thou keep out of the reach of those great guns, the Ten Commandments.  Hell also hath a wide mouth; it can stretch itself farther that you are aware of.  And as the angel said to Lot, “Take heed, look not behind thee, neither tarry thou in all the plain” (that is, anywhere between this and heaven), “lest thou be consumed”; so I say to thee, Take heed, tarry not, lest either the devil, hell 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 all considered, then thou, as well as I, wouldst say, They that will have heaven must run for it.

(6.) They that go to heaven must run for it; because perchance the gates of heaven may be 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, nor 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 gate of mercy be quite shut; or to run so lazily that they be shut before you 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, etc.  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 I will say of thee, if thou be such a one who runs and misses; I say, even all that go by will begin to mock at thee, saying, This man began to run well, but was not able to finish.  But more of this anon.

Quest.  But how should a poor soul do to run?  For this very thing is that which afflicteth me sore (as you say), to think that I may run, and yet fall short.  Methinks to fall short at last, oh, it fears me greatly.  Pray tell me, therefore, how I should run.

Ans.  That thou mayst indeed be satisfied in this particular, consider these following things.

The first direction:  If thou wouldst so run as to obtain the kingdom of heaven, then be sure that thou get into the way that leadeth thither:  For it is a vain thing to think that ever thou shalt have the prize, tho thou runnest never so fast, unless thou art in the way that leads to it.  Set the case, that there should be a man in London that was to run to York for a wager; now, tho he run never so swiftly, yet if he run full south, he might run himself quickly out of breath, and be never nearer the prize, but rather the farther off?  Just so is it here; it is not simply the runner, nor yet the hasty runner, that winneth the crown, unless he be in the way that leadeth thereto.  I have observed, that little time which I have been a professor, that there is a great running to and fro, some this way, and some that way, yet it is to be feared most of them are out of the way, and then, tho they run as swift as the eagle can fly, they are benefited nothing at all.