The Parable of the Pilgrim, Parable · Chapter 3
CAP. III.
The great trouble that he fell into, becauſe of the different wayes which he was told of to that place.
IN this manner the poor man was wont to ſigh out his ſoul, hoping that at laſt the heavens would pleaſe to hear him and favour him with the underſtanding of that, which would make all his groans uſeleſs, and render him as chearful, as now he found himſelf diſconſolate. But that which made the fulfilling of his deſires more difficult, and his hopes to arrive more ſlow, was the many controverſies which were in thoſe dayes fiercely agitated, and the huge quarrels that men raiſed about the right way to Jeruſalem. There were no leſs than twenty (and ſome ſay many more) very different parties that contended ſharply with each other; and every one of them confidently affirmed that they only were the people of Sion, and that unleſs he joyned himſelf to their company (in which alas there was no Peace at all) he ſhould never come to that City of God which he ſought after. The heads of theſe diviſions made the world believe that they were the Torches which muſt light them through the darkneſs of errour; the Pole-ſtar to regulate their courſe in the ſearch and diſcovery of truth; and that unleſs men uſed their Clue (which God knows was moſt wofully intangled) they ſhould never fail to be loſt in the Labyrinths and Maeanders of Ignorance and Folly. Nay to ſuch a degree did they magnifie themſelves, as if Truth and they had been born at the ſame time, or at leaſt had come of Age together. It ſeemed to be a ſecret till they appeared, and to have been reſerved from the beginning on purpoſe to diſcover it ſelf to them in Markets and Camps, if not in lewder places. The moſt modeſt pretenſion was, that Truth was but a ſtripling, or rather went in ſide-coats, till it came to their ſchools to be ripened into the wiſdome of perfect men. They ſpake of the affairs of Heaven, as if they were Counſellors of State in that Kingdom; and opened the ſecrets of Jeſus Chriſt as if they were his Confidents. St. John who lay in his boſom never delivered any thing with greater peremptorineſs than theſe men did; and, had it not been that they wanted his charity, they might have been thought by moſt as great Oracles as they thought themſelves. There ſeemed no difference between them and Prophets, but only that they could not prove their miſſion; elſe they had the gift of boldneſs and fell not ſhort in their pretenſes to inſpiration. In this conceit they thruſt into the world a great number of books which were called the Word of the Lord, and cryed up as the Maps of that heavenly Country, and the exact Charts whereby men muſt ſteer their courſe if ever they meant to come ſafely thither. Into huge Volumes theſe writings ſometimes ſwelled, and they were wont to collect and faggot together ſo many things and ſo vaſtly different; that a man could not eaſily avoid to loſe his way in this Wood, while he was ſeeking his way to Jeruſalem. Eſpecially ſince they never forgot to furniſh theſe bundles with ſome luſty ſticks wherewith to bang their adverſaries and beat them down as low as hell. For in the midſt of ſuch a fearful ſcuffle, there was ſo great a duſt raiſed; that no man could tell where he was, nor diſcern any thing but only this, that he was not in the way to the Viſion of Peace.
I need not relate how ſorely it grieved the good mans heart to ſee ſo many different wayes, every one of them laying ſo high a claim to truth, and bitterly reproaching the reſt as damnable Hereſies. He could bend his courſe to no quarter, but he was in danger to be aſſaulted with ſome queſtion or other, and was put upon his deſence againſt ſome man of braſs, who thought himſelf worthy to be one of the Champions of Truth. The ſpirit of common Barretry did not ſeem a greater plague to him, than theſe vexatious diſputing people. The fury of whom likewiſe was ſometimes ſo violent, that he thought he had made a good retreat if he were not bruiſed and almoſt beat in pieces by their rude blows, whoſe opinions he adventured to thwart by any ſtrong contradiction. Nay they all taking diſtant paths and not going in ſtreight and parallel lines, but in oblique and crooked wayes, which croſſed each other very frequently; they never met together, but there was ſuch juſtling and quarrelling about the road to Jeruſalem, that no man could be near them but they would ingage him to take the one or the other part in the Bloody conflict. So I call it; for they thought that they did God good ſervice, when they diſpatched one of their enemies; and that they made him a Sacrifice, when they ſatiſfied their own beaſtly fury. And this indeed was the ſaddeſt thing of all to his thoughts, that their heat and paſſion they had the confidence to Baptize into the name of holy zeal; and that which was but the love of their own opinion, they conſtantly miſcalled the love of God and of his Truth. Though thoſe dayes (as I have already ſaid) were very frozen and cold, yet they cudgel'd one another ſo long till they grew not; and then they cry'd the weather was very warm and the Sun in his higheſt elevation. Gods enemies they thought they oppoſed in their own; and they fancied themſelves ingaged againſt ſin while they were buffeting a contrary opinion. There was no heat but they took it for divine, though it were of their own kindling; and ſo they were but all on fire, they never doubted but it was from heaven. For there was no ſin in thoſe dayes like Moderation, and no vertue comparable to a furious and headlong zeal. But yet he received this benefit by thoſe unhappy feuds, that they made him ſometimes think it was no mean thing in the eſteem of others as well as himſelf, for which there was ſo many and ſo fiery contenders. The Prize he hoped would prove glorious which had drawn into the field ſo many combatants, and which with ſuch zealous ſticklings all ſides ſought to win. The affliction alſo which he felt in his ſpirit when he beheld them ſo ſharply ingaged, had this good effect upon him; that it made him more ſenſibly admire the goodneſs of God which had preſerved him from liſting himſelf in any of thoſe angry parties, and entring into thoſe never enough to be lamented broils. This put him likewiſe in ſome hopes that he would not ſuffer him likewiſe in ſome hopes that he would not ſuffer him to remain long without the knowledge of the Truth, who had ſo gratiouſly prevented him from diverting into the paths of falſhood. This degree of underſtanding he had already acquired, That Sweetneſs and Love, Meekneſs and Peace were the Harbingers to Divine Knowledg, and ſince they were become his Gueſts, he hoped that would not be far behind. But that any man who knows God to be Love, ſhould imagine that he will dwell in a mind where there is nothing but hatred to be found, ſeemed a kind of Prodigy unto him. And it did quite aſtoniſh him to ſee that ſo many men did dream that the way to The Viſion of Peace lay through the field of ſtrife and war; and that we muſt come to live together in endleſs love hereafter, by living in perpetual frays and brawls in the world where we now are.