CHAPTER XXIV.
OF JUDGMENT AND THE PUNISHMENT OF SINNERS.
N all things remember thy end, and see how thou wilt be able to stand before that severe Judge from Whom nothing is hid, Who is not pacified with gifts, nor admitteth any excuse, but Who will judge according to right.
O wretched and foolish sinner, who sometimes fearest the countenance of an angry man, what answer wilt thou make to God Who knoweth all thy wickedness?
Why dost thou not provide for thyself against that great day, when no man can excuse or answer for another, but every one shall have to answer for himself?
Now thy pains may profit, thy tears be accepted, thy groans be heard, thy grief bring thee peace, and purge thy soul.
2. The patient man hath a great and wholesome purgatory, who though he receive injuries, yet grieveth more for the malice of another, than for his own suffering; who prayeth willingly for his adversaries, and from his heart forgiveth their offences.
He delayeth not to ask forgiveness of whomsoever he hath offended; he is sooner moved to compassion than to anger; he often offereth violence to himself, and laboureth to bring his body wholly into subjection to the spirit.
