This day is called the first Sunday in the Advent, that is, Sunday in Christ's coming. Wherefore this day, the Holy Church maketh mention of two comings of Christ. The first coming of Christ, God's Son of heaven, was to bring mankind out of the devil's bondage and to bring all good-doers into the bliss that ever shall last. And of his other coming: that shall be at the day of doom for to damn all wicked-doers into the pit of hell forevermore.
But the first coming of Christ into this world brought joy and bliss with him. Therefore Holy Church useth some songs of melody as Alleluia and so forth. And for the second coming of Christ to the doom shall be so cruel and so grevious that no tongue may tell, therefore Holy Church layeth down some songs of melody and of mirth, as Te Deum laudamus, Gloria in excelsis. And also weddings, for after that day shall nevermore be weddings. Thus the Holy Church layeth down songs of melody before, in token of vengence that shall come after.
Then of the first coming of Christ into this world, thus sayeth Saint Augustine: "There is," he sayeth, "Three things that run riot in this world-- birth, travail, and death." This is the testament that Adam our father made to all his offspring after him, that is to be bourne in sickness, for to live in travail, and to die in dread. But Christ, blessed be he, came to be the fulfillment of this testament and was born, travailed, and died. He was born for to bring men to everlasting rest; he was deax to bring man into everlasting life that never shall have end. This was the cause of the first coming of Christ.
Therefore he that will void the peril and the mischief of the second coming to the doom, he might lay down all manner of pride and highness of heart and know himself a wretch and slime of the earth, and so hold meekness in his heart. He might travail his body in good works and get his living by toil of his body, an put away all idleness and sloth, for he that will not toil with men, as sayeth Saint Bernard, he shall travail forever with the fiends of Hell. And for dread of death he might make him ready to his God when He will send after him, that is to say, shrive him of all his sins that are in his conscience, not for to abide from year to year, but also as soon as he feeleth himself in sin to shrive him and meekly take the doom of his confessor.
Then shall he have at the day of doom great worship For surely as a knight showeth the wounds that he got in battle (in much commending to him), surely so all the sins that a man hath shriven him of and taken his penace shall be shown to much honor and worship to him and much confounding to the fiend. Just like that which he hath not shriven him of shall be showed to all the world in great confusion and shame to him. This is said for the first coming of Christ into the world.
The second coming of Christ to the doom shall be so cruel, fearful, and horrible that there shall come before tokens of great dread so that by the evidence of the tokens coming before, a man may know in part the great horribility and dread that shall come at the doom after. The first day, as sayeth Saint Jerome, the sea shall rise up in her place, that the water shall be higher than any hull by forty cubits, standing still in her place as it were a wall. The second the sea shall fall down again, so that only she shall be seen. The third day all the sea-swine and scary things of the sea shall stand on the sea and make a roaring and a noise so hideous that no man may tell it but God. The forth day the sea and all waters shall burn. The fifth day trees and herbs shall sweat blood and all fowls shall come together and neither eat nor drink for dread of the doom coming. The sixth day all buildings and castles shall fall down to the ground and a horrible fire shall rise at the sun going down and burn until the rising of the sun again. The seventh day, all stones and rocks shall, every one, break and beat together with a hideous noise, the which noise God himself shall know and understand. The eighth day, the earth shall quake so horribly that there shall no man stand on it but fall to ground. The ninth day, all hills and mountains shall turn into powder and the earth shall be made plain and even. The tenth day men shall go out of their dens and go as they were mindless, and nevermore shall speak to each other. The eleventh day, all the bones of dead men shall rise and stand upon their grave, and that day all graves shall open. The twelfth day, stars shall fall from heaven and shoot out of them burning trails, and also beasts shall come in to the fields roaring and crying and shall never eat nor drink. The thirteenth day all men shall die for to rise with him that lath been dead before. The fourteenth day, heaven and earth shall burn so horribly that no man may tell. The fifteeth day heaven and earth shall be made new, and all men, and women, and children shall rise up in the age of 30 year and come to the doom.
Then shall Jesus Christ, very God and man, come to the doom with his angels and show his wonders, fresh and new bleeding as the day that he died on the cross. And there shall be the cross all bloody, the spear, the scourges, the nails, and all the instruments of his passion. Then sorry may they be that had been wont to swear by his heart and other lines of God. That shall be a great reproof and great confusion to them, unless they had been mended thereof in this world. Then, lo, Christ shall think highly on him and praise him that hath done mercy to have Eucharist and will say to him thus: "My Father's blessed children, come to me. Reserveth be the kingdom of my Father that is orderly from now to the beginning. For when I was hungry ye fed me, when I was thirsty ye served me drink, and so all the works of mercy. For when ye did this to any of mine, ye did this unto me, and thus for my love ye did it to me. For when ye did this to the least of mine, ye did it to me."
Then shall he horribly rebuke rich men that hath done no mercy and say to them spitefully thus: "Go, ye cursed left, into the pain of hell. For when I was hungry ye gave me no meat, et cetera, vt in evangelio. Then woe may they be that Christ Jesus shall rebuke. There shall no pleading be that shall help, nor gold, nor silver, nor other stuff, but as a man hath done he shall have. There shall be diverse accusers above him, within him, on every side of him and under him, that he shall no way shape. Above him shall be Christ Jesus, his Lord, so wrought that no tongue can tell, for he did no mercy. Within him his own conscience accusing him of the least deed that ever he did amiss. His angel on the right side telling him readily where, when, and how often he did amiss. On the other side fiends challenging him here as by right for his wicked deeds. Under him hell yawning and gaping to swallow then that hath been evil and spitting out fire and stench. Those that are found evil that day, there shall be in pain and woe without end.
That day of doom poor men shall sit in doom with Christ and damn the rich, for the woe and the disease that poor men have is by rich men, for, though they have much wrong, they [mowe geton non amendes] until they come to that doom there they shall have all their own will of him. For when they have done wrong, they may get forgiveness but by praying to God full heartfully to quit them at the day of doom, and so would he full well and truly. For God sayeth: "Keepeth your vengence to me and I will forgive." Therefore while you are here, make amends for your cruel deeds and make them your friends that shall be your Lords at the day of doom and trust not to him that cometh after you lest ye be beguiled. Dreadeth by pain that shall last forever without end.
Saint Bede telleth that there was an husbandman here in England that fell sick and lay as dead from the eventide until the morrow. Then he arose and gave away his goods in three parts. And his part he gave to poor men, and was made a monk in an abbey that stood upon a water's side into the which water each night he waded, were it never so cold, and stood therein long time of the night. And when he was asked why he put himself into so much pain, he said, "To eschew the more pain that he had seen." And he ate barley bread and drank water all his life after and told to religious men that pain that he saw, that was so great that he could not tell it openly. He said that an angel laid him into a place there, on the one side, was such a cold that no tongue might tell the pain thereof. On the other side was so great heat that no man might tell the pain thereof, and souls were cast out of the one into the other. And so the angel showed him the fire that come out of hell that was so white-hot, all so far as he might see it, he burned like a brand for heat. And the ground thereof he saw was souls surging/welling up and down, crying and wailing for woe and sore, and horrible noise of fiends crying: "Beat, beat, beat. Beat, beat, beat! Put them on the skewers, roast hot, cast into the cauldron, boil hot in pitch and [kode] and brimstone and hot lead!"
Thus then they that are damned to hell
Cease never to cry and yell.
Woe is him that there shall go--
God himself shield us therefrom--
And bring usto the bliss he bought us to. Amen.
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