bihinde and þe love of God bifore, whanne þe caas comeþ, and so it is al oon a man for to lese his lyf and denye himsilf, or ellis to hate himsilf; and who þat leesiþ not his lyf here on þis manere, he failiþ in charite and in þe firste mandement. But siþ a mannis lyf is ordeyned of God evermore to be, it is not lost to God, but he, for whom þis lyf is lost, kepiþ it wele and ȝyveþ it him in blis in þe toþer world. And who wolde not chaffre þus wiþ his owne lyf? Clerkis witen wele how a mannis soule and a mannis lyfe ben boþe oon in a manere, for lyf is þe firste acte þat comeþ of a mannis soule, and of siche actis taken þingis names, as clerkis clepen angels undirstondingis [Or 'intelligences;' a translation of the Latin intelligentiae.] . And þus spekiþ þe gospel of a mannis lyf, and Crist provede bi resoun þat men shulden chaffare þus, For what profitiþ it to a man, if he wynne al þis world, if he suffre þerbi peiringe of his soule; or what chaunginge shal a man ȝyve for his soule. Siþ a mannis soule is persone of þis man, he shulde ȝyve al his catel for savynge of þis soule; and siþ a mannis bodi is worse þan his soule, ech man shulde more love his soule þan his bodi. And so he shulde hate his bodi for love of þis soule, and speciali siþ sich chaffare shulde turne him to betere. And ground of þis speche stondiþ in þis bileve, For Crist is to come fro hevene in his glorie at þe dai of doome wiþ hise aungelis to juge ech man, and þanne shal he ȝyve to ech man after hise workes. And siþ þis lore [So both A and E; but the sense evidently requires love.] of Crist deserveþ hevene blis, he is a greet fool þat wole not chaffare here. Defaute of bileve lettiþ algatis þis chaffare.
And for þis sentence is hard for to trowe, þerfore telliþ Crist of his glorifiyng, how he shal shewe him here glorious in his bodi, so þat bi þis shewyng here in þis lyf, þei ben more stablid in þis to trowe in Crist. Soþeli, seiþ Crist, Y seie to ȝou, þere be sum of men þat stonden here, þat shulen not taaste deþ, til þei seen me comyng in my rewme in blis of my bodi. And for þis was done in þe kynde of Cristis bodi, þerfore he clepiþ him here sone of a man; and þis was done in dede, as Matheu telliþ after, for Petir, Johun, and James
