e liken it to the life that lasts aye. Another
is: _uncertainty of our ending_. For we wot never when we shall die, nor
where we shall die, nor how we shall die, nor whither we shall go when
we are dead; and that GOD wills that this be uncertain to us, for He
wills that we be aye ready to die. The third is: _that we shall answer
before the righteous Judge_, for all the time that we have been here,
how we have lived, what our occupation has been and why, and what good
we might have done when we have been idle. Therefore said the prophet:
"He has called thee times again," that is every day He has lent us here
for to spend in good use, and in penance, and in GOD'S service. If we
waste it in earthly love and in vanities, full grievously must we be
condemned and punished; for that is one of the greatest sorrows that may
be: unless we try manfully in the love of GOD, and do good to all that
we may, while our short time lasts. And every time that we think not on
God we may count it as the thing that we have lost. The fourth is: _that
we think how great the joy is that they have who last in GOD'S love to
their ending_. For they shall be brethren and fellows with angels and
holy men, loving and thanking, praising and seeing the King of Joy in
the beauty and in the shining of His majesty. The which sight shall be
reward and food, and all delights that any creature may think, and more
than any can tell, to all His lovers, without end. It is much easier to
come to that bliss than to describe it. _Also think what pain and what
sorrow and tormenting they shall have_ who love not GOD above all things
that one sees in this world, but defile their body in the pleasures and
lusts of this life, in pride and greed and other sins; they shall burn
in the fire of hell with the devil whom they served, as long as GOD is
in heaven with His servants, that is evermore.

CHAPTER V.

I will that thou beest aye climbing to JESUS-ward, and increasing thy
love and thy service to Him; not as fools do; they begin in the highest
degree and come down to the lowest. I say not that if thou hast begun
unreasonable abstinence that thou hold it; but for many who were burning
at the beginning and able to (capable of) the love of JESUS Christ,
through over-great penance they have hindered themselves, and made
themselves so feeble that they cannot love GOD as they should. In the
which love that thou mayest wax aye more and more is my coveting and my
admon