Companion to the English prose works of Richard Rolle : a selection / from the edition by Carl Horstman.

¶ The thyrde chapytre.

ANd than yf it so be ye haue consented & fallen to synne by ony temptacions / than be sory and crye god mercy therof. And yet be ye not dyscomforted but thynke well on the grete mercy of god how he forgaue Dauid his grete synnes, Peter & Magdalene, and not onely them / but also all those that haue ben or now be or shall be contryte for theyr synnes & meke them lowly and crye our lorde mercy. And therfore syster flee to hym that all mercy is in / and aske mercy & ye shall haue it with forgyuenes of all your synnes / and meke you lowly & take the sacramentes of holy chirche / & than ye ought to byleue faythfully that your synnes be forgyuen / and that ye be receyued in to the grace of god. For god sayth hymselfe by his prophete Ezechiel that whan a synfull man soroweth for his synnes he wyll neuer haue mynde therof. & yf a man perceyue in his herte no very sorowe / and though he thynke whan he byddeth his bedes or cryeth to god for mercy that he dooth all ayenst herte: yet therfore sholde he not deme hymselfe graceles / for who so wolde haue very sorowe for his synnes or wold crye god mercy for them or in his herte wold crye for mercy: he cryeth god mercy truly / for as I haue sayd before / god taketh hede to mannes wyll & not to his trauayllous fantasyes / it is good that a man take noo hede of suche fantasyes or sterynges that cometh in suche maner. For god hydeth from them the knowleges of suche fantasyes for many causes vnto the

proufyte of theyr soules / wherfore suche passyons be not synfull / but rather mater of grace and of grete meryte. And soo good syster thynke ye alwaye / and yf it be soo that temptacyon cease not but wexe alwaye more & more be not afrayed but saye somtyme amonge in the worshyp of god and in the spyte of the fende your crede and knowlege your byleue and hope [by mouthe], and thynke on the wordes of saynt Poule that sayth: Knowlege of mouth is done to the helpe of soules; and they shall not be deceyued by the fendes whyles that with a good auysement bothe in worde and wyll withstandeth hym strongly. For there was neuer man deceyued of the fende but by consent of his owne wyll / & that with suche a wyll as the herte consented with the same / for other fantastycall troublous wylles putteth not awaye man from god.