The Parable of the Pilgrim, Parable · Chapter 22
CAP. XXII.
That a Pilgrim muſt ſometimes recreate himſelf as well as other men. Of the pleaſure of good Company. What Men are to be more particularly avoided. Of the Feſtivals of the Church. How uſeful they may be. And how much abuſed.
AND now I think it is time to remember you for the prevention of all miſtakes, that there never was any Pilgrim who could alwayes be exerciſed in doing good to others, or in Prayer and Contemplation; but he was forced to attend ſometimes to himſelf alone, and provide for the needs of his Body by the uſe of Meat, and Drink, and Sleep; wherein you muſt not think to be unlike them. Nay, there is a great need alſo at certain ſeaſons of innocent Recreations, which Pilgrims muſt not be ſo moroſe as utterly to deny themſeles; for in truth there are none ſo fit as they to enjoy them. And in all theſe things I would have you to uſe the beſt diſcretion that is in your power, avoiding, as you would the greateſt danger that hath been mentioned, all fooliſh ſcrupuloſity about them. Do not meaſure your Drink, nor weigh your Meat, nor confine your Divertiſements to a minute, but enjoy them freely as the beſt wiſdom you have ſhall at that preſent direct you, reſolving not to trouble your ſelf about any after accidents. For, though it is neceſſary that we take a care to ſpend our time well, and there is nothing of which we ſhould be more frugal; yet it is not good to be over rigorous in exacting an account of our hours. We may run our ſelves thereby into infinite ſcruples, and buſie our thoughts about ſuch endleſs niceties, that we may loſe much time while we are thinking how to ſave it, and impoveriſh our ſelves by ſtudying to be miſerable good huſbands. Do not grudge therefore to theſe things a fair portion of your time, out of a fear that they will be too great an hinderance to you; for though they ſeem to ſtay you for a while, they do very much further you, and give you ſtrength to walk more carefully for a long time after. Diſcreet ſtayes and reſts make ſpeedy journeys. It is no turning out of your way, to divert your ſelf ſometime in a pleaſant Meadow. That is the neareſt way to a place, which brings you ſooneſt thither. And as the old ſaying is, ſoft and fair, goes far.
And indeed it is impoſſible that all the hours of a mans life ſhould be equally grave. The wings of the ſoul cannot be alwayes ſtretched, and it is idle to think its vigor ſhall receive no abatements. Let it ſoar never ſo high, it will be forc'd to ſtoop again; and by ſitting ſtill, and refreſhing it ſelf, be made more able for a new flight. Of this you muſt be well adviſed, or elſe you will never get to Jeruſalem. It is the counſel of nature which muſt be followed, that all who work, do take ſome reſt. The continuance of labour depends upon Moderation, and Nature alwayes threatens violence with an end. I grant that your deſires may be ever pricking you forward, and that they may be loath to give you a moments reſt. But they will ſtimulate you even till they gall you, and if you take not heed, will make you reſt of neceſſity, and not out of choice. The beſt courſer that is may run himſelf off his leggs. You may tyre and jade your ſelf by overlong journeys. And though your mind be of ſuch a make, that if it were alone, and had nothing to carry along with it, poſſibly it might never be weary, but would run continually: yet while it is ingaged in the company of this terreſtrial body, it muſt ſit ſtill and eaſe it ſelf, if it be but for the ſake of its fellow-traveller. We are not yet divorced from ſenſe, nor do we enjoy the liberty which we hope for at Jeruſalem. We are far from the purity of ſimple Beings, and whether we will or no, ſhall find our ſelves to be mixt with matter, which will not alwaies move. It will be a ſlugg do what we can: and if we will not find it ſome refreſhment, it will take ſome of it ſelf, and more ſometimes than we need to give it. It is better that it ſhould be at our diſpoſe, than at its own. It will be content with leſs, if we do not deny it all. We ſhall find it more obedient if we do not by our rigour provoke it to a plain rebellion. We ſhall uſe greater Moderation, if by defrauding our ſelves of all recreations, we do not become ſo impatient as to play the gluttons, when we take the liberty to enjoy them. It is, no doubt, a true obſervation, That the ready way to make the minds of youth grow awry, is to lace them too hard, by denying them their juſt freedom. When you rob the appetite of its lawful and innocent delight, it hath ſuch a deſire to break this Priſon, that it oft-times furiouſly burſts forth into unlawful and forbidden pleaſures. And therefore uſe a due care at leaſt in your firſt ſetting out, that you run not with too great a violence. Do not make more haſte than good ſpeed, as you will be apt to do when you begin your journey. Young Pilgrims are wont to be very forward, and to tye themſelves to ſuch long ſtages; that they grow weary, and turn aſide to ſome more pleaſing courſes. And it is well if they divert not to ſuch as are looſe after too great ſtrictneſs. They are very happy if they leave not off their travel, by travelling too faſt. The very beſt that we can expect, is that they ſit down as men out of breath, and that they loſe more time in recovering of it, than they would have done in ſeaſonable refreſhments.
Nay, let me tell you, the oldeſt traveller upon the Rode will find that he hath great uſe of them, and cannot give ſo good an account of his time, unleſs he beſtow a little of it upon them. Recreations are part of the needs of humane life, and though a man be never ſo well provided, he will be liable to this want. The moſt vigorous minds will ſometimes be weary, and call for quiet and eaſe. The ſtrongeſt eyes will at laſt grow weak, and deſire to ſhut themſelves The life of the greateſt Sages (as a wiſe man once told me) is not altogether ſerious. All their ſayings are not Sermons: nor is all they write either their laſt Teſtament, or the confeſſion of their Faith. And therefore ſtudy not how to live and uſe none, but rather to uſe none but thoſe which are good and worthy of a man. Think not to be employed ſo as not to need them, but take care that under a pretence of need they do not become your employment. Order the matter ſo diſcreetly that they may be as profitable as they are delightful. See that they render you the hours back again which you have beſtowed on them. For there is nothing more certain than that we may gain time by intermitting our labours, and rid the more ground by ſtanding ſtill a while.
And becauſe the greateſt part of a wiſe mans pleaſure conſiſts in good diverting company, let me here remember you to provide that it be carefully choſen, and that you do not lightly take men into your familiarity. Excellent men you are rather to be converſant withall, than excellent Books. You may learn more of them than all your ſtudy can teach you. You may at once give your ſoul a recreation, and your body a repaſt: You may divert your ſelf and others both together. He who asks and enquires of his company, ſhall both receive much learning, and give much content: eſpecially when his queſtions are addreſſed to ſuch whoſe ſkill lyes in that whereof he demands ſatisfaction. For then he offers them a fit occaſion to pleaſe themſelves in ſpeaking, and he gains much knowledge himſelf by being poſſeſſed of their conceptions. And therefore it is moſt adviſable for you to frequent the ſociety of thoſe who have more knowledge than your ſelf. Though there are who affect the company of ignorant perſons, that ſo they may be taken for knowing men; yet they who are really knowing, ſeek for the wiſe, that ſo they may know more. In the one you may be admired, but in the other you ſhall be acquainted with things that are worthy of admiration. And I beſeech you, which is better, to learn wiſdom from thoſe who are wiſe, or to be accounted wiſe by thoſe who are ignorant? It is a pittiful thing, in my judgment, to be thought wiſe when you are not: and yet it is ſtill more deplorable when you pleaſe your ſelf in being ſo thought by thoſe who indeed are very fools. If you would win the reputation of Wiſdom, let it be with thoſe who know what it is. But you muſt firſt have it, before you have their eſteem; and the firſt ſtep to it, is to be ſo wiſe as to know in what company it is to be learnt.
But it is not my intention to make you a long diſcourſe on this ſubject; and therefore I ſhall not warn you of all thoſe who are to be avoided, but only of one ſort who will more abuſe your time, and alſo do you greater miſchief than any elſe beſide that are not openly wicked. They that I mean are a talkative generation, who are ever chattering and babling as if they had obtained a Pattent for prating. People that are ſo much in company with others, that they can never find leiſure to keep any with themſelves. Who are a burden to themſelves when they are at home, and to their neighbours when they are abroad. Whoſe minds are ſtuft with nothing but News, of which they are ſo full, that they have no room for one wiſe thought to lodge there. But above all others, I would have you mark and ſhun a complaining ſort of people who are ever finding fault, and never can be pleaſed. Their minds feed upon the ſins or the harms of others, and they have alwayes ſome News to make you ſad. The ſubject of their diſcourſe moſt commonly is, the evil of the dayes wherein they live. They alwayes praiſe that which is paſt, and diſcommend that which is preſent. The wiſe men of former dayes they are ever magnifying: and they will allow no body to be good, but thoſe who are dead. They ſeek for examples of Piety in the Acts and Monuments of the Church, which they would not follow nor applaud if they were alive again. Nay, they have in great admiration all that is done abroad, but are ill-affected to all that is done at home. Nothing can be ſo well managed, but they will ſhew you ſome errour in it: nor can there be ſo profound a peace, but they will fright you with ſome thing that portends Wars, or other Calamities. They never look upon the Kingdom where they live, but they ſee it full of the tokens of Gods wrath. There is no ſpot that can appear, but they make it a mark of the plagues of Heaven that are coming upon us. They have loſt their taſte and judgment through the gall and bitterneſs of their own heart. Their choler overflows ſo much, that they have no ſenſe or relliſh of any of Gods mercies, but cry out perpetually of woes and miſeries. One would think by their talk, that the tranquillity of their Country is a trouble to them, and rather than have no diſturbance, they will begin it in themſelves. Nay, let things be in what poſture they will, you ſhall never find them at any eaſe. Let them change their faces never ſo much, they ſtill retain the ſame ſad countenance, and follow you with their complaints. If all things be in a proſperous eſtate, they fill you with fears of the evils that are to come. And if the times be very miſerable, then they bethink themſelves of the happineſs which they could not ſee before in the dayes that are paſt. When they have nothing to ſay, they will give you a very grave nod, by which you muſt gather, their heads are full, if their wiſdom thought it fit at that time to empty them. And when they are afraid to ſpeak their thoughts, then they will ſhake their head, and give a terrible ſhrug, as if all were nought and going to ruine. In ſhort, you ſhall hear theſe men ſpeak nothing but Lamentations: and they will mix their words with ſuch ſighs, that you would think they layd to heart the badneſs of the times. But do not believe them: this may be no more but a copy of their countenance. For there are a number of them who conceive a ſecret joy when they hear an ill ſtory of one whom they hate: and could not tell how to appear good, unleſs they had ſome mens vices to ſpeak againſt. They would not be able to live, if all men ſhould leave their ſins. There would not be found a man ſo bad as they, if all ſhould become ſo good as they ſeem to deſire. They would be more troubled at the reformation, than they are at the diſorders. And, unleſs their hearts were changed, they muſt either then be dumb, or elſe make faults where they could find none. And that is a matter, I aſſure you, very eaſie for them to do. For they never regard whether their complaints be juſt or unjuſt: and it would be to ſuppoſe them too reaſonable, if we ſhould think they are never diſcontented without a cauſe. Mingle not your ſelf therefore with ſuch men: but judge it better a great deal to travel alone, than to fall into ſuch company. If you mean to finiſh your journey, ſtay not to liſten to their tales, for they have no end, and they will detain you with them for ever. There is no thing, no perſon can eſcape the ſcourge of their tongues; and fince thoſe are innumerable, ſo are their ſtories.
But in this and all the foregoing Directions which I have given you, it will be of great uſe to mark the footſteps which you will meet withall of many Travellers who have gone before you. Some of the Prints of their feet you will find bigger, and others of them leſs then your own; but all of them will ſo incourage you, and excite you, and ſupply the place of a Guide unto you, that I may leave the reſt to their inſtructions. And indeed the wiſedome of the ancient Church ſeems herein to have been very great, who choſe to honour the dayes of relaxation and intermiſſion of labours with the names of the Apoſtles and Saints of God. It is fit as I ſaid that we ſhould ſometimes uſe recreations, but they would teach us to begin and end them with acknowledgements of God. It is neceſſary that we chear our ſpirits and refreſh our minds, but we muſt ſtill remember that there is no greater pleaſure then to praiſe our Lord. When we divert our ſelves we ſhould have the example of brave men before us. In all our Sports and Mirth, there muſt nothing be admitted which is unbecomeing the gravity and purity of good Chriſtians. And therefore let me intreat you on all the Feſtivals of the Saints to ſeaſon your mind in the morning with the meditation of their holy lives. When you keep the dayes which preſerve their memory, be ſure to follow their vertues which in effect will make them ſtill to live in the World. It is a ridiculous thing to bleſs God for thoſe examples which we never mean to imitate. It is monſtrouſly abſurd to maintain the memory of Holy mens names, with an utter forgetfulneſs of their Piety. If they be capable of any grief in the bleſſed place where they now are, and have carried their paſſions away with them to the other World; it makes them ſigh one would think to ſee the lewdneſs of thoſe that honour them, and the diſgrace that is done to Religion under the countenance of their great names. It wounds them ſure to hear themſelves commended laviſhly, and to ſee their lives reproached as guilty of too much ſeverity. It was an odd ſaying, but ſpoken with much ſimplicity and zeal by an old Preacher, That he wondred the Saints did not riſe out of their graves to drive thoſe away from their Temples, who uſe ſo much ceremony in celebrating their Feſtivals, and take ſo little care to follow their Vertues. But I may rather wonder with what face men can ſpeak againſt thoſe who neglect the obſervance of theſe Dayes, when they themſelves are the chiefeſt cauſe of it, or the beſt colour for it. They diſhonour all holy rites, and bring a reproach upon holy times: and if it had not been for ſuch as them, thoſe dayes might have been in more credit, even with thoſe who now deſpiſe them. What do we ſee ſay thoſe ſcrupulous perſons but riot and luxury at ſuch ſeaſons? All places are full of vomit and men ſeem to be celebrating the Feaſt of Ceres and Bacchus, i. e. of Bread and Wine, of ſome heatheniſh, drunken belly-god. They fancy there is no reſtraint layd upon their appetite, if they do but ſtrictly forbear their ordinary labours. They are like ſome bad Chriſtians in the old times, who made no doubt of being drunk, ſo they did but take off their cups as they ſate on the Martyrs Tombs. It is eaſie indeed for theſe objectors to ſee ſomething elſe: They might behold ſome devout people who frequent the Worſhip of God and rejoyce moſt in remembring their Saviour and his great Grace in ſending thoſe that Preached the Goſpel to the World. But the number of the other are ſo great who never regard ſuch things, that by looking on them they are tempted to take no notice of all the reſt. The Taverns are fuller by far then our Churches; and the Theatre is more frequented then the Houſe of God. And therefore it is for ſuch as you to ſet your ſelves a work to take away this objection which they will not take away themſelves. Do you ſatisfie them that theſe dayes are no neceſſary cauſe of doing evil, by your own example of doing good. Leave their Argument no force at all, for it is in your power to do it: and let them ſee that the marriage between theſe Feſtivals and Profaneneſs is not ſo legitimate, but they may be divorced. Deprive them of this colour and leave their peeviſhneſs ſo naked that it may be expoſed to the view of all. Or if they have taken a real offence, remove it out of their way and let all that they alledg have a full confutation in your holy life. Anſwer them by your behaviour, that there is no need to take away theſe dayes, for you can take away all the wickedneſs and leave them ſtill remaining. Let them ſee that you can reſt from your labours and yet not ſpend your whole time in ſport and play. Let them find the Bible or ſome good book in your hand oftner then they do the Cards. Let your Spirit rejoyce in God your Saviour, more then your body doth in meat and drink. Feed your ſoul upon the Heavenly myſteries of our Religion, and do not live as if the Saints were only good Purveyors for our Kitchins. So will you both bring theſe dayes into eſteem with others, and your ſelf into greater favour with God. And I beſeech you, deſire all you know that they would not ſleight ſuch admonitions as theſe I give you: But that for the Honour of our Lord, for the credit of his Church who hath appointed theſe ſolemnities, for the love of their own ſouls who are intended to receive the benefit of them, they would behave themſelves ſoberly and religiouſly at ſuch ſeaſons. That ſo the Church may not be forced to do with theſe as it hath done with the Feaſts of Love and other rites uſed by the Apoſtles themſelves, i. e. aboliſh and baniſh them becauſe of mens obſtinate abuſe of them. For it is a very abſurd thing, (as one of the ancient Guides ſaith) to ſtudy to honour the Martyrs with too much fulneſs, who we know pleaſed God by faſting and abſtinence. It is a proſperous way of doing honour to our Saviour, by pampering and pleaſing our ſelves; who it is known did honour his Father by denying himſelf and deſpiſing all the pleaſures of the fleſh. Therefore exhort every one to feaſt themſelves with an holy fear. Let them make Feaſts of Charity and doing good to their poor neighbours. Let them be Feaſts of Love to make us friends one with another. Feaſts of the Spirit to put us in mind of the joyes of the Lord and the eternal Supper of the Lamb.
And now I think I may have leave to conclude my directions (having put you into the hands of better Guides then my ſelf) the ſum whereof is briefly this: Let your principal deſign ever be to knit your heart to the Love of Jeſus, and the ardent deſire of being with him at Jeruſalem. Let this be your great buſineſs to ſet your. Soul directly towards the place where he is, and to ſtir up in it ſuch longings as theſe, O that I were with Jeſus! when ſhall I come to Jeſus! And ſince he is the Way to himſelf there is nothing more needful for the accompliſhing your deſire then to propoſe him before your eyes for your imitation. As for Prayer, Meditation, and ſuch like things, they are to be deſigned to this end, that your Love to him may be inflamed, your Deſire after him increaſed, and your Reſolution of doing his will and treading in his ſteps be made unmoveable. Whatſoever therefore you find proper to advance that Love, that Deſire, that Reſolution, be it Praying or Reading, Diſcourſing or Solitude, Walking or Repoſing your ſelf, Viſiting of others, or Keeping at home; make uſe of it for the time that your Soul relliſhes it, and as long as it quickens your Deſire and indeavour of enjoying the love of Jeſus and the bleſſed ſight of him at Jeruſalem. But when any of theſe ſhall prove irkſome to you, be not troubled at it, but try for that time ſome of the reſt, which may be then more uſeful becauſe more pleaſant to you. And when any of thoſe Enemies I have mentioned ſhall diſturb your peace, beat them off as ſoon as you can; but be not troubled becauſe they do not preſently yield, provided you do not yield to them neither. And if after a Victory they rally in the ſame manner again, be not affrighted at that neither, as if now they had greater courage; but endeavour only to beat them as before, and by obtaining a new Victory to ſhow that it is your courage which is increaſed. And do not think you ſhall be in danger to loſe the Victory over them, if you ſuffer your Bow ſometimes to be unbent. Do not think a Pilgrim muſt be ſo ſevere as never to recreate himſelf in the way he goes. By perpetual Watchings and labours your enemies may undo you as well as by any other means. Take but heed that you fall not into their Quarters when you divert your ſelf, and let but your pleaſures ſtill lye in your way, and you need not fear to make uſe of them. Remember the Example of the Saints of God, and ſtir up your ſelf to imitate their zeal and their diſcretion both together. And reſt aſſured (my Friend) that this good Deſire thus cheriſhed, thus augmented, and thus ſtrongly and wiſely purſued, will bring you ſafe to the end of your Pilgrimage; and ſet your feet in the midſt of Jeruſalem, where I ſhall be right glad to meet you.