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their answers, being pleased therewith, they looked very lovingly upon them, and faid, Welcome to the Delectable Mountains.

The fhepherds, I say, whose names were, Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere, took them by the hand, and had them to their tents, and made them partake of that which was ready at prefent. They faid, moreover, We would that you should stay here a while, to be acquainted with us, and yet more, to folace yourselves with the good of the Delectable Mountains. They then told them, that they were content to ftay; fo they went to their reft that night, because it was very late.

Then I faw, in my dream, that in the morning the fhepherds called up Christian and Hopeful to walk with them upon the mountains, So they went

P Knowledge, Experience, Watchfulness, and Șincerity, are four qualifications indifpenfably neceffary to every fhepherd who feeds the flock of Christ, over which the Holy Ghost has made him overfeer. He must have knowledge; for, how can he teach others the way, if he does not know it himself?He must have experience, otherwise he cannot speak feelingly, nor with authority, as a minifter and witness of those things which the Lord has taught him, saying, "That which I have feen and heard declare I unto you."-He must be watchful; not only taking heed to himself and his own doctrines, but watchful in reproving fin, reftoring backsliders, in oppofing and expofing error.-He must be fincere; not handling the word of God deceitfully, but in fimplicity, in godly fincerity, and honefty, as in the fight and fear of God, by the manifeftation of the truth, commending himself to each man's heart and confcience.

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forth with them, and walked a while, having a pleafant profpect on every fide. Then faid the shepherds one to another, Shall we fhew thefe pilgrims fome wonders? So when they had concluded to da it, they had them first to the top of a hill, called Error, which was very steep on the farthest fide, and bid them look down to the bottom. So Chrif tian and Hopeful looked down, and faw at the bottom several men dashed all to pieces by a fall which they had from the top. Then faid Christian, What meaneth this? The fhepherds anfwered, Have you not heard of them who were made to err, by hearkening to Hymeneus and Philetus, as concern ing the faith of the refurrection of the body? They anfwered, Yes. Then faid the fhepherds, Those whom you fee dashed in pieces at the bottom of this mountain are they; and they have continued to this day unburied, as you fee, for an example for others, to take heed how they clamber too high, or how they come too near to the brink of this mountain.

Then I saw that they had them to the top of another mountain, and the name of this is Caution, and they bad them look afar of; which when they did, they perceived, as they thought, feveral men walking up and down among the tombs that were there and they perceived that the men were blind, because they stumbled fometimes upon the tombs, and because they could not get out from among them. Then faid Chriftian, What means this?

The fhepherds then answered, Did you not fee a

little

little below thefe mountains a ftile that led into a meadow, on the left hand of this way? They anfwered, Yes. Then faid the fhepherds, From that ftile there goes a path which leads directly to Doubting-Castle, which is kept by giant Defpair, and these men (pointing to them among the tombs) came once on pilgrimage, as you do now, even till they came to that fame ftile. 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 Defpair, and caft 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 thofe tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day, that the faying of the wife man might be fulfilled," He that wandereth out of the way of understanding, fhall remain in the congregation of the dead." Then Chriftian and Hopeful looked upon one another, with tears gushing out, but yet faid nothing to the fhepherds.

Then I faw, in my dream, that the fhepherds had them to another place in a bottom, where was a door in the fide of an hill, and they opened the door, and bid them look in: they looked in therefore, and faw that within it was very dark and fmoky; they also thought that they heard there a rumbling noife, as of fire, and a cry of fome tormented, and that they smelt the fcent of brimftone. Then faid Chriftian, What means this? The fhepherds told him, this is a by-way to hell, a way that hypo

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crites go in at; namely, fuch as fell their birthright, as Efau did; fuch as fell their mafter, as Judas did; fuch as blafpheme the gospel, as Alexander did; and fuch as lie and diffemble, as Ananias and Sapphira his wife did.

Then faid Hopeful to the fhepherds, I perceive that every one of these had on them a fhew 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 pilgrimage in their days, fince they notwithstanding were thus miferably caft away?

Shep. Some farther, and fome not fo far as these mountains.

Then faid the pilgrims one to another, We have need to cry to the ftrong for ftrength.

Shep. Ay, and you will have need to use it, when you have it, too.

By this time the pilgrims had a defire to go forwards, and the fhepherds a defire they should; fo they walked together towards the end of the mountains. Then faid the shepherds one to another, Let us here fhew the pilgrims the gates to the celestial city, if they have skill to look through our perfpective-glafs. The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion: fo they had them to the top of a high hill, called Clear, and gave them the glass to look through.

Then they tried to look; but the remembrance of that laft thing which the fhepherds had fhewn

them

them made their hands fhake, by means of which impediment they could not look fteadily through the glafs; yet they thought they faw fomething like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Then they went away and fang:

Thus by the fhepherds fecrets are reveal'd,
Which from all other men are kept conceal'd:
Come to the fhepherds then, if you would fee
Things deep, things hid, and that myfterious be.

When they were about to depart, one of the fhepherds gave them a note of the way. Another of them bad them "Beware of the flatterer." The third bad them "Take heed that they fleep not the enchanted ground." And the fourth bad them "God speed." So I awoke from my dream.

upon

I slept and dreamed again, and faw the fame 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. Here, therefore, they met with a very brisk lad, who came out of that country; his name was Ignorance. So Chriftian afked him, From what parts he came, and whither he was going.

Ignor. Sir, I was born in the country which lieth off there, a little on the left hand, and am going to the celestial city 9.

Chr.

Ignorance makes no fcruple in saying that he was going to the celestial city. He made a profeffion of religion, but

never

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