That which is to Come;
Delivered under the Similitude of a
PART I.
The Manner of his Setting
out; his dangerous Journey,
and fafe Arrival at the
Defired Country.
PART II.
The Manner of his Setting
out of Chriftian's Wife and
Children; their dangerous
Journey and fafe Arrival
at the Defired Journey.
PART NI.
The feveral Difficulties and
Dangers he met with, and
the many Victories he ob-
tained over the World, the
Fleb and the Devil: To-
gether with his happy Ar-
rival at the Cœleftial City,
and the Glory and Joy he
found to his Eternal Com-
fort.
By JOHN BUNYA N.
I have ufed Similitudes. Holea xii. 10.
The THIRTY-FIRST EDITION, with the
Addition of a Number of CUT S.
The LIFE and DEATH of the AUTHOR.
NOTTINGHAM.
Printed by S. CRES WELL, New-Change.
141. m 815
WHEN at the firft I took my pen in hand
Thus for to write, I did not understand
That I at all fhould make a little book
In fuch a mode': Nay, I had undertook
To make another; which, when almost done,
Before I was aware, I this begun.
And thus it was; I writing of the way
And race of faints, in this our gospel day,
Fell fuddenly into an allegory
About their journey, and the way to glory,
In more. than twenty things, which I fet down
This done, I twenty more had in my crown;
And they again began to multiply,
Like fparks that from the coals of fire do fly.
Nay then, thought I, if that you breed fo faft,
I'll put you by yourselves, left you at laft
Should prove ad infinitum, and eat out
The bock that I already am about.
Well, fo I did; but yet I did not think
To fhew to all the world my pen and ink
In fuch a mode; I only thought to make
I knew not what; nor did I undertake
Thereby to please my neighbours. No, not I
I did it my own felf to gratify.
Neither did I but vacant feafons fpend
In this my fcribble; nor did I intend
But to divert myfelf, in doing this,
From worfer thoughts, which make me do amiss.
Thus I fet pen to paper with delight,
And quickly had my thoughts in black and white.
For having now my method by the end,
Still as I pull'd, it came; and fo I penn'd
It down, until it came at last to be,
For length and breadth, the bignefs which you fee.
Well, when I had thus put my ends together,
I fhew'd them others, that I might fee whether
They would condemn them, or them juftify:
And fome faid, Let them live: fome, Let them die :
Some faid, John, print it; others faid, Not fo.
Some faid, It might do good; others faid, No.
Now I was in a ftrait, and did not fee
Which was the best thing to be done by me:
At last I thought, fince ye are thus divided,
I print it will; and fo the cafe decided.
For, thought I, fome I fee would have it done,
Though others in that channel do not run :
To prove then who advifed for the best,
Thus I thought fit to put it to the tett.
I farther thought, if now I did deny
Those that would have it, thus to gratify,
I did not know, but hinder them I might
Of that which would to them be great delight;
For those who were not for its coming forth,
I faid to them, Offend you I am loath;
Yet fince your brethren pleafed with it be,
For to judge, till you do farther fee.
If that thou wilt not read, let it alone;
Some love the meat, fome love to pick a bone,
Yea, that I might them better moderate,
I did too with them thus expoftulate;
May I not write in fuch a ftile as this;
In fuch a method too, and yet not miss
My end, thy good? Why may it not be done?
Dark clouds bring waters, when the bright bring none.
Yea, dark or bright, if they their filver drops
Caufe to defcend, the earth, by yielding crops,
Gives praise to both, and carpeth not at either,
But treafures up the fruit they yield together:
Yea, fo commixes both, that in their fruit
None can diftinguish this from that; they fuit
Her well when hungry; but if the be full,
She fpews out both, and makes their bleffing null.
You fee the ways the fisherman doth take
To catch the fish; what engines doth he make:
Behold! how he engageth all his wits,
Alfo his fnares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets.
Yet fish there be, that neither hook nor line,
Nor faare, nor net, nor engine can make thine;
They must be grop'd for, and be tickled too,
Or they will not be catch'd, whate'er you do.
How does the fowler feek to catch his game
By divers means? All which one cannot name:
His gun, his nets, his lime-twigs, light and bell
He creeps, he goes, he ftands; yea who can tell
Of all his poftures? Yet there's none of thefe
Will make him mafter of what fowls he please.
Yea, he must pipe and whistle to catch this;
Yet, if he does fo, that bird he will miss.
If that a pearl may in a toad's head dwell,
And may be found too in an oyster shell;
If things that promife nothing, do contain
What better is than gold, who will difdain,
That have an inkling of it, there to look,
That they may find it? Now my little book
(Tho' void of all these paintings that may make
It with this or the other man to take)
Is not without these things that do excell
What do in brave, but empty notions dwell.
Well, yet I am not fully fatisfy'd,
That this your book will stand, when foundly try'd
Why, what's the matter? It is dark; What tho' ?' -
But it is feign'd: What of that? I tro,
Some men by feigned words, as dark as mine,
Make truth to fpangle, and its rays to shine!
But they want folidnefs: Speak, man, thy mind
They drown the weak: as metaphors make blind.
Solidity, indeed, becomes the pen
Of him that writeth things divine to men,
But muft I needs want folidnefs, becaufe
By metaphors I fpeak? Were not God's laws,
His gofpel laws, in older time held forth.
By shadows, types, and metaphors ? Yet loth
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