heaven." Heb. xii, 25. He said, moreover, "Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Heb. x, 38. He also did thus apply them: Thou art the man that. art running into misery; thou hast begun to reject the counsel of the Most High, and to draw back thy foot from the way of peace, even almost to the hazarding of thy perdition. Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying "Wo is me, for I am undone !" At the sight of which Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, “All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men." " Matt. xii, 31. "Be not faithless, but believing." John xx, 27. Then did Christian again a little revive, and stood up trembling, as at first, before Evangelist. Then Evangelist proceeded, saying, "Give more earnest heed to the things that I shall tell thee of. I will now show thee who it was that deluded thee, and who it was also to whom he sent thee. That man that met thee is one Worldly Wiseman; and rightly is he so called; partly because he savoureth only of the doctrine of this world; (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church ;) and partly because he loveth that doctrine best, for it saveth him best from the cross; and because he is of this carnal temper, therefore he seeketh to pervert my ways, though right. Now there are three things in this man's counsel that thou must utterly abhor : "1. His turning thee out of the way. "2. His labouring to render the cross odious to thee. "3. And his setting thy feet in that way that leadeth to the administration of death. "First, Thou must abhor his turning thee out of the way; yea, and thine own consenting thereto; because this is to reject the counsel of God for the sake of the counsel of a Worldly Wiseman. The Lord says, 6 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate,' the gate to which I send thee; for strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'5 From this little wicket-gate, and from the way thereto, hath this wicked man turned thee, to the bringing of thee almost to destruction: hate, therefore, his turning thee out of the way, and abhor thyself for hearkening to him. Secondly, Thou must abhor his labouring to render the cross odious unto thee; for thou art to prefer it before the treasures of Egypt. Besides, the King of glory hath told thee, that he that will save his life shall lose it. And he that comes after him, and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. I say, therefore, for man to labour to persuade thee that that shall be thy death, without which, the truth hath said, thou canst not have eternal life; this doctrine thou must abhor. Thirdly, Thou must hate his setting of thy feet in the way that leadeth to the ministration of death. And for this thou must consider to whom he sent thee, and 5 The straitness of this gate is not to be understood carnally, but mystically. You are not to understand it as if the entrance into heaven was some little pinching wicket; no, the straitness of this gate is quite another thing; this gate is wide enough for all them that are truly gracious and sincere lovers of Jesus Christ, but so atrait, as that not one of the other can by any means enter in. The gates of the temple were six cubits wide; yet they were so strait that none that were unclean in anything might enter in thereat. 2 Chron. xxiii, 19.-Bunyan's Strait Gate. also how unable that person was to deliver thee from thy burden. "He to whom thou wast sent for ease, being by name Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is, and is in bondage with her children, (Gal. iv, 21, 27,) and is, in a mystery, this Mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy head. Now if she with her children are in bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality, therefore, is not able to set thee free from thy burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor ever is like to be: ye cannot be justified by the works of the law; for by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden. Therefore Mr. Worldly Wiseman is an alien, and Mr. Legality is a cheat; and for his son Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he is but a hypocrite, and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is no thou hast heard of these thing in all this noise that sottish men, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had set thee." After this, Evangelist called aloud to the heavens for confirmation of what he had said; and with that there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood, which made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were thus pronounced: "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that con. tinueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Gal. iii, 10. 6"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians ii, 16. Now Christian looked for nothing but death, and began to cry out lamentably; even cursing the time in which he met with Mr. Worldly Wiseman; still calling himself a thousand fools for hearking to his counsel. He also was greatly ashamed to think that this gentleman's arguments, flowing only from the flesh, should nave the prevalency with him so far as to cause him to forsake the right way. This done, he applied himself again to Evangelist in words and sense as follows: Chr. Sir, what think you? Is there any hope? May I now go back, and go up to the wicket-gate? Shall I not be abandoned for this, and sent back from thence ashamed? I am sorry I have hearkened to this man's counsel; but may my sin be forgiven? Then said Evangelist to him, "Thy sin is very great, for by it thou hast committed two evils; thou hast forsaken the way that is good, to tread in forbidden paths. Yet will the man at the gate receive thee, for he has good will for men; only," said he, "take heed that thou turn not aside again, lest thou 'perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."" Psa. ii, 12. Then did Christian address himself to go back; and Evangelist, after he had kissed him, gave him one smile, and bid him God speed; so he went on with haste, neither spake he to any man by the way; nor if any asked him, would he vouchsafe them an answer. He went like one that was all the while treading on forbidden ground, and could by no means think himself safe, till again he was got into the way which he had left to follow Mr. Worldly Wiseman's counsel. So, in process of time, Christian got up to the gate. Now, over the gate there was written, "Knock, and it shall oe opened unto you." Matt. vii, 7. |