The consideracion of the ioyes of hevyn, shuld make vs
for Christes sake, abyde & endure any paynfull deth/

The / 26 / Chapiter

Antony
Forsoth Cosyn yf we were such as we shuld be, I wold scant for very
shame, in exortacion to the kepyng of Christes f. 199
fayth speke of
the paynes of hell / I wold rather put vs in mynd of the Ioyes of heven /
the pleasure wherof we shuld be more glad to gete / than we shuld be
to flye & escape all the paynes in hell /
But sewerly god in that thing wherin he may seme most rygorouse /
is very mercyfull to vs / & that is (which many men wold litle wene)
in that he prouidid hell / For I suppose very surely Cosyn, that many
a man & woman to, of whome there now sitt some / & more shall
hereafter sit full gloriously crownid in hevyn / had they not first bene
afrayd of hell, wold toward heven neuer haue set fote forward /
But yet vndowtidly were yt so, that we could as well conceyue in
our hartes the mervelowse ioyes of heven, as we conceyve the ferefull
paynes of hell / howbeyt sufficiently we can conceyve nether nother /
but yf we wold in our ymagynacion, draw as mych toward the perceyvyng
of the tone, as we may toward the consideracion of the
tother / we shuld not fayle to be far more movid & styrid to the
suffryng for christes sake in this world, for the wynnyng of the hevenly
ioyes / than for the eschewyng of all those infernall paynes / But for
as mych as the fleshly plesures be far lesse plesaunt than the fleshly
paynes be paynfull: Therfor we fleshly folke that are so drownd in

these flesshly pleasures, & in the desire therof, that we can all most
haue no maner savour or taste in any pleasure spirituall, haue no
cause to mervayle, that our fleshly affeccions be more abatid &
refraynid by the dreade & terrour of hell / than affeccions spirituall
Imprintid in vs & prickid forward with desire & Ioyfull hope of
hevyn / / f. 199=v=
Howbeit yf we wold somwhat sett lesse by the filthy voluptuouse
appetites of the flesh, & wold by withdrawing from them with helpe
of prayour throw the grace of god, draw nere to the secret inward
pleasure of the spirite, we shuld by the litle sippyng that our hartes
shuld haue here now, & that sodayne tast therof / haue such an estymacion
of the Incomperable & vncogitable Ioy that we shall haue
(yf we will) in hevyn by the very full drawght therof / wherof it is
wrytten /
Satiabor quum apparuerit gloria tua I shalbe satyatt satisfied &
fullfild whan thy glory good lord shall apere / that ys to witt with the
fruytyon of the sight of goddes gloryouse maiestye face to face / That
the desire expectacion & hevenly hope therof, shall more encorage
vs, & make vs strong to suffre & susteyne for the love of god & salvacion
of our sowle / than euer we could be movid to suffre here worldly
payne, by the terrible drede of all the horrible paynes that dampnid
wrechys haue in hell / /
Wherfor in the meane tyme for lacke of such experimentall tast,
as god giveth here sometyme to some of his speciall seruauntes, to
thentent we may draw toward spirituall exercise to / for which
spirituall exercise / god with that gifte as with an ernest peny of there
hole reward after in heven, comfortith them here in earth / Let vs not
so mich with lokyng to haue describid what maner of Ioyes they
shalbe, as with heryng what our lord telleth vs in holy scripture / how
mervelouse greate they shalbe, labour by prayour to conceve in our

hartes such a fervent longyng for them, that we may for attaynyng to
them, vtterly set at nought all fleshly delight, all worldly pleasures / all
erthly losses, all bodely tourment and payne /
Howbe yt some thinges are there in scripture expressid, of the
maner of the pleasures & Ioyes that we shall haue in hevin as where /

fulgebunt Iusti sicut sol, &
qui erudiunt ad iustitiam f. 200 tanquam scintille
in arundineto discurrent/

Ryghteus men shall shyne as the sone, &
shall run about like sparkes of fyre among redes / /
Now tell some carnall myndid man of this maner pleasure / & he
shall take litle pleasure therin, & say he careth not to haue hys flesh
shyne he / nor like a sparke of fire to skyp a bowt in the skye /
Tell hym that his bodye shalbe Impassible, & neuer fele harm /
yet yf he thinke than therwith, that he shall neuer be an hungred nor
a thurst / & shall therby forbere all his pleasure of eatyng & drynkyng,
& that he shall neuer haue lust to slepe / & therby lese the pleasure
that he was wont to take in sloggyng / and that men & women shall
there live together as angelles without any maner mynd or mocyon
vnto the carnall act of generacion, & that he shall therby not vse there
his old filthy voluptuouse facyon / he will say he is bettre at ease all
redy, & wold not give this world for that / for as saynt paule sayth /

Animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus dei / stultitia est enim ei /

But when the tyme shall come, that these fowle filthy pleasures shalbe
so taken from hym, that yt shall abhore his hart ones to thinke on
them / wherof euery man hath a mong a certayne shadow of experience
in a fervent griefe of a sore paynful siknes, while the stomake
can scant abide to loke vppon any meate / and as for actes of the
tother fowle filthy lust / ys redy to vomyt yf yt hap hym to thynke
theron / whan men shall I saye / after this life fele that horrible abhomynacion
in there hart at the remembraunce of those voluptuouse

pleasures, of which abomynacion siknes hath here a shadow / for
which voluptuouse pleasures he wold here be loth to chaunge with the
Ioyes f. 200=v= of hevyn / when he shall I say / after this life haue his
fleshly pleasures in abhomynacion / & shall of those hevenly ioyes
which he set here so lytle by / haue there a glymeryng / though far
from a perfitt sight / Oh good god, how fayne will he than be / with
how good will & how glad / will he than give this whole world yf yt
were his / to haue the felyng of some litle part of those Ioyes / And
therfor let vs all that can not now conceve such delight in the consideracion
of them as we shuld: haue often in our eyen by readyng /
often in our eares by heryng / often in our mouthes by rehersyng /
often in our hartes by meditacion & thynkyng / Those ioyfull wordes
of holy scripture / by which we lerne how wonderfull howge & greate
those spirituall hevenly Ioyes are / of which our carnall hartes hath so
feble & so faynte a felyng / & our dull worldly wittes so litle hable to
conceyve so mych as a shadow of the right Imagynacion / A shadow
I say / for as for the thyng as it is / that can not onely no fleshly
carnall fantasy conceyve / but ouer that no spirituall gostly person
peradventure nether that here is here lyvyng styll in this world.
For sith the very substaunce essentiall of all the celestiall Ioy, standith
in blessid beholdyng of the gloriouse godhed face to face / there
may no man presume or loke to attayne yt in this life / for god hath
so said hym selfe /
Non videbit me homo & viuet / there shall no man
here lyvyng behold me. And therfor we may well know, that for
the state of this life, we be not onely shyt from the fruytion of the
blysse of hevyn, but also that the very best man livyng here vppon
earth (the best man I meane beyng no more but a man) can not I
wene attayne the right Imagynacion therof / but those f. 201 that are
very vertuouse, are yet in a maner as far therfro as the borne blynd
man fro the right Imagynacion of colours.

The wordes that S. paule rehersith of the prophet Esay, prophecyeng
of Christes incarnacion, may properly be veryfied of the Ioyes of
hevyn /
Nec oculus vidit, nec auris audiuit, nec in cor hominis ascendit
, que
preparauit deus diligentibus se / For sewerly for this state of this world,
the Ioyes of hevyn are by mans mowth vnspekeable / to mans eares
not audible / to mens hartes vncogitable / so farforth excell they all
that euer men haue hard of / all that euer men can speke of / and all
that euer any man can by naturall possibilitie thinke on / And yet
where the Ioyes of hevyn be such preparid for euery savyd sowle /
our lord sayth yet by the mowth of S Iohn, that he will give his holy
martires that suffer for his sake, many a speciall kynd of Ioy. For
he sayth /
vincenti dabo edere de ligno vite /
To hym that ouercometh,
I shall give hym to eate of the tree of lyfe/ And also he that ouercometh
shalbe clothid in whyte clothes and I shall confesse hys name before
my father & before his Angelles / And also he sayth: feare none
of those thynges that thow shallt suffre &c but be faythfull vnto the
deth / and I shall give the the crowne of lyfe. He that ouercometh
shall not be hurt of the second deth / he sayth also /
vincenti dabo manna
absconditvm, & dabo illi calculum candidum. Et in calculo nomen nouum
scriptum quod nemo scit nisi qui accipit / To hym that ouercometh will I
give manna secret & hid / & I will give hym a white suffrage, & in his
suffrage a new name wrytten, which no man knowith but he that
receyveth it /
They vsid of old in Grece / where saynt Iohn did wryte, to elect &
chose men vnto honourable romes / & euery mans assent was callid
his suffrages / which in some place was by the voyces / f.201=v= in
some place by handes / & one kynd of thos suffrages, was by certeyne
thynges that are in laten callyd / calculi / because that in some
places they vsid therto round stones / Now sayth our lord that vnto

hym which ouercometh, he will give a white suffrage / for those that
were white, signified approvyng / as the blacke signifieth reprovyng /
& in those suffrages did they vse to wryte the name of hym to whome
they gave theire voyce / And now sayth our lord that vnto hym that
ouercometh, he will in the suffrage give hym a new name, which no
man knowith but he that receyvith yt /
He sayth also / he that ouercometh, I will make hym a piller in the
temple of my god / & he shall go no more out therof / & I shall wryte
vppon hym the name of my god / & the name of the Citie of my god
the new Iherusalem, which descendith from hevyn fro my god / and I
shall wryte on hym also my new name /
Iff we shuld dilate & were hable to declare these speciall gyftes,
with yet other mo specyfied in the second & the third chapitre of
thapocalyps / there wold yt apere, how farr those hevenly Ioyes, shall
surmount above all the comfort that euer came in the mynd of any
man lyvyng here vppon earth.
The blessid Apostell S. Paule, that suffrid so many perelles & so
many passions, he that sayth of hym selfe that he hath bene,
In
laboribus pluribus in Carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum &c / in
many labours, in prysons ofter than other, in strypys above mesure,
at poynt of deth often tymes, of the Iewes had I five tymes fourty
strypes saue one / Thryes haue I bene beten with roddes, ones was I
stonyd f. 202 Thryes haue I bene in shippe wrake / A day & a nyght
was I in the depth of the see / In my iourneyes ofte haue I bene in
perell of flodes, in perell of theves / in perelles by the Iewes / in perelles
by the paynymes / In perelles in the Citie / In perelles in
desert / In perelles in the see / perelles by false bretheren / In labour &
mysery / In many nightes watch / In hungre & thyrst / In many
fastynges / In cold & nakednes beside those thynges that are outward,
my dayly instant labour, I meane my care & solicitude about all the

Churches / And yet sayth he more of his tribulacions, which for the
length I let passe / This blessid apostle I say for all the tribulacions
that hym selfe suffred in the contynuaunce of so many yeres, &
calleth yet all the trybulacions of this world, but light & as short
as a moment in respect of the wayghty glory that yt after this world
wynneth vs:
Id enim quod in presenti est momentaneum et leue tribulacionis
nostre supra modum, in sublimitate eternum glorie pondus operatur in nobis
non contemplantibus nobis quae videntur sed quae non videntur, que enim
videntur temporalia sunt, quae autem non videntur aeterna sunt /
This same
short & momentary trybulacion of ours, that is in this present tyme,
worketh within vs the weyght of glory above measure / in sublimitate on
hygh we beholdyng not those thynges that we see / but those thynges
that we see not / For those thynges that we see, be but temporall
thynges / but those thynges that are not seen are eternall/ /
Now to this greate glory, can there no man come hedlesse. Our
hed is Christ / & therfor to hym must we be Ioynid / & as f. 202=v=
membres of his must we folow hym / yf we will come thither. He is
our Guyde to guyde vs thyther & is entryd in before vs / and he therfor
that will enter in after,
Debet sicut ille ambulauit et ipse ambulare /the
same way that Christ walkyd, the same way must he walke / And
what was the way by which he walkid into hevyn / hym selfe shewith
what way it was, that his father had providid for hym, where he said
vnto the two deciples goyng toward the Castell of Emaues
Nesciebatis
quia oportebat Christum pati, & sic introire in regnum suum?
knew you not
that Christ must suffre passion, & by that way entre into his kyngdome?
Who can for very shame desire to entre into the kyngdom
of Christ with ease, whan hym selfe entrid not into his own without
payne /

The consideracion of the paynefull deth of Chryst, is
sufficient to make vs content to suffre paynefull deth
for his sake

The xxvij=th= Chapitre

Surely Cosyn as I said before in beryng the losse of worldly goodes,
in suffryng of captyuytie thraldome & Imprisonment, & in the glad
susteyning of worldly shame, that yf we wold in all those poyntes,
dyepely pondre the sample of our saviour hym selfe / It were of yt
selfe alone sufficyent, to encorage euery kynd christen man &
woman, to refuse none of all those calamytees for-his sake / So say I
now / for paynefull deth also, that yf we could & wold with dew compassion,
conceyve in our myndes a right Imagynacion & remembraunce
of Christes byttre paynefull passion, of the many sore blody
strokes that the cruell tourmentours with roddes & whyppes gaue
hym vppon euery part of his holy tendre body / the scornefull crowne
of sharp thornes beten down vppon his holy hed, so strayght
& so diepe, that on euery part his blyssid blode yssued owt & stremyd
down / his lovely lymmys drawen & strechid out vppon the crosse to
the Intollerable payne of his forebeten & sorebeten vaynes and synewes /
new felyng with the cruell strechyng & straynyng payne far
passyng any crampe, in euery part of his blyssid body at ones / Than
the greate long nayles cruelly dryven with hamers thorow his holy
handes and fete / & in this horryble payne lyft vpp & let hang with
the payce of all his body beryng down vppon the paynfull woundid
places so grevously percyd with nayles / & in suche tourment /
without pitie, but not without many dispightes / suffred to be pynyd
& paynid the space of more than three long howres / tyll hym selfe
willyngly gave vpp vnto his father his holy soule / after which yet
to shew the myghtenes of their malice after his holy soule departid /
perced his holy hart with a sharp spere / at which issued out the holy
blode & water, wherof his holy sacramentes haue Inestymable secrete

strength / yf we wold I say remembre these thinges in such wise, as
wold god we wold / I verely suppose that the consideracion of his
incomparable kyndnes, could not fayle in such wise to inflame our
kay cold hartes, & set them on fire in his love / that we shuld fynd
our selfe not onely content, but also glad & desierouse to suffre deth
for his sake / that so mervelously lovyngly lettid not to sustayne so
farre passyng paynfull deth for ours.
Wold god we wold here to the shame of our cold affeccion, agayne
toward god for such fervent love & Inestimable kyndnes of god toward
vs / wold god we wold I say but consider, what hote affeccion
many of thes fleshly lovers f. 203=v= haue borne & dayly do, to those
vppon whome they dote. How many of them haue not lettid to iubard
their lives / & how many haue willyngly lost their lives in dede,
without eyther greate kyndnes shewid them before / And afterward
you wot well they could nothyng wynne / but evyn that yet contentid
& satisfied their mynd that by their deth, their lover shuld clerely
see / how faythfully they lovid / the delite wherof imprintid in their
fantasy / not asswagid onely, but conterpaysid also they thought, all
their payne / Off these affeccions, with the wonderfull dolorouse effectes
folowyng theron, not onely old written stories, but ouer that I
thinke in euery countrey christen & hethen both experience giveth
vs profe inough / And ys it not than a wondrefull shame for vs / for the
drede of temporall deth, to forsake our savyour, that willyngly suffred
so paynefull deth, rather than he wold forsake vs / considering that
beside that / he shall for our suffryng so highly reward vs with euerlastyng
welth / /
Oh yf he that is content to die for his love, of whome he lokith after
for no reward, & yet by his deth goeth from her, might by his deth be
sure to come to her, & euer after in delite & pleasure to dwell with
her: such a lover wold not let here to dye for her twyse / And how

cold lovers be we than vnto god / yf rather than dye for hym ones,
we will refuse hym & forsake him for euer, that both dyed for vs
before / & hath also prouidid, that yf we dye here for hym, we shall
in hevyn euerlastyngly both live & also reigne with hym / for as
saynt Peter sayth
Si compatimur et conregnabimus: yf we suffre with
hym we shall reigne with hym
f. 204
How many Romaynes / how many noble corages of other sundry
countreys, haue willyngly geven their own lives, & suffre greate dedly
paynes & very paynfull dethes, for their countreys, & the respect of
wynnyng by their dethes, the onely reward of worldly renome &
fame / And shuld we than shrynke to suffre as much, for eternall
honour in hevyn & euerlastyng glorye / The devill hath also some so
obstynate heretiques, that endure willyngly paynfull deth for vayne
glory / & is it not than more than shame, that Christ shall see
his Catholiques forsake his fayth / rather than suffre the same for
hevyn & very glory /
Wold god as I many tymes haue said, that the remembraunce of
Christes kyndnes in suffryng his passion for vs / the consideracion of
hell that we shuld fall in by forsakyng of hym / the Ioyfull meditacion
of eternal lyfe in hevyn that we shall wynne, with this short temperall
deth patiently taken for hym, had so dyepe a place in our brest as
reason wold they shuld, & (as yf we wold do our devour toward yt &
labour for yt / & pray therefor) I verely thinke they shuld / For than
shuld they so take vpp our mynd, & ravish yt all an other way, that as
a man hurt in a fray, feleth not sometyme his wound / nor yet is not
ware therof, till his mynd fall more theron / so farforth that some
tyme an other man shewith hym that he hath lost an hand, before
that he perceveth it hym selfe: so the mynd ravishid in the thinkyng
f. 204=v= diepely of those other thinges, Christes deth / hell & hevyn,
were lykly to mynish & put away of our paynefull deth, foure partes
of the felyng, eyther of the feare or the payne. For of this am I very

sure / yf we had the fyfteneth part of the love to Christ, that he both
had and hath to vs: all the payne of this Turkes persecucion, could
not kepe vs from hym / but that there wold be at this day, as many
martires here in Hungarye, as haue bene afore in other countreys of
old.
And of this poynt put I nothing dowt, but that yf the Turke stode
evyn here with all his whole armye about hym, & euery one of them
all, were redy at our hand, with all the terrible tourmentes that they
cold ymagyne, & but yf we wold forsake the fayth were settyng their
tourmentes to vs, & to thencrese of our terrour, fell all at ones in a
showt with trumpettes / taberettes, & tumbrelles, all blowyne vp at
ones, & all their gonnes let go there with, to make vs a ferefull noyse /
yf yon shuld sodaynly than on the tother side, the grownd quake &
ryve atwayne, & the devilles rise out of hell, & shew themselfe in such
vgly shappe as dampnid wretchis shall see them / & with that hydyouse
howlyng that those hell howndes shuld shrich / lay hell open on
euery side round about our fete, that as we stode / we shuld loke
downe into that pestilent pitt & se the swarme of sely soules in the
terrible tourmentes there: we wold wax so ferd of that sight, that as
for the Turkes hoste, we shuld scantly remembre we saw them /
And in good fayth for all that, yet thinke I farther this / that yf there
myght than apere the glory of god, the Trynitie in his high mervelouse
maiestie, our saviour in his glorious manhod sittyng on his Trone,
with his Immaculate mother & all that gloriouse companye f. 205
callyng vs there vnto them / & that yet our way shuld lye thorow mervelouse
paynfull deth before we could come at them: vppon the
sight I say / of that glory, there wold I wene be no man that ones wold
shrinke therat / but euery man wold run on toward them in all that
euer he might, though there lay for malice to kyll vs by the way, both
all the Turkes tourmentours, & all the devilles to / And therfor Cosyn,

let vs well consider these thynges, & let vs haue sure hope in the helpe
of god / & than I dowt not, but that we shalbe sure, that as the prophet
sayth, the truth of his promise shall so compace vs with a
pavise, that of this incursion of this mydday devill / this Turkes persecucion /
we shall neuer nede to fere / for eyther yf we trust in god well,
& prepare vs therfor / the Turke shall neuer medle with vs / or els
yf he do, harm shall he none do vs / but in stede of harme inestimable
good / Off whose graciouse helpe wherfor shuld we so sore now
dispayre (except we were so madd men, as to wene that eyther his
power or his mercye were woren out alredy) whan we see so many a
thowsand holy martyres by his holy helpe, suffred as mich before, as
any man shalbe put to now / or what excuse can we haue by the
tendernes of our flesh, whan we can be no more tendre, than were
many of them / among whome were not onely men of strength, but
also weke women & children / /
And sith the strength of them all stode in the help of god, and that
the very strongest of them all, was neuer able of them selfe / and
with goddes helpe the feblest of them all, was strong ynough to stand
agaynst all the world / let vs prepare our selfe with prayour, with our
whole trust in his helpe, without any trust in our own strength / Let
vs thinke theron & prepare vs in our mynd therto long before / let vs
therin conform our will vnto his / not desieryng to be brought vnto the
perell of persecution. For it semeth a prowde hyigh mynd, to desire
martirdome / but desiryng help & strength of god yf he suffre vs to
come to the stresse, eyther beyng sought, founden, & brought out
agaynst f.205=v= our willes / or els beyng by his commaundment /
for the comfort of our cure bounden to abide /
Let vs fall to fastyng, to prayour, to Almes dede in tyme / & give
that vnto god that may be taken from vs / yf the devill put in our

mynd the savyng of our land & our goodes / let vs remembre that
we can not save them long / yf he fere vs with exile, & flying from
our countrey, let vs remembre that we be borne in the brode world,
& not like a tre to styk still in one place, & that wether so euer we go
god shall go with vs / /
Iff he threten vs with captyuyte / let vs tell hym agayne, bettre ys
to be thrall vnto man a while for the pleasure of god, than by displeasyng
god, be perpetuall thrall vnto the devill / If he thret vs with
Imprisonment / let vs tell hym we will rather be mans prisoners a
while here in earth / than by forsakyng the fayth, be his prisoners
euer in hell /
Iff he put in our myndes the terrour of the Turkes / let vs consider
his false slayte therein / For this tale he tellith vs to make vs forget
hym / But let vs remembre well that in respect of hymselfe, the Turke
is but a shadow / nor all that they all can do, can be but a flye bytyng
in comparison of the myschiefe that he goeth about / The Turkes
are but his tourmentours, for hymselfe doth the dede / our lord sayth
in the Apocalyps /
Diabolus mittet aliquos vestrum in Carcerem vt tentemini:
The devill shall send some of you to prison, to tempt you/ he sayth
not that men shall / but that the devill shall hym selfe / for without
question the divelles own dede it is, to bryng vs by his temptacion with
feare & force therof, into eternall dampnacion / And therfor sayth
S. Paule /
Non est nobis colluctatio aduersus carnem & sanguinem sed &c.
Our wrestlyng is not agaynst flesh & bloud &c. Thus may we see that
in such persecucions, it is the mydday devill hym selfe that maketh
such incursion vppon vs, by the men that are his ministers to make
vs fall for feare / For till we fall, he can neuer hurt vs. And therfor
sayth S. Peter /
Resistite Diabolo et fugiet a vobis / Stand agaynst the
devill, & he shall flye fro you / for he neuer runneth apon a man to
seas on hym with his clawes, f. 206 tyll he see hym down on the

grownd willyngly fallyn hym selfe / for his fasshion ys to set his seruauntes
agaynst vs, & by them to make vs for feare or for Impacyence
to fall / And hym selfe in the meane while compasseth vs, runnyng &
roryng like a rampyng lyon abowt vs, lokyng who will fall, that he
than may devoure hym /
Aduersarius vester Diabolus
sayth S. Peter

sicut leo rugiens circuit querens quem deuoret/ your adversary the devill
lyke a roryng lyon, runnyth about in circuite, sekyng whome he
may devoure / The devill it is therfor, that yf we for fere of men will
fall, is redy to rone vppon vs & devoure vs. And is it wisedome than,
so mych to thinke vppon the Turkes, that we forgete the devill / What
mad man is he, that whan a lion were about to devoure hym, wold
vouchsafe to regarde the bytyng of a lytle fistyng curre / Therfor whan
he roreth out vppon vs by the threttes of mortall men / let vs tell hym
that with our inward yie, we see hym well ynough, & intend to stand
& fight with hym evyn hand to hand. Iff he thretten vs that we be to
weyke / let vs tell hym that our capten Christ is with vs, & that we
shall fight with his strength that hath vainquyshid hym all redy /
And let vs fence vs with fayth, & comfort vs with hope, & smyte
the devill in the face with a firebrond of charitie / For surely yf we
be of that tendre lovyng mynd, that our master was / & not hate them
that kill vs, but pytie them & pray for them, with sorow for the perell
that they worke vnto them selfe / that fire of charitie throwne in his
face, stryketh the devill sodaynly so blynd, that he can not see where
to fasten a stroke on vs/
Whan we fele vs to bold / remembre our own feblenes / whan we
fele vs to faynt / remembre Christes strength / In our fere let vs remembre
Christes paynfull agonye, that hym selfe wold for our comfort
suffre before his passion, to thentent that no fere shuld make vs dispayre /
& euer call for his help, such as hymselfe lyst to send vs / &
than nede we neuer to dowt / but that eyther f. 206=v= he shall kepe
vs from the paynfull deth / or shall not fayle so to strength vs in yt,
that he shall ioyously bryng vs to hevyn by yt / & than doth he much

more for vs than yf he kept vs fro yt / For as god did more for pore
Lazare, in helpyng hym pacyently to dye for hungre at the rychmans
dore / than yf he had brought hym to the dore all the rich glotons
dyner / so though he be graciouse to a man whom he deliuerith out of
paynfull trowble / yet doth he mych more for a man / yf thorow right
paynfull deth, he delyuer hym from this wrechid world into eternall
blysse / From which who so euer shrynke away with forsakyng his
fayth, & falleth in the perell of euerlastyng fire: he shalbe very sure to
repent yt ere yt be long after / For I wene that whan so euer he falleth
sik next, he will wish that he had be kyllid for Christes sake before /
What foly ys it than for feare to flye fro that deth, which thow seest
thow shallt shortly after wish thow hadest dyed / yee I wene almost
euery good Christen man, wold very fayne this day that he had
bene for Christes fayth cruelly kyllid yister day / evyn for the desire
of hevyn, though there were none hell / but to feare while the payne
ys comyng, there is all our lett / but than yf we wold remembre hell
payne on the tother side, into which we fall while we flye fro this /
than shuld this short payne be no let at all / And yet shuld we be more
prikyd forward, yf we were faythfull by dyepe consideryng of the
ioyes of hevyn, of which thapostle sayth:
Non sunt condigne passiones
huius temporis ad futuram gloriam que reuelabitur in nobis / the passiones
of this tyme, be not worthy to the glory that ys to come, which shalbe
shewid in vs/ We shuld not I wene Cosyn nede mych more in all this
whole mater, than that one text of saynt Paule, yf we wold consider
yt well / For surely myn own good Cosyn, remembre that yf yt were
possible for me and you alone, to suffre as mych trowble as the whole
world doth together / all that were f. 207 not worthy of yt selfe, to
bryng vs to the ioy which we hope to haue euerlastyngly / And therfor
I pray you let the consideracion of that Ioy, put out all worldly

trowble out of your hart / and also pray that yt may do the same in
me / And evyn thus will I good Cosyn with these wordes, make a sodayne
end of myn whole tale, & bid you fare well / For now begynne
I to fele my selfe somewhat werye /