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Dead be they that live not to God. Evil Custom [92] 40 Thomas More’s Life of John Picus namely since all error is with amendment to be taken away and not with imitation and following to be increased. Let them therefore neigh, let them bawl, let them bark, go thou boldly forth° thy journey as thou hast begun, and of their wickedness and misery consider how much thyself art beholden to God, Which hath illumined thee sitting in the shadow of death, and translating thee out of the company of them which like drunken men without a guide wander hither and thither, in obscure darkness, hath associated thee to the children of light. Let that same sweet voice of our Lord always sound in thine ears: Sine mortuos sepelire mortuos suos, tu me sequere,–“Let dead men alone with dead men, follow thou me.” 1 Dead be they that live not to God and in the space of this temporal death laboriously purchase themselves eternal death. Of whom if thou ask whereto they draw, whereto they refer their studies, their works, and their business, and finally what end they have appointed themselves in the adoption° whereof they should be happy, either they shall have utterly nothing to answer or they shall bring forth words repugnant in themselves and contrary each to other, like the raving of Bedlam people. 2 Nor they wot never themselves what they do, but like them that swim in swift floods, they be borne forth with the violence of evil custom as it were with the boisterous course of the stream. And their wickedness blinding them on this side, and the devil pricking them forward on that side, they run forth headlong into all mischief, as blind guides of blind men, 3 till that death set on them unawares, and till that it be said unto them ⌐ that Christ saith in the Gospel: ¬ “My friend, this night ⌐ the devils ¬ shall take thy soul from thee. These goods then that thou hast gathered, whose shall they be?” 4 Then shall they envy them whom they despised, then shall they commend them that they mocked, then shall they covet to ensue them in living when they may not, whom when they might have ensued they pursued. Stop therefore thine ears,¦ my most dear son, and whatsoever men say of thee, whatsoever men think on thee, account it for noth- 3 forth forth on / 15 adoption Apparently in the sense of “taking up and treating as one’s own”; if so, More’s usage antedates the first recorded in OED (s.v. adoption 2a) ¦30 More omits ceras, “with wax” (CW 1:360, 361). 1. Sine…me: Matthew 8:22. 2. like the raving of Bedlam people: More’s translation of the Latin, verba velut fanaticorum deliramenta, “like the babblings of madmen” (CW 1:358). The “Bedlam people” are those of the Bethlehem Hospital for the insane. OED cites this instance as the earliest usage of “Bedlam” in the attributive sense meaning “mad” (s.v. Bedlam 6). 3. blind guides…men: An allusion to Matthew 15:14. 4. this night…they be: Cf. Luke 12:20. 5 10 15 20 25 30
5 10 15 20 25 30 Picus’ Second Letter to Francis ing, but regard only the judgment of God,–Which° shall yield every man after his own works when He shall show Himself from heaven with the angels of His virtue, in flame of fire, doing vengeance upon them that have not known God nor obeyed His Gospel, which (as the apostle saith 1 ) shall suffer in death eternal pain, from the face of our Lord and from the glory of His virtue, when He shall come to be glorified of His saints and to be made marvellous in all them that have believed. It is written: Nolite timere qui corpus possunt occidere, sed qui animam potest mittere in gehennam.–“Fear not them,” saith our Lord, “that may slay the body: but fear Him that may cast the soul into hell.” 2 How much less, then, be they to be feared that may neither hurt soul nor body? Which° if they now backbite thee living virtuously, 3 they shall do the same nevertheless if (virtue forsaken) thou were overwhelmed with vice,–nor for that vice displeaseth them but for that the vice of backbiting always pleaseth them. Flee if thou love thine health, flee as far as thou mayest their company and, returning to thyself, oftentimes secretly pray unto the most benign Father ⌐ of heaven ¬ , crying with the prophet: Ad te Domine levavi animam meam : Deus meus in te confido, non erubescam, etiam si irrideant me inimici mei. Etenim universi qui sperant in te non confundentur. Confundantur iniqua agentes supervacue. Vias tuas Domine demonstra mihi, et semitas tuas edoce me. Dirige me in veritate tua, et doce me: quia tu es Deus Salvator meus, et in te sperabo tota die,–that is to say, “To Thee, Lord, I lift up my soul:¦ in Thee I trust, I shall not be ashamed, an though mine enemies mock me. Certainly all they that trust in Thee shall not be ashamed. Let them be ashamed that work wickedness in vain. Thy ways, good Lord, show me, and Thy paths teach me. Direct me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art God, my Saviour; in Thee shall I trust all the day.” 4 Remember also, my son, that the death lieth at hand. Remember that all the time of our life is but a moment and yet less than a moment. Remember how cursed our old enemy is, which offereth us the kingdoms of this world that he might bereave us the kingdom of heaven; how false the fleshly pleasures which therefore embrace us that they might strangle us; how deceitful these ⌐ worldly ¬ 1 Which who / 12 Which who ¦23 More omits deus meus, “my God” (CW 1:360, 361). 1. as the apostle saith: 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10. 2. Nolite…hell: Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4. 3. virtuously: More’s translation of the Latin, ex ratione, “according to reason” (CW 1:360). 4. Ad te…the day: Psalm 24:1–5. 41 [93] Our life is less than a moment. The devil, the world, the flesh
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Page 77 and 78: haply by chance, perhaps: 6.1, 61.1
Page 79 and 80: pa. pple. 4): 66.19 wood (adj) ragi

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