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The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas
page 43 of 230 (18%)
the other's malice than for his own wrong; when he prayeth
heartily for those that despitefully use him, and forgiveth them
from his heart; when he is not slow to ask pardon from others;
when he is swifter to pity than to anger; when he frequently
denieth himself and striveth altogether to subdue the flesh to
the spirit. Better is it now to purify the soul from sin, than
to cling to sins from which we must be purged hereafter. Truly
we deceive ourselves by the inordinate love which we bear towards
the flesh.

3. What is it which that fire shall devour, save thy sins? The
more thou sparest thyself and followest the flesh, the more heavy
shall thy punishment be, and the more fuel art thou heaping up
for the burning. For wherein a man hath sinned, therein shall he
be the more heavily punished. There shall the slothful be
pricked forward with burning goads, and the gluttons be tormented
with intolerable hunger and thirst. There shall the luxurious
and the lovers of pleasure be plunged into burning pitch and
stinking brimstone, and the envious shall howl like mad dogs for
very grief.

4. No sin will there be which shall not be visited with its own
proper punishment. The proud shall be filled with utter
confusion, and the covetous shall be pinched with miserable
poverty. An hour's pain there shall be more grievous than a
hundred years here of the bitterest penitence. No quiet shall be
there, no comfort for the lost, though here sometimes there is
respite from pain, and enjoyment of the solace of friends. Be
thou anxious now and sorrowful for thy sins, that in the day of
judgment thou mayest have boldness with the blessed. For then
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