Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

God speaketh to him; and full happy he
That finds the light and grace that in them be!
Be not too forward therefore to conclude
That I want solidness; that I am rude:
All things solid in shew, not solid be;
All things in parables despise not we,
Lest things most hurtful lightly we receive,
And things that good are of our souls bereave.

My dark and cloudy words they do but hold The truth as cabinets inclose the gold.

The prophets used much by metaphors To set forth truth; yea, whoso considers Christ, his apostles too, shall plainly see, That truths to this day in such mantles be. I'm not afraid to say that Holy Writ, Which for its style and phrase puts down all wit, Is every where so full of all these things, (Dark figures, allegories,) yet there springs From the same book, that lustre, and those rays Of light, that turn out darkest nights to days. Come, let my carper to his life now look, And find there darker lines than in my book He findeth any; yea, and let him know, That in his best lines there are worse lines too. May we but stand before impartial men,

To this poor one I dare adventure ten,

That they will take my meaning in these lines
Far better, than his lies in silver shrines.

Come, TRUTH, although in swaddling clouts I find,
Informs the judgment, rectifies the mind;
Pleases the understanding, makes the will
Submit; the memory too it doth fill

With what doth our imagination please :
Likewise it tends our troubles to appease.

Sound words I know TIMOTHY is to use,
And old wives' fables he is to refuse ;

But yet grave PAUL him no where did forbid
The use of Parables, in which lay hid

That gold, those pearls, and precious stones, that were
Worth digging for, and that with greatest care.
Let me add one word more; O man of God!
Art thou offended? Dost thou wish I had
Put forth my matter in another dress?
Or, that I had in things been more express?
To those that are my betters, is it fit,
Three things let me propound, then I submit.
1. I find not that I am deny'd the use
Of this method, so I do not abuse,

Put on the words, things, readers, or be rude
In handling figure or similitude.

In application: but all that I may
Seek the advance of truth this or that

way.

Denied, did I say? Nay I have leave
(Examples too, and that from them that have
God better pleased, by their words and ways
Than any man that breathes now in our days,)
Thus to express my mind, thus to declare
Things unto thee that excellentest are.

2. I find that men (as high as trees) will write
Dialogue ways; yet no man doth them slight
For writing so indeed, if they abuse
Truth, cursed be they, and the craft they use
To that intent; but yet let truth be free
To make her sallies upon thee and me

Which way it pleases God; for who knows how,
Better than he that taught us first to plow,
To guide our minds and pens for his design?
And he makes base things usher in divine.

3. I find that Holy Writ, in many places,
Hath semblance with this method, where the cases
Do call for one thing to set forth another;
Use it I may then, and nothing smother.
TRUTH'S golden beams: nay, by this method may
Make it cast forth its rays as light as day.
And now before I do put up my pen,
I'll shew the profit of my book and then
Commit both thee and it into that hand,

That pulls the strong down, and makes weak ones stand.
This book, it chalketh out, before thine eyes
The man that seeks the everlasting prize;
It shews you whence he comes, whither he goes;
What he leaves undone, also what he does;
It shews you how he runs, and runs
Till he unto the gate of glory comes.

It shews, too, who set out for life amain,
As if the lasting crown they would obtain;
Here also you may see the reason why
They lose their labour, and like fools do die.
This book will make a traveller of thee,
If by its counsel thou wilt ruled be;
It will direct thee to the holy land,

If thou wilt its directions understand;
Yea, it will make the slothful active be;
The blind also delightful things to see.

Art thou for something rare and profitable?
Or would'st thou see a truth within a fable?

Art thou forgetful? Or would'st thou remember
From New year's day, to the last of December?
Then read my fancies; they will stick like burs,
And may be to the helpless comforters.
This book is wrote in such a dialect,

As may the minds of listless men affect;
It seems a novelty, and yet contains

Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Would'st thou divert thyself from melancholy? Would'st thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly? Would'st thou read riddles and their explanation Or else be drowned in thy contemplation? Dost thou love picking meat? Or would'st thou sce A man i' th' clouds and hear him speak to thee? Would'st thou be in a dream and yet not sleep? Or, would'st thou in a moment laugh and weep? Or would'st thou lose thyself, and catch no harm? And find thyself again without a charm? Would'st read thyself, and read thou know'st not what, And yet know whether thou art bless'd or not, By reading the same lines? O then come hither! And lay my book, thy head and heart together. JOHN BUNYAN.

THE

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

PART 1.

As I walked through the wilderness of this world

I lighted on a certain place where was a den,* and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept I dreamed a dream.† I dreamed, and behold I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, ¶ a book in his hand, and a great burthen upon his back. || I looked and saw him open the book and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being longer

* The den in which he wrote this instructing allegory was Bedford gaol, where he was confined twelve years for conscience' sake.

The Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. Hab. ii. 2. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses arc as filthy rags. Isa. Ixiv. 6.

¶ Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Luke xvi. 33.

|| Mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. Psal. xxxviii. 4.

A

« ZurückWeiter »