all be
wiped away from your eyes."

THE STRAIT GATE AND THE BROAD WAY.

Now, I had a second vision of what was passing in the Valley of
Tears. Methought I saw again the same kind of travelers 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
traveler 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 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 have,"
was the universal rule he laid down for them. But though they knew
the condition of the obligation, many were prevented from asking
through pride and vanity, for they thought they had light enough
already, preferring the feeble glimmering of their own lamp to all
the offered light from the king's treasury. Yet it was observed of
those who had 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 difficulties of the
road, but by a certain reflecting power, it turned inward on
themselves, and revealed to them ugly sights in their own hearts, to
which they rather chose to be blind; for those travelers were of
that preposterous number who "chose darkness rather than light," and
for the old obvious reason--"because their deeds were evil." Now, it
was remarkable that these two properties were inseparable, and that
the lamp would be of little outward use, except to those who used it
as an internal reflector. A threat and a promise also never failed
to accompany the offer of this light from the king: a promise that
to those who improved what they had, more should be given; and a
threat, that from those who did not use it wisely, should be taken
away even what they had.

I observed that when the road was very dangerous; when terrors, and
difficulties, and death beset the fervent traveler; then, on their
faithful importunity, the king vol