Page:Imitation-of-christ-1901.djvu/65

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Of Judgment and Punishment.
51

It is better to purge out our sins, and cut off our vices here, than to keep them to be punished hereafter.

Verily we do but deceive ourselves through an inordinate love of the flesh.

3. What else is there that the fire everlasting shall feed upon, but thy sins?

The more thou sparest thyself and followest the flesh now, the more severe shall be thy punishment hereafter, and thou storest up greater fuel for that flame.

In what things a man hath sinned, in the same shall he be the more grievously punished.

There shall the slothful be pricked forward with burning goads, and the glutton tormented with extreme hunger and thirst.

There shall the luxurious and lovers of pleasure be bathed in burning pitch and stinking brimstone, and the envious, like mad dogs, shall howl for very grief.

4. There is no sin but shall have its own proper torment.

There the proud shall be filled with all confusion; the covetous shall be pinched with miserable penury.

One hour of pain there shall be more bitter than a thousand years of the sharpest penance here!

There is no quiet, no comfort for the damned there; yet here we have some intermission of our labours, and enjoy the comfort of our friends.

Be solicitous and sorrowful now, because of thy sins, that thou mayest be secure with the blessed at the day of judgment.

For then shall the righteous stand with great bold-