ld not see
that any went through, except one sorrowful faced man, who ran forward
resolutely, while thousands on each side of him were calling him fool,
some scoffing him, others threatening, him and his friends laying hold
upon him, and entreating him not to take a step by which he would lose
the whole world at once. "I only lose," said he, "a very small portion
of it, and if I should lose the whole, pray what loss is it? For what is
there in the world so desirable, unless a man should desire deceit, and
violence, and misery, and wretchedness, giddiness and distraction.
_Contentment and tranquillity_," said he, "constitute the happiness of
man; but in your city there are no such things to be found. Because who
is there here content with his station? _Higher_, _higher_, is what
every one endeavours to be in the street of _Pride_; give, give us a
little more, says every one in the street of _Lucre_; sweet, sweet, pray
give me some more of it, is the cry of every one in the street of
_Pleasure_. And as for tranquillity, where is it? and who obtains it? If
you be a great man, flattery and envy are killing you; if you be poor,
every one is trampling upon and despising you; after having become an
inventor, if you exalt your head and seek for praise, you will be called
a boaster and a coxcomb; if you lead a godly life and resort to the
church and the altar, you will be called a hypocrite; if you do not, then
you are an infidel or a heretic; if you be merry, you will be called a
buffoon; if you are silent, you will be called a morose wretch; if you
follow honesty, you are nothing but a simple fool; if you go neat, you
are proud, if not, a swine; if you are smooth speaking, then you are
false, or a trifler without meaning; if you are rough, you are an
arrogant, disagreeable devil. Behold the world that you magnify," said
he, "pray take my share of it." Whereupon he shook himself loose from
them all, and away he went undauntedly to the narrow gate, and in spite
of every obstacle he pushed his way through, we following him; while many
men dressed in black upon the walls, on both sides of the gate, kept
inviting the man and praising him. "Who," said I, "are the men above
dressed in black?" "The watchmen of the king Emmanuel," replied the
angel, "who, in the name of their master, are inviting people and
assisting them through this gate."

By this time we were by the gate; it was very low and narrow, and mean in
comparison