nd shudder. I, myself, saw and heard a girl
who complained of a temptation of this nature; namely, that while she
stood in the church and saw the sacrament elevated, the thought
occurred to her: Lo, what a big knave the priest is elevating. And
she was suddenly so frightened at the terrible thought that she sank
to the floor.

72. Such terror and anxiety proceed from the fact that one imagines
that no one else has ever experienced such dreadful assaults. He
thinks he has a special, strange, and unusual affliction. Although it
is true that men's temptations differ and come from different sources
and one may imagine his own a peculiar kind, yet the sufferings and
temptations of all Christians are alike in this, that the devil tries
to drive them all from the fear and confidence of God into unbelief,
contempt, hatred, and blasphemy against God. Therefore, the apostles
are accustomed to call Christians' sufferings a fellowship in pain
and tribulations. They point all men who suffer to the agonies of
Christ our Lord, as the head and exemplar. Peter says in his first
epistle, ch. 1, 11: "The Spirit of Christ ... testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them."
And Paul says, "I fill up on my part that which is lacking of the
afflictions of Christ in my flesh," Col 1, 24.

73. If one would speak of specially severe sufferings, surely no
human heart can comprehend, much less tell, how great and heavy were
the anxiety and sorrow of our first parents on account of their
miserable fall. And what sorrow must Adam have witnessed during the
nine hundred years of his life in the experiences of his first son
Cain, and his children! No man has ever borne such a burden as lay on
both parents for nearly a hundred years after Abel's death, until
their third son was born. Truly, these nine hundred years were a
period of sorrow and misery.

Perhaps, on the last day, we shall discuss with this our father the
solitary suffering of that time, of which we know nothing. And we
shall willingly confess that in sorrow's school he stands far above
us and we have been only insignificant pupils. It must have been most
severe and dangerous for him, since he had no example before him of
similar suffering with which to comfort himself.

74. Likewise, if thou couldst rightly understand what the other holy
patriarchs, the prophets and apostles--especially Paul and Peter--and
later all the beloved martyrs and sain