and eat out
The book that I already am about.

Well, so I did; but yet I did not think
To show to all the world my pen and ink
In such a mode. I only thought to make,
I knew not what. Nor did I undertake
Merely to please my neighbours; no, not I.
I did it mine own self to gratify.

Neither did I but vacant seasons spend
In this my scribble; nor did I intend
But to divert myself in doing this
From worser thoughts which make me do amiss.
Thus I set pen to paper with delight,
And quickly had my thoughts in black and white;
For having now my method by the end,
Still as I pulled it came; and so I penned
It down: until at last it came to be
For length and breadth the bigness which you see.

Well, when I had thus put my ends together,
I showed them others, that I might see whether
They would condemn them or them justify.
And some said, Let them live; some, Let them die;
Some said, John, print it; others said, Not so;
Some said it might do good; others said, No.

Now was I in a strait, and did not see
Which was the best thing to be done by me.
At last I thought, since you are thus divided,
I print it will; and so the case decided.

The difference of opinion among Bunyan's friends is easily explicable.
The allegoric representation of religion to men profoundly convinced
of the truth of it might naturally seem light and fantastic, and the
breadth of the conception could not please the narrow sectarians who
knew no salvation beyond the lines of their peculiar formulas. The
Pilgrim though in a Puritan dress is a genuine man. His experience is
so truly human experience, that Christians of every persuasion can
identify themselves with him; and even those who regard Christianity
itself as but a natural outgrowth of the conscience and intellect,
and yet desire to live nobly and make the best of themselves, can
recognise familiar foot-prints in every step of Christian's journey.
Thus the 'Pilgrim's Progress' is a book, which, when once read, can
never be forgotten. We too, every one of us, are pilgrims on the same
road, and images and illustrations come back upon us from so faithful
an itinerary, as we encounter similar trials, and learn for ourselves
the accuracy with which Bunyan has described them. There is no
occasion to follow a story minutely which memory can so universally
supply. I need pause only at a few spo