Now Matthew, the son of Christiana, fell sick, so they sent to Mr. Skill to cure him. Then said he: Tell me what he eats.
Christiana:—Well, there is no food here but what is good.
Mr. Skill:—This boy has in him a crude mass of food, which if I do not use the means to get rid of, he will die.
Samuel said to Christiana, What was it that you saw Matthew pick up and eat when we came from the gate which is at the head of this way?
Christiana:—It was some of the fruit that grows there; I chid him for it.
Skill:—I felt sure that it was some bad food; now that fruit hurts more than all, for it is the fruit from Beelzebub's grounds. Did no one warn you of it? Some fall down dead when they eat it.
Then Christiana wept and said, What shall I do for my son? Pray, Sir, try your best to cure him, let it cost what it may.
Then Skill gave strange drugs to him, which he would not take. So Christiana put one of them to the tip of her tongue. Oh, Matthew, said she, it is sweet, sweet as balm; if you love me, if you love Mercy, if you love your life, do take it!
So in time he did, and felt grief for his sin. He quite lost the pain, so that with a staff he could walk, and went from room to room to talk with Mercy, Prudence, Piety and Charity.
Christiana:—Pray, Sir, what else are these Pills good for?