Chr. I am that Woman that was so hard-hearted as to slight my Husband's troubles, and that left him to go on his journey alone; and these are his four children: but now I also am come; for I am convinced that no way is right but this.

Int. Then is fulfilled that which is written of the man that said to his son, "Go, work to-day in my vineyard;" and he said to his father, "I will not; but afterward repented and went."*

Then said Christiana, So be it, Amen. God make it a true saying upon me, and grant that I may be found at the last of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Int. But why standest thou thus at the door? Come in, thou daughter of Abraham: we are talking of thee but now; for tidings have come to us before, how thou art become a Pilgrim. Come, Children, come in; come Maiden, come in! So he had them all into the house.

Old saints glad to

see the young ones walk in God's ways.

So, when they were within, they were bidden to sit down and rest them; the which when they had done, those that attended upon the Pilgrims in the House came into the room to see them. And one smiled, and another smiled, and they all smiled, for joy that Christiana was become a Pilgrim; they also looked upon the boys; they stroked them over their faces with the hand, in token of their kind reception of them; they also carried it lovingly to Mercy, and bid them all welcome into their Master's House.

The Significant

rooms.

After a while, because supper was not ready, the Interpreter took them into his Significant rooms, and showed them what Christian, Christiana's husband, had seen some time before. Here therefore, they saw the Man in the Cage, the Man and his Dream, the Man that cut his way through his Enemies, and the Picture of the biggest of them all, together with the rest of those things that were then so profitable to Christian.

This done, and after those things had been somewhat digested by Christiana and her company, the Interpreter takes them apart The man with again, and has them first into a room where was a the Muck-rake ex- man that could look no way but downward, with pounded. a Muck-Rake in his hand: there stood also one over his head, with a Celestial Crown in his hand, and proffered him that Crown for his Muck-Rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the floor.

Then said Christiana, I persuade myself that I know somewhat

Matth. xxi. 28, 29.

the meaning of this; for this is a figure of a man of this world: Is it not, good sir?

Thou hast said the right, said he, and his Muck-Rake doth show his carnal mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up straws, and sticks, and the dust of the floor, than to do what he says that calls to him from above, with the Celestial Crown in his hand, it is to show that heaven is but as a fable to some, and that things here are counted the only things substantial. Now, whereas it was also showed thee that the man could look no way but downward, it is to let thee know that earthly things, when they are with power upon men's minds, quite carry their hearts away from God. Christiana's prayer

Then said Christiana, Oh! deliver me from this against the Muck. Muck-Rake.

Rake.

That prayer, said the Interpreter, has lain by till it is almost rusty; "Give me not riches," is scarce the prayer of one of ten thousand. Straws, and sticks, and dust, with most are the great things now looked after.

With that Christiana and Mercy wept and said, It is, alas! too true. When the Interpreter had showed them this, he had them into the very best room in the house; (a very brave room it was :) so he bid them look round about, and see if they could find any thing profitable there. Then they looked round and Of the Spider. round; for there was nothing to be seen but a very great Spider on the wall; and that they overlooked.

Then said Mercy, Sir, I see nothing. But Christiana held her peace.

Talk about the
Spider.

But, said the Interpreter, look again; she therefore looked again, and said, Here is not any thing but an ugly Spider, who hangs by his hands upon the wall. Then said he, Is there but one Spider in all this spacious room? Then the water stood in Christiana's eyes, for she was a woman quick of apprehension; and she said, Yea, Lord, there are more here than one; yea, and spiders whose venom is far more destructive than that which is in her. The Interpreter then looked pleasantly on her, and said, Thou hast said the truth. This made Mercy to blush, and the boys to cover their faces; for they all Degan now to understand the riddle.

Then said the Interpreter again, “The spider, taketh hold with her hands," as you see, "and is in Kings' palaces." And wherefore is this recorded, but to show you, that how full of the venom of sin soever you be, yet you may, by the hand of Faith, lay hold of and dwell in the best room that belongs to the King's House above?

but

I thought, said Christiana, of something of this; but I could not imagine it at all. I thought that we were like Spiders, and that we looked like ugly creatures, in what fine rooms soever we were; that by this Spider, that venomous and ill-favoured creature, we were to learn how to act faith, that came not into my thoughts. And yet she had taken hold with her hands, and, as I see, dwelleth in the best room in the House. God has made nothing in vain.

Then they seemed all to be glad; but the water stood in their eyes; yet they looked one upon another, and also bowed before the Interpreter.

Of the Hen and
Chickens.

He had them then into another room, where was a Hen and Chickens, and bid them observe a while.

Prov. xxx. 8.

[The Pilgrims at the house of the Interpreter-Paraple of the IIen and Chickens.] So one of the chickens went to the trough to drink, and, every time she drank, she lifted up her head and her eyes towards heaven. See, said he, what this little chick doth, and learn of her to acknowledge whence your mercies come, by receiving them with looking up. Yet again, said he, observe and look. So they gave heed, and perceived that the hen did walk in a fourfold method towards her chickens: 1. She had 66 a common call," and that she hath all day long. 2. She had a "special call," and that she had but sometimes. 3. She had a "brooding note." And, 4. She had an "outcry."

Now, said he, compare this hen to your King, and these chickens to his obedient ones. For, answerable to ner, himself has his methods which he walketh in towards his people. By his common call, he gives nothing; by his special call, he always has something to give; he has also a brooding voice for them that are under his wing; and he has an outcry, to give the alarm when he seeth the enemy come. I chose, my darlings, to lead you into the room where such things are, because you are women, and they are easy for you.

And, sir, said Christiana, pray let us see some more; so he had them into the slaughter-house, where was a butcher killing a sheep; and behold

Of the butcher and the sheep.

the sheep was quiet, and took her death patiently. Then said the Interpreter, you must learn of this sheep to suffer, and to put up with wrongs without murmurings and complaints. Behold how quietly she takes her death, and, without objecting, she suffereth her skin to be pulled over her eyes. Your King doth call you his sheep.

Of the garden.

After this, he led them into his garden, where was great variety of flowers, and he said, Do you see all these? So Christiana said, Yes. Then said he again, Behold the flowers are diverse in stature, in quality, and colour, and smell, and virtue; and some are better than others; also, where the gardener had set them, there they stand, and quarrel not with one another.

Of the field.

Again, he had them into his field, which he had sown with wheat and corn; but when they beheld, the tops of all were cut off, only the straw remained. He said again, This ground was dunged, and ploughed, and sowed, but what shall we do with the crop? Then said Christiana, burn some, and make muck of the rest. Then said the Interpreter again, Fruit, you see, is that thing you look for, and for want of that you condemn it to the fire, and to be trodden under foot of men; beware that in this you condemn not yourselves!

Of the robin and the spider.

Then, as they were coming in from abroad, they espied a little robin with a great spider in his mouth so the Interpreter said, Look here; so they looked, and Mercy wondered; but Christiana said, What a disparagement it is to such a pretty little bird as robin red-breast is, he being also a bird above many, that loveth to maintain a kind of sociableness with men! I had thought they had lived upon crumbs of bread, or upon other such harmless matter; I like him worse than I did.

The Interpreter then replied, This robin is an emblem very apt to set forth some professors by; for, to sight, they are as this robin, pretty of note, colour, and carriage: they seem also to have a very great love for professors that are sincere; and, above all others, to desire to sociate with them, and to be in their company, as if they could live upon the good man's crumbs. They pretend also that therefore it is that they frequent the house of the godly, and the appointments of the Lord; but when they are by themselves, as the robin, they can catch and gobble up spiders; they can change their diet, drink iniquity and swallow down sin like water.

So, when they were come again into the house, because supper as yet was not ready, Christiana again desired that the Interpreter