Sections 351-360

{351} But I replied, Lord, I am a great, a very great sinner.  And
he answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”  [2 Cor.12:9] Then
I said, But, Lord, what is believing?  And then I saw from that
saying, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst”, that believing and coming was
all one; and that he that came, that is, ran out in his heart and
affections after salvation by Christ, he indeed believed in Christ.
[John 6:35] Then the water stood in mine eyes, and I asked further.
But, Lord, may such a great sinner as I am be indeed accepted of
thee, and be saved by thee?  And I heard him say, “And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.”  [John 6:37] Then I said,
But how, Lord, must I consider of thee in my coming to thee, that
my faith may be placed aright upon thee?  Then he said, “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  [1 Tim.  1:15] “He is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
[Rom.  10:4] “He died for our sins, and rose again for our
justification.”  [Rom.  4:25] “He loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood.”  [Rev.  1:5] “He is mediator betwixt God
and us.”  [1 Tim.  2:5] “He ever liveth to make intercession for
us.”  [Heb.  7:24,25] From all which I gathered, that I must look
for righteousness in his person, and for satisfaction for my sins
by his blood; that what he did in obedience to his Father’s law,
and in submitting to the penalty thereof, was not for himself, but
for him that will accept it for his salvation, and be thankful.
And now was my heart full of joy, mine eyes full of tears, and mine
affections running over with love to the name, people, and ways of
Jesus Christ.

{352} CHR. This was a revelation of Christ to your soul indeed;
but tell me particularly what effect this had upon your spirit.

HOPE. It made me see that all the world, notwithstanding all the
righteousness thereof, is in a state of condemnation.  It made me
see that God the Father, though he be just, can justly justify the
coming sinner.  It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my
former life, and confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance;
for there never came thought into my heart before now that showed
me so the beauty of Jesus Christ.  It made me love a holy life,
and long to do something for the honour and glory of the name of
the Lord Jesus; yea, I thought that had I now a thousand gallons
of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord
Jesus.

{353} I saw then in my dream that Hopeful looked back and saw
Ignorance, whom they had left behind, coming after.  Look, said he
to Christian, how far yonder youngster loitereth behind.

CHR. Ay, ay, I see him; he careth not for our company.

HOPE. But I trow it would not have hurt him had he kept pace with
us hitherto.

CHR. That is true; but I warrant you he thinketh otherwise.

HOPE. That, I think, he doth; but, however, let us tarry for him.
So they did.

{354} Then Christian said to him, Come away, man, why do you stay
so behind?

IGNOR. I take my pleasure in walking alone, even more a great deal
than in company, unless I like it the better.

Then said Christian to Hopeful, (but softly), Did I not tell you
he cared not for our company?  But, however, said he, come up, and
let us talk away the time in this solitary place.  Then directing
his speech to Ignorance, he said, Come, how do you?  How stands it
between God and your soul now?

{355} Ignorance’s hope, and the ground of it

IGNOR. I hope well; for I am always full of good motions, that come
into my mind, to comfort me as I walk.

CHR. What good motions?  pray, tell us.

IGNOR. Why, I think of God and heaven.

CHR. So do the devils and damned souls.

IGNOR. But I think of them and desire them.

CHR. So do many that are never like to come there.  “The soul of
the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.”  [Prov.  13:4]

IGNOR. But I think of them, and leave all for them.

CHR. That I doubt; for leaving all is a hard matter:  yea, a harder
matter than many are aware of.  But why, or by what, art thou
persuaded that thou hast left all for God and heaven.

{356} IGNOR. My heart tells me so.

CHR. The wise man says, “He that trusts his own heart is a fool.”
[Prov.  28:26]

IGNOR. This is spoken of an evil heart, but mine is a good one.

CHR. But how dost thou prove that?

IGNOR. It comforts me in hopes of heaven.

CHR. That may be through its deceitfulness; for a man’s heart may
minister comfort to him in the hopes of that thing for which he
yet has no ground to hope.

IGNOR. But my heart and life agree together, and therefore my hope
is well grounded.

CHR. Who told thee that thy heart and life agree together?

IGNOR. My heart tells me so.

CHR. Ask my fellow if I be a thief!  Thy heart tells thee so!  Except
the Word of God beareth witness in this matter, other testimony is
of no value.

{357} IGNOR. But is it not a good heart that hath good thoughts?
and is not that a good life that is according to God’s commandments?

CHR. Yes, that is a good heart that hath good thoughts, and that
is a good life that is according to God’s commandments; but it is
one thing, indeed, to have these, and another thing only to think
so.

IGNOR. Pray, what count you good thoughts, and a life according to
God’s commandments?

CHR. There are good thoughts of divers kinds; some respecting
ourselves, some God, some Christ, and some other things.

IGNOR. What be good thoughts respecting ourselves?

CHR. Such as agree with the Word of God.

{358} IGNOR. When do our thoughts of ourselves agree with the Word
of God?

CHR. When we pass the same judgment upon ourselves which the Word
passes.  To explain myself — the Word of God saith of persons in
a natural condition, “There is none righteous, there is none that
doeth good.”  [Rom.  3] It saith also, that “every imagination of
the heart of man is only evil, and that continually.”  [Gen.  6:5]
And again, “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
[Rom.  8:21] Now then, when we think thus of ourselves, having
sense thereof, then are our thoughts good ones, because according
to the Word of God.

IGNOR. I will never believe that my heart is thus bad.

CHR. Therefore thou never hadst one good thought concerning thyself
in thy life.  But let me go on.  As the Word passeth a judgment
upon our heart, so it passeth a judgment upon our ways; and when
OUR thoughts of our hearts and ways agree with the judgment which
the Word giveth of both, then are both good, because agreeing
thereto.

{359} IGNOR. Make out your meaning.

CHR. Why, the Word of God saith that man’s ways are crooked ways;
not good, but perverse.  [Ps.  125:5, Prov.  2:15] It saith they
are naturally out of the good way, that they have not known it.
[Rom.  3] Now, when a man thus thinketh of his ways, — I say, when
he doth sensibly, and with heart-humiliation, thus think, then hath
he good thoughts of his own ways, because his thoughts now agree
with the judgment of the Word of God.

{360} IGNOR. What are good thoughts concerning God?

CHR. Even as I have said concerning ourselves, when our thoughts
of God do agree with what the Word saith of him; and that is, when
we think of his being and attributes as the Word hath taught, of
which I cannot now discourse at large; but to speak of him with
reference to us:  Then we have right thoughts of God, when we
think that he knows us better than we know ourselves, and can see
sin in us when and where we can see none in ourselves; when we
think he knows our inmost thoughts, and that our heart, with all
its depths, is always open unto his eyes; also, when we think that
all our righteousness stinks in his nostrils, and that, therefore,
he cannot abide to see us stand before him in any confidence, even
in all our best performances.

Sections 341-350

{341} HOPE. Many things; as,

1.  If I did but meet a good man in the streets; or,

2.  If I have heard any read in the Bible; or,

3.  If mine head did begin to ache; or,

4.  If I were told that some of my neighbours were sick; or,

5.  If I heard the bell toll for some that were dead; or,

6.  If I thought of dying myself; or,

7.  If I heard that sudden death happened to others;

8.  But especially, when I thought of myself, that I must quickly
come to judgment.

{342} CHR. And could you at any time, with ease, get off the guilt
of sin, when by any of these ways it came upon you?

HOPE. No, not I, for then they got faster hold of my conscience;
and then, if I did but think of going back to sin, (though my mind
was turned against it), it would be double torment to me.

CHR. And how did you do then?

HOPE. I thought I must endeavour to mend my life; for else, thought
I, I am sure to be damned.

{343} CHR. And did you endeavour to mend?

HOPE. Yes; and fled from not only my sins, but sinful company too;
and betook me to religious duties, as prayer, reading, weeping for
sin, speaking truth to my neighbours, &c.  These things did I, with
many others, too much here to relate.

CHR. And did you think yourself well then?

HOPE. Yes, for a while; but at the last, my trouble came tumbling
upon me again, and that over the neck of all my reformations.

{344} CHR. How came that about, since you were now reformed?

HOPE. There were several things brought it upon me, especially such
sayings as these:  “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”
[Isa.  64:6] “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
[Gal.  2:16] “When ye shall have done all those things, say, We are
unprofitable”, [Luke 17:10] with many more such like.  From whence
I began to reason with myself thus:  If ALL my righteousnesses are
filthy rags; if, by the deeds of the law, NO man can be justified;
and if, when we have done ALL, we are yet unprofitable, then it
is but a folly to think of heaven by the law.  I further thought
thus:  If a man runs a hundred pounds into the shopkeeper’s debt,
and after that shall pay for all that he shall fetch; yet, if this
old debt stands still in the book uncrossed, for that the shopkeeper
may sue him, and cast him into prison till he shall pay the debt.

CHR. Well, and how did you apply this to yourself?

HOPE. Why; I thought thus with myself.  I have, by my sins, run a
great way into God’s book, and that my now reforming will not pay
off that score; therefore I should think still, under all my present
amendments, But how shall I be freed from that damnation that I
have brought myself in danger of by my former transgressions?

{345} CHR. A very good application:  but, pray, go on.

HOPE. Another thing that hath troubled me, even since my late
amendments, is, that if I look narrowly into the best of what I do
now, I still see sin, new sin, mixing itself with the best of that
I do; so that now I am forced to conclude, that notwithstanding
my former fond conceits of myself and duties, I have committed sin
enough in one duty to send me to hell, though my former life had
been faultless.

CHR. And what did you do then?

{346} HOPE. Do!  I could not tell what to do, until I brake my
mind to Faithful, for he and I were well acquainted.  And he told
me, that unless I could obtain the righteousness of a man that
never had sinned, neither mine own, nor all the righteousness of
the world could save me.

CHR. And did you think he spake true?

HOPE. Had he told me so when I was pleased and satisfied with mine
own amendment, I had called him fool for his pains; but now, since
I see mine own infirmity, and the sin that cleaves to my best
performance, I have been forced to be of his opinion.

{347} CHR. But did you think, when at first he suggested it to you,
that there was such a man to be found, of whom it might justly be
said that he never committed sin?

HOPE. I must confess the words at first sounded strangely, but
after a little more talk and company with him, I had full conviction
about it.

CHR. And did you ask him what man this was, and how you must be
justified by him?

HOPE. Yes, and he told me it was the Lord Jesus, that dwelleth on
the right hand of the Most High.  And thus, said he, you must be
justified by him, even by trusting to what he hath done by himself,
in the days of his flesh, and suffered when he did hang on the
tree.  I asked him further, how that man’s righteousness could be
of that efficacy to justify another before God?  And he told me he
was the mighty God, and did what he did, and died the death also,
not for himself, but for me; to whom his doings, and the worthiness
of them, should be imputed, if I believed on him.  [Heb.  10,
Rom.  6, Col.  1, 1 Pet.  1]

{348} CHR. And what did you do then?

HOPE. I made my objections against my believing, for that I thought
he was not willing to save me.

CHR. And what said Faithful to you then?

HOPE. He bid me go to him and see.  Then I said it was presumption;
but he said, No, for I was invited to come.  [Matt.  11:28] Then
he gave me a book of Jesus, his inditing, to encourage me the more
freely to come; and he said, concerning that book, that every jot
and tittle thereof stood firmer than heaven and earth.  [Matt.
24:35] Then I asked him, What I must do when I came; and he told
me, I must entreat upon my knees, with all my heart and soul, the
Father to reveal him to me.  [Ps.  95:6, Dan.  6:10, Jer.  29:12,13]
Then I asked him further, how I must make my supplication to him?
And he said, Go, and thou shalt find him upon a mercy-seat, where
he sits all the year long, to give pardon and forgiveness to them
that come.  I told him that I knew not what to say when I came.
And he bid me say to this effect:  God be merciful to me a sinner,
and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ; for I see, that
if his righteousness had not been, or I have not faith in that
righteousness, I am utterly cast away.  Lord, I have heard that thou
art a merciful God, and hast ordained that thy Son Jesus Christ
should be the Saviour of the world; and moreover, that thou art
willing to bestow him upon such a poor sinner as I am, (and I am a
sinner indeed); Lord, take therefore this opportunity and magnify
thy grace in the salvation of my soul, through thy Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.  [Exo.  25:22, Lev.  16:2, Num.  7:89, Heb.  4:16]

{349} CHR. And did you do as you were bidden?

HOPE. Yes; over, and over, and over.

CHR. And did the Father reveal his Son to you?

HOPE. Not at the first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor
fifth; no, nor at the sixth time neither.

CHR. What did you do then?

HOPE. What!  why I could not tell what to do.

CHR. Had you not thoughts of leaving off praying?

HOPE. Yes; an hundred times twice told.

CHR. And what was the reason you did not?

HOPE. I believed that that was true which had been told me, to
wit, that without the righteousness of this Christ, all the world
could not save me; and therefore, thought I with myself, if I leave
off I die, and I can but die at the throne of grace.  And withal,
this came into my mind, “Though it tarry, wait for it; because it
will surely come, it will not tarry.”  [Heb.  2:3] So I continued
praying until the Father showed me his Son.

{350} CHR. And how was he revealed unto you?

HOPE. I did not see him with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of
my understanding; [Eph.  1:18,19] and thus it was:  One day I was
very sad, I think sadder than at any one time in my life, and this
sadness was through a fresh sight of the greatness and vileness of
my sins.  And as I was then looking for nothing but hell, and the
everlasting damnation of my soul, suddenly, as I thought, I saw
the Lord Jesus Christ look down from heaven upon me, and saying,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”  [Acts
16:30,31]

Sections 331-340

{331} Now, after a while, they perceived, afar off, one coming
softly and alone, all along the highway to meet them.  Then said
Christian to his fellow, Yonder is a man with his back towards
Zion, and he is coming to meet us.

HOPE. I see him; let us take heed to ourselves now, lest he should
prove a flatterer also.  So he drew nearer and nearer, and at last
came up unto them.  His name was Atheist, and he asked them whither
they were going.

CHR. We are going to Mount Zion.

Then Atheist fell into a very great laughter.

CHR. What is the meaning of your laughter?

{332} ATHEIST. I laugh to see what ignorant persons you are, to
take upon you so tedious a journey, and you are like to have nothing
but your travel for your pains.

CHR. Why, man, do you think we shall not be received?

ATHEIST. Received!  There is no such place as you dream of in all
this world.

CHR. But there is in the world to come.

{333} ATHEIST. When I was at home in mine own country, I heard as
you now affirm, and from that hearing went out to see, and have
been seeking this city this twenty years; but find no more of it
than I did the first day I set out.  [Jer.  22:12, Eccl.  10:15]

CHR. We have both heard and believe that there is such a place to
be found.

ATHEIST. Had not I, when at home, believed, I had not come thus far
to seek; but finding none, (and yet I should, had there been such
a place to be found, for I have gone to seek it further than you),
I am going back again, and will seek to refresh myself with the
things that I then cast away, for hopes of that which, I now see,
is not.

{334} CHR. Then said Christian to Hopeful his fellow, Is it true
which this man hath said?

Hopeful’s gracious answer

Hope.  Take heed, he is one of the flatterers; remember what it hath
cost us once already for our hearkening to such kind of fellows.
What!  no Mount Zion?  Did we not see, from the Delectable Mountains
the gate of the city?  Also, are we not now to walk by faith?  Let
us go on, said Hopeful, lest the man with the whip overtake us
again.  [2 Cor.  5:7] You should have taught me that lesson, which
I will round you in the ears withal:  “Cease, my son, to hear
the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.”
[Prov.  19:27] I say, my brother, cease to hear him, and let us
“believe to the saving of the soul”.  [Heb.  10:39]

{335} CHR. My brother, I did not put the question to thee for that
I doubted of the truth of our belief myself, but to prove thee,
and to fetch from thee a fruit of the honesty of thy heart.  As
for this man, I know that he is blinded by the god of this world.
Let thee and I go on, knowing that we have belief of the truth,
“and no lie is of the truth”.  [1 John 2:21]

HOPE. Now do I rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  So they turned
away from the man; and he, laughing at them, went his way.

{336} I saw then in my dream, that they went till they came into
a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy,
if he came a stranger into it.  And here Hopeful began to be very
dull and heavy of sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian, I do
now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes,
let us lie down here and take one nap.

CHR. By no means, said the other, lest sleeping, we never awake
more.

HOPE. Why, my brother?  Sleep is sweet to the labouring man; we
may be refreshed if we take a nap.

CHR. Do you not remember that one of the Shepherds bid us beware
of the Enchanted Ground?  He meant by that that we should beware
of sleeping; “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us
watch and be sober.”  [1 Thess.  5:6]

{337} HOPE. I acknowledge myself in a fault, and had I been here
alone I had by sleeping run the danger of death.  I see it is true
that the wise man saith, Two are better than one.  Hitherto hath
thy company been my mercy, and thou shalt have a good reward for
thy labour.  [Eccl.  9:9]

CHR. Now then, said Christian, to prevent drowsiness in this place,
let us fall into good discourse.

HOPE. With all my heart, said the other.

CHR. Where shall we begin?

HOPE. Where God began with us.  But do you begin, if you please.

CHR. I will sing you first this song: –

When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither,
And hear how these two pilgrims talk together:
Yea, let them learn of them, in any wise,
Thus to keep ope their drowsy slumb’ring eyes.
Saints’ fellowship, if it be managed well,
Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell.

{338} CHR. Then Christian began and said, I will ask you a question.
How came you to think at first of so doing as you do now?

HOPE. Do you mean, how came I at first to look after the good of
my soul?

CHR. Yes, that is my meaning.

HOPE. I continued a great while in the delight of those things
which were seen and sold at our fair; things which, I believe now,
would have, had I continued in them, still drowned me in perdition
and destruction.

CHR. What things are they?

Hopeful’s life before conversion

HOPE. All the treasures and riches of the world.  Also, I delighted
much in rioting, revelling, drinking, swearing, lying, uncleanness,
Sabbath-breaking, and what not, that tended to destroy the soul.
But I found at last, by hearing and considering of things that are
divine, which indeed I heard of you, as also of beloved Faithful
that was put to death for his faith and good living in Vanity Fair,
that “the end of these things is death”.  [Rom.6:21-23] And that
for these things’ sake “cometh the wrath of God upon the children
of disobedience”.  [Eph.5:6]

CHR. And did you presently fall under the power of this conviction?

{339} HOPE. No, I was not willing presently to know the evil
of sin, nor the damnation that follows upon the commission of it;
but endeavoured, when my mind at first began to be shaken with the
Word, to shut mine eyes against the light thereof.

CHR. But what was the cause of your carrying of it thus to the
first workings of God’s blessed Spirit upon you?

{340} HOPE. The causes were, 1.  I was ignorant that this was the
work of God upon me.  I never thought that, by awakenings for sin,
God at first begins the conversion of a sinner.  2.  Sin was yet
very sweet to my flesh, and I was loath to leave it.  3.  I could
not tell how to part with mine old companions, their presence and
actions were so desirable unto me.  4.  The hours in which convictions
were upon me were such troublesome and such heart-affrighting hours
that I could not bear, no not so much as the remembrance of them,
upon my heart.

CHR. Then, as it seems, sometimes you got rid of your trouble.

HOPE. Yes, verily, but it would come into my mind again, and then
I should be as bad, nay, worse, than I was before.

CHR. Why, what was it that brought your sins to mind again?

Sections 321-330

{321} HOPE. I would it had been Great-grace for their sakes.

CHR. If it had been, he might have had his hands full; for I must
tell you, that though Great-grace is excellent good at his weapons,
and has, and can, so long as he keeps them at sword’s point, do well
enough with them; yet, if they get within him, even Faint-heart,
Mistrust, or the other, it shall go hard but they will throw up
his heels.  And when a man is down, you know, what can he do?

{322} Whoso looks well upon Great-grace’s face, shall see those
scars and cuts there, that shall easily give demonstration of what
I say.  Yea, once I heard that he should say, (and that when he was
in the combat), “We despaired even of life.”  How did these sturdy
rogues and their fellows make David groan, mourn, and roar?  Yea,
Heman, and Hezekiah, too, though champions in their day, were forced
to bestir them, when by these assaulted; and yet, notwithstanding,
they had their coats soundly brushed by them.  Peter, upon a time,
would go try what he could do; but though some do say of him that
he is the prince of the apostles, they handled him so, that they
made him at last afraid of a sorry girl.

{323} Leviathan’s sturdiness

Besides, their king is at their whistle.  He is never out of hearing;
and if at any time they be put to the worst, he, if possible, comes in
to help them; and of him it is said, The sword of him that layeth
at him cannot hold the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon; he
esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.  The arrow cannot
make him flee; sling stones are turned with him into stubble.  Darts
are counted as stubble:  he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
[Job 41:26-29] What can a man do in this case?  It is true, if a man
could, at every turn, have Job’s horse, and had skill and courage
to ride him, he might do notable things; for his neck is clothed
with thunder, he will not be afraid of the grasshopper; the glory
of his nostrils is terrible:  he paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth
in his strength, he goeth on to meet the armed men.  He mocketh
at fear, and is not affrighted, neither turneth he back from the
sword.  The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear, and
the shield.  He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage,
neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.  He saith
among the trumpets, Ha, ha!  and he smelleth the battle afar off,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.  [Job 39:19-25]

{324} But for such footmen as thee and I are, let us never desire
to meet with an enemy, nor vaunt as if we could do better, when we
hear of others that they have been foiled, Nor be tickled at the
thoughts of our own manhood; for such commonly come by the worst
when tried.  Witness Peter, of whom I made mention before.  He would
swagger, ay, he would; he would, as his vain mind prompted him to
say, do better, and stand more for his Master than all men; but
who so foiled, and run down by these villains, as he?

When, therefore, we hear that such robberies are done on the King’s
highway, two things become us to do:

{325} 1.  To go out harnessed, and to be sure to take a shield with
us; for it was for want of that, that he that laid so lustily at
Leviathan could not make him yield; for, indeed, if that be wanting,
he fears us not at all.  Therefore, he that had skill hath said,
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”  [Eph.  6:16]

{326} 2.  It is good, also, that we desire of the King a convoy,
yea, that he will go with us himself.  This made David rejoice
when in the Valley of the Shadow of Death; and Moses was rather for
dying where he stood, than to go one step without his God.  [Exo.
33:15] Oh, my brother, if he will but go along with us, what need
we be afraid of ten thousands that shall set themselves against
us?  [Ps.  3:5-8, 27:1-3] But, without him, the proud helpers “fall
under the slain”.  [Isa.  10:4]

{327} I, for my part, have been in the fray before now; and though,
through the goodness of him that is best, I am, as you see, alive,
yet I cannot boast of my manhood.  Glad shall I be, if I meet
with no more such brunts; though I fear we are not got beyond all
danger.  However, since the lion and the bear have not as yet devoured
me, I hope God will also deliver us from the next uncircumcised
Philistine.  Then sang Christian –

Poor Little-faith!  Hast been among the thieves?
Wast robb’d?  Remember this, whoso believes,
And gets more faith, shall then a victor be
Over ten thousand, else scarce over three.

{328} So they went on and Ignorance followed.  They went then till
they came at a place where they saw a way put itself into their way,
and seemed withal to lie as straight as the way which they should
go:  and here they knew not which of the two to take, for both
seemed straight before them; therefore, here they stood still to
consider.  And as they were thinking about the way, behold a man,
black of flesh, but covered with a very light robe, came to them,
and asked them why they stood there.  They answered they were going
to the Celestial City, but knew not which of these ways to take.
Follow me, said the man, it is thither that I am going.  So they
followed him in the way that but now came into the road, which by
degrees turned, and turned them so from the city that they desired
to go to, that, in little time, their faces were turned away from
it; yet they followed him.  But by and by, before they were aware,
he led them both within the compass of a net, in which they were
both so entangled that they knew not what to do; and with that the
white robe fell off the black man’s back.  Then they saw where they
were.  Wherefore, there they lay crying some time, for they could
not get themselves out.

{329} CHR. Then said Christian to his fellow, Now do I see myself
in error.  Did not the Shepherds bid us beware of the flatterers?
As is the saying of the wise man, so we have found it this day.  A
man that flattereth his neighbour, spreadeth a net for his feet.
[Prov.  29:5]

HOPE. They also gave us a note of directions about the way, for
our more sure finding thereof; but therein we have also forgotten
to read, and have not kept ourselves from the paths of the destroyer.
Here David was wiser than we; for, saith he, “Concerning the works
of men, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of
the destroyer.”  [Ps.  17:4] Thus they lay bewailing themselves
in the net.  At last they espied a Shining One coming towards them
with a whip of small cord in his hand.  When he was come to the
place where they were, he asked them whence they came, and what
they did there.  They told him that they were poor pilgrims going
to Zion, but were led out of their way by a black man, clothed in
white, who bid us, said they, follow him, for he was going thither
too.  Then said he with the whip, It is Flatterer, a false apostle,
that hath transformed himself into an angel of light.  [Prov.  29:5,
Dan.  11:32, 2 Cor.  11:13,14] So he rent the net, and let the men
out.  Then said he to them, Follow me, that I may set you in your
way again.  So he led them back to the way which they had left to
follow the Flatterer.  Then he asked them, saying, Where did you lie
the last night?  They said, With the Shepherds upon the Delectable
Mountains.  He asked them then if they had not of those Shepherds
a note of direction for the way.  They answered, Yes.  But did you,
said he, when you were at a stand, pluck out and read your note?
They answered, No.  He asked them, Why?  They said, they forgot.
He asked, moreover, if the Shepherds did not bid them beware of
the Flatterer?  They answered, Yes, but we did not imagine, said
they, that this fine-spoken man had been he.  [Rom.  16:18]

{330} Then I saw in my dream that he commanded them to lie down;
which, when they did, he chastised them sore, to teach them the
good way wherein they should walk [Deut.  25:2]; and as he chastised
them he said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous,
therefore, and repent.”  [2 Chron.  6:26,27, Rev.  3:19] This
done, he bid them go on their way, and take good heed to the other
directions of the shepherds.  So they thanked him for all his
kindness, and went softly along the right way, singing –

Come hither, you that walk along the way;
See how the pilgrims fare that go astray.
They catched are in an entangling net,
‘Cause they good counsel lightly did forget:
‘Tis true they rescued were, but yet you see,
They’re scourged to boot.  Let this your caution be.

Sections 311-320

{311} So they both went on, and Ignorance he came after.  Now when
they had passed him a little way, they entered into a very dark
lane, where they met a man whom seven devils had bound with seven
strong cords, and were carrying of him back to the door that they
saw on the side of the hill.  [Matt.  12:45, Prov.  5:22] Now good
Christian began to tremble, and so did Hopeful his companion; yet
as the devils led away the man, Christian looked to see if he knew
him; and he thought it might be one Turn-away, that dwelt in the
town of Apostasy.  But he did not perfectly see his face, for he
did hang his head like a thief that is found.  But being once past,
Hopeful looked after him, and espied on his back a paper with this
inscription, “Wanton professor and damnable apostate”.

Then said Christian to his fellow, Now I call to remembrance, that
which was told me of a thing that happened to a good man hereabout.
The name of the man was Little-faith, but a good man, and he dwelt
in the town of Sincere.  The thing was this: — At the entering
in at this passage, there comes down from Broad-way Gate, a lane
called Dead Man’s Lane; so called because of the murders that are
commonly done there; and this Little-faith going on pilgrimage,
as we do now, chanced to sit down there, and slept.  Now there
happened, at that time, to come down the lane, from Broad-way Gate,
three sturdy rogues, and their names were Faint-heart, Mistrust,
and Guilt, (three brothers), and they espying Little-faith, where
he was, came galloping up with speed.  Now the good man was just
awake from his sleep, and was getting up to go on his journey.
So they came up all to him, and with threatening language bid him
stand.  At this Little-faith looked as white as a clout, and had
neither power to fight nor fly.  Then said Faint-heart, Deliver thy
purse.  But he making no haste to do it (for he was loath to lose
his money), Mistrust ran up to him, and thrusting his hand into
his pocket, pulled out thence a bag of silver.  Then he cried out,
Thieves!  Thieves!  With that Guilt, with a great club that was
in his hand, struck Little-faith on the head, and with that blow
felled him flat to the ground, where he lay bleeding as one that
would bleed to death.  All this while the thieves stood by.  But,
at last, they hearing that some were upon the road, and fearing
lest it should be one Great-grace, that dwells in the city of
Good-confidence, they betook themselves to their heels, and left
this good man to shift for himself.  Now, after a while, Little-faith
came to himself, and getting up, made shift to scrabble on his way.
This was the story.

{312} HOPE. But did they take from him all that ever he had?

Chr.  No; the place where his jewels were they never ransacked, so
those he kept still.  But, as I was told, the good man was much afflicted
for his loss, for the thieves got most of his spending-money.  That
which they got not (as I said) were jewels, also he had a little
odd money left, but scarce enough to bring him to his journey’s
end [1 Peter 4:18]; nay, if I was not misinformed, he was forced
to beg as he went, to keep himself alive; for his jewels he might
not sell.  But beg, and do what he could, he went (as we say) with
many a hungry belly the most part of the rest of the way.

{313} HOPE. But is it not a wonder they got not from him his certificate,
by which he was to receive his admittance at the Celestial Gate?

CHR. It is a wonder; but they got not that, though they missed it
not through any good cunning of his; for he, being dismayed with
their coming upon him, had neither power nor skill to hide anything;
so it was more by good Providence than by his endeavour, that they
missed of that good thing.

{314} HOPE. But it must needs be a comfort to him, that they got
not his jewels from him.

CHR. It might have been great comfort to him, had he used it as
he should; but they that told me the story said, that he made but
little use of it all the rest of the way, and that because of the
dismay that he had in the taking away his money; indeed, he forgot
it a great part of the rest of his journey; and besides, when at any
time it came into his mind, and he began to be comforted therewith,
then would fresh thoughts of his loss come again upon him, and
those thoughts would swallow up all.  [1 Peter 1:9]

{315} HOPE. Alas!  poor man!  This could not but be a great grief
to him.

CHR. Grief!  ay, a grief indeed.  Would it not have been so to any
of us, had we been used as he, to be robbed, and wounded too, and
that in a strange place, as he was?  It is a wonder he did not die
with grief, poor heart!  I was told that he scattered almost all
the rest of the way with nothing but doleful and bitter complaints;
telling also to all that overtook him, or that he overtook in the
way as he went, where he was robbed, and how; who they were that
did it, and what he lost; how he was wounded, and that he hardly
escaped with his life.

{316} HOPE. But it is a wonder that his necessity did not put him
upon selling or pawning some of his jewels, that he might have
wherewith to relieve himself in his journey.

CHR. Thou talkest like one upon whose head is the shell to this
very day; for what should he pawn them, or to whom should he sell
them?  In all that country where he was robbed, his jewels were not
accounted of; nor did he want that relief which could from thence
be administered to him.  Besides, had his jewels been missing at the
gate of the Celestial City, he had (and that he knew well enough)
been excluded from an inheritance there; and that would have been
worse to him than the appearance and villainy of ten thousand
thieves.

{317} HOPE. Why art thou so tart, my brother?  Esau sold his
birthright, and that for a mess of pottage, and that birthright
was his greatest jewel; and if he, why might not Little-faith do
so too?  [Heb.  12:16]

CHR. Esau did sell his birthright indeed, and so do many besides,
and by so doing exclude themselves from the chief blessing, as
also that caitiff did; but you must put a difference betwixt Esau
and Little-faith, and also betwixt their estates.  Esau’s birthright
was typical, but Little-faith’s jewels were not so; Esau’s belly
was his god, but Little-faith’s belly was not so; Esau’s want lay
in his fleshly appetite, Little-faith’s did not so.  Besides, Esau
could see no further than to the fulfilling of his lusts; “Behold,
I am at the point to die, (said he), and what profit shall this
birthright do me?”  [Gen.  25:32] But Little-faith, though it was
his lot to have but a little faith, was by his little faith kept
from such extravagances, and made to see and prize his jewels
more than to sell them, as Esau did his birthright.  You read not
anywhere that Esau had faith, no, not so much as a little; therefore,
no marvel if, where the flesh only bears sway, (as it will in that
man where no faith is to resist), if he sells his birthright, and
his soul and all, and that to the devil of hell; for it is with
such, as it is with the ass, who in her occasions cannot be turned
away.  [Jer.  2:24] When their minds are set upon their lusts,
they will have them whatever they cost.  But Little-faith was of
another temper, his mind was on things divine; his livelihood was
upon things that were spiritual, and from above; therefore, to what
end should he that is of such a temper sell his jewels (had there
been any that would have bought them) to fill his mind with empty
things?  Will a man give a penny to fill his belly with hay; or can
you persuade the turtle-dove to live upon carrion like the crow?
Though faithless ones can, for carnal lusts, pawn, or mortgage,
or sell what they have, and themselves outright to boot; yet they
that have faith, saving faith, though but a little of it, cannot
do so.  Here, therefore, my brother, is thy mistake.

{318} HOPE. I acknowledge it; but yet your severe reflection had
almost made me angry.

CHR. Why, I did but compare thee to some of the birds that are of
the brisker sort, who will run to and fro in untrodden paths, with
the shell upon their heads; but pass by that, and consider the
matter under debate, and all shall be well betwixt thee and me.

HOPE. But, Christian, these three fellows, I am persuaded in
my heart, are but a company of cowards; would they have run else,
think you, as they did, at the noise of one that was coming on
the road?  Why did not Little-faith pluck up a greater heart?  He
might, methinks, have stood one brush with them, and have yielded
when there had been no remedy.

CHR. That they are cowards, many have said, but few have found it
so in the time of trial.  As for a great heart, Little-faith had
none; and I perceive by thee, my brother, hadst thou been the man
concerned, thou art but for a brush, and then to yield.

And, verily, since this is the height of thy stomach, now they are
at a distance from us, should they appear to thee as they did to
him they might put thee to second thoughts.

{319} But, consider again, they are but journeymen thieves, they
serve under the king of the bottomless pit, who, if need be, will
come into their aid himself, and his voice is as the roaring of a
lion.  [1 Pet.  5:8] I myself have been engaged as this Little-faith
was, and I found it a terrible thing.  These three villains set
upon me, and I beginning, like a Christian, to resist, they gave
but a call, and in came their master.  I would, as the saying is,
have given my life for a penny, but that, as God would have it,
I was clothed with armour of proof.  Ay, and yet, though I was so
harnessed, I found it hard work to quit myself like a man.  No man
can tell what in that combat attends us, but he that hath been in
the battle himself.

{320} HOPE. Well, but they ran, you see, when they did but suppose
that one Great-grace was in the way.

CHR. True, they have often fled, both they and their master, when
Great-grace hath but appeared; and no marvel; for he is the King’s
champion.  But, I trow, you will put some difference betwixt
Little-faith and the King’s champion.  All the King’s subjects
are not his champions, nor can they, when tried, do such feats of
war as he.  Is it meet to think that a little child should handle
Goliath as David did?  Or that there should be the strength of
an ox in a wren?  Some are strong, some are weak; some have great
faith, some have little.  This man was one of the weak, and therefore
he went to the wall.

Sections 301-310

{301} 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, pointing to them among
the tombs, came once on pilgrimage, as you do now, even till 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 been a while 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.”  [Pro.  21:16] Then
Christian and Hopeful looked upon one another, with tears gushing
out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds.

{302} Then I saw in my dream, that the Shepherds had them to another
place, in a bottom, where was a door in 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.  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?

{303} 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 further, 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.

{304} By this time the Pilgrims had a desire to go forward, and
the Shepherds a desire they should; so they walked together towards
the end of the mountains.  Then said the Shepherds one to another,
Let us here show to the Pilgrims the gates of the Celestial City,
if they have skill to look through our perspective glass.  The
Pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion; so they had them to
the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them their glass to
look.

{305} Then they essayed to look, but the remembrance of that last
thing that the Shepherds had shown them, made their hands shake;
by means of which impediment, they could not look steadily through
the glass; yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and
also some of the glory of the place.  Then they went away, and sang
this song –

Thus, by the Shepherds, secrets are reveal’d,
Which from all other men are kept conceal’d.
Come to the Shepherds, then, if you would see
Things deep, things hid, and that mysterious be.

{306} When they were about to depart, one of the Shepherds gave
them a note of the way.  Another of them bid them beware 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.

{307} 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 left hand, lieth the country
of Conceit; from which country there comes into the way in which
the Pilgrims walked, a little crooked lane.  Here, therefore, they
met with a very brisk lad, that came out of that country; and his
name was Ignorance.  So Christian asked him from what parts he
came, and whither he was going.

{308} 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 people do, said he.

CHR. But what have you to show at that gate, that may cause that
the gate should be opened to you?

IGNOR. I know my Lord’s will, and I 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.

{309} CHR. But thou camest not in at the wicket-gate that is at the
head of this way; thou camest in hither through that same crooked
lane, and therefore, I fear, however thou mayest think of thyself,
when the reckoning day shall come, thou wilt have laid to thy charge
that thou art a thief and a robber, instead of getting admittance
into the city.

IGNOR. Gentlemen, ye be utter strangers to me, I know you not; be
content and follow the religion of your country, and I will follow
the religion of mine.  I hope all will be well.  And as for the
gate that you talk of, all the world knows that that is a great way
off of our country.  I cannot think that any man in all our parts
doth so much as know the way to it, nor need they matter whether
they do or no, since we have, as you see, a fine, pleasant green
lane, that comes down from our country, the next way into the way.

{310} When Christian saw that the man was “wise in his own conceit”,
he said to Hopeful, whisperingly, “There is more hope of a fool
than of him.”  [Prov.  26:12] And said, moreover, “When he that is
a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to
every one that he is a fool.”  [Eccl.  10:3] What, shall we talk
further with him, or out-go him at present, and so leave him to
think of what he hath heard already, and then stop again for him
afterwards, and see if by degrees we can do any good to him?  Then
said Hopeful –

Let Ignorance a little while now muse
On what is said, and let him not refuse
Good counsel to embrace, lest he remain
Still ignorant of what’s the chiefest gain.
God saith, those that no understanding have,
Although he made them, them he will not save.

HOPE. He further added, It is not good, I think, to say all to him
at once; let us pass him by, if you will, and talk to him anon,
even as he is able to bear it.

Sections 291-300

{291} So when the morning was come, the Giant goes to them again,
and takes them into the castle-yard, and shows them, as his wife
had bidden him.  These, said he, were pilgrims as you are, once,
and they trespassed in my grounds, as you have done; and when I
thought fit, I tore them in pieces, and so, within ten days, I will
do you.  Go, get you down to your den again; and with that he beat
them all the way thither.  They lay, therefore, all day on Saturday
in a lamentable case, as before.  Now, when night was come, and
when Mrs. Diffidence and her husband, the Giant, were got to bed,
they began to renew their discourse of their prisoners; and withal
the old Giant wondered, that he could neither by his blows nor
his counsel bring them to an end.  And with that his wife replied,
I fear, said she, that they live in hope that some will come to
relieve them, or that they have picklocks about them, by the means
of which they hope to escape.  And sayest thou so, my dear?  said
the Giant; I will, therefore, search them in the morning.

{292} Well, on Saturday, about midnight, they began to pray, and
continued in prayer till almost break of day.

Now a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed,
brake out in passionate speech:  What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus
to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when l may as well walk at liberty.
I have a Key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded,
open any Lock in Doubting Castle.  Then said Hopeful, That’s good
news; good Brother pluck it out of thy bosom and try.

A key in Christian’s bosom, called Promise, opens any lock in
Doubting Castle

Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the
Dungeon door, whose bolt (as he turned the Key) gave back, and the
door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out.
Then he went to the outward door that leads into the Castle-yard,
and with his Key opened that door also.  After he went to the iron
Gate, for that must be opened too, but that Lock went damnable
hard, yet the Key did open it.  Then they thrust open the Gate to
make their escape with speed; but that Gate as it opened made such
a creaking, that it waked Giant Despair, who hastily rising to
pursue his Prisoners, felt his limbs to fail, for his Fits took
him again, so that he could by no means go after them.  Then they
went on, and came to the King’s High-way again, and so were safe,
because they were out of his jurisdiction

{294} Now, when they were over the stile, they began to contrive
with themselves what they should do at that stile to prevent those
that should come after from falling into the hands of Giant Despair.
So they consented to erect there a pillar, and to engrave upon the
side thereof this sentence — “Over this stile is the way to Doubting
Castle, which is kept by Giant 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
What ’twas to tread upon forbidden ground;
And let them that come after have a care,
Lest heedlessness makes them, as we, to fare.
Lest they for trespassing his prisoners are,
Whose castle’s Doubting, and whose name’s Despair.

{295} 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, and did freely eat of the
vineyards.  Now there were on the tops of these mountains Shepherds
feeding their flocks, and they stood by the highway side.  The
Pilgrims therefore went to them, and leaning upon their staves, (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?

Mountains delectable they now ascend,
Where Shepherds be, which to them do commend
Alluring things, and things that cautious are,
Pilgrims are steady kept by faith and fear.

{296} SHEP. These mountains are Immanuel’s Land, and they are
within sight of his city; and the sheep also are his, and he laid
down his life for them.  [John 10:11]

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 that shall get thither indeed.

CHR. Is the way safe or dangerous?

SHEP. Safe for those for whom it is to be safe; but the transgressors
shall fall therein.  [Hos.  14:9]

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.  13:1-2]

{297} 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 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.

{298} The Shepherds, I say, whose names were Knowledge, Experience,
Watchful, and Sincere, took them by the hand, and had them to their
tents, and made them partake of that which was ready at present.
They said, moreover, We would that ye should stay here awhile, 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 their rest that night,
because it was very late.

{299} Then I saw in my dream, that in the morning the Shepherds called
up to Christian and Hopeful to walk with them upon the mountains;
so they went forth with them, and walked a while, having a pleasant
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 of a hill called Error,
which was very steep on the furthest 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 Hymeneus and Philetus as concerning the faith
of the resurrection of the body?  [2 Tim.  2:17,18] They answered,
Yes.  Then said the Shepherds, Those that you see lie 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.

{300} 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?

Sections 281-290

{281} CHR. Who could have thought that this path should have led
us out of the way?

HOPE. I was afraid on it at the very first, and therefore gave you
that gentle caution.  I would have spoken plainer, but that you
are older than I.

Christian’s repentance for leading of his brother out of the way

CHR. Good brother, be not offended; I am sorry I have brought thee
out of the way, and that I have put thee into such imminent danger;
pray, my brother, forgive me; I did not do it of an evil intent.

HOPE. Be comforted, my brother, for I forgive thee; and believe,
too, that this shall be for our good.

CHR. I am glad I have with me a merciful brother; but we must not
stand thus:  let us try to go back again.

HOPE. But, good brother, let me go before.

CHR. No, if you please, let me go first, that if there be any danger,
I may be first therein, because by my means we are both gone out
of the way.

{282} HOPE. No, said Hopeful, you shall not go first; for your
mind being troubled may lead you out of the way again.  Then, for
their encouragement, they heard the voice of one saying, “Set thine
heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest; turn
again.”  [Jer.  31:21] But by this time the waters were greatly
risen, by reason of which the way of going back was very dangerous.
(Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way, when we
are in, than going in when we are out.) Yet they adventured to go
back, but it was so dark, and the flood was so high, that in their
going back they had like to have been drowned nine or ten times.

{283} Neither could they, with all the skill they had, get again to
the stile that night.  Wherefore, at last, lighting under a little
shelter, they sat down there until the daybreak; but, being weary,
they fell asleep.  Now there was, not far from the place where they
lay, a castle called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant
Despair; and it was in his grounds they now were sleeping:  wherefore
he, getting up in the morning early, and walking up and down in his
fields, caught Christian and Hopeful asleep in his grounds.  Then,
with a grim and surly voice, he bid them awake; and asked them
whence they were, and what they did in his grounds.  They told him
they were pilgrims, and that they had lost their way.  Then said
the Giant, You have this night trespassed on me, by trampling in
and lying on my grounds, and therefore you must go along with me.
So they were forced to go, because he was stronger than they.  They
also had but little to say, for they knew themselves in a fault.
The Giant, therefore, drove them before him, and put them into his
castle, into a very dark dungeon, nasty and stinking to the spirits
of these two men.  [Ps.  88:18] Here, then, they lay from Wednesday
morning till Saturday night, without one bit of bread, or drop of
drink, or light, or any to ask how they did; they were, therefore,
here in evil case, and were far from friends and acquaintance.  Now
in this place Christian had double sorrow, because it was through
his unadvised counsel that they were brought into this distress.

The pilgrims now, to gratify the flesh,
Will seek its ease; but oh!  how they afresh
Do thereby plunge themselves new griefs into!
Who seek to please the flesh, themselves undo.

{284} Now, Giant Despair had a wife, and her name was Diffidence.
So when he was gone to bed, he told his wife what he had done; to
wit, that he had taken a couple of prisoners and cast them into his
dungeon, for trespassing on his grounds.  Then he asked her also
what he had best to do further to them.  So she asked him what they
were, whence they came, and whither they were bound; and he told
her.  Then she counselled him that when he arose in the morning he
should beat them without any mercy.  So, when he arose, he getteth
him a grievous crab-tree cudgel, and goes down into the dungeon
to them, and there first falls to rating of them as if they were
dogs, although they never gave him a word of distaste.  Then he
falls upon them, and beats them fearfully, in such sort that they
were not able to help themselves, or to turn them upon the floor.
This done, he withdraws and leaves them there to condole their
misery and to mourn under their distress.  So all that day they
spent the time in nothing but sighs and bitter lamentations.  The
next night, she, talking with her husband about them further, and
understanding they were yet alive, did advise him to counsel them
to make away themselves.  So when morning was come, he goes to them
in a surly manner as before, and perceiving them to be very sore
with the stripes that he had given them the day before, he told
them, that since they were never like to come out of that place,
their only way would be forthwith to make an end of themselves,
either with knife, halter, or poison, for why, said he, should you
choose life, seeing it is attended with so much bitterness?  But
they desired him to let them go.  With that he looked ugly upon
them, and, rushing to them, had doubtless made an end of them
himself, but that he fell into one of his fits, (for he sometimes, in
sunshiny weather, fell into fits), and lost for a time the use of
his hand; wherefore he withdrew, and left them as before, to consider
what to do.  Then did the prisoners consult between themselves
whether it was best to take his counsel or no; and thus they began
to discourse: –

{285} CHR. Brother, said Christian, what shall we do?  The life that
we now live is miserable.  For my part I know not whether is best,
to live thus, or to die out of hand.  “My soul chooseth strangling
rather than life”, and the grave is more easy for me than this
dungeon.  [Job 7:15] Shall we be ruled by the Giant?

{286} HOPE. Indeed, our present condition is dreadful, and death
would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide;
but yet, let us consider, the Lord of the country to which we are
going hath said, Thou shalt do no murder:  no, not to another man’s
person; much more, then, are we forbidden to take his counsel to
kill ourselves.  Besides, he that kills another, can but commit
murder upon his body; but for one to kill himself is to kill body
and soul at once.  And, moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease
in the grave; but hast thou forgotten the hell, for certain the
murderers go?  “For no murderer hath eternal life,” &c.  And let
us consider, again, that all the law is not in the hand of Giant
Despair.  Others, so far as I can understand, have been taken
by him, as well as we; and yet have escaped out of his hand.  Who
knows, but the God that made the world may cause that Giant Despair
may die?  or that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock
us in?  or that he may, in a short time, have another of his fits
before us, and may lose the use of his limbs?  and if ever that
should come to pass again, for my part, I am resolved to pluck
up the heart of a man, and to try my utmost to get from under his
hand.  I was a fool that I did not try to do it before; but, however,
my brother, let us be patient, and endure a while.  The time may
come that may give us a happy release; but let us not be our own
murderers.  With these words Hopeful at present did moderate the
mind of his brother; so they continued together (in the dark) that
day, in their sad and doleful condition.

{287} Well, towards evening, the Giant goes down into the dungeon
again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel; but when he
came there he found them alive; and truly, alive was all; for now,
what for want of bread and water, and by reason of the wounds they
received when he beat them, they could do little but breathe.  But,
I say, he found them alive; at which he fell into a grievous rage,
and told them that, seeing they had disobeyed his counsel, it should
be worse with them than if they had never been born.

{288} At this they trembled greatly, and I think that Christian fell
into a swoon; but, coming a little to himself again, they renewed
their discourse about the Giant’s counsel; and whether yet they
had best to take it or no.  Now Christian again seemed to be for
doing it, but Hopeful made his second reply as followeth: –

{289} HOPE. My brother, said he, rememberest thou not how valiant
thou hast been heretofore?  Apollyon could not crush thee, nor
could all that thou didst hear, or see, or feel, in the Valley of
the Shadow of Death.  What hardship, terror, and amazement hast
thou already gone through!  And art thou now nothing but fear!
Thou seest that I am in the dungeon with thee, a far weaker man by
nature than thou art; also, this Giant has wounded me as well as
thee, and hath also cut off the bread and water from my mouth; and
with thee I mourn without the light.  But let us exercise a little
more patience; remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity Fair,
and wast neither afraid of the chain, nor cage, nor yet of bloody
death.  Wherefore let us (at least to avoid the shame, that becomes
not a Christian to be found in) bear up with patience as well as
we can.

{290} Now, night being come again, and the Giant and his wife being
in bed, she asked him concerning the prisoners, and if they had
taken his counsel.  To which he replied, They are sturdy rogues, they
choose rather to bear all hardship, than to make away themselves.
Then said she, Take them into the castle-yard to-morrow, and show
them the bones and skulls of those that thou hast already despatched,
and make them believe, ere a week comes to an end, thou also wilt
tear them in pieces, as thou hast done their fellows before them.