Evangelist held out his hand to point to a gate in the wide field, and
said, Do you see the Wicket Gate?

The man said, No.

Do you see that light?

He then said, I think I do.

Keep that light in your eye, quoth Evangelist, and go straight up to it;
so shall you see the gate, at which, when you knock, it shall be told
you what you are to do.

Then I saw in my dream that Christian--for that was his name--set off to
run.

Now he had not gone far from his own door, when his wife and young ones,
who saw him, gave a loud wail to beg of him to come back; but the man
put his hands to his ears, and ran on with a cry of Life! Life! The
friends of his wife, too, came out to see him run, and as he went, some
were heard to mock him, some to use threats, and there were two who set
off to fetch him back by force, the names of whom were Obstinate and
Pliable. Now, by this time, the man had gone a good way off, but at last
they came up to him.

Then said Christian, Friends, why are you come?

To bid you go back with us, said they.

But, quoth he, that can by no means be; you dwell in the City of
Destruction, the place where I, too, was born. I know it to be so, and
there you will die and sink down to a place which burns with fire; be
wise, good friends, and come with me.

What! and leave our good, and all out kith and kin?

Yes, said Christian, for that all which you might leave is but a grain
to that which I seek, and if you will go with me and hold it firm, you
shall fare as well as I; for there, where I go, you will find all you
want and to spare. Come with me, and prove my words.

Obstinate.--What are the things you seek, since you leave all the world
to find them?

Christian.--I seek those joys that fade not, which are laid up in a
place of bliss--safe there for those who go in search of them. Read it
so, if you will, in my book.

Obstinate.--Tush! Off with your book. Will you go back with us or no?

Christian.--No, not I, for I have laid my hand to the plough.

Obstinate.--Come, friend Pliable, let us turn back and leave him; there
is a troop of such fools who, when they take up with a whim by the end,
are more wise in their own eyes than ten men who know how to think.

Pliable.--Nay, do not scorn him; if what the good Christian says is
true, the things he looks to are of more worth than ours: my heart leans
to what he says.

Obstinate.--What! more fools still! Go back, go back, and be wise.

Christian