House of Gaius
Now I saw that they still went on in their talk; for after Mr Great-heart had made an end with Mr Fearing, Mr Honest began to tell them of another, but his name was Mr Self-will. He pretended himself to be a Pilgrim, said Mr Honest, but I persuade myself he never came in at the Gate that stands at the head of the way.
Great-heart: Had you ever any talk with him about it?
Honest: Yes, more than once or twice, but he would always be like himself, self-willed. He neither cared for man, nor argument, nor yet example; what his mind prompted him to do, that he would do, and nothing else could he be got to.
Great-heart: Pray what principles did he hold? for I suppose you can tell.
Honest: He held that a man might follow the vices as well as the virtues of the Pilgrims, and that if he did both he should be certainly saved.
Great-heart: How? if he had said 'tis possible for the best to be guilty of the vices, as well as to partake of the virtues of Pilgrims, he could not much have been blamed. For indeed we are exempted from no vice absolutely, but on condition that we watch and strive. But this I perceive is not the thing; but if I understand you right, your meaning is, that he was of that opinion, that it was allowable so to be?
Honest: Nay, Nay, so I mean, and so he believed and practised.
Great-heart: But what ground had he for his so saying?
Honest: Why, he said he had the Scripture for his warrant.
Great-heart: Prithee, Mr. Honest, present us with a few particulars.
Honest: So I will. He said to have to do with other men's wives had been practised by David, God's beloved, and therefore he could do it. He said to have more women than one, was a thing that Solomon practised, and therefore he could do it. He said that Sarah and the godly midwives of Egypt lied, and so did save Rahab, and therefore he could do it. He said that the disciples went at the bidding of their Master, and took away the owner's ass, and therefore he could do so too. He said that Jacob got the inheritance of his father in a way of guile and dissimulation, and therefore he could do so too.
Great-heart: High base indeed, and you are sure he was of this opinion?
Honest: I have heard him plead for it, bring Scripture for it, bring argument for it,
Great-heart: An opinion that is not fit to be with any allowance in the world.
Honest: You must understand me rightly. He did not say that any man might do this, but that those that had the virtues of those that did such things, might also do the same.
Great-heart: But what more false than such a conclusion? for this is as much as to say, that because good men heretofore have sinned of infirmity, therefore he had allowance to do it of a presumptuous mind. Or if because a child by the blast of the wind, or for that it stumbled at a stone, fell down and defiled itself in mire, therefore he might wilfully lie down and wallow like a boar therein. Who could a thought that any one could so far a been blinded by the power of lust? But what is written must be true, They stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. His supposing that such may have the godly man's virtues, who addict themselves to their vices, is also a delusion as strong as the other. 'Tis just as if the dog should say, I have or may have the qualities of the child, because I lick up its stinking excrements. To eat up the sin of God's people, is no sign of one that is possessed with their virtues. Nor can I believe that one that is of this opinion can at present have faith or love in him. But I know you have made strong objections against him, prithee what can he say for himself?
Honest: Why, he says, To do this by way or opinion, seems abundance more honest than to do it, and yet hold contrary to it in opinion.
Great-heart: A very wicked answer, for tho' to let loose the bridle to lusts while our opinions are against such things, is bad; yet to sin and plead a toleration so to do, is worse. The one stumbles beholders accidentally, the other pleads them into the snare.
Honest: There are many of this man's mind, that have not this man's mouth, and that makes going on Pilgrimage of so little esteem as it is.
Great-heart: You have said the truth, and it is to be lamented. But he that feareth the King of Paradise shall come out of them all.
Christiana: There are strange opinions in the world, I know one that said, 'Twas time enough to repent when they come to die.
Great-heart: Such are not over wise. That man would been loath, might he have had a week to run twenty mile in for his life, to have deferred that journey to the last hour of that week.
Honest: You say right, and yet the generality of them that count themselves Pilgrims do indeed do thus. I am, as you see, an old man, and have been a traveller in this road many a day, and I have taken notice of many things.
I have seen some that have set out as if they would drive all the world afore them, who yet have in few days died as they in the Wilderness, and so never got sight of the Promised Land.
I have seen some that have promised nothing at first setting out to be Pilgrims, and that one would a thought could not have lived a day, that have yet proved very good Pilgrims.
I have seen some who have spoke very well of that again have after a little time run as fast just back again.
I have seen some who have spoken very well of a Pilgrim's life at first, that after a while have spoken as much against it.
I have heard some when they first set out for Paradise, say positively there is such a place, who when they have been almost there, have come back again and said there is none.
I have heard some vaunt what they would do in case they should be opposed, that have even at a false alarm fled faith, the Pilgrim's way, and all.
Now as they were thus in their way, there came one running to meet them, and said, Gentlemen and you of the weaker sort, if you love life shift for yourselves, for the robbers are before you.
Great-heart: Then said Mr Great-heart, They be the three that set upon Little-faith heretofore. Well, said he, we are ready for them. So they went on their way. Now they looked at every turning, when they should a met with the villains; but whether they heard of Mr Great-heart, or whether they had some other game, they came not up to the Pilgrims.
Fellowship with Gaius
Christiana then wished for an inn for herself and her children, because they were weary. Then said Mr Honest, There is one a little before us, where a very honorable disciple, one Gaius, dwells. So they all concluded to turn in thither, and the rather because the old gentleman gave him so good a report. So when they came to the door, they went in, not knocking, for folks use not to knock at the door of an inn. Then they called for the master of the house, and he came to them. So they asked if they might lie there that night?
Gaius: Yes Gentlemen, if you be true men, for my house is for none but Pilgrims. Then was Christiana, Mercy and the Boys the more glad, for that the innkeeper was a lover of Pilgrims. So they called for rooms and he shewed them one for Christiana and her children and Mercy, and another for Mr Great - heart and the old gentleman.
Great-heart: Then said Mr Great-heart, Good Gaius, what hast thou for supper? for these Pilgrims have come far to-day, and are weary.
Gaius: It is late so we cannot conveniently go out to seek food, but such as we have you shall be welcome to, if that will content.
Great-heart: We will be content with what thou hast in the house, forasmuch as I have proved thee, thou art never destitute of that which is convenient.
Then he went down and spake to the cook, whose name was Taste-that - which-is-good, to get ready supper for so many Pilgrims. This done, he comes up again, saying, Come my good Friends, you are welcome to me, and I am glad that I have a house to entertain you; and while supper is making ready, if you please, let us entertain one another with some good discourse. So they all said, Content.
Gaius: Whose wife is this aged Matron? and whose daughter is this young Damsel?
Great-heart: The woman is the wife of one Christian a Pilgrim of former times, and these are his four children. The maid is one of her acquaintances, one that she hath persuaded to come with her on Pilgrimage. The boys take all after their father, and covet to tread in his steps; yea, if they do but see any place where the old Pilgrim hath lain, or any print of his foot, it ministreth joy to their hearts, and they covet to lie or tread in the same.
Gaius: Then said Gaius, Is this Christian's wife? and are these Christian's children? I knew your husband's father, yea, also his father's father. Many have been good of this stock, their ancestors dwelt first at Antioch. Christian's progenitors (I suppose you have heard your husband talk of them) were very worthy men. They have above any that I know, shewed themselves men of great virtue and courage for the Lord of Pilgrims, His ways and them that loved Him. I have heard of many of your husband's relations that have stood all trials for the sake of the Truth. Stephen that was one of the first of the family from whence your husband sprang, was knocked o' the head with stones. James, another of this generation, was slain with the edge of the sword. To say nothing of Paul and Peter, men anciently of the family from whence your husband came, there was Ignatius who was cast to the lions, Romanus whose flesh was cut by pieces from his bones, and Polycarp that played the man in the fire. There was he that was hanged up in a basket in the sun for the wasps to eat, and he whom they put into a sack and cast him into the sea to be drowned. 'Twould be impossible utterly to count up all of that family that have suffered injuries and death for the love of a Pilgrim's life. Nor can I but be glad to see that thy husband has left behind him four such boys as these. I hope they will bear up their father's name, and tread in their father's steps, and come to their father's end.
Great-heart: Indeed Sir, they are likely lads, they seem to choose heartily their father's ways.
Gaius: That is it that I said, wherefore Christian's Family is like still to spread abroad upon the face of the ground, and yet to be numerous upon the face of the earth. Wherefore let Christiana look out some damsels for her sons, to whom they may be betrothed that the name of their father and the house of his progenitors may never be forgotten in the world.
Honest: 'Tis pity this family should fall and be extinct.
Gaius: Fall it cannot, but be diminished it may; but let Christiana take my advice, and that's the way to uphold it.
And Christiana, said this innkeeper, I am glad to see thee and thy friend Mercy together here, a lovely couple. And may I advise, take Mercy into a nearer Relation to thee. If she will, let her be given to Matthew thy eldest son, 'tis the way to preserve you a posterity in the earth. So this match was concluded, and in process of time they were married. But more of that hereafter.
Gaius also proceeded and said, I will now speak on the behalf of women, to take away their reproach. For as death and the curse came into the world by a woman; so also did life and health: God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Yea, to shew how much those that came after did abhor the act of their mother, this sex in the Old Testament coveted children, if happily this or that woman might be the mother of the Saviour of the world.
Gaius: I will say again, that when the Saviour was come, women rejoiced in Him before either man or angel. I read not that ever any man did give unto Christ so much as one groat, but the women followed Him and ministered to Him of their substance. 'Twas a woman that washed His Feet with tears, and a woman that anointed His Body to the burial. They were women that wept when He was going to the Cross, and women that followed Him from the Cross, and that sat by His Sepulchre when He was buried. They were women that was first with Him at His Resurrection-morn, and women that brought tiding first to His disciples that He was risen from the Dead. Women therefore are highly favoured, and shew by these things that they are sharers with us in the grace of Life.
Now the cook sent up to signify that supper was almost ready, and sent one to lay the cloth, the trenchers, and to set the salt and bread in order.
Then said Matthew, The sight of this cloth and of this forerunner of the supper, begetteth in me a greater appetite to my food than I had before.
Gaius: So let all ministering doctrines to thee in this life, beget in thee a greater desire to sit at the supper of the great King in His Kingdom; for all preaching Books and ordinances here, are but as the laying of the trenchers and as setting of salt upon the board, when compared with the feast that our Lord will make for us when we come to His House.
So supper came up, and first a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast were set on the Table before them, to shew that they must begin their meal with prayer and praise to God. The heave-shoulder David lifted his heart up to God with, and with the wave-breast, where his heart lay, with that he used to lean upon his harp when he played. These two dishes were very fresh and good, and they all at heartily well thereof.
The next they brought up was a bottle of wine, red as blood. So Gaius said to them, Drink freely, this is the juice of the true Vine that makes glad the heart of God and man. So they drank and were merry.
The next was a dish of milk well crumbed. But Gaius said, Let the boys have that, that they may grow thereby.
Then they brought up in course a dish of butter and honey. Then said Gaius, Eat freely of this, for this is good to cheer up and strengthen your judgments and understandings. This was our Lord's dish when He was a Child, butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Then they brought them up a dish of apples, and they were very good tasted fruit. Then said Matthew, May we eat apples, since they were such, by and with which the Serpent beguiled our first mother?
Then said Gaius, Apples were they with which we were beguiled, Yet sin, not Apples, hath our souls defiled. Apples forbid, if eat, corrupts the Blood; To eat such when commanded, does us good. Drink of his Flagons, then, thou Church, His Dove, And eat his Apples, who are sick of love.
Then said Matthew, I made the scruple because I a while since was sick with eating of fruit.
Gaius: Forbidden fruit will make you sick, but not what our Lord has tolerated.
While they were thus talking, they were presented with another dish, and 'twas a dish of nuts. Then said some at the Table, Nuts spoil tender teeth, specially the teeth of children; which when Gaius heard, he said,
Hard Texts are Nuts (I will not call them cheaters)
Whose Shells do keep their Kernels from the Eaters.
Ope then the Shells, and you shall have the Meat,
They here are brought for you to crack and eat.
Then were they very merry, and sat at the Table a long time, talking of many things. Then said the old Gentleman, My good Landlord, while we are cracking your nuts, if you please, do you open this riddle:
A man there was, tho' some did count him mad,
The more he cast away the more he had.
Then they all gave good heed, wondering what good Gaius would say; so he sat still a while, and then thus replied:
He that bestows his goods upon the poor,
Shall have as much again, and ten times more.
Then said Joseph, I dare say Sir, I did not think you could found it out.
Oh, said Gaius, I have been trained up in this way a great while, nothing teaches like experience. I have learned of my Lord to be kind, and have found by experience that I have gained thereby. There is that scattereth, yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing, there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.
Then Samuel whispered to Christiana his mother, and said, Mother, this is a very good man's house, let us stay here a good while, and let my brother Matthew be married here to Mercy before we go any further.
The which Gaius the host overhearing said, With a very good will, my child.
Interpretation:
Please take time to read the conversation between Mr.Honest and Mr.Great-heart, spiritual elders, about Mr. Self-will and Mr.Fearing. Their conversation shows their spiritual discernment of those who are weak in faith or who are not taught the right doctrines. Spiritual discernment is very essential for guiding those who are weak in faith or who have been deceived by the devil. When elders discern and measure the spiritual growth of the children of God with a line of flax and a measuring rod (Ezekiel 40:2-3, Revelation 11:1), this is spiritual discernment.
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.…(I Cor.2:14 to 16).
Please take time to read the discouse of saints in the house of Gaius. The house of Gaius is not a local church but a fellowship other than a church where the people of God socialize, pray and discuss spiritual things. It is a small spiritual family where the material needs of their inmates like marriage, education, employment, etc. are taken care of.
The special food being offered in the house of Gaius has special scriptural significance. For the supper, the cloth was laid with trenchers along with the salt and bread. Matthew said that the sight of this cloth and of this forerunner of the supper, created in him a greater appetite to his food than he had before. The way the things are ministered in a local church would produce a spiritual appetite in pur hearts to know more of God. There needs to be spiritual discipline even in worship and in ministry of the Word. In many churches, people just shout loudly, speak in tongues intermittently and nothing is heard in the din.
The cloth on the table shows the superiority of the word to be served in trenchers. Everyone receives word in his or her trencher which has to be clean. The messenger should lead a holy life to be served on a platter to the audience. The spiritual food or the message has to be tinged with truth likened to the salt. Butter is a spiritual food which helps our body grow in strength.
The first food items are a heave-shoulder and a wave-breast:
In the Levitical law, the portion (the right shoulder) of an animal presented as a thank- or peace-offering that fell to the priests: so called because offered with a gesture of heaving or elevation. Likewise, the Wave Offering receives its name from the motion used when the priest presented the Wave Offering in a waving type motion. The sacrifice was held in the offerer’s hands, with the priest’s hands underneath the offerer’s, and it was waved forward toward the altar and then backward from the altar–giving it to the Lord and then receiving it back from Him as a gift to the priest.
The right shoulder, better translated right thigh, of the sacrificial animal was a Heave Offering and the breast-piece was a Wave Offering. Both of these pieces were given to the priest to eat, and the rest of the flesh was given to the offerer to eat, sharing it with his family and friends in the presence of the Lord in His sanctuary. (Lev.10:14, 15).
The best spiritual food that makes our weak body strong comes from the Sermon on the Mount. We should give first importance to this spiritual food which Jesus has given us on the Mount.
The next food item is a bottle of wine, read as blood. This shows the importance of the Precious Blood of the Lamb that has to cleanse us daily of our unrighteousness and our sins as we remember the death of Jesus on the Cross. God does not remember our sins as we apply the blood of Jesus to our daily life and confess our sins. This makes His heart glad and our heart also becomes glad.
The third category of food is a dish of milk, well crumbed. This is elementary doctrine for the new believers to grow.
The fourth category is a dish of butter and honey. Though butter is kept on the table along with salt, it is again served individually. "Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good" (Is.7:15). As a Child, Jesus ate this special food to signify that He refused the evil and choose the good. The choice to choose between the right doctrines and the false doctrines is ours. We need discernment to sift the truth from the plethora of lies.
The fifth category of food is the apples. The apple that Eve gave to Adam to eat was a prohibited one. The apple which looks pleasant in our eyes can be bad if we take it when prohibited. If it is not prohibited, we can take it as it is good for our spiritual health.
Who is Gaius? John Bunyan chosen this Biblical character from the epistle of John.
Apostle John in his epistle 3 John 1:14, spoke of shortly coming to Gaius and of talking to him face to face, which he could not well have done if Gaius had lived at Corinth, or any other remote place.
This Gaius was neither a bishop nor a deacon, but a private member of some church but his hospitality to the brethren, who came to him, proves that he possessed some substance, and that he was of a very benevolent disposition. John praised Gaius for having showed kindness to some Christian strangers, who, in journeying among the Gentiles, had come to the place where Gaius resided; and to encourage him to show them the like kindness, when they should call upon him again.
For the purpose of rebuking and restraining one Diotrephes, who had arrogantly assumed to himself the chief direction of the affairs of the church, of which Gaius was a member, and who had both refused to assist the brethren above mentioned, and had even hindered those from receiving and entertaining them who were desirous to do it. The apostle wrote this letter to commend an excellent person named Demetrius, who, in disposition and behaviour, being the reverse of Diotrephes, the apostle proposed him as a pattern, whom Gaius and the rest were to imitate.