1.
In all things, look to the end and consider how you will stand before that stern Judge, before whom nothing is hidden, who is neither appeased by gifts nor accepts excuses, but will judge according to justice. O most miserable and foolish sinner! What will you answer to God, to whom all your vices are known, when at times you even fear the face of an angry man? Why do you not prepare yourself for the Day of Judgment, where no one will be excused or defended by another, but each must care for how he stands for himself? Now your effort is useful, now your tears are pleasing, your sighs are heard, and through repentance you can make amends for your sins and cleanse your soul.
2.
A patient person has a painful but salutary purgatory when he endures insults and is more moved by the malice of the other than by the injury suffered; when he gladly prays for his adversaries and forgives them their wrongs from the heart; when he does not refuse to ask others for forgiveness; when he is more inclined to mercy than to anger; when he often restrains himself and strives to subject the flesh completely to the spirit. It is better to cleanse the soul from sins now and lay aside vices than to keep them for cleansing in the next world. Through the disordered love we have for ourselves, we truly deceive ourselves.
3.
What else will that fire consume but your sins? The more you spare yourself now and follow sensuality, the harder you will have to atone for it one day, and the more cause for torment you will carry over. What a person has sinned, that will be punished in him. There the slothful will be driven with burning goads, and the intemperate will be tormented by cruel hunger and thirst. There the unchaste and those who loved pleasure will be drenched with burning pitch and stinking sulfur, and the envious will howl in pain like raging dogs.
4.
There will be no vice that does not have its own torment. There the proud will be filled with all shame, and the greedy must suffer the bitterest poverty. There an hour of torment will be harder than a hundred years of the strictest penance here. Here, at least, one sometimes rests from labor and enjoys comfort from friends; but there is no rest, no comfort for the damned. Therefore, be troubled now and repent of your sins, so that on the Day of Judgment you may be safe with the elect. For then the righteous will stand with great confidence against those by whom they were previously tormented and oppressed. Then he who now humbly submits to the judgments of men will be appointed as judge. Then the poor and humble will have great confidence, but the proud will be overwhelmed by fear and terror from all sides.
5.
Then it will be seen that he was wise in this world who learned to be foolish and despised for Christ’s sake. Then every patiently endured affliction will bring joy, but injustice will be silenced. Then all the devout will rejoice and all the wicked will mourn. Then those who have mortified their flesh will exult more than if they had always lived in pleasures. Then poor clothing will shine gloriously, but costly garments will lose their splendor. Then the humble dwelling will be more praised than the gilded palace. Then steadfast patience will help more than all the power of the world. Then simple obedience will be exalted more than all the cunning of the children of this world.
6.
Then a pure and good conscience will bring greater joy than the knowledge of the wise of the world. Then the contempt of riches will weigh more than all the treasures of the earth. Then you will be more comforted by devout prayer than by delicious food. Then you will rejoice more over observed silence than over long useless conversations. Then good works will count more than many elegant words. Then a strict life and harsh penance will be more pleasing than all earthly delights. Learn now to bear the lighter things with patience, so that you may then be freed from the heavier. Try here first what you will be able to do then. If you can bear so little now, how will you endure eternal torments? If you break out in such impatience now over a small adversity, what will you do then in hell? Be sure, you cannot have two kinds of joy: enjoy worldly pleasures here and reign with Christ there.
7.
Even if you had lived in honor and pleasure up to this day, what would all this profit you if you had to die at this very moment? Therefore, all is sheer vanity except to love God and serve Him alone. For whoever loves God with all his heart fears neither death, nor pain, nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect love gives certain access to God. But whoever still delights in sinning should not be surprised if he fears death and judgment. Yet it is good that at least the fear of hell keeps you in check, even if love is not yet strong enough in you to keep you from sinning. But whoever sets aside the fear of God will not be able to persevere long in good, but will very soon fall into the snares of the infernal enemy.