care to keep out of the reach of those great guns, the ten
commandments. Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself
farther than you are aware of. And as the angel said to Lot: "Take
heed, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain," that
is, any where between this and heaven, "lest thou be consumed;" so
say I to thee. Take heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell,
death, or the fearful curses of the law of God, do overtake thee, and
throw thee down in the midst of thy sins, so as never to rise and
recover again. If this were well considered, then thou, as well as I,
would say, they that will have heaven must _run_ for it.

6. They that will go to heaven must run for it; because _perchance the
gates of heaven may shut shortly_. Sometimes sinners have not
heaven-gates open to them so long as they suppose; and if they be once
shut against a man, they are so heavy, that all the men in the world,
or all the angels in heaven, are not able to open them. "I shut, and
no man can open," saith Christ. And how if thou shouldst come but one
quarter of an hour too late? I tell thee it will cost thee an eternity
to bewail thy misery in! Francis Spira can tell thee what it is to
stay till the gates of mercy be quite shut; or to run so lazily, that
they be shut before thou get within them. What! to be shut out! What!
out of heaven! Sinner, rather than lose it, _run_ for it; yea, and "so
run that thou mayst obtain."

7. Lastly, Because _if thou lose, thou losest all_. Thou losest soul,
God, Christ heaven, ease, peace, &c. Besides, thou layest thyself open
to all the shame, contempt, and reproach, that either God, Christ,
saints, the world, sin, the devil, and all, can lay upon thee. As
Christ saith of the foolish builder, so will I say of thee, if thou be
such a one who runs and misseth; I say, even all that go by will begin