Worldly bliss does not last for a moment;
it goes away presently.
The longer that I know it the less value
I find in it; for it is all mingled with care,
with sorrows and with ill-success, and at the last
it leaves man poor and naked when it departs.
All the bliss which is here and there
amounts at the end
to weeping
and grief
Man, why do you set mind and heart
on worldly bliss that does not last?
What do you permit that you should so often be
grieved for things that are transitory?
You lick honey from thorn indeed,
who set your love on worldly bliss,
for it is full of bitterness.
You may well be greatly terrified
who mis-spend wealth here,
thereby to be cast into hell.
Think man for what purpose Christ created you,
and put away pride and filth and wrath.
Think how dearly he redeemed you on the cross
with his precious blood.
He gave himself as a ransom for you,
to buy you bliss if you are prudent;
bethink yourself then and rise up from sin
and begin to do good
whilst there is time to act,
for certainly otherwise you are mad.
No good deed shall be unrequited,
and no evil deed will not be paid for;
when you lie, man, under the earth,
you shall get what you have earned.
Consider well therefore, I advise you,
and cleanse yourself of each misdeed,
so that He may help you in your need
who has so dearly redeemed you,
and may lead you to the bliss of heaven
which ever endures and does not fail.