which longeth to the business of the
flesh, and maketh our heart for to brenne[284] as it were in a
longing desire after all such things; be we full siker that it is
the spirit of the flesh that speaketh it. And therefore put we him
away, in as much as we goodly may by grace, for he is our adversary.
As oft times as any thought smiteth on our hearts of vain joy of
this world, kindling in us a desire to be holden fair, and to be
favoured, to be holden of great kin and of great conning, to be
holden wise and worthy, or else to have great degree and high office
in this life--such thoughts and all other the which would make a man
to seem high and worshipful, not only in the sight of others, but
also in the sight of himself--no doubt but it is the spirit of the
world that speaketh all these, a far more perilous enemy than is the
spirit of the flesh, and with much more business he should be put
off. And oft times it befalleth that these two servants and
sergeants of the foul fiend, the spirit and prince of wrath[285] and
of wickedness, are either by grace and by ghostly slight of a soul
stiffly put down and trodden down under foot; or else, by
quaintise[286] of their malicious master, the foul fiend of hell,
they are quaintly withdrawn, for he thinketh himself for to rise
with great malice and wrath, as a lion running felly to assail the
sickness of our sely souls; and this befalleth as oft as the thought
of our heart stirreth us, not to the lust of our flesh, nor yet to
the vain joy of this world, but it stirreth us to murmuring, to
grutching,[287] to grievance, and to bitterness of soul, to pain and
to impatience, to wrath, to melancholy, and to evil will, to hate,
to envy, and to all such sorrows. It maketh us to bear us heavily,
if ought be done or said unto us, not so lovely, nor so wisely[288]
as we would it were; it raiseth in us all evil suspicion, if ought
be shewed in sign, in countenance, in word, or in work, that might
by any manner be turned to malice or to heaviness of heart; it
maketh us as fast[289] to take it to us.

To these thoughts, and to all such that would put us out of peace
and restfulness of heart, we should none otherwise againstand,[290]
but as we would the self fiend of hell, and as much we should flee
therefrom as from the loss of our soul. No doubt but both the other
two thoughts, of the spirit of the flesh and also of the spirit of
the world, work and travail in all that they can to the loss