BUT, I pray thee, what comfort may be to them that truly dread and bitterly
sorrow for their old sins, ought but a true hope of forgiveness? the which is
the third son of Jacob, that is Levi, the which is cleped in the story "a doing
to."[42] For when the other two children,
dread and sorrow, are given of God to a man's soul, without doubt he this
third, that is hope, shall not be delayed, but he shall be lone to;[43] as the story witnesseth of Levi, that, when
his two brethren, Reuben and Simeon, were given to their mother Leah, he, this
Levi, was done to. Take heed of this word, that he was "done to" and not given.
And therefore it is said that a man shall not presume of hope of forgiveness
before the time that his heart be peeked in dread and contrite in sorrow;
without these two, hope is presumption, and where these two
[42] Additus, vel Additio.
[43] Added. Cf. Gen. xxix. 34.
[44] Ps. xciv. 19 (Vulgate xciii.).