The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church / Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I.

TUESDAY.

ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Jesus Christ, after he came to this life, and was grown to manhood, when he was thirty years old in his human nature, began to work miracles, and chose the twelve disciples whom we call apostles. These were afterwards always with him, and he taught them all the wisdom which stands in holy books, and through them established all christianity. Then said they to Jesus, "Sir, teach us how we may pray." Jesus answered, and thus said, "Pray in these words to my Father and your Father, God Almighty: Pater noster, that is in English, Thou, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Be thy will on earth as in heaven. Give us to-day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them who trespass against us. And lead thou us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. So be it."

God, the Father Almighty, has one Son naturally, and many adoptively. Christ is the Son of God, seeing that the Father begot him of himself without any mother. The Father has no body, nor begot he his Son in that wise which men do: but his Wisdom, with which he wrought all creatures, is his Son, who is ever of the Father and with the Father, God of God, as mighty as the Father. We men are children of God, because he made us; and afterwards, when we were undone, he sent his own Son for our redemption. Now are we children of God, and Christ is our brother, if we will duly obey the Father, and with all our mind worship him. Christ is our head, and we are his limbs: he is invested with our humanity, and he has our body, which he received of the holy maiden Mary; therefore may we manifestly cry to him, as to our brother, if we so observe our brotherhood as he has taught us; that is, that we should not allow the devil with any evil practices to seduce us from the brotherhood of Christ.

Verily the man who imitates the devil is a child of the devil, not by nature nor by creation, but by that imitation and evil deserts. And the man who makes himself acceptable to God is a child of God, not naturally, but by creation and by good deserts, as Christ said in his gospel, "He who doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and my mother, and my sister." Now therefore all christian men, whether high or low, noble or ignoble, and the lord, and the slave, are all brothers, and have all one Father in heaven. The wealthy is not better on that account than the needy. As boldly may the slave call God his Father as the king. We all are alike before God, unless any one excel another in good works. The rich for his wealth is not to despise the poor; for the poor is before God often better than the rich. God is our Father, therefore should we all be brothers in God, and hold the brotherly bond unbroken; that is, true peace, so that each of us love other as himself, and command to no one that which he would not another should command to him. He who observes this is a child of God, and Christ, and all holy persons who thrive to God, are his brothers and his sisters.

We say, "Pater noster qui es in cœlis," that is, "Our Father which art in heaven;" for God the Father is in heaven, and he is everywhere, as he himself said, "I fill with myself heaven and earth." And again, the holy gospel says thus concerning him, "Heaven is his throne, and earth is his footstool." We turn eastward when we pray, because from thence the heaven rises; not as though his dwelling be particularly in the east part, and that he forsakes the west or other parts, who is everywhere present, not through the space of the place, but by the presence of his majesty. When we turn our face to the east part, where the heaven rises, which rises over all bodily things, then should our mind be thereby admonished that it turn to the highest and first nature, that is, God. We should also know that the sinful is called earth, and the righteous is called heaven; for in righteous men is a dwelling-place of God, and the good man is a temple of the Holy Ghost. So also, on the other hand, the wicked man is a temple of the devil, and an habitation of the devil: therefore there is as great a difference between good and evil men as there is between heaven and earth.

In the Pater noster are seven prayers. In the first two words are no prayers, but praises: that is, "Our Father which art in heaven." The first prayer is, "Sanctificetur nomen tuum:" that is, "Hallowed be thy name." This is not to be so understood as if the name of God were not sufficiently holy, who ever was holy, and ever will be, and who blesses and hallows us all: but these words are thus to be understood, that his name be hallowed in us, and that he grant us that we may bless his name with our mouth, and give us the thought that we may understand that nothing is so holy as his name.

The second prayer is, "Adveniat regnum tuum:" that is, in our tongue, "Thy kingdom come." Ever was God's kingdom, and ever will be: but it is so to be understood, that his kingdom be over us, and he reign in us, and that we with all obedience be subject to him, and that our kingdom be realized and fulfilled to us, as Christ has promised to us, that he would give us an eternal kingdom, thus saying, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom that was prepared for you from the beginning of the world." This will be our kingdom, if we now will merit it; and we shall be God's kingdom, when Christ delivers us to his Father on doomsday, as the holy writ says, "Cum tradiderit regnum Patri suo:" that is, "When he shall deliver the kingdom to his Father." What is the kingdom that he shall deliver to his Father, but those holy persons, both men and women, which he redeemed from hell-torment by his own death? These he will deliver to his own Father at the end of this world, and they will then be God's kingdom, and will reign with God for ever, both with soul and with body, and will then be like unto angels.

The third prayer is, "Fiat voluntas tua sicut in cœlo et in terra:" that is, "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven." That is, As the angels in heaven obey thee, and in every way attach themselves to thee, so also may men, who are on earth and formed of earth, be obedient to thy will, and with all fervour attach themselves to thee. In those men verily God's will is done, who work according to God's will. Our soul is heavenly, and our body is earthly. Now, with these words, we also pray that God's will be done both in our soul and in our body, that both may obey him, and that he may preserve and shield both our soul and our body from the temptations of the devil.

The fourth prayer is, "Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie:" that is, in our tongue, "Give us to-day our daily bread." This is to be understood in three senses: that he give us food for our body, and give ghostly bread to our soul. The ghostly bread is the commandment of God, on which we should daily meditate, and with works fulfil; for as the body lives by bodily meats, so shall the soul live by the precepts of God, and by ghostly meditations. The body quickly wastes away and decays, if its sustenance is withdrawn from it; in like manner the soul perishes, if it has not ghostly sustenance, that is, God's commandments, on which it shall thrive and be cherished. The ghostly bread is also the holy housel, with which we confirm our belief; and through partaking of the holy housel our sins will be forgiven us, and we shall be strengthened against the temptations of the devil. Therefore should we frequently cleanse and confirm our soul with ghostly refection. Yet may not he who is polluted with deadly sins dare to partake of God's housel, unless he first atone for his sins: if he do otherwise, he will partake of it to his own injury. The bread, as we said, betokens three things. One is sustenance of the body; the second, of the soul; the third is the partaking of the holy housel. For these three things we should pray daily to the Lord.

The fifth prayer is, "Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:" that is, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those men who trespass against us." We should do as we promise in these words, that is, we should be merciful to each other, and, for the great love of God, forgive those men who trespass against us, that God Almighty may forgive us our sins. But if we will not forgive the little trespasses of those men who have angered us, then will not God forgive us our great and many sins: as Christ himself said, "When ye stand at your prayers, forgive whatever ye have in your mind against any man, and your Father, which is in heaven, will forgive you your sins. But if ye will not, with inward heart, forgive those who anger you, then your Father, which is in heaven, will not forgive you your sins; but he will command you to be bound and set in prison, that is, in hell-torment; and there the devil will torture you, until ye shall have suffered for all your trespasses, until ye come to one farthing." It is, however, taught, according to the book of God, that wise men should institute correction for foolish men, so that they lay aside their folly and their evil practices, and should, nevertheless, love the man as their own brother.

The sixth prayer is, "Et ne nos inducas in tentationem:" that is, "Permit not, thou, O God, that we be led into temptation." One thing is temptation, another thing is trial. God tempts no man, but, nevertheless, no man comes to the kingdom of God, unless he has been tried: therefore we should not pray that God try us not, but we should pray to God to shield us, so that we sink not under trial. The devil may try every man, whether he be aught or naught; whether he love God with inward heart, or act with hypocrisy. As a man tries gold in the fire, so God tries the mind of man in divers trials, whether he be steadfast. God knows full well, how it befalls in trial; but yet a man will have no great honour, unless he have been tried. By trial he shall flourish, if he withstand temptations. If he fall, let him rise again: that is, if he sin, let him earnestly atone for it, and cease therefrom afterwards; for no atonement will avail, if there be not cessation. The man who frequently sins and frequently atones, angers God; and the more he sins the more he will be subject to the devil, and God will then forsake him, and he will go as the devil shall direct him, as a shattered ship at sea, which goes as the wind drives it. The good man the more he is tried the more cheerful he will be, and the nearer to God, until with full honour he shall go from this life to the life eternal. And the evil man, the oftener he sinks under trial, the more wicked he will be, and the nearer to the devil, until he goes from this life to eternal torment, if he would not cease previously, when he could and might. God therefore often awaits the evil man, and leaves him time, that he may cease from his wicked deeds, and before his end turn his mind to God, if he will. But if he will not, that he be, without any exculpation, very justly be thrust into the hand of the devil. Therefore is it now better for christian men, that with hardships and toil they earn the everlasting kingdom and eternal bliss with God and with all his saints, than that they by softness and evil lusts earn eternal tortures with all the devils in hell-torment.

The seventh prayer is, "Sed libera nos a malo:" that is, "But deliver us from evil:" deliver us from the devil and from all his wiles. God loves us, and the devil hates us. God feeds and comforts us, and the devil will slay us if he may; but he will be prevented through the protection of God, if we will not fordo ourselves with evil practices. Therefore should we eschew and despise the vicious devil with all his devices, for there behoves him nothing for us, and we should love and follow our Lord, who will lead us to everlasting life.

In the Pater noster there are, as we before said, seven prayers. The first three prayers are begun by us in this world, but they will ever be unended in the world to come. The hallowing of the great name of God began with us men when Christ became incarnate with our humanity; but the same hallowing will continue to eternity, because in the life eternal we shall ever bless and praise the name of God. And God reigns now, and his kingdom stands for ever, without end, and the will of God will be fulfilled in this life by good men: the same will will continue to all eternity. The other four prayers belong to this life, and with this life end.

In this life we require bread, and instruction, and partaking of the housel. In the life to come we require no earthly food, for we shall then be nourished with heavenly meats. Here we require instruction and wisdom. In the heavenly life all will be full wise, and in ghostly lore full skilled, those who now, through the precepts of wise men, are obedient to the commandments of God. And here we require to partake of the holy housel for our amendment, for in the heavenly dwelling we shall have the body of Christ with us, with which he reigns to eternity.

In this world we pray for forgiveness of our sins, and not in that to come. The man who will not repent of his sins in this life, will obtain no forgiveness in that to come. And in this life we pray God to shield us against the temptations of the devil, and to deliver us from evil. In the life eternal there will be no temptation and no evil; for there will come no devil nor evil man who may trouble or hurt us. There will be in concord soul and body, which now in this life strive with each other. There will be no sickness, no toil, no lack of any goodness, but Christ will be with us all, and will do all things for us, without reproach, with all alacrity.

Christ instituted this prayer, and so confined it within a few words, that all our needs, both ghostly and bodily, are therein included; and this prayer he instituted for all christian men in common. He says not in that prayer, 'My Father, which art in heaven,' but says, "Our Father;" and so forth all the words which follow speak universally of all christian men. Herein is manifested how much God loves unity and concord among his people. According to the book of God all christian men should be so united as though they were one man: wo therefore to the man who breaks that unity asunder. So as we have in one body many limbs, and they all obey one head, so also we many christian men should obey Christ in unity; for he is our head, and we are his limbs. We may see in our own bodies how each limb serves another. The feet bear the whole body, and the eyes lead the feet, and the hands prepare the sustenance. Soon will the head lie down, if the feet bear it not; and soon will all the limbs perish together, if the hands put not the sustenance to the mouth. In like manner the rich man, who sits on his high seat, will soon discontinue his feasting, if the servants discontinue their toils. Let the rich be mindful that of all the good things which God has lent him, he shall render an account how he employed them.

He is thy hand or thy foot, who supplieth thy wants. He is thine eye who teacheth thee wisdom, and bringeth thee into the right way. He who protecteth thee as a father is, as it were, thy head. As the head requireth the other members, so these members require the head. If one limb be diseased, all the others suffer with that one. So also should we, if one of our fellows be in any distress, all lament his evil, and meditate concerning its reparation, if we can repair it. And in all things we should hold peace and unity, if we will have the great distinction of being children of God, who is in heaven, in which he ruleth with all his saints, through all ages, to eternity. Amen.

WEDNESDAY.

OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH.

Every christian man should by right know both his Pater noster and his Creed. With the Pater noster he should pray, with the Creed he should confirm his faith. We have spoken concerning the Pater noster, we will now declare to you the faith which stands in the Creed, according to the wise Augustine's exposition of the Holy Trinity.

There is one Creator of all things, visible and invisible; and we should all believe in him, for he is true and God alone Almighty, who never either began or had beginning; but he is himself beginning, and he to all creatures gave beginning and origin, that they might be, and that they might have their own nature, so as it seemed good to the divine dispensation. Angels he created, which are spirits, and have no body. Men he created with spirit and with body. Cattle and other beasts, fishes and birds he created in flesh without soul. To men he gave an upright gait; the cattle he let go bending downwards. To men he gave bread for sustenance, and to the cattle grass.

Now, brethren, ye may understand, if ye will, that there are two things: one is the Creator, the other is the creature. He is the Creator who created and made all things of naught. That is a creature which the true Creator created. These are, first, heaven, and the angels which dwell in heaven; and then this earth with all those which inhabit it, and sea with all those that swim in it. Now all these things are named by one name, creature. They were not always existing, but God created them. The creatures are many. The Creator, who created them all, is one, who alone is Almighty God. He was ever, and ever he will continue in himself and through himself. If he had begun and had origin, without doubt he could not be Almighty God; for the creature that began and is created, has no divinity; therefore every substance that is not God is a creature; and that which is not a creature is God.

God exists in Trinity indivisible, and in unity of one Godhead, for the Father is one, the Son is one, the Holy Ghost is one; and yet of these three there is one Godhead, and like glory, and coeternal majesty. The Father is Almighty God, the Son is Almighty God, the Holy Ghost is Almighty God; but yet there are not three Almighty Gods, but one Almighty God. They are three in persons and in name, and one in Godhead. Three, because the Father will be ever Father, and the Son will be ever Son, and the Holy Ghost will be ever Holy Ghost; and neither of them will ever change from what he is. Ye have now heard concerning the Holy Trinity; ye shall also hear concerning the true Unity.

Verily the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, have one Godhead, and one nature, and one work. The Father created nothing nor creates, without the Son, or without the Holy Ghost. Nor does one of them anything without the others; but they have all one work, and one counsel, and one will. The Father was ever, and the Son was ever, and the Holy Ghost was ever One Almighty God. He is the Father, who was neither born of nor created by any other. He is called Father, because he has a Son, whom he begot of himself, without any mother. The Father is God of no God. The Son is God of God the Father. The Holy Ghost is God proceeding from the Father and from the Son. These words are shortly said, and it is needful for you that we more plainly expound them.

What is the Father? The Almighty Creator, not created nor born, but he himself begot a Child coeternal with himself. What is the Son? He is the Wisdom of the Father, and his Word, and his Might, through whom the Father created and disposed all things. The Son is neither made nor created, but he is begotten. He is begotten, and yet he is coeval and coeternal with his Father. It is not with his birth as it is with our birth. When a man begets a son, and his child is born, the father is greater and the son less. Why so? Because when the son waxes the father grows old. Thou findest not among men father and son alike. But I will give thee an example, whereby thou mayest the better understand the birth of God. Fire begets brightness of itself, and the brightness is coeval with the fire. The fire is not of the brightness, but the brightness is of the fire. The fire begets the brightness, and it is never without the brightness. Now thou hearest that the brightness is as old as the fire of which it comes; allow therefore that God might beget a Child as old and as eternal as he himself is. Let him who can understand that our Saviour Christ is in the Godhead as old as his Father, thank God therefore and rejoice. He who cannot understand it shall believe it, that he may understand it; for the word of the prophet may not be rendered void, who thus spake, "Unless ye believe it ye cannot understand it." Ye have now heard that the Son is of the Father without any beginning; for he is the Wisdom of the Father, and he was ever with the Father, and ever will be.

Let us now hear concerning the Holy Ghost, what he is. He is the Will and the true Love of the Father and of the Son, through whom all things are quickened and preserved, concerning whom it is thus said, "The Spirit of God filleth all the circumference of earth, and he holdeth all things, and he hath knowledge of every speech." He is not made, nor created, nor begotten, but he is proceeding, that is going from, the Father and from the Son, with whom he is equal and coeternal. The Holy Ghost is not a son, for he is not begotten, but he proceeds from the Father and from the Son; for he is the Will and Love of them both. Christ spake of him thus in his gospel, "The Spirit of comfort whom I will send unto you, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from my Father, will bear testimony concerning me." That is, He is my witness that I am the Son of God. And the right faith also teaches us, that we should believe in the Holy Ghost: he is the quickening God, who proceeds from the Father and from the Son. How proceeds he from him? The Son is the Wisdom of the Father, ever of the Father; and the Holy Ghost is the Will of them both, ever of them both. There is therefore one Father, who is ever Father; and one Son, who is ever Son; and one Holy Ghost, who is ever Holy Ghost.

Ever was the Father, without beginning; and ever was the Son with the Father, for he is the Wisdom of the Father; ever was the Holy Ghost, who is the Will and Love of them both. The Father is of no other, for he was ever. The Son is begotten of the Father, for he was ever in the bosom of the Father, for he is his Wisdom, and he is of the Father all that he is. Ever was the Holy Ghost, for he is, as we before said, the Will and true Love of the Father and of the Son; for will and love betoken one thing: that which thou wilt thou lovest; and that which thou wilt not, thou lovest not.

The sun which shines over us is a bodily creature, and has, nevertheless, three properties in itself: one is the bodily substance, that is the sun's orb; the second is the beam or brightness ever of the sun, which illumines all the earth; the third is the heat, which with the beam comes to us. The beam is ever of the sun, and ever with it; and the Son of Almighty God is ever of the Father begotten, and ever with him existing, of whom the apostle said, that he was the brightness of his Father's glory. The heat of the sun proceeds from it and from its beam; and the Holy Ghost proceeds ever from the Father and from the Son equally; of whom it is thus written, "There is no one who may hide himself from his heat."

Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, may not be named together, but yet they are nowhere separated. The Almighty God is not threefold, but is Trinity. The Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God: not three Gods, but they all three one Almighty God. The Father is also Wisdom of no other wisdom. The Son is Wisdom of the wise Father. The Holy Ghost is Wisdom. But yet they are all together one Wisdom. Again, the Father is true Love, and the Son is true Love, and the Holy Ghost is true Love; and they all together one God and one true Love. In like manner the Father is ghost and holy, and the Son is ghost and holy undoubtedly; nevertheless the Holy Ghost is specially called Holy Ghost, that which they all three are in common.

There is so great likeness in this Holy Trinity, that the Father is no greater than the Son in the Godhead; nor is the Son greater than the Holy Ghost; nor is one of them less than the whole Trinity. Wheresoever one of them is, there they are all three, ever one God indivisible. No one of them is greater than other, nor one less than other, nor one before other, nor one after other; for whatsoever is less than God, that is not God; that which is later has beginning, but God has no beginning. The Father alone is not Trinity, nor is the Son Trinity, nor the Holy Ghost Trinity, but these three persons are one God in one Godhead. When thou hearest the Father named, then thou wilt understand that he has a Son. Again, when thou sayest, Son, thou knowest, without doubt, that he has a Father. Again, we believe that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son.

Let no man deceive himself so as to say or to believe that there are three Gods, or that any person in the Holy Trinity is less mighty than other. Each of the three is God, yet they are all one God; for they all have one nature, and one Godhead, and one substance, and one counsel, and one work, and one majesty, and like glory, and coeternal rule. But the Son alone was incarnate and born to man of the holy maiden Mary. The Father was not invested with human nature, but yet he sent his Son for our redemption, and was ever with him, both in life and in passion, and at his resurrection, and at his ascension. Also all the church of God confesses, according to true faith, that Christ was born of the pure maiden Mary, and of the Holy Ghost. Yet is not the Holy Ghost the Father of Christ; never shall any christian man believe that: but the Holy Ghost is the Will of the Father and of the Son; therefore is it very rightly written in our belief, that Christ's humanity was accomplished by the Holy Ghost.

Behold the sun with attention, in which there is, as we before said, heat and brightness; but the heat dries, and the brightness gives light. The heat does one thing, and the brightness another; and though they cannot be separated, the heating, nevertheless, belongs to the heat, and the giving light to the brightness. In like manner Christ alone assumed human nature, and not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost: they were, nevertheless, ever with him in all his works and in all his course.

We speak of God, mortals of the Immortal, feeble of the Almighty, miserable beings of the Merciful; but who may worthily speak of that which is unspeakable? He is without measure, because he is everywhere. He is without number, for he is ever. He is without weight, for he holds all creatures without toil; and he disposed them all in three things, that is in measure, and in number, and in weight. But know ye that no man can speak fully concerning God, when we cannot even investigate or reckon the creatures which he has created. Who by words can tell the ornaments of heaven? Or who the fruitfulness of earth? Or who shall adequately praise the circuit of all the seasons? Or who all other things, when we cannot even fully comprehend with our sight the bodily things on which we look? Behold thou seest the man before thee, but at the time thou seest his face, thou seest not his back. So also if thou lookest at a cloth, thou canst not see it all together, but turnest it about, that thou mayest see it all. What wonder is it, if the Almighty God is unspeakable and incomprehensible, who is everywhere all, and nowhere divided?

Now some shallow-thinking man will inquire, how God can be everywhere at once, and nowhere divided. Behold this sun, how high he ascends, and how he sends his beams over all the world, and how he enlightens all this earth which mankind inhabit. As soon as he rises up at early morn, he shines on Jerusalem, and on Rome, and on this country, and on all countries at once; and yet he is a creature, and goes by God's direction. How much ampler then is God's presence, and his might, and his visitation everywhere! Him nothing withstands, neither stone wall nor broad barrier, as they withstand the sun. To him nothing is hidden or unknown. Thou seest a man's face, but God seeth his heart. The spirit of God tries the hearts of all men; and those who believe in him and love him he purifies and gladdens with his visitation, and the hearts of unbelieving men he passes by and shuns.

Let everyone also know that every man has three things in himself indivisible and working together, as God said when he first created man. He said, "Let us make man in our own likeness." And he then made Adam in his own likeness. In which part has man the likeness of God in him? In the soul, not in the body. The soul of man has in its nature a likeness to the Holy Trinity; for it has in it three things, these are memory, and understanding, and will. By the memory a man thinks on the things which he has heard, or seen, or learned. By the understanding he comprehends all the things which he hears or sees. Of the will come thoughts, and words, and works, both evil and good. There is one soul, and one life, and one substance, which has these three things in it working together inseparably; for where memory is there is understanding and will, and they are ever together. Yet is none of these three the soul, but the soul through the memory reminds, through the understanding comprehends, through the will it wills whatsoever it likes; and it is, nevertheless, one soul and one life. It has therefore God's likeness in itself, because it has three things in it inseparably working. Yet is the man one man, and not a trinity: but God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, exists in a trinity of persons and in the unity of one Godhead. Man exists not in trinity as God, but he has, nevertheless, the likeness of God in his soul, by reason of the three things of which we have before spoken.

There was a heretic called Arius, who disputed with a bishop who was named Alexander, a wise and orthodox man. The heretic said, that Christ the Son of God could not be equal to his Father, nor so mighty as he; and said, that the Father was before the Son, and took example from men, how every son is younger than his father in this life. Then said the holy bishop Alexander in opposition to him, "God was ever, and ever was his Wisdom of him begotten, and the Wisdom is his Son, as mighty as his Father." Then the heretic got the emperor's support to his heresy, and proclaimed a synod against the bishop, and would bend all the people to his heresies. Then the bishop watched one night in God's church, and cried to his Lord, and thus said, "Thou Almighty God, judge right judgement between me and Arius." On the morrow they came to the synod. The heretic then said to his companions, that he would go forth for his need. When he came to the place and sat, all his entrails came out, while he was sitting, and he sat there dead. Thus God manifested that he was as void in his inside as he had before been in his belief. He would make Christ less than he is, and diminish the dignity of his Godhead; when a death was given him as ignominious as he was well worthy of.

There was another heretic who was called Sabellius. He said, that the Father was, whenever he would, Father; and again, when he would, he was Son; and again, when he would, was Holy Ghost; and was therefore one God. Then this heretic also perished with his heresy.

Now again, the Jewish people who slew Christ, as he himself would and permitted, say that they will believe in the Father, and not in the Son whom their forefathers slew. Their belief is naught, and they will therefore perish. For our redemption Christ permitted them to slay him. All mankind could not have done it, if he himself had not willed it; but the Holy Father created and made mankind through his Son, and he would afterwards through the same redeem us from hell-torment, when we were undone. Without any passion he might have had us, but that seemed to him unjust. But the devil undid himself, when he instigated the Jewish people to the slaying of Jesus, and we were redeemed by his innocent death from the eternal death.

We have the belief that Christ himself taught to his apostles, and they to all mankind; and that belief God has confirmed and established by many miracles. First Christ by himself healed dumb and deaf, halt and blind, mad and leprous, and raised the dead to life: after, by his apostles and other holy men, he wrought the same miracles. Now also in our time, everywhere where holy men rest, at their dead bones God works many miracles, because he will with those miracles confirm people's faith. God works not these miracles at any Jewish man's sepulchre, nor at any other heretic's, but at the sepulchres of orthodox men, who believed in the Holy Trinity, and in the true Unity of one Godhead.

Let everyone know also, that no man may be twice baptized; but if a man err after his baptism, we believe that he may be saved, if with weeping he repent of his sins, and, according to the teaching of his instructors, atone for them. We are to believe that the soul of every man is created by God, but yet it is not of God's own nature. The matter of a man's body is from the father and from the mother, but God creates the body from the matter, and sends a soul into the body. The soul is nowhere existing previously, but God creates it forthwith, and sets it in the body, and lets it have its own election, whether it shall sin, whether it shall eschew sins. Nevertheless it ever needs God's support, that it may eschew sins, and again come to its Creator through good deserts; for no man doeth anything good without God.

We are also to believe that every body which has received a soul shall arise at doomsday with the same body that he now has, and shall receive the reward of all his deeds: then will the good have eternal life with God, and he will give a meed to everyone according to his deserts. The sinful will be ever suffering in hell-torment, and their torment will also be measured to everyone according to his deserts. Let us therefore merit eternal life with God through this faith, and through good deserts, who existeth in Trinity One Almighty God ever to eternity. Amen.

SERMON ON THE LORD'S ASCENSION.

Primum quidem sermonem feci: et reliqua.

Luke the Evangelist has informed us in this epistolary reading, thus saying, "Jesus, the Redeemer of the world, showed himself living to his disciples, after his passion and his resurrection, by many reproofs, for forty days, and spake to them concerning the kingdom of God, eating and drinking together with them: and commanded them that they should not depart from the city of Jerusalem, but that they should await there the promise of his Father which (he said) ye have heard from my mouth. For John the Baptist baptized with water, and ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost now after a few days. The assembly of his disciples therefore said unanimously, Beloved Lord, wilt thou now put an end to this world? He answered them, It is not for you to know the time or the moment which my Father hath appointed through his might: but ye shall receive the might of the Holy Ghost, and ye shall be my witnesses in Judea, and in all the world, unto the uttermost land. And he led them then out of the city up to a hill which is called the mount of Olives, and blessed them with uplifted hands. Then after that blessing he went to heaven, they looking on; and a heavenly cloud descended towards him, and took him from their sight."

"While they stood gazing up to heaven, they saw there two angels in white garments, thus saying, Ye Galilean men, why stand ye thus gazing towards heaven? Jesus, who is now taken from your sight to heaven, shall so come again as ye have seen that he ascended to heaven. They then returned to the city of Jerusalem with great joy, and went up on an upper flooring, and there stayed till Pentecost in prayers and in praises of God, until the Holy Ghost came to them, as the noble King had before promised them."

"In this fellowship were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, the other James and Simon, the other Judas and Mary the mother of Jesus, and several others, both men and women. The whole multitude was an hundred and twenty persons, unanimously continuing in prayers."

Jesus taught the holy lore to his disciples before his passion, and after his resurrection he was continuing among them these forty days, from the holy Easter-tide until this present day, and in many ways reproved and tried his disciples, and repeated that which he had before taught, for the perfection of doctrine and right faith. He ate and drank after his resurrection, not because he then had need of earthly food, but because he would manifest his true body. He ate through power, not for need. As fire consumes drops of water, so did the divine power of Christ consume the received meat. Verily after the universal resurrection our bodies will require no strengthening of earthly meats, for Jesus will supply all our needs with heavenly things, and we shall be enriched with glory, and mighty to execute whatsoever is pleasing to us, and we shall be full swift to go through all the immensities of the kingdom of God.

He promised to his disciples then and frequently that he would send to them the Holy Ghost, and thus said, "When he comes he will stimulate and direct you to all the things which I have said unto you." Then came the Holy Ghost in semblance of fire to the holy company on the eleventh day after Christ's ascension, and inflamed them all with innoxious fire, and they were filled with heavenly lore, and knew all worldly tongues, and fearlessly preached faith and baptism to the powerful and cruel.

The holy company asked Christ, whether he would at that time put an end to this world. He said to them in answer, "It is not for you to know the time which my Father hath through his power appointed." He said also in another place, "No man knoweth the day or the time of the ending of this world, nor the angels, nor any saint, save God only." Yet by the tokens which Christ mentioned, we see that the ending is very near at hand, though it be unknown to us.

The apostles were witnesses of Christ's works, for they preached his passion, and his resurrection, and ascension, first to the Jewish people, and afterwards their voice came to every land, and their words to the boundaries of the whole globe; for they recorded the miracles of Christ, and the books exist among christian people, both where the apostles bodily preached, and where they did not come.

All creatures serve their Creator. When Christ was born, heaven sent forth a new star, which announced the birth of God. Again, when he ascended to heaven, the heavenly cloud bowed down towards him, and received him: not that the cloud bare him, for he holds the throne of heaven, but he passed with the cloud from the sight of men. There were seen two angels in white garments. In like manner at his birth angels were seen; but the holy gospel has not explained how they were adorned; for God came to us very humble. At his ascension were seen angels adorned with white garments. Joy is betokened by white garments, for Christ departed hence with great joy and with great majesty. At his birth it seemed as though the Godhead were humbled, and at his ascension humanity was exalted and magnified. With his ascension is annulled the writ of our condemnation, and the sentence of our destruction is abrogated.

When Adam had sinned, the Almighty Ruler said to him, "Thou art earth, and thou shalt to earth return. Thou art dust, and thou shalt return to dust." Now to-day that same nature went incorruptible into the kingdom of heaven. The two angels said that Christ would come as he ascended, because at the great doom he will be seen in human form, that his slayers may recognize him whom they formerly put to death, and also that those who despised his precepts may then justly receive eternal punishment with the devil. Holy writ says, "Tollatur impius ne videat gloriam Dei:" "Be the sight of God's glory taken away from the impious." The impious will not see the glory of Christ, whom they had before despised in life, but they will then see him awful whom humble they had contemned.

Recumbentibus undecim discipulis: et reliqua. We have now read the narrative of Luke concerning Christ's ascension; we will now turn our consideration to the other evangelist Mark, who said in the present day's gospel, that Jesus appeared to his apostles, and chid them, because they would not at first believe his resurrection from death, when it was announced to them. Then said the Lord to his disciples, "Go over all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he who believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he who believeth not shall be damned. These signs shall follow those men who believe," etc. This gospel is here now simply said, but we will now unfold its mysteries to you, according to the exposition of Gregory.

The apostles' doubt as to the resurrection of Christ was not so much their lack of faith, but was our confirmation. Less have benefited us those who quickly believed than those who were doubting; for they beheld and touched the scars of Christ's wounds, and so drove out all doubts from our hearts. Jesus then reproved his disciples for their doubt, when he would bodily leave them, that they might be mindful of the words which he said to them on his way. He said, "Go over all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The gospel is for us to hear and exceedingly loving, that we may avoid hell-torment and cruel tortures through the incarnation of Jesus, and come to the host of angels through his humility. He said, "Preach to every creature:" but by that name is man alone betokened. Stones are creatures, but they have no life, nor have they sense. Grass and trees live without feeling; they live not by a soul, but by their greenness. Beasts live and have feeling without reason; they have no reason, because they are soulless. Angels live, and have sense, and use reason. Now man has something of all creatures. He has in common with the stones, that he is existing; he has in common with the trees, that he lives; with the beasts, that he has sense; with angels, that he understands. Man is therefore called 'every creature,' because he has something in common with every creature. The gospel is preached to every creature, when it is preached to man alone; for all earthly things are created for man alone, and they all have some likeness to man, as we before said.

"He who believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; and he who believeth not shall be damned." That faith is true which gainsays not by wicked practices that which it believes; of which spake John the apostle; "He who saith that he knoweth God, and holdeth not his commandments, is a liar." Again, the apostle James says, "The faith which is without good works is dead." Again, he said, "What profiteth it thee that thou have faith, if thou hast not good works? Faith cannot save thee without works. The devils believe, but they tremble." The devils saw Christ in this life, in his human state, but they fell at his feet, and cried, and said, "Thou art the Son of God, therefore thou art come that thou mightest fordo us." The man who will not believe in God, nor has any awe of God, is worse than a devil. He who believes, and has awe, and, nevertheless, will not do good, is like unto a devil.

In quodam tractu, qui æstimatur Sancti Hilarii fuisse, sic invenimus scriptum, sicut Anglice hic interpretavimus, et ad testimonium ipsam Latinitatem posuimus: "Dæmones credunt et contremescunt; qui autem non credit, et non contremescit dæmonibus deterior est: qui autem credit, et contremescit, et veritatem operibus non agit, dæmonibus similis est." He who rightly believes, and rightly lives his life, and with awe of God practises good works to the end of his life, shall be saved, and shall have everlasting life with God, and with all his saints. The Lord said, these signs shall follow those who believe in him, "In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall drive away serpents; and though they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall set their hands over sick men, and it shall be well with them."

These wonders were needful at the beginning of christianity, for by these signs was the heathen folk inclined to faith. The man who plants trees or herbs, waters them so long until they have taken root; when they are growing he ceases from watering: so also the Almighty God so long showed his miracles to the heathen folk, until they were believing: when faith had sprung up over all the world, then miracles ceased. But, nevertheless, God's church still works daily the same miracles spiritually which the apostles then wrought bodily. When the priest christens the child, then casts he out the devil from that child; for every heathen man is the devil's, but through the holy baptism he is God's, if he observe it. He who forsakes opprobrious speeches and calumnies, and injurious scoffings, and busies his mouth with the praises of God and with prayers, speaks then in new tongues. He who corrects thoughtlessness or impatience, and stills the bitterness of his heart, drives away serpents, for he extinguishes the evilnesses of his mind. He who is allured to fornication, but yet is not induced to its accomplishment, drinks a deadly drink, but it shall not hurt him, if with prayers he flees to God. If any-one be weakened in his purpose, and slothful for good living, then if any-one, with exhortation and examples of good works, strengthen and raise him up, it will be as though he set his hand over the sick and heal him.

The spiritual miracles are greater than the bodily ones were, for these miracles heal a man's soul, which is eternal, but the former signs healed the mortal body. The former miracles were wrought both by good men and by evil. Judas, who betrayed Christ, was evil, though he had previously wrought miracles in the name of God. Of such men Christ in another place said, "I say unto you, many will say to me on that great day, Lord, Lord, lo! have we not prophesied in thy name, and have driven devils out of mad men, and have performed great miracles in thy name? Then will I profess to them, I know you not: depart from me, ye unrighteous doers." My brothers, love not those miracles which may be common to the good and to the evil, but love those signs which are exclusively good men's, which are the signs of true love and of piety. The evil has not true love, nor is the good devoid of it. These signs are mysterious and not perilous, and they have so much the greater reward with God as their glory is less with men. The Omnipotent Lord, after these words, was taken to heaven, and sits on the right hand of his Father.

We read in the old law, that two men of God, Enoch and Elijah, were lifted up to heaven without death: but they await death, and will by no means escape from it. They are taken to the aërial heaven, not to the ethereal, and continue in some secret dwelling-place with great strength of body and soul, until they shall return again, at the end of this world, against Antichrist, and shall receive death. Our Almighty Redeemer waited not for death, but he overcame it with his resurrection, and manifested his glory by his ascension to the highest throne.

We read of the prophet Elijah, that angels conveyed him in a heavenly chariot, because the infirmity of his nature required some supporter. Our Redeemer Christ was not conveyed in a chariot nor by angels' help; for he who wrought all things was borne by his own might over all creatures. The first-mentioned man, Enoch, was conveyed to the aërial heaven, and Elijah was borne up in a chariot; but the Almighty Saviour was not conveyed nor borne, but he passed through the ethereal heaven by his own might.

We have to consider how chastity was cherished by the ministers who were thus conveyed, and by the ascending Jesus. Enoch was conveyed, who was begotten by coition, and who begot by coition. Elijah was conveyed in a chariot, who was begotten by coition, but he begot not by coition, for he continued during his life without a wife. Jesus ascended to heaven, who was not begotten by coition, nor did he himself beget; for he is the origin and beginning of all chastities, and to him chastity is a very amiable virtue, which he manifested when he chose him a maiden for mother. And all the holy company which followed him was living in chastity, as he says in one of his gospels, "He who comes to me, may not be my disciple, unless he hate his wife."

The evangelist Mark wrote in this gospel, that our Lord, after his ascension, sat on the right hand of his Father; and the first martyr, Stephen, said that he saw the heavens open, and Jesus standing on his Father's right. Now says the expounder, "That is rightly said, that he sat after his ascension, because a seat is befitting a judge." Christ is the true Judge, who will judge and decide all things, now, and also on the last day. The martyr saw him standing, for he was his supporter in the suffering of his martyrdom, and through his grace he was rendered bold against the fierce persecutors, who cruelly stoned him.

The end of this gospel is, that Christ's apostles "went and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." The apostles, that is, God's preachers, went over all the world. Peter preached in Judea, Paul among the heathen folk, Andrew in Scythia, John in Asia, Bartholomew in India, Matthew in Ethiopia, and so each of them in his part, and the might of God was with them, for the efficacy of their preaching and of numberless signs; for Christ said, "Ye can do nothing without me." Again he said, "I will be with you on all days, until the ending of this world," who liveth and reigneth with the Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost ever to eternity. Amen.