PILGRIM’S PROGRESS IN VERSE

CHAPTER II

Christian and Pliable — They Fall into a Slough.

Said Christian: ‘I am not the guide;
Evangelist, I say,
Will guide us to that little gate
Where pilgrims learn the way.’

Then Pliable to Christian said:
‘Come! let us journey on:
My lot is now cast in with yours,
Our prospects shall be one.’

When Obstinate had taken leave,
As one that played the man,
The two went talking o’er the plain—
Their converse thus began:

Said Christian unto Pliable,
‘I’m glad you make this choice,
To go with me and prove my words;
It makes my heart rejoice.

Had even Obstinate himself
View’d things unseen as we,
He would not thus have turned about,
And left our company.’

Then Pliable to Christian said:
‘Since we are here alone,
Tell me what things are in reserve
For us where we are going.’

Then Christian said to Pliabie:
‘A subject of this kind
Cannot be spoken by my tongue,
As it is in my mind.

But you can read it in my book,
If you desire to know,
‘Tis it I get my knowledge from—
To it I daily go.’

Then Pliable to Christian said:
‘Your book—is it all true?
Since leaving much, I wish to have
A certainty in view.’

‘My friend, it’s true,’ then Christian said,
‘Yes, very sure am I,
Because this book was made by One
Who will not, cannot lie.’

‘Since it is true, as I believe,
What things are written there,
That make my heart so light for joy
To think I have a share.’

This question was to Christian put
By his friend Pliable;
Now give good heed, and you shall hear
What Christian had to tell.

He told of a kingdom where Jesus is king,
Where Death has no power—is rob’d of his sting,
A life that’s eternal for all who get there,
And glorious crowns for his subjects to wear;
Of bright, shining garments, that shine as the sun,
Which, on arrival, they’ll give to each one.
No sorrow nor crying, he said, would be there,
No, nothing to call for a sigh or a tear.
He said that the Cherubim, Seraphim there,

Will dazzle our eyes to see as they are—
That thousands and thousands have gone there before,
And we shall behold them when we land on that shore,
All holy and harmless the children of God,
Made so by their merits of Emmanuel’s blood.
He told of the Elders, how each had a crown;
Of all the good Martyrs who laid their lives down,
He said though their flesh had been burned in the flame,
They all were together and living again.

Said Pliable, ‘To hear of this
Makes my heart overflow;
But how to have a share in it
Is something yet to know.’

Said Christian, ‘This is in my book
As plain as words can speak,
The Governor of the place hath said
That all shall have who seek.

This offer has been made to all
Who have a willing mind,
Who for the sake of things before
Forsake the things behind.’

Then Pliable to Christian said,
‘Come let us mend our pace;
How glad I am to have the hope
Of reaching such a place.’

Then Christian said, ‘How glad I’d be
To speed along the road;
But go I cannot as I would,
See on my back this load.’

Their conversation having ceased,
They somewhat heedless grew,
And near the middle of the plain
They both fell in a slough:

Sometime they wallowed in the slough,
Till well bedaubed with mud,
And Christian, he began to sink
By reason of his load.

You wish to know what slough it was
They both had fallen in;
Despond is what they call the slough,
I saw it in my dream.

(To be Continued)

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