Chapter 69

After this the Fiend came again with his heat and with his stench, and gave me much ado,¹ the stench was so vile and so painful, and also dreadful and travailous. Also I heard a bodily jangling,² as if it had been of two persons; and both, to my thinking, jangled at one time as if they had holden a parliament with a great busy-ness; and all was soft muttering, so that I understood nought that they said. And all this was to stir me to despair, as methought,—seeming to me as [though] they mocked at praying of prayers³ which are said boisterously with [the] mouth, failing [of] devout attending and wise diligence: the which we owe to God in our prayers.

After this, the Fiend came again with his heat and his stench, and caused me great distress.¹ The stench was so vile and painful, and also frightening and exhausting. I also heard a sound of chattering,² as if two people were talking. Both seemed to me to chatter at once, as if they were holding a busy council. It was all quiet muttering, so I understood nothing they said. I thought all this was meant to drive me to despair. It seemed to me that they mocked the saying of prayers³ spoken loudly, without the devout attention and careful diligence we owe to God in our prayers.

And our Lord God gave me grace mightily for to trust in Him, and to comfort my soul with bodily speech as I should have done to another person that had been travailed. Methought that busy-ness⁴ might not be likened to no bodily busy-ness. My bodily eye I set in the same Cross where I had been in comfort afore that time; my tongue with speech of Christ's Passion and rehearsing the Faith of Holy Church; and my heart to fasten on God with all the trust and the might. And I thought to myself, saying: Thou hast now great busy-ness to keep thee in the Faith for that thou shouldst not be taken of the Enemy: wouldst thou now from this time evermore be so busy to keep thee from sin, this were a good and a sovereign occupation! For I thought in sooth were I safe from sin, I were full safe from all the fiends of hell and enemies of my soul.

And our Lord God gave me the grace to trust him deeply. He also gave me grace to comfort my soul by speaking aloud, as I would have comforted another person in distress. It seemed to me that this struggle⁴ could not be compared to any bodily struggle. I fixed my eyes on the same Cross where I had found comfort before. With my tongue, I spoke of Christ's Passion and repeated the Faith of Holy Church. And I fixed my heart on God with all my trust and strength. I thought to myself: You are now struggling hard to keep your Faith so that the Enemy will not seize you. If you were always this diligent from now on in keeping yourself from sin, that would be a good and excellent occupation! For I truly thought that if I were safe from sin, I would be completely safe from all the fiends of hell and the enemies of my soul.

And thus he occupied me all that night, and on the morn till it was about prime day. And anon they were all gone, and all passed; and they left nothing but stench, and that lasted still awhile; and I scorned him.

And so he kept me busy all night and into the morning, until about the hour of prime. Then they were all gone, all vanished. They left nothing but a stench, which lingered for a while. And I scorned him.

And thus was I delivered from him by the virtue of Christ's Passion: for therewith is the Fiend overcome, as our Lord Jesus Christ said afore.

And so I was freed from him by the power of Christ's Passion. For the Fiend is overcome by Christ's Passion, as our Lord Jesus Christ said earlier.