"We are made partaker of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Heb. 3:14)
It is the last step that wins; and there is no place in the pilgrim's progress where so many dangers lurk as the region that lies hard by the portals of the Celestial City. It was there that Doubting Castle stood. It was there that the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber. It is when Heaven's heights are full in view that hell's gate is most persistent and full of deadly peril. "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." "So run, that ye may obtain."
In the bitter waves of woe
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,
Where the anchors that faith has cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail.
And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,
I know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side;
And that somewhere beyond the stars
Is a love that is better than fate.
When the night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him--and I will wait.
--Washington Gladden.
三月五日
“我们若将起初确实的信心，坚持到底，就在基督里有分了”（来三：14）。
胜利是坚持到最后一步获得的。在天路历程一书中描述的危机四伏，越靠近天门，难关越多，那里有迷楼，疑寨，及温柔蛊惑之处，把疲倦的旅客诱入致命的梦乡。旅伴啊！天堂高阁连云，历历在望，正当这个时候，地狱之门却大开，同时那地狱之门却最富有吸引力，成了旅客的最大危机。“我们行善，不可丧志；若不灰心，到了时侯，就要收成”。（加六：9）“所以你们当跑，好叫你们得着奖赏”。（林前九：24直译）。
在苦海的波涛中，
一叶扁舟，随着风浪起伏升沉。
这是疑惑之岸吹来的寒风，
何等凛冽阴森。
以信心为锚，抛在海底，
锚链在暴风雨绷得紧紧，
我镇静地把握住这救星，
它永远可靠，永远稳妥。
魔鬼的攻击虽然凶狠，
天使隐藏着，一时还不显现，
但我知道真理和正义，
乃为整个宇宙所维护。
在星空遥远的那边，
有胜过命运的慈爱。
黑暗过去，光明之门大开，
我就会见到他，我愿等待。——格拉登