{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.
