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Demonstrations which are suitable to Lazy Men and Sluggards, and to all those who take no care for their Souls

535. Those who are in despair, and who have delivered themselves over to the filthy work of their abominable lusts, and who make loose their ways at all times, and who love the lusts which harm them, are like unto the sterile land, and the arid desert, and a house laid waste, and a vineyard without grapes, and an empty vessel, and a body without a soul, and eyes without light, and a dead body without a voice, and hands which are cut off, and knees which are bowed, and a paralytic lying on a bed, and a vessel filled with stinkingness.

536. AGAINST THOSE WHO LOVE VAINGLORY, AND THOSE WHO BOAST OF THEIR ALMS. Those who love vainglory, and those who boast of their fair works and life, are like unto a broken cistern, and a bag with a hole in it, and a tree without fruit, and a naked man, and a moth-eaten garment, and a wormeaten beam of wood, and unto other things which are consumed by their [false] glory.

537. AGAINST HIM THAT IS NOT CAREFUL (or WATCHFUL) IN RESPECT OF HIS TONGUE. He who is not watchful in respect of his tongue is like unto him whose house door is open, and whose riches are plundered by every man, and he is like unto an uncovered vessel (or unrolled garment), and like that which is unsealed.

538. AGAINST THOSE OVER WHOM EVIL THOUGHTS HAVE DOMINION, AND IN WHOSE MIND WICKED COGITATIONS RISE UP. Those who through their sluggishness give a hand to the thoughts which make a mock of them, and by their negligence help filthy devils to have dominion over them, are like unto an abode which is full of snakes, and a house which is full of evil-smelling things, and a ship which is tossed by the waves, and a poor piece of land which is full of briars and brambles, and unto the thorns that choke it, the end of which is burning.

539. AGAINST HIM WHO DOTH NOT SUPPRESS IN HIMSELF WRATH AND ANGER, AND WHO KEEPETH HIS HATRED AGAINST HIS BROTHER. He who doth not suppress in himself wrath and anger, and who keepeth his hatred against his neighbour, is like unto a savage animal which cannot be tamed, and which goeth along every road, and wandereth about in an erring manner, and unto the man who burieth fire in chopped straw, and like the man who putteth in his bosom the spawn of serpents, and like a den which is full of enraged serpents, and like a cleft in the rock which is full of reptiles which shoot out venom, and a mad dog that barketh at every man, and a wild boar that