Mount Caution. Then I saw that they had them to the top of another mountain and the name of that is Caution, and bid them look afar off; which, when they did, they perceived, as they thought, several men walking up and down among the tombs that were there: and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them.131 Then said Christian, What means this? 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." (Prov. xxi. 16.)132 Then Christian and Hopeful looked upon one another, with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds. 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, A by-way to hell. 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? 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. Aye, and you will have need to use it when you have it, too. 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.133 The Shepherds' The Pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion; so they perspective glass. had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them their glass to look. The Hill Clear. 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 fruits of serthe glass; yet they thought they saw something like the vile fear. gate, and also some of the glory of the place.134 Then they went away, and sang this song Thus, by the Shepherds, secrets are reveal'd, Come to the Shepherds, then, if you would see Things deep, things hid, and that mysterious be.135 When they were a note of the way. about to depart, one of the Shepherds gave them Another of them bid them beware A twofold Caution. of the Flatterer. The third bid them take heed that they sleep not upon the Enchanted Ground. And the fourth bid them Godspeed. So I awoke from my dream.136 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. The country of Conceit, out Ignorance. of which came 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. IGNOR. Sir, I was born in the country that lieth off Christian and there a little on the left hand, and I am going to the Ignorance have Celestial City. some talk. CHR. But how do you think to get in at the gate? for you may find some difficulty there. IGNOR. As other good 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 The ground of pay every man his own; I pray, fast, pay tithes, and give Ignorance's hope. alms, and have left my country for whither I am going. 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. He saith to every fool. IGNOR. Gentlemen, ye be utter strangers to me, I know you not; be content to follow the religion of your country, and I will follow the religion of mine. I hope all will be well. And as for one that he is a 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. 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. xxvi. 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." (Eccles. x. 3.) What, shall we talk further with How to carry it him, or out-go him at present, and so leave him to think to a fool. 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 |