er, venture! Cowardly sinner, venture. Venture
thyself upon thy God, upon Christ thy Saviour, and upon His cross.
Venture all thy guilt and all thy corruption taken together upon Christ
hanging upon His cross, and make that tremendous venture now!

MERCY

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."--_Our Lord_.

The first time that we see Mercy she is standing one sunshine morning
knocking along with another at Christiana's door. And all that we
afterwards hear of Mercy might be described as, A morning call and all
that came of it; or, How a godly matron led on a poor maid to fall in
love with her own salvation. John Bunyan, her biographer, in all his
devotion to Mercy, does not make it at all clear to us why such a sweet
and good girl as Mercy was could be on such intimate terms with Mrs.
Timorous and all her so questionable circle. Could it be that Mercy's
mother was one of that unhappy set? And had this dear little woman-child
been brought up so as to know no better than to figure in their
assemblies, and go out on their morning rounds with Mrs. Light-mind and
Mrs. Know-nothing? Or, was poor Mercy an orphan with no one to watch
over her, and had her sweet face, her handsome figure, and her winning
manners made her one of the attractions of old Madam Wanton's midnight
routs? However it came about, there was Mercy out on a series of morning
calls with a woman twice her age, but a woman whose many years had taught
her neither womanliness nor wisdom. "If you come in God's name, come
in," a voice from the inside answered the knocking of Mrs. Timorous and
Mercy, her companion, at Christiana's door. In all their rounds that
morning the two women had not been met with another salutation like that;
and that strange salutation so disconcerted and so confounded them that
they did not know whether to lift the latch and go in, or to run away and
leave those to go in who could take their delight in such outlandish
language. "If you come in God's name, come in." At this the women were
stunned, for this kind of language they used not to hear or to perceive
to drop from the lips of Christiana. Yet they came in; but, behold, they
found the good woman preparing to be gone from her house. The
conversation that ensued was all carried on by the two elder women. For
it was often remarked about Mercy all her after-days that her voice was
ever soft, and low, and, especially, seldom heard. But her ears