Works of John Bunyan Volume III Part 156

Take no heed to the fowler's tempting call; This whistle, he enchanteth birds withal.

Or if thou see'st a live bird in his net, Believe she's there, 'cause hence she cannot get.

Look how he tempteth thee with is decoy, That he may rob thee of thy life, thy joy.

Come, pr'ythee bird, I pr'ythee come away, Why should this net thee take, when 'scape thou may?

Hadst thou not wings, or were thy feathers pull'd, Or wast thou blind, or fast asleep wer't lull'd, The case would somewhat alter, but for thee, Thy eyes are ope, and thou hast wings to flee.

Remember that thy song is in thy rise, Not in thy fall; earth's not thy paradise.

Keep up aloft, then, let thy circuits be Above, where birds from fowler's nets are free.

Comparison.

This fowler is an emblem of the devil, His nets and whistle, figures of all evil.

His gla.s.s an emblem is of sinful pleasure, And his decoy of who counts sin a treasure.

This simple lark's a shadow of a saint, Under allurings, ready now to faint.

This admonisher a true teacher is, Whose works to show the soul the snare and bliss, And how it may this fowler's net escape, And not commit upon itself this rape.

III.

UPON THE VINE-TREE.

What is the vine, more than another tree?

Nay most, than it, more tall, more comely be.

What workman thence will take a beam or pin, To make ought which may be delighted in?

Its excellency in its fruit doth lie: A fruitless vine, it is not worth a fly.

Comparison.

What are professors more than other men?

Nothing at all. Nay, there's not one in ten, Either for wealth, or wit, that may compare, In many things, with some that carnal are.

Good are they, if they mortify their sin, But without that, they are not worth a pin.

IV.

MEDITATIONS UPON AN EGG.

1.

The egg's no chick by falling from the hen; Nor man a Christian, till he's born again.

The egg's at first contained in the sh.e.l.l; Men, afore grace, in sins and darkness dwell.

The egg, when laid, by warmth is made a chicken, And Christ, by grace, those dead in sin doth quicken.

The egg, when first a chick, the sh.e.l.l's its prison; So's flesh to the soul, who yet with Christ is risen.

The sh.e.l.l doth crack, the chick doth chirp and peep, The flesh decays, as men do pray and weep.

The sh.e.l.l doth break, the chick's at liberty, The flesh falls off, the soul mounts up on high But both do not enjoy the self-same plight; The soul is safe, the chick now fears the kite.

2.

But chicks from rotten eggs do not proceed, Nor is a hypocrite a saint indeed.

The rotten egg, though underneath the hen, If crack'd, stinks, and is loathsome unto men.

Nor doth her warmth make what is rotten sound; What's rotten, rotten will at last be found.

The hypocrite, sin has him in possession, He is a rotten egg under profession.

3.

Some eggs bring c.o.c.katrices; and some men Seem hatch'd and brooded in the viper's den.

Some eggs bring wild-fowls; and some men there be As wild as are the wildest fowls that flee.

Some eggs bring spiders, and some men appear More venom'd than the worst of spiders are.[16]

Some eggs bring p.i.s.s-ants, and some seem to me As much for trifles as the p.i.s.s-ants be.

Thus divers eggs do produce divers shapes, As like some men as monkeys are like apes.

But this is but an egg, were it a chick, Here had been legs, and wings, and bones to pick.

V.

OF FOWLS FLYING IN THE AIR.

Methinks I see a sight most excellent, All sorts of birds fly in the firmament: Some great, some small, all of a divers kind, Mine eye affecting, pleasant to my mind.

Look how they tumble in the wholesome air, Above the world of worldlings, and their care.

And as they divers are in bulk and hue, So are they in their way of flying too.

So many birds, so many various things Tumbling i' the element upon their wings.

Comparison.

These birds are emblems of those men that shall Ere long possess the heavens, their all in all.

They are each of a diverse shape and kind, To teach we of all nations there shall find.

They are some great, some little, as we see, To show some great, some small, in glory be.[17]

Their flying diversely, as we behold, Do show saints' joys will there be manifold; Some glide, some mount, some flutter, and some do, In a mix'd way of flying, glory too.

And all to show each saint, to his content, Shall roll and tumble in that firmament.

VI.

UPON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Our Father which in heaven art, Thy name be always hallowed; Thy kingdom come, thy will be done; Thy heavenly path be followed By us on earth as 'tis with thee, We humbly pray; And let our bread us given be, From day to day.

Forgive our debts as we forgive Those that to us indebted are: Into temptation lead us not,[18]

But save us from the wicked snare.

The kingdom's thine, the power too, We thee adore; The glory also shall be thine For evermore.

VII.

MEDITATIONS UPON PEEP OF DAY.

I oft, though it be peep of day, don't know Whether 'tis night, whether 'tis day or no.

I fancy that I see a little light, But cannot yet distinguish day from night; I hope, I doubt, but steady yet I be not, I am not at a point, the sun I see not.

Thus 'tis with such who grace but now[19] possest, They know not yet if they be cursed or blest.

VIII.

UPON THE FLINT IN THE WATER.

This flint, time out of mind, has there abode, Where crystal streams make their continual road.

Yet it abides a flint as much as 'twere Before it touched the water, or came there Its hard obdurateness is not abated, 'Tis not at all by water penetrated.

Though water hath a soft'ning virtue in't, This stone it can't dissolve, for 'tis a flint.