At this speech the poor distressed Soul was so terrified and amazed,
that it could not speak one word more. When it found that it stood in
the form and condition of the Serpent which separated it from God, and
that the Devil was so nigh it in that condition, who injected evil
thoughts into the Will of the Soul, and had so much power over it
thereby that it was near damnation and sticking fast in the Abyss or
bottomless pit of Hell in the Anger of God, it would have even despaired
of Divine Mercy; but that the Power, Virtue and Strength of the first
stirring of the Grace of God, which had before bruised the Soul, upheld
and preserved it from total despair. But still it wrestled in itself
between Hope and Doubt; whatsoever Hope built up, that Doubt threw down
again. And thus was it agitated with such continued disquiet, that at
last the World and all the glory thereof became loathsome to it, neither
would it enjoy worldly pleasures any more; and yet for all this could it
not come to Rest.