"My dark and cloudy words, they do but hold
The truth, as cabinets inclose the gold.
"The prophets used much by metaphors
To set forth truths: yea, whoso considers
Christ, his apostles too, shall plainly see,
That truths to this day in such mantles be.
"Am I afraid to say, that Holy Writ,
Which for its style and phrase puts down all wit,
Is every where so full of all these things,
(Dark figures, allegories;) yet there springs
From that same book, that lustre and those rays
Of light, that turn our darkest nights to days.
"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 worse lines too.

"May we but stand 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 silver shrines.
Come truth, although in swaddling clouts, I find,
Informs the judgment, rectifies the mind;
Pleases the understanding, makes the will
Submit; the memory too it doth fill
With what doth our imagination please;
Likewise it tends our troubles to appease.

"Sound words, I know, Timothy is to use,

And old wives' fables he is to refuse:
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?
To those that are my betters, as is fit,
These things let me propound, then I submit.
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,
(Examples too, and that from them that have

1,

God better pleased by their words or ways,
Than any man that breathes 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 minds and pens for his design?
And he makes base things usher in divine.

3. "I find that Holy Writ, in many places,
Has semblance with this method, where the cases
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 thine eyes
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 you 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 labor, 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?
Would'st thou see a truth within a fable?
Art thou forgetful? Wouldest thou remember
From New-Year's day to the last of December?
Then read my fancies; they will stick like burs,
And may be, to the helpless, comforters.

i

"This book is wrote 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.

"Would'st thou divert thyself from melancholy?
Would'st thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly?
Would'st thou read riddles and their explanation?
Or else be drowned in thy contemplation?
Dost thou love picking meat? Or would'st thou see
A man i' the clouds, and hear him speak to thee?
Would'st thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?
Or, would'st thou in a moment laugh and weep?
Or, would'st thou lose thyself, and catch no harm?
And find thyself again without a charm?
Would'st read thyself, and read thou know'st not what,
And yet know whether thou art blest or not,
By reading the same lines? O, then, come hither;
And lay my book, thy head and heart together."

JOHN BUNYAN.

THE

Pilgrims' Progress:

UNDER THE

SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM.

PART I.

AS I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a den;* and 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 fromt his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burthen 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 brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?

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 wife, (said he,) and ye the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend, am, in myself, undone, by reason of a burthen that lieth hard upon me: moreover, I am certainly 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 may be found, whereby we may be delivered."

At this, his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because

F

they thought some frenzy-distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing towards 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 carriage to him; sometimes they would deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to 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?"*

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, and 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."

Then said Evangelist; "Why not willing to die, since this life is attended with so many evils?" The man answered, "Because I fear that this burthen that is upon my back, will sink me lower than the grave; and I shall fall into Tophet.|| And, sir, if I be not fit to go to prison, I am not fit 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, T and there was written within, Fly from the wrath to come.** The man therefore read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, "Whither must I fly?" Then said