sorrow is continually +before Me. Mine enemies are lively, and they are strong; and they +that hate Me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that render evil +for good are Mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good +is. Forsake Me not, O Lord; O My God, be not far from Me. Make +haste to help Me, O Lord My salvation." + +3. Among all the devout and beautiful fables of the "dispensation +of paganism," there is nothing finer than the fable of blind +Tiresias and his staff. By some sad calamity this old prophet had +lost the sight of his eyes, and to compensate their servant for +that great loss the gods endowed him with a staff with eyes. As +Aaron's rod budded before the testimony and bloomed blossoms and +yielded almonds, so Tiresias' staff budded eyes, and divine eyes +too, for the blind prophet's guidance and direction. Tiresias had +but to take his heaven-given staff in his hand, when, straightway, +such a divinity entered into the staff that it both saw for him +with divine eyes, and heard for him with divine ears, and then led +him and directed him, and never once in all his after journeys let +him go off the right way. All other men about him, prophets and +priests both, often lost their way, but Tiresias after his +blindness, never, till Tiresias and his staff became a proverb and +a parable in the land. And just such a staff, just such a crutch, +just such a pair of crutches, were the crutches of our own so +homely Mr. Ready-to-halt. With all their lusty limbs, all the +other pilgrims often stumbled and went out of their way till they +had to be helped up, led back, and their faces set right again. +But, last as Mr. Ready-to-halt always came in the procession-- +behind even the women and the children as his crutches always kept +him--you will seek in vain for the dot of those crutches on any by- +path or on any wrong road. No; the fact is, if you wish to go to +the same city, and are afraid you lose the way; as Evangelist said, +"Do you see yon shining light?" so I would say to you to-night, "Do +you see these crutch-marks on the road?" Well, keep your feet in +the prints of these crutches, and as sure as you do that they will +lead you straight to a chariot and horses, which, again, will carry +you inside the city gates. For Mr. Ready-to-halt's crutches have +not only eyes like Tiresias' staff, they have ears also, and hands +and feet. A lamp also burns on those crutches; and wine and oil +distil from their wonderful wood. Happy blindness that brings such +a staff! Happy exchange! eyes full of earth and sin for eyes full +of heaven and holiness! + +4. "They began to be merry," says our Lord, telling the story of +the heart-broken father who had got back his younger son from a far +country. And even Feeble-mind and Ready-to-halt begin to be merry +on the green that day after Doubting Castle has fallen to +Greatheart's arms. Now, Christiana, if need was, could play upon +the viol, and her daughter Mercy upon the lute; and, since they +were so merry disposed, she played them a lesson, and Mr. Ready-to- +halt would dance. So he paid a boy a penny to hold one of his +crutches, and, taking Miss Much-afraid by the hand, to dancing they +went. And, I promise you he footed it well; the lame man leaped as +an hart; also the girl was to be commended, for she answered the +music handsomely. In spite of his life-long infirmity, there was +deep down in Mr. Ready-to-halt an unsuspected fund of good-humour. +There was no heartier merriment on the green that day than was the +merriment that Mr. Ready-to-halt knocked out of his nimble crutch. +"True, he could not dance without one crutch in his hand." True, +dear and noble Bunyan, thou canst not write a single page at any +time or on any subject without thy genius and thy tenderness and +thy divine grace marking the page as thine own alone! + +5. The next time we see Mr. Ready-to-halt he is coming in on his +crutches to see Christiana, for she has sent for him to see him. +So she said to him, "Thy travel hither hath been with difficulty, +but that will make thy rest the sweeter." And then in process of +time there came a post to the town and his business this time was +with Mr. Ready-to-halt. "I am come to thee in the name of Him whom +thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches. And my message +is to tell thee that He expects thee at His table to sup with Him +in His kingdom the next day after Easter." "I am sent for," said +Mr. Ready-to-halt to his fellow-pilgrims, "and God shall surely +visit you also. These crutches," he said, "I bequeath to my son +that shall tread in my steps, with an hundred warm wishes that he +may prove better than I have done." Isaac was a child of promise, +and Mr. Ready-to-halt had an Isaac also on whom his last thoughts +turned. Isaac had been born to Abraham by a special and +extraordinary and supernatural interposition of the grace and the +power of God; and Mr. Ready-to-halt had always looked on himself as +a second Abraham in that respect. A second Abraham, and more. +True, his son was not yet a pilgrim; perhaps he was too young to be +so called; but Greatheart will take back the old man's crutches-- +Greatheart was both man-of-war and beast-of-burden to the pilgrims +and their wives and children--and will in spare hours teach young +Ready-to-halt the use of the crutch, till the son can use with the +same effect as his father his father's instrument. Is your child a +child of promise? Is he to you a product of nature, or of grace? +Did you receive him and his brothers and sisters from God after you +were as good as dead? Did you ever steal in when his nurse was at +supper and say over his young cradle, He hath not dealt with me +after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities? Is it +in your will laid up with Christ in God about your crutches and +your son what Mr. Ready-to-halt dictated on his deathbed? And does +God know that there is no wish in your old heart a hundred times so +warm for your son as is this wish,--that he may prove better at +handling God's promises than you have been? Then, happy son, who +has old Mr. Ready-to-halt for his father! + +6. "He whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches, +expects thee at His table the next day after Easter." Take +comfort, cripples! Had it been said that the King so expects +Greatheart, or Standfast, or Valiant-for-truth, that would have +been after the manner of the kings of this world. But to insist on +having Mr. Ready-to-halt beside Him by such and such a day; to send +such a post to a pilgrim who has not a single sound bone in all his +body; to a sinner without a single trustworthy grace in all his +heart; to a poor and simple believer who has nothing in his hand +but one of God's own promises--Who is a king like unto our King? +Surely King David was never a better type of Christ than when he +said to Mephibosheth, lame in both his feet from his nurse's arms: +"Fear not, Mephibosheth, for I will surely show thee kindness, and +thou shalt eat bread at my table continually." And Mephibosheth +shall always be our spokesman when he bows himself and says in +return: "What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a +dead dog as I am?" + + + +VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH + + + +"--They are not valiant for the truth."--Jeremiah + +"--Ye should contend earnestly for the faith."--Jude. +"Forget not Master Valiant-for-the-Truth, +That man of courage, tho' a very youth. +Tell every one his spirit was so stout, +No man could ever make him face about." +Bunyan. + +"I am of Dark-land, for there was I born, and there my father and +mother are still." "Dark-land," said the guide; "doth not that lie +upon the same coast as the City of Destruction?" "Yes, it doth," +replied Valiant-for-truth. "And had I not found incommodity there, +I had not forsaken it at all; but finding it altogether unsuitable +to me, and very unprofitable for me, I forsook it for this way. +Now, that which caused me to come on pilgrimage was this. We had +one Mr. Tell-true came into our parts, and he told it about what +Christian had done, that went from the City of Destruction. That +man so told the story of Christian and his travels that my heart +fell into a burning haste to be gone after him, nor could my father +and mother stay me, so I got from them, and am come thus far on my +way." + +1. A very plain and practical lesson is already read to us all in +Valiant-for-truth's explanation of his own pilgrimage. He tells +the guide that he was made a pilgrim just by having the story of +The Pilgrim told to him. All that Tell-true did was just to recite +the story of the pilgrim, when young Valiant's heart fell into a +burning haste to be a pilgrim too. My brethren, could any lesson +be plainer? Read the Pilgrim's Progress with your children. And, +after a time, read it again till they call it beautiful, and till +you see the same burning haste in their hearts that young Valiant +felt in his heart. Circulate the Pilgrim's Progress. Make +opportunities to give the Pilgrim's Progress to the telegraph boys +and errand boys at your door. Never go on a holiday without taking +a dozen cheap and tasteful copies of The Pilgrim to give to boys +and girls in the country. Make sure that no one, old or young, of +your acquaintance, in town or country, is without a good copy of +The Pilgrim. And the darker their house is, make all the more sure +that John Bunyan is in it. + + +"Now may this little book a blessing be, +To those that love this little book and me +And may its buyer have no cause to say +His money is but lost or thrown away." + + +2. But the great lesson of Valiant's so impressive life lies in +the tremendous fight he had with three ruffians who all set upon +him at once and well-nigh made an end of him. For, when we put by +the curtains here again, and turn up the metaphors, what do we +find? What, but a lesson of first-rate importance for many men +among ourselves; for many public men, many ministers, and many +other much-in-earnest men. For Valiant, as his name tells us, was +set to contend for the truth. He had the truth. The truth was put +into his keeping, and he was bound to defend it. He was thrown +into a life of controversy, and thus into all the terrible +temptations--worse than the temptations to whoredom or wine--that +accompany a life of controversy. The three scoundrels that fell +upon Valiant at the mouth of the lane were Wildhead, Inconsiderate, +and Pragmatic. In other words, the besetting temptations of many +men who are set as defenders of the truth in religion, as well as +in other matters, is to be wild-headed, inconsiderate, self- +conceited, and intolerably arrogant. The bloody battle that +Valiant fought, you must know, was not fought at the mouth of any +dark lane in the midnight city, nor on the side of any lonely road +in the moonless country. This terrible fight was fought in +Valiant's own heart. For Valiant was none of your calculating and +cold-blooded friends of the truth. He did not wait till he saw the +truth walking in silver slippers. Let any man lay a finger on the +truth, or wag a tongue against the truth, and he will have to +settle it with Valiant. His love for the truth was a passion. +There was a fierceness in his love for the truth that frightened +ordinary men even when they were on his own side. Valiant would +have died for the truth without a murmur. But, with all that, +Valiant had to learn a hard and a cruel lesson. He had to learn +that he, the best friend of truth as he thought he was, was at the +same time, as a matter of fact, the greatest enemy that the truth +had. He had to take home the terrible discovery that no man had +hurt the truth so much as he had done. Save me from my friend! the +truth was heard to say, as often as she saw him taking up his +weapons in her behalf. We see all that every day. We see Wildhead +at his disservice of the truth every day. Sometimes above his own +name, and sometimes with grace enough to be ashamed to give his +name, in the newspapers. Sometimes on the platform; sometimes in +the pulpit; and sometimes at the dinner-table. But always to the +detriment of the truth. In blind fury he rushes at the character +and the good name of men who were servants of the truth before he +was born, and whose shield he is not worthy to bear. How shall +Wildhead be got to see that he and the like of him are really the +worst friends the truth can possibly have? Will he never learn +that in his wild-bull gorings at men and at movements, he is both +hurting himself and hurting the truth as no sworn enemy of his and +of the truth can do? Will he never see what an insolent fool he is +to go on imputing bad motives to other men, when he ought to be +prostrate before God on account of his own? More than one wild- +headed student of William Law has told me what a blessing they have +got from that great man's teaching on the subject of controversy. +Will the Wildheads here to-night take a line or two out of that +peace-making author and lay them to heart? "My dear L-, take +notice of this, that no truths, however solid and well-grounded, +will help you to any divine life, but only so far as they are +taught, nourished, and strengthened by an unction from above; and +that nothing more dries and extinguishes this heavenly unction than +a talkative reasoning temper that is always catching at every +opportunity of hearing or telling some religious matters. Stop +your ears and shut your eyes to all religious tales . . . I would +no more bring a false charge against a deist than I would bear +false witness against an apostle. And if I knew how to do the +deists more justice in debate I would gladly do it . . . And as the +gospel requires me to be as glad to see piety, equity, strict +sobriety, and extensive charity in a Jew or a Gentile as in a +Christian; as it obliges me to look with pleasure upon their +virtues, and to be thankful to God that such persons have so much +of true and sound Christianity in them; so it cannot be an +unchristian spirit to be as glad to see truths in one party of +Christians as in another, and to look with pleasure upon any good +doctrines that are held by any sect of Christian people, and to be +thankful to God that they have so much of the genuine saving truths +of the gospel among them . . . Selfishness and partiality are very +inhuman and base qualities even in the things of this world, but in +the doctrines of religion they are of a far baser nature. In the +present divided state of the Church, truth itself is torn and +divided asunder; and, therefore, he is the only true Catholic who +has more of truth and less of error than is hedged in by any +divided part. To see this will enable us to live in a divided part +unhurt by its division, and keep us in a true liberty and fitness +to be edified and assisted by all the good that we hear or see in +any other part of the Church. And thus, uniting in heart and +spirit with all that is holy and good in all Churches, we enter +into the true communion of saints, and become real members of the +Holy Catholic Church, though we are confined to the outward worship +of only one particular part of it. And thus we will like no truth +the less because Ignatius Loyola or John Bunyan were very jealous +for it, nor have the less aversion to any error because Dr. Trapp +or George Fox had brought it forth." If Wildhead would take a +winter of William Law, it would sweeten his temper, and civilise +his manners, and renew his heart. + +3. Inconsiderate, again, is the shallow creature he is, and does +the endless mischief that he does, largely for lack of imagination. +He never thinks--neither before he speaks nor after he has spoken. +He never put himself in another man's place all his days. He is +incapable of doing that. He has neither the head nor the heart to +do that. He never once said, How would I like that said about me? +or, How would I like that done to me? or, How would that look and +taste and feel to me if I were in So-and-so's place? It needs +genius to change places with other men; it needs a grace beyond all +genius; and this poor headless and heartless creature does not know +what genius is. It needs imagination, the noblest gift of the +mind, and it needs love, the noblest grace of the heart, to +consider the case of other people, and to see, as Butler says, that +we differ as much from other people as they differ from us. And it +is by far the noblest use of the imagination, far nobler than +carving a Laocoon, or painting a Last Judgment, or writing a +"Paradiso" or a "Paradise Lost," to put ourselves into the places +of other men so as to see with their eyes, and feel with their +hearts, and sympathise with their principles, and even with their +prejudices. Now, the inconsiderate man has so little imagination +and so little love that he is sitting here and does not know what I +am saying; and what suspicion he has of what I am saying is just +enough to make him dislike both me and what I am saying too. But +his dull suspicion and his blind dislike are more than made up for +by the love and appreciation of those lovers and defenders of the +truth who painfully feel how wild and inconsiderate, how hot- +headed, how thoughtless, and how reckless their past service even +of God's truth has been. + + +"The King is full of grace and fair regard. +Consideration, like an angel, came +And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him." + + +4. And as to Pragmatic, I would not call you a stupid person even +though you confided to me that you had never heard this footpad's +name till to-night. John Bunyan has been borrowing Latin again, +and not to the improvement of his style, or to the advantage of his +readers. It would be insufferably pragmatic in me to begin to set +John Bunyan right in his English; but I had rather offend the +shades of a hundred John Bunyans than leave my most unlettered +hearer without his full and proper Sabbath-night lesson. The third +armed thief, then, that fell upon Valiant was, under other names, +Impertinence, Meddlesomeness, Officiousness, Over-Interference. +Pragmatic,--by whatever name he calls himself, there is no +mistaking him. He is never satisfied. He is never pleased. He is +never thankful. He is always setting his superiors right. He is +like the Psalmist in one thing, he has more understanding than all +his teachers. And he enjoys nothing more than in letting them know +that. There is nothing he will not correct you in--from cutting +for the stone to commanding the Channel Fleet. Now, if all that +has put any visual image of Pragmatic into your mind, you will see +at once what an enemy he too is fitted to be to the truth. For the +truth does not stand in points, but in principles. The truth does +not dwell in the letter but in the spirit. The truth is not served +by setting other people right, but by seeing every day and in every +thing how far wrong we are ourselves. The truth is like charity in +this, that it begins at home. It is like charity in this also, +that it never behaves itself unseemly. A pragmatical man, taken +along with an inconsiderate man, and then a wild-headed man added +on to them, are three about as fatal hands as any truth could fall +into. The worst enemy of the truth must pity the truth, and feel +his hatred at the truth relenting, when he sees her under the +championship of Wildhead, Inconsiderate, and Pragmatic. + +5. The first time we see Valiant-for-truth he is standing at the +mouth of Dead-man's-lane with his sword in his hand and with his +face all bloody. "They have left upon me, as you see," said the +bleeding man, "some of the marks of their valour, and have also +carried away with them some of mine." And, in like manner, we see +Paul with the blood of Barnabas still upon him when he is writing +the thirteenth of First Corinthians; and John with the blood of the +Samaritans still upon him down to his old age when he is writing +his First Epistle; and John Bunyan with the blood of the Quakers +upon him when he is covertly writing this page of his autobiography +under the veil of Valiant-for-truth; and William Law with the blood +of Bishop Hoadly and John Wesley dropping on the paper as he pens +that golden passage which ends with Dr. Trapp and George Fox. +Where did you think Paul got that splendid passage about charity? +Where did you think William Law got that companion passage about +Church divisions, and about the Church Catholic? Where are such +passages ever got by inspired apostles, or by any other men, but +out of their own bloody battles with their own wild-headedness, +intolerance, dislike, and resentment? Where do you suppose I got +the true key to the veiled metaphor of Valiant-for-truth? It does +not exactly hang on the door-post of his history. Where, then, +could I get it but off the inside wall of my own place of +repentance? Just as you understand what I am now labouring to say, +not from my success in saying it, but from your own trespasses +against humility and love, your unadvised speeches, and your wild +and whirling words. Without shame and remorse, without self- +condemnation and self-contempt, none of those great passages of +Paul, or John, or Bunyan, or Law were ever written; and without a +like shame, remorse, self-condemnation, and self-contempt they are +not rightly read. + + +"Oh! who shall dare in this frail scene +On holiest, happiest thoughts to lean, +On Friendship, Kindred, or on Love? +Since not Apostles' hands can clasp +Each other in so firm a grasp, +But they shall change and variance prove. + +"But sometimes even beneath the moon +The Saviour gives a gracious boon, +When reconciled Christians meet, +And face to face, and heart to heart, +High thoughts of Holy love impart +In silence meek, or converse sweet. + +"Oh then the glory and the bliss +When all that pained or seemed amiss +Shall melt with earth and sin away! +When saints beneath their Saviour's eye, +Filled with each other's company, +Shall spend in love the eternal day!" + + +6. Then said Greatheart to Mr. Valiant-for-truth, "Thou hast +worthily behaved thyself; let me see thy sword." So he showed it +him. When he had taken it in his hand and had looked thereon a +while, the guide said: "Ha! it is a right Jerusalem blade!" "It +is so," replied its owner. "Let a man have one of these blades +with a hand to wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture +upon an angel with it. Its edges will never blunt. It will cut +flesh, and bones, and soul, and spirit, and all." Both Damascus +and Toledo blades were famous in former days for their tenacity and +flexibility, and for the beauty and the edge of their steel. But +even a Damascus blade would be worthless in a weak, cowardly, or +unskilled hand; while even a poor sword in the hand of a good +swordsman will do excellent execution. And much more so when you +have both a first-rate sword and a first-rate swordsman, such as +both Valiant and his Jerusalem blade were. Ha! yes. This is a +right wonderful blade we have now in our hand. For this sword was +forged in no earthly fire; and it was whetted to its unapproachable +sharpness on no earthly whetstone. But, best of all for us, when a +good soldier of Jesus Christ has this sword girt on his thigh he is +able then to go forth against himself with it; against his own only +and worst enemy--that is, against himself. As here, against his +own wildness of head and pride of heart. Against his own want of +consideration also. "My people do not consider." As also against +himself as a lawless invader of other men's freedom of judgment, +following of truth, public honour, and good name. As the Arabian +warriors see themselves and dress themselves in their swords as in +a glass, so did Valiant-for-truth see the thoughts and intents, the +joints and the marrow of his own disordered soul in his Jerusalem +blade. In the sheen of it he could see himself even when the +darkness covered him; and with its two edges all his after-life he +slew both all real error in other men and all real evil in himself. +"Thou hast done well," said Greatheart the guide. "Thou hast +resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Thou shalt abide by us, +come in and go out with us, for we are thy companions." + +7. "Sir," said the widow indeed to Valiant-for-truth, "sir, you +have in all places shown yourself true-hearted." The first time +she ever saw this man that she is now seeing for the last time on +this side the river, his own mother would not have known him, he +was so hacked to pieces with the swords of his three assailants. +But as she washed the blood off the mangled man's head and face and +hands, she soon saw beneath all his bloody wounds a true, a brave, +and a generous-hearted soldier of the Cross. The heart is always +the man. And this woman had lived long enough with men to have +discovered that. And with all his sears she saw that it was at +bottom the truth of his heart that had cast him into so many bloody +encounters. There were men in that company, and men near the river +too, with far fewer marks of battle, and even of defeat, upon them, +who did not get this noble certificate and its accompanying charge +and trust from this clear-eyed widow. And, then, she had never +forgot--how could she?--his exclamation, and almost embrace of her +as of his own mother, when he burst out with his eyes full of +blood, "Why, is this Christian's wife? What! and going on +pilgrimage too? It glads my heart! Good man! How joyful will he +be when he shall see her and her children enter after him in at the +gates into the city!" He would have been hacked a hundred times +worse than he was before the widow of Christian, and the mother of +his children, would have seen anything but the manliest beauty in a +young soldier who could salute an old woman in that way. It +gladdened her heart to hear him, you may be sure, as much as it +gladdened his heart to see her. And that was the reason that she +actually set Greatheart himself aside, and left her children under +this young man's sword and shield. "I would also entreat you to +have an eye to my children," she said. Young men, has any dying +mother committed her children, if you at any time see them faint, +to you? Have you ever spoken so comfortably to any poor widow +about her sainted husband that she has passed by some of our +foremost citizens, and has astonished and offended her lawyers by +putting a stripling like you into the trusteeship? Did ever any +dying mother say to you that she had seen you to be so true-hearted +at all times that she entreated you to have an eye to her children? +Speaking at this point for myself, I would rather see my son so +trusted at such an hour by such a woman than I would see him the +Chancellor of Her Majesty's Exchequer, or the Governor of the Bank +of England. And so to-night would you. + + + +STANDFAST + + + +"So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."--Paul. + +In his supplementary picture of Standfast John Bunyan is seen at +his very best, both as a religious teacher and as an English +author. On the Enchanted Ground Standfast is set before us with +extraordinary insight, sagacity, and wisdom; and then in the +terrible river he is set before us with an equally extraordinary +rapture and transport; while, in all that, Bunyan composes in +English of a strength and a beauty and a music in which he +positively surpasses himself. Just before he closes his great book +John Bunyan rises up and once more puts forth his very fullest +strength, both as a minister of religion and as a classical writer, +when he takes Standfast down into that river which that pilgrim +tells us has been such a terror to so many, and the thought of +which has so often affrighted himself. + +When Greatheart and his charge were almost at the end of the +Enchanted Ground, so we read, they perceived that a little before +them was a solemn noise as of one that was much concerned. So they +went on and looked before them. And behold, they saw, as they +thought, a man upon his knees, with hands and eyes lift up, and +speaking, as they thought, earnestly to one that was above. They +drew nigh, but could not tell what he said; so they went softly +till he had done. When he had done, he got up and began to run +towards the Celestial City. "So-ho, friend, let us have your +company," called out the guide. At that the man stopped, and they +came up to him. "I know this man," said Mr. Honest; "his name, I +know, is Standfast, and he is certainly a right good pilgrim." +Then follows a conversation between Mr. Honest and Mr. Standfast, +in which some compliments and courtesies are exchanged, such as are +worthy of such men, met at such a time and in such a place. "Well, +but, brother," said Valiant-for-truth, "tell us, I pray thee, what +was it that was the cause of thy being upon thy knees even now? +Was it for that some special mercy laid obligations upon thee, or +how?" And then Standfast tells how as he was coming along musing +with himself, Madam Bubble presented herself to him and offered him +three things. "I was both aweary and sleepy and also as poor as a +howlet, and all that the wicked witch knew. And still she followed +me with her enticements. Then I betook me, as you saw, to my +knees, and with hands lift up and cries, I prayed to Him who had +said that He would help. So just as you came up the gentlewoman +went her way. Then I continued to give thanks for my great +deliverance; for I verify believe she intended me no good, but +rather sought to make stop of me in my journey. What a mercy is it +that I did resist her, for whither might she not have drawn me?" +And then, after all this discourse, there was a mixture of joy and +trembling among the pilgrims, but at last they broke out and sang: + + +"What danger is the pilgrim in, +How many are his foes, +How many ways there are to sin, +No living mortal knows!" + + +1. "Well, as I was coming along I was musing with myself," said +Standfast. You understand what it is to come along musing with +yourself, do you not, my brethren? "I will muse on the work of Thy +hands," says the Psalmist. And again, "While I was musing the fire +burned." Well, Standfast was much given to musing, just as David +was. Each several pilgrim has his own way of occupying himself on +the road; but Standfast could never get his fill just of musing. +Standfast loved solitude. Standfast liked nothing better than to +walk long stretches at a time all by himself alone. Standfast was +like the apostle when he preferred to take the twenty miles from +Troas to Assos on foot and alone, rather than to round the cape on +shipboard in a crowd. "Minding himself to go afoot," says the +apostle's companion. It would have made a precious chapter in the +Acts of the Apostles had the author of that book been able to give +his readers some of Paul's musings as he crossed the Troad on foot +that day. But in the absence of Paul's musings we have here the +musings of a man whom Paul would not have shaken off had he +foregathered with him on that lonely road. For Standfast was in a +deep and serious muse mile after mile, when, who should step into +the middle of his path right before him but Madam Bubble with her +body and her purse and her bed? Now, had this hungry howlet of a +pilgrim been at that moment in any other but a musing mood of mind, +he had to a certainty sold himself, soul and body, Celestial City +and all, to that impudent slut. But, as He would have it who +overrules Madam Bubble's descents, and all things, Standfast was at +that moment in one of his most musing moods, and all her smiles and +all her offers fell flat and poor upon him. Cultivate Standfast's +mood of mind, my brethren. Walk a good deal alone. Strike across +country from time to time alone and have good long walks and talks +with yourself. And when you know that you are passing places of +temptation see that your thoughts, and even your imaginations, are +well occupied with solemn considerations about the certain issue of +such and such temptations; and then, to you, as to Standfast, + + +"The arrow seen beforehand slacks its flight." + + +2. But, musing alone, the arrow seen beforehand, and all, +Standfast would have been a lost man on that lonely road that day +had he not instantly betaken himself to his knees. And it was +while Standfast was still on his knees that the ascending pilgrims +heard that concerned and solemn noise a little ahead of them. Did +you ever suddenly come across a man on his knees? Did you ever +surprise a man at prayer as Greatheart and his companions surprised +Standfast? I do not ask, Did you ever enter a room and find a +family around their morning or evening altar? We have all done +that. And it left its own impression upon us. But did you ever +spring a surprise upon a man on his knees alone and in broad +daylight? I did the other day. It was between eleven and twelve +o'clock in the forenoon when I asked a clerk if his master was in. +Yes, he said, and opened his master's door. When, before I was +aware, I had almost fallen over a man on his knees and with his +face in his hands. "I pray thee," said Valiant-for-truth, "tell us +what it was that drew thee to thy knees even now. Was it that some +special mercy laid its obligations on thee, or how?" I did not say +that exactly to my kneeling friend, though it was on the point of +my tongue to say it. My dear friend, I knew, had his own +difficulties, though he was not exactly as poor as a howlet. And +it might have been about some of his investments that had gone out +of joint that he went that forenoon to Him who had said that He +would help. Or, like the author of the Christian Perfection and +The Spirit of Prayer, it was the sixth hour of the day, and he may +have gone to his knees for his clerks, or for his boys at school, +or for himself and for the man in the same business with himself +right across the street. I knew that my friend had the charming +book at home in which such counsels as these occur: "If masters +were thus to remember their servants, beseeching God to bless them, +letting no day pass without a full performance of this devotion, +the benefit would be as great to themselves as to their servants." +And perhaps my friend, after setting his clerks their several tasks +for the day, was now asking grace of God for each one of them that +they might not be eye-servants and men-pleasers, but the servants +of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Or, again, he may +have read in that noble book this passage: "If a father were daily +to make some particular prayer to God that He would please to +inspire his children with true piety, great humility, and strict +temperance, what could be more likely to make the father himself +become exemplary in these virtues?" Now, my friend (who can tell?) +may just that morning have lost his temper with his son; or he may +last night have indulged himself too much in eating, or in +drinking, or in debate, or in detraction; and that may have made it +impossible for him to fix his whole mind on his office work that +morning. Or, just to make another guess, when he opened the book I +had asked him to buy and read, he may have lighted on this heavenly +passage: "Lastly, if all people when they feel the first +approaches of resentment or envy or contempt towards others; or if +in all little disagreements and misunderstandings whatever they +should have recourse at such times to a more particular and +extraordinary intercession with God for such persons as had roused +their envy, resentment, or discontent--this would be a certain way +to prevent the growth of all uncharitable tempers." You may think +that I am taking a roundabout way of accounting for my friend's so +concerned attitude at twelve o'clock that business day; but the +whole thing seemed to me so unusual at such a time and in such a +place that I was led to such guesses as these to account for it. +In so guessing I see now that I was intruding myself into matters I +had no business with; but all that day I could not keep my mind off +my blushing friend. For, like Mr. Standfast, my dear friend +blushed as he stood up and offered me the chair he had been +kneeling at. "But, why, did you see me?" said Mr. Standfast. +"Yes, I did," quoth the other, "and with all my heart I was glad at +the sight." "And what did you think?" said Mr. Standfast. + +3. "Was it," asked Valiant-for-truth, in a holy curiosity, "was it +some special mercy that brought thee to thy knees even now?" Yes; +Valiant-for-truth had exactly hit it. Gracious wits, like great +wits, jump together. "Yes," confessed Standfast, "I continue to +give thanks for my great deliverance." My brethren, you all pray +importunately in your time of sore trouble. Everybody does that. +But do you feel an obligation, like Standfast, to abide still on +your knees long after your trouble is past? Nature herself will +teach us to pray; but it needs grace, and great grace continually +renewed, to teach us to praise, and to continue all our days to +praise. How we once prayed, ay, as earnestly, and as concernedly, +and as careless as to who should see or hear us as Standfast +himself! How some of us here to-night used to walk across a whole +country all the time praying! How we hoodwinked people in order to +get away from them to pray for twenty miles at a time all by +ourselves! Under that bush--it still stands to mark the spot; in +that wood, long since cut down into ploughed land--we could show +our children the spot to this day where we prayed, till a miracle +was wrought in our behalf. Yes, till God sent from above and took +us as He never took a psalmist, and set our feet upon a still more +wonderful rock. How He, yes, HE, with His own hand cut the cords, +broke the net, and set us free! Come, all ye that fear God! we +then said, and said it with all sincerity too. And yet, how have +we forgotten what He did for our soul? We start like a guilty +thing surprised when we think how long it is since we had a spell +of thanksgiving. Shame on us! What treacherous hearts we have! +What short memories we have! How soon we forgive ourselves, and so +forget the forgiveness of our God! Brethren, let us still lay +plans for praise as we used to do for prayer. If our friends will +go out with us, let us at least insist on walking home alone. Let +us say with Paul that we get sick at sea; and, besides, that we +have some calls to make and some small accounts to settle before we +leave the country. Tell them not to wait dinner for us. And then +let us take plenty of time. Let us stop at all our old stations +and call back all our old terrors; let us repeat aloud our old +psalms--the twenty-fifth, the fifty-first, the hundred and third, +and the hundred and thirtieth. We used to terrify people with our +prayers as Standfast terrified the young pilgrims that day; let us +surprise and delight them now with our psalms of thanksgiving. +For, with all our disgraceful ingratitude in the past, if William +Law is right, we are even yet not far from being great saints, if +he is not wrong when he asks: "Would you know who is the greatest +saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it +is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, +chastity, or justice. But it is he who is most thankful to God, +and who has a heart always ready to praise God. This is the +perfection of all virtues. Joy in God and thankfulness to God is +the highest perfection of a divine and holy life." Well, then, +what an endless cause of joy and thankfulness have we! Let us +acknowledge it, and henceforth employ it; and we shall, please God, +even yet be counted as not low down but high up among the saints +and the servants of God. + +4. Christiana said many kind and wise and beautiful things to all +the other pilgrims before she entered the river, but it was +observed that though she sent for Mr. Standfast, she said not one +word to him when he came; she just gave him her ring. "The touch +is human and affecting," says Mr. Louis Stevenson, in his +delightful paper on Bagster's "Bunyan," in the Magazine of Art. By +the way, do you who are lovers of Bunyan literature know that +remarkable and delicious paper? The Messrs. Bagster should secure +that paper and should issue an edition de luxe of their neglected +"Bunyan," with Mr. Stevenson's paper for a preface and +introduction. Bagster's "Illustrated Bunyan," with an introduction +on the illustrations by Mr. Louis Stevenson, if I am not much +mistaken, would sell by the thousand. + +5. Lord Rosebery knows books and loves books, and he has called +attention to the surpassing beauty of the English in the deathbed +scenes of the Pilgrim's Progress. And every lover of pure, tender, +and noble English must, like the Foreign Secretary, have all those +precious pages by heart. Were it not that we all have a cowardly +fear at death ourselves, and think it wicked and cruel even to hint +at his approaching death even to a fast-dying man, we would never +let any of our friends lie down on his sick-bed without having a +reassuring and victorious page of the Pilgrim read to him every +day. If the doctors would allow me, I would have these heavenly +pages reprinted in sick-bed type for all my people. But I am +afraid at the doctors. And thus one after another of my people +passes away without the fortification and the foretaste that the +deathbeds of Christian, and Christiana, and Hopeful, and Mr. +Fearing, and Mr. Feeble-mind, and Mr. Honest, and Mr. Standfast +would most surely have given to them. Especially the deathbed, if +I must so call it, of Mr. Standfast. But as Christiana said +nothing that could be heard to Mr. Standfast about his or her +latter end, but just looked into his eyes and gave him her ring, so +I may not be able to say all that is in my heart when your doctor +is standing close by. But you will understand what I would fain +say, will you not? You will remember, and will have this heavenly +book read to you alternately with your Bible, will you not? Even +the most godless doctor will give way to you when you tell him that +you know as well as he does just how it is with you, and that you +are to have your own way for the last time. I know a doctor who +first forbade her minister and her family to tell his patient that +she was dying, and at the same time told them to take away from her +bedside all such alarming books as the Pilgrim's Progress and the +Saint's Rest, and to read to her a reassuring chapter out of Old +Mortality and Pickwick. + +It will, no doubt, put the best-prepared of us into a deep muse, as +it put Standfast, when we are first told that we must at once +prepare ourselves for a change of life. But I for one would not +for worlds miss that solemn warning, and that last musing-time. It +will all be just as my Master pleases; but if it is within His will +I shall till then continue to petition Him that I may have a +passage over the river like the passage of Standfast. Or, if that +may not now be, then, at least, a musing-time like his. The post +from the Celestial City brought Mr. Standfast's summons "open" in +his hand. And thus it was that Standfast's translation did not +take him by surprise. Standfast was not plunged suddenly and +without warning into the terrible river. He took the open summons +into big own hand and read it out like a man. After which he went, +as his manner was, for a good while into a deep and undisturbed +muse. As soon as he came out of his muse he would have Greatheart +to be sent for. And then their last conversation together +proceeded. And no one interfered with the two brave-hearted men. +No one interposed, or said that Greatheart would exhaust or alarm +Standfast, or would injuriously hasten his end. Not only so, but +all the way till he was half over the river, Standfast kept up his +own side of the noble conversation. And it is his side of that +half-earthly, whole-heavenly conversation that I would like to have +put into suitable type and scattered broadcast over all our sick- +beds. + +6. "Tell me," says Valdes to Julia in his Christian Alphabet, +"have you ever crossed a deep river by a ford?" "Yes," says Julia, +"I have, many times." "And have you remarked how that by looking +upon the water it seemed as though your head swam, so that, if you +had not assisted yourself, either by closing your eyes, or by +fixing them on the opposite shore, you would have fallen into the +water in great danger of drowning?" "Yes, I have noticed that." +"And have you seen how by keeping always for your object the view +of the land that lies on the other side, you have not felt that +swimming of the head, and so have suffered no danger of drowning?" +"I have noticed that too," replied Julia. Now, it was exactly this +same way of looking, not at the black and swirling river, but at +the angelic conduct waiting for him at the further bank, and then +at the open gate of the Celestial City,--it was this that kept +Standfast's head so steady and his heart like a glowing coal while +he stood and talked in the middle of the giddy stream. You would +have thought it was Paul himself talking to himself on the road to +Assos. For I defy even the apostle himself to have talked better +or more boldly to himself even on the solid midday road than +Standfast talked to himself in the bridgeless river. "I see +myself," he said, "at the end of my journey now. My toilsome days +are all ended. I am going now to see that head that was crowned +with thorns, and that face that was spat upon for me. I loved to +hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of His +shoe in the earth I have coveted to set my foot also. His name has +been to me as a civet-box; yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His +word I did use to gather for my food, and for antidotes against my +faintings. He has held me, and I have kept me from my iniquities. +Yea, my steps He has strengthened in my way." Now, while Standfast +was thus in discourse his countenance changed, his strong man bowed +down under him, and after he had said "Take me!" he ceased to be +seen of them. But how glorious it was to see how the open region +was now filled with horses and chariots, with trumpeters and +pipers, and with singers and players on stringed instruments, all +to welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one another in +at the beautiful gate of the city! + + + +MADAM BUBBLE + + + +"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."--Solomon. + +"I have overcome the world."--Our Lord. + +"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For +all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the +eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the +world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."--John. + +"This bubble world."--Quarles. + +Madam Bubble's portrait was first painted by the Preacher. And he +painted her portrait with extraordinary insight, boldness, and +truthfulness. There is that in the Preacher's portrait of Madam +Bubble which only comes of the artist having mixed his colours, as +Milman says that Tacitus mixed his ink, with resentment and with +remorse. Out of His reading of Solomon and Moses and the Prophets +on this same subject, as well as out of His own observation and +experience, conflict and conquest, our Lord added some strong and +deep and inward touches of His own to that well-known picture, and +then named it by the New Testament name of the World. And then, +after Him, His longest-lived disciple set forth the same mother and +her three daughters under the three names that still stick to them +to this day,--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the +pride of life. But it was reserved for John Bunyan to fill up and +to finish those outlines of Scripture and to pour over the whole +work his own depth and strength of colour, till, altogether, Madam +Bubble stands out as yet another masterpiece of our dreamer's +astonishing genius. Let us take our stand before this heaving +canvas, then, till we have taken attentive note of some of John +Bunyan's inimitable touches and strokes and triumphs of truth and +art. "One in very pleasant attire, but old . . . This woman is a +witch . . . I am the mistress of the world, she said, and men are +made happy by me . . . A tall, comely dame, something of a swarthy +complexion." In the newly discovered portrait of a woman, by +Albert Durer, one of the marks of its genuineness is the way that +the great artist's initials A. D. are pencilled in on the +embroidery of the lady's bodice. And you will note in this +gentlewoman's open dress also how J. B. is inextricably woven in. +"She wears a great purse by her side also, and her hand is often in +her purse fingering her money. Yea, this is she that has bought +off many a man from a pilgrim's life after he had fairly begun it. +She is a bold and an impudent slut also, for she will talk with any +man. If there be one cunning to make money in any place, she will +speak well of him from house to house . . . She has given it out in +some places also that she is a goddess, and therefore some do +actually worship her . . . She has her times and open places of +cheating, and she will say and avow it that none can show a good +comparable to hers. And thus she has brought many to the halter, +and ten thousand times more to hell. None can tell of the mischief +that she does. She makes variance betwixt rulers and subjects, +betwixt parents and children, 'twixt neighbour and neighbour, +'twixt a man and his wife, 'twixt a man and himself, 'twixt the +flesh and the heart." And so on in the great original. "Had she +stood by all this while," said Standfast, whose eyes were still +full of her, "you could not have set Madam Bubble more amply before +me, nor have better described her features." "He that drew her +picture was a good limner," said Mr. Honest, "and he that so wrote +of her said true". + +1. "I am the mistress of this world," says Madam Bubble. And +though all the time she is a bold and impudent slut, yet it is the +simple truth that she does sit as a queen over this world and over +the men of this world. For Madam Bubble has a royal family like +all other sovereigns. She has a court of her own, too, with its +ball-room presentations and its birthday honours. She has a +cabinet council also, and a bar and a bench with their pleadings +and their decisions. Far more than all that, she has a church +which she has established and of which she is the head; and a faith +also of which she is the defender. She has a standing army also +for the extension and the protection of her dominions. She levies +taxes, too, and sends out ambassadors, and makes treaties, and +forms offensive and defensive alliances. But what a bubble all +this World is to him whose eyes have at last been opened to see the +hollowness and the heartlessness of it all! For all its pursuits +and all its possessions, from a child's rattle to a king's sceptre, +all is one great bubble. Wealth, fame, place, power; art, science, +letters; politics, churches, sacraments, and scriptures--all are so +many bubbles in Madam Bubble's World. This wicked enchantress, if +she does not find all these things bubbles already, by one touch of +her evil wand she makes them so. She turns gold into dross, God +into an idle name, and His Word into words only; unless when in her +malice she turns it into a fruitful ground of debate and +contention; a ground of malice and hatred and ill-will. Vanity of +vanities; all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Still, she sits a +queen and a goddess to a great multitude: to all men, to begin +with. And, like a goddess, she sheds abroad her spirit in her +people's hearts and lifts up upon them for a time the light of her +countenance. + +2. "I am the mistress of the world," she says, "and men are made +happy by me."--I would like to see one of them. I have seen many +men to whom Madam Bubble had said that if they would be ruled by +her she would make them great and happy. But though I have seen +not a few who have believed her and let themselves be ruled by her, +I have never yet seen one happy man among them.--The truth is, +Madam Bubble is not able to make men happy even if she wished to do +it. She is not happy herself, and she cannot dispense to others +what she does not possess. And, yet, such are her sorceries that, +while her old dupes die in thousands every day, new dupes are born +to her every day in still greater numbers. New dupes who run to +the same excess of folly with her that their fathers ran; new dupes +led in the same mad dance after Madam Bubble and her three +daughters. But, always, and to all men, what a bubble both the +mother and all her daughters are! How they all make promises like +their lying mother, and how, like her, they all lead men, if not to +the halter and to hell, as Greatheart said, yet to a life of vanity +and to a death of disappointment and despair! What bubbles of +empty hopes both she and her three children blow up in the brains +of men! What pictures of untold happiness they paint in the +imaginations of men! What pleasures, what successes in life, what +honours and what rewards she pledges herself to see bestowed! "She +has her times and open places of cheating," said one who knew her +and all her ways well. And when men and women are still young and +inexperienced, that is one of her great cheating times. At some +seasons of the year, and in some waters, to the fisherman's +surprise and confusion, the fish will sometimes take his bare hook; +a bit of a red rag is a deadly bait. And Madam Bubble's poorest +and most perfunctory busking is quite enough for the foolish fish +she angles for. And not in our salad days only, when we are still +green in judgment, but even to grey hairs, this wicked witch +continues to entrap us to our ruin. Love, in all its phases and in +all its mixtures, first deludes the very young; and then place, and +power, and fame, and money are the bait she busks for the middle- +aged and the old; and always with the same bubble end. The whole +truth is that without God, the living and ever-present God, in all +ages of it and in all parts and experiences of it, our human life +is one huge bubble. A far-shining, high-soaring bubble; but sooner +or later seen and tasted to be a bubble--a deceit-filled, poison- +filled bubble.--Happy by her! All men happy by her! The impudent +slut! + +3. Another thing about this slut is this, that "she will talk with +any man." She makes up to us and makes eyes at us just as if we +were free to accept and return her three offers. And still she +talks to us and offers us the same things she offered to Standfast +till, to escape her and her offers, he betook himself to his knees. +Nay, truth to tell, after she had deceived us and ensnared us till +we lay in her net cursing both her and ourselves, so bold and so +impudent and so persistent is this temptress slut, and such fools +and idiots are we, that we soon lay our eyes on her painted beauty +again and our heads in her loathsome lap; our heads on that block +over which the axe hangs by an angry hair. "She will talk with any +man." No doubt; but, then, it takes two to make a talk, and the +sad thing is that there are few men among us so wise, so steadfast, +and so experienced in her ways that they will not on occasion let +Madam Bubble talk her talk to them, and talk back again to her. +The oldest saint, the oftenest sold and most dearly redeemed +sinner, needs to suspect himself to the end, till he is clear out +of Madam Bubble's enchanted ground and for ever over that river of +deliverance which shall sweep Madam Bubble and all her daughters +into the dead sea for ever. + + +"The grey-haired saint may fail at last, +The surest guide a wanderer prove; +Death only binds us fast +To the bright shore of love." + + +4. "She highly commends the rich," the guide goes on about Madam +Bubble, "and if there be one cunning to get money in any place she +will speak well of him from house to house." "The world," says +Faber, "is not altogether matter, nor yet altogether spirit. It is +not man only, nor Satan only, nor is it exactly sin. It is an +infection, an inspiration, an atmosphere, a life, a colouring +matter, a pageantry, a fashion, a taste, a witchery. None of all +these names suit it, and all of them suit it. Meanwhile its power +over the human creation is terrific, its presence ubiquitous, its +deceitfulness incredible. It can find a home under every heart +beneath the poles. It is wider than the catholic church, and it is +masterful, lawless, and intrusive within it. We are all living in +it, breathing it, acting under its influence, being cheated by its +appearances, and unwarily admitting its principles." Let young +ministers who wish to preach to their people on the World--after +studying what the Preacher, and the Saviour, and John, and John +Bunyan say about the World,--still read Faber's powerful chapter in +his Creator and Creature. Yes; Madam Bubble finds a home for +herself in every heart beneath the poles. The truth is Madam +Bubble has no home, as she has no existence, but in human hearts. +And all that Solomon, and our Saviour, and John, and John Bunyan, +and Frederick Faber say about the world and about Madam Bubble they +really say about the heart of man. It is we, you and I, my +brethren, who so highly commend the rich. It is we ourselves here +who speak well from house to house of him whose father or whose +self has been cunning to get money. We either speak well or ill of +them. We either are sick with envy at them, or we fawn upon them +and fall down before them. How men rise in our esteem in the +degree that their money increases! With what reverence and holy +awe we look up at them as if they were gods and the sons of gods! +They become more than mortal men to our reverent imaginations. How +happy, how all but blessed they must be! we say to ourselves. +Within those park gates, under those high towers, in that silver- +mounted carriage, surrounded with all those liveried servants, and +loved and honoured by all those arriving and leaving guests--what +happiness that rich man must have! We are either eaten up of lean- +eyed envy of this and that rich man, or we positively worship them +as other men worship God and His saints. Yes; Madam Bubble is our +very mother. She conceived us and she suckled us. We were brought +up in her nurture and admonition. We learned her Catechism, and +her shrine is in our heart tonight. Like her, if only a pilgrim is +poor, we scorn him. We will not know him. But if there be any +one, pilgrim or no, cunning to get money, we honour him, and we +claim him as our kindred and relation, our acquaintance and our +friend. We will speak often of him as such from house to house. +Just see if we will not. There is room in our hearts, Madam +Bubble, there is room in our hearts for thee! + +5. "She loves them most that think best of her." But, surely, +surely, the guide goes quite too far in blaming and being hard upon +poor Madam Bubble for that? For, to give her fair play, she is not +at all alone in that. Is the guide himself wholly above that? Do +we not all do that? Is there one in ten, is there one in a +thousand, who hates and humiliates himself because his love of men +and women goes up or down just as they think of him? Yes; +Greatheart is true to his great name in his whole portrait of Madam +Bubble also, and nowhere more true than in this present feature. +For when any man comes to have any true greatness in his heart--how +he despises and detests himself as he finds himself out in not only +claiming kindred and acquaintance with the rich and despising and +denying the poor; but, still more, in loving or hating other men +just as they love or hate him! The world loves her own. Yes; but +he who has been taken out of the world, and who has had the world +taken out of him, he loves--he strives to love, he goes to his +knees every day he lives to love--those who not only do not think +well of him, but who both think ill of him and speak ill of him. +"Humility," says William Law, "does not consist in having a worse +opinion of ourselves than we deserve, or in abasing ourselves lower +than we really are. But as all virtue is founded in truth, so +humility is founded in a true and just sense of our weakness, +misery, and sin. He who rightly feels and lives in this sense of +his condition lives in humility. And, it may be added, when our +hearts are wholly clothed with humility we shall be prompt to +approve the judgment and to endorse the sentence of those who think +and speak the least good of us and the most evil. + +6. "'Twas she," so the guide at last wound up, "that set Absalom +against his father, and Jeroboam against his master. 'Twas she +that persuaded Judas to sell his Lord, and that prevailed with +Demas to forsake the godly pilgrim's life. None can tell all the +mischief that Madam Bubble does. She makes variance between rulers +and subjects, between parents and children, 'twixt neighbour and +neighbour, 'twixt a man and his wife, 'twixt a man and himself, +'twixt the flesh and the heart." Now, I shall leave that last +indictment and its lessons and its applications to yourselves, my +brethren. You will get far more good out of this accumulated count +against Madam Bubble if you explain it, and open it up, and prove +it, and illustrate it to yourselves. Explain, then, in what way +this sorceress set Absalom against his father and Jeroboam against +his master. Point out in what way she makes variance between a +ruler and his subjects, and give illustrations. Put your finger on +a parent and on a child between whom there is variance at this +moment on her account. And, if you are that parent or that child, +what have you done to remove that variance? Name two neighbours +that to your knowledge Madam Bubble has come between; and say what +you have done to be a peacemaker there. Set down what you would +say to a man and his wife so as to put them on their guard against +Madam Bubble ever coming in between them. And, last and best of +all, point out to yourself at what times and in what ways this +wicked witch tries to make variance between God's Holy Spirit +striving within you and your own evil heart still strong within +you. When you are weary and sleepy and hungry as a howlet, and, +Madam Bubble and her three daughters make a ring round you, what do +you do? Do you ever take to your knees? Really and honestly, do +you? When you find yourself out looking with holy fear on a rich +and lofty relation, and with insufferable contempt on a poor and +intrusive relation, by what name do you call yourself? Write it +down. And when she would fain put variance between you and those +who do not think well of you, what steps do you take to foil her? +Where and how do you get strength at that supreme moment to think +of others as you would have them think of you? "Oh," said +Standfast, "what a mercy it is that I did resist her! for to what +might she not have drawn me?" + + + +GAIUS + + + +"Gaius, mine host."--Paul. + +Goodman Gaius was the head of a hostel that stood on the side of +the highway well on to the Celestial City. The hostess of the +hostel was no more, and the old hostel-keeper did all her once +well-done work and his own proper work into the bargain. Every day +he inspected the whole house with his own eyes, down even to the +kitchen and the scullery. The good woman had left our host an only +daughter; but, "Keep her as much out of sight as is possible," she +said, and so fell asleep. And Gaius remembered his wife's last +testament every day, till none of the hostel customers knew that +there was so much as a young hostess in all the house. "Yes, +gentlemen," replied the old innkeeper. "Yes, come in. It is late, +but I take you for true men, for you must know that my house is +kept open only for such." So he took the large pilgrim party to +their several apartments with his own eyes, and then set about a +supper for those so late arrivals. Stamping with his foot, he +brought up the cook with the euphonious and eupeptic name, and that +quick-witted domestic soon had a supper on the table that would +have made a full man's mouth water. "The sight of all this," said +Matthew, as the under-cook laid the cloth and the trenchers, and +set the salt and the bread in order--"the sight of this cloth and +of this forerunner of a supper begetteth in me a greater appetite +to my food than I thought I had before." So supper came up; and +first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table +before them, in order to show that they must begin their meal with +prayer and praise to God. These two dishes were very fresh and +good, and all the travellers did eat heartily well thereof. The +next was a bottle of wine red as blood. So Gaius said to them, +"Drink freely; this is the juice of the true vine that makes glad +the heart of God and man." And they did drink and were very merry. +The next was a dish of milk well crumbed. At the sight of which +Gaius said, "Let the boys have that, that they may grow thereby." +And so on, dish after dish, till the nuts came with the recitations +and the riddles and the saws and the stories over the nuts. Thus +the happy party sat talking till the break of day. + +1. Now, it is natural to remark that the first thing about a host +is his hospitality. And that, too, whether our host is but the +head of a hostel like Goodman Gaius, or the head of a well- +appointed private house like Gaius's neighbour, Mr. Mnason. The +first and the last thing about a host is his hospitality. "Say +little and do much" is the example and the injunction to all our +housekeepers that Rabban Shammai draws out of the eighteenth of +Genesis. "Be like your father Abraham," he says, "on the plains of +Mamre, who only promised bread and water, but straightway set Sarah +to knead three measures of her finest meal, while he ran to the +herd and fetched a calf tender and good, and stood by the three men +while they did eat butter and milk under the tree. Make thy Thorah +an ordinance: say little and do much: and receive every man with +a pleasant expression of countenance." Now, this was exactly what +Gaius our goodman did that night, with one exception, which we +shall be constrained to attend to afterwards. "It is late," he +said, "so we cannot conveniently go out to seek food; but such as +we have you shall be welcome to, if that will content." At the +same time Taste-that-which-is-good soon had a supper sent up to the +table fit for a prince: a supper of six courses at that time in +the morning, so that the sun was already in the sky when Old Honest +closed his casement. + +"Dining in company is a divine institution," says Mr. Edward White, +in his delightful Minor Moralities of Life. "Let Soyer's art be +honoured among all men," he goes on. "Cookery distinguishes +mankind from the beasts that perish. Happy is the woman whose +daily table is the result of forethought. Her husband shall rise +up and call her blessed. It is piteous when the culinary art is +neglected in our young women's education. Let them, as St. Peter +says, imitate Sarah. Let them see how that venerable princess went +quickly to her kneading-trough and oven and prepared an extempore +collation of cakes and pilau for the angels. How few ladies, +whether Gentiles or Jewesses, could do the like in the present +day!" + +2. The wistful and punctilious attention that Goodman Gaius paid +to each individual guest of his was a fine feature in his +munificent hospitality. He made every one who crossed his +doorstep, down even to Mr. Fearing, feel at once at home, such was +his exquisite as well as his munificent hospitality. "Come, sir," +he said, clapping that white-faced and trembling pilgrim on the +shoulder, "come, sir, be of good cheer, you are welcome to me and +to my house; and what thou hast a mind to, that call for freely: +for what thou wouldst have my servants will do for thee, and they +will do it for thee with a ready mind." All the same, for a long +time Mr. Fearing was mortally afraid of the servants. He would as +soon have thought of stamping his foot for a duchess to come up as +for any of Gaius's serving-maids. He was afraid to make any noise +in his room lest all the house should hear it. He was afraid to +touch anything in the room lest it should fall and be broken. We +ourselves, with all our assumed ease and elaborate abandon, are +often afraid to ring our bell even in an inn. Mr. Fearing would as +soon have pulled the tail of a rattlesnake. But before their +sojourn was over, the Guide was amazed at Mr. Fearing, for that +hare-hearted pilgrim would be doing things in the house that he +himself would scarcely do who had been in the house a thousand +times. It was Gaius's exuberant heartiness that had demoralised +Mr. Fearing and made him almost too forward even for a wayside inn. +In little things also Gaius, mine host, showed his sensitive and +solicitous hospitality. We all know housekeepers, not to say +innkeepers, and not otherwise ungenerous housekeepers either who +will grudge us a sixpennyworth of sticks and coals in a cold night, +and that, too, in a room furnished to overflowing by Morton +Brothers or the Messrs. Maple. We take a candlestick and a dozen +candles with us in the boot of the carriage when we wish to read or +write late into the night in that great house. Another +housekeeper, who would give you her only daughter with her wealthy +dowry, will sometimes be seen by all in her house to grudge you a +fresh cup of afternoon tea when you drop in to see her and her +daughter. She says to herself that it is to spare the servants the +stairs; but, all the time, under the stairs, the servants are +blushing for the sometimes unaccountable stinginess of their +unusually munificent mistress. I shall give you "line upon line, +precept upon precept, here a little and there a little" of +Aristotle upon munificence in little things till you come up to his +pagan standard. "There is a real greatness," he says, "even in the +way that some men will buy a toy to a child. Even in the smallest +matters the munificent man will act munificently!" As Gaius, mine +host, munificently did. + +3. Speaking of children, what a night of entertainment good old +Gaius gave the children of the pilgrim party! "Let the boys have +the crumbed milk," he gave orders. "Butter and honey shall they +eat," he exclaimed over them as that brimming dish came up. "This +was our Lord's dish when He was a child," he said to the mother of +the boys, "that He might know to refuse the evil and to choose the +good." Then they brought up a dish of apples, and they were very +good-tasted fruit. Then said Matthew, "May we eat apples, since +they were such by and with which the serpent beguiled our first +mother?" Then said Gaius, + + +"Apples were they by which we were beguiled, +Yet sin, not apples, hath our souls defiled. +Apples forbid, if eat, corrupt the blood. +To eat such, when commanded, does us good. +Drink of His flagons then, thou Church, His Dove, +And eat His apples who are sick of love." + + +Then said Matthew, "I make the scruple because I awhile since was +sick with eating of fruit." "Forbidden fruit," said the host, +"will make you sick, but not what our Lord hath tolerated." While +they were thus talking they were presented with another dish, and +it was a dish of nuts. Then said some at the table, "Nuts spoil +tender teeth, especially the teeth of children," which when Gaius +heard, he said, + + +"Hard texts are nuts (I will not call them cheaters) +Whose shells do keep their kernels from the eaters; +Ope then the shells and you shall have the meat; +They here are brought for you to crack and eat." + + +Then Samuel whispered to his mother and said, "Mother, this is a +very good man's house; let us stay here a good while before we go +any farther." The which Gaius the host overhearing, said, "With a +very good will, my child." + +4. Widower as old Gaius was, and never for a single hour forgot +that he was, there was a certain sweet and stately gallantry +awakened in his withered old heart at the sight of Christiana and +Mercy, and especially at the sight of Matthew and Mercy when they +were seen together. He seems to have fallen almost in love with +that aged matron, as he called her, and the days of his youth came +back to him as he studied the young damsel, who was to her as a +daughter. And this set the loquacious old inn-keeper upon that +famous oration about women which every man who has a mother, or a +wife, or a sister, or a daughter has by heart. And from that he +went on to discourse on the great advantages of an early marriage. +He was not the man, nor was he speaking to a mother who was the +woman, ever to become a vulgar and coarse-minded match-maker; at +the same time, he liked to see Matthew and Mercy sent out on a +message together, leaving it to nature and to grace to do the rest. +The pros and cons of early marriage were often up at his hearty +table, but he always debated, and Gaius was a great debater, that +true hospitality largely consisted in throwing open the family +circle to let young people get well acquainted with one another in +its peace and sweetness. And Gaius both practised what he +preached, and at the same time endorsed his watchful wife's last +testament, when he gave his daughter Phebe to James, Christiana's +second son, and thus was left alone, poor old Gaius, when the happy +honeymoon party started upward from his hostel door. + +5. Their next host was one Mr. Mnason, a Cyprusian by nation, and +an old disciple. "How far have you come to-day?" he asked. "From +the house of Gaius our friend," they said. "I promise you," said +he, "you have gone a good stitch; you may well be weary; sit down." +So they sat down. "Our great want a while since," said Old Honest, +"was harbour and good company, and now I hope we have both." "For +harbour," said the host, "you see what it is, but for good company +that will appear in the trial." After they were a little rested +Old Honest again asked his host if there were any store of good +people in that town; and, "How," he said, "shall we do to see some +of them? For the sight of good men to them that are going on +pilgrimage is like to the appearing of the moon and stars to them +that are sailing upon the seas." Then Mr. Mnason stamped with his +foot and his daughter Grace came up, when he sent her out for five +of his friends in the town, saying that he had a guest or two in +his house at present to whom he would like to introduce them. + +Now, this is another of the good qualities of a good host, to know +the best and the most suitable people in the town, and to be on +such terms with them that on short notice they will step across to +help to entertain such travellers as had come to Mr. Mnason's +table. And it is an excellent thing to be sure that when we are so +invited we shall not only get a good dinner, but also, as good +"kitchen" with our dinner, good company and good conversation. It +is nothing short of a fine art to gather together and to seat +suitably beside one another good and suitable people as Mr. and +Miss Mnason did in their hospitable house that afternoon. And +then, as to the talk: let the host and the hostess introduce the +guests, and then let the guests introduce their own topics. And as +far as possible, in a city and a day like this, let our topics be +books rather than people. And let the books be the books that the +guests have read rather than those that the host and the hostess +have read. Books are a fine subject for a talk at table. Only, +let great readers order their learned and literary talk so as not +to lead the less learned into temptation. There is no finer +exercise of fine feeling than to be able to carry on a conversation +about matters that other people present are ignorant of, and at the +same time to interest them, to set them at ease, and to make them +forget both you and themselves. I had a letter the other day from +an English Church clergyman, in which he tells me that his bishop +is coming this month to his vicarage for a kind of visitation and +retreat, and that they are to have William Law's Characters and +Characteristics read aloud to them when the bishop and the +assembled clergy are at their meals. For my part, I would rather +hear a good all-round talk on that book by the bishop and his +clergy after they had all read the book over and over again at +home. But such readings at assembled meals have all along been a +feature of the best fraternal life in the Church of England and in +some of the sister churches. + +6. Now, after dining and supping repeatedly with garrulous old +Gaius, and with the all-but-silent Mr. Mnason, I have come home +ruminating again and again on this--that a good host, the best +host, lets his guests talk while he attends to the table. If the +truth may even be whispered to one's-self about a table that one +has just left, Gaius did his best to spoil his good supper by his +own over-garrulity. It was good talk that he entertained his +waiting guests with, but we may have too much of a good thing. His +oration in praise of women was an excellent oration, had it been +delivered in another house than his own; and, say, when he was +asked to give the health of Christiana, or of Matthew the +bridegroom and Mercy the bride, it would then have been perfect; +but not in his own house, and not when his guests were waiting for +their supper. On the other hand, you should have seen that perfect +gentleman, Mr. Mnason. For that true old Christian and old English +gentleman never once opened his mouth after he had set his guests +a-talking. He was too busy watching when any man's dish was again +empty. He was too much delighted to see that every one of his +guests was having his punctual share of the supper, and at the same +time his full share of the talk. Mr. Fearing's small voice was far +more pleasant to Mr. Mnason than his own voice was in his own best +story. As I opened my own door the other night after supping with +Mr. and Miss Mnason, I said to myself--One thing I have again seen +and learned to-night, and that is, that a host, and still more a +hostess, should talk less at their own table than their most +silent, most bashful, and most backward guest. "Make this an +ordinance for thee," said Rabban Shammai to his sons in the law; +"receive all thy guests with a pleasant expression of countenance, +and then say little and do much." + + + +CHRISTIAN + + + +"The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."--Luke. + +"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."--King Agrippa. + +"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from +iniquity."--Paul. + +All the other personages in the Pilgrim's Progress come and go; +they all ascend the stage for a longer or shorter time, and then +pass off the stage and so pass out of our sight; but Christian in +the First Part, and Christiana in the Second Part, are never for a +single moment out of our sight. And, accordingly, we have had +repeated occasion and opportunity to learn many excellent lessons +from the chief pilgrim's upward walk and heavenly conversation. +But so full and so rich are his life and his character, that some +very important things still remain to be collected before we +finally close his history. "Gather up the fragments that nothing +be lost," said our Lord, after His miraculous meal of multiplied +loaves and fishes with His disciples. And in like manner I shall +now proceed to gather up some of the remaining fragments of +Christian's life and character and experience. And I shall collect +these fragments into the three baskets of his book, his burden, and +his sealed roll and certificate. + +1. And first, a few things as to his book. "As I slept I dreamed, +and behold I saw a man clothed in rags standing in a certain place, +with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great +burden upon his back. I looked and saw him open the book and read +therein; and as he read he wept and trembled; and not being able +longer to contain he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, What +shall I do?" We hear a great deal in these advertising days, and +not one word too much, about the books that have influenced and +gone largely to the making of our great men; but Graceless, like +John Bunyan, his biographer, was a man of but one book. But, then, +that book was the most influential of all books; it was the Book of +books; it was God's very own and peculiar Book. And those of us +who, like this man, have passed out of a graceless into a gracious +state will for ever remember how that same Book at that time +influenced us till it made us what we are and shall yet be. We +read many other good books at that epoch in our life, but it was +the pure Bible that we read and prayed over out of sight the most. +We needed no commentators or exegetes on our simple Bible in those +days. The great texts stood out to our eyes in those days as if +they had been written with a sunbeam; while all other books (and we +read nothing but the best books in those days) looked like twilight +and rushlight beside our Bible. In those immediate, direct, and +intense days we would have satisfied Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold +themselves in the way we read our Bible with our eye never off the +object. The Four Last Things were ever before us--death and +judgment, heaven and hell. "O my dear wife," said Graceless, "and +you the children of my bowels, I your dear friend am in myself +undone by reason of a burden that lieth hard upon me; moreover, I +am for certain informed that this our city will be burned with fire +from heaven, in which fearful overthrow both myself, with thee my +wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin, except +(the which yet I see not) some way of escape can be found whereby +we may be delivered." He would walk also solitarily in the fields, +sometimes reading and sometimes praying; and thus for some days he +spent his time. Graceless at that time and at that stage would +have satisfied the exigent author of the Practical Treatise upon +Christian Perfection where he says that "we are too apt also to +think that we have sufficiently read a book when we have so read it +as to know what it contains. This reading may be quite sufficient +as to many books; but as to the Bible we are not to think that we +have read it enough because we have often read and heard what it +teaches. We must read our Bible, not to know what it contains, but +to fill our hearts with the spirit of it." And, again, and on this +same point, "There is this unerring key to the right use of the +Bible. The Bible has only one intent, and that is to make a man +know, resist, and abhor the working of his fallen earthly nature, +and to turn the faith, hope, and longing desire of his heart to +God; and therefore we are only to read our Bibles with this view +and to learn this one lesson from it . . . The critic looks into +his books to see how Latin and Greek authors have used the words +"stranger" and "pilgrim," but the Christian, who knows that man +lives in labour and toil, in sickness and pain, in hunger and +thirst, in heat and cold among the beasts of the field, where evil +spirits like roaring lions seek to devour him--he only knows in +what truth and reality man is a poor stranger and a distressed +pilgrim upon the earth." John Bunyan read neither Plato nor +Aristotle, but he read David and Paul till he was the chief of +sinners, and till he was first the Graceless and then the Christian +of his own next-to-the-Bible book. + +2. In the second place, and as to his burden. We are supplied +with no particulars as to the first beginnings, the gradual make- +up, and at last the terrible size of Christian's burden. What this +pilgrim's youthful life must have been in such a city as his native +city was, and while he was still a young man of such a name and +such a character in such a city, we are left to ourselves to think +and consider. Graceless was his name by nature, and his life was +as his name and his nature were. Still, as I have said, we have no +detailed and particular account of his early life when his burden +was still day and night in the making up. How long into your life +were you graceless, my brother? And what kind of life did you lead +day and night before you were persuaded or alarmed, as the case may +have been with you, into being a Christian? What burdens do you +carry on your broken back to this day that were made up in the +daylight or in the darkness by your own hands in your early days? +Were you early or were you too late in your conversion? Or are you +truly converted to God and to salvation even yet? And are you at +this moment still binding a burden on your back that you shall +never lay down on this side your grave--it may be, not on this side +your burning bed in hell? Ask yourselves all that before God and +before your own conscience, and make yourselves absolutely sure +that God at any rate is not mocked; and, therefore that you, too, +shall in the end reap exactly as you from the beginning have sown. +"How camest thou by thy burden at first?" asked Mr. Worldly-Wiseman +at the trembling pilgrim. "By reading this book in my hand," he +answered. And, in the long run, it is always the Bible that best +creates a sinner's burden, binds it on his back, and makes it so +terribly heavy to bear. Fear of death and judgment will sometimes +make up and bind on a sinner's burden; and sometimes the fear of +man's judgment on this side of death will do it. Fear of being +found out in some cases will make a man's secret sin far too heavy +for him to bear. The throne of public opinion is not a very white +throne; at the same time, it is a coarse forecast and a rough +foretaste of the last judgment; and the fear of it not seldom makes +a man's burden simply intolerable to him. Sometimes a great +sinner's burden leads him to flight and outlawry; sometimes to +madness and self-murder; and sometimes, by the timeous and +sufficient grace of God, to the way of escape that our pilgrim +took. Tenderness of conscience, also, simple softness of heart and +conscience, will sometimes make a terrible burden out of what other +men would call a very light matter. Bind a burden on that iron +pillar standing there, and it will feel nothing and say nothing. +But, bind the same burden on that man in whose seat that dead +pillar takes up a sitter's room, and he will make all that are in +the house hear his sighs and his groans. And lay an act of sin--an +evil word or evil work or evil thought--on one man among us, and he +will walk about the streets with as erect a head and as smiling a +countenance and as light a step as if he were an innocent child; +while, lay half as much on his neighbour, and it will so bruise him +to the earth that all men will take knowledge of him that he is a +miserable man. Our Lord could no doubt have carried His cross from +the hall of judgment to the hill-top without help had His back not +been wet with blood. What with a whole and an unwealed body, a +well-rested and well-nourished body, He could easily have carried, +with His broken body and broken heart He quite sank under. And so +it is with His people. One of His heart-broken, heart-bleeding +people will sink down to death and hell under a burden of sin and +corruption that another of them will scarcely feel or know or +believe that it is there. Some sins again in themselves, and by +reason of several aggravations, are far more heavy to bear than +others, and by some sinners than others. I was reading Bishop +Andrewes to myself last night and came upon this pertinent passage. +"Sin: its measure, its harm, its scandal. Its quality: how +often--how long. The person by whom: his age, condition, state, +enlightenment. Its manner, motive, time, and place. The folly of +it, the ingratitude of it, the hardness of it, the presumptuousness +of it. By heart, by mouth, by deed. Against God, my neighbours, +my own body. By knowledge, by ignorance. Willingly and +unwillingly. Of old and of late. In boyhood and youth, in mature +and old age. Things done once, repeated often, hidden and open. +Things done in anger, and from the lust of the flesh and of the +world. Before and after my call. Asleep by night and awake by +day. Things remembered and things forgotten. Through the fiery +darts of the enemy, through the unclean desires of the flesh--I +have sinned against Thee. Have mercy on me, O God, and forgive +me!" That is the way some men's burdens are made up to such +gigantic proportions and then bound on by such acute cords. That +is the way that Lancelot Andrewes and John Bunyan walked solitarily +in the fields, sometimes reading and sometimes praying, till the +one of them put himself into his immortal Devotions, and the other +into his immortal Grace Abounding and Pilgrim's Progress. + +"Then I saw in my dream that Christian asked the Gate-keeper +further if he could not help him off with his burden that was upon +his back, for as yet he had not got rid of it, nor could he by any +means get it off without help. He told him, "As to thy burden, be +content to bear it until thou comest to the place of deliverance, +for there it will fall from off thy back itself." Now I saw in my +dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced on +either side with a wall, and that wall is 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 sepulchre. So I saw in +my dream that just as Christian came up with the cross his burden +loosed from off his back, and began to tumble and so continued to +do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and +I saw it no more. 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!" + + +"Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! Blest rather be +The Man that there was put to shame for me." + + +But, then, how it could be that this so happy man was scarcely a +stone-cast past the cross when he had begun again to burden himself +with fresh sin, and thus to disinter all his former sin? How a +true pilgrim comes to have so many burdens to bear, and that till +he ceases to be any longer a pilgrim,--a burden of guilt, a burden +of corruption, and a burden of bare creaturehood,--I must leave all +that, and all the questions connected with all that, for you all to +think out and work out for yourselves; and you will not say any +morning on this earth, like Mrs. Timorous, that you have little to +do. + +3. The third of the three Shining Ones who saluted Christian at +the cross set a mark on his forehead, and put a roll with a seal +set upon it into his hand. A roll and a seal which he bid him look +on as he ran, and that he should give that roll in at the Celestial +Gate. Bunyan does not in all places come up to his usual clearness +in what he says about the sealed roll. We must believe that he +understood his own meaning and intention in all that he says, first +and last, about the roll, but he has not always made his meaning +clear, at least to one of his readers. Theological students, and, +indeed, all thoughtful Christian men, are invited to read Dr. +Cunningham's powerful paper on Assurance in his Reformers. The +whole literature of Assurance is there taken up and weighed and +sifted with all that great writer's incomparable learning and power +and judgment. Our Larger Catechism, also, is excellent on this +subject; and this subject is a favourite commonplace with all our +best Calvinistic, Puritan, and Evangelical authors. Let us take +two or three passages out of those authors just as a specimen, and +so close. + +"Can true believers"--Larger Catechism, Question 80--"Can true +believers be infallibly assured that they are in an estate of +grace, and that they shall persevere therein to the end? Answer: +Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavour to walk in all good +conscience before Him may, without extraordinary revelation, by +faith grounded upon the truth of God's promise, and by the Spirit +enabling them to discern in themselves those graces to which the +promises of eternal life are made, and bearing witness with their +spirits that they are the children of God, they may be infallibly +assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere +therein unto salvation." Question 81: "Are all true believers at +all times assured of their present being in a state of grace, and +that they shall be saved? Answer: Assurance of grace and +salvation not being of the essence of faith, true believers may +wait long before they obtain it, and, after the enjoyment thereof, +may have it weakened and intermitted through manifold distempers, +sins, temptations, and desertions; yet are they never left without +such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from +sinking into utter despair." "A Christian's assurance," says +Fraser of Brea, "though it does not firstly flow from his holiness, +yet is ever after proportionable to his holy walking. Faith is +kept in a pure conscience. Sin is like a blot of ink fallen upon +our evidence. This I found to be a truth." "It was the speech of +one to me," says Thomas Shepard of New England, "next to the +donation of Christ, no mercy like this, to deny assurance long; and +why? For if the Lord had not, I should have given way to a loose +heart and life. And this is a rule I have long held--long denial +of assurance is like fire to burn out some sin and then the Lord +will speak peace." "Serve your God day and night faithfully," says +Dr. Goodwin. "Walk humbly; and there is a promise of the Holy +Ghost to come and fill your hearts with joy unspeakable and +glorious to rear you up to the day of redemption. Sue this promise +out, wait for it, rest not in believing only, rest not in assurance +by graces only; there is a further assurance to be had." "I would +not give a straw for that assurance," says John Newton, "which sin +will not damp. If David had come from his adultery and still have +talked of his assurance, I should have despised his speech." "When +we want the faith of assurance," says Matthew Henry, "let us live +by the faith of adherence." And then the whole truth is in a +nutshell in Isaiah and in John: "The effect of righteousness shall +be quietness and assurance for ever," and "My little children, let +us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. +And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and so shall +assure our hearts before Him." + + + +CHRISTIANA + + + +"Honour widows that are widows indeed."--Paul. + +We know next to nothing of Christiana till after she is a widow +indeed. The names of her parents, and what kind of parents they +were, the schools and the boarding-schools to which they sent their +daughter, her school companions, the books she read, if she ever +read any books at all, the amusements she was indulged in and +indulged herself in--on all that her otherwise full and minute +biographer is wholly silent. He does not go back beyond her +married life; he does not even go back to the beginning of that. +The only thing we are sure of about Christiana's early days is that +she was an utterly ungodly woman and that she married an utterly +ungodly man. "Have you a family? Are you a married man?" asked +Charity of Christian in the House Beautiful. "I have a wife and +four small children," he replied. "And why did you not bring them +along with you?" Then Christian wept, and said: "Oh, how +willingly would I have done it; but they were all utterly averse to +my going on pilgrimage." "But you should have talked to them," +said Charity, "and have endeavoured to have shown them the danger +of being behind." "So I did," answered Christian. "And did you +pray to God that He would bless your counsel to them?" "Yes, and +with much affection; for you must think that my wife and poor +children were very dear unto me." "But what could they say for +themselves why they came not?" "Why, my wife was afraid of losing +the world, and my children were given over to the foolish delights +of youth; so what with one thing and what with another, they left +me to wander in this manner alone." + +But what her husband's conversion, good example, and most earnest +entreaties could not all do for his worldly wife, that his sudden +death speedily did. And thus it is that both Christiana's best +life, all our interest in her, and all our information about her, +dates, sad to say, not from her espousal, nor from her marriage +day, nor from any part of her married life, but from her husband's +death. Her maidenhood has no interest for us; all our interest is +fixed on her widowhood. This work of fiction now in our hands +begins where all other works of fiction end; for in the life of +religion, you must know, our best is always before us. Well, +scarcely was her husband dead when Christiana began to accuse +herself of having killed him. To take her own bitter words for it, +the most agonising and remorseful thoughts about her conduct to her +husband stung her heart like so many wasps. Ah yes! A wasp's +sting is but a blade of innocent grass compared with the thoughts +that have stung us all as we recalled what we said and did to those +who are now no more. There are graves in the churchyard we dare +not go near. "I have sinned away your father!" she cried, as she +threw herself on the earth at the feet of her astounded children. +"I have sinned away your father and he is gone!" And yet there was +no mark of a bullet and no gash of a knife on his dead body, and no +chemistry could have extracted one grain of arsenic or of +strychnine out of his blood. But there are many ways of taking a +man's life besides those of poison or a knife or a gunshot. +Constant fault-finding, constant correction and studied contempt +before strangers, total want of sympathy and encouragement, gloomy +looks, rough remarks, all blame and never a word of praise, things +like these between man and wife will kill as silently and as surely +as poison or suffocation. Look at home, my brethren, and ask +yourselves what you will think of much of your present conduct when +it has borne its proper fruit. "Upon this came into her mind by +swarms all her unkind, unnatural, and ungodly carriages to her dear +friend, which also clogged her conscience and did load her with +guilt. It all returned upon her like a flash of lightning, and +rent the caul of her heart asunder." "That which troubleth me +most," she would cry out, "is my churlish carriages to him when he +was under distress. I am that woman," she would cry out and would +not be appeased--"I am that woman that was so hardhearted as to +slight my husband's troubles, and that left him to go on his +journey alone. How like a churl I carried myself to him in all +that! And so guilt took hold of my mind," she said to the +Interpreter, "and would have drawn me to the pond!" + +A minister's widow once told me that she had gone home after +hearing a sermon of mine on the text, "What profit is there in my +blood?" and had destroyed a paper of poison she had purchased in +her despair on the previous Saturday night. It was not a sermon +from her unconscious minister, but it was far better; it was a +conversation that Christiana held with her four boys that fairly +and for ever put all thought of the pond out of their mother's +remorseful mind. "So Christiana," as we read in the opening of her +history--"so Christiana called her sons together and began thus to +address herself unto them: My sons, I have, as you may perceive, +been of late under much exercise in my soul about the death of your +father. My carriages to your father in his distress are a great +load on my conscience. Come, my children, let us pack up and be +gone to the gate, that we may see your father and be with him, +according to the laws of that land." I like that passage, I think, +the best in all Christiana's delightful history--that passage which +begins with these words: "So she called her children together." +For when she called her children together she opened to them both +her heart and her conscience; and from that day there was but one +heart and one conscience in all that happy house. I was walking +alone on a country road the other day, and as I was walking I was +thinking about my pastoral work and about my people and their +children, when all at once I met one of my people. My second +sentence to him was: "This very moment I was thinking about your +sons. How are they getting on?" He quite well understood me. He +knew that I was not indifferent as to how they were getting on in +business, but he knew that I was alluding more to the life of +godliness and virtue in their hearts and in their characters. "O +sir," he said, "you may give your sons the skin off your back, but +they will not give you their confidence!" So had it been with +Christian and his sons. He had never managed, even in his +religion, to get into the confidence of his sons; but when their +mother took them into her agonised confidence, from that day she +was in all their confidences, good and bad. You who are in your +children's confidences will pray in secret for my lonely friend +with the skin off his back, will you not? that he may soon be able +to call his sons together so as to start together on a new life of +family love, and family trust, and family religion. That was a +fine sight. Who will make a picture of it? This widow indeed at +the head of her family council-table, and Matthew at the foot, and +James and Joseph and Samuel all in their places. "Come, my +children, let us pack up that we may see your father!" Then did +her children burst into tears for joy that the heart of their +mother was so inclined. + +From that first family council let us pass on to Christiana's last +interview with her family and her other friends. Her biographer +introduces her triumphant translation with this happy comment on +the margin: "How welcome is death to them that have nothing to do +but die!" Well, that was exactly Christiana's case. She had so +packed up at the beginning of her journey; she had so got and had +so kept the confidences of all her sons; she had seen them all so +married in the Lord, and thus so settled in a life of godliness and +virtue; she had, in short, lived the life of a widow indeed, till, +when the post came for her, she had nothing left to do but just to +rise up and follow him. His token to her was an arrow with a point +sharpened with love, let easily into her heart, which by degrees +wrought so effectually with her that at the time appointed she must +be gone. We have read of arrows of death sharpened sometimes with +steel and sometimes with poison; but this arrow, shot from heaven, +was sharpened to a point with love. Indeed, that arrow, or the +very fellow of it, had been shot into Christiana's heart long ago +when she stood at that spot somewhat ascending where was a cross +and a sepulchre; and, especially, ever since the close of +Greatheart's great discourse on pardon by deed. For the hearing of +that famous discourse had made her exclaim: "Oh! Thou loving One, +it makes my heart bleed to think that Thou shouldest bleed for me! +Oh! Thou blessed One, Thou deservest to have me, for Thou hast +bought me! Thou deservest to have me all, for Thou hast paid for +me ten thousand times more than I am worth!" Now it was with all +that love working effectually in her heart that Christiana called +for her children to give them her blessing. And what a comfort it +was to her to see them all around her with the mark of the kingdom +on their foreheads, and with their garments white. "My sons and my +daughters," she said, "be you all ready against the time His post +calls for you." Then she called for Mr. Valiant-for-truth, and +entreated him to have an eye on her children, and to speak +comfortably to them if at any time he saw them faint. And then she +gave Mr. Standfast her ring. "Behold," she said, as Mr. Honest +came in--"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Then +Mr. Ready-to-halt came in, and then Mr. Despondency and his +daughter Much-afraid, and then Mr. Feeble-mind. Now the day drew +on that Christiana must be gone. So the road was full of people to +see her take her journey. But, behold! all the banks beyond the +river were full of horses and chariots which were come down from +above to accompany her to the City gates, so she came forth and +entered the river with a beckon of farewell to those that followed +her to the riverside. The last word she was heard to say here was, +"I come, Lord, to be with Thee, and to bless Thee." + +But with all this, you must not suppose that this good woman, this +mother in Israel, had forgotten her grandchildren. She would +sooner have forgotten her own children. But she was too good a +woman to forget either. For long ago, away back at the river on +this side the Delectable Mountains, she had said to her four +daughters--I must tell you exactly what she has said: "Here," she +said, "in this meadow there are cotes and folds for sheep, and an +house is built here also for the nourishing and bringing up of +those lambs, even the babes of those women that go on pilgrimage. +Also there is One here who can have compassion and that can gather +these lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom. This Man, +she said, will house and harbour and succour the little ones, so +that none of them shall be lacking in time to come. This Man, if +any of them go astray or be lost, He will bring them again, He will +bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen them that are +sick. So they were content to commit their little ones to that +Man, and all this was to be at the charge of the King, and so it +was as a hospital to young children and orphans." + +And now I shall sum up my chief impressions of Christiana under the +three heads of her mind, her heart, and her widowhood indeed. + +1. The mother of Christian's four sons was a woman of real mind, +as so many of the maidens, and wives, and widows of Puritan England +and Covenanting Scotland were. You gradually gather that +impression just from being beside her as the journey goes on. She +does not speak much; but, then, there is always something +individual, remarkable, and memorable in what she says. I have a +notion of my own that Christiana must have been a reader of that +princely Puritan, John Milton. And if that was so, that of itself +would be certificate enough as to her possession of mind. There is +always a dignity and a strength about her utterances that make us +feel sure that she had always had a mind far above her neighbours, +Mrs. Bat's-eyes, Mrs. Light-mind, and Mrs. Know-nothing. The first +time she opens her mouth in our hearing she lets fall an expression +that Milton had just made famous in his Samson - + + +"Ease to the body some, none to the mind +From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm +Of hornets armed no sooner found alone, +But rush upon me thronging, and present +Times past, what once I was, and what am now." + + +Nor can I leave this point without asserting it to you that no +church and no school of theology has ever developed the mind as +well as sanctified the heart of the common people like the +preaching of the Puritan pulpit. Matthew Arnold was not likely to +over-estimate the good that Puritanism had done to England. +Indeed, in his earlier writings he sometimes went out of his way to +lament the hurt that the Puritan spirit had done to liberality of +life and mind in his native land. But in his riper years we find +him saying: "Certainly," he says, "I am not blind to the faults of +the Puritan discipline, but it has been an invaluable discipline +for that poor, inattentive, and immoral creature, man. And the +more I read history and the more I see of mankind, the more I +recognise the value of the Puritan discipline." And in that same +Address he "founded his best hopes for that so enviable and +unbounded country in which he was speaking, America, on the fact +that so many of its millions had passed through the Puritan +discipline." John Milton was a product of that discipline on the +one hand, as John Bunyan was on the other. Christiana was another +of its products in the sphere of the family, just as Matthew Arnold +himself had some of his best qualities out of the same fruitful +school. + +2. Her heart, her deep, strong, tender heart, is present on every +page of Christiana's noble history. Her heart keeps her often +silent when the water in her eyes becomes all the more eloquent. +When she does let her heart utter itself in words, her words are +fine and memorable. As, for one instance, after Greatheart's +discourse on redemption. "O Mercy, that thy father and mother were +here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous also. Nay, I wish with all my heart +now that here was Madam Wanton, too. Surely, surely, their hearts +would be affected, nor could the fear of the one, nor the powerful +lusts of the other, prevail with them to go home again, and to +refuse to become good pilgrims." But it was not so much what she +said herself that brought out the depth and tenderness of +Christiana's heart, it was rather the way her heart loosened other +people's tongues. You must all have felt how some people's +presence straitens your heart and sews up your mouth. While there +are other people, again, whose simple presence unseals your heart +and makes you eloquent. We ministers keenly feel that both in our +public and in our private ministrations. There are people in whose +hard and chilling presence we cannot even say grace as we should +say it. Whereas, we all know other people, people of a heart, that +is, whose presence somehow so touches our lips that we always when +near them rise far above ourselves. Christiana did not speak much +to her guides and instructors and companions, but they always spoke +their best to her, and it was her heart that did it. + +3. And then a widow indeed is just a true and genuine widow; a +widow not in her name and in her weeds only, but still more in her +deep heart, in her whole life, and in her garnered experience. +"Honour widows that are widows indeed. Now, she that is a widow +indeed and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in +supplications and in prayers night and day. Well reported of for +good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged +strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have +relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good +work." These are the true marks and seals and occupations of a +widow indeed. And if she has had unparalleled trials and +irreparable losses, she has her corresponding consolations and +compensations. For she has a freedom to go about and do good, a +liberty and an experience that neither the unmarried maiden nor the +married wife can possibly have. She can do multitudes of things +that in the nature of things neither of them can attempt to do. +Things that would be both unseemly and impossible for other women +to say or to do are both perfectly seemly and wholly open for her +to say and to do. Her widowhood is a sacred shield to her. Her +sorrow is a crown of honour and a sceptre of authority to her. She +is consulted by the young and the inexperienced, by the forsaken +and by the forlorn, as no other human being ever is. She has come +through this life, and by a long experience she knows this world +and the hearts that fill it and make it what it is. A widow indeed +can show a sympathy, and give a counsel, and speak with a weight of +wisdom that one's own mother cannot always do. All you who by +God's sad dispensation are now clothed in the "white and wimpled +folds" of widowhood, let your prayer and your endeavour day and +night be that God would guide and enable you to be widows indeed. +And, if you do, you shall want neither your occupation nor your +honour. + + + +THE ENCHANTED GROUND + + + +"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any +divination against Israel."--Balaam. + +"I saw then in my dream that they went till they came into a +certain country whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy if he +came a stranger to it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and +heavy of sleep, wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin to +grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes; let us lie +down here and take one nap." And then when we turn to the same +place in the Second Part we read thus: "By this time they were got +to the Enchanted Ground, where the air naturally tended to make one +drowsy. And that place was all grown over with briars and thorns, +excepting here and there, where was an enchanted arbour, upon +which, if a man sits, or in which if a man sleeps, 'tis a question, +say some, whether they shall ever rise or wake again in this world. +Now, they had not gone far, but a great mist and darkness fell upon +them all, so that they could scarce, for a great while, see the one +the other. Wherefore they were forced for some time to feel for +one another by words, for they walked not by sight. Nor was there +on all this ground so much as one inn or victualling-house wherein +to refresh the feebler sort. Then they came to an arbour, warm, +and promising much refreshing to the pilgrims, for it was finely +wrought above head, beautified with greens, and furnished with +couches and settles. It also had a soft couch on which the weary +might lean. This arbour was called The Slothful Man's Friend, on +purpose to allure, if it might be, some of the pilgrims there to +take up their rest when weary. This, you must think, all things +considered, was tempting. I saw in my dream also that they went on +in this their solitary way till they came to a place at which a man +is very apt to lose his way. Now, though when it was light, their +guide could well enough tell how to miss those ways that led wrong, +yet in the dark he was put to a stand. But he had in his pocket a +map of all ways leading to or from the Celestial City, wherefore he +struck a light (for he never goes also without his tinder-box), and +takes a view of his book or map, which bids him be careful in that +place to turn to the right-hand way. Then I thought with myself, +who that goeth on pilgrimage but would have one of those maps about +him, that he may look when he is at a stand, which is the way to +take?" + +1. "But what is the meaning of all this?" asked Christiana of the +guide. "This Enchanted Ground,"--her able and experienced friend +answered her, "this is one of the last refuges that the enemy to +pilgrims has; wherefore it is, as you see, placed almost at the end +of the way, and so it standeth against us with the more advantage. +For when, thinks the enemy, will these fools be so desirous to sit +down as when they are weary, and when so like to be weary as when +almost at their journey's end? Therefore it is, I say, that the +Enchanted Ground is placed so nigh to the land Beulah and so near +the end of their race; wherefore let pilgrims look to themselves +lest they fall asleep till none can waken them." "That masterpiece +of Bunyan's insight into life, the Enchanted Ground," says Mr. +Louis Stevenson, "where his allegory cuts so deep to people looking +seriously on life." Yes, indeed, Bunyan's insight into life! And +his allegory that cuts so deep! For a neophyte, and one with +little insight into life, or into himself, would go to look for +this land of darkness and thorns and pitfalls, alternated with +arbours and settles and soft couches--one new to life and to +himself, I say, would naturally expect to see all that confined to +the region between the City of Destruction and the Slough of +Despond; or, at the worst, long before, and never after, the House +Beautiful. But Bunyan looked too straight at life and too +unflinchingly into his own heart to lay down his sub-Celestial +lands in that way; and when we begin to look with a like +seriousness on the religious life, and especially when we begin to +look bold enough and deep enough into our own heart, then we too +shall freely acknowledge the splendid master-stroke of Bunyan in +the Enchanted Ground. That this so terrible experience is laid +down almost at the end of the Celestial way--the blaze of light +that pours upon our heads fairly startles us, while at the same +time it comforts us and assures us. That this Enchanted Ground, +which has proved so fatal to so many false pilgrims, and so all but +fatal to so many true pilgrims, should lie around the very borders +of Beulah, and should be within all but eye-shot of the Celestial +City itself,--that is something to be thankful for, and something +to lay up in the deepest and the most secret place in our heart. +That these pilgrims, after all their feastings and entertainments-- +after the Delectable Mountains and the House Beautiful--should all +be plunged upon a land where there was not so much as a roadside +inn, where the ways were so dark and so long that the pilgrims had +to shout aloud in order to keep together, where, instead of moon or +stars, they had to walk in the spark of a small tinder-box--what an +encouragement and assurance to us is all that! That is no strange +thing, then, that is now happening to us, when, after our fine +communion season, we have suddenly fallen back into this deep +darkness, and are cast into these terrible temptations, and feel as +if all our past experiences and attainments and enjoyments had been +but a self-delusion and a snare. That we should all but have +fallen fast asleep, and all but have ceased both from watching +against sin and from waiting upon God--well, that is nothing more +than Hopeful himself would have done had he not had a wary old +companion to watch over him, and to hold his eyes open. Let all +God's people present who feel that they are nothing better of all +they have enjoyed of Scriptures and sacraments, but rather worse; +let all those who feel sure that they have wandered into a castaway +land, so dark, so thorny, so miry, and so lonely is their life--let +them read this masterpiece of John Bunyan again and again and take +heart of hope. + + +"When Saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither +And hear how these two pilgrims talk together; +Yea, let them hear of them, in any wise, +Thus to keep ope their drowsy slumb'ring eyes; +Saints' fellowship, if it be managed well, +Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell." + + +2. But far worse than all its briars and thorns, far more fatal +than all its ditches and pitfalls, were the enchanted arbours they +came on here and there planted up and down that evil land. For +those arbours are all of this fatal nature, that if a man falls +asleep in any of them it arises a question whether he shall ever +come to himself again in this world. Now, where there are no inns +nor victualling-houses, no Gaius and no Mr. Mnason, what a danger +all those ill-intended arbours scattered all up and down that +country become! Well, then, the first enchanted arbour that the +pilgrims came to was built just inside the borders of the land, and +it was called The Stranger's Arbour--so many new-comers had lain +down in it never to rise again. The young and the inexperienced, +with those who were naturally of a believing, buoyant, easy mind, +lay down in hundreds here. Hopeful's mind was naturally a mind of +a soft and easy and self-indulgent cast; and had he been alone that +day, or had he had for a companion a man of a less wary, less +anxious, and less urgent mind than Christian was, Hopeful had taken +a nap, as he so confidingly called it--a fatal nap in that arbour +built by the enemy of pilgrims, just on purpose for the young and +the ignorant, the inexperienced and the self-indulgent. + +3. The Slothful Man's Arbour has been already described. It was a +warm arbour, and it promised much refreshing to the pilgrims. It +also had in it a soft couch on which the weary might lean. "Let us +lie down here and take just one nap; we shall be refreshed if we +take a nap!" "Do you not remember," said the other, "that one of +the shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground? And he meant +by that that we should beware of sleeping; wherefore let us not +sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober." Now, what is a +nap? And what is it to take a nap in our religion? The New +Testament is full of warnings to those who read it and go by it-- +most solemn and most fearful warnings--against SLEEP. Now, have +you any clear idea in your minds as to what this divinely denounced +sleep is? Sleep is good and necessary in our bodily life. We +would not live long if we did not sleep; we would soon go out of +our mind; we would soon lose our senses if we did not sleep. +Insomnia is one of the worst symptoms of our eager, restless, over- +worked age. "He giveth His beloved sleep"; and while they sleep +their corn grows they know not how. But sleep in the great +exhortation-passages of the Holy Scriptures does not mean rest and +restoration; it means in all those passages insensibility, +stupidity, danger, and death. In our nightly sleep, and in the +measure of its soundness, we are utterly dead to the world around +us. Men may come into our house and rob us of our most precious +possessions; they may even come up to our bed and murder us; our +whole house may be in a blaze about us; we may only awaken to leap +out of sleep into eternity. Now, we are all in a sleep like that +in our souls. There is above us, and around us, and beneath us, +and within us the eternal world, and we are all sound asleep; we +are all stone-dead in the midst of it. Devils and wicked men are +stealing our treasures for eternity, and we are sound asleep; hell +is already kindling our bed beneath us, but we smell not its +flames, or we only catch the first gasp of them before we make our +everlasting bed among them. Therefore let us not sleep as do +others, but let us watch and be sober. What meanest thou, O +sleeper? arise and call upon thy God! When the guide shook +Heedless and Too-bold off their settles in that slothful arbour, +the one of them said with his eyes still shut, "I will pay you when +I take my money," and the other said, "I will fight so long as I +can hold my sword in my hand." At that one of the children +laughed. "What is the meaning of that?" asked Christiana. The +guide said: "They talk in their sleep." So they did, and so do +all men. For this whole world is full of settles on which men +sleep and talk in their sleep. The newspapers to-morrow morning +will all be full to overflowing of what men have said and written +to-day and yesterday in their sleep. The shops and the banks and +the exchanges will all be full of men making promises and settling +accounts in their sleep. They will finger their purses, and grasp +their swords, and all in their sleep. And not children but devils +will laugh as they hear the folly that falls from men's lips who +are besotted with spiritual sleep and drugged with spiritual and +fleshly sin. A dream cometh through the multitude of business. I +had just got this length in this lecture the other night when I +went to sleep. And in my sleep one of my people came to me and +asked me if I could make it quite clear and plain to him what it +would be for a man like him after a communion-time to begin to walk +with God. And I just wish I could make the things of the Enchanted +Ground as plain to myself and to you to-night as I was able to make +a walk with God plain to myself and to my visitor that night in my +ministerial dream. I often wish that my business mind worked as +well in my study chair and in my pulpit as it sometimes does in my +bed and in my sleep. "Now, I beheld in my dream that they talked +more in their sleep at this time than ever they did in all their +journey. And being in a muse thereabout, the gardener said even to +me: Wherefore musest thou at the matter? It is the nature of the +fruit of the grapes of those vineyards to go down so sweetly as to +cause the lips of them that are asleep to speak." The reason my +poor lips spake so sweetly about a walk with God that night most +have been because I spent all the summer evening before walking +with God and with you in the vineyards of Beulah. + +4. Listen to Samson, shorn of his locks, as he shakes himself off +a soft and sweetly-worked couch in The Sensual Man's Arbour: + + +"No, no; +It fits not; thou and I long since are twain; +Nor think me so unwary or accurst +To bring my feet again into the snare +Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains, +Though dearly to my cost, thy gins, and toils; +Thy fair enchanted cup and warbling charms +No more on me have power, their force is null'd; +So much of adder's wisdom have I learnt +To fence my ear against thy sorceries. +If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men +Loved, honour'd, fear'd me, thou alone couldst hate me, +Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me; +How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby +Deceivable, in most things as a child, +Helpless, thence easily contemn'd, and scorn'd, +And last neglected? How wouldst thou insult, +When I must live uxorious to thy will +In perfect thraldom! How again betray me, +Bearing my words and doings to the lords +To gloss upon, and censuring, frown or smile! +This jail I count the house of liberty +To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter." + + +5. The love of money to some men is the root of all evil. There +came once a youth to St. Philip Neri and, flushed with joy, told +him that his parents after much entreaty had at length allowed him +to study law. St. Philip was not a man of many words. "What +then?" the saint simply asked the shining youth. "Then I shall +become a lawyer!" "And then?" pursued Philip. "Then," said the +young man, "I shall earn a nice sum of money, and I shall purchase +a fine country house, procure a carriage and horses, marry a +handsome and rich wife, and lead a delightful life!" "And then?" +"Then,"--the youth reflected as death and eternity arose before his +eyes, and from that day he began to take care of his immortal soul. +Philip with one word snatched that young man's soul off The Rich +Man's Settle. + +6. The Vain Man's Settle draws down many men to shame and +everlasting contempt. Praise a vain man or a vain woman aright and +enough and you will get them to do anything you like. Give a vain +man sufficient publicity in your paper or on your platform and he +will become a spy, a traitor, and cut-throat in your service. The +sorcerer's cup of praise--keep it full enough in a vain man's hand, +and he will sleep in the arbour of vanity till he wakens in hell. +Madam Bubble, the arch-enchantress, knows her own, and she has, +with her purse, her promotion, and her praise, bought off many a +promising pilgrim. + +7. And then she, by virtue of whose sorceries this whole land is +drugged and enchanted, is such a bold slut that she will build a +Sacred Arbour even, and will fill it full of religious enchantment +for you rather than lose hold of you. She will consecrate places +and persons and periods for you if your taste lies that way; she +will build costly and stately churches for you; she will weave rich +vestments and carve rich vessels; she will employ all the arts; she +will even sanctify and set apart and seat aloft her holy men--what +will she not do to please you, to take you, to intoxicate and +enchant you? She will juggle for your soul equally well whether +you are a country clown in a feeing-market or a fine lady of +aesthetic tastes and religious sensibilities in the capital and the +court. But I shall let Father Faber speak, who can speak on this +subject both with authority and with attraction. "She can open +churches, and light candles on the altar, and intone Te Deums to +the Majesty on high. She can pass into the beauty of art, into the +splendour of dress, and into the magnificence of furniture. She +can sit with high principles on her lips discussing a religious +vocation and praising God and sanctity. On the benches of bishops +and in the pages of good books you will find her, and yet she is +all the while the same huge evil creature." Yes; she is all the +time the same Madam Bubble who offered to Standfast her body, her +purse, and her bed. + +Now, would you know for yourself, like the communicant who came to +me in my sleep, how you are ever to get past all those arbours, and +settles, and seats, and couches, with all their sweet sorceries and +intoxicating enchantments--would you in earnest know that? Then +study well the case of one Standfast. Especially the time when she +who enchants this whole ground hereabouts set so upon that pilgrim. +In one word, it was this: he remembered his Lord; and, like his +Lord, he fell on his face; and as his Lord would have it, His +servant's lips as they touched the ground touched also the healing +plant harmony and he was saved. + + +"A small unsightly root, +But of divine effect. +Unknown, and like esteem'd, and the dull swain +Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon; +And yet more med'cinal is it than that moly +That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; +He call'd it haemony, and gave it me, +And bade me keep it as of sovran use +'Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp, +Or ghastly furies' apparition. +And now I find it true; for by this means +I knew the foul enchantress, though disguised, +Enter'd the very lime-twigs of her spells, +And yet came off. If you have this about you +(As I will give you when you go) you may +Boldly assault the necromancer's hall: +Where if she be, with dauntless hardihood, +And brandished blade, rush on her, break her glass, +And shed her luscious liquor on the ground, +And seize her wand." + + +Prayer, my sin-beset brethren, standfast prayer, is the otherwise +unidentified haemony whose best habitat was the Garden of +Gethsemane; and with that holy root in your heart and in your +mouth, there is "no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any +divination against Israel." + + + +THE LAND OF BEULAH + + + +"Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah."--Isaiah. + +The first thing that John Bunyan tells us about the land of Beulah +is this--that the shortest and the best way to the Celestial City +lies directly through that land. The land of Beulah has its own +indigenous inhabitants indeed. Old men dwell in the streets of +Beulah, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. The +streets of the city also are full of boys and girls playing in the +streets thereof. The land of Beulah has its frequent visitors +also, and its welcome guests from the regions above. Some of the +shining ones come down from time to time and make a short sojourn +in Beulah. The angels in heaven have such a desire to see the +lands from which God's saints come up that at certain seasons all +the suburbs of the Celestial City are full of those shining +servants of God and of the Lamb. + +But what made the dreamer to smile and to talk so in his sleep was +when he saw that all the upward ways to the Celestial City ran +through the land of Beulah. He saw also in his dream how all the +pilgrims blamed themselves so bitterly now because they had +misspent so much of their time and strength in the ways below, and +so had not come sooner to see and to taste this blessed land. But, +at the same time, as it was, they all rejoiced with a great joy +because that, after all their delays and all their wanderings, +their way still led them through the borders of Beulah. Now, my +dear fellow-communicants, how shall we find our way at once, and +without any more wanderings, into that so desirable land? How +shall we attain to walk its streets all the rest of our days with +our staff in our hand? How shall we hope to see our boys and our +girls playing in the streets of Beulah, and eating all their days +of its sweet and its healing fruits? How shall we and our children +with us henceforth escape the Slough of Despond, and Giant +Despair's dungeon, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death? The +word, my brethren, the answer to all that, is nigh unto us, even in +our mouth and in our heart. For faith, simple faith, will do all +that both for us and for our children beside us. A heart-feeding +faith in God, in the word of God, and in the Son of God, will do +it. Faith, and then obedience. For obedience, my brethren, is +Beulah. All obedience is already Beulah. Holy obedience will +bring the whole of Beulah into your heart and into mine at any +moment. It is disobedience that makes so many of those who +otherwise are true pilgrims to miss so much of the land of Beulah. +Ask any affable old man with his staff in his hand for very age, +and he will tell you that it was his disobedience that kept him so +long out of the land of Beulah. While, let any man, and above all, +let any young man, begin early to live a life of believing +obedience, and he will grow up and grow old and see his children's +children playing around his staff in the streets of Beulah. Let +any young man make the experiment for himself upon obedience and +upon Beulah. Let him not too easily believe any dreamer or even +any seer about obedience and about the land of Beulah. It is his +own matter and not theirs; and let him make experiment upon it all +for his own satisfaction and assurance. Let any young man, then, +try prayer as his first step into obedience, and especially secret +prayer. Let him shut his door to-night, and let him see if he is +not already inside one of the gates of Beulah. Let him deny +himself every day also, if it is only in a very little thing. Let +him say sternly to his own heart every hour of temptation, No! +never! and on the spot a sweet waft of Beulah's finest spices will +fall upon his face. "The ineffable joy of renouncing joy" will +every day make the lonely wilderness of this world a constant +Beulah to such a man. For, to live at all times, in all places, +and in all things for other men, and never and in nothing for +yourself--that is the deepest secret of Beulah. To say it, if need +be, three times to-night on your face and in a sweat of blood, "Not +my will, but Thine be done!"--that will to-night turn the garden of +Gethsemane itself into the very garden of Glory. Do you doubt it? +Are you not yet able to believe it? Then hear about it from One +who has Himself come through it. Hear His word upon the whole +matter who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. "Come unto Me," +says the King of Beulah, "all ye that labour and are heavy laden, +and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, +for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your +souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." So after He +had washed their feet, and had taken His garments and was set down +again, He said unto them, "Know ye what I have done to you? For I +have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. +If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. If ye love +Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall +give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever. +If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love +him, and We will come unto him and will make Our abode with him. +Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world +giveth, give I unto you. These things have I spoken unto you that +My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. +Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall +receive, that your joy may be full. Father, I will that they also, +whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." And thus I saw in +my dream that their way lay right through the land of Beulah, in +which land they solaced themselves for a season. + +2. "They solaced themselves." Now, solace is just the Latin +solatium, which, again, is just a soothing, an assuaging, a +compensation, an indemnification. Well, that land into which the +pilgrims had now come was very soothing to their ruffled spirits +and to their weary hearts. It assuaged their many and sore griefs +also. It more than compensated them for all their labours and all +their afflictions. And it was a full indemnification to them for +all that they had forsaken and lost both in beginning to be +pilgrims and in enduring to the end. The children of Israel had +their first solace in their pilgrimage at Elim, where there were +twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they +encamped there by the waters. And then they had their last and +crowning solace when the spies came back from Eshcol with a cluster +of grapes that they bare between two upon a staff, with +pomegranates and figs. And Moses kept solacing his charge all the +way through the weary wilderness with such strong consolations as +these: "For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a +land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of +valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig- +trees; a land of oil-olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat +bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a +land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig +brass." Our Lord spake solace to His doubting and fainting +disciples also in many such words as these: "Verily, I say unto +you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, +or wife, or children for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not +receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to +come life everlasting." The Mount of Transfiguration also was His +own Beulah-solace; and the Last Supper and the prayer with which it +wound up were given to our Lord and to His disciples as a very +Eshcol-cluster from the Paradise above. Now, I saw in my dream +that they solaced themselves in the land of Beulah for a season. +Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds. (The Latin +poets called the birds solatia ruris, because they refreshed and +cheered the rustic labourers with their sweet singing.) And every +day the flowers appeared in the earth, and the voice of the turtle +was heard in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and +day, for there is no night there. + +3. "In this country the sun shineth night and day." How much +Standfast must have enjoyed that land of light you may guess when +you recollect that he came from Darkland, which lies in the +hemisphere right opposite to the land of Beulah. In Darkland the +sun never shines to be called sunshine at all. All the days of his +youth, Standfast told his companions, he had sat beside his father +and his mother in that obscure land where to his sorrow his father +and his mother still sat. But in Beulah "the rose of evening +becomes silently and suddenly the rose of dawn." This land lies +beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, neither could they from +this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Now, Doubting Castle is +a dismal place for any soul of man to be shut up into. And in that +dark hold there are dungeons dug for all kinds of doubting souls. +There are dungeons dug for the souls of men whose doubts are in +their intellects, as well as for those also whose doubts arise out +of their hearts. Some men read themselves into Doubting Castle, +and some men sin and sell themselves to its giant. God casts some +of His own children all their days into those dungeons as a +punishment for their life of disobedience; He casts others down +into chains of darkness because of their idleness and +unfruitfulness. But Beulah is far away from Doubting Castle. +Beulah is a splendid spot for a studious man to lodge in. For what +a clear light shines night and day in Beulah! To what far horizons +a man's eye will carry him in Beulah! What large speculations rise +before him who walks abroad in Beulah! How clear the air is in +Beulah, how clean the heart and how unclouded the eye of its +inhabitants! The King's walks are in Beulah, and the arbours where +He delighteth to be. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall +be admitted to see God in the land of Beulah. In the land of +Beulah the sun shall no more be thy light by day, neither for +brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall +be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory! + +4. "In this land also the contract between the bride and the +bridegroom is renewed." Now, there is no other day so bitter in +any man's life as that day is on which his bridal contract is +broken off. And it is the very perfection and last extremity of +bitterness when his contract is broken off because of his own past +life. Let all those, then, who would fain enter into that sweet +contract think well about it beforehand. Let them look back into +all their past life. For all their past life will be sure to find +them out on the day of their espousals. If they have their +enemies--as all espoused men have--this is the hour and the power +of their enemies. The day on which any man's espousals are +published is a small and local judgment-day to him. For all the +men, and, especially, all the women, who have ever been injured by +him, or who have injured themselves upon him; all the men and all +the women who for any reason, and for no reason, hate both him and +his happiness,--their tongues and their pens will take no sleep +till they have got his contract if they can, broken off. And even +when the bridegroom is too innocent, or the bride too true, or God +too good to let the contract continue long to be broken off, that +great goodness of God and that great trust of his contracted bride +will only make the bridegroom walk henceforth more softly and +rejoice with more trembling. And that is a most excellent mind. I +know no better mind in which any man, guilty or innocent, can enter +on a married life. I sometimes tell the bridegrooms that I can +take a liberty with to keep saying to themselves all the way up to +the marriage altar the tenth verse of the 103rd psalm; as well as +when they come up afterwards to the baptismal font: "He hath not +dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us after our iniquities." +And it is surely Beulah itself, at its very best, it is surely +Beulah above itself, when a happy bridegroom is full of that humble +and happy mind, and when he is in one and the same moment +reconciled both to his bride on earth and to his God and Father in +heaven. In this land, therefore, in the land of Beulah, the +contract between the bride and the bridegroom is renewed; yea, as +the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride, so shall thy God rejoice +over thee. + +5. The salaams and salutations also that they were met with as +often as they went out to walk in the streets thereof were a +constant surprise, satisfaction, and sweetness to the fearful +pilgrims. No passer-by ever once frowned or scowled upon them +because their faces were Zionward, as they do in our cities. No +one ever treated them with scorn or contempt because they were poor +or unlettered. No man's face either turned dark at them or was +turned away from them as they passed up the street. They never, +all the time they abode in Beulah, took to the lanes of the city to +escape the unkind looks of any of its citizens. Greatheart's hand +was never away from his helmet. His helmet was never well on his +head. His always bare and unhelmeted head said to all the men of +Beulah, I love and honour and trust you. You would not hurt a hair +of my head. And so on, till all the streets of Beulah were one +buzz of salutation, congratulation, and benediction. Here they +heard voices from out of the city, loud voices, saying, Say ye to +the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his +reward is with him. Here all the inhabitants of the country called +them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, sought out, a city +not forsaken. + +6. Now, as they walked in this land they had more rejoicing than +in parts more remote from the kingdom to which they were bound. +And still drawing nigh to that city they had yet a more perfect +view thereof. It was builded of pearls and precious stones, also +the street thereof was paved with gold, so that by reason of the +natural glory of the city and the reflection of the sunbeams upon +it, Christian with desire fell sick. Hopeful also had a fit or two +of the same disease. Wherefore here they lay by it awhile, crying +out because of their pangs, If you see my beloved, tell him that I +am sick of love. There are in all good cases of recovery three +successive stages of soul-sickness. True, soul-sickness always +runs its own course, and it always runs its own course in its own +order. This special sickness first shows itself when the soul +becomes sick with sin. We have that sickness set forth in many a +psalm, notably in the thirty-eighth psalm; and in a multitude of +other scriptures, both old and new, this evil disease is dealt with +if we had only the eyes and the heart to read such scriptures. The +second stage of this sickness is when a sinner is not so much sick +with the sin that dwelleth in him as sick of himself. Sinfulness +in its second stage becomes so incorporate with the sinner's whole +life--sin so becomes the sinner's very nature, and, indeed, +himself,--that all his former loathing of sin passes over +henceforth into loathing of himself. This is the most desperate +stage in any man's sickness; but, bad as it is, incurable as it is, +it must be passed into before the third stage of the healing +process can either be experienced or understood. In the case in +hand, by the time the pilgrims had come to Beulah they had all had +their full share of sin and of themselves till they here entered on +an altogether new experience. "Christian with desire fell sick," +we read, "and Hopeful also had a fit or two of the same disease. +Wherefore here they lay by it a while, crying out because of their +pangs, If you see my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love." +David, Paul, Bernard, Bunyan himself, Rutherford, Brainerd, +M'Cheyne, and many others crowd in upon the mind. I shall but +instance John Flavel and Mrs. Jonathan Edwards, and so close. John +Flavel being once on a journey set himself to improve the time by +meditation, when his mind grew intent, till at length he had such +ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such a full assurance of his +interest therein, that he utterly lost the sight and sense of this +world and all its concerns, so that for hours he knew not where he +was. At last, perceiving himself to be faint, he sat down at a +spring, where he refreshed himself, earnestly desiring, if it were +the will of God, that he might there leave the world. His spirit +reviving, he finished his journey in the same delightful frame, and +all that night the joy of the Lord still overflowed him so that he +seemed an inhabitant of the other world. The only other case of +love-sickness I shall touch on to-night I take from under the pen +of a sin-sick and love-sick author, who has been truthfully +described as "one of the first, if not the very first, of the +masters of human reason," and, again, as "one of the greatest of +the sons of men." "There is a young lady in New-haven," says +Edwards, "who is so loved of that Great Being who made and rules +the world, that there are certain seasons in which this Great Being +in some way or other invisible comes to her and fills her mind with +exceeding sweet delight, so that she hardly cares for anything but +to meditate upon Him. She looks soon to dwell wholly with Him, and +to be ravished with His love and delight for ever. Therefore, if +you present all this world before her, with the richest of its +treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful +of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her +mind, and a singular piety in her affections; is most just and +conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to +do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her the whole world. +She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems +to have some one invisible always communing with her." And so on, +all through her seraphic history. "Now, if such things are too +enthusiastic," says the author of A Careful and a Strict Enquiry +into the Freedom of the Will, "if such things are the offspring of +a distempered brain, let my brain be possessed evermore of that +blessed distemper! If this be distraction, I pray God that the +whole world of mankind may all be seized with this benign, meek, +beneficent, beatific, glorious distraction! The peace of God that +passeth all understanding; rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full +of glory; God shining in our hearts, to give the light of the +knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ; with open face +beholding as in a glass the glory of God, and being changed into +the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the +Lord; being called out of darkness into marvellous light, and +having the day-star arise in our hearts! What a sweet distraction +is that! And out of what a heavenly distemper and out of what a +sane enthusiasm has all that come to us!" + + +"More I would speak: but all my words are faint; +Celestial Love, what eloquence can paint? +No more, by mortal words, can be expressed, +But all Eternity shall tell the rest." + + + +THE SWELLING OF JORDAN + + + +"The swelling of Jordan."--Jeremiah. + +"Fore-fancy your deathbed," says Samuel Rutherford. "Take an +essay," he says in his greatest book, that perfect mine of gold and +jewels, Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself--"Take an essay +and a lift at your death, and look at it before it actually comes +to your door." And so we shall. Since it is appointed to all men +once to die, and after death the judgment; and since our death and +our judgment are the only two things that we are absolutely sure +about in our whole future, we shall henceforth fore-fancy those two +events much more than we have done in the past. And to assist us +in that; to quicken our fancy, to kindle it, to captivate it, and +to turn our fancy wholly to our salvation, we have all the +entrancing river-scenes in the Pilgrim's Progress set before us; a +succession of scenes in which Bunyan positively revels in his +exquisite fancies, clothing them as he does, all the time, in +language of the utmost beauty, tenderness, pathos, power, and +dignity. Let us take our stand, then, on the bank of the river and +watch how pilgrim after pilgrim behaves himself in those terrible +waters. We are all voluntary spectators to-night, but we shall all +be compulsory performers before we know where we are. + +1. On entering the river even Christian suddenly began to sink. +Fore-fancy that. All the words he spake still tended to discover +that he had great horror of mind and hearty fears that he would die +in that river; here also he was much in the troublesome thoughts of +the sins he had committed both since and before he began to be a +pilgrim. Fore-fancy that also, all you converted young men. +Hopeful, therefore, had much to do to keep his brother's head above +water; yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then in a +while he would rise up again half-dead. Then I saw in my dream +that Christian was in a muse a while; to whom also Hopeful added +this word, "Be of good cheer; Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." And +with that Christian broke out with a loud voice, "When thou passest +through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they +shall not overflow thee." Then they both took courage and the +enemy was after that as still as a stone till they were gone over. +Fore-fancy that also. There is one other thing out of that +crossing that I hope I shall remember when I am in the river: "Be +of good cheer," said Hopeful to his sinking fellow--"Be of good +cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good." "Hold His +hand fast," wrote Samuel Rutherford to Lady Kenmure. "He knows all +the fords. You may be ducked in His company but never drowned. +Put in your foot, then, and wade after Him. And be sure you set +your feet always upon the stepping-stones." Yes; fore-fancy those +stepping-stones, and often practise your feet upon them before the +time. + +2. "Good woman," said the post to Christiana, the wife of +Christian the pilgrim; "Hail, good woman, I bring thee tidings that +the Master calleth for thee, and expecteth thee to stand in His +presence in clothes of immortality within this ten days." Fore- +fancy that also. Now the day was come that she must be gone. And +so the road was full of people to see her take her journey. But, +behold, all the banks beyond the river were full of horses and +chariots which were come down from above to accompany her to the +city gate. So she came forth and entered the river with a beckon +of farewell to those that followed her to the river-side. And thus +she went and entered in at the gate with all the ceremonies of joy +that her husband had done before her. Fore-fancy, if you can, some +of those ceremonies of joy. + +3. When Mr. Fearing came to the river where was no bridge, there +again he was in a heavy case. Now, he said, he should be drowned +for ever and never see that Face with comfort he had come so many +miles to behold. And here also I took notice of what was very +remarkable; the water of that river was lower at this time than +ever I saw it in all my life. So he went over at last not much +above wet-shod. Fore-fancy and fore-arrange, if it be possible, +for a passage like that. When he was going tip to the gate Mr. +Greatheart began to take his leave of him, and to wish him a good +reception above. "I shall," he said, "I shall." Be fore-assured, +also, of a reception like that. + +4. In process of time there came a post to the town again, and his +business was this time with Mr. Ready-to-halt. So he inquired him +out and said to him, "I am come to thee in the name of Him whom +thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches. And my message +is to tell thee that He expects thee at His table to sup with Him +in His kingdom the next day after Easter." After this Mr. Ready- +to-halt called for his fellow-pilgrims and told them, saying, "I am +sent for, and God shall surely visit you also. These crutches," he +said, "I bequeath to my son that he may tread in my steps, with a +hundred warm wishes that he may prove better than I have done." +When he came to the brink of the river, he said, "Now I shall have +no more need of these crutches, since yonder are horses and +chariots for me to ride on." The last words he was heard to say +were, "Welcome life!" Let all ready-to-halt hearts fore-fancy all +that. + +5. Then Mr. Feeble-mind called for his friends and told them what +errand had been brought to him, and what token he had received of +the truth of the message. "As for my feeble mind," he said, "that +I shall leave behind me, for I shall have no need of that in the +place whither I go. When I am gone, Mr. Valiant, I desire that you +would bury it in a dunghill." This done, and the day being come in +which he was to depart, he entered the river as the rest. His last +words were, "Hold out faith and patience." Fore-fancy such an end +as that to your feeble mind also. + +6. Did you ever know a family, or, rather, the relics of a family, +where there was just a decrepit old father and a lone daughter left +to nurse him through his second childhood? All his other children +are either married or dead; but both marriage and death have spared +Miss Much-afraid to watch over the dotage-days of Mr. Despondency; +till one summer afternoon the old man fell asleep in his chair to +waken where old men are for ever young. And in a day or two there +were two new graves side by side in the old churchyard. Even death +could not divide this old father and his trusty child. And so when +the time was come for them to depart, they went down together to +the brink of the river. The last words of Mr. Despondency were, +"Farewell night and welcome day." His daughter went through the +river singing, but none could understand what it was she said. +Fore-fancy that, all you godly old men, with a daughter who has +made a husband and children to herself of her old father. + +7. As I hear Old Honest shouting "Grace reigns!" I always remember +what a lady told me about a saying of her poor Irish scullery-girl. +The mistress and the servant were reading George Eliot's Life +together in the kitchen, and when they came to her deathbed, on the +pillow of which Thomas A'Kempis lay open, "Mem," said the girl, "I +used to read that old book in the convent; but it is a better book +to live upon than to die upon." Now, that was exactly Old Honest's +mind. He lived upon one book, and then he died upon another. He +lived according to the commandments of God, but he died according +to the comforts of the Gospel. Now, we read in his history how +that the river at that time overflowed its banks in some places. +But Mr. Honest had in his lifetime spoken to one Good-conscience to +meet him at the river, the which he also did, and lent him his +hand, and so helped him over. All the same, the last words of Mr. +Honest still were, "Grace reigns!" And so he left the world. +Fore-fancy whether or no you are making, as one has said, "an +assignation with terror" at that same river-side. + +8. Standfast was the last of the pilgrims to go over the river. +Standfast was left longest on this side the river because his +Master could best trust him here. His Master had to take away many +of His other servants from the evil to come, but He could trust +Standfast. You can safely trust a man who takes to his knees in +every hour of temptation, as Standfast was wont to do. "This +river," he said, "has been a terror to many. Yea, the thoughts of +it have often frighted me also. The waters, indeed, are to the +palate bitter, and to the stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I +am going to, and of the conduct that awaits me on the other side, +doth lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the +end of my journey, and my toilsome days are all ended. I am going +now to see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that face +that was spit upon for me. His name has been to me as a civet-box, +yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His word I did use to gather for +my food, and for antidotes against my faintings. He has held me +up, and I have kept myself from mine iniquities. Yea, my steps +hath He strengthened in the way." Now, while he was thus in +discourse his countenance changed, his strong man bowed down under +him, and after he had said, "Take me, for I come to Thee," he +ceased to be seen of them. Fore-fancy, if you have the face, an +end like that for yourself. + +This, then, is how Christian and Hopeful and Christiana and Old +Honest and all the rest did in the swelling river. But the +important point is, HOW WILL YOU DO? Have you ever fore-fancied +how you will do? Have you ever, among all your many imaginings, +imagined yourself on your death-bed? Have you ever thought you +heard the doctor whisper, "To-night"? Have you ever lain low in +your bed and listened to the death-rattle in your own throat? And +have you still listened to the awful silence in the house after all +was over? Have you ever shot in imagination the dreadful gulf that +stands fixed between life and death, and between time and eternity? +Have you ever tried to get a glimpse beforehand of your own place +where you will be an hour after your death, when they are putting +the grave-clothes on your still warm body, and when they are +measuring your corpse for your coffin? Where will you be by that +time? Have you any idea? Can you fancy it? Did you ever try? +And if not, why not? "My lord," wrote Jeremy Taylor to the Earl of +Carbery, when sending him the first copy of the Holy Dying,--"My +lord, it is a great art to die well, and that art is to be learnt +by men in health; for he that prepares not for death before his +last sickness is like him that begins to study philosophy when he +is going to dispute publicly in the faculty. The precepts of dying +well must be part of the studies of them that live in health, +because in other notices an imperfect study may be supplied by a +frequent exercise and a renewed experience; but here, if we +practise imperfectly once, we shall never recover the error, for we +die but once; and therefore it is necessary that our skill be more +exact since it cannot be mended by another trial." How wise, then, +how far-seeing, how practical, and how urgent is the prophet's +challenge and demand. "How wilt thou do in the swelling of +Jordan?" + +1. Well, then, let us be practical before we close, and let us +descend to particulars. Let us take the prophet's question and run +it through some parts and some practices of our daily life as +already dying men. And, to begin with, I have such a great faith +in good books, whether we are to live or die, that I am impelled to +ask you all at this point, and under shelter of this plain-spoken +prophet, What books have you laid in for your deathbed, and for the +weeks and months and even years before your death bed? What do you +look forward to be reading when Jordan is beginning to swell and +roll for you and to leap up toward your doorstep? If you get good +from good books--everybody does not--but supposing you are one of +those who do, what books can you absolutely count upon, without +fail, to put you in the best possible frame for the river, and for +the convoy across, and for the ceremonies of joy on the other side? +What special Scriptures will you have read every day to you? +"Read," said John Knox to his weeping wife, "read where I first +cast my anchor." An old lady I once knew used to say to me at +every visit, "The Fifty-first Psalm." She was the daughter of a +Highland minister, and the wife of a Highland minister, and the +mother of a Highland minister, and of an elder to boot. "The +Fifty-first Psalm," she said, and sometimes, "One of Hart's hymns +also." What is your favourite psalm and hymn? Mr. James Taylor of +Castle Street has several large-type libraries in his catalogue. +Mr. Taylor might start a much worse paying speculation than a +large-type library for the river-side; or, some select booklets for +deathbeds. The series might well open with "The Ninetieth Psalm" +in letters an inch deep. Scholars die as well as illiterates, and +there might be provided for them, among other things, The Phaedo in +two languages, Plato's and Jowett's. Then The Seven Sayings from +the Cross. Bellarmine's Art of Dying Well would stand well beside +John Bunyan's Dying Sayings. And, were I the editor, I would put +in Bishop Andrewes' Private Devotions, if only for my own last use. +Then Richard Baxter's Saint's Rest, and John Howe's Platonico- +Puritan book, Blessedness of the Righteous. Then Bernard's "New +Jerusalem," "The Sands of Time are sinking," "Rock of Ages," and +such like. These are some of the little books I have within reach +of my bed against the hour when the post blows his first horn for +me. You might tell me some of your deathbed favourites. + +2. Who will be your most welcome minister during your last days on +earth? For whom would you send to-night if the post were suddenly +to sound his horn at your side on your way home from church? I can +well believe it would not be your own minister. I have known +fathers and mothers in this congregation to send for other +ministers than their own minister when terrible trouble came upon +them, and both my conscience and my common sense absolutely +approved of the step they took. Five students were once sitting +and talking together in a city in which there was to be an +execution to-morrow morning. They were talking about the murderer +who was to be executed in the morning, and about the minister he +had sent for to come to see him. And, like students, they began to +put it to one another--Suppose you were to be executed to-morrow, +for what minister in the city, or even in the whole land, would you +send? And, like students again, they said--Let each one write down +on a piece of paper the name of the minister he would choose to be +beside him at the last, and we shall see each man's last choice. +They did so, when to their astonishment it was discovered that they +had all written the same minister's name! I do not know that they +all went to his church every Sabbath while they were young and, +well, and not yet under sentence of death. I do not think they +did. For when I was in his church there was only a handful of old +and decayed-looking people in it. The chief part of the +congregation seemed to me to be a charity school. And I gathered +from all that a lesson--several lessons, and this among the rest-- +that crowded passages do not always wait upon the best pastors; and +this also, that a waft of death soon discovers to us a true +minister from an incompetent and a counterfeit minister. + +3. Writing to one of his correspondents about his correspondent's +long-drawn-out deathbed, Samuel Rutherford said to him, "It is +long-drawn-out that you may have ample time to go over all your old +letters and all your still unsettled accounts before you take +ship." Have you any such old letters lying still unanswered? Have +you any such old accounts lying still unsettled? Have you made +full reparation and restitution for all that you and yours have +done amiss? Fore-fancy that you will soon be summoned into His +presence who has said: Therefore, if thou bring thy gift before +the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught +against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy +way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer +thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in +the way with him." You know all about Zacchaeus. I need not tell +his story over again. But as I write these lines I take up a +London newspaper and my eyes light on these lines: "William Avary +was a man of remarkable gifts, both of mind and character. He +dedicated the residue of his strength wholly to works of piety. In +middle age he failed in business, and in his old age, when better +days came, he looked up such of his old creditors as could be found +and divided among them a sum of several thousand pounds." Look up +such of your old creditors as you can find, and that not in matters +of money alone. And, be sure you begin to do it now, before the +horn blows. For, as sure as you take your keys and open your old +repositories, you will come on things you had completely forgotten +that will take more time and more strength, ay, and more resources, +than will then be at your disposal. Even after you have begun at +once and done all that you can do, you will have to do at last as +Samuel Rutherford told George Gillespie to do: "Hand over all your +bills, paid and unpaid, to your Surety. Give Him the keys of the +drawer, and let Him clear it out for Himself after you are gone." + +4. And then, pray often to God for a clear mind between Him and +you, and for a quick, warm, and heaven-hungry heart at the last. +And take a promise from those who watch beside your bed that they +will not drug and stupefy you even though you should ask for it. +Whatever your pain, and it is all in God's hand, make up your mind, +if it be possible, to bear it. It cannot be greater than the pain +of the cross, and your Saviour would not touch their drugs, however +well-intended. He determined to face the swelling of Jordan and to +enter His Father's house with an unclouded mind. Try your very +uttermost to do the same. I cannot believe that the thief even +would have let the gall so much as touch his lips after Christ had +said to him, "Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!" Well, if +your mind was ever clear and keen, let it be at its clearest and +its keenest at the last. Let your mind and your heart be full of +repentance, and faith, and love, and hope, and all such saying +graces, and let them all be at their fullest and brightest +exercise, at that moment. Be on the very tip-toe of expectation as +the end draws near. Another pang, another gasp, one more +unutterable sinking of heart and flesh as if you were going down +into the dreadful pit--and then the abundant entrance, and the +beatific vision! What wilt thou do then? What wilt thou say then? +Hast thou thy salutation and thy song ready? And what will it be? + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} Delivered November 27th, 1892. + +{2} January 1st, 1893. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Bunyan Characters (2nd Series), by Whyte + diff --git a/old/2bnch10.zip b/old/2bnch10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..92eeac2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2bnch10.zip |