Everard therefore said to Florentius: "Wherefore do these Brothers flee
away?" and he answered: "They know not with what mind thou art come," but
Everard said, "I am come to amend my life," and when he was still held in
suspicion of Florentius, he said after due thought and protesting his
innocency: "If ye will not believe my words, at least believe mine acts--I
pray you give me a cell for a season, and prove me therein of what spirit
I am." Therefore they took him and assigned to him a cell where he lived
long and was wholly converted; for as once he had gained great knowledge
of medicine, so now he received no small light in the law of the Lord and
in the holy Scriptures.
After this he accepted the dispensation of God towards him, namely, to be
still and attend to his heavenly calling, and also following herein the
example of Florentius, to gather together into his own house at Almelo
certain Clerks and Lay folk, with whom he lived for many years under due
discipline. Moreover, lest they who were so gathered together should be
scattered abroad after his death, he began to think of a fit place where
they might serve God together, and by His help he found such a place as
he desired for the founding of a monastery, and here those Brothers whom
he had formerly invested in an humble manner were placed.
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