Merchandise in the Vanity Fair
One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriages of the men, to say unto them, What will ye buy? But they, looking gravely upon him, answered, We buy the Truth. At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more; some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them.
At last things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded. Now was word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly came down and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take those men into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned. So the men were brought to examination; and they that sat upon them, asked them whence they came, whither they went, and what they did there in such an unusual garb? The men told them that they were Pilgrims and strangers in the world, and that they were going to their own Country, which was the Heavenly Jerusalem; and that they had given no occasion to the men of the Town, nor yet to the Merchandizers, thus to abuse them, and to let them in their Journey, except it was for that, when one asked them what they would buy, they said they would buy the Truth. But they that were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into a confusion in the Fair. Therefore they took them and beat them, and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage, that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair.
Behold Vanity Fair,
the Pilgrims there Are chained and stand beside:
Even so it was our Lord passed here,
And on Mount Calvary died.
Interpretation:
In this vanity town, false doctrines contrary to the truth of the gospel, men-made church traditions, false revelations emanating from the Antichrist, etc, are presented as the truth. But the discerning Christian and his companion Faithful keep telling the organizers of such shows in these churches. "we buy the truth". The true prophets are being persecuted in these churches. They allow the prophetess Jezebel to preach from their pulpits. The False Prophet as revealed in the book of Revelation has a free access to pulpits in these churches.
When the merchandise is not bought by the true disciples of the Lord, they are condemned. Great stir is made in the vanity fair. The deceived residents of the town are brought to their senses by virtue of the very presence of disciples likened to Christian and Faithful whose unusual dresses are distinct from the attires and costumes of the residents of the vanity town and there is confusion in this town. The organizers and the Merchandisers interrogate the true disciples treating them as trouble makers and throw them out of their churches. These vanity fair organizers cage the true disciples in the vanity town so that the latter may not enlighten the inhabitants of the town on the truth.