far I did come laden with my sin; Nor could aught ease the grief
that I was in Till I came hither: What a place is this! Must here
be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off
my back Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blest
cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be The man that there was
put to shame for me![52]

I saw then in my dream, that he went on thus, even until he came
at a bottom, where he saw, a little out of the way, three men
fast asleep, with fetters upon their heels. The name of the one
was Simple, another Sloth, and the third Presumption.

Christian then seeing them lie in this case, went to them, if
peradventure he might awake them, and cried, You are like them
that sleep on the top of a mast, for the Dead Sea is under you-a
gulf that hath no bottom (Prov. 23:34). Awake, therefore, and come
away; be willing also, and I will help you off with your irons.
He also told them, If he that "goeth about like a roaring lion"
comes by, you will certainly become a prey to his teeth (1 Peter
5:8). With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this
sort: Simple said, "I see no danger"; Sloth said, "Yet a little
more sleep"; and Presumption said, "Every fat[53] must stand upon
its own bottom; what is the answer else that I should give thee?"
And so they lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his
way.

Yet was he troubled to think that men in that danger should so
little esteem the kindness of him that so freely offered to help
them, both by awakening of them, counseling of them, and proffering
to help them off with their irons.[54] And as he was troubled