But yet grave Paul him nowhere did forbid
The use of parables; in which lay hid

That gold, those pearls, and precious stones that were
Worth digging for, and that with greatest care.
Let me add one word more. O man of God,
Art thou offended? Dost thou wish I had
Put forth my matter in another dress?
Or, that I had in things been more express?
Three things let me propound; then I submit
To those that are my betters, as is fit

1. I find not that I am denied the use Of this my method, so I no abuse

Put on the words, things, readers; or be rude
In handling figure or similitude.

In application; but all that I may,

Seek the advance of truth this or that way.
Denied, did I say? Nay, I have leave
(Example, too, and that from them that have
God better pleased, by their words or ways,
Than any man that breatheth now-a-days)
Thus to express my mind, thus to declare
Things unto thee that excellentest are.

2. I find that men (as high as trees) will write Dialogue-wise; yet no man doth them slight For writing so indeed, if they abuse

Truth, cursed 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 pleases God; for who knows how,
Better than He that taught us first to plough,
To guide our mind and pens for his design?
And He makes base things usher in divine.
3. I find that holy writ in many places
Hath semblance with this method, where the case
Do call for one thing, to set forth another;
Use it I may, then, and yet nothing smother
Truth's golden beams: nay, by this method may
Make it cast forth its rays as light as day,
And now before I do put up my pen,
I'll show the profit of my book, and then
Commit both thee and it unto that Hand

That pulls the strong down, and makes weak ones stand.

This book it chalketh out before mine eye
The man that seeks the everlasting prize;
It shows you whence he comes, whither he goes ;
What he leaves undone, also what he does;
It also shows you how he runs and runs,
Till he unto the gate of glory comes.
It shows, too, who set out for life amain,
As if the lasting crown they would obtain ;
Here also you may see the reason why
They lose their labour, and like fools do die.
This book will make a traveller of thee,
If by its counsel 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 also delightful things to see.
Art thou for something rare and profitable ?
Wouldest thou see a truth within a fable?
Art thou forgetful? Wouldest thou remember
From New Years day to the last of December?
Then read my fancies; they will stick like burs,
And may be, to the helpless, comforters.

This book is writ in such a dialect

As may

the minds of listless men affect: It seems a novelty, and yet contains Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Wouldst thou divert thyself from melancholy?
Wouldst thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly?
Wouldst thou read riddles, and their explanation ?
Or else be drowned in thy contemplation?

Dost thou love picking meat? Or wouldst thou see
A man i' the clouds, and hear him speak to thee?
Wouldst thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?
Or wouldst thou in a moment laugh and weep?
Wouldst thou lose thyself, and catch no harm,
And find thyself again without a charm?
Wouldst read thyself, and read thou knowest not what,
And yet know whether thou are blest or not,
By reading the same lines? Oh then come hither,
And lay my book, thy head, and heart together.

JOHN BUNYAN.

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

In the Similitude of a Dream.

S I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain

The Jail at

place where was a Den, and I Bedford.

:

laid me down in that place to sleep and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with 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.1 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 brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, "What shall I do ? "2

In this plight, therefore, he went home and refrained himself as long as he could, that his wife and children should not perceive his distress: but he could not be silent long, because that his trouble increased. Wherefore at length he brake his mind to his wife and children; and thus he began to talk to them. O my dear

1 Isa. lxiv. 6; Luke xiv. 33; Ps. xxxviii. 4; Heb. xii. I.

2 Acts. ii. 37; xvi. 30, 31.

The world.

wife, said he, 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.2 At this his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because they thought that some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing near night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with all haste they got him to bed. But the night was as troublesome to him as the day; wherefore, instead of sleeping, he spent it in sighs and tears. So, when the morning was come, they would know how he did. He told them, Worse and worse: he also set to talking to them again but they began to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh and surly carriages to him; sometimes they would deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes they would Carnal physic quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to for a sick soul. retire himself to his chamber, to pray for and pity them, and also to condole his own misery; he would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading, and sometimes praying: and thus for some days he spent his time.

Now, I saw, upon a time, when he was walking in

the fields, that he was, as he was wont, reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying, "What shall I do to be saved ?"1

I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because, as I perceived, he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist coming to him, who asked, Wherefore dost thou cry?

He answered, Sir, I perceive by the book in my hand that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to judgment, and I find that I am not willing to do the first, nor able to do the second.*

2

"Christian no sooner leaves the World but meets
Evange ist, who lovingly him gree's

With tidings of another; and doth show
Him how to mount from that which is below."

die, since

many evils? The man this burden that is upon

Then said Evangelist, Why not willing to this life is attended with so answered, Because I fear that my back will sink me lower than the grave, and I shall fall into Tophet.5 And, sir, if I be not fit to go to prison, I am not fit, I am sure, to go to judgment, and from thence to execution; and the thoughts of these things make me cry.

Then said Evangelist, If this be thy condition, why standest thou still? He answered, Because I know not whither to go. Then he gave him a parchment roll, and

1 Acts xvi. 30.

2 Heb. ix. 27.

3 Job xvi. 21.

Ezek. xxii. 14; Malachi iii. 2.

5 Isa. xxx. 33.