¶ Beware of ydelnes the whiche is moder of all synne & vnclennesse / so that by your offyce that ye be called to / or by prayer / redynge / wrytynge / sewynge / or other handewerkes doynge / ye may make your bodyes dayly wery & crucyfyed. And therby make your spyrytes the more quycke and apte to the seruyce of our lorde in confusyon of your enemye and encreace of glorye. ¶ Beware to be Inquysytyf / or to muse on hyghe maters and subtyll. And leue them to worldely people / and to clerkes / for otymes the letter may hurte you Thynke euer [that] ye had leuer dye than ones to passe the clausures or boûdes of your monasterye. Yf ye haue a faythfull & a Iuste frende / to whom ye may open [the] secretes of your herte / than ye haue a grete tresour / for oftymes one shall be deceyued & seldome can iuge the trouth in his owne maters so well as other. Knowe your owne synnes & wayle them & medle [with] none other. Beware euer of detraccion & flee it as it were a venemous serpent / [that] the speker therof be your contenaûce & departynge from them may be ashamed / & therwith lothe for euer so to speke or do. Moreouer yf ye wyll see your spouse Ihesu cryst in your mynde by contemplacõn euer kepe your sylence. For saynt Ierom sawe many in Egypt amonge holy faders that .vij. yeres togyder spake not owne worde / but only to god & to his saynt. Yf the caas be so [that] ye must speke / lete it be in all peas & charyte & [with] fewe wordes. Remembrynge [that] your spouse loueth no voyde claterynge / but wolde be [with] you alone in all quyetnesse in your soules. Wherfore be ye aferde to dysplease hym or to dryue hym out from you [with] stryues or debate / sclaundres / othes / and suche other / ¶ Saynt Iames coûselleth eche man to refrayne his tonge / sayenge that lyf & deth ben in the power of [the] same tonge / wrytynge thus. Who that refrayneth his tonge he shalbe blessyd in all dedes &c. Knowleche your self at all tymes carayne and erthe / & the glory therof is as a floure in the medowe. Absteyne you as pylgryms from all desyres of [the] flesshe / the whiche dayly bataylleth ayenst the soule. Absteyne also from lyes at all tymes / as ye wolde from helle / for them in no wyse loueth Ihesus your spouse. And also beware to mayntene or botrace suthe lyes whiche is abhomynable in the syght of god. Yf there come ony straûger vnto you / lete hym knowe by your heuenly talkynge & behauyour [that] ye be a well taught spouse of cryste & [that] they may glorefye in you & for you & be amended by you. Bere [the] wordes of saynt Ierom in your mynde that sayth thus. Truste me verely [that] theris no thynge more peryllous to a man. than is a woman / & to a woman no thynge more contagyous than is a man / for eyther of them is chaff & eyther is fyre. And note this for a truth / [that] preuy talkyng lacketh no suspycyon. That thynge is not lefull to be seen / [that] is not lefull to be desyred. More than ony man can suppose or wryte / [the] deuyll reioyseth whan memorye