EVANGELIS.'s instructions.

said I, I am therefore going to yonder Gate to receive further direction how I may get to the place of deliverance. So he said he would shew me a better way, and short, not so attended with difficulties, as the way, Sir, that you set me: 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.

I

Then, said EVANGELIST, Stand still a little, that

may shew thee the word of GOD.-So he stood trembling. Then said EVANGELIST," See that ye "refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not, who refuseth him that spake on earth, much 66 more shall we not escape, if we turn away from "him that speaketh from heaven." Heb. xii. 25. He said, moreover," Now the just shall live by faith; "but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no

pleasure in him." Heb. x. 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 foot as dead, crying, Woe is me, for I am undone. At the sight of which EVANGELIST caught him by the right hand,

Character of WORLDLY-WISEMAN.

saying," All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men;" Matt. xii. 31,-Mark iii. 28. "Be not faithless, but believing." 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 shew thee who it was that deluded thee, and who 'twas also to whom he sent thee. The man that met thee is one WORLDLY-WISEMAN, and rightly is he so called; partly because he favoureth only the doctrine of this world,* (therefore he always goes to the town of MORALITY to Church ;) and partly, because he loveth that doctrine best, for it saveth him from the cross;† 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:- His turning thee out of the way;-His labouring to render the cross odious to thee;-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

They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 1 John iv. 5.

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Gal. vi. 12:

What a christian must abhor.

The

sake of the counsel of a WORLDLY-WISEMAN. LORD says, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate, (the Gate to which I sent thee ;) "for strait is the

gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that "find it." Matt. vii. 13, 14.-Luke xiii. 24. 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 labouring to render the cross odious unto thee; "for thou art to "prefer it before the treasures of Egypt." Heb. xi. 25, 26. Besides the KING OF GLORY hath told thee, that, "he that shall 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 my disciple." Matt. x. 39.-Mark viii. 34, 35. Luke xiv. 26, 27.—John xii. 25. I say therefore, for a man to labour 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

The Law cannot take away sin.

bond-woman, which now is, and is in bondage with her children;* 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 yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor never is likely to be: "Ye can"not 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 else in all this noise that thou hast heard of this sottish man, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way 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 * Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bond-maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the

bond-woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants: the one from the mount Sina, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sina in Arabia, answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she whieh hath a husband. Gai. iv. 21-27.

CHRISTIAN repents.---is invited to return.

and fire out of the Mountain, under which poor CHRISTIAN stood, that made the hair of his flesh stand. The words were thus 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. iii. 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, following only from the flesh, should have that prevalency with him, to forsake the right way. This done, he applied himself again to EVANGELIST in words and sense as follows:

CHR. Sir, what think you: is there hopes? 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?

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 of 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 kinkled but "a little." Then did CHRISTIAN address himself to