or the like; then thou must encourage thyself with the freeness of the
promises, the tender-heartedness of Christ, the merits of his blood,
the freeness of his invitations to come in, the greatness of the sin
of others that have been pardoned; and that the same God, through the
same Christ, holdeth forth the same grace as free as ever. If these be
not thy meditations, thou wilt draw very heavily in the way to heaven
if thou do not give up all for lost, and so knock off from following
any farther. Therefore, I say, take heart in thy journey, and say to
them that seek thy destruction, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy:
when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be
a light unto me."

THE EIGHTH DIRECTION.--_Take heed of being offended at the cross that
thou must go by, before thou come to heaven_. You must understand (as
I have already touched) that there is no man that goeth to heaven but
he must go by the cross. The cross is the standing way-mark, by which
all they that go to glory must pass.

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution." If thou art in thy way to the kingdom, my life for
thine, thou wilt come at the cross shortly. The Lord grant thou dost
not shrink at it, so as to turn thee back again. "If any man will
come after me," saith Christ, "let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow me." The Cross! it stands, and hath stood,
from the beginning, as a way-mark to the kingdom of heaven. You know
if one ask you the way to such and such a place, you, for the better
direction, do not only say, 'this is the way,' but then also say, 'You
must go by such a gate, by such a stile, such a bush, tree, bridge,'
or such like. Why, so it is here. Art thou enquiring the way to