But the conversion of this reverend Master Everard came about after this manner, and was brought by the co-operation of God to an wholesome effect.  When the venerable Master Gerard, of whom mention is made above, was preaching the Word of God to the people outside the walls of Deventer, Everard hastened to come to his preaching, for he had heard Gerard’s fame and was puffed up with the wisdom of this world; so he came not of brotherly love, but out of a curious mind, desiring to know whether the Master’s teaching was consonant with his fame, for he did not hunger for uprightness but rather would catch him in his talk.  Yet he stood not openly among the common and simple folk, but behind a pillar, as one that hideth; and behold Almighty God Who knoweth the heart, neither can any hide from His face, did fill the quiver of the preacher with sharp arrows wherewith in secret he pierced through the heart of this curious hearer, who, being pricked thereby, laid aside all the naughtiness of his former vanity, and became a devout disciple of the preacher.  For when the preaching was done, he came near to the man of God, and made known how the Lord had dealt with him by means of the preaching, and how this had befallen him as if the preacher had traversed all the hidden places of his heart and seen all the secrets thereof.  So Master Gerard received him and confirmed his charity toward him, and at length Everard became his companion and helper in preaching; but not long after his conversion Master Gerard departed to the Lord.  After his departure the old enemy stirred up no small enmity against the devout disciples, but God was present with them, giving to them patience and constancy.  Now many of the devout were ignorant of Master Everard’s conversion, but he wished to join himself to the disciples of Christ that dwelt in Deventer in the House of Florentius; the Brothers, however, when they saw him were afraid, and began to flee from before his face as lambs from before the wolf, and they gat them into the hidden places of their cells; yea, and Florentius himself was fearful, for he knew not what Everard might mean, who aforetime had been harsh enough and had opposed the devout Brothers.

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.