he same to me, and yet I am willing to pass by all,
if now thou wilt yet turn again and go back.

_Chr._ What I promised thee was in my nonage; and besides, I count that
the Prince, under whose banner now I stand, is able to absolve me, yea,
and to pardon also what I did as to my compliance with thee. And
besides, O thou destroying Apollyon, to speak truth, I like his service,
his wages, his servants, his government, his company, and country,
better than thine; therefore leave off to persuade me further; I am his
servant, and I will follow him.

_Apol._ Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, what thou art like
to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most
part his servants come to an ill end, because they are transgressors
against me and my ways. How many of them have been put to shameful
deaths! And besides, thou countest est his service better than mine;
whereas he never came yet from the place where he is, to deliver any
that serve him out of my hands; but as for me, how many times, as all
the world very well knows, have I delivered, either by power or fraud,
those that have faithfully served me, from him and his, though taken by
them. And so I will deliver thee.

_Chr._ His forbearing at present to deliver them, is on purpose to try
their love, whether they will cleave to him to the end; and as for the
ill end thou sayest they come to, that is most glorious in their
account. For, for the present deliverance, they do not much expect it;
for they stay for their glory; and then they shall have it, when their
Prince comes in his, and the glory of the angels.

_Apol._ Thou hast already been unfaithful in thy service to him; and how
dost thou think to receive wages of him.

_Chr._ Wherein, O Apollyon, have I been unfaithful to him?

_Apol._ Thou didst faint at the first setting out, when thou wast almost
choked in the Gulf of Despond. Thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid
of thy burden, whereas thou shouldst have stayed till thy Prince had
taken it off. Thou didst sinfully sleep, and lose thy choice things.
Thou wast almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions. And
when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what thou hast seen and heard,
thou art inwardly desirous of vain-glory in all that thou sayest or
doest.

_Chr._ All this is true, and much more which thou hast left out; but
the Prince whom I serve and honor is merciful and ready to forgive. But
besides, these infirmi