Then, methought, all at once, I heard a voice as it had been the voice
of an angel, crying out, and saying, "Ye unhappy pilgrims, why are ye
troubled about the burden which ye are doomed to bear through this
Valley of Tears? Know ye not, that as soon as ye shall have escaped
out of this valley, the whole burden shall drop off, provided ye
neglect not to remove that inward weight of _sin_ which principally
oppresses you? Study, then, the whole will of the Lord of this valley.
Learn from him how the heavy part of your burdens may now be lessened,
and how at last it shall be removed for ever. Be comforted. Faith and
hope may cheer you even in this valley. The passage, though it seems
long to weary travellers, is comparatively short; for beyond it there
is a land of everlasting rest, 'where ye shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; where ye shall be led by living fountains of waters,
and all tears shall be wiped away from your eyes.'"

THE STRAIT GATE AND THE BROAD WAY:

BEING THE SECOND PART OF THE VALLEY OF TEARS.

BY HANNAH MORE.

Now I had a second vision of what was passing in the Valley of Tears.
Methought I saw again the same kind of travellers whom I had seen in
the former part, and they were wandering at large through the same
vast wilderness. At first setting out on his journey, each traveller
had a small lamp so fixed in his bosom, that it seemed to make a part
of himself; but as this _natural light_ did not prove to be sufficient
to direct them in the right way, the King of the country, in pity to
their wanderings and their blindness, out of his gracious
condescension, promised to give these poor wayfaring people an
additional supply of light from his own royal treasury.

But as he did not choose to lavish his favors where there seemed no
disposition to receive them, he would not bestow any of his oil on
such as did not think it worth asking for. "Ask, and ye shall
receive," was the universal rule he laid down for them. Many were
prevented from asking through pride and vanity, for they thought they
had light enough already; preferring the feeble glimmerings of their
own lamp, to all the offered light from the King's treasury.

Yet it was observed of those who rejected it as thinking they had
enough, that hardly any acted up to what even their own natural light
showed them. Others were deterred from asking, because they were told
that this light not only pointed out the dangers and difficult