*
… At this his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed
that what he said to them was true, but because they thought that
some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing
towards night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains,
with all haste they got him to bed.
*
*
But the night was as troublesome to him as the day; wherefore,
instead of sleeping, he spent it in sighs and tears.
So, when the morning was come, they would know
how he did. He told them, Worse and worse:
he also set to talking to them again; but they began to be hardened.
*
*
They also thought to drive away his distemper
by harsh and surly carriages to him; sometimes they would
deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes
they would quite neglect him.
Wherefore he began to retire himself to his chamber…
*
*
… to pray for and pity them,
and also to console his own misery;
he would also walk solitarily in the fields,
sometimes reading, and sometimes praying:
and thus for some days he spent his time.
*
*
Now, I saw, upon a time, when he was walking in the fields,
that he was, as he was wont, reading in his book,
and greatly distressed in his mind;
and as he read, he burst out, as he had done once before, crying,
What shall I do to be saved?
*
The Pilgrim’s Progress
*
*
Reflections from the, ‘Castles of the Mind’, weekend,
organised by Steve Tanham and Barbara Walsh.
*
Reblogged this on Stuart France.
Reblogged this on Sun in Gemini and commented:
From Stuart. Also see The Stone and the Pilgrim (2) for the context