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

¶ The nynth chapytre.

ALso though the fende put in you ony thought of dyspayre or make you to thynke that in the houre of deth ye shall haue suche euyll thoughtes and greuous sterynges / and that ye than shall be but lost: yet for all that byleue hym noo thynge / but answere that ye haue fully put your truste in god / and therfore for all his temptacions by the grete powers of almyghty god and merytes of his passyon thynke verayly it shall be to you noo peryll of soule / but tourne to the shame and confusyon of your ghostly enemye. And yf ony creature man or woman speke to you sharpe or dyscomfortable wordes / take it mekely and pacyently & thynke that perauenture it is done by the temptacyon of the fende to trouble and lette you / or that it is a chastysynge of god for some worde or dede that ye haue done contrarye to his wyll. For our lorde god dooth lyke a kynde moder; for

a louynge moder that is wyse and well taught herselfe she wolde that her chyldren were vertuously and well nortured / and yf she may knowe ony of theym with a defaute she wyll gyue theym a knocke on the heed / and yf the defaute be more she wyll gyue hym a buffet on the cheke / and yf he doo a grete faute she wyll sharpely lasshe hym with a rodde. And thus dooth god that is our louynge fader from whome all vertue and goodnes cometh. He whyll that his specyall chosen chyldren be vertuously and well taught in theyr soules / and yf they doo a defaute he wyll knocke them on theyr hedes with some wordes of dyscomforte and dyspleasure / and yf they doo a greter faute he wyll gyue them a buffet with grete sharpenes in sondry maners after the dyuerse condycyon of the defautes / and yf they doo a moche greter trespas than he chastyseth theym moche more sharpely. And all this our blessyd lord doth for the specyall loue he hath vnto vs / for as he sayth hymselfe: them that he loueth / them he chastyseth. Now truly, and we toke good hede of these wordes we wolde be gladder of his chastysynge than of all this worldes cherysshynge / and yf we so dyde / all dysease and trouble sholde tourne vs to comforte and Ioye. But it is full harde thus to doo in the tyme of sharpe heuynes whan a soule standeth naked from all ghoostly and bodely comforte, to take and fynde Ioye in dysease; al be it they that be in suche inwarde dures they must seke in all wayes how they may comforte themselfe in god / and thynke and trust fully that god sente neuer suche chastysynge but that he wolde in longe tyme or in shorte sende comforte wherby they sholde be brought out of these heuynes. For the prophete sayth many be the trybulacyons of ryghtwysmen / and all suche god shall delyuer. And though ye fele somtymes sterynges of [dyspayre or of] vnkyndly euyll thoughtes comforte you euer in the goodnes of god / and in the paynefull passyon that his manhode suffredde for you; for the fende tempteth many of the seruauntes of god to dysperacyon and drede of saluacyon / as well worldely men as other ghoostly lyuers / puttynge in worldely mennes myndes the greuousnesse of theyr synnes / and to the ghoostly lyuers he putteth drede & strayte consyence in many more sondry wyses than I can tell: and full gracyously god hathe comforted theym and brought theym out of theyr errours. And now I am styred and moued for to tell you of one of them whiche was a squyer that hyght Iohn¯ Holmes. A narracyon. This squyer that I haue named had ben a grete synfull man / and soo at the last thorugh the beholdynge of his grete synnes, And by the temptacyon of the fende, he fell in to dyspayre, soo depely and greuously that he had nygh loste hys mynde. And thus he was troubled forty dayes that he myght neyther slepe ne ete but wasted awaye and was in the poynte to destroye hymselfe. But that blessyd gracyous lorde that is soo full of mercy and pyte wolde not haue hym loste. And vpon a day as he walked in a wood alone an aungell came to hym in fourme of a man and saluted the squyer full goodly / and talked with hym in full curteys maner / sayenge vnto hym: man thou semest to haue grete heuynes and sorowe / tell me I praye the the cause of thy dysease. Nay sayd the squyer it is not to be tolde to the. Yes hardely sayd the aungell / thou wotest not how well I may helpe and remoue thy dysease; For a man beynge in dyscomforte sholde alwaye dyscouer his heuynes to some

creature that myght ease hym / for thorugh good counseyle he myght recouer comforte and hele / or in some wyse haue remedye. The squyer answered the aungell agayne and sayd that he wyste well he neyther coude ne myght helpe hym, And therfore he wolde not tell it to hym. This sayd squyer wenynge alway that this aungell had ben an erthly man / and dredde that yf he had tolde it vnto hym he sholde haue sayd some worde that sholde vtterly haue greued hym more. And whan the aungell sawe he wolde by no way tell it vnto hym / he sayd vnto the squyer in this wyse: Now sythe thou wylte not tell me thy greue I shall tell it the. Thou arte sayd the aungell in dyspayre of thy saluacyon: but trust me faythfully thou shalte be saued / for the mercy of god is so grete that it passeth all his werkes / and surmounteth all synnes. It is sothe sayd the squyer, I wote wel that god is mercyfull, but he is also ryghtfull and his ryghtwysnes must nedes punysshe synne, And therfore I drede his ryghtfull Iugementes. The aungell spake vnto hym agayne and tolde hym many grete examples how gracyous and mercyfull our lorde god is to synners. But the squyer of whome we spake was so depely fallen in dyspayre that he coude take no comforte of ony thinge that he coude saye. Than the aungell spake agayne to hym in this maner: O sayd he that thou arte harde of byleue! but wylte thou haue an open shewynge that thou shalte be saued? Than sayd he to þe squyer I haue here thre dyce that I wyll throwe / and thou shalte throwe them also / & who that hath moost of the dyce sykerly shall be saued. A sayd the squyer how myght I in this throwynge of the dyce be certayne of my saluacyon? / & helde it but a Iape; / that notwithstandynge the aungell threwe the dyce and he had on euery of the dyce vpwarde the nombre of syxe. And he than bad the squyer throwe the dyce. O than sayd the squyer certaynly that dare I not doo / for I wote well though I caste / more than thou hast caste sholde I not cast ne haue / and yf I had lesse than sholde I fall in ferther dyscomforte. / But so specyally the aungell desyred and spake that at the last the squyer threwe the dyce / and in throwynge by the gracyous myght and power of god euery dyce deuyded in two / & on euery dyce was the nombre of syxe / and so he had the double that the aungell had. And as he was meruaylynge therupon the aungell vanysshed out of his syght / wherfore he thought veryly than it was an aungell sente from god to brynge hym out of his sorowe / and than he toke moche comforte and Ioye in the grete mercy & goodnes of god in suche maner that all his dredes and sorowes were clene departed / and he became a vertous man and the very seruaunt of god / and lyued blessydly. And whan he sholde departe from this worlde he deuysed there sholde be a stone layde vpon hym / with these wordes wryten aboute it that foloweth: Here lyeth Iohn¯ holmes that of the mercy of god may saye a larges. I knowe a worshypfull persone that was in the same abbey here in englonde where as he lyeth, that redde the same wordes afore sayd wryten on his tombe. Now than sythen our mercyfull lorde god sent thus his gracyous comforte to this man that was a worldly synfull man & receyued hym to grace and brought hym out of dyspayre: There sholde noo man be dyscomforted nor dyspayre of ony temptacyons / for hardely god wyll

comforte hym whan he seeth his tyme / and thoughe he sende not a man comforte shortely it shall be to his more mede / & therfore thynke alwaye whan ye thynke of ony temptacyons bodely or ghostly that ye stande in the blessynges of all holy chyrche / for holy wryte sayth: blessyd be they that suffreth temptacyons, For whan they be well proued they shall haue the crowne of lyf the whiche almyghty god hath promysed to them that loue hym.