Here followeth the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin our Lady S. Mary.

We find in a book sent to S. John the Evangelist, or else the book, which is said to be apocryphal, is ascribed to him, in what manner the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary was made. The apostles were departed and gone in to divers countries of the world for cause of preaching, and the blessed Lady and Virgin was in a house by the Mount of Sion, and as long as she lived she visited all the places of her son with great devotion, that is to say the place of his baptism, of his fasting, of his passion, of his sepulture, of his resurrection, and of his ascension. And after that Epiphanius saith, she lived four-and-twenty years after the ascension of her son, and he saith also: When our Lady had conceived Jesu Christ she was of the age of fourteen years, and she was delivered in her fifteenth year, and lived and abode with him three and thirty years. And after his death she lived four-and-twenty years, and by this account when she departed out of this world she was seventy-two years old; but it is more probable that which is read in another place, that she lived after the ascension of her son twelve years, and so then she was sixty years old. And on a day, when all the apostles were spread through the world in preaching, the glorious Virgin was greatly esprised and embraced with desire to be with her son Jesu Christ, and her courage was eschaufed and moved, and great abundance of tears ran withoutforth, because she had not equally the comforts of her son, which were withdrawn from her for the time. And an angel came tofore her, with great light, and saluted her honourably as the mother of his Lord, saying: All hail! blessed Mary, receiving the blessing of him that sent his blessing to Jacob, lo! here a bough of palm of paradise, Lady, which I have brought to thee, which thou shalt command to be borne tofore thy bier. For thy soul shall be taken from thy body the third day next following, and thy son abideth thee, his honourable mother. To whom she answered: If I have found grace tofore thine eyes, I pray thee that thou vouchsafe to show to me thy name, and yet I pray thee more heartily that my sons and my brethren the apostles may be assembled with me, so that tofore I die I may see them with my bodily eyes, and after, to be buried of them, and they being here, I may yield up my ghost to God. And also yet I pray and require that my spirit, issuing out of the body, see not the horrible ne wicked spirit ne fiend, and that no might of the devil come against me. And then the angel said: Lady, wherefore desirest thou to know my name? which is great and marvellous. All the apostles shall assemble this day to thee and shall make to thee noble exequies at thy passing, and in the presence of them thou shalt give up thy spirit. For he that brought the prophet by his hair from Judea to Babylon, may without doubt suddenly in an hour bring the apostles to thee. And wherefore doubtest thou to see the wicked spirit, sith thou hast broken utterly his head, and hast despoiled him from the empire of his power? Nevertheless thy will be done, that thou see not the fiend. And this said, the angel mounted into heaven with great light, and the palm shone by right great clearness, and was like to a green rod whose leaves shone like to the morrow star. And it happed as S. John the Evangelist preached in Ephesus, the heaven suddenly thundered, and a white cloud took him up and brought him tofore the gate of the blessed Virgin Mary. And he knocked at the door and entered and saluted the Virgin honourably. Whom the blessed Virgin beheld, and was greatly abashed for joy, and might not abstain her from weeping, and said to him: John, my son, remember thee of the word of thy master, by which he made me mother unto thee, and thee a son unto me. Lo! I am called of thy master and my God. I pay now the debt of condition human, and recommend my body unto thy busy cure. I have heard say that the Jews have made a council, and said: Let us abide brethren unto the time that she that bare Jesus be dead, and then incontinent we shall take her body and shall cast it into the fire and burn it. Thou therefore take this palm, and bear it tofore the bier when ye shall bear my body to the sepulchre. Then said John: O would God that all my brethren the apostles were here, that we might make thine exequies convenably as it behoveth and is digne and worthy. And as he said that, all the apostles were ravished with clouds from the places where they preached, and were brought tofore the door of the blessed Virgin Mary. And when they saw them assembled, they marvelled, and said: For what cause hath our Lord assembled us here? Then S. John went out and said to them that our Lady should pass and depart out of this world, and added more thereto, saying: Brethren, beware and keep you from weeping when she shall depart, because that the people that shall see it be not troubled, and say: Lo! there, how they dread the death which preach to others the resurrection. And Denis, disciple of Paul, affirmeth this same in the book of divine names, that is to wit that all the apostles were assembled at the assumption and death of our Lady Mary and were together there, and that each of them made a sermon unto the praisirg and laud of Jesu Christ and the blessed Virgin his mother. He said thus, speaking to Timothy: Thus we and thou, as thou well knowest, and many of our holy brethren, did assemble at the vision of the mother that received God. And James, brother of God, was there. And Peter the apostle, most noble and sovereign of the theologians. And after that me seemed that all the Hierarchies lifted her up, after and according to her virtue without end. This saith S. Denis. And when the blessed Virgin Mary saw all the apostles assembled, she blessed our Lord, and sat in the midst of them where the lamps, tapers, and lights burned. And about the third hour of the night Jesu Christ came with sweet melody and song, with the orders of the angels, the companies of patriarchs, the assembly of martyrs, the convents of confessors, the carols of virgins. And tofore the bed of our blessed Lady the companies of all these saints were set in order and made sweet song and melody. And what exequies were done of our blessed Lady, and there hallowed it is all said and enseigned in the foresaid book which is attributed to S. John.

For first, Jesu Christ began to say: Come my chosen and I shall set thee in my seat, for I have coveted the beauty of thee. And our Lady answered: Sir, my heart is ready, and all they that were come with Jesu Christ entuned sweetly saying: This is she that never touched the bed of marriage in delight, and she shall have fruit in refection of holy souls. Then she sang of herself, saying: All the generations shall say that I am blessed, for he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and the name of him is holy. And the chanter of chanters entuned more excellently above all others, saying: Come from Lebanon, my spouse, come from Lebanon, come, thou shalt be crowned. And she said: I come, for in the beginning of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will, for my spirit hath joyed in thee, God my health. And thus in the morning the soul issued out of the body and fled up in the arms of her son. And she was as far estranged from the pain of the flesh as she was from corruption of her body. Then said our Lord to the apostles: Bear ye the body of this virgin, my mother, into the vale of Jehosaphat and lay ye her in a new sepulchre that ye shall find there, and abide me there three days till that I return to you. And anon she was environed with flowers of roses, that was the company of martyrs, and with lilies of the valley, that was the company of angels, of confessors and virgins. And the apostles cried after her saying: Right wise virgin, whither goest thou? Lady, remember thee of us. And then the company of saints that were abiden there were awaked with the sound of the song of them that mounted, and came against her, and saw their king bear in his proper arms the soul of a woman, and saw that this soul was joined to him, and were abashed and began to cry, saying: Who is this that ascendeth from the desert, full of delices, joined to her friend ? And they that accompanied her said: This is the right fair among the daughters of Jerusalem, and like as ye have seen her full of charity and dilection, so is she joyously received, and set in the seat of glory on the right side of her son. And the apostles saw the soul of her being so white that no mortal tongue might express it. And then three maidens that were there took off the clothes from the body for to wash it. The body anon shone by so great clearness that they might well feel it in touching and washing but they might not see it. And that light shone as long as they were about the washing of it. And then the apostles took the body honourably and laid it on the bier, and John said to Peter: Bear this palm tofore the bier, for our Lord hath ordained thee above us, and hath made thee pastor and prince of his sheep. To whom Peter said: It appertaineth better to thee to bear it, for thou art chosen virgin of our Lord, and thou oughtest to bear this palm of light at the exequies of chastity and holiness, thou that drankest at the fountain of perdurable clearness. And I shall bear the holy body with the bier, and these other apostles our brethren shall go round about the body yielding thankings to God. And then S. Paul said to him: I, that am least of the apostles and of you all, shall bear with thee. And then Peter and Paul lifted up the bier, and Peter began to sing and say: Israel is issued out of Egypt, and the other apostles followed him in the same song. And our Lord covered the bier and the apostles with a cloud, so that they were not seen, but the voice of them was heard only. And the angels were with the apostles singing, and replenished all the land with marvellous sweetness. And then all the people was moved with that sweet melody, and issued hastily out of the city and enquired what it was, and then there were some that said to them that Mary such a woman is dead, and the disciples of her son Jesu bear her and make such melody as ye hear about her. And then ran they to arms, and they warned each other saying: Come and let us slay all the disciples, and let us burn the body of her that bare this traitor. And when the prince of priests saw that, he was all abashed and full of anger, and said: Lo! here the tabernacle of him that troubled us and our lineage. Behold what glory he now receiveth, and in saying so, he laid his hands on the bier willing to turn it, and overthrew it to the ground.

Then suddenly both his hands waxed dry and cleaved to the bier, so that he hung by the hands on the bier, and was sore tormented and wept and brayed. And the angels that were there in the clouds blinded all the other people that they saw nothing. And the prince of priests said: S. Peter, despise me not in this tribulation, and I pray thee to pray for me to our Lord. Thou oughtest to remember when the chamberer, that was usher, accused thee, and I excused thee. And S. Peter said to him: We be now empeshed in the service of our Lady, and may not now entend to heal thee, but and if thou believest in our Lord Jesu Christ, and in this that bare him, I ween and hope that thou soon shalt have health and be all whole. And he answered: I believe our Lord Jesu Christ to be the Son of God, and that this is his right holy mother, and anon his hands were loosed from the bier, but yet the dryness and the pain ceased not in him. And then S. Peter said to him: kiss the bier and say: I believe in God Jesu Christ that this woman bare in her belly, and remained virgin after the childing. And when he had so said, he was anon all whole perfectly. And then said Peter to him: Take that palm of the hand of our brother John, and lay it on the people that be blind, and who that will believe shall receive his sight again. And they that will not believe shall never see. And then the apostles bare Mary unto the monument and sat by it, like as our Lord had commanded, and at the third day Jesu Christ came with a great multitude of angels and saluted them, and said: Peace be with you. And they answered: God, glory be to thee which only makest the great miracles and marvels. And our Lord said to the apostles: What is now your advice that I ought now to do to my mother of honour and of grace? Sire, it seemeth to us thy servants that like as thou hast vanquished the death and reignest world without end, that thou raise also the body of thy mother and set it on thy right side in perdurability. And he granted it. And then Michael the angel came and presented the soul of Mary to our Lord. And the Saviour spake and said: Arise up, haste thee, my culver or dove, tabernacle of glory, vessel of life, temple celestial, and like as thou never feltest conceiving by none atouchment, thou shalt not suffer in the sepulchre no corruption of body. And anon the soul came again to the body of Mary, and issued gloriously out of the tomb, and thus was received in the heavenly chamber, and a great company of angels with her. And S. Thomas was not there, and when he came he would not believe this. And anon the girdle with which her body was girt came to him from the air, which he received, and thereby he understood that she was assumpt into heaven. And all this heretofore is said and called apocryphum. Whereof S. Jerome saith in a sermon to Paula and Eustochia her daughter: That book is said to be apocryphum, save that some words which be worthy of faith and be approved of saints as touching nine things, that is to wit, that the comfort of the apostles was promised and given to the virgin, and that all the saints assembled there, and that she died without pain, and was buried in the vale of Jehosaphat. And there were made ready the obsequies and the devotion ot Jesu Christ, and the coming of the celestial company, and the persecution of the Jews, and the shining of the miracles, and that she was assumpt into heaven, body and soul. But many other things be put there more at fantasy and simulation than at truth. As that, that Thomas was not there, and when he came he doubted, and other things semblable, which be better not to believe them than not to believe her clothes and vestments were left in her tomb, to the comfort of good christian men. And of one part of her vestments it is said there happed such a great miracle as followeth. When the Duke of Normandy had assieged the city of Chartres, the bishop of the city took the coat of our Lady and set it on the head of a spear like a banner and went out against the enemy surely, and the people followed him. And anon all the host of the enemies were turned into frenzy, and were blind and trembled, and all were abashed. And when they of the city saw this thing, above the divine demonstrance they went on eagerly and slew their enemies, the which thing displeased much the virgin S. Mary, as it was proved by that that her coat vanished away, and the duke, their enemy, found it in his lap.

It is read in the revelations of S. Elizabeth that, on a time as she was ravished in spirit, she saw in a place much far from folk a tomb or a sepulchre environed with much light, and was like the form of a woman withinforth, and there was about it a great multitude of angels, and a little while after she was taken out of the sepulchre and borne up on high with that multitude. And then came against her a man bearing in his right arm the sign of the cross, and had with him many angels without number, which received her much joyously and led her with great melody into heaven. And a little while after, Elizabeth demanded of an angel to whom she spake oft, of that vision that she saw. It is showed to thee, said the angel, in that vision that, the Virgin our Lady is assumpt into heaven as well in her body as in her soul. It is said in the same revelations that it was showed to her that the fortieth day after the soul departed from her body she was so assumpt into heaven, and also that when our blessed Lady spake to her, she said: After the Ascension of our Lord a whole year, and as many days more as be from the Ascension unto her assumption, she overlived. And also she said: All the apostles were at my departing, and buried my body honourably, and forty days after was raised. And then S. Elizabeth demanded of her whether she should hide this thing, or that she should manifest it and show it. And she said: It is not to be showed to fleshly ne unbelieving people, ne it is not to be hid to devout and christian people. It is to be noted that the glorious Virgin Mary was assumpt and lifted up into heaven entirely joyously and gloriously. She was received entirely, that is, wholly, as the church believeth debonairly, and that aflirm many saints, and enforce them to prove it by many reasons. And the reason of S. Bernard is such. He saith that God hath made the body of S. Peter and S. James so gloriously to be honoured that he hath enhanced them by marvellous honour, that to them is deputed place convenable for to be worshipped. and all the world goeth to seek and offer to them. Then if the body of his blessed mother were on the earth, and not haunted by devout visitation of christian men, it should be marvel to hear that God would not have done as much worship to his mother, and honoured as much her body as the bodies of other saints upon the earth. Jerome saith thus, that the Virgin Mary mounted into heaven the eighteenth calends of September. That which he saith of the assumption of the body of Mary, the church will rather debonairly believe it, than rashly to explain it, and he proved it afterward that it is to be believed that they that arose with our Lord have accomplished their perdurable resurrection. Wherefore should not we say then that it is done in the Blessed Virgin Mary. And also many believe that S. John the Evangelist is glorified in his flesh with Jesu Christ; and then much more our Lady ought to be glorified in heaven, both body and soul, which saith: Worship thy father and mother, and he came not to break the law but to fulfil it, and therefore he honoureth his mother above all other. S. Austin affirmeth not this only, but he proveth it by three reasons. And the first reason is the unity and assembly of the flesh of our Lord and of our Lady, and saith thus: Putrefaction and worms is the reproach of condition human, which Jesus never touched, and the flesh of Jesu is out of this reproof, the nature of Mary is out thereof, for it is proved that Jesu Christ hath taken his flesh of her. The second reason is the dignity of the body of her of whom himself saith: This is the siege of God, the chamber of our Lord of heaven, and the tabernacle of Christ. She is worthy to be where he is, so precious a treasure is more worthy to be kept in heaven than in earth. The third reason is perfect entireness of her virginal flesh, and saith thus: Enjoy thou Mary of honourable gladness in body and in soul. In thy proper son, and by thy proper son, thou oughtest to have no harm of corruption; where thou haddest no corruption of virginity in childing so great a son, so thou whom he endued with so great glory shouldst be alway without corruption, and live entirely, which barest entire him that is perfect of all, and that she be with him whom she bare in her womb, and that she be at him whom she childed, gave suck and nourished. Mary, mother of Jesu Christ, administress and servant. And because I may none other thing feel, I dare none otherwise say ne presume. And hereof saith a noble versifier: Transit ad æthera, virgo puerpera, virgula Jesse, Non sine corpore, sed sine tempore, tendit adesse. The virgin that childed mounted into heaven, the little rod of Jesse, not without body, but without time, she entendeth to be there, virgin pure and net. Secondly, she was assumpt and taken up gladly. And hereof saith Gerard, bishop and martyr, in his homily: The heavens received this day the Blessed Virgin, the angels were glad, the archangels enjoyed, the thrones sang, the dominanations made melody, the principalities harmonised, the potestates harped, cherubim and seraphim sang laudings and praisings, and bringing her with thankings and lauds unto the siege of the divine and sovereign majesty. Thirdly, she was lifted up in heaven so honourably that, Jesu Christ himself, with all the strength of the heavenly company, came against her. Of whom S. Jerome saith: Who is he that is sufficient to think how the glorious queen of the world went up this day, and how the multitude of the celestial legions came against her with great talent of devotion, and with what songs she was brought unto her seat, and how she was received of her son and embraced with peaceable cheer and clear face, and how she was enhanced above all other creatures? And yet he saith: It is on this day that the chivalry of heaven came hastily for to meet with the mother of God, and environed her with great light, and brought her to her seat with praisings and songs spiritual. And then enjoyed them the celestial company of Jerusalem with so great gladness that no man may recount ne tell, and made joy and song, all enjoying in charity because that this feast is every year hallowed of us, and made continuous with all others. And it is to believe that the Saviour himself came and met with her hastily, and brought her with him, and set her in her seat with great joy. And how had he accomplished otherwise that which he commanded in the law, saying: Honour thy father and mother. Fourthly, she was received excellently. S. Jerome saith: This is the day in which the Virgin Mary, not corrupt, went unto the highness of the throne, and she was there enhanced in the heavenly kingdom and honoured gloriously, sitting next unto Christ. And how she is enhanced in the heavenly glory, Gerard the bishop rehearseth in his homilies, saying: Our Lord Jesu Christ alone may praise this blessed Virgin his mother as he did, and magnify, so that she be continually praised of that majesty, and honoured and environed of the company of angels, enclosed with the turmes of archangels, possessed of the thrones and girt about of the dominations, environed with the service of the potestates, beclipped with the embracements of the principates, enjoyed with the honours of the virtues, obeyed with lauds and praisings of the cherubins, and possessed on all parts with not recountable songs of the seraphins. And the over great and ineffable Trinity enjoyeth in her perdurable gladness, and his grace redoundeth all in her and maketh all other to entend and await on her. The overshining order of the apostles honour her with ineffable laud. The honourable multitude of martyrs beseech her in all manner as one so great a lady. The fellowship of confessors innumerable continue their song to her, the right noble and white company of virgins make noble carolling of the glory of her. Hell, full of malice, howleth, and the cursed devils cry unto her and dread her.

There was a clerk, devout unto the virgin Mary, which studied every day how he might comfort her against the pain of the five wounds of Jesu Christ, saying thus: Rejoice thee virgin and mother undefouled, which receives the joy of the angels, enjoy that thou conceivedst, enjoy thee that childedst the light of clearness, enjoy thee mother which never wert touched, all features and all creatures praise thee mother of light, be thou for us always praying to our Lord. And as this clerk had lain long with an over great sickness, and came toward his end, he began to dread, and was troubled, and our blessed Lady appeared to him and said: Son, wherefore tremblest thou by so great fear, which hast so oft showed to me joy? Be thou joyful now thyself, and that thou mayest enjoy perdurably, come with me.

There was a monk much jolly and light of his living but devout to our Lady, which on a night went to do his folly accustomed, but when he passed before the altar of our Lady, he saluted the virgin, and so went forth out of the church. And as he should pass a river he fell into the water and drowned, and the devils took the soul. Then came angels for to deliver it, and the devils said to them: Wherefore come ye hither? Ye have nothing in this soul. And anon the Blessed Virgin came, and blamed them because they had taken the soul which was hers. And they said that they had found him finishing his life in evil works. And she said: It is false that ye say, I know well that when he went into any place he saluted me first, and when he returned and came again also; and if ye say that I do you wrong, let us put it again in judgment of the sovereign king. And when they strove tofore our Lord of this matter, it pleased him that the soul should return again to the body and repent him of his sins and trespasses. And then the brethren saw that the matins were over long deferred, and sought the sexton, and went to the river and found him there drowned. And when they had drawn the body out of the water what they should do they wist not, and marvelled what he had done; and suddenly he came again to life, and told what he had done, and after finished his life in good works.

There was a knight which was mighty and rich, that dispended follily his goods, and came to so great a poverty that he which had been accustomed to give largely great things, had need to demand and ask the small. And he had a right chaste wife, and much devout to the blessed Virgin Mary. And a great solemnity approached, at which the knight was accustomed to give many gifts. And he had nothing to give, whereof he was greatly ashamed. And he went into place desert, full of heaviness, and of weeping, so long that the feast was passed, for to wail there his evil fortune and for to eschew shame. And anon a knight, much horrible, came, sitting on an horse, which arreasoned the knight and enquired of him the cause of his great heaviness. And he told him all by order that as was happed to him. And this foul knight said to him: If thou wilt a little obey to me, thou shalt abound in glory and in riches more than thou wert tofore. And he promised to the devil that he would do so gladly if he accomplished that he promised. And then he said to him: Go home into thine house, and thou shalt find in such a place there, so much gold and so much silver. And thou shalt find there also precious stones, and do so much that such a day thou bring me hither thy wife. And the knight returned home into his house, and found all things like as the devil had promised. And anon he bought a palace and gave great gifts, and bought again his heritage, and took his men again to him. And the day approached which he had promised to lead his wife to the fiend, and called her, saying: Let us go to horseback, for ye must come with me unto a place far hence. And she trembled and was afeard, and durst not gainsay the commandment of her husband. And she commended herself devoutly to the Blessed Virgin, and began to ride after her husband. And when they had ridden a good while they saw in the way a church, and she descended from the horse and entered into the church. Her husband abode without. And as she commended herself devoutly to the Blessed Virgin Mary in great devotion and contemplation, she suddenly slept, and the glorious virgin did on semblable habit of this lady and departed from the altar and issued out and mounted upon the horse. And the lady abode sleeping in the church, and the knight weened that she had been his wife that was with him, and went always forth. And when he was come to the place assigned, the devil came with a great rese to the place, and when he approached and came near, he quaked and trembled anon and durst go no nearer. Then said he to the knight: Thou most traitor of all men, wherefore hast thou deceived me, and hast rendered to me harm for such great good as I have given to thee? I said to thee that thou shouldst bring thy wife to me, and thou hast brought the mother of God. I would have thy wife, and thou hast brought to me Mary. For thy wife hath done to me many injuries, wherefore I would take on her vengeance. And thou hast brought to me this for to torment me, and for to send me to hell. And when the knight heard this he was sore abashed, and might not hold him from weeping, ne durst not speak for dread and marvel. And then the Blessed Mary said: Thou felon spirit, by what folly dost thou will to grieve and annoy my devout servant? This shall not be left in thee unpunished. I bind thee in this sentence, that thou descend into hell, and that thou henceforth have no presumption to grieve none that call upon me. And then he went away with great howling. And the man sprang down from his horse and kneeled down on his knees to her feet. And the Virgin our Lady blamed him, and commanded him to return again to his wife, which yet slept in the church, and bade him that he should cast away all the riches of the devil. And when he came again he found his wife yet sleeping, and awoke her, and told to her all that was befallen. And when they were come home they threw away all the riches of the devil, and dwelled alway in the louings of our Lady, and received afterward many riches that our Lady gave to them.

There was a man which was ravished in judgment tofore God, for he had much sinned, and the devil was there and said: Ye have nothing on this soul, but it ought to be mine, for I have thereof an instrument public. To whom our Lord said: Where is thine instrument? I have, he said, an instrument that thou saidest with thy proper mouth and hast ordained it for to endure perpetually. For thou saidest in what hour that ye eat of it ye shall die, and this is of the lineage of them that took of the meat forbidden. And by right of this instrument public he ought to be judged to me. And then our Lord said: Let the man speak, but the man spake not. And the devil said yet again: The soul is mine, for if he hath done any good deeds, the wicked deeds pass the good without comparison. And then our Lord would not anon give sentence against him, so that he gave him term of eight days, so that at the end of eight days he should appear again tofore him, and give account of all these things. And as he went from the visage of our Lord, sorrowing and trembling, he met with a man which asked the cause of his heaviness. And he told to him all by order, and he said to him: Doubt thee nothing, ne be not afeard, for I shall help thee manly from the first. And he demanded of him his name, and he said: Verity. And after he found another which pronounced to help him for the second. And when he had asked his name, he said his name was Righteousness. At the eighth day he came to the doom tofore the judge, and the devil opposed to him the first case, and Truth answered and said: We know well that there is double death, corporal and infernal, and this instrument that the devil allegeth against thee speaketh no word of the death of hell, but of the death of the body, and of that it is clear that all men be enclosed in that sentence, that is to wit that he dieth in his body, and that is not the death of hell. And as touching the death of the body, the sentence endureth always, but as to the death of the soul, it is repealed by the death of Jesu Christ. Then the devil saw that he was discharged of the first. Then he opposed and alleged the second, but Righteousness came and answered thus: Howbeit that he hath been thy servant many years, nevertheless reason gainsayeth it. For reason murmured always because he served so cruel a lord. But at the third objection, he had none help, and our Lord said: Bring forth the balance, and let all the good and evil be weighed; and then Truth and Righteousness said to the sinner, Run with all thy thought unto the Lady of mercy which sitteth by the judge, and study to call her to thine help. And when he had so done, the Blessed Virgin Mary came in to his help and laid her hand upon the balance whereas were but few good deeds. And the devil enforced him to draw on that other side, but the mother of mercy won and obtained and delivered the sinner. And then he came again to himself and amended his life.

It happed in the city of Bourges, about the year of our Lord five hundred and twenty-seven, that when the christian men were communed and houseled on an Easter day, a child of a Jew went to the altar with the other children, and received our Lord's body with the others. And when he came home, his father demanded him whence he came, and he answered that he came from school, and that he had been houseled with them at mass. And then the father full of woodness took the child and threw him into a burning furnace that was there. And anon the mother of God came in the form of an image, which the child had seen standing on the altar, and kept him from the fire without taking any harm. And the mother of the child, with her great crying, made to assemble many christian men and Jews, the which saw the child in the furnace without any harm or hurt, and drew him out, and demanded him how he escaped, and he answered and said: That reverend lady which stood upon the altar came and helped me, and put away all the fire from me. Then the christian men, understanding this to be the image of our Lady, took the father of the child and threw him into the furnace, which incontinent was burnt and consumed. There were certain monks tofore day standing by a river, and talked and jangled there of fables and idle words. And they heard a great rowing and oars beating the water coming hastily. And the monks asked, Who be ye? And they said: We be devils that bear to hell the soul of Ebronien, provost of the house of the king of France, which was apostate in the monastery of S. Gall. And when the monks heard that they doubted strongly, and cried high: S. Mary, pray for us! And the devils said: Well have ye called Mary, for we would have disjoined you and have drowned you because of your dissolute and out of time jangling. And then the monks returned to their convent, and the devils went in to hell. There was a woman that suffered many griefs and injuries of a devil which appeared visibly to her in the form of a man, and she sought many remedies, now holy water, now one thing, now another, but he ceased not. And then a holy man counselled her that, when he came to her that she should lift up her hands to heaven and cry: S. Mary, help me! And when she had so done, the devil fled all afraid as he had been smitten with a stone, and after stood and said: The cursed devil enter into his mouth that taught thee that, and anon vanished away and never came again.