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Thus they went on talking of what they had seen by the way, and so made that way easy, which would otherwise, no doubt, have been tedious to them; for now they went through a Wilderness. Now when they were got almost quite out of this wilderness, Faithful chanced to cast his eye back, and espied one coming after them, and he knew him. Oh! said Faithful to his brother, Who comes yonder? Then Christian looked, and said, "It is my good friend Evangelist". "Nay, and my good friend too", said Faithful, for "'twas he that set me the way to the Gate".
Now was Evangelist come up unto them, and thus saluted them:
Evangelist: Peace be with you, dearly beloved, and peace be to your helpers.
Christian: Welcome, welcome, my good Evangelist, the sight of thy countenance brings to my remembrance thy ancient kindness and unwearied laboring for my eternal good.
Faithful: And a thousand times welcome, said good Faithful: Thy company, O sweet Evangelist, how desirable is it to us poor Pilgrims!
Evangelist: Then said Evangelist, How hath it fared with you my friends, since the time of our last parting? What have you met with, and how have you behaved yourselves?
Then Christian and Faithful told him of all things that had happened to them in the way; and how, and with what difficulty, they had arrived to that place.
Evangelist: Right glad am I, said Evangelist, not that you have met with trials, but that you have been victors; and that you have (notwithstanding many weaknesses) continued in the way to this very day. I say, right glad am I of this thing, and that for mine own sake and yours: I have sowed, and you have reaped; and the day is coming, when both he that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together; that is, if you hold out: for in due time ye shall reap, if you faint not. The Crown is before you, and it is an incorruptible one; so run that you may obtain it. Some there be that set out for this Crown, and after they have gone far for it, another comes in, and takes it from them; hold fast therefore that you have, let no man take your Crown. You are not yet out of the gun-shot of the Devil; you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin; let the Kingdom be always before you, and believe steadfastly concerning things that are invisible. Let nothing that is on this side the other world get within you; and above all, look well to your own hearts, and to the lusts thereof, for they are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; set your faces like a flint; you have all power in Heaven and earth on your side.
Then Christian thanked him for his exhortation, but told him withal, that they would have him speak farther to them for their help the rest of the way, and the rather, for that they well knew that he was a Prophet, and could tell them of things that might happen unto them, and also how they might resist and overcome them. To which request Faithful also consented. So Evangelist began as followeth:
Evangelist: My sons, you have heard, in the words of the truth of the Gospel, that you must through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again, that in every City bonds and afflictions abide in you; and therefore you cannot expect that you should go long on your Pilgrimage without them, in some sort or other. You have found something of the truth of these testimonies upon you already, and more will immediately follow; for now, as you see, you are almost out of this Wilderness, and therefore you will soon come into a Town that you will by and by see before you; and in that Town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will strain hard but they will kill you; and be ye sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold, with blood; but be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a Crown of life. He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural, and his pain perhaps great, he will yet have the better of his fellow; not only because he will be arrived at the Celestial City soonest, but because he will escape many miseries that the other will meet with in the rest of his journey. But when you are come to the Town, and shall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember your friend, and quit yourselves like men, and commit the keeping of your souls to your God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Interpretation:
Christian and Faithful longed for fellowship with Evangelist, a model evangelist who set them the way to the Gate (door) by preaching Christ to them. He disappeared like the Evangelist Philip preached the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch and then vanished. He did not stay back just to receive any reward from the rich eunuch who had the treasure of the Ethiopian king.
Evangelist of the Pilgrim's Progress did not give them a rosy picture about the path to the Celestial City but talked of afflictions or even death unto martyrdom. Evangelist, being a prophet, had an intuition from the Holy Spirit that one of them, Faithful, would be martyred in the Vanity Town and would arrive at the Celestial City soonest escaping many miseries that Christian would meet with in the rest of his journey.
Nowadays, the modern evangelists do not speak about the dangers lurking in the City of Destruction or in the Vanity Town but present a false picture of easy entry into the Celestial City without talking of bonds and afflictions. They they covet the purses of the people to whom they preach the gospel. They have no burden to lead the people to the Celestial City but lead them to the Vanity Fair. Paul and Barnabas confirmed the souls of the disciples, and exhorted them to continue in the faith, telling that they must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22).
Next....in the Vanity Fair
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