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PART I.
THE SIXTH STAGE.-- continued.
Evangelist overtakes Christian and Faithful - Vanity Fair - the Pilgrims
brought to trial - Faithful's martyrdom
Evangelist's Exhortation and Prophesy
ow when they were got almost
quite out of this wilderness, FAITHFUL chanced to east his eye back, and espied one
coming after them, and he knew him. "Oh," said FAITHFUL to his brother,
"who comes yonder?" Then CHRISTIAN looked, and said, "It is my good
friend, EVANGELIST." "Aye, and my good friend too," saith FAITHFUL;
"for 'twas he that set me the way to the gate." Now was EVANGELIST come
up unto them, and thus saluted them:
Evan. Peace be
with you, dearly beloved; and peace be to your helpers !
Chr. Welcome,
welcome, my good EVANGELIST! the sight of thy countenance brings to my remembrance
thy ancient kindness and unwearied labouring for my eternal good.
Faith. "And
a thousand times welcome," said good FAITHFUL; "thy company, O sweet EVANGELIST,
how desirable is it to us poor pilgrims !"
Evan. Then said
EVANGELIST, "How hath it fared with you, my friends, since the time of our last
parting? what have you met with, and how have you behaved yourselves?"
Then CHRISTIAN and FAITHFUL told him of all things that had happened to them in the
way; and how, and with what difficulty, they had arrived to that place.
Evan. "Right
glad am I," said EVANGELIST--" not that you met with trials, but that you
have been victors; and for that you have (notwithstanding many weaknesses) continued
in the way to this very day. I say, right glad am I of this thing, and that for mine
own sake and yours: I have sowed, and you have reaped; and the day is coming when
both he that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together--that is, if you hold
out: for in due time ye shall reap, if you faint not. The crown is before you; and
it is an incorruptible one: so run that you may obtain it. Some there be that set
out for this crown; and after they have gone far for it, another comes in and takes
it from them! Hold fast, therefore, that you have: let no man take your crown;
you are not yet out of the gunshot of the devil; you have not resisted unto blood,
striving against sin. Let the Kingdom be always before you; and believe steadfastly
concerning things that are invisible. Let nothing that is on this side the other
world get within you; and, above all, look well to your own hearts, and to the lusts
thereof, for they are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Set your
faces like a flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side."
Then CHRISTIAN thanked him for his exhortation, but told him withal, that they would
have him speak further to them, for their help the rest of the way; and the rather,
for that they well knew that he was a prophet, and could tell them of things that
might happen unto them; and also how they might resist and overcome them. To which
request, FAITHFUL also consented. So EVANGELIST began as followeth:
Evan. My sons,
you have heard in the words of the truth of the Gospel, that you must "through
many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." And again, that in every
city bonds and afflictions abide on you; and therefore you cannot expect that you
should go long on your pilgrimage without them, in some sort or other. You have found
something of the truth of these testimonies upon you already, and more will immediately
follow; for now, as you see, you are almost out of this wilderness, and therefore
you will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you; and in that
town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will strain hard but they will kill
you. And be you sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold
with blood; but be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a crown of
life. He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural, and his pain
perhaps great, he will yet have the better of his fellow; not only because he will
be arrived at the Celestial City soonest, but because he will escape many miseries
that the other will meet with in the rest of his journey. But when you are come to
the town, and shall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember your friend,
and quit yourselves like men; and commit the keeping of your souls to your God in
well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Vanity Fair
hen I saw in my dream, that
when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them,
and the name of that town is "Vanity"; and at the town there is a fair
kept, called "Vanity Fair"; it is kept all the year long. It bears the
name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 'tis kept is lighter than vanity; and
also because all that is there sold, or that comes thither is vanity. As is the saying
of the wise, "All that comes is vanity."
This fair is no new erected business; but a thing of ancient standing. I will show
you the original of it.
Almost five thousand years agone, there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City,
as these two honest persons are; and BEELZEBUB, APOLLYON, and LEGION, with their
companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the
City lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair; a fair
wherein should be sold of all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year
long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold: as houses, lands, trades,
places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms; lusts, pleasures, and
delights of all sorts--as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants,
lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.
And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be deceivers, cheats, games,
plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues and that of every kind.
Here are to be seen, too--and that for nothing--thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers,
and that of a blood red colour.
And as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets, under
their proper names, where such and such wares are vended; so here likewise you have
the proper places, rows, streets (viz., countries and kingdoms), where the wares
of this fair are soonest to be found: here is the Britain row; the French row; the
Italian row; the Spanish row; the German row--where several sorts of vanities are
to be sold. But as in other fairs, some one commodity is as the chief of all the
fair, so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair: only
our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.
Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where
the lusty fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this
town, must needs go out of the world.
The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to his own country,
and that upon a fair day too; and as I think, it was BEELZEBUB, the chief lord of
this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities; yea, would have made him lord
of the fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went through the town. Yea,
because he was such a person of honour, BEELZEBUB had him from street to street,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if
possible, allure that Blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities. But he
had no mind to the merchandise; and therefore left the town without laying out so
much as one farthing upon these vanities.
This fair, therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.
Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this fair: well, so they did;
but behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved,
and the town itself as it were in a hubbub about them; and that for several reasons.
For--
First, the pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was
diverse from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people, therefore,
of the fair made a great gazing upon them: some said they were fools; some they were
lunatics; and some they are outlandish men.
Secondly: and as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at their speech;
for few could understand what they said. They naturally spoke the language of Canaan;
but they that kept the fair were the men of this world: so that from one end of the
fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other.
Thirdly: but that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was, that these
pilgrims set very light by all their wares--they cared not so much as to look upon
them; and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their
ears, and cry, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity;" and look upwards,
signifying that their trade and traffic was in heaven.
One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriages of the men, to say unto them, "What
will ye, buy?" but they, looking gravely upon him, said, "We buy the truth".
At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more: some mocking; some
taunting; some speaking reproachfully; and some calling upon others to smite them.
At last, things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order
was confounded. Now was word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who
quickly came down, and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take these men
into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned. So the men were brought
to examination: and they that sat upon them, asked them whence they came; whither
they went; and what they did there in such an unusual garb?
The men told them that they were pilgrims and strangers in the world; and that they
were going to their own country, which was the heavenly Jerusalem;
and that they had given none occasion to the men of the town, nor yet to the merchandisers,
thus to abuse them, and to let them in their journey. Except it was, for that when
one asked them what they would buy, they said they would buy the truth. But they
that were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other than lunatics
and mad, or else such as came to put all things into a confusion in the fair. Therefore
they took them and beat them, and besmeared them with dirt; and then put them into
the cage, that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair. There,
therefore, they lay for some time, and were made the objects of any man's sport,
or malice, or revenge; the great one of the fair laughing still at all that befell
them.
But the men being patient, and not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise
blessing, and giving good words for bad, and kindness for injuries done, some men
in the fair that were more observing and less prejudiced than the rest, began to
check and blame the baser sort for their continual abuses done by them to the men.
They, therefore, in angry manner, let fly at them again: counting them as bad as
the men in the cage, and telling them that they seemed confederates, and should be
made partakers of their misfortunes. The other replied, that for aught they could
see, the men were quiet and sober, and intended nobody any harm; and that there were
many that traded in their fair that were more worthy to be put into the cage, yea,
and pillory too, than were the men that they had abused. Thus after divers words
had passed on both sides--the men behaving themselves all the while very wisely and
soberly before them,--they fell to some blows among themselves, and did harm one
to another.
Then were these two poor men brought before their examiners again, and there charged
as being guilty of the late hubbub that had been in the fair. So they beat them pitifully,
and hanged irons upon them, and led them in chains up and down the fair for an example
and a terror to others, lest any should further speak in their behalf, or join themselves
unto them. But CHRISTIAN and FAITHFUL behaved themselves yet more wisely; and received
the ignominy and shame that was cast upon them with so much meekness and patience,
that it won to their side--though but few in comparison of the rest--several of the
men in the fair. This put the other party yet into a greater rage; insomuch that
they concluded the death of these two men. Wherefore they threatened that the cage
nor irons should serve their turn; but that they should die for the abuse they had
done, and for deluding the men of the fair.
Then were they remanded to the cage again, until further order should be taken with
them. So they put them in, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Here therefore they called again to mind what they had heard from their faithful
friend, EVANGELIST; and were the more confirmed in their way and sufferings by what
he told them would happen to them. They also now comforted each other, that whose
lot it was to suffer, even he should have the best of it; therefore each man secretly
wished that he might have that preferment; but committing themselves to the all wise
disposal of him that rules all things, with much content they abode in the condition
in which they were, until they should be otherwise disposed of.
The Trial
hen, a convenient time being appointed,
they brought them forth to their trial, in order to their condemnation. When the
time was come, they were brought before their enemies and arraigned. The judge's
name was LORD HATEGOOD. Their indictment was one and the same in substance, though
somewhat varying in form; the contents thereof was this:
That they were enemies to, and disturbers of, their trade; that they had made commotions
and divisions in the town, and had won a party to their own most dangerous opinions,
in contempt of the law of their prince.
Then FAITHFUL began to answer, that he had only set himself against that which had
set itself against him that is higher than the highest. "And," said he,
"as for disturbance, I make none, being myself a man of peace; the parties that
were won to us, were won by beholding our truth and innocence, and they are only
turned from the worse to the better. And as to the king you talk of, since he is
BEELZEBUB, the enemy of our' Lord, I defy him and all his angels."
Then proclamation was made, that they that had aught to say for their lord the king
against the prisoner at the bar, should forthwith appear and give in their evidence.
So there came in three witnesses: to wit, ENVY, SUPERSTITION, and PICKTHANK. They
were then asked if they knew the prisoner at the bar? and what they had to say for
their lord the king against him?
Envy. Then stood
forth ENVY, and said to this effect: "My lord, I have known this man a long
time; and will attest upon my oath before this honourable bench, that he is---"
Lord Hategood, the Judge. Hold; give him his oath!
So they sware him. Then he said, "My lord, this man, notwithstanding his plausible
name, is one of the vilest men in our country; he neither regards prince nor people,
law nor custom; but doth all that he can to possess all men with certain of his disloyal
notions, which he, in the general, calls principles of faith and holiness. And in
particular, I heard him once myself affirm that Christianity and the customs of our
town of Vanity were diametrically opposite, and could not be reconciled. By which
saying, my lord, he doth at once not only condemn all our laudable doings, but us
in the doing of them."
Judge. Then did
the judge say unto him, "Hast thou any more to say?"
Envy. "My
lord, I could say much more; only I would not be tedious to the court. Yet, if need
be, when the other gentlemen have given in their evidence, rather than anything shall
be wanting that will dispatch him, I will enlarge my testimony against him."
So he was bidden to stand by.
Then they called SUPERSTITION, and bade him look upon the prisoner; they also asked
what he could say for their lord the king against him? Then they sware him; so he
began:
Superstition.
My lord, I have no great acquaintance with this man; nor do I desire to have further
knowledge of him. However, this I know, that he is a very pestilent fellow, from
some discourse that the other day I had with him in this town; for then, talking
with him, I heard him say that our religion was naught, and such by which a man could
by no means please God; which sayings of his, my lord, your lordship very well knows
what necessarily thence will follow: to wit, that we still do worship in vain; are
yet in our sins: and finally shall be damned. And this is that which I have to say.
Then was PICKTHANK sworn, and bid say what he knew in behalf of their lord the king
against the prisoner at the bar.
Pickthank. My
lord, and you gentlemen all, this fellow I have known of a long time; and have heard
him speak things that ought not to be spoken. For he hath railed on our noble Prince
BEELZEBUB; and hath spoken contemptibly of his honourable friends, whose names are,
the Lord OLDMAN; the Lord CARNALDELIGHT; the Lord LUXURIOUS; the Lord DESIRE OF VAINGLORY;
my old Lord LECHERY; Sir HAVING GREEDY; with all the rest of our nobility: and he
hath said moreover, that if all men were of his mind, if possible, there is not one
of these noble men should have any longer a being in this town. Besides, he hath
not been afraid to rail on you, my lord, who are now appointed to be his judge; calling
you an ungodly villain, with many other such like defaming terms, with which he hath
bespattered most of the gentry of our town.
When this PICKTHANK had told his tale, the judge directed his speech to the prisoner
at the bar, saying, "Thou apostate, heretic, and traitor !--hast thou heard
what these honest gentle- men have witnessed against thee?"
Faith. May I speak
a few words in my own defence?
Judge. Sirrah,
sirrah !--thou deservest to live no longer, but to be slain immediately upon the
place; yet that all men may see our gentleness towards thee, let us hear what thou,
vile apostate, hast to say.
Faith. 1. I say,
then, in answer to what Mr. ENVY hath spoken, I never said aught but this: That what
rule, or laws, or customs, or people, were flat against the Word of God, are diametrically
opposite to Christianity. If I have said amiss in this, convince me of my error;
and I am ready here before you to make my recantation.
2. As to the second, to wit, Mr. SUPERSTITION, and his charge against me, I said
only this: That in the worship of God there is required a divine faith; but there
can be no divine faith without a divine revelation of the will of God: therefore
whatever is thrust into the worship of God that is not agreeable to a divine revelation,
cannot be done but by a human faith; which faith will not profit to eternal life.
3. As to what Mr. PICKTHANK hath said, I say--avoiding terms, as that I am said to
rail, and the like--that the prince of this town, with all the rabble--his attendants,
by this gentleman named--are more fit for being in hell than in this town and country;
and so the Lord have mercy upon me!
Then the judge called to the jury--who all this while stood by, to hear and observe,--"
Gentlemen of the jury, you see this man about whom so great an uproar hath been made
in this town; you have also heard what these worthy gentlemen have witnessed against
him; also you have heard his reply and confession: it lieth now in your breasts to
hang him, or save his life; but yet I think meet to instruct you into our law.
"There was an act made in the days of Pharaoh the Great, servant to our prince,
that lest those of a contrary religion should multiply and grow too strong for him,
their males should be thrown into the river.
There was also an act made in the days of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, another of his
servants, that whoever would not fall down and worship his golden image should be
thrown into a fiery furnace.
There was also an act made in the days of Darius, that whoso, for some time, called
upon any God but his, should be cast into the lions' den.
Now the substance of these laws this rebel has broken; not only in thought (which
is not to be borne), but also in word and deed, which must therefore needs be intolerable.
"For that of Pharaoh, his law was made upon suspicion to prevent mischief, no
crime yet being apparent; but here is a crime apparent. For the second and third,
you see he disputes against our religion; and for the treason he hath confessed,
he deserves to die the death."
Then went the jury out, whose names were, Mr. BLIND-MAN, Mr. NO-GOOD, Mr. MALICE,
Mr. LOVE-LUST, Mr. LIVE-LOOSE, Mr. HEADY, Mr. HIGH-MIND, Mr. ENMITY, Mr. LIAR, Mr.
CRUELTY, Mr. HATE-LIGHT, and Mr. IMPLACABLE; who everyone gave in his private verdict,
against him among themselves, and afterwards unanimously concluded to bring him in
guilty before the judge. And first among themselves, Mr. BLIND-MAN the foreman said,
"I see clearly that this man is a heretic." Then said Mr. NO-GOOD, "Away
with such a fellow from the earth!" "Aye," said Mr. MALICE, "for
I hate the very looks of him." Then said Mr. LOVE-LUST, "I could never
endure him." "Nor I," said Mr. LIVE-LOOSE; "for he would always
be condemning my way," "Hang him, hang him !" said Mr. HEADY. "A
sorry scrub," said Mr. HIGH-MIND. "My heart rises against him," said
Mr. ENMITY. "He is a rogue," said Mr. LIAR. "Hanging is too good for
him," said Mr. CRUELTY. "Let us dispatch him out of the way," said
Mr. HATE-LIGHT. Then said Mr. IMPLACABLE, "Might I have all the world given
me, I could not be reconciled to him; therefore let us forthwith bring him in guilty
of death." And so they did; therefore he was presently condemned to be had from
the place where he was to the place from whence he came, and there to be put to the
most cruel death that could be invented.
They therefore brought him out, to do with him according to their
law; and first they scourged him, then they buffeted him, then they lanced his flesh
with knives; after that they stoned him with stones, then pricked him with their
swords; and last of all they burned him to ashes at the stake. Thus came FAITHFUL
to his end. Now I saw that there stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple
of horses waiting for FAITHFUL, who--so soon as his adversaries had dispatched him
--was taken up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds, with sound
of trumpet, the nearest way to the Celestial Gate. But as for CHRISTIAN, he had some
respite, and was remanded back to prison; so he there remained for a space. But he
that overrules all things, having the power of their rage in his own hand, so wrought
it about that CHRISTIAN, for that time, escaped them, and went his way.
And as he went he sang, saying:
"Well, FAITHFUL, thou hast faithfully profest
Unto thy Lord, with whom thou shalt be blest,
When faithless ones, with all their vain delight,
Are crying out under their hellish plight.
Sing, FAITHFUL, sing!--and let thy name survive;
For though they killed thee, thou art yet alive."
STAGES.
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