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

¶ The eyght chapytre.

ALso the fende is full besy to meue men & women to tender conscience / and to brynge them in suche erroures and maketh them wene somtyme whan they do euyll they do noo synne, And somtyme that is well done they thynke it synne, and maketh a venyall synne as greuous as a deedly; And somtyme also the fende encombreth them so gretely that what soeuer they do or leue vndone they be so sore bytten in conscyence that they can no whyle togyder haue ony rest in themselfe. And all this the cruell enemy dooth by the meane of puttynge them in a false drede and blynde conscyence that he bryngeth them to. But the remedy of these and all other temptacyons is to be gouerned by theyr confessour or some other dyscrete persone / and fully put them to theyr rule as afore is sayd and nothynge folowe theyr owne blynde conscyence; For yf they folowe theyr owne conscyence it were a grete pryde / in that he wolde holde his owne wytte better than the true counseyle of holy chyrche. For a man that so wyll doo must nedes fall in grete errours and in to the fendes handes. And yf suche an errour of conscyence made to you by your ghostly enemy make you thynke that other men fele not that ye fele And for that cause they can not gyue you good counseyle or remedye, And therfore ye nedes must folowe youre owne fantasyes: yet for all this charge not your herte therwith / but put away all suche errours of conscyence as fast as they come to mynde / and let them not tarye ne sinke in your soule. And yf ony persone wyll saye that they may not ne can not put theym awaye they saye not truly / for who so is in very wyll to doo away ony suche false suggestyon, tofore god it is put awaye though they haue in them neuer soo false demynges / and therfore haue he neuer so many of them ayenst the wyll of his conscyence: he nedeth not to drede them. For out of doubte almyghty god wyll comforte hym or he dye / and the lenger tyme that he suffreth suche vexacyon and trouble the more is he thankefull in the syght of god.