Chr. Then said Christiana, This relation of Fearing has done me good. I thought nobody had been like me. But I see there was some semblance betwixt this good man and I; only we differed in two things. His troubles were so great that they broke out; but mine I kept Within. His also lay so hard upon him, they made him that he could not knock at the houses provided for entertainment; but my trouble was always such as made me knock the louder.
Mar. If I might also speak my heart, I must say that something of him has also dwelt in me. For I have ever been more afraid of the lake, and the loss of a place in paradise, than I have been of the loss of other things. Oh, thought I, may I have the happiness to have a habitation there! 'Tis enough, though I part with all the world to win it.
Matt. Then said Matthew, Fear was one thing that made me think that I was far from having that within me which accompanies salvation. But if it was so with such a good man as he, why may it not also go well with me?
James. No fears, no grace, said James. Though there is not always grace where there is the fear of hell, yet to be sure there is no grace here there is no fear of God.
Great. Well said, James; thou hast hit the mark. For the fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom; and, to be sure, they that want the beginning have neither middle nor end. But we will here conclude our discourse of Mr. Fearing, after We have sent after him this farewell:—
Well, Master Fearing, thou didst fear
Thy God, and wast afraid
Of doing anything, while here,
That would have thee betrayed.
And didst thou fear the lake and pit?
Would others did so too!
For, as for them that want thy wit,
They do themselves undo.
Now I saw that they still went on in their talk. For after Mr, Great—heart had made an end with Mr. Fearing,
