To those that are my betters, as is fit,

Three 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
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 minds 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 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 me 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 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 direction understand;
Yea, it will make the slothful active be;
The blind also delightful things to see.

Art thou for something rare and profitable,
Or wouldst 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.

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?

7

Wouldest 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 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

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

A

PART FIRST.

SI 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 from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. (Isa. lxiv. 5; Luke, xiv. 33; Ps. xxxviii. 4; Hab. ii. 2.) 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?" (Acts, ii. 37.)

In this plight, therefore, he went home, and restrained 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 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 burnt 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." 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 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?" (Acts, xvi. 30, 31.)

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?"