[8]
"Spira! What doſt thou here? Whither goeſt thou? Haſt thou, unhappy man, given thy hand-writing to the Legate at Venice?- Yet ſee thou do not ſeal it in thine own country. Doſt thou, indeed, think eternal life ſo mean a thing, as that thou prefereſt this preſent life before it? Doſt thou well in prefering wife and children before Chriſt? Is the windy applauſe of the people better, indeed, then the glory of God; and the poſſeſſion of this world's good, more dear to thee than the ſalvation of thine own ſoul? Is the ſmall enjoyment of a moment of time, more deſireable than eternal wrath is dreadful? Think with thyſelf what Chriſt did endure for thy ſake! Is it not equal that thou ſhouldeſt ſuffer ſomewhat for him? Remember, man, that the ſufferings of this preſent life, are not comparable to the glory that shall be revealed If thou ſuffereſt with him, thou ſhalt alſo reign with him. Thou canſt not anſwer for what thou haſt already done: nevertheleſs the gate of mercy is not quite that: Take heed that thou heapeſt one ſin upon ſin, leſt thou repent when it is too late."
Now was Spira in the wilderneſs of doubt, not knowing which way to turn him, or what to do; yet being arrived in his own country, and among his friends, conſidering what he had done, and what he had farther promiſed to do; and how the terror of God, on the one ſide, and the terror of this world on the other, did continually rack him; and therefore he deſired their advice in ſo doubtful a caſe. His friends, upon ſmall deliberation, anſwered, That it was requiſite he ſhould take heed that he did not, in anywiſe, betrag his wife and children, and all his friends, into danger; ſeeing, that by ſo ſmall
