Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: In Words of One Syllable

  CHAPTER XIV.

  CHRISTIAN AND HOPEFUL.

  NOW I saw in my dream that Christian went not forth with none to cheerhim; for there was one whose name was Hopeful, who set out with him,and made a grave pact that he would be his friend.

  So I saw that when they were just got out of the fair they came up withone that had gone on in front of them, whose name was By-ends. He toldthem that he came from the town of Fair-speech, and was bound for theCelestial City; but he told them not his name.

  _Chr._--"Pray, sir, what may I call you?"

  _By._--"I know not you, nor you me: if you mean to go this way, I shallbe glad to go with you: if not, I must take things as they come."

  Then Christian stept on one side to his friend Hopeful, and said, "Itruns in my mind that this is one By-ends, of Fair-speech, and if it behe, we have as keen a knave in our midst as dwells in all these parts."Then said Hopeful, "Ask him; I think he should not blush at his name."So Christian came up with him once more, and said, "Sir, is not yourname Mr. By-ends, of Fair-speech?"

  _By._--"This is not my name; but, in sooth, it is a name I got in scornfrom some that do not like me."

  _Chr._--"I thought, in sooth, that you were the man that I had heardof; and, to tell you what I think, I fear this name suits you more thanyou would wish we should think it doth."

  HOPEFUL joins company with CHRISTIAN]

  _By._--"Well, if you will thus think, I durst not help it: you shallfind me a fair man, if you will make me one of you."

  _Chr._--"If you will go with us, you must go in the teeth of wind andtide; you must, in like wise, own Faith in his rags, as well as when inhis sheen shoes; and stand by him, too, when bound in chains, as wellas when he walks the streets with praise."

  _By._--"You must not curb my faith, nor lord it in this way: leave mefree to think, and let me go with you."

  _Chr._--"Not a step more, save you will do in what I shall speak as we."

  Then said By-ends, "I shall not cast off my old views, since they bringno harm, and are of use. If I may not go with you, I must do as I didere you came up with me, that is, go on with no one, till some willcome on who will be glad to meet me."

  Now I saw in my dream that Christian and Hopeful left him, and went onin front of him: but one of them did chance to look back, and saw threemen in the wake of Mr. By-ends, and lo, as they came up with him, hemade them quite a low bow. The men's names were Mr. Hold-the-world,Mr. Money-love, and Mr. Save-all; men that Mr. By-ends had erst known;for when boys they were mates at school, and were taught by one Mr.Gripeman, who keeps a school in Love-gain, which is a large town in theshire of Coveting, in the north.

  Well, when they, as I said, did greet in turn, Mr. Money-love said toMr. By-ends, "Who are they on the road right in front of us?"

  _By._--"They are a pair from a land far off, that, in their mode, arebent on a long route."

  Then Christian saw three men in the wake of Mr. By-ends,and lo, as they came up with him he made them a very low bow.--Page 66.

  _Pilgrim's Progress._]

  _Money._--"Ah! why did they not stay; that we might have gone onwith them? for they, and we, and you, sir, I hope, are all bent on thesame road."

  _By._--"Why, they, in their fierce mood, think that they are bound torush on their way at all times; while I wait for wind and tide. Theylike to risk all for God at a clap; while I like to seize all means tomake safe my life and lands. They are for Faith when in rags and scorn;but I am for him when he walks in his sheen shoes in the sun, and withpraise."

  _Hold._--"Ay, and hold you there still, good Mr. By-ends: for my part Ican count him but a fool, that with the means to keep what he has, heshall be so lack of sense as to lose it. For my part, I like that faithbest that will stand with the pledge of God's good gifts to us. Abrahamand Solomon grew rich in faith: and Job says that a good man 'shall layup gold as dust.' But he must not be such as the men in front of us, ifthey be as you have said of them."

  _Save._--"I think that we are all of one mind in this thing; and hencethere need no more words be said of it."

  Mr. By-ends and his friends did lag and keep back, that Christian andHopeful might go on in front of them.

  Then Christian and Hopeful went till they came to a nice plain knownas Ease; which did please them much: but that plain was but strait, sothey were soon got through it. Now at the far side of that plain was asmall hill, which went by the name of Lucre, and in that hill a goldmine, which some of them that had been that way had gone on one side tosee; but, as they got too near the brink of the pit, the ground, as itwas not sound, broke when they trod on it, and they were slain.

  Then I saw in my dream that a short way off the road, nigh to the goldmine, stood Demas, a man of fair looks, to call to such as went thatway to come and see; who said to Christian and his friend, "Ho! turnhence on this side, and I will show you a thing. Here is a gold mine,and some that dig in it for wealth: if you will come, with slight painsyou may gain a rich store for your use."

  DEMAS TEMPTS CHRISTIAN AND HOPEFUL.]

  Then Christian did call to Demas, and said, "Is not the way rife withrisks? Hath it not let some in their way?"

  _Dem._--"Not so much so, save to those that take no care." But a blushcame on his face as he spake.

  Then said Christian to Hopeful, "Let us not stir a step, but still keepon our way."

  By this time By-ends and those who were with him came once more insight, and they, at the first beck, went straight to Demas. Now, thatthey fell in the pit, as they stood on the brink of it, or that theywent down to dig, or that they lost their breath at the base by thedamps that, as a rule, rise from it, of these things I am not sure; butthis I saw, that from that time forth they were not seen once more inthe way. Which strange sight gave them cause for grave talk.