C!)cnp !Repfls$ttorp. 
 
 SUNDAY READING. 
 
 the 
 
 VALLEY OF TEAR 
 
 A VISION. 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 i 
 
 Sold by HOWARD and EVANS, 
 
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PART I. 
 
 
 
 Bear ye one another's Burthens. 
 
 NCE upon a time roethought I set out upon a 
 v, long journey, and the place through whim I 
 travelled appeared to be a dark Valley which was 
 called the Valley of Tea^. It had obtained this 
 name not only on account of the many sorrowful 
 adventures which poor passengers commonly mee* 
 with in their journey through it; but also because 
 most of these travellers entered it weeping and 
 crying, and left it in very great pain and anguish. 
 This vast Valley was full of people of all colours, 
 > ages, sizes, and descriptions- But whether white, 
 \ or black, or tawney, ail were travelling the same 
 1 road; or rather they were taking different little 
 1 paths which all led to the same common end. 
 Now it was remarkable that notwithstanding 
 the different complexions, ages, and tempers of 
 I this vast variety of people, yet all resembled each 
 other in this one respect, that each had a burthen 
 on his back which he was destined to carry through 
 the toil and heat of the day, until he should arrive 
 tya longer or shorter course, at his journey's end, 
 The.e burthens would in general have made the 
 pilgrimage quite intolerable, had not the Lord of 
 Valley, out of his great compassion for these 
 
 A 2 
 
poor pilgrims, provided among (] ier ^ 
 following 1 means for their 'relief. 
 
 In their full view over the entrance of the V<1 
 lev, there were written in great letters the f ]W 
 ing words : 
 
 BEAU YE ONE ANOTHER'* BURTHENS. 
 
 Now I saw in my vision that many of the tra« 
 yellers hurried on wichout stopping to read this 
 instruction, and others,, though they had o ace read 
 it, yet paid little or no attention to it. A third sort 
 thought it very good advice for other people, but 
 very seldom applied it to themselves. IrUftorf, I 
 saw that too many of those people were of opinion 
 that they had burthens enough of their own, and 
 that there was therefore no occasion to take upon 
 them those of others ; so, each tried to make his own 
 load as light, and his own journey as pleasant as he 
 could, without so much as once casting a thought 1 
 on a poor over-loaded neighbor. Here, however, 
 have to make a rather singular remark, bv which 
 I shall plainly shew the fpllV Qptii^se selfish people. 
 It was so ordered and contrived by the Lord of this 
 Valley, that if any one stretched out his hand to 
 lighten a neighbor's burthen, in fttct he never tailed ; 
 to find that he at that Srpprne nt afso lighteneatffewn. 
 Besides, the obligation to ffejp each other, and the 
 benefit of doing so, were n i u't ha I . I f a man helped 
 his neighbor, it commonly happened that some 
 other" neighbor came ey -a..d-by and helped hiin in 
 tils turn; for there w'as no such thing as wliat we 
 Ctyl independence in the who]- Valley. Not one o . 
 all these travellers however sLou!: and strong, tow 
 move on comfortably without assistance, for so the 
 Lord of the Valley, whose laws were all of then 1 
 kind ^nd good, had expressly ordained, ^ 
 
 i— rA 
 
i ctood still to wife* the progress of these poor 
 faring people, who moved slowly on, like so 
 W fnv ticket- porters, with burthens of various 
 Ss on their backs ; of which some were heavier, 
 
 Id some were lighter, but from a burthen of one 
 kind or other, not one traveller was entirely free. 
 
 The WIDOW. 
 
 A sorrowful widow, oppressed with the burthen 
 of grief for the loss of an affectionate husband, 
 would have been bowed down by her heavy load, 
 had not the surviving children with great alacrity 
 stepped forward and supported her. Their kind- 
 ness after a while, so much lightened the load 
 which threatened at first to be intolerable, that she 
 even went on her way with cheerfulness. 
 
 The HUSBAND. 
 
 I next saw a poor old man tottering under a 
 burthen so heavy, that I expected him every mo- 
 ment to sink under it. I peeped into his pack, 
 and saw it was made up of many sad articles; there 
 was poverty, oppression, sickness, debt, and what 
 made by far the heaviest pairr, undutiful children. 
 I was wondering how it was that he got on even 
 so, well as he aid, till I spied his wife, a kind, 
 meek, Christian 'woman, who was doing her ut- 
 most to assist him. She quietly got behind, gently 
 ^id her shoulder to the burthen, and carried a 
 much larger proportion of it than appeared to me 
 Jfffl^B I was at a distance. She not only sustained 
 mm by her strength, but cheered him by her coun- 
 t's. She told him that " through much tribula- 
 , hon vve must enter into rest ;" that " he that over- 
 coinech shall inherit aii things/' In short, she so 
 
6 
 
 supported his fainting spirit, that he was emli i 
 to « run with patience the race that was set w 
 him," before 
 
 The KIND NEIGHBOR. 
 
 An infirm blind woman was creeping forward with 
 a very heavy burtpen in which were packed sick- 
 ness and want, with numberless other of those raw 
 materials, out of which human misery is worked 
 up. She was so weak that she could not have got 
 on at all, had it not been for the kind assistance of 
 another woman almost as poor as herself; who, 
 though she had no light burthen of her own, cheer- 
 fully lent an helping hand to a fellow traveller 
 who was still more heavily laden. This friend 
 had indeed-little or nothing to give, but the very 
 voice of kindness is soothing to the weary. And 
 I remarked in many other cases, that it was not 
 so much the degree of the help afforded, as the 
 manner of helping that lightened the burthens. 
 Some had a coarse, rough, clumsy way of assisting 
 a neighbor, which, though in fact it might be of 
 real use, yet seemed, by galling travellers to 
 add to the load it was intended to lighten; while 
 I observed in others that so cheap a kindness as a 
 mild word, or even an affectionate look made a 
 poor burthened wretch move on cheerily. The 
 bare feeling that some human betog cared for him, 
 seemed to lighten the load. But to return to this 
 kind neighbor. She had a little old book in her 
 hand, the covers of which were worn out by much 
 use. When she saw the blind woman ready to 
 faint, she. would read her a few words out of this 
 book, such as the following — * Blessed are the 
 poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven/' 
 
j i -re they that mourn, for they shall 
 , j Blessea a ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ leaye theg nor for . 
 
 be comf°rt«- (i ^ ^ ljght £ ffliction which is but 
 
 sakC ^Lent worketh out for us a far more ex- 
 Sn g ra eternal weight of glory." 
 
 The CLERGYMAN. 
 
 a pious 'minister, sinking under the weight of 
 J distressed parish.whose worldly wants he was to- 
 X unable to bear, was suddenly relieved by a 
 
 Kdow who came up and took all the sick 
 S h ng on her own shoulders. The burthen 
 he Parish thus divided became tolerable The 
 minister, being no longer bowed down by the 
 temporal distresses of his people, applied himself 
 cheerfully to his own part of the weight. And it 
 was pleasant to see how those two persons, neither 
 of them very strong, or rich, or healthy, by thus 
 kindly uniting together, were enabled to bear the 
 weight of a whole parish. ; though singly, either ot 
 them must have sunk under the attempt. And 1 
 remember one great grief I felt during my whole 
 journey was, that I did not see more of this union 
 and concurring kindness, by which all the burthens 
 might have been so easily divided. It troubled me 
 to observe, that of all the laws of the Valley there 
 was not one more frequently broken than the law 
 of kindness. 
 
 The NEGROES. J 
 
 I now spied a swarm of poor black men, women, 
 and children, a multitude which no man could 
 number; these groaned,, and toiled, and sweated, 
 and bled under far heavier loads than I had yet 
 tfcra, But for a while no man helped them ; at length 
 
9 
 
 a few white travellers were touched with the 
 rowful sighings of those millions, and ve ry hearth 
 did they put their hands to the burthens • hi 
 thjeir number was not quite equal to the work'th^ 
 had undertaken. I perceived, however, that th/ 
 never lost sight of those poor heavy -laden wretches^ 
 and as the number of these generous helpers en- 
 creased, I felt a comfortable hope, that before all 
 the blacks got out of the Valley, the whites would 
 fairly divide the burthen, and the loads would be 
 effectually lightened. 
 
 Among the travellers, I had occasion to remark, 
 that those who most kicked and struggled under 
 their burthens, only made them so much the hea- 
 vier, for their shoulders became extremely galled 
 .'.y diose vain struggles. The load, if borne pa- 
 tiently, would in the end have turned even to the 
 advantage of the bearers (for so the Lord of the 
 Valley had kindly decreed) but as to these grum- 
 blers they had all the smart and none of the benefit. 
 But, the thing which made all these burthens seem 
 so very heavy was, that in every one without ex- 
 ception, there was a certain inner pacquet, which 
 most of the travellers took pains to conceal, and 
 carefully wrapt up, and while they were forward 
 enough to complain of the other part of their bur- 
 thens, few said a word about this ; though in truth 
 it was the pressing weight of this secret pacqutt 
 which served to render the general burthen so in- 
 tolerable, in spite of all their caution, I contrived 
 to get a peep at it, I found in each that this pacquet 
 had the same label; the word sin was written on 
 all as a general title, and in ink so black that they 
 could not wash it out. i observed that most of 
 them took no small pains to hide the writing, but 
 
9 
 
 I was surprised to see. that they- did not try to get 
 r id of the load but the labeL If any kind friend 
 w hu assisted these people in bearing their burthens, 
 did but so much as hint at the secret pacquet, or ad- 
 vise them to get rid of it, they took fire at once, 
 and commonly denied they had any such article in 
 their portmanteau; arid it was those,whose secret 
 pcqurt swelkd:to -the most enormous size, wllo 
 most stoutly denied they had any. 
 
 I saw with pleasure, however, that some who 
 had long labored heartilv to get rid of this inward 
 pacquet at length found it much diminished, and 
 the more this pacquet shrunk in size, the lighter 
 was the other part of their burthens also. 
 
 Then, nietheught, all at once, I heard a voice 
 as it had been the voice of an angel, crying out 
 and saying, "Ye unhappy pilgrims, why are ye 
 troubled about the burthen which ye are doomed 
 to bear through this Valley of Tears ? Know ye not 
 I that as soon as ye shall ha ve escaped out of this 
 Valley, the whole burthen shall drop off provided 
 ye neglect not to remove that inward weight of sim 
 which principally oppresses you r Study- then the 
 whole will of the Lord of this Valley. Learn from 
 Mm how this heavy .part of your burthens may now 
 be lessened, and how at last it shall be removed for 
 ev er. Be comforted.' Faith and hope may cheer 
 you even in this Valley. The passage, though it 
 seems io;ig to weary travellers, is com parafi vely 
 Wt; for beyond there is a Land of evci i .sting 
 Nest wh.re ye shall hunger no more, neither 
 j lllrs t any more, where ye shall be led by living 
 0Untains of waters, and all tears shall be wiped 
 **aj iromyour eyes." 
 
 B 
 
PART II. 
 
 The Strait Gate and the Broad Way, 
 
 NOW I had a second vision of what was passing 
 in the Valley of Tears. Methought I saw 
 again the same kind of travellers whom 1 had seen 
 in the former part, and they were wandering at 
 large through the same vast wilderness. At first 
 setting out on his journey, each traveller had a 
 small lamp so fixed in his bosom chat it seemed to 
 make a part of himself, but as this natural light M 
 not prove to be sufficient to direct them in the right 
 way ; the King of the coun. • y. in pit\ to their wan- 
 derings and their blindness, c <; of his gracious 
 condescension, promised to give tfcese poor way- 
 faring people an additional supply of light from his 
 own royai treasury. But as he did not chuse to 
 lavish his favors where there seemed no disposition 
 to n : iVc them, he would not bestow any of his oil 
 on such as did not think it worth asking for. " Ask 
 and ye shall have/' ,was the universal rule he laid 
 down for them. Many were prevented from ask- 
 ing through pride and vanity, for they thought they 
 had light enough already, prefering the feeble 
 glimmerings of their own lamp, .to all the- offered 
 light from the King's treasury. Yet it was ob- 
 served of those who rejected it, as thinking they 
 
j n j c nougb, that hardly any acted up to what even 
 heir own natural light shewed them. Others were 
 deterred from asking, because they were told that 
 this light not only pointed out the dangers and diffi- 
 culties of the road, but by a certain reflecting power, 
 it turned inward on themselves, and revealed to 
 them ugly sights in their own hearts, to which they 
 rather chose to be blind; for those travellers " chose 
 darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
 were evil." Now it was remarkable that these two 
 properties were inseparable, and that the lamp 
 would be of little outward use, except to those who 
 used it as an internal reflector. A threat and a 
 promise also never failed to accompany the offer 
 of this light from the King; a promise, that to those 
 who improved what they had, more should be given ; 
 and a threat, that from those who did not use it 
 wisely, should be taken away even what they had. 
 
 I observed that when fchfc road was very danger- 
 ous; when terrors and difficulties and death beset 
 the faithful traveller j then on their fervent impor- 
 tunity, the King voluntarily gave large and boun- 
 tiful supplies of light, such as in common seasons 
 never could have been expected ; always propor- 
 tioning the quantity given to the necessity of the 
 case, "as their day was, such was their light and 
 strength." 
 
 Though many chose to depend entirely on their 
 own lamp, yet it was observed that this rrgtit was 
 ftpt to go out if left to itself. It was easily blown 
 aut by those violent gusts which were perpetually 
 howling through the wilderness, and indeed it was 
 the natural tendency of that unwholesome atmos- 
 phere co extinguish it, just as you have seen a 
 candle go out when exposed to the vapours and foul 
 
 B s 
 
 « 
 
12 
 
 air of a jamp room. It was a melancholy sie} f 
 sae multitudes of travellers heedlessly paring 
 boasting they had light enough, and despising 
 oiier of more. But what astonished me most of 
 all was, to see many, and some of thern toou 
 counted men of first rate wit, actually busy'in 
 blowing qut their own light, because while any spark 
 of it remained, 'it only served to torment them and 
 point out things which they did not wish to' see 
 And having once blown out their own light, they 
 were ffat easy till they had blown out that of their 
 neighbors also ; so that a good part of the wilder- 
 ness seemed :o exhibit a sort of universal W/«</. 
 man's bu£, each endeavoring to catch his neighbor, 
 while his own voluntary blindness exposed him to 
 be. caught himself, so that each was actually failing 
 into the snare he was laying for another, till at 
 length, as selfishness is the natural consequence of 
 blindness, " catch he that catch can," became the 
 general cry throughout the. wilderness. 
 
 Now 1 saw in my vision that there were some 
 others who were busy in strewing the most gaudy 
 flowers over the numerous bogs, precipices, and pit- 
 falls, with which the wilderness abounded, and thus 
 making danger and death look so gay, that poor 
 thoughtless creatures seemed to delight in their 
 own destruction. Those pit-falls did not appear 
 deep or dangerous to the eye, because over them 
 were raised gay edifices with a] iu ring names. These 
 were filled with singing men and singing women, 
 and with dancing, and feasting, and gaming, ard 
 drinking, and jollity, and madness. But though 
 the scenery was gay, the footing was unsoun'i 
 The floors were full- of holes, through which ihe 
 - unthinking merry- makers were continually .binking. 
 
i 3 
 
 Some tumbled through in the middle of a song, 
 many at the end of a feast ; and though there was 
 manv a cup of intoxication wreathed with flowers; 
 yet there was always poison at the bottom, hut 
 what most surprised me was, that though no day 
 pa.t over their heads in which some of those merry- 
 makers did not drop through, yet their loss made 
 little impression on those who were left. N?y y 
 instead of being awakened to more- circumspection 
 and self denial, by the continual dropping off of 
 those abo ut them, several of them seemed to borrow 
 from thence an argument of a direct contrary ten- 
 dency, and the very shortness of time was orsiv 
 urged as a reason to use it more sedulously fort&e 
 indulgence in sensual -delights. " Let' us eat rui & 
 drink, for tomorrow we die;*' — " t Lct us crawn 
 ourselves with rose-buds before.they are wit he red. JV 
 With these, and a thousand other such little motto*, 
 the gay garlands of the wilderness were decorat-.^' 
 Sonic admired poets were sen to work 10 set (he 
 most corrupt sentiments to the most furmoruc^ 
 tunes; these were sung without scrunle; chuiir 
 indeed by the looser sons of not, but nor sddom 
 also by the most orderly daughters of sobriety, who 
 were not ashamed to sing to the sound of £*shr& 
 ni ents, sentiments so corrupt and immoral, tint 
 m would have blushed to speak, or read them.;: 
 u t the nuisic seemed to sanctifv the corruption. 
 ^Peciady such as was connected with love or 
 
 :mg. 
 
 So I observe that all the travellers who iia,; 
 zndrt Ca ^ a ^ Park ° ni ^ ht ]eR > ^emed every now 
 tho ! aS they lnoycd °^'ards, to &$( aq eve 
 tow^a W i th Very diiferent degrees of ptteri***' 
 mrm the Happy Land which they v ere iold.Uix 
 
14 
 
 at the end of their jenrney ; but as they could i 
 see very far forward, and as they knew there w<is° 
 dark and shadowy Valley which must needs' be 
 crossed before they could attain to the Happy Land* 
 they tried to turn their attention from it as much 
 as they could. The truth i& they were not suffi- 
 ciently apt to consult a map which the King 
 given them, and wiiich pointed out the road to the 
 Happy Land so clearly, that the "way-faring men 
 though simple, c6uld not em.-' This map aka 
 defined very correctly the boundaries of the Happy 
 Land from the Land of Misery , bolh of w hich lay 
 on the other side of the dark and shadowy Valley; 
 -but so many beacons and light houses were erected, 
 so many clear and explicit directions furnished for 
 avoiding the one country and attaining the other, 
 that it was not the King's fault, if even one single 
 traveller got wrong. But I am inclined to think 
 that in spite of the map, and the King's word, and 
 his offers of assistance to get them thither, that 
 the travellers in general did not heartily and truly 
 believe, after all, that there was any such country 
 as the Happy Land or at least the paltry and tran- 
 sient pleasures of the wilderness so besotted them, 
 the thoughts of the dark and shadowy Valley so 
 frightened them, that they thought they should be 
 more comfortable by banishing ali thought and 
 forecast. 
 
 Now I also saw in my dream, that there were 
 two roads through the wilderness, one of whicn 
 every "traveller must needs take. The first was 
 narrow, and difficult, and rough, but it was infallibly 
 safe. It did not admit the traveller to stray either 
 to the right hand or to the left, yet it was far from 
 being destitute of real comforts or sober pleasures. 
 
f 
 
 L5 
 
 f he other was a broad and tempting way, abounding 
 v; ith luxurious fruits and gaudy flowers to tempt 
 Qfe eye and please the appetite. To forget this 
 I dark Valley, through which every traveller was 
 ] well assurer! he must one day pass, seemed indeed 
 I tke ofejfcct bf general desire. To this grand end, 
 «]} t{ia( human ingenuity could invent was indus- 
 triously set to work. The travellers read, and they 
 wrote, and they painted, and they sung, and thev 
 danced, and they drank as they went along, not so 
 much because they all cared for these things, or 
 had any real joy in them, as because this restless 
 activity served to divert the r attention from evt 
 being fixed on the Dark and Shadony Valley. 
 
 The King, who knew the thoughtless tempers of 
 the travellers, ana how apt they were to forget 
 their journey's eno, had thought of a thousand little 
 kind attentions to warn them of their dangers. And 
 as we sometimes see in our gardens written on a 
 board in great letters, Beware of Spring Guns — 
 Man Traps are set here; so had this King 
 caused to be written and stuck up before the eyes 
 of the travellers, several little notices and cautions, 
 such as, "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruc- 
 tion." — "Take heed lest ye also perish." — " Woe 
 j to them that rise up early to drink wine." — " The 
 I pleasures of sin are but for a season," &c. Such 
 were the notices directed to the broad wuy travel- 
 lers; but they were so busily engaged in plucking 
 the flowers, sometimes before they were blown, 
 and in devouring the fruits, often before they were 
 ri pe, and in loading themselves with yellow claw 
 under the weight of which millions perished, that 
 * hev had no time so much as to look at the King s 
 sections, Many went wrong because they pcev 
 
If) 
 
 ferred a merry journey to a safe one, and because 
 tiit-y were terrified by certain notices chiefly \ n . 
 tended for the narrow -way. travellers, such as, "ye 
 shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoice:" 
 but had these foolish people allowed themselves 
 time or patience to read to the end, 'which they 
 seldom would do, they would ,have seen these com- 
 fortable -words added, "but your sorrow shall be 
 turned into joy*;" also, fyyailt joy no man takelh 
 from you and V. they diat.sow in tears shall reap 
 raj ay. 
 
 Now I also saw in my dream, that many travel- 
 lers who had a strong dread of ending at the Land 
 of Misery walked iw to the Strait Gate, hoping that 
 though the entrance was narrow, yet if they could 
 once ^et in, the road would widen; butwhat was 
 their grief, when on looking an ore closely they saw 
 written 011 the ihside, "'narrow is the way this 
 made them take fright ; they compared the inscrip- 
 tions with which' the whole way was lined, such as, 
 "be ye not conformed to this world; deny yourselves, 
 take up your cross/' with all the tempting pleasures 
 of the wilderness. Some indeed recollected the 
 fine descriptions they had read of the Happy Land, 
 Hie GoUlen City, and the River of Pleasures, and 
 thev sighed : but then, those joys were dibtant, and 
 from the faintness of their irgHt they soon got to 
 think that what was remote might be uncertain, 
 and while the piesent-good encreased in bulk by its 
 nearness, the distant good receded, diminished, dis- 
 appeared. Their f.ith (ailed , they would trust no 
 farther than they . could see ; they drew back and 
 got into the Broad JVay, taking a common but sad 
 refuge in the number and gaiety of their compa- 
 nions. When t/iese flint-hearted people, who yet 
 
17 
 
 had set out well, turned back, their light was quite 
 out out, and then they became worse than those 
 who had made no attempt to get in. " For it if 
 impossible ( that is, it is next to impossible ) for those 
 who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the 
 heavenly gifr, and the good word of God, and the 
 powers of the world to come, if they fall away, to 
 renew them again to repentance. " 
 
 A few honest humble travellers not naturally 
 stronger than the rest, but strengthened by their 
 trust in the King's word, came up by the light of 
 their lamps, and meekly entered in at the Strait 
 Gale. As they advanced farther they felt fess heavy, 
 and though the way did not in reality grow wider, 
 yet -they grew reconciled to the narrowness oTitv 
 especially when they saw the walls here and there 
 studded with certain je wels called premises, such 
 "he that endureth to the end shali be saved." And 
 " ray grace is sufficient for you." Some, when they 
 were almost ready to faint, were encouraged by 
 seeing that many niches in the Narrow trdy 
 were filled with statues and pictues of saints and 
 martyrs,w.ho had borne their testimony at the stake* 
 that the Narroiv Way was the s&fe way ; and 
 these travellers, "instead of sinking- at the sight of 
 the painted wheel and gibbet, the sword and the 
 furnace, were animated with these words written 
 under them, " those that wear white robes came 
 out of great tribulation, " and iC be ye followers of 
 those who through faith and patience inherit the 
 promises. " 
 
 In the mean time there came a great mul- 
 titude of travellers all from L-sodicca ; this was 
 the largest party 1 had yet seen ; these were neither 
 hoi nor cold ; they would riot give up future h< pe. 
 
 <. C " 4 " '* 
 
IS 
 
 they could not endure present pain; so they 
 contrived to decieve them elves, by fancying 
 that though they resolved to keep the Happy 
 Land in view, yet there must needs be many 
 different ways which led to it, no jloubt all 
 equally sure, without being all equally rough ; so 
 they set on foot certain little contrivances to attain 
 the end without using the means, and softened down 
 the spirit of the King's directions to fit them to their 
 own practice. Sometimes they would split a direc- 
 tion in two, and only used that half which suited 
 them. For instance, when they met with the fol- 
 lowing rule, <f trust in the Lord and be doing good," 
 they would take the first half, and make themselves 
 easy with a general sort of trust, that through the 
 mercy of the King all would go well with them, 
 though they themselves did nothing ; and on tlil 
 other hand, many made sure that a few good works 
 of their own- would do their business, and carry 
 them safely to the Happy Land] though they did 
 not trust in the Lord, nor place any faith hi hi? 
 word. Thus some perished by a lazy faith, and 
 others by a working pride. A large party of Pha- 
 risees now appeared, who had so neglected their 
 larilp, that they did not see their way at all though 
 they fancied themselves to be full of light; they 
 kept up appearances so well as to delude others, 
 and most effectually to delude themselves with 8 
 notion that they might be found in the right way a* 
 last. In this dreadful delusion they went on to the 
 end, and till they were finally plunged in the dark 
 Valley, never discovered the horrors which awaitea 
 them on the dismal shore. It was remarkable tha 
 while these Pharisees were often boasting w 
 bright their light burnt, in order to get the praise o 
 
19 
 
 nien, the humble travellers, whose steady light, 
 shewed their good works to others, refused all com- 
 mendation, and the brighter their light shined before 
 men, so much the more they insisted that they 
 ought to glory not in themselves, but their Father 
 which is in heaven. 
 
 I now set myself to observe what was the par- 
 ticular let, molestation and hindrance, which ob- 
 structed particular travellers in their endeavors to 
 enter in at the Strait Gate. I remarked a huge 
 portly man who seemed desirous of getting in, but 
 lie carried about him such a vast provision of bags 
 full of gold, and had on so many rich garments, 
 which stuffed hi m out so wide, that though he pushed 
 and squeezed, like one who had really a mind to get 
 in, yet he could not possibly do so. Then 1 heard 
 a voice crying, " Wo± to him who Joadeth himself 
 with thick clay." The poor man felt something 
 was wrong, and even went so far as to change some 
 of his more cumbersome vanities intoothers which 
 seemed less bulky, but still he and his pack were 
 much too wide for the gate. He would not how- 
 ever give up the matter so easily, but began to 
 throw away a little of the coarser part of his baggage, 
 but still I remarked that he threw away none of the 
 vanities which lay near his heart. He tried again, 
 but it would not do, still his dimensions were too 
 krge. He now looked up and read these words, 
 "how hardly shall those who have riches enter into 
 [ ne kingdom of God." The poor man sighed to 
 fr' J d that it was impossible to enjoy his fill of. both 
 worlds, and <e went away sorrow ing." If he ever 
 afterwards cast a thought towards the Happy Land, 
 ^Was only to regret that the road which led to it 
 Wa $ too narrow to admit any but the meagre chil* 
 
 C % 
 
20 
 
 dren of want, who were not so encumbered by 
 wealth as to be too big for the passage. Had he 
 read on, he would have seen that " with Qod all 
 things are possible." 
 
 . Another advanced with much .confidence of suc- 
 cess, for having little worldly riches or honours, the 
 gate did not seem so strait to him. He got to the 
 threshold triumphantly, and seemed to look back 
 with disdain on all that he was -quitting. He soon 
 found, however, that he was so bloated with pride 
 and stuffed out with self-sufficiency, th^t he could 
 not get in. Nay, he was in a worse way than the 
 rich man just named ; foi> he wab willing to throw, 
 away some of his outward luggage, whereas this 
 man refused to part with a grain of that vanity and 
 self-applause which made him too big for the way. 
 The sense of his own worth so swelled him out, 
 that he stuck fast in the gateway, and could neither 
 get in nor out. Finding now that he must cut off 
 ail those big thoughts of himself if .he wished to 
 be reduced to such a size as to pass the gate, he 
 gave up all thoughts of it. He scorned that humi- 
 lity and self denial which might have shrunk him 
 down to the proper dimensions ; the more he in- 
 sisted on his own qualifications for entrance, the 
 more impossible it became, for the bigger he grew. 
 Finding that he must become quite another man- 
 ner of man before hecou id hope to get in, he gave 
 up the desire ; and new 1 saw that though when he 
 set his face towards the Happy Land he c0ui ^ n 
 get an inch forward, yet the instant he maae 
 motion to turn back into the world, his sBsea • s ^ 
 came rapid enough, and he got back into the 
 Way much sooner than he had got out oi it. 
 
°1 
 
 Many who for a time were brought down fiom 
 l y n,l balk by some affliction, seemed to get 
 the ' r ^ S e Thlv now thought all their difficu - 
 L^tT^hS Men surfeited with the world 
 SKeir late disappointment, they turned their 
 &J* it w.iiinglv enough. A he ot sickness, 
 i which is very apt to reduce, had for a time 
 ; 3 their bodies into subjection, so that they 
 Jer enabled just to pet in at the gateway ; but as 
 Toa as health and spirits returned, the way grew 
 S ower and narrower to them ; they could not 
 Lot. bat turned short, and got back into the 
 world.' I saw many attempt to enter who were 
 stooped short by a large burthen ol wondly cares; 
 others by a load of idolatrous attachments ; but 1 
 observed that nothing proved a more complete bar 
 than that vast bundle of prejudices with which 
 multitudes are loaded. Others were fatally ob- 
 structed by loads of bad trafeits which they would 
 not lay down, though they knew it prevented their 
 entrance. Some few howeve* ot most uescrip- 
 tions.who had kept their ligbi alive by craving con- 
 stant supplies from the King's treasury, got 
 through at last by a strength which they felt not 
 to be their own. One poor man who earned the 
 largest bundle of bad habits 1 had seen, could not 
 get on a step ; he never ceased however to implore 
 tor light enough to see where his misery by ; he 
 threw down one of his bundles, then another, but 
 all to little purpose ; stall he could not stir. At 
 ^striving as if in agony, ( which is the true way 
 °f entering) he threw" down the heaviest article in 
 hhpack; this was' selfishness: the poor fellow felt 
 relieved at once, his light burnt brightly, and the 
 re st of his W as as nothing. 
 
Then I heard a great noise as of carpenters at 
 work. I looked what this might be, and saw many 
 sturdy travellers, who finding they were too bulky 
 to get through, took it into their heads not to re- 
 duce themselves, but to widen the gate; they 
 hacked on this side, and hewed on that; but all 
 their hacking, and hewing, and hammering, w.;$to 
 no purpose, they got only their labor for their 
 pains; it would have been possible for the;h to 
 have reduced themselves, but to widen the narrow 
 way was impossible. 
 
 What grieved me most was, to observe that 
 „many who had got on successfully a good way, now 
 stopped to rest and to admire their own progress. 
 While they were thus valuing themselves on their 
 attainments their light diminished. While these 
 were boasting how far they had left others behind, 
 who had set out much earlier, some slower tra- 
 vellers, whose beginning had not been so promising, 
 but who had walked circumspectly, now outstripped 
 them. These last walked "not as though they 
 had already attained ; but this one thing they did, 
 forgetting the things which were behind, they 
 pushed forward toward the mark for the prize of 
 their high calling/' These, though naturally weak, 
 yet by laying aside every weight, finished the race 
 that was before them. Those who had kept their 
 * 4 light burning," who were not c< wise in their own 
 conceit," who " laid their help on one that is 
 mighty," wdio had "chosen to suffer affliction 
 father than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sea- 
 son," came at length to the Happy Land. They 
 had indeed the Dark and Shadowy Valley to cross, 
 but even there they found a rod and a staff 'to com- 
 fort them, Their light/ instead of being put out 
 
23 
 
 |)v the damps of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, 
 often burnt with added brightness. Some indeed 
 suffered the terrors of a short eclipse ; but even 
 then their light, like that of a dark lanthorn, was 
 not put out, it was only hid for a while ; and even 
 these often finished their course with joy. But be 
 that as it might, the instant they reached the Happy 
 Land, all tears were wiped from their eyes, and 
 the King himself earns forth and welcomed them 
 into his presence, and put a crown upon their heads, 
 with these words, u Well done, good and faithful 
 rervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
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 — . — . — Mr. Fantom. 
 
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