The Faithful Witness

"And so they did; therefore [Faithful] was
presently condemned to be had from the place where he was, to the place from
whence he came, and there to be put to the most cruel death that could be
invented.


     They therefore brought him out, to do with him according to their Law;
and first they Scourged him, then they Buffeted him, then they Lanced his
flesh with Knives; after that they Stoned him with stones, then pricked him
with their Swords; and last of all they burned him to ashes at the Stake. Thus
came Faithful to his end.


     Now I saw that there stood behind the multitude a Chariot and a couple of
Horses, waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had dispatched
him) was taken up into it, and straitway was carried up through the Clouds,
with sound of Trumpet, the nearest way to the Coelestial Gate.


Brave Faithful, bravely done in word and deed;
Judge, Witnesses, and Jury have, instead
Of overcoming thee, but shewn their rage:
When they are Dead, thou'lt Live from age to age.


     But as for Christian, he had some respite, and was remanded back to
prison; so he there remained for a space: But he that over-rules all things,
having the power of their rage in his own hand, so wrought it about, that
Christian for that time escaped them, and went his way. And as he went he
sang, saying,


Well Faithful, thou hast faithfully profest
Unto thy Lord; with whom thou shalt be blest,
When faithless ones, with all their vain delights,
Are crying out under their hellish plights:
Sing, Faithful, sing, and let thy name survive;
For though they kill'd thee, thou art yet alive.


     Now I saw in my Dream, that Christian went not forth alone, for there was
one whose name was Hopeful, (being made so by the beholding of Christian and
Faithful in their words and behaviour, in their sufferings at the Fair) who
joined himself unto him, and entering into a brotherly covenant, told him that
he would be his Companion. Thus one died to make Testimony to the Truth, and
another rises out of his ashes to be a Companion with Christian in his
Pilgrimage."

- The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan