A boke newly translated out of Latyn in to Englisshe, called The folowing of Christe with the Golden epistel of saynt Barnard.

❧:That the very true solace and conforte is in god. The .xviii. Chapytre.

WHat so euer I may desyre or thinke to my cōforte / I abyde it nat here / but I truste to haue it herafter / for if I alone myght haue all the solace and cōforte of this worlde and myght vse the delytes thereof after myne owne desyre without synne. It is certayne that they myght nat longe endure / wherfore my soule may not fully be cōforted ne perfy∣tely be refresshed but in god only that is the cōforter of the poore in spiryt and the embracer of the meke and lowe in herte. Abyde my soule: abyde the promyse of god / and thou shalte haue abundaūce of al goodnes in heuen. If thou inordinatly coueyte these good{is} p̄sent thou shalte lese the goodnes eternal / haue therfore good{is} present in ••se and eternal in desire. Thou

mayste in no maner be sacyate with tem∣porall goodes / far thou arte nat create to vse them and to restethe in them / for yf thou alone myghtest haue all the goodes that euer were create & made thou migh∣teste nat therfore be happy: and blessed / but thy blessed fulnes and thy full felicite standeth onely in god that hath made all thynges of nought / and that is nat suche felicite as is cōmended of the folysshe lo∣uers of the worlde: but suche as good cry¦sten men and women hope to haue in the bleshe of heuen / and as some ghostely persons clene and pure in herte somtyme do taste here in thys present lyfe / whose conuersacyon is in heuen. All worldly so¦lace and all mānes conforte is vaine and shorte: but that conforte is blessed & soth∣faste that is perceyued by trouth inwarde¦ly in the herte. A deuoute folower of god bereth alwaye aboute with hym hys cō∣forter that is Iesu / and sayth thus vnto hym. My lorde Iesu I beseche the that thou be with me in euery place and euery tyme and that it be to me a specyal solace gladely for thy loue to wante all mannes solace. And yf thy solace want also / that thy wyll and thy ryghtwyse prouynge

and assayinge of me / may be to me a syn∣guler conforte and a hyghe solace / thou shalte nat alwaye be angry with me: ne thou shalte nat alway threte me: so mo•• it be. Amen.