nt that cleanses him who climbs it,--a
long stretch of such sculptured beauty, that it arrested him and
instructed him and delighted him beyond his power sufficiently to praise
it. And thus, that being so, burdened and bowed down to the earth as our
pilgrim was, he was on the sure way, sooner or later, to deliverance.
Somewhere and sometime and somehow on that steep and high fenced way
deliverance was sure to come. And, then, as to the burdened man himself.
His name was once Graceless, but his name is Graceless no longer. No
graceless man runs long between these close and cramping-up walls; and,
especially, no graceless man has that burden long on his back. That is
not Graceless any longer who is leaving the Interpreter's House for the
fenced way; that is Christian, and as long as he remains Christian, the
closeness of the fence and the weight of his burden are a small matter.
But long-looked-for comes at last. And so, still carrying his burden and
keeping close within the fenced-up way, our pilgrim came at last to a
cross. And a perfect miracle immediately took place in that somewhat
ascending ground. For scarcely had Christian set his eyes on the cross,
when, without his pulling at it, or pushing it, or even at that moment
thinking of it, ere ever he was aware, he saw his burden begin to tumble,
and so it continued to do till it fell fairly out of his sight into an
open sepulchre.

The application of all that is surely self-evident. For our way in a
holy life is always closely fenced up. It is far oftener a lonely way
than otherwise. And the steepness, sternness, and loneliness of our way
are all aggravated by the remembrance of our past sins and follies. They
still, and more and more, lie upon our hearts a heart-crushing burden.
But if we, like Christian, know how to keep our back to our former house
and our face to heaven, sooner or later we too shall surely come to the
cross. And then, either suddenly, or after a long agony, our burden also
shall be taken off our back and shut down into Christ's sepulchre. And I
saw it no more, says the dreamer. He does not say that its owner saw it
no more. He was too wise and too true a dreamer to say that.

It will be remembered that the first time we saw this man, with whose
progress to the Celestial City we are at present occupied, he was
standing in a certain place clothed with rags and with a burden on his
back. After a long journey with him, we have just see