They enter an Inn kept by Gaius.

291

Christiana then wished for an Inn for herself and her children, because they were weary. Then said Mr. Honest, There is one a little before us, where a very honourable disciple, one Gaius, dwells." So they all concluded to turn in thither; and the rather, because the old gentleman gave him so good a report. So when they came to the door, they went in not knocking; for folks use not to knock at the door of an Inn. Then they called for the Master of the house, and he came to them. So they asked if they might lie there that night ?

Gai. Yes, Gentlemen, if you be true men; for my house is for none but Pilgrims. (b) Then was Christiana, Mercy, and the boys, more glad, for that the Inn-keeper was a lover of Pilgrims. So they called for rooms, and he shewed them one for Christiana and her children, and Mercy, and another for Mr. Great-heart and the old gentleman.

Then said Mr. Great-heart, 'Good Gaius, what hast thou for supper? for these Pilgrims have come far to-day, and are weary.'

'It is late,' said Gaius, 'so we cannot conveniently go out to seek food, but such as I have you shall be welcome to, if that will content you.'

Gr.-H. We will be content with what thou hast in the house; forasmuch as I have proved thee, thou art never destitute of that which is convenient.

Then he went down and spake to the cook, whose name was Taste-that-which-is-good, to get ready supper for so many Pilgrims.—This done, he comes up again, saying, 'Come, my good friends, you are welcome to me, and I am glad that I have a house to entertain you; and while supper is making ready, if you please, let us entertain one another with some good discourse.' So they all said, Content.

Then said Gaius, Whose wife is this aged matron ? and whose daughter is this young damsel ?'

Gr.-II. The woman is the wife of one Christian, a Pilgrima in former times; and these are his four children. The maid

*Rom. xvi. 23.

(b) The spiritual refreshment arising from experimental and affectionate conversation with Christian friends, seems to be here more especially intended: yet the name of Gaius suggests also the importance of the apostle's exhortation, "Use hospitality without grudg ing." This ought to be attended to, even in respect of those with whom we have hitherto had no acquaintance, provided their characters are properly certified to us for we are all brethren in Christ.

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Great-heart celebrates Christian's Ancestors.

is one of her acquaintance; one that she hath persuaded to come with her on pilgrimage. The boys take all after their father, and covet to tread in his steps: yea, if they do but see any place where the old Pilgrim hath lain, or any print of his foot, it ministereth joy to their hearts, and they covet to lie or tread in the same.

Then said Gaius, 'Is this Christian's wife, and are these Christian's children? I knew your husband's father, yea, also his father's father. Many have been good of this stock; their ancestors first dwelt at Antioch.* Christian's progenitors (I suppose you have heard your husband talk of them,) were very worthy men. They have, above any that I know, shewed themselves men of great virtue and courage, for the Lord of the Pilgrims, his ways, and them that loved him. I have heard of many of your husband's relations, that have stood all trials for the sake of the truth. Stephen, that was one of the first of the family from whence your husband sprang, was knocked on the head with stones.f James, another of this generation, was slain with the edge of the sword. To say nothing of Paul and Peter, men anciently of the family from whence your husband came, there was Ignatius, who was cast to the Lions; Romanus, whose flesh was cut by pieces from his bones; and Polycarp, that played the man in the fire. There was he that was hanged up in a basket in the sun, for the wasps to eat; and he whom they put into a sack, and cast him into the sea to be drowned. It would be impossible utterly to count up all that family, that have suffered injuries and death for the love of a Pilgrim's life. Nor can I but be glad, to see that thy husband has left behind him four such boys as these. I hope they will bear up their father's name, and tread in their father's steps, and come to their father's end.'

Gr.-H. Indeed, Sir, they are likely lads: they seem to choose heartily their father's ways.

Gai. That is what I said; wherefore Christian's family is like still to spread abroad upon the face of the ground, and yet to be numerous upon the face of the earth: wherefore let Christiana look out some damsels for her sons, to whom they may be betrothed, that the name of their father and the house of his progenitors may never be forgotten in the world.

Hon. It is pity his family should fall and be extinct. Gai. Fall it cannot, but be diminished it may but * Acts xi. 26. † Acts vii. 59. 60. Acts xii. 2.

A Commendation of Women.

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let Christiana take my advice, and that's the way to uphold it.

'And Christiana,' said this Inn-keeper, 'I am glad to see thee and thy friend Mercy together here, a lovely couple. And may I advise, Take Mercy into a nearer relation to thee if she will, let her be given to Matthew, thy eldest son; it is the way to preserve a posterity in the earth.'-So this match was concluded, and in process of time they were married but more of that hereafter. (c)

Gaius also proceeded, and said, 'I will now speak on the behalf of women, to take away their reproach. For as death and the curse came into the world by a woman, so also did life and health: "God sent forth his Son made of a woman."* Yea, to shew how much those that came after did abhor the act of the mother, this sex in the Old Testament coveted children, if happily this or that woman might be the mother of the Saviour of the world. I will say again, that when the Saviour was come, women rejoiced in him before either man or Angel.† I read not, ever man did give unto Christ so much as one groat; but the women "followed him, and ministered to him of their substance." It was a woman that washed his feet with tears, and a woman that anointed his body to the burial. They were women that wept, when he was going to the Cross; and women that followed him from the Cross, and that sat by his Sepulchre when he was buried." They were women that were first with him at his resurrec

*Gen. iii. Gal. iv. 4. † Luke ii.

(c) The author availed himself of the opportunity, here presented him, of giving his opinion on a very important subject, about which religious persons often hold different sentiments. He evidently intended to say, that he deemed it generally most safe and ædvantageous to the parties themselves, and most conducive to the spread and permanency of true religion, for young Christians to marry; provided it be done in the fear of God, and according to the rules of his word. Yet we cannot suppose but he would readily have allowed of exceptions to this rule for there are individuals, who, continuing single, employ that time and those talents in assiduously doing good, which in the married state must have been greatly abridged or pre-occupied; and thus they are more extensively useful than their brethren. Yet, in common cases, the training up of a family, by the combined efforts of pious parents, in honesty, sobriety, industry, and the principles of true religion, when united with fervent prayer, and the persuasive eloquence of a good example, is so impor taut a service to the church and to the community, that few persons are capable of doing greater or more permanent good in any other way. But this requires strict attention to the rules of scripture, in every step of these grand concerns: for children, brought up in ungodliness and ignorance, among those who are strangers to the gospel, are far more hopeful, than such as have received a bad cducation, witnessed bad examples, and imbibocì. worldly principles, in the families of evangelical professors.

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What the Supper consisted of

tion morn; and women that brought tidings first to his disciples, that he was risen from the dead. Women therefore are highly favoured, and shew by these things, that they are sharers with us in the grace of life.'

Now the cook sent up to signify that supper was almost ready and sent one to lay the cloth, and the trenchers, and to set the salt and bread in order.

Then said Matthew, "The sight of this cloth, and of this fore-runner of the supper, begetteth in me a greater appetite to my food than I had before.'

Gai. So let all ministering doctrines to thee, in this life, beget in thee a greater desire to sit at the supper of the great King in his kingdom; for all preaching, books, and ordinances here, are but as the laying of the trenchers, and as setting of salt upon the board, when compared with the feast that our Lord will make us when we come to his house.

So supper came up; and first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the table before them; to shew that they must begin the meal with prayer and praise to God.t The heave-shoulder, David lifted his heart up to God with; and with the wave-breast, where his heart lay, with that he used to lean upon his harp when he played.-These two dishes were very fresh and good, and they all ate heartily thereof.

The next they brought up was a bottle of wine, as red as blood. So Gaius said to them, 'Drink freely, this is the true juice of the vine that makes glad the heart of God and man.' So they drank and were merry.-The next was a dish of milk well crumbled: but Gaius said, 'Let the boys have that, that they may "grow thereby."-Then they brought up in course a dish of butter and honey. Then said Gaius, 'Eat freely of this, for this is good to cheer up and strengthen your judgments and understandings.' This was our Lord's dish when he was a child: "Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good."-Then they brought him up a dish of apples, and they were very good tasted fruit. Then said Matthew, May we eat apples, since they were such, by and with which the serpent beguiled our first mother ?'

*Luke vii. 37-50. viii. 2, 3. xxiii. 27. xxiv. 22, 23. John ii. 3. xi. 2. Matt. xxvii. 55, 56-61. † Lev. vii. 32-34. x. 14, 15. Psa. xxv. 1. Heb. xiii. 15. + Deut. xxxii. 14. Judges ix. 13. John xv. 5. Isa. vil. 15,

1 Pet. ii. 1, 2.

The Apples and the Nuts.

"Then said Gaius,

'Apples were they with which we were beguil'd,
Yet sin, not apples, hath our souls defil'd:
Apples forbid, if ate, corrupt the blood;

To eat such when commanded, does us good:

Drink of his flaggons, then, thou Church his Dove,

And eat his apples, who are sick of love,'

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Then said Matthew, 'I made the scruple, because a while since, I was sick with eating of fruit.'

Gai. Forbidden fruit will make you sick, but not what our Lord has tolerated.

While they were thus talking, they were presented with another dish, and it was a dish of nuts.* Then said some at the table, 'Nuts spoil tender teeth, especially the teeth of the children.' Which when Gaius heard, he said:

'Hard texts are nuts, (I will not call them cheaters,)
Whose shells do keep their kernels from the eaters:
Ope then the shells, and you shall have the ineat;

They here are brought for you to crack and eat.' (d)

Then they were very merry, and sat at the table a long time, talking of many things. Then said the old gentleman, 'My good landlord, while ye are cracking your nuts, if you please, do you open this riddle:

A man there was, (though some did count him mad,)

The more he cast away the more he had.'

* Sol. Song vi. 11.

(d) The different parts of social worship and Christian fellowship are here allegorically described. The heave-shoulder and wave-breast prescribed in the ceremonial law, seem to have typified the power and love of our great High Priest; and to have conveyed an instruction to the priests to do their work with all their might, and with their whole heart : but they are here supposed to be also emblems of fervent prayer and grateful praise.-The wine represents the exhilarating remembrance of the love of Christ in shedding his blood for us, and the application of the blessing to ourselves by living faith. The milk is the emblem of the plain, simple, and important instructions of scripture, as brought forward by believers, when they meet together, for their edification.-The butter and honey may denote those animating views of God, and realizing anticipations of heavenly joy, which tend greatly to establish the judgment, instruct the understanding, and determine the affections in cleaving to the good part that the believer hath chosen.-The apples represent the promises and privileges, which believers possess by communion with Christ, in his or dinances ;* and the nuts signify such difficult subjects as experience and observation ena ble mature Christians to understand; and which amply repay the pains of endeavouring to penetrate their meaning, though they are not proper for the discussion of young converts.→→ Whatever unbelievers may think, a company of Christians, employing themselves in the manner here described, have far sweeter enjoyments, than they ever experienced when engaged in the mirth, diversions, and pleasures of the world: for these are merely the shadow of joy, but religion puts us in possession of the substance,

* Sol. Song ii. 3.