g my way. Hang him,
hang him, said Mr. Heady. A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind. My
heart riseth against him, said Mr. Enmity. He is a rogue, said
Mr. Liar. Hanging is too good for him, said Mr. Cruelty. Let us
despatch him out of the way, said Mr. Hate-light. Then said Mr.
Implacable, Might I have all the world given me, I could not be
reconciled to him; therefore, let us forthwith bring him in guilty
of death. And so they did; therefore he was presently condemned
to be had from the place where he was, to the place from whence
he came, and there to be put to the most cruel death that could be
invented.
{241} They therefore brought him out, to do with him according to
their law; and, first, they scourged him, then they buffeted him,
then they lanced his flesh with knives; after that, they stoned
him with stones, then pricked him with their swords; and, last of
all, they burned him to ashes at the stake. Thus came Faithful to
his end.
{242} Now I saw that there stood behind the multitude a chariot
and a couple of horses, waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his
adversaries had despatched him) was taken up into it, and straightway
was carried up through the clouds, with sound of trumpet, the
nearest way to the Celestial Gate.
Brave FAITHFUL, bravely done in word and deed;
Judge, witnesses, and jury have, instead
Of overcoming thee, but shown their rage:
When they are dead, thou'lt live from age to age*.
*In the New Heaven and New Earth. {footnote from one edition}
{243} But as for Christian, he had some respite, and was remanded
back to prison. So he there remained for a space; but He that
overrules all things, having the power of their rage in his own
hand, so wrought it about, that Christian for that time escaped
them, and went his way. And as he went, he sang, saying--
Well, Faithful, thou hast faithfully profest
Unto thy Lord; with whom thou shalt be blest,
When faithless ones, with all their vain delights,
Are crying out under their hellish plights:
Sing, Faithful, sing, and let thy name survive;
For though they kill'd thee, thou art yet alive!
{244} Now I saw in my dream, that Christian went not forth alone,
for there was one whose name was Hopeful (being made so by the
beholding of Christian and Faithful in their words and behaviour,
in their sufferings at the fair), who joined himself unto him, and,
entering into a brotherly covenant, told him that he would
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