d will count thee mine. And
now that thou mayest keep them white I have provided for thee an open
fountain to wash thy garments in. I have oft-times delivered thee, and
for all this I ask thee nothing but that thou bear in mind my love.
Nothing can hurt thee but sin, nothing can grieve me but sin, nothing
make thee pause before thy foes but sin. Watch! Behold, I lay none other
burden upon thee--hold fast till I come!"

* * * * *

The Pilgrim's Progress

The "Pilgrim's Progress" was begun during Bunyan's second and
briefer term of imprisonment in Bedford gaol. As originally
conceived, the work was something entirely different from the
masterpiece that was finally produced. Engaged upon a
religious treatise, Bunyan had occasion to compare Christian
progress to a pilgrimage--a simile by no means uncommon even
in those days. Soon he discovered a number of points which had
escaped his predecessors, and countless images began to crowd
quickly upon his imaginative brain. Released at last from
gaol, he still continued his work, acquainting no one with his
labours, and receiving the help of none. The "Pilgrim," on its
appearance in 1678, was but a moderate success; but it was not
long before its charm made itself felt, and John Bunyan
counted his readers by the thousand in Scotland, in the
Colonies, in Holland, and among the Huguenots of France.
Within ten years 100,000 copies were sold. With the exception
of the Bible, it is, perhaps, the most widely-read book in the
English language, and has been translated into seventy foreign
tongues.

_I.--The Battle with Apollyon_

As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain
place where there was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep;
and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed I saw a man, clothed with
rags, standing with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and
a great burden upon his back.

"O my dear wife and children!" he said, "I am informed that our city
will be burnt with fire from heaven. We shall all come to ruin unless we
can find a way of escape!"

His relations and friends thought that some distemper had got into his
head; but he kept crying, in spite of all that they said to quieten him,
"What shall I do to be saved?" He looked this way and that way, but
could not tell which road t