And especially in the place of
confession, for these is God specially present with his grace
assisting the sacrament. And let him not doubt to quiet his mind
and follow what he is there bidden, and think for a while less of
the fear of God's justice, and be more merry in remembrance of his
mercy, and persevere in prayer for grace, and abide and dwell
faithfully in the sure hope of his help. And then shall he find,
without any doubt, that the shield of God's truth shall, as the
prophet saith, so compass him about, that he shall not dread this
night's fear of scrupulosity, but shall have afterward his
conscience established in good quiet and rest.
XV
VINCENT: Verily, good uncle, you have in my mind well declared
these kinds of the night's fear.
ANTHONY: Surely, cousin, but yet are there many more than I can
either remember or find. Howbeit, one yet cometh now to my mind,
of which I thought not before, and which is yet in mine opinion.
That is, cousin, where the devil tempteth a man to kill and
destroy himself.
VINCENT: Undoubtedly this kind of tribulation is marvellous and
strange. And the temptation is of such a sort that some men have
the opinion that those who once fall into that fantasy can never
fully cast it off.
ANTHONY: Yes, yes, cousin, many a hundred, and else God forbid.
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