farther side of your walls kindling, to burn you down into Hell.”  Some mocked them, others threatened to stone them unless they ceased their unmannerly prate; but some few asked, “whither shall we fly?”  “Hither,” said the watchman, “fly hither to your lawful king, who yet offers you pardon through us, if you return to your obedience, and abandon the rebel Belial and his deceitful daughters.  Though their appearance is so splendid, it is only deception; Belial at home is but a very poor prince, he has only you for fuel, and only you as roast and boiled to gnaw, and you are never sufficient, and there will never be an end to his hunger and your torments.  And who would serve such a malicious butcher, in a temporary delirium here, and in eternal torments hereafter, who could obtain a life of happiness under a king merciful and charitable to his subjects, who is ever doing towards them the good offices of a shepherd, and endeavouring to keep them from Belial, in order finally to give to each of them the kingdom in the country of Light?  O fools! will ye take the horrible enemy whose throat is burning with thirst for your blood, instead of the compassionate prince who has given his own blood to assist you?”  But it did not appear that these reasonings, which were sufficient to soften a rock, proved of much advantage to them, and the principal cause of their being so unsuccessful was, that not many had leisure to hear, the greater part being employed in looking at the

gates; and of those who did hear, there were not many who heeded, and of those there were not many who long remembered; some would not believe that it was Belial whom they were serving, others could not conceive that yonder little, untrodden passage was the gate of Life, and would not believe that the three other glittering gates were delusion, the castle preventing them from seeing their destruction till they rushed upon it.

At this moment there came a troop of people from the street of Pride, and knocked at the gate with great confidence but they were all so stiffnecked, that they could never go into a place so low, without soiling their perriwigs and their plumes, so they walked back in great ill humour.  At the tail of these came a party from the street of Lucre.  Said one, “is this the gate of Life?”  “Yea,” replied the watchmen who were above.  “What is to be done,” said he, “in order to pass through?”  “Read on each side of the door, and you will learn.”  The miser read the ten commandments.  “Who,” he cried, “will say, that I have broken one of these?”  But on looking aloft and seeing, “love not the world, nor the things that are therein,” he started, and could not swallow that difficult sentence.  There was among them an envious pig-tail who turned back on reading, “love thy neighbour as thyself;” and a perjurer, and a slanderer turned abruptly back on reading, “bear not false witness;” some physicians on reading, “thou shalt commit no murder,” exclaimed “this is no place for us.”  To be brief, every one saw there something which troubled him, so they all went back to chew the cud.  I may add, that there was not one of these people, but had so many bags and writings stuck about him, that he could never have gone through a place so narrow, even if he had made the attempt.

Presently there came a drove from the street of Pleasure walking towards the gate.  “Please to inform us,” said one to the watchman, “to what place this road is leading?”  “This is the road,” said the watchman, “which leads to eternal joy and happiness;” whereupon they all strove to get through, but they failed, for some had too much belly for a place so narrow; others were too weak to push, having been enfeebled by women, who impeded them moreover with their foolish whims.  “O,” said the watchman who was looking upon them, “it is of no use for you to attempt to go through with your vain toys; you must leave your pots, and your dishes, and your harlots, and all your other ware behind you, and then make haste.”  “How should we live then?” said the fiddler, who would have been through long ago, but for fear of breaking his instrument.  “O,” said the watchman, “you must take the word of the king, for sending you whatsover things may be for your advantage.”  “Hey, hey,” said one, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;” and thereupon they all unanimously turned back.

“Come through now,” said the angel, and he drew me in, and the first thing I saw in the porch was a large baptismal font, and by the side of it a spring of saline water.  “Why is this here at the entrance of the road?” said I.  “It is here,” said the angel, “because every one must wash himself therein, previous to obtaining honour in the palace of Emmanuel; it is termed the fountain of repentance.”  Above I could see written, “this is the gate of the Lord, &c.”  The porch and also the street expanded, and became less difficult as one went forward.  When we had gone a little way up the street I could hear a soft voice behind me saying, “this is the road, walk in it.”  The street was up-hill but was very clean and straight, and though the houses were lower here than in the city of Perdition, yet they were more pleasant.  If there is

here less wealth, there is also less strife and care; if there are fewer dishes, there are fewer diseases; if there is less noise, there is also less sadness, and more pure joy.  I was surprised at the calmness and the delightful tranquillity that reigned here, so little resembling what I had found below.  Instead of swearing and cursing, buffoonery, debauchery, and drunkenness; instead of pride and vanity, torpor in the one corner, and riot in the other; instead of all the loud broiling, and the boasting and bustling, and chattering, which were incessantly stupifying a man yonder; and instead of the numberless constant evils to be found below, you here saw sobriety, affability and cheerfulness, peace and thankfulness, clemency, innocence, and content upon the face of every body.  No weeping here, except for the pollutions pervading the city of the enemy; no hatred or anger, except against sin; and that same hatred and anger against sin, always accompanied with a certainty of being able to subdue it; no fear but of incensing the King, who was ever more ready to forgive than be angry with his subjects; and here there was no sound but of psalms of praise to the heavenly guardian.

By this time we had come in sight of a building superlatively beautiful.  O, how glorious it was!  No one in the city of Perdition—neither the Turk nor the Mogul, nor any of the others, possessed any thing equal to it.  “Behold the Catholic Church!” said the angel.  “Is it here that Emmanuel keeps his court?” said I.  “Yes,” he replied, “this is his only terrestrial palace.”  “Has he any crowned heads under him?” said I.  “A few,” was the answer.  “There are your good queen Anne, and some princes of Denmark and Germany, and a few of the other small princes.”  “What are they,” said I, “compared with those who are under Belial the Great?  He has emperors

and kings without number.”  “Notwithstanding all this;” said the angel, “not one of them can move a finger without the permission of Emmanuel, nor Belial himself either, because Emmanuel is his lawful king; Belial rebelled, and for his rebellion was made a captive, with permission however to visit for a little time the city of Perdition, and delude any one he could into his own