MERCY EXPRESSES HER FEARS
So He said unto her, "Peace be to thee; stand up." But she continued upon her face, and said, "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments. Wherefore dost Thou keep so cruel a dog in Thy yard, at the sight of which such women and children as we are ready to fly from the gate with fear?" He answered and said, "That dog has another owner; he also is kept close in another man's ground, only my pilgrims hear his barking: he belongs to the castle which you see there at a distance, but can come up to the walls of this place. He has frighted many an honest pilgrim from worse to better, by the great voice of his roaring. Indeed, he that owneth him doth not keep him out of any good-will to me or mine, but with intent to keep the pilgrims from coming to me, and that they may be afraid to come and knock at this gate for entrance. Sometimes also he has broken out, and has worried some that I love; but I take all at present patiently. I also give my pilgrims timely help, so that they are not delivered up to his power, to do with them what his doggish nature would prompt him to. But, what! my beloved one, I should suppose, hadst thou known even so much beforehand, thou wouldst not have been afraid of a dog. The beggars that go from door to door will, rather than lose a supposed alms, run the danger of the bawling, barking, and biting too, of a dog; and shall a dog in another man's yard, a dog whose barking I turn to the profit of pilgrims, keep any one from coming to me? I deliver them from the lions, their darling from the power of the dog."
Mer. Then said Mercy, "I confess my ignorance, I spake what I understood not: I acknowledge that Thou doest all things well."
Chr. Then Christiana began to talk of their journey, and to inquire after the way.
So He fed them, and washed their feet, and set them in the way of His steps, according as He had dealt with her husband before.
So I saw in my dream that they walked on in their way, and had the weather very comfortable to them.
Then Christiana began to sing:
"Blessed be the day that I began
A pilgrim for to be;
And blessèd also be the man
That thereto movèd me.
"'Tis true 'twas long ere I began
To seek to live for ever;
But now I run fast as I can:
'Tis better late than never.
"Our tears to joy, our fears to faith,
Are turnèd, as we see;
Thus our beginning (as one saith)
Shows what our end will be."