PART 4.   

    Evangelist: What doest thou here, Christian? said he: at which words

   Christian knew not what to answer; wherefore at present he stood

   speechless before him. Then said Evangelist farther, Art not thou the

   man that I found crying without the walls of the city of Destruction?

   Christian: Yes, dear sir, I am the man.

   Evangelist: Did not I direct thee the way to the little wicket-gate?

   Christian: Yes, dear sir, said Christian.

   Evangelist: How is it then thou art so quickly turned aside? For thou

   art now out of the way.

   Christian: I met with a gentleman so soon as I had got over the Slough

   of Despond, who persuaded me that I might, in the village before me,

   find a man that could take off my burden.

   Evangelist: What was he?

   Christian: He looked like a gentleman, and talked much to me, and got

   me at last to yield: so I came hither; but when I beheld this hill, and

   how it hangs over the way, I suddenly made a stand, lest it should fall

   on my head.

   Evangelist: What said that gentleman to you?

   Christian: Why, he asked me whither I was going; and I told him.

   Evangelist: And what said he then?

   Christian: He asked me if I had a family; and I told him. But, said I,

   I am so laden with the burden that is on my back, that I cannot take

   pleasure in them as formerly.

   Evangelist: And what said he then?

   Christian: He bid me with speed get rid of my burden; and I told him it

   was ease that I sought. And, said I, I am therefore going to yonder

   gate, to receive farther direction how I may get to the place of

   deliverance. So he said that he would show me a better way, and short,

   not so attended with difficulties as the way, sir, that you set me in;

   which way, said he, will direct you to a gentleman's house that hath

   skill to take off these burdens: so I believed him, and turned out of

   that way into this, if haply I might be soon eased of my burden. But

   when I came to this place, and beheld things as they are, I stopped,

   for fear (as I said) of danger: but I now know not what to do.

   Evangelist: Then said Evangelist, Stand still a little, that I show

   thee the words of God. So he stood trembling. Then said Evangelist,

   "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who

   refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we

   turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven."  Heb. 12:25. 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. 10:38. He also did thus

   apply them: Thou art the man that art running into this 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, Woe 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. 12:31. "Be not faithless, but believing."  John 20:27. 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. The man that met thee

   is one Worldly Wiseman, and rightly is he so called; partly because he

   savoreth only the doctrine of this world,  1 John 4:5, (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, Gal.

   6:12: 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 laboring to render the cross odious to thee.

   3. And his setting thy feet in that way that leadeth unto 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,

   "Strive to enter in at the straight gate,"  Luke 13:24, the gate to

   which I send thee; "for strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and

   few there be that find it."  Matt. 7:13,14. 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 laboring to render the cross odious unto

   thee; for thou art to prefer it before the treasures of Egypt.  Heb.

   11:25,26. 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 his disciple.  Mark

   8:38; John 12:25; Matt. 10:39; Luke 14:26. I say, therefore, for a man

   to labor 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 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. 4:21-27, 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 nothing in all this noise

   that thou hast heard of these 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 pronounced: "As many as are of the works

   of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one

   that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the

   law to do them."  Gal. 3:10.

   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 hearkening to his

   counsel. He also was greatly ashamed to think that this gentleman's

   arguments, flowing only from the flesh, should have 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.

   Christian: 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?

   Evangelist: 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."  Psalm 2:12.

   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 be opened unto you."  Matt. 7:7.

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