to Christian, if not all the things he had ever done, yet from among them
the worst things he had ever done. They all rose up black as hell before
his eyes as the gatekeeper did not name them at all, but only said
'notwithstanding all that thou hast done.' Christian never felt his past
life so black, or his burden so heavy, or his heart so broken, as when
Goodwill just said that one word 'notwithstanding.' 'We make no
objections against any; notwithstanding all that they have done before
they come hither, they are in no wise cast out.'




THE INTERPRETER


'An interpreter, one among a thousand.'--Elihu.

We come to-night to the Interpreter's House. And since every minister of
the gospel is an interpreter, and every evangelical church is an
interpreter's house, let us gather up some of the precious lessons to
ministers and to people with which this passage of the _Pilgrim's
Progress_ so much abounds.

1. In the first place, then, I observe that the House of the Interpreter
stands just beyond the Wicket Gate. In the whole topography of the
_Pilgrim's Progress_ there lies many a deep lesson. The church that Mr.
Worldly-Wiseman supported, and on the communion roll of which he was so
determined to have our pilgrim's so unprepared name, stood far down on
the other side of Goodwill's gate. It was a fine building, and it had an
eloquent man for its minister, and the whole service was an attraction