THE DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS. 111 Despair, who despiseth the King of the celestial country, and seeks to destroy his holy pilgrims." Many, therefore, that followed after, read what was written, and escaped the danger. This done, they sang as follows: Out of the way we went, and then we found Whose castle's Doubting, and whose name's Despair. The Delectable Mountains. They went then till they came to the Delectable Mountains, which mountains belong to the Lord of that hill of which we have spoken before. So they went up to the mountains, to behold the gardens and orchards, the vineyards and fountains of water; where also they drank and washed themselves, They are refreshed and did freely eat of the vineyards. Now there were in the Mountains. on the tops of these mountains shepherds feeding their flocks (2), and they stood by the highwayside. The pilgrims, therefore, went to them, and leaning upon their staffs (as is common with weary pilgrims when they stand to talk with any by the way), they asked, Whose delectable mountains are these, and whose be the sheep that feed upon them (a)? Talk with the Shepherds. SHEP. These mountains are Emmanuel's land, and they are within sight of his city; and the sheep also are his, and he laid down his life for them. CHR. Is this the way to the Celestial City? SHEP. You are just in your way. CHR. How far is it thither? SHEP. Too far for any but those who shall get thither indeed. SHEP. Safe for those for whom it is to be safe; but transgressors shall fall therein, Hos. xiv. 9. CHR. Is there in this place any relief for pilgrims that are weary and faint in the way? SHEP. The Lord of these mountains hath given us a charge not to be forgetful to entertain strangers: therefore the good of the place is before you, Heb. xiii. 2. (z) The Shepherds.-These are Christian ministers, under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd, whose duty is thus described:-"I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick," Ezek. xxxiv. 15, 16. (a) The Delectable Mountains.-These represent a resting-place in the pilgrim's life, during which he enjoys peace both without and within; and has much instructive intercourse with Christian ministers and brethren; and is filled with hope of everlasting glory. "I knew a rich mammonist," says Case, "that would once a day take all his bags of silver and gold out of his trunks, and laying them in several heaps upon a large table, would go to the utmost end of the room, and there having glutted his eyes with so delightful an object for a good while, would all on a sudden take his run to the table, and with outstretched arms, gathering all into one vast heap, as a man overcome and distracted with joy, cry out, 'All is mine, all is mine.' Why may not the children of the kingdom rejoice in hope of the glory of God? and collecting these treasures of glory into several heaps, and embracing them with the arms of faith, cry out in an holy ecstacy, 'All is mine, all is mine.'" 112 THE MOUNTAIN OF ERROR. I saw also in my dream, that when the Shepherds perceived that they were wayfaring men, they also put questions to them (to which they made answer as in other places), as, Whence came you? and, How got you into the way? and, By what means have you so persevered therein? for but few of them that begin to come hither, do The Shepherds wel- show their face on these mountains. But when the Shepherds heard their answers, being pleased therewith, they looked very lovingly upon them, and said, Welcome to the Delectable Mountains. come them. Shepherds. The Shepherds, I say, whose names were Knowledge, Experience, The names of the Watchful, and Sincere, took them by the hand, and had them to their tents, and made them partake of what was ready at present. They said, moreover, We would that you should stay here a while, to be acquainted with us, and yet more to solace yourselves with the good of these Delectable Mountains. They then told them, that they were content to stay. So they went to rest that night, because it was very late. wonders. Then I saw in my dream, that in the morning the Shepherds called up Christian and Hopeful to walk with them upon the mountains. So they went forth with them, and walked a while, having a pleasant They are shown prospect on every side. Then said the Shepherds one to another, Shall we show these pilgrims some wonders? So when they had concluded to do it, they had them first to the top The mountain of of a hill, called Error (b), which was very steep on the farthest side, and bid them look down to the bottom. So Christian and Hopeful looked down, and saw at the bottom several men dashed all to pieces by a fall that they had from the top. Then said Christian, What meaneth this? The Shepherds answered, Have you not heard of them that were made to err, by hearkening to Hymenæus and Philetus, as concerning the faith of the resurrection of the body? 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. They answered, Yes. Then said Error. (b) The Mountain of Error.-We are enjoined in Scripture to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us;" but we must beware of attempting to push our investigations beyond the limits of revelation. "It is absolutely impossible that a true religion should not present a great number of mysteries. If it is true, it ought to teach more truths, respecting God and divine things, than any other-than all others together; but each of these truths has a relation to the infinite, and by consequence borders on a mystery. Behold God in nature. The more he gives us to contemplate, the more he gives to astonish. To each creature is attached some mystery. Each grain of sand is an abyss. Now, shall not mysteries multiply with discoveries? With each new day shall we not see associated a new night? And shall we not purchase an increase of knowledge with an increase of ignorance? It is thus clearly necessary that Christianity should, more than any other religion, be mysterious, simply because it is true. Like mountains which, the higher they are, cast the larger shadows, the Gospel is more obscure and mysterious on account of its sublimity. "Men have puzzled themselves," says Newton, "about the origin of evil; I observe there is evil, and that there is a way to escape it, and with this I begin and end." A person in Lochwinnoch, whose life had not been consistent with that of a genuine Christian, was nevertheless a great speculator in divinity; and even on his death-bed perplexed himself with knotty questions. A friend visiting him, said, "Ah! William, this is the decree you have at present to do with 'He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall be damned."" A BY-WAY TO HELL. 113 the Shepherds, Those that you see dashed in pieces at the bottom of this mountain are they; and they have continued to this day unburied, as you see, for an example to others to take heed how they clamber too high, or how they come too near the brink of this mountain. Mount Caution. Then I saw that they had them to the top of another mountain, and the name of that is Caution, and bid them look afar off; which, when they did, they perceived, as they thought, several men walking up and down among the tombs that were there; and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them. Then said Christian, What means this? The Shepherds then answered, Did you not see a little below these mountains a stile that led into a meadow, on the left hand of this way? They answered, Yes. Then said the Shepherds, From that stile there goes a path that leads directly to Doubting-castle, which is kept by Giant Despair; and these men (pointing to them among the tombs) came once on pilgrimage, as you do now, even until they came to that same stile. And because the right way was rough in that place, they chose to go out of it into that meadow, and there were taken by Giant Despair, and cast into Doubting-castle, where, after they had awhile been kept in the dungeon, he at last did put out their eyes, and led them among those tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day, that the saying of the wise man might be fulfilled, "He that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead," Prov. xxi. 16. Then Christian and Hopeful looked one upon another, with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds. Then I saw in my dream, that the Shepherds had them to another place in a bottom, where was a door on the side of a hill; and they opened the door, and bid them look in. They looked in, therefore, and saw that within it was very dark and smoky; they also thought that they heard there a rumbling noise, as of fire, and a cry of some tormented, and that they smelt the scent of brimstone. Then said Christian, What means this? The Shepherds told them, This is a by-way to hell, a way that hypocrites go in at; namely, such as sell their birthright, with Esau; such as sell their Master, with Judas; such as blaspheme the gospel, with Alexander; and that lie and dissemble, with Ananias and Sapphira his wife. A by-way to hell. Then said Hopeful to the Shepherds, I perceive that these had on them, even every one, a show of pilgrimage, as we have now; had they not? SHEP. Yes, and held it a long time too. HOPE. How far might they go on in pilgrimage in their day, since they, notwithstanding, were thus miserably cast away? SHEP. Some farther, and some not so far as these mountains. Then said the pilgrims one to another, We have need to cry to the Strong for strength. SHEP Ay, and you will have need to use it, when you have it, too. H 114 THE PILGRIMS PART FROM THE SHEPHERDS. By this time the pilgrims had a desire to go forwards, and the Shepherds a desire they should; so they walked together towards the The Shepherds' end of the mountains. Then said the Shepherds one perspective glass. to another, Let us here show the pilgrims the gate of the Celestial City, if they have skill to look through our perspective glass (c.) The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion: so they had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them the glass to look. vile fear. Then they tried to look; but the remembrance of that last thing The fruits of ser- that the Shepherds had shown them made their hands shake (d), by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass; yet they thought they saw some(c) The Perspective Glass.-It must have been in a clear day, and when Paul's faith was very strong, that he said, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me," 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. (d) Their hands shake." Bunyan tells us," says one, "that when his pilgrims, under the perturbation produced by previous terrible visions, turned the perspective glass towards the Celestial City, their hands shook, so that they could not steadily look through the instrument; yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. It is even so with many of the moods in which other pilgrims attempt to gaze in the same direction; a deep haze seems to have settled over the golden pinnacles and the gates of pearl; they for a moment doubt IGNORANCE FROM THE COUNTRY OF CONCEIT. 115 thing like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Thus they went away and sang: Thus by the Shepherds secrets are reveal'd, When they were about to depart, one of the Shepherds gave them a note of the way; another of them bid them beware A two-fold caution. of the Flatterer; the third bid them take heed that they sleep not upon the Enchanted Ground; and the fourth bid them God speed. So I awoke from my dream. The country of Con And I slept, and dreamed again, and saw the same two pilgrims going down the mountains along the highway towards the city. Now a little below these mountains on the ceit, out of which left hand lieth the country of Conceit; from which came Ignorance. country there comes into the way in which the pilgrims walked, a little crooked lane. Here, therefore, they met with a Christian and Ignovery brisk lad, that came out of that country, and his tance have name was Ignorance (e.) So Christian asked him from what parts he came, and whither he was going. talk. some IGNOR. Sir, I was born in the country that lieth off there, a little on the left hand, and I am going to the Celestial City. CHR. But how do you think to get in at the gate, for you may find some difficulty there? IGNOR. As other good people do, said he. CHR. But what have you to show at that gate, that the gate should be opened to you? IGNOR. I know my Lord's will, and have been a good liver: I pay every man his own; I pray, fast, pay tithes, and give alms, and have left my country for whither I am going. The grounds of Ignorance's hope. whether what others declare they have seen, and what they flatter themselves they have seen themselves, be anything else than a gorgeous vision in the clouds; and faith is no longer the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.' (e) Ignorance.-Ignorance's ideas of the way of salvation are very common, and are thus exposed by Cowper, in words put into the lips of two speakers. "Adieu to all morality! if grace Makes works a vain ingredient in the case; My firm persuasion is, at least sometimes, That Heaven will weigh man's virtues and his crimes With nice attention in a righteous scale, And save or damn as these or those prevail. I plant my foot upon this ground of trust, "I never will believe," the colonel cries, |