Boldly Stated.

On The Pilgrams Progress

*

And now before I put up my pen,

I'll show the profit of my book, and then

Commit both me and it into that hand

That pulls the strong down, and makes weak ones stand

*

out before thine eyes

The man that seeks the everlasting prize:

It shows you whence he comes, wither he goes;

What he leaves undone;also what he does:

It also shows you how he runs and runs,

Till he unto the Gate of Glory comes.

*

It shows too who set out for life amain,

As if the lasting crown they would obtain,

Here also you may see the reason why

They lose their labour,and like fools die.

This book will make a traveller of thee,

If by its counsels thou wilt ruled be;

It will dirrect thee to the Holy Land

If thou wilt its derections understand;

Yea, it will make the slothful active be;

The blind also delightful things to see.

*

Art thou for something rare and profitable?

Or wouldst thou see a truth within a fable?

Art thou forgetful?Wouldest thou remember

From new-years day to the last day of December?

Then read my fancies;they will stick like burs,

And may be,to the helpless,comforters.

*

This book is writ in such a dialect,

Countless the minds of listless men affect:

It seems a novelty and yet contains

Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Wouldst thou divert thyself from melancholy?

Wouldst thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly?

Wouldst thou read riddles and there explanation?

Or else be drowned in thy contemplation?

*

Wouldst read thyself, and read thou know'st not what,

And yet know whether thou art blessed or not By

Reading the same lines? O then come hither,

And lay my book, thy head, and heart together.

*

John Bunyan.