The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan [most popular novels .txt] 📗

Go, tell them also of those dainty things,
That pilgrimage unto the Pilgrim brings.
Let them acquainted be, too, how they are
Beloved of their King, under His care:
What goodly mansions for them He provides,
Tho’ they meet with rough winds, and swelling tides,
How brave a calm they will enjoy at last,
Who to their Lord, and by His ways hold fast.

Perhaps with heart and hand they will embrace
Thee, as they did my firstling, and will grace
Thee, and thy fellows, with such cheer and fare,
As show will they of Pilgrims lovers are.

Objection 1

But how, if they will not believe of me
That I am truly thine; cause some there be
That counterfeit the Pilgrim and his name,
Seek, by disguise, to seem the very same;
And by that means have wrought themselves into
The hands and houses of I know not who?

Answer

’Tis true, some have of late, to counterfeit
My Pilgrim, to their own my title set;563
Yea others, half my name and title too
Have stitched to their book, to make them do;
But yet they, by their features, do declare
Themselves not mine to be, whose e’er they are.

If such thou meet’st with, then thine only way
Before them all, is, to say out thy say,
In thine own native language, which no man
Now useth, nor with ease dissemble can.
If, after all, they still of you shall doubt,
Thinking that you, like gipsies, go about

In naughty wise, the country to defile,
Or that you seek good people to beguile
With things unwarrantable; send for me,
And I will testify you pilgrims be.
Yea, I will testify that only you
My Pilgrims are; and that alone will do.

Objection 2

But yet, perhaps, I may inquire for him,
Of those that wish him damned, life and limb.
What shall I do, when I at such a door
For Pilgrims ask, and they shall rage the more?564

Answer

Fright not thyself, my book, for such bugbears
Are nothing else but ground for groundless fears.
My Pilgrim’s book has travell’d sea and land,
Yet could I never come to understand
That it was slighted, or turn’d out of door
By any kingdom, were they rich or poor.

In France and Flanders, where men kill each other,
My Pilgrim is esteem’d a friend, a brother.
In Holland too, ’tis said, as I am told,
My Pilgrim is with some worth more than gold.

Highlanders and wild Irish can agree
My Pilgrim should familiar with them be.
’Tis in New England under such advance,
Receives there so much loving countenance,
As to be trimm’d, new cloth’d, and deck’d with gems
That it may show its features and its limbs,
Yet more; so comely doth my Pilgrim walk,
That of him thousands daily sing and talk.565

If you draw nearer home, it will appear,
My Pilgrim knows no ground of shame or fear;
City and country will him entertain
With, Welcome Pilgrim; yea, they can’t refrain
From smiling, if my Pilgrim be but by,
Or shows his head in any company.

Brave gallants do my Pilgrim hug and love,
Esteem it much, yea, value it above
Things of a greater bulk: yea, with delight,
Say, My lark’s leg is better than a kite.

Young ladies, and young gentlewomen too,
Do no small kindness to my Pilgrim show.
Their cabinets, their bosoms, and their hearts,
My Pilgrim has, ’cause he to them imparts
His pretty riddles in such wholesome strains,
As yields them profit double to their pains
Of reading; yea, I think, I may be bold
To say, some prize him far above their gold.

The very children that do walk the street,
If they do but my holy Pilgrim meet,
Salute him well, will wish him well, and say,
He is the only stripling of the day.

They that have never seen him, yet admire
What they have heard of him, and much desire
To have his company, and hear him tell
Those pilgrim stories which he knows so well.

Yea, some who did not love him at the first,
But called him fool and noddy, say they must,
Now they have seen and heard him, him commend
And to those whom they love, they do him send.566

Wherefore, my Second Part, thou need’st not be
Afraid to show thy head; none can hurt thee,
That wish but well to him that went before,
’Cause thou com’st after with a second store
Of things as good, as rich, as profitable,
For young, for old, for stagg’ring, and for stable.

Objection 3

But some there he that say, He laughs too loud
And some do say, His head is in a cloud.
Some say, His words and stories are so dark,
They know not how, by them, to find his mark.

Answer

One may, I think, say, Both his laughs and cries,
May well be guess’d at by his wat’ry eyes.
Some things are of that nature, as to make
One’s fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache.
When Jacob saw his Rachel with the sheep,
He did at the same time both kiss and weep.

Whereas some say, A cloud is in his head,
That doth but show how wisdom’s covered
With its own mantles, and to stir the mind
To a search after what it fain would find.
Things that seem to be hid in words obscure,
Do but the godly mind the more allure
To study what those sayings should contain,
That speak to us in such a cloudy strain.

I also know a dark similitude
Will on the fancy more itself intrude,
And will stick faster in the heart and head,
Than things from similes not borrowed.
Wherefore, my book, let no discouragement
Hinder thy travels. Behold, thou art sent
To friends, not foes; to friends that will give place
To thee, thy Pilgrims, and thy words embrace.

Besides, what my first Pilgrim left conceal’d
Thou, my brave second Pilgrim, hast reveal’d;
What Christian left lock’d up, and went his way,
Sweet Christiana opens with her key.567

Objection 4

But some love not the method of your first;
Romance they count it, throw’t away as dust,
If I should meet with such, what should I say?
Must I slight them as they slight me, or nay?

Answer

My Christiana, if with such thou meet,
By all means, in all loving-wise, them greet;
Render them not reviling for revile;
But if they frown, I prithee on them smile;
Perhaps ’tis nature, or some ill report,
Has made them thus despise, or thus retort.

Some love no cheese, some love no fish, and some
Love not their friends,