Demas

'Then CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL, outwent them again, and went till they came at a delicate plain, called Ease, where they went with much content; but that plain was but narrow, so they were quickly got over it. Now at the further side of that plain was a little hill called Lucre, and in that hill a silver mine, which some of them that had formerly gone that way, because of the rarity of it, had turned aside to see; but going too near the brink of the pit, the ground being deceitful under them, broke, and they were slain; some also had been maimed there, and could not to their dying day be their own men again.

Then I saw in my dream, that a little off the road, over against the silver mine, stood DEMAS (gentleman-like), to call to passengers to come and see; who said to CHRISTIAN and his fellow, "Ho, turn aside hither, and I will show you a thing."

Chr. What thing is so deserving as to turn us out of the way to see it?

Demas. Here is a silver mine, and some digging in it for treasure; if you will come, with a little pain you may richly provide for yourselves.

Hope. Then said HOPEFUL, "Let us go and see."

Chr. "Not I," said CHRISTIAN; "I have heard of this place before now and how many have there been slain; and besides, that treasure is a snare to those that seek it, for it hinders them in their pilgrimage." Then CHRISTIAN called to DEMAS, saying, "Is not the place dangerous? hath it not hindered many in their pilgrimage?"

"For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices." Hosea 4:16-19

Demas. "Not very dangerous; except to those that are careless;" but withal, he blushed as he spake.

Chr. Then said CHRISTIAN to HOPEFUL, "Let us not stir a step, but still keep on our way."

Hope. I will warrant you, when BY-ENDS comes up, if he hath the same invitation as we, he will turn in thither to see.

Chr. No doubt thereof, for his principles lead him that way; and a hundred to one but he dies there.

Demas. Then DEMAS called again, saying, "But will you not come over and see?"

Chr. Then CHRISTIAN roundly answered, saying, "DEMAS, thou art an enemy to the right ways of the Lord of this way, and hast been already condemned for thine own turning aside by one of his Majesty's judges; and why seekest thou to bring us into the like condemnation?

"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia." 2 Timothy 4:10

Besides, if we at all turn aside, our Lord the King will certainly hear thereof, and will there put us to shame, where we would stand with boldness before him."

Demas cried again, That he also was one of their fraternity; and that if they would tarry a little, he also himself would walk with them.

Chr. Then said Christian, "What is thy name? is it not the same by the which I have called thee?"

Demas. Yes, my name is DEMAS; I am the son of Abraham.

Chr. I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father, and you have trod their steps. It is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor; and thou deservest no better reward.

"But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, asthe LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." 2 Kings 5:20

"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." Matthew 26:14, 15

"When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." Matthew 27:1-5

Assure thyself, that when we come to the King, we will tell him of this thy behaviour.

Thus they went their way.

By this time BY-ENDS and his companions were come again within sight; and they at the first beck went over to DEMAS. Now, whether they fell into the pit by looking over the brink thereof, or whether they went down to dig, or whether they were smothered in the bottom by the damps that commonly arise, of these things I am not certain; but this I observed, that they never were seen again in the way. Then sang CHRISTIAN:

"BY-ENDS and SILVER-DEMAS doth agree;
One calls, the other runs, that he may be
A sharer in his lucre: so these two
Take up in this world, and no farther go."

Remember Lot's Wife

Now I saw that, just on the other side of this plain, the pilgrims came to a place where stood an old monument hard by the highway side, at the sight of which they were both concerned, because of the strangeness of the form thereof; for it seemed to them as if it had been a woman transformed into the shape of a pillar. Here, therefore, they stood looking and looking upon it; but could not for a time tell what they should make thereof. At last, HOPEFUL espied written above upon the head thereof a writing in an unusual hand; but he, being no scholar, called to CHRISTIAN (for he was learned) to see if he could pick out the meaning; so he came and after a little laying of letters together, he found the same to be this, "REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!" So he read it to his fellow; after which, they both concluded that that was the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for her looking back with a covetous heart when she was going from Sodom for safety,

"But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:26

which sudden and amazing sight gave them occasion of this discourse.

Chr. Ah, my brother, this is a seasonable sight; it came opportunely to us after the invitation which DEMAS gave us to come over to view the hill Lucre; and had we gone over as he desired us, and as thou wast inclining to do, my brother, we had, for aught I know, been made ourselves like this woman, a spectacle for those that shall come after to behold.

Hope. I am sorry that I was so foolish, and am made to wonder that I am not now as Lot's wife; for wherein was the difference 'twixt her sin and mine? she only looked back, and I had a desire to go and see. Let grace be adored; and let me be ashamed that ever such a thing should be in mine heart!

Chr. Let us take notice of what we see here, for our help for time to come. This woman escaped one judgment, for she fell not by the destruction of Sodom; yet she was destroyed by another--as we see, she is turned into a pillar of salt.

Hope. True; and she may be to us both caution and example: caution, that we should shun her sin; or a sign of what judgment will overtake such as shall not be prevented by this caution. So Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with the two hundred and fifty men that perished in their sin, did also become a sign or example to others to beware:

"And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign." Numbers 26:9, 10

but above all, I muse at one thing, to wit, how DEMAS and his fellows can stand so confidently yonder to look for that treasure, which this woman, but for looking behind her after (for we read not that she stepped one foot out of the way) was turned into a pillar of salt; especially since the judgment which overtook her did make her an example within sight of where they are; for they cannot choose but see her, did they but lift up their eyes.

Chr. It is a thing to be wondered at, and it argues that their hearts are grown desperate in the case; and I cannot tell who to compare them to so fitly as to them that pick pockets in the presence of the judge, or that will cut purses under the gallows. It is said of the men of Sodom, that they were sinners exceedingly,

"And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." Genesis 13:10

"But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly." Genesis 13:13

because they were sinners "before the Lord," --that is, in his eyesight; and notwithstanding the kindness that he had showed them, for the land of Sodom was now like the Garden of Eden heretofore. This, therefore, provoked him the more to jealousy; and made their plague as hot as the fire of the Lord out of heaven could make it. And it is most rationally to be concluded, that such, even such as these are, that shall sin in the sight, yea, and that too in despite of such examples that are set continually before them, to caution them to the contrary, must be partakers of severest judgments.

Hope. Doubtless thou hast said the truth: but what a mercy is it that neither thou, but especially I, am not made myself this example! this ministers occasion to us to thank God; to fear before him; and always to "remember Lot's wife."

Respite

I saw then that they went on their way to a pleasant river, which David the king called "the River of God;" but John, "the River of the water of life".

"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it." Psalm 65:9

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Revelation 22:1, 2

"Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the housestood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.

Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waterswere to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." Ezekiel 47:1-12

Now their way lay just upon the bank of the river: here, therefore, CHRISTIAN and his companion walked with great delight; they drank also of the water of the river, which was pleasant and enlivening to their weary spirits: besides, on the banks of this river, on either side, were green trees, that bore all manner of fruit; and the leaves of the trees were good for medicine; with the fruit of these trees they were also much delighted; and the leaves they ate to prevent surfeits, and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels. On either side of the river was also a meadow, curiously beautiful with lilies; and it was green all the year long. In this meadow they lay down and slept; for here they might lie down safely.

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3

"And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant." Isaiah 14:30

When they awoke, they gathered again of the fruit of the trees, and drank again of the water of the river; and then lay down again to sleep. Thus they did several days and nights. Then they sang:

"Behold ye how these crystal streams do glide,
To comfort pilgrims, by the highway side;
The meadows green, besides their fragrant smell,
Yield dainties for them: and he that can tell
What pleasant fruit, yea, leaves, these trees do yield,
Will soon sell all, that he may buy this field."

So when they were disposed to go on--for they were not, as yet, at their journey's end--they ate and drank, and departed.

By-Path Meadow

Now I beheld in my dream, that they had not journeyed far but the river and the way for a time parted. At which they were not a little sorry; yet they durst not go out of the way. Now the way from the river was rough, and their feet tender by reason of their travels; so the souls of the pilgrims were much discouraged because of the way:

"And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." Numbers 21:4

wherefore, still as they went on, they wished for a better way. Now a little before them, there was on the left hand of the road a meadow, and a stile to go over into it; and that meadow is called "By-path Meadow." Then said CHRISTIAN to his fellow, "If this meadow lies along by our wayside, let us go over into it." Then he went to the stile to see; and behold a path lay along by the way on the other side of the fence. "'Tis according to my wish," said CHRISTIAN; "here is the easiest going; come, good HOPEFUL, and let us go over."

Hope. But how if this path should lead us out of the way?

Chr. "That's not like," said the other; "look, doth it not go along by the wayside?" So HOPEFUL, being persuaded by his fellow, went after him over the stile. When they were going over, and were got into the path, they found it very easy for their feet; and withal, they looking before them, espied a man walking as they did (and his name was VAIN-CONFIDENCE.); so they called after him, and asked him whither that way led? He said, "To the Celestial Gate." "Look," said CHRISTIAN, "did not I tell you so? By this you may see we are right." So they followed; and he went before them. But behold, the night came on, and it grew very dark; so that they that were behind lost the sight of him that went before.

He therefore that went before (VAIN-CONFIDENCE by name), not seeing the way before him, fell into a deep pit,

"For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed." Isaiah 9:16

which was on purpose there made by the prince of those grounds, to catch vain-glorious fools withal, and was dashed in pieces with his fall.

Now CHRISTIAN and his fellow heard him fall. So they called, to know the matter; but there was none to answer--only they heard a groaning. Then said HOPEFUL, "Where are we now?" Then was his fellow silent, as mistrusting that he had led him out of the way. And now it began to rain, and thunder, and lighten in a dreadful manner; and the water rose suddenly.

Then HOPEFUL groaned in himself, saying, "Oh that I had kept on my way!"

Chr. Who could have thought that this path should have led us out of the way!

Hope. I was afraid of it at the very first; and therefore gave you that gentle caution. I would have spoken plainer, but that you are older than I.

Chr. Good brother, be not offended; I am sorry I have brought thee out of the way, and that I have put thee into such imminent danger. Pray, my brother, forgive me; I did not do it of an evil intent.

Hope. Be comforted, my brother, for I forgive thee; and believe, too, that this shall be for our good.

Chr. I am glad I have with me a merciful brother. But we must not stand thus; let us try to go back again.

Hope. But, good brother, let me go before.

Chr. No, if you please, let me go first; that if there be any danger, I may be first therein: because by my means we are both gone out of the way.

Hope. "No," said HOPEFUL, "you shall not go first; for your mind being troubled, may lead you out of the way again." Then, for their encouragement, they heard the voice of one saying, "Set thine heart toward the highway, even the way that thou wentest; turn again".

"Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities." Jeremiah 31:21

But by this time the waters were greatly risen; by reason of which the way of going back was very dangerous. (Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.) Yet they adventured to go back; but it was so dark, and the flood was so high, that in their going back, they had like to have been drowned nine or ten times.

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