To his great joy she promised to be his guide; but before all things she told him he must first seek Confession, who would cleanse him from his sins.
So Knowledge brought him to Confession, a stately figure in a monk’s cowl. Confession stepped from his shrine to counsel and instruct poor Everyman, who confessed his sins, and begged that Good Deeds might be strengthened.
Kneeling before Confession, he prayed earnestly to God, and presently Good Deeds stood at his side.
“I thank God, now I can walk and go;
And am delivered of my sickness and woe (she said).
Therefore with Everyman I will go, and not spare.
His good works I will help him to declare.”
With an encouraging smile, Knowledge bade the penitent Everyman be of good cheer; and, with these words, she gave him a robe, which she told him to wear.
“It is (she said) a garment of sorrow:
From pain it will you borrow;