more from "First Light"

"Everything, y' say? I could lose everything? But what's it mean if I gain everything and lose my soul. And if, because I fear to speak out now, some other soul perishes because I did not want to be out of favor? Isn't that lost soul my responsibility? How do I weigh possessions compared to the value of eternal life? Fear? Humiliation? One day I'll stand before my Lord and King, and he will ask me what I did with the light of his love and mercy. Now that moment, sirs, makes me tremble to think of it!"