ts which are too charming to
pass by.

How picturesque and vivid are the opening lines:

'As I walked through the wilderness of this world I lighted on a
certain place where there was a den,[10] and I laid me down in that
place to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and
behold I saw a man, a man clothed in rags, standing with his face from
his own home with a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his
back.'

[Footnote 10: The Bedford Prison.]

The man is Bunyan himself as we see him in 'Grace Abounding.' His sins
are the burden upon his back. He reads his book and weeps and
trembles. He speaks of his fears to his friends and kindred. They
think 'some frenzy distemper has got into his head.' He meets a man in
the fields whose name is Evangelist. Evangelist tells him to flee from
the City of Destruction. He shows him the way by which he must go, and
points to the far-off light which will guide him to the wicket-gate.
He sets off, and his neighbours of course think him mad. The world
always thinks men mad who turn their backs upon it. Obstinate and
Pliable (how well we know them both!) follow to persuade him to
return. Obstinate talks practical common sense to him, and as it has
no effect, gives him up as a fantastical fellow. Pliable thinks that
there may be something in what he says, and offers to go with him.

Before they can reach the wicket-gate, they fall into a 'miry slough.'
Who does not know the miry slough too? When a man begins for the first
time to think seriously about himself, the first thing that rises
before him is a consciousness of his miserable past life. Amendment
seems to be desperate. He thinks it is too late to change for any
useful purpose, and he sinks into despondency.

Pliable finding the road disagreeable has soon had enough of it. He
scrambles out of the slough 'on the side which was nearest to his own
house' and goes home. Christian struggling manfully is lifted out 'by
a man whose name was Help,' and goes on upon his journey, but the
burden on his back weighs him down. He falls in with Mr. Worldly
Wiseman who lives in the town of Carnal Policy. Mr. Worldly Wiseman,
who looks like a gentleman, advises him not to think about his sins.
If he has done wrong he must alter his life and do better for the
future. He directs him to a village called Morality, where he will
find a gentleman well known in those parts, who will take his burden
off--Mr. Legality. Either Mr. Lega