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Perseverance is the Crown of all good actions. [ 439]
WHatsoever is before the end, it is a step whereby we climb to the top of salvation,* 1.1 but it is not the uppermost griece, whereby the highest part of the top may be taken hold of: A man may be tumbled down from the ladder, as well when he is within a round or two of the top, as when he is in the midst or below the mi••st* 1.2 And a man may make Shipwrack when he is within ken of land▪ as when he is a thousand miles off: What had it profited Peter to have escaped the first and second Watch, if he had stuck at the iron gate, and had not passed through that also? VVho maketh account of land-oats that shead before the Harvest,* 1.3 or of fruit that falls from the tree before it be ripe? It is not to begin in the spirit and end in the slesh,* 1.4 not a putting of the hand to the Plow, and looking back, but a constant perse∣verance to the end,* 1.5 that shall be crowned.