OF THE JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED
“In all that you do, remember the end, and how you will stand before a strict judge, from whom nothing is hid, who is not bribed with gifts, nor accepts excuses, but will judge righteous judgment. O most miserable and foolish sinner, who are sometimes in fear of the countenance of an angry man, what will you answer to God who knows all your misdeeds? Why do you not provide for yourself against the day of judgment, when no man shall be able to be excused or defended by means of another, but each one shall bear his burden himself alone? Now does your labour bring forth fruit, now is thy weeping acceptable, thy groaning heard, thy sorrow well pleasing to God, and cleansing to thy soul.
Even here on earth, the patient man finds great occasion of purifying his soul. When suffering injuries, he grieves more for the other’s malice than for his own wrong; when he prays heartily for those that despitefully use him, and forgives them from his heart; when he is not slow to ask pardon from others; when he is swifter to pity than to anger; when he frequently denies himself and strives altogether to subdue the flesh to the spirit. Better is it now to purify the soul from sin, than to cling to sins from which we must be purged hereafter. Truly we deceive ourselves by the inordinate love which we bear towards the flesh.
What is it which that fire shall devour, save thy sins? The more you spare yourself and follow the flesh, the more heavy shall your punishment be, and the more fuel are you heaping up for the burning. For wherein a man have sinned, therein shall he be the more heavily punished. There shall the slothful be pricked forward with burning goads, and the gluttons be tormented with intolerable hunger and thirst. There shall the luxurious and the lovers of pleasure be plunged into burning pitch and stinking brimstone, and the envious shall howl like mad dogs for very grief.
No sin will there be which shall not be visited with its own proper punishment. The proud shall be filled with utter confusion, and the covetous shall be pinched with miserable poverty. An hour’s pain there shall be more grievous than a hundred years here of the bitterest penitence. No quiet shall be there, no comfort for the lost, though here, sometimes there is respite from pain and enjoyment of the solace of friends.”
Thomas a Kempis
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 