The Christian reader, if he have no accounts of the city
later than Bunyan's time, will be surprised to hear that almost
every street has its church, and that the reverend clergy are
nowhere held in higher respect than at Vanity Fair. And well do they
deserve such honorable estimation; for the maxims of wisdom and virtue
which fall from their lips, come from as deep a spiritual source,
and tend to as lofty a religious aim, as those of the sagest
philosophers of old. In justification of this high praise, I need only
mention the names of the Rev. Mr. Shallow-deep; the Rev. Mr.
Stumble-at-Truth; that fine old clerical character, the Rev. Mr.
This-to-day, who expects shortly to resign his pulpit to the Rev.
Mr. That-to-morrow; together with the Rev. Mr. Bewilderment; the
Rev. Mr. Clog-the-spirit; and, last and greatest, the Rev. Dr.
Wind-of-doctrine. The labors of these eminent divines are aided by
those of innumerable lecturers, who diffuse such a various profundity,
in all subjects of human or celestial science, that any man may
acquire an omnigenous erudition, without the trouble of even
learning to read. Thus literature is etherealized by assuming for
its medium the human voice; and knowledge, depositing all its
heavier particles- except, doubtless, its gold- becomes exhaled into a
sound, which forthwith steals into the ever-open ear of the community.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29