þanne shal joie, and þan shal ȝe be soreuful, but ȝoure sorewe shal turne to joie. And þis was soþ of þe apostlis aftir þe rysyng of Crist, ffor first þei maden more sorewe, and siþ lasse, and siþ joie. And worldely men contrarieden hem, þat first hadden joie and siþ sorewe, for þei joieden of apostlis sorewe and sorewiden of apostlis joie. And efte Crist telliþ a kyndely saumple, to prynte þis word more in þer herte.
A womman, seiþ Crist, whan she travailiþ wiþ child, haþ sorewe of hir peyne, but aftir whan she is delyverid, she haþ joie of hir child, and forȝetiþ her former sorewe, for man is bore in to þe world. And þerfore ȝe have sorewe now, but efte Y shal see you, and youre herte shal have joie, and no man shal take fro ȝou ȝour joie. Þis womman, to Cristis entent, is oure modir holy Chirche, and every party þerof þat is also holy Chirche. And as long as we lyven here, we ben travelynge of child, to brynge oure soule to surete fro bisie sorewe of þis world, and so to brynge forþ þe hole man to blisse boþe in bodi and soule. And whan we comen to þis state we þenken not of oure former sorewe to oure anoye or to oure mornynge, for joie of ende þat sueþ; but we þenken in oure herte þat for þis peyne þat we have now, we shal have myche joie whan we ben ful made in þe world. And þat shal nevere be done fully bifore þat we come to blisse, for we mornen til þat tyme. For we may liȝtly perishe fro lyfe, but þanne a man is fully made, whan he is corouned in blisse, for þanne he is certeyne to lyve evere in blis withouten peyne.
Clerkis seien þat whan a man is brouȝt þus to Goddis chambre, þan he is fully spousid with God, and dowid, boþe in bodi and in soule, of foure doweris of þe bodi. Crist toke ernes [ernys, C.] here in þis world, for whan he cam out of his modir he brak not þe cloister of hir, but, as þe sunne comeþ þorouȝ þe glas, so Crist cam fro his modir wombe. And þis morwȝyve [morwe-ȝyve, B; morow-ȝyfe, E; more ȝif, C.] is clepid of clerkes, dower of bodily sutilte, and ofte usid Crist þis dower fro þat tyme þat he was rysen. Þe secounde dower of þe bodi is clepid agilite, þat is swiftnesse þerof and to moven hou a man wole; and þis dower usid Crist whan he wente upon þe water, and specialy at þat tyme þat he stied in to heven. Þe
