that rules GOD'S friends; "to
tell thereof as it is may no earthly man speak though his tongue were of
steel. For there is a gracious fellowship of all GOD'S friends, orders
of angels, and of holy saints, and Almighty GOD above, Who gladdens them
all. Of all goodness, I saw plenty; beauty and riches that last for
ever; honour and power that never shall fail; wisdom and love and
everlasting joy. Then I heard melody and song of bright angels. So
worthy is that joy and so great withal, that whoso might taste of it a
blessed drop, he should be so ravished in liking of GOD, and such
yearning he should have to win thither, that all joys of the world were
pain to him. With so great a love he should be overtaken in yearning to
win to that bliss, that by a hundred times it should more stir him to
love virtue and flee sin than any fear he might have of the pain of
hell. And I tell thee for sooth, if thou wilt leave sin, and do GOD'S
bidding, and love Him as thou oughtest, a rich and a fair seat GOD has
made for thee wherein thou shalt dwell with Him unendingly.

THIRD PART OF THE BOOK.

The third and the last part of this book teaches a man to bear himself,
wheresoever he comes, and whatsoever he does: that it be to the praise
of GOD, and an example of good to all who see him: for thus the Apostle
counsels: "Let everything be done honestly and in order"; that is "all
that ye do, look ye do it honestly and orderly." Then at the first, let
every lover of GOD see that ye yearn not to mingle with the world, that
hinders and deceives all who deal with it, and hinders them from the
many good deeds they might do. And the man who will nowhere rest but aye
rake about; their eyes see many things, that the eye sends to the heart,
and such come not out easily when they are once imprinted. S. Bernard
complains of the harms that he felt in the world whilst he was therein,
and says "the world surrounded me and weighed me down": that is "The
world has besieged me on every side; and through the gates of my five
wits it shot at me and wounded me full sore; and through the wounds,
death presses in, to slay my sorry soul. Mine eyes look, and my thought
changes and kindles me in sin. Mine ears hear and my heart bows me
thereto. I smell with my nose, and it pleases my thoughts. With my mouth
I speak, and in my speech I please or beguile others: and with a little
over-soft feeling, lust kindles in my flesh; and the fiend, my foe, whom
I cannot