hating one another, and were ready to slay one another. It was on her account that you rebelled against God, and debased yourselves to every sort of corruption." And then God will order her to be driven off to hell with her followers and her lovers....
Know, that the world consists of a certain number of stages between the world of spirits and the future world. The first stage is the cradle, and the last is the grave, and every period between these is also a stage. Each month represents a league, each hour a mile, and each breath a step. It is always flowing on like running water. Man in his excessive heedlessness thinking himself to be permanently established, engages in building up the world: and though he has no assurance of a half-hour of time, he makes preparations for dwelling here for many years, and never once brings himself to make the necessary preparation for dislodging and moving to another land.
Behold, another likeness of the world. Know, beloved, that the pleasures of the world, and the pains and tribulations which are the counterpart to these pleasures in the future world, resemble the man who should eat very largely of rich and delicate food and find great delight therein: but on account of his excesses, he suffers from indigestion, his stomach is irritated, vomiting and sickness ensue and he has a great deal to endure before he can recover his health. He repents of what he has been eating, and in proportion as he ate extravagantly, and found enjoyment, he now suffers corresponding pain and disappointment. Now then, in proportion as anyone in the world has indulged in the pleasures of life and dissipation, so much the greater will be his anguish and torment at the moment of death. He who possesses gardens and fields, houses, lands, and money, servants and horses, will be subject to regret and affliction at death, in proportion to their amount. This misery does not close with death, but on the contrary after-
