THE DREAM CONTINUED.

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frighted me most, that the angels gathered up several and left me behind; also, the pit of hell opened her mouth just where I stood. My conscience too afflicted me ;* and, as I thought, the Judge had always his eye upon me, showing indignation in his counte

nance.

Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Hast thou considered all these things?

CHR. Yes; and they put me in hope and fear.† INTERP. Well, keep all things so in thy mind, that they may be as a goad in thy sides, to prick thee forward in the way thou must go. Then Christian began to gird up his loins, and to address himself to his journey. Then said the Interpreter, The Comforter be always with thee, good Christian, to guide thee in the way that leads to the city. So Christian went on his way, saying

"Here I have seen things rare and profitable;

Things pleasant, dreadful, things to make me stable
In what I have begun to take in hand :

Then let me think on them, and understand
Wherefore they show'd me were; and let me be
Thankful, O good INTERPRETER, to thee.”

• Natural men's consciences are often alarmed and terrified, when there are no spiritual convictions? but such fears and terrors soon wear away, and do not generally issue in conversion.

Where there is a gospel hope, there will be a godly fear; both are netessary; both are the graces of the Holy Spirit. Fear makes us cautious; hope animates us.

88 CHRISTIAN'S BURDEN FALLS OFF AT THE CROSS.

CHAPTER VI.

CHRISTIAN LOSES HIS BURDEN AT THE CROSS.

NOW I saw in my dream, that the highway, up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. (a) Up this way therefore did burthened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.*

He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a Sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.†

Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death." Then he stood still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks.(6) Now, as he stood looking and weeping, behold three shining ones came to

* Our uphill difficulties is the way to the greatest comforts. Burdens are more felt when comforts are near at hand.

Christian had faith; he believed that there was redemption in the blood of Christ, even forgiveness of sins, before he came up to the cross, but now he finds and feels the comfort of it: He has now the joy of faith; the guilt of his sins is taken off his conscience, and he is filled with joy and peace in believing. You who believe Christ to be the only Saviour, go on believing till you experience the comfort of knowing that he is your Saviour, and feel pardon in his blood; for when God releases us of our guilt and burden, we are as those that leap for joy; but you cannot have this till you come to the cross, and rest all your hopes upon it.

CHRISTIAN'S EXULTATION.

89

him, and saluted him with "Peace be to thee:" so the first said to him, "Thy sins be forgiven thee;"(a) the second stripped him of his rags and clothed him with change of raiment; the third also set a mark on his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it,(b) which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate; so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing

"Thus far did I come laden with my sin,

Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither: what a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bind it to me crack?
Blest cross! blest sepulchre ! blest rather be
The MAN that there was put to shame for me!"

Here is the love and grace of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Pray mind; when God pardons the sinner through the blood of Christ, he also clothes him with the righteousness of Christ. Those who deny Christ's righteousness, never saw the purity of the law; their own nakedness, nor abhorred the filthy rags of their own righteousness. The author's uniform doctrine sufficiently shows, that he considered spiritual apprehensions of the nature of the atonement as the only source of genuine peace and comfort And as the "mark in the forehead" plainly signifies the renewal of the soul to holiness, so that the mind of Christ may appear in the outward conduct, connected with an open profession of the faith, while the roll with a seal upon it, denotes such an assurance of acceptance, as appears most clear and satisfactory, when the believer most attentively compares his views, experiences, desires and purposes, with the holy scriptures, so he could not possibly intend to ascribe such effects to any other agent than the Holy Spirit, who, by enabling a man to exercise all filial affections towards God in an enlarged degree, as the "spirit of adoption bears witness" with his conscience, that God is reconciled to him, having pardoned all his sins; that he is justified by faith, through the blood of Christ: and that he is a child of God, and an heir of heaven. These things are clear and in telligible to those who have experienced this happy change.

90

SIMPLE, SLOTH, AND PRESUMPTION.

CHAPTER VII.

CHRISTIAN FINDS SIMPLE, SLOTH, AND PRESUMPTION FAST ASLEEP-IS DESPISED BY FORMALIST AND HYPOCRISY--ASCENDS THE HILL DIFFICULTY-LOSES HIS ROLL, AND FINDS IT AGAIN.

I SAW then in my dream, that he went on thus even until he came at the bottom, where he saw, a little out of the way, three men fast asleep, with fetters upon their heels. The name of the one was Simple, another Sloth, and the third Presumption.*

CHRISTIAN then seeing them lie in this case went to them, if peradventure he might awake them; and cried, You are like them that sleep on the top of a mast, (a) for the dead sea is under you, a gulf that hath no bottom: awake, therefore, and come away; be willing also, and I will help you off with your irons. He also told them, If he that goeth about like a roaring lion comes by, you will certainly become a prey to his teeth.(b) With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this sort: Simple said, "I see no danger :" Sloth said, "Yet a little more sleep :" and Presumption said,

Every tub must stand upon its own bottom." And so they laid down to sleep again, and Christian went on Kis way.

ger

Yet was he troubled to think that men in that danshould so little esteem the kindness of him that so

*The Lord shows us the misery and danger of other professors, to give us warnings by the way, and to stir us up to watchfulness.

†There is no persuasion will do, if God openeth not the eyes. Remember, all is of grace. It is God's grace that quickens, enlightens, converts, justifies, preserves, sanctifies, and glorifies. Well may pilgrims sing every step:

FORMALIST AND HYPOCRISY.

. 91

freely offered to help them, both by the awakening of them, counselling of them, and proffering to help them off with their irons.* And as he was troubled thereabout, he spied two men come tumbling over the wall on the left-hand of the narrow way; and they made up apace to him. The name of the one was Formalist, and the name of the other Hypocrisy. So, as I said, they drew up unto him, who thus entered with them into discourse.

CHR. Gentlemen, whence come you, and whither go you?

FORM. and HYP. We were born in the land of Vain-Glory, and are going for praise to mount Zion.

CHR. Why came you not in at the gate which standeth at the beginning of the way? Know you not that it is written, that "He that cometh not in by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber?”(a)

They said, that to go to the gate for entrance was by all their countrymen counted too far about; and that, therefore, their usual way was to make a short cut of it, and to climb over the wall, as they had done.

CHR. But will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the city whither we are bound, thus to violate his revealed will?

They told him, that, as for that, he needed not trouble his head thereabout; for what they did, they had custom for; and could produce, if need were, testimony that would witness it for more than a thousand years.

But, said Christian, will your practice stand a trial at law?

A Christian spirit feels for others' dangers, and aims and strives to be profitable to them.

†They that come into the way, but not by the door, think that they can say something in vindication of their own practice.

(a) John x. 1.