Gives praife at both, and parteth not at either,
But treafures up the Fruit they yield together;
Yea fo commixes both, that in their Fruit
None can diftinguish this from that; they fuit
Her well with hungry: But if the be full,
She fpues out both; and makes their Bleffing null.
You fee the Ways the Fisherman doth take
To catch the Fish; what Engines doth he make!
Behold! how he engageth all his Wits;
Abo his Snares, Lines, Angles, Hooks, and Nets:
Yet Fib there be, that neither Hook nor Line,
Nor Snare, not Net, nòr Engine can make thine:
They must be grop'd for, and be ticki'd too,
Or they will not be catch'd whate'er you do.

How does the Fowler feek to catch his Game
By divers means, all which one cannot name?
His Gun, his Nets, his Lime-twigs, Light, and Bell,
He creeps, he goes, he ftands; yea, who can tell
Of all his Poftures ? yet there's none of these
Will make him Mafter of what Fowls he please.
Yea he must pipe and whiffle to catch this;
Yet if he does fo, that Bird he will mifs.
- If that a Pearl may in a Toad's Head dwell
And may be found too in an Oyfter-fhell;
If Things that promife nothing, do contain,
What better is than Gold; who will difdain,
That have an inkling of it, there to look,
That they may find it? Now, my little Book,
(Tho' void of all thefe Paintings that may make
I with this, or the other Man to take)
is not without thofe Things that do excel
What do in brave, but empty Notions dwell.
Well, yet I am not fully fatisfy'd

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That this your Book wili stand, when foundly try'd.

Why

Why, what's the matter? It is dark; what tho"?
But it is feigned; What of that? I tro,
Some Men by feigned Words, as dark as mine
Make Truth to fpangle, and its Rays to shine!
But they want Solidnefs: Speak, Man, thy Mind:
They drown the Weak: Metaphors make us blind.
Solidity, indeed, becomes, the Pen

Of him that writeth Things Divine to Men :
But muft I needs want Solidness because
By Metaphors I fpeak? Were not God's Laws,
His Gofpel-Laws, in older Times held forth
By Types, Shadows and Metaphors? Yet loth
Will any fober Man be to find Fault
With them, left he be found for to affault
The highest Wisdom: No, he rather ftoops,
And feeks to find out by what Pins and Loops,
By Calves and Sheep, by Heifers and by Rams,
By Birds and Herbs, and by the Blood of Lambs.
GOD fpeaketh to him, and happy is he
That finds the Light and Grace that in them be.
Be not too forward therefore to conclude
That I want Solidnefs; that I am rude.
All Things folid in Shew, not folid be;
All Things in Parables defpife not we,
Left Things more hurtful, lightly we receive;
And Things that good are, of our Souls bereave.
By dark and cloudy Words they do but hold
The Truth, as Cabinets inclofe the Gold.
The Prophets ufed much by Metaphors
To fet forth Truth: Yea, who fo confiders.
Chrift, his Apoftles too, fhall plainly fee,
That Truth to this Day in fuch Mantles be.
Am I afraid to fay that Holy Writ,
Which for its Stile and Phrafe puts down all

#1

Is every where fo full of all thefe Things,
Dark Figures, (Allegories) yet there fprings
From that fame Book, that Luftre and those Rays
Of Light that turns our darkest Nights to Days.

di

Come, let my Carper to his Life now look, And find there darker Lines than in my Book He findeth any; Yea and let him know That in his best Things there are worfe Lines too: May we but ftand before impartial Men, To his poor One, I dare adventure Ten, That they will take my Meaning in these Lines, Far better than his Lines in filver Shrines. Come, Truth, altho' in fwadling Clouts, I find, Informs the Judgment, rectifies the Mind; Pleafes the Understanding, makes the Will Submit, the Memory alfo it doth fill With that which doth our Imitations pleafe; Likewife it tends our Troubles to appease. Sound Words, I know, Timothy is to use, And Old Wives Fables he is to refufe: But yet grave Paul him no where did forbid The Ufe of Parables; in which lay hid That Gold, thofe Pearls, and precious Stones that were Worth digging for, and that with greatest Care.

Let me add one Word more. Ŏ Man of God, Art thou offended? Doft thou wifh I had Put forth my Matter in another Drefs? Or, that I had in Thoughts been more exprefs? To thofe that are my Betters (as it fit) Three Things let me propound, then I fubmit. 1. I find not that I am deny'd the Ufe Of this my Method, fo I none abufe. Put on my Words, Things, Readers, or be rude, In handling Figures or Similitude,

In

In Application; but all that I may,
Seek the Advance of Truth, this or that Way;
Denied, did I fay? Nay, I have leave,
(Examples too, and that from them that have
God better pleafed by their Words and Ways,
Than any Man that breatheth now a-days)
Thus to exprefs my Mind, thus to declare
Things unto thee that Excellenteft are.

2. I find that Men (as high as Trees) will write
Dialogue-wife; yet no Man doth, them flight
For writing fo: Indeed if they abufe
Truth, Curfed be they, and the Craft they use
To that Intent; but yet let Truth be free.
To make her Sallies upon thee and me,
Which way it pleafes God: For who knows how
Better than he that taught us firft to plow:
To guide our Minds and Pens for his Defign?.
And he makes bafe Things ufher in Divine,

3. I find that holy Things in many Places, Hath 'femblance with this Method, where the Places Do call for one Thing to fet forth another; Ufe it I may then, and nothing fmother Truth's golden Beams: Nay, by this Method ma Make it caft forth its Rays as bright as Day.

+

And now before I do put up my Pen, I'll fhew the Profit of my Book, and then Commit both thee and it unto that Hand That pulls the ftrorg down, and makes weak anes ftan This Book it chaiketh out before thine EyesThe Man that feeks the everlasting Prize: It fhews you whence he comes, whither he goes What he leaves undone, alfo what he does. It also fhews you how he runs, and runs, 'Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes, A 5

•

It fhews too, who fet out for Life amain, As if the lafting Crown they would obtain: Here alfo you may fee the Reason why They lofe their Labour, and like Fools do die. This Book will make a Traveller of thee, If by its Council thou wilt ruled be; It will direct thee to the Holy Land, If thou wilt its Directions understand : Yea, it will make the Slothful, Active be; The Blind alfo delightful Things to fee.

Art thou for fomething rare and profitable; Wouldeft thou fee a Truth within a Fable? Art thou forgetful? Wouldeft thou remember "rom New-Year's Day to the laft of December? Then read my Fancies, they will ftick like Burrs, nd may be to the Helpless, Comforters, This Book is writ in fuch a Dialect,

s may the Minds of liftlefs Men affect: feems a Novelty, and yet contains othing but found and honeft Gospel strains. ould't thou divert thyfelf from Melancholy? ould't thou be pleasant, yet be far from Folly? ould't thou read Riddles, and their Explanation ? elfe be drowned in thy Contemplation?

ft thou love picking Meat? Or would'ft thou fee Man i'th Clouds, and hear him fpeak to thee? ould't thou be in a Dream, and yet not fleep?

would't thou in a Moment laugh and weep? would'st thou love thy felf and catch no Harm? find thy felf again, without a Charm? uld'ft read thy felf, and read thou knoweft not, t know whether thou hadft beft or not, cading the fame Lines? O then come hither, lay my Book, thy Head and Heart together. JOHN BUNYAN