1. WHATEVER in this my epistle I may write in my humble
but well-meaning manner, rather by way of lamentation than for
display, let no one suppose that it springs from contempt of others,
or that I foolishly esteem myself as better than they; -for, alas!
the subject of my complaint is the general destruction of every
thing that is good, and the general growth of evil throughout
the land;- but that I would condole with my country in her distress
and rejoice to see her revive therefrom: for it is my present
purpose to relate the deeds of an indolent and slothful race,
rather than the exploits of those who have been valiant in the
field. I have kept silence, I confess, with much mental anguish,
compunction of feeling and contrition of heart, whilst I revolved
all these things within myself; and, as God the searcher of the
reins is witness, for the space of even ten years or more, my
inexperience, as at present also, and my unworthiness preventing
me from taking upon myself the character of a censor. But I read
how the
illustrious lawgiver, for one word's doubting, was not allowed
to enter the desired land; that the sons of the high-priest, for
placing strange fire upon God's altar, were cut off by a speedy
death; that God's people, for breaking the law of God, save two
only, were slain by wild beasts, by fire and sword in the deserts
of Arabia, though God had so loved them that he had made a way
for them through the Red Sea, had fed them with bread from heaven,
and water from the rock, and by the lifting up of a hand merely
had made their armies invincible; and then, when they had crossed
the Jordan and entered the unknown land, and the walls of the
city had fallen down flat at the sound only of a trumpet, the
taking of a cloak and a little gold from the accursed things caused
the deaths of many: and again the breach of their treaty with
the Gibeonites, though that treaty had been obtained by fraud,
brought destruction upon many, and I took warning from the sins
of the people which called down upon then the
reprehensions of the prophets and also of Jeremiah, with his fourfold
Lamentations written in alphabetic order. I saw moreover in my
own time, as that prophet also had complained, that the city had
sat down lone and widowed, which before was full of people; that
the queen of nations and the princess of provinces (i. e. the
church), had been made tributary; that the gold was obscured,
and the most excellent colour (which is the brightness of God's
word) changed; that the sons of Sion (i. e. of holy mother church),
once famous and clothed in the finest gold, grovelled in dung;
and what added intolerably to the weight of grief of that illustrious
man, and to mine, though but an abject whilst he had thus mourned
them in their happy and prosperous condition, "Her Nazarites
were fairer than snow, more ruddy than old ivory, more beautiful
than the sapphire." These and many other passages in the
ancient Scriptures I regarded as a kind of mirror of human life,
and I turned also to the New, wherein I read more clearly what
perhaps to me before was dark, for the darkness deaf, and truth
shed her steady light -I read therein
that the Lord had said, "I came not but to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel;" and on the other hand, "But
the children of this kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness;
there shal1 be weeping and gnashing of teeth:" and again,
"It is not good to take the children's meat and to give it
to dogs:" also, "Woe to you, scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites!" I heard how "many shall come from the east
and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven:" and on the contrary, "I will
then say to them, 'Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity!'"
I read, "Blessed are the barren, and the teats which have
not given suck;" and on the contrary, "Those, who were
ready, entered with him to the wedding; afterwards came the other
virgins also, saying 'Lord, Lord, open to us:' to whom it was
answered, 'I do not know you.'" I heard, forsooth, "Whoever
shall believe and be baptized, shall be saved, but whoever shall
not believe shall be damned." I read in the words of the
apostle that the
branch of the wild olive was grafted upon the good olive, but
should nevertheless be cut off from the communion of the root
of its fatness, if it did not hold itself in fear, but entertained
lofty thoughts. I knew the mercy of the Lord, but I also feared
his judgment: I praised his grace, but I feared the rendering
to every man according to his works: perceiving the sheep of the
same fold to be different, I deservedly commended Peter for his
entire confession of Christ, but called Judas most wretched, for
his love of covetousness: I thought Stephen most glorious on account
of the palm of martyrdom, but Nicholas wretched for his mark of
unclean heresy: I read assuredly, "They had all things common:"
but likewise also, as it is written, "Why have ye conspired
to tempt the Spirit of God ?" I saw, on the other hand, how
much security had grown upon the men of our time, as if there
were nothing to cause them fear. These things, therefore, and
many more which for brevity's sake we have determined to omit,
I revolved again and again in my amazed mind with compunction
in my heart, and I thought to myself, "If God's peculiar
people, chosen from all the people of the world, the royal seed,
and holy nation, to whom he had said, 'My first begotten Israel,'
its priests, prophets, and kings, throughout many ages, his servant
and apostle, and the members of his primitive church, were not
spared when they deviated from the right path, what will he do
to the darkness of this our age, in which, besides all the huge
and heinous sins, which it has in common with all the wicked of
the world committed, is found an innate, indelible, and irremediable
load of folly and inconstancy ?" "What, wretched man
(I say to myself) is it given to you, as if you were an illustrious
and learned teacher, to oppose the force of so violent a torrent,
and keep the charge committed to you against such a series of
inveterate crimes which has spread far and wide, without interruption,
for so many years. Hold thy peace: to do otherwise, is to tell
the foot to see, and the hand to speak. Britain has rulers, and
she has watchmen: why dost thou incline thyself thus uselessly
to prate?" She has such, I say, not too many, perhaps, but
surely not too few: but because they are bent down and pressed
beneath so heavy a burden, they have not time allowed them to
take breath. My senses, therefore, as if feeling a portion of
my debt and obligation, preoccupied themselves with such objections
and with others yet more strong. They struggled, as I said, no
short time, in a fearful strait, whilst I read, "There is
a time for speaking, and a time for keeping silence.
At length, the creditor's side prevailed and bore off the victory:
if (said he) thou art not bold enough to be marked with the comely
mark of golden liberty among the prophetic creatures, who enjoy
the rank as reasoning beings next to the angels, refuse not the
inspiration of the understanding ass, to that day dumb, which
would not carry forward the tiara'd magician who was going to
curse God's people, but in the narrow pass of the vineyard crushed
his loosened foot, and thereby felt the lash; and though he was,
with his ungrateful and furious hand, against right justice, beating
her innocent sides, she pointed out to him the heavenly messenger
behold the naked sword, and standing in his way, though he had
not seen him.
Wherefore in zeal for the house of God and for his holy law, constrained either by the reasonings of my own thoughts or by the pious entreaties of my brethren, I now discharge the debt so long exacted of me; humble, indeed, in style but faithful, as I think, and friendly to all Christ's youthful soldiers, but severe and insupportable to foolish apostates; the former of whom, if I am not deceived, will receive the same with tears flowing from God's love; but the others will sorrow, such as is extorted from the indignation and pusillanimity of a convicted conscience.
2. I will, therefore, if God be willing, endeavour to say a few words about the situation of Britain, her disobedience and subjection, her rebellion, second subjection and dreadful slavery-of her religion persecution, holy martyrs, heresies of different kinds-of her tyrants, her two hostile and ravaging nations-of her first devastation, her defence, her second devastation and second taking vengeance-of her third devastation, of her famine, and the letters to Agitius-of her victory and her crimes-of the sudden rumour of enemies-of her famous pestilence-of her counsels-of her last enemy, far more cruel than the first-of the subversion of her cities, and of the remnant that escaped; and finally, of the peace which, by the will of God, has been granted her in these our times.
3. The island of Britain, situated on almost the utmost border of the earth, towards the south and west, and poised in the divine balance, as it is said, which supports the whole world, stretches out from the south-west towards the north pole, and is eight hundred miles long and two hundred broad, except where the headlands of sundry promontories stretch farther into the sea. It is surrounded by the ocean, which forms winding bays, and is strongly defended by this ample, and, if I may so call it, impassable barrier, save on the south side, where the narrow sea affords a passage to Baltic Gaul. It is enriched by the mouths of two noble rivers, the Thames and the Severn, as it were two arms, by which foreign luxuries were of old imported, and by other streams of less importance. It is famous for eight and twenty cities, and is embellished by certain castles, with walls, towers, well barred gates, and houses with threatening battlements built on high, and provided with all requisite instruments of defence. Its plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly situated, adapted for superior tillage, and its mountains are admirably calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle, where flowers of various colours, trodden by the feet of man, give it the appearance of a lovely picture. It is decked, like a man's chosen bride, with divers jewels, with lucid fountains and abundant brooks wandering over the snow white sands; with transparent rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs, and offering a sweet pledge of slumber to those who recline upon their banks, whilst it is irrigated by abundant lakes, which pour forth cool torrents of refreshing water.
4. This island, stiff-necked and stubborn-minded, from the time of its being first inhabited, ungratefully rebels, sometimes against God, sometimes against her own citizens, and frequently, also, against foreign kings and their subjects. For what can there either be, or be committed, more disgraceful or more unrighteous in human affairs, than to refuse to show fear to God or affection to one's own countrymen, and (without detriment to one's faith) to refuse due honour to those of higher dignity, to cast off all regard to reason, human and divine, and, in contempt of heaven and earth, to be guided by one's own sensual inventions? I shall, therefore, omit those ancient errors common to all the nations of the earth, in which, before Christ came in the flesh, all mankind were bound; nor shall I enumerate those diabolical idols of my country, which almost surpassed in number those of Egypt, and of which we still see some mouldering away within or without the deserted temples, with stiff and deformed features as was customary. Nor will I call out upon the mountains, fountains, or hills, or upon the rivers, which now are subservient to the use of men, but once were an abomination and destruction to them, and to which the blind people paid divine honour. I shall also pass over the bygone times of our cruel tyrants, whose notoriety was spread over to far distant countries; so that Porphyry, that dog who in the east was always so fierce against the church in his mad and vain style added this also, that "Britain is a land fertile in tyrants." I will only endeavour to relate the evils which Britain suffered in the times of the Roman emperors, and also those which she caused to distant states; but so far as lies in my power, I shall not follow the writings and records of my own country, which (if there ever were any of them) have been consumed in the fires of the enemy, or have accompanied my exiled countrymen into distant lands, but be guided by the relations of foreign writers, which, being broken and interrupted in many places, are therefore by no means clear.
5. For when the rulers of Rome had obtained the empire of the world, subdued all the neighbouring nations and islands towards the east, and strengthened their renown by the first peace which they made with the Parthians, who border on India, there was a general cessation from war "throughout the whole world; the fierce flame which they kindled could not be extinguished or checked by the Western Ocean, but passing beyond the sea, imposed submission upon our island without resistance, and entirely reduced to obedience its unwarlike but faithless people, not so much by fire, and sword and warlike engines, like other nations, but threats alone, and menaces of judgments frowning on their countenance, whilst terror penetrated to their hearts.
6. When afterwards they returned to Rome, for want of pay, as is said, and had no suspicion of an approaching rebellion, that deceitful lioness (Boadicea) put to death the rulers who had been left among them, to unfold more fully and to confirm the enterprises of the Romans When the report of these things reached the senate, and they with a speedy army made haste to take vengeance on the crafty foxes, as they called them, there was no bold navy on the sea to fight bravely for the country; by land there was no marshalled army, no right wing of battle, nor other preparation for resistance; but their backs were their shields against their vanquishers, and they presented their necks to their swords, whilst chill terror ran through every limb, and they stretched out their hands to be bound, like women; so that it has become a proverb far and wide, that the Britons are neither brave in war nor faithful in time of peace.
7. The Romans, therefore, having slain many of the rebels, and reserved others for slaves, that the land might not be entirely reduced to desolation, left the island, destitute as it was of wine and oil, and returned to Italy, leaving behind them taskmasters, to scourge the shoulders of the natives, to reduce their necks to the yoke, and their soil to the vassalage of a Roman province; to chastise the crafty race, not with warlike weapons, but with rods, and if necessary to gird upon their sides the naked sword, so that it was no longer thought to be Britain, but a Roman island; and all their money, whether of copper, gold, or silver, was stamped with Caesar's image.
8. Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with Its professors.
9. These rays of light were received with lukewarm minds by the inhabitants, but they nevertheless took root among some of them in a greater or less degree, until nine years' persecution of the tyrant Diocletian, when the churches throughout the whole world were overthrown, al1 the copies of the Holy Scriptures which could be found burned in the streets, and the chosen pastors of God's flock butchered, together with their innocent sheep, in order that not a vestige, if possible, might remain in some provinces of Christ's religion. What disgraceful flights then took place -what slaughter and death inflicted by way of punishment in divers shapes, -what dreadful apostacies from religion; and on the contrary, what glorious crowns of martyrdom then were won, -what raving fury was displayed by the persecutors, and patience on the part of the suffering saints, ecclesiastical history informs us; for the whole church were crowding in a body, to leave behind them the dark things of this world, and to make the best of their way to the happy mansions of heaven, as if to their proper home.
10. God, therefore, who wishes all men to be saved, and who calls sinners no less than those who think themselves righteous, magnified his mercy towards us, and, as we know, during the above-named persecution, that Britain might not totally be enveloped in the dark shades of night, he, of his own free gift, kindled up among us bright luminaries of holy martyrs, whose places of burial and of martyrdom, had they not for our manifold crimes been interfered with and destroyed by the barbarians, would have still kindled in the minds of the beholders no small fire of divine charity. Such were St. Alban of Verulam, Aaron and Julius, citizens of Carlisle, and the rest, of both sexes, who in different places stood their ground in the Christian contest.
11. The first of these martyrs, St. Alban, for charity's sake saved another confessor who was pursued by his persecutors, and was on the point of being seized, by hiding him in his house, and then by changing clothes with him, imitating in this the example of Christ, who laid down his life for his sheep, and exposing himself in the other's clothes to be pursued in his stead. So pleasing to God was this conduct, that between his confession and martyrdom, he was honoured with the performance of wonderful miracles in presence of the impious blasphemers who were carrying the Roman standards, and like the Israelites of old, who trod dry-foot an unfrequented path whilst the ark of the covenant stood some time on the sands in the midst of Jordan; so also the martyr, with a thousand others, opened a path across the noble river Thames, whose waters stood abrupt like precipices on either side; and seeing this, the first of his executors was stricken with awe, and from a wolf became a lamb; so that he thirsted for martyrdom, and boldly underwent that for which he thirsted. The other holy martyrs were tormented with divers sufferings, and their limbs were racked in such unheard of ways, that they, without delay, erected the trophies of their glorious martyrdom even in the gates of the city of Jerusalem. For those who survived, hid themselves in woods and deserts, and secret caves, waiting until God, who is the righteous judge of all, should reward their persecutors with judgment, and themselves with protection of their lives.
12. In less than ten years, therefore, of the above named
persecution, and when these bloody decrees began to fail in consequence
of the death of their authors, all Christ s young disciples, after
so long and wintry a night, begin to behold the genial light of
heaven. They rebuild the churches, which had been levelled to
the ground; they found, erect, and finish churches to the holy
martyrs, and everywhere show their ensigns as token of their victory;
festivals are celebrated and sacraments received with clean hearts
and lips, and all the church's sons rejoice as it were in the
fostering bosom of a mother. For this holy union remained between
Christ their head and the members of his church, until the Arian
treason, fatal as a serpent, and vomiting its poison from beyond
the sea, caused deadly dissension between brothers inhabiting
the same house, and thus, as if a road were made across the sea,
like wild beasts of all descriptions, and darting the poison of
every heresy from their Jaws, they inflicted
dreadful wounds upon their country, which is ever desirous to
hear something new, and remains constant long to nothing.
13. At length also, new races of tyrants sprang up, in terrific
numbers, and the island, still bearing its Roman name, but casting
off her institutes and laws, sent forth among the Gauls that bitter
scion of her own planting Maximus, with a great number of followers,
and the ensigns of royalty, which he bore without decency and
without lawful right, but in a tyrannical manner, and amid the
disturbances of the seditious soldiery. He, by cunning arts rather
than by valour, attaching to his rule, by perjury and false hood,
all the neighbouring towns and provinces, against the Roman state,
extended one of his wings to Spain, the other to Italy, fixed
the seat of his unholy government at Treves, and so furiously
pushed his rebellion against his lawful emperors that he drove
one of them out of Rome, and caused the others to terminate his
holy life. Trusting to these successful attempts, he not long
after lost his accursed head before the walls of Aquileia, whereas
he had before cut off the crowned heads of almost all the
world.
14. After this, Britain is left deprived of all her soldiery and armed bands, of her cruel governors, and of the flower of her youth, who went with Maximus, but never again returned; and utterly ignorant as she was of the art of war, groaned in amazement for many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations-the Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north.
15. The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts, their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambassadors to Rome with letters, entreating in piteous terms the assistance of an armed band to protect them, and offering loyal and ready submission to the authority of Rome, if they only would expel their invading foes. A legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion, and provided sufficiently with arms. When they had crossed over the sea and landed, they came at once to close conflict with their cruel enemies, and slew great numbers of them. All of them were driven beyond the borders, and the humiliated natives rescued from the bloody slavery which awaited them. By the advice of their protectors, they now built a wall across the island from one sea to the other, which being manned with a proper force, might be a terror to the foes whom it was intended to repel, and a protection to their friends whom it covered. But this wall, being made of turf instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who had no head to guide them.
16. The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold which is left without a shepherd, and wafted both by the strength of oarsmen and the blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and spread slaughter on every side, and like mowers cutting down the ripe corn, they cut up, tread under foot, and overrun the whole country.
17. And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with
their garments rent and their heads covered with ashes, imploring
assistance from the Romans, and like timorous chickens, crowding
under the protecting wings of their parents, that their wretched
country might not altogether be destroyed, and that the Roman
name, which now was but an empty sound to fill the ear, might
not become a reproach even to distant nations. Upon this, the
Romans, moved with compassion, as far as human nature can be,
at the relations of such horrors, send forward, like eagles in
their flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry by land and mariners
by sea, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders
of their enemies, they mow them down like leaves which fall at
the destined period; and as a mountain-torrent swelled with numerous
streams, and bursting its banks with roaring noise, with foaming
crest and yeasty wave rising to the stars, by whose eddying currents
our eyes are as it were dazzled, does with one of its billows
overwhelm every obstacle in its way, so did our illustrious defenders
vigorously drive our enemies' band
beyond the sea, if any could so escape them; for it was beyond
those same seas that they transported, year after year, the plunder
which they had gained, no one daring to resist them.
18. The Romans, therefore, left the country, giving notice
that they could no longer be harassed by such laborious expeditions,
nor suffer the Roman standards, with so large and brave an army,
to be worn out by sea and land by fighting against these unwarlike,
plundering vagabonds; but that the islanders, inuring themselves
to warlike weapons, and bravely fighting, should valiantly protect
their country, their property, wives and children, and, what is
dearer than these, their liberty and lives; that they should not
suffer their hands to be tied behind their backs by a nation which,
unless they were enervated by idleness and sloth, was not more
powerful than themselves, but that they should arm those hands
with buckler, sword, and spear, ready for the field of battle;
and, because they thought this also of advantage to the people
they were about to leave, they, with the help of the miserable
natives, built a wall different from the former, by public and
private contributions, and of the same structure as walls generally,
extending in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities,
which, from fear of their enemies, had there by
chance been built. They then give energetic counsel to the timorous
native, and leave them patterns by which to manufacture arms Moreover,
on the south coast where their vessels lay, as there was some
apprehension lest the barbarians might land, they erected towers
at stated intervals, commanding a prospect of the sea; and then
left the island never to return.
19. No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots,
like worms which in the heat of mid-day come forth from their
holes, hastily land again from their canoes, in which they had
been carried beyond the Cichican valley, differing one from another
in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for blood, and
all more eager to shroud their villainous faces in bushy hair
than to cover with decent clothing those parts of their body which
required it. Moreover, having heard of the departure of our friends,
and their resolution never to return, they seized with greater
boldness than before on all the country towards the extreme north
as far as the wall. To oppose them there was placed on the heights
a garrison equally slow to fight and ill adapted to run away,
a useless and panic-struck company, who clambered away days and
nights on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons
of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen were
dragged from the wall and dashed against the
ground. Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved
them from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and
children. But why should I say more? they left their cities, abandoned
the protection of the wall and dispersed themselves in flight
more desperately than before. The enemy, on the other hand, pursued
them with more unrelenting cruelty than before, and butchered
our countrymen like sheep, so that their habitations were like
those of savage beasts; for they turned their arms upon each other,
and for the sake of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in
the blood of their fellow countrymen. Thus foreign calamities
were augmented by domestic feuds; so that the whole country was
entirely destitute of provisions, save such as could be procured
in the chase.
20. Again, therefore, the wretched remnant, sending to AEtius,
a powerful Roman citizen, address him as follows:-"To AEtius,
now consul for the third time: the groans of the Britons."
And again a little further thus:-"The barbarians drive us
to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two
modes of death await us, we are either slain or drowned."
The Romans, however, could not assist them, and in the meantime
the discomfited people, wandering in the woods, began to feel
the effects of a severe famine, which compelled many of them without
delay to yield themselves up to their cruel persecutors, to obtain
subsistence: others of them, however, lying hid in mountains,
caves, and woods, continually sallied out from thence to renew
the war. And then it was, for the first time, that they overthrew
their enemies, who had for so many years been living in their
country; for their trust was not in man, but in God; according
to the maxim of Philo, "We must have divine assistance, when
that of man fails." The boldness of the enemy was for a while
checked, but not the wickedness of our countrymen: the enemy left
our
people, but the people did not leave their sins.
21. For it has always been a custom with our nation, it
is at present, to be impotent in repelling foreign foes, but bold
and invincible in raising civil war, and bearing the burdens of
their offences they are impotent, I say, in following the standard
of peace and truth, but bold in wickedness and falsehood. The
audacious invaders therefore return to their winter quarters,
determined before long again to return and plunder. And then,
too, the Picts for the first time seated themselves at the extremity
of the island where they afterwards continued, occasionally plundering
an wasting the country. During these truces, the wounds of the
distressed people are healed, but another sore, still more venomous,
broke out. No sooner were the ravages of the enemy checked, than
the island was deluged with a most extraordinary plenty of all
things, greater than was before known, and with it grew up every
kind of luxury and licentiousness. It grew with so firm a root,
that one might truly say of it, "Such fornication is heard
of among you, as never was known the like among the Gentiles."
But besides this vice, there arose also
every other, to which human nature is liable, and in particular
that hatred of truth, together wit her supporters, which still
at present destroys every thing good in the island; the love of
falsehood, together with its inventors, the reception of crime
in the place of virtue, the respect shown to wickedness rather
than goodness, the love of darkness instead of the sun, the admission
of Satan as an angel of light.
Kings were anointed, not according to God's ordinance, but such as showed themselves more cruel than the rest; and soon after, they were put to death by those who had elected them, without any inquiry into their merits, but because others still more cruel were chosen to succeed them. If any one of these was of a milder nature than the rest, or in any way more regardful of the truth, he was looked upon as the ruiner of the country, every body cast a dart at him, and they valued things alike whether pleasing or displeasing to God, unless it so happened that what displeased him was pleasing to themselves.
So that the words of the prophet, addressed to the people of old, might well be applied to our own countrymen: "Children without a law, have ye left God and provoked to anger the holy one of Israel? Why will ye still inquire, adding iniquity? Every head is languid and every heart is sad; from the sole of the foot to the crown, there is no health in him." And thus they did all things contrary to their salvation, as if no remedy could be applied to the world by the true physician of all men. And not only the laity did so, but our Lord's own flock and its shepherds, who ought to have been an example to the people, slumbered away their time in drunkenness, as if they had been dipped in wine; whilst the swellings of pride, the jar of strife, the griping talons of envy, and the confused estimate of right and wrong, got such entire possession of them, that there seemed to be poured out (and the same still continueth) contempt upon princes, and to be made by their vanities to wander astray and not in the way.
22. Meanwhile, God being willing to purify his family who were infected by so deep a stain of woe, and at the hearing only of their calamities to amend them; a vague rumour suddenly as if on wings reaches the ears of all, that their inveterate foes were rapidly approaching to destroy the whole country, and to take possession of it, as of old, from one end to the other. But yet they derived no advantage from this intelligence; for, like frantic beasts, taking the bit of reason between their teeth, they abandoned the safe and narrow road, and rushed forward upon the broad downward path of vice, which leads to death. Whilst, therefore, as Solomon says, the stubborn servant is not cured by words, the fool is scourged and feels it not: a pestilential disease mortally affected the foolish people, which, without the I sword, cut off so large a number of persons, that the living were not able to bury them. But even this was no warning to them, that in them also might be fulfilled the words of Isaiah the prophet, "And God hath called his people to lamentation, to baldness, and to the girdle of sackcloth; behold they begin to kill calves, and to slay rams, to eat, to drink, and to say, 'We will eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die."' For the time was approaching, when all their iniquities, as formerly those of the Amorrhaeans, should be fulfilled. For a council was called to settle what was best and most expedient to be done, in order to repel such frequent and fatal irruptions and plunderings of the above-named nations.
23. Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant
Gurthrigern [Vortigern], the British king, were so blinded, that,
as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting
in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and
impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the
invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious
to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable darkness
must have enveloped their minds-darkness desperate and cruel!
Those very people whom, when absent, they dreaded more than death
itself, were invited to reside, as one may say, under the selfsame
roof. Foolish are the princes, as it is said, of Thafneos, giving
counsel to unwise Pharaoh. A multitude of whelps came forth from
the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call
them, that is, in three ships of war, with their sails wafted
by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was
foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should
occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years,
and half of that time, a hundred and
fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same. They first landed
on the eastern side of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky
king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight
in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against it. Their
mother-land, finding her first brood thus successful, sends forth
a larger company of her wolfish offspring, which sailing over,
join themselves to their bastard-born comrades. From that time
the germ of iniquity and the root of contention planted their
poison amongst us, as we deserved, and shot forth into leaves
and branches. The barbarians being thus introduced as soldiers
into the island, to encounter, as they falsely said, any dangers
in defence of their hospitable entertainers, obtain an allowance
of provisions, which, for some time being plentifully bestowed,
stopped their doggish mouths. Yet they complain that their monthly
supplies are not furnished in sufficient abundance, and they industriously
aggravate each occasion of quarrel, saying that unless more liberality
is shown them, they will break the treaty and plunder the whole
island. In a short time, they follow up their threats with deeds.
24. For the fire of vengeance, justly kindled by former
crimes, spread from sea to sea, fed by the hands of our foes in
the east, and did not cease, until, destroying the neighbouring
towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island, and
dipped its red and savage tongue in the western ocean. In these
assaults, therefore, not unlike that of the Assyrian upon Judea,
was fulfilled in our case what the prophet describes in words
of lamentation: "They have burned with fire the sanctuary;
they have polluted on arth the tabernacle of thy name." And
again, "O God, the gentiles have come into thine inheritance;
thy holy temple have they defiled," &c. So that all the
columns were levelled with the ground by the frequent strokes
of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen routed, together with
their bishops, priests, and people, whilst the sword gleamed,
and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable
to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers,
tumbled to the ground, stones
of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered
with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been
squeezed together in a press; and with no chance of being buried,
save in the ruins of the houses, or in the ravening bellies of
wild beasts and birds; with reverence be it spoken for their blessed
souls, if, indeed, there were many found who were carried, at
that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels. So entirely
had the vintage, once so fine, degenerated and become bitter,
that, in the words of the prophet, there was hardly a grape or
ear of corn to be seen where the husbandman had turned his back.
25. Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation. "Thou hast given us as sheep to be slaughtered, and among the Gentiles hast thou dispersed us." Others, committing the safeguard of their lives, which were in continual jeopardy, to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded forests, and to the rocks of the seas (albeit with trembling hearts), remained still in their country. But in the meanwhile, an opportunity happening, when these most cruel robbers were returned home, the poor remnants of our nation (to whom flocked from divers places round about our miserable countrymen as fast as bees to their hives, for fear of an ensuing storm), being strengthened by God, calling upon him with all their hearts, as the poet says,-
"With their unnumbered vows they burden heaven," that they might not be brought to utter destruction, took arms under the conduct of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a modest man, who of all the Roman nation was then alone in the confusion of this troubled period by chance left alive. His parents, who for their merit were adorned with the purple, kind been slain in these same broils, and now his progeny in these our days, although shamefully degenerated from the worthiness of their ancestors, provoke to battle their cruel conquerors, and by the goodness of our Lord obtain the victory.
26. After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field, to the end that our Lord might this land try after his accustomed manner these his Israelites, whether they loved him or not, until the year of the siege of Bath-hill, when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was (as I am sure) forty-four years and one month after the landing of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity.
And yet neither to this day are the cities of our country
inhabited as before, but being forsaken and overthrown, still
lie desolate; our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles
still remaining. For as well the remembrance of such a terrible
desolation of the island, as also of the unexpected recovery of
the same, remained in the minds of those who were eyewitnesses
of the wonderful events of both, and in regard thereof, kings,
public magistrates, and private persons, with priests and clergymen,
did all and every one of them live orderly according to their
several vocations. But when these had departed out of this world,
and a new race succeeded, who were ignorant of this troublesome
time, and had only experience of the present prosperity, all the
laws of truth and justice were so
shaken and subverted, that not so much as a vestige or remembrance
of these virtues remained among the above-named orders of men,
except among a very few who, compared with the great multitude
which were daily rushing headlong down to hell, are accounted
so small a number, that our reverend mother, the church, scarcely
beholds them, her only true children, reposing in her bosom; whose
worthy lives, being a pattern to all men, and beloved of God,
inasmuch as by their holy prayers, as by certain pillars and most
profitable supporters, our infirmity is sustained up, that it
may not utterly be broken down, I would have no one suppose I
intended to reprove, if forced by the increasing multitude of
offences, I have freely, aye, with anguish, not so much
declared as bewailed the wickedness of those who are become servants,
not only to their bellies, but also to the devil rather than to
Christ, who is our blessed God, world without end.
For why shall their countrymen conceal what foreign nations round about now not only know, but also continually are casting in their teeth?
27. BRITAIN has kings, but they are tyrants; she has judges,
but unrighteous ones; generally engaged in plunder and rapine,
but always preying on the innocent; whenever they exert themselves
to avenge or protect, it is sure to be in favour of robbers and
criminals; they have an abundance of wives, yet are they addicted
to fornication and adultery; they are ever ready to take oaths,
and as often perjure themselves; they make a vow and almost immediately
act falsely; they make war, but their wars are against their countrymen,
and are unjust ones; they rigorously prosecute thieves throughout
their country, but those who sit at table with them are robbers,
and they not only cherish but reward them; they give alms plentifully,
but in contrast to this is a whole pile of crimes which they have
committed; they sit on the seat of justice, but rarely seek for
the rule of right judgment; they despise the
innocent and the humble, but seize every occasion of exalting
to the utmost the bloody-minded; the proud, murderers, the combined
and adulterers, enemies of God, who ought to be utterly destroyed
and their names forgotten.
They have many prisoners in their gaols, loaded with chains, but this is done in treachery rather than in just punishment for crimes; and when they have stood before the altar, swearing by the name of God, they go away and think no more of the holy altar than if it were a mere heap of dirty stones.
28. Of this horrid abomination, Constantine, the tyrannical
whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia, is not ignorant. This
same year, after taking a dreadful oath (whereby he bound himself
first before God, by a solemn protestation, and then called all
the saints, and Mother of God, to witness, that he would not contrive
any deceit against his countrymen), he nevertheless, in the habit
of a holy abbat amid the sacred altars, did with sword and javelin,
as if with teeth, wound and tear, even in the bosoms of their
temporal mother, and of the church their spiritual mother, two
royal youths, with their two attendants, whose arms, although
not eased in armour, were yet boldly used, and, stretched out
towards God and his altar, will hang up at the gates of thy city,
O Christ, the venerable ensigns of their faith and patience; and
when he had done it, the cloaks, red with coagulated blood, did
touch the place of the heavenly sacrifice. And not one worthy
act could he boast of previous to this cruel deed; for many years
before he had stained himself with the abomination of many adulteries,
having put away his wife
contrary to the command of Christ, the teacher of the world, who
hath said: "What God hath joined together, let not man separate,"
and again: "Husbands, love your wives." For he had planted
in the ground of his heart (an unfruitful soil for any good seed)
a bitter scion of incredulity and folly, taken from the vine of
Sodom, which being watered with his vulgar and domestic impieties,
like poisonous showers, and afterwards audaciously springing up
to the offence of God, brought forth into the world the sin of
horrible murder and sacrilege; and not yet discharged from the
entangling nets of his former offences, he added new wickedness
to the former.
29. Go to now, I reprove thee as present, whom I know as
yet to be in this life extant. Why standest thou astonished, O
thou butcher of shine own soul? Why cost thou wilfully kindle
against thyself the eternal fires of hell? Why cost thou, in place
of enemies, desperately stab thyself with shine own sword, with
shine own javelin? Cannot those same poisonous cups of offences
yet satisfy thy stomach? I look back (I beseech thee) and come
to Christ (for thou labourest, and art pressed down to the earth
with this huge burden), and he himself, as he said, will give
thee rest. Come to him who wisheth not the death of a sinner,
but that he should be rather converted and live. Unloose (according
to the prophet) the bands of thy neck, O thou son of Sion. Return
(I pray thee), although from the far remote regions of sins, unto
the most holy Father, who, for his son that will despise the filthy
food of swine, and fear a death of cruel famine, and so come back
to him again, hath with great joy been accustomed to kill his
fatted calf, and bring forth for the wanderer, the first robe
and royal ring, and then taking as it were a taste of the
heavenly hope, thou shalt perceive how sweet our Lord is. For
if thou cost contemn these, be thou assured, thou shalt almost
instantly be tossed and tormented in the inevitable and dark floods
of endless fire.
30. What cost thou also, thou lion's whelp (as the prophet
saith), Aurelius Conanus? Art not thou as the former (if not far
more foul) to thy utter destruction, swallowed up in the filthiness
of horrible murders, fornications, and adulteries, as by an overwhelming
flood of the sea? Hast not thou by hating, as a deadly serpent,
the peace of thy country, and thirsting unjustly after civil wars
and frequent spoil, shut the gates of heavenly peace and repose
against thine own soul? Being now left alone as a withering tree
in the midst of a field, remember (I beseech thee) the vain and
idle fancies of thy parents and brethren, together with the untimely
death that befell them in the prime of their youth; and shalt
thou, for thy religious deserts, be reserved out of all thy family
to live a hundred years, or to attain to the age of a Methusalem?
No, surely, but unless (as the psalmist saith) thou shalt be speedily
converted unto our Lord, that King will shortly brandish his sword
against thee, who hath said by his prophet,
"I will kill, and I will cause to live; I will strike, and
I will heal; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand."
Be thou therefore shaken out of thy filthy dust, and with all
thy heart converted to Him who hath created thee, that "when
his wrath shall shortly burn out, thou mayst be blessed by fixing
thy hopes on him." But if otherwise, eternal pains will be
heaped up for thee, where thou shalt be ever tormented and never
consumed in the cruel jaws of hell.
31. Thou also, who like to the spotted leopard, art diverse
in manners and in mischief, whose head now is growing grey, who
art seated on a throne full of deceits, and from the bottom even
to the top art stained with murder and adulteries, thou naughty
son of a good king, like Manasses sprung from Ezechiah, Vortipore, thou
foolish tyrant of the Demetians, why art thou so stiff? What!
do not such violent gulfs of sin (which thou dost swallow up like
pleasant wine, nay rather which swallow thee up), as yet satisfy
thee, especially since the end of thy life is daily now approaching?
Why cost thou heavily clog thy miserable soul with the sin of
lust, which is fouler than any other, by putting away thy wife,
and after her honourable death, by the base practices of thy shameless
daughter? Waste not (I beseech thee) the residue of thy
life in offending God, because as yet an acceptable time and day
of salvation shines on the faces of the penitent, wherein thou
mayest take care that thy flight may not be in the winter, or
on
the sabbath day. "Turn away (according to the psalmist) from
evil, and do good, seek peace and ensue it," because the
eyes of our Lord will be cast upon thee, when thou doest righteousness,
and his ears will be then open unto thy prayers, and he will not
destroy thy memory out of the land of the living; thou shalt cry,
and he will hear thee, and out of thy tribulations deliver thee;
for Christ cloth never despise a heart that is contrite and humbled
with fear of him. Otherwise, the worm of thy torture shall not
die, and the fire of thy burning shall never be extinguished.
32 And thou too, Cuneglasse, why art thou fallen into the
filth of thy former naughtiness, yea, since the very first spring
of thy tender youth, thou bear, thou rider and ruler of many,
and guider of the chariot which is the receptacle of the bear,
thou contemner of God, and vilifier of his order, thou tawny butcher,
as in the Latin tongue thy name signifies. Why dost thou raise
so great a war as well against men as also against God himself,
against men, yea, thy own countrymen, with thy deadly weapons,
and against God with thine infinite offences? Why, besides thine
other innumerable backslidings, having thrown out of doors thy
wife, dost thou, in the lust, or rather stupidity of thy mind,
against the apostle's express prohibition, denouncing that no
adulterers can be partakers of the kingdom of heaven, esteem her
detestable sister, who had vowed unto God the everlasting contineney,
as the very dower (in the language of the poet) of the celestial
nymphs? Why cost thou provoke with thy frequent injuries the lamentations
and sighs of saints, by thy means corporally afflicted, which
will in time to come, like a fierce lioness, break thy
bones in pieces? Desist, I beseech thee (as the prophet saith)
from wrath, and leave off thy deadly fury, which thou breathest
out against heaven and earth, against God and his flock, and which
in time wil1 be thy own torment; rather with altered mind obtain
the prayers of those who possess a power of binding over this
world, when in this world they bind the guilty, and of loosing
when they loose the penitent. Be not (as the apostle saith) proudly
wise, nor hope thou in the uncertainty of riches, but in God who
giveth thee many things abundantly, and by the amendment of thy
manners purchase unto thyself a good foundation for hereafter,
and seek to enter into that real and true state of existence which
will be not transitory but everlasting. Otherwise, thou shalt
know and see, yea, in this very world, how bad and bitter a thing
it is for thee to leave the Lord thy God, and not have his fear
before shine eyes, and in the next, how thou shalt be burned in
the foul encompassing flames of endless fire, nor yet
by any manner of means shalt ever die. For the souls of the sinful
are as eternal in perpetual fire, as the souls of the just in
perpetual joy and gladness.
33. And likewise, O thou dragon of the island, who hast
deprived many tyrants, as well of their kingdoms as of their lives,
and though the last-mentioned in my writing, the first in mischief,
exceeding many in power, and also in malice, more liberal than
others in giving, more licentious in sinning, strong in arms,
but stronger in working thine own soul's destruction, Maglocune,
why art thou (as if soaked in the wine of the Sodomitical grape)
foolishly rolling in that black pool of shine offences? Why dost
thou wilfully heap like a mountain, upon thy kingly shoulders,
such a load of sins? Why dost thou show thyself unto the King
of kings who hath made thee as well in kingdom as in stature of
body higher than almost all the other chiefs of Britain) not better
likewise in virtues than the rest; but on the contrary for thy
sins much worse? Listen then awhile and hear patiently the following
enumeration of thy deeds, wherein I will not touch any domestic
and light offences (if yet any of them are light) but only those
open ones which are spread far and wide in the knowledge of all
men. Didst not thou, in the very beginning of thy youth, terribly
oppress with sword, spear, and fire, the king shine uncle, together
with his courageous bands of soldiers, whose countenances in battle
were not unlike those of young lions? Not regarding the words
of the prophet, who says, "The blood-thirsty and deceitful
men shall not live out half their days," and even if the
sequel of thy sins were not such as ensued, yet what retribution
couldst thou expect for this offence only at the hands of the
just Judge, who hath said by his prophet: "Woe be to thee
who spoilest, and shalt not thou thyself be spoiled? and thou
who killest, shalt not thyself be killed? and when thou shalt
make an end of thy spoiling, then shalt thou thyself fall."
34. But when the imagination of thy violent rule had succeeded
according to thy wishes, and thou west urged by a desire to return
into the right way, night and day the consciousness of thy crimes
afflicted thee, whilst thou didst ruminate on the Lord's ritual
and the ordinances of the monks, and then publish to the world
and vow thyself before God a monk with no intention to be unfaithful,
as thou didst say, having burst through those toils in which such
great beasts as thyself were used to become entangled, whether
it were love of rule, of gold, or silver, or, what is stronger
still, the fancies of thy own heart. And didst thou not, as a
dove which cleaves the yielding air with its pinions, and by its
rapid turns escapes the furious hawk, safely return to the cells
where the saints repose, as a most certain place of refuge? Oh
how great a joy should it have been to our mother church, if the
enemy of all mankind had not lamentably pulled thee, as it were,
out of her bosom! Oh what an abundant flame of heavenly hope would
have been kindled in the hearts of desperate sinners, hadst thou
remained in thy blessed estate! Oh what great rewards in the kingdom
of Christ would have been laid up for thy soul against the day
of judgment, if that crafty wolf had not
caught thee, who of a wolf wast now become a lamb (not much against
thine own will) out of the fold of our Lord, and made thee of
a lamb, a wolf like unto himself, again? Oh how great a joy would
the preservation of thy salvation have been to God the Father
of all saints had not the devil, the father of all castaways,
as an eagle of monstrous wings and claws, carried I thee captive
away against all right and reason, to the unhappy band of his
children? And to be short, thy conversion to righteousness gave
as great joy to heaven and earth, as now thy detestable return,
like a dog to his vomit, breedeth grief and lamentation: which
being done, "the members which should have been busily employed,
as the armour of justice for the Lord, are now become the armour
of iniquity for sin and the devil;" for now thou dost not
listen to the praises of God sweetly sounded forth by the pleasant
voices of Christ's soldiers, nor the instruments of ecclesiastical
melody, but thy own praises (which are nothing) rung out after
the fashion of the giddy rout of Bacchus by the mouths of thy
villainous followers, accompanied with lies and malice, to the
utter destruction of the neighbours, so that the vessel prepared
for the service of God, is now turned to a vessel of dirt, and
what was once reputed worthy of heavenly honour, is now cast as
it deserves into the bottomless pit of hell.
35. Yet neither is thy sensual mind (which is overcome by
the excess of thy follies) at all checked in its course with committing
so many sins, but hot and prone (like a young colt that coveteth
every pleasant pasture) runneth headlong forward, with irrecoverable
fury, through the intended fields of crime, continually increasing
the number of its transgressions. For the former marriage of thy
first wife (although after thy violated vow of religion she was
not lawfully thine, but only by right of the time she was with
thee), was now despised by thee, and another woman, the wife of
a man then living, and he no stranger, but thy own: brother's
son, enjoyed thy affections. Upon which occasion that stiff neck
of thine (already laden with sins) is now burdened with two monstrous
murders, the one of thy aforesaid nephew, the other, of her who
once was thy wedded wife: and thou art now from low to lower,
and from bad to worse, bowed, bent, and sunk down into the lowest
depth of sacrilege. Afterwards, also didst thou publicly marry
the widow by whose deceit and suggestion such a heavy weight of
offences was undergone, and take her, lawfully, as the flattering
tongues of thy parasites with false words pronounced it, but as
we say, most wickedly, to be thine own in wedlock. And therefore
what holy man is there, who, moved with the narration of such
a history, would not presently break out into weeping and lamentations?
What priest (whose heart lieth open unto God) would not instantly,
upon hearing this, exclaim with anguish in the language of the
prophet: "Who shall give water to my head, and to my eyes
a fountain of tears, and I will day and night bewail those of
my people, who are slaughtered." For full little (alas!)
hast thou with t hine ears listened to that reprehension of the
prophet speaking in this wise: "Woe be unto you, O wicked
men, who have left the law of the most holy God, and if ye shall
be born, your portion shall be to malediction, and if ye die,
to malediction shall be your portion, all things that are from
the earth, to the earth shall be converted again, so shall the
wicked from malediction pass to perdition:" if they return
not unto our Lord, listening to this admonition: "Son, thou
hast offended; add no further offence thereunto, but rather pray
for the forgiveness of the former." And again, "Be not
slow to be converted unto our Lord, neither put off the same from
day to day, for his wrath doth come suddenly." Because, as
the Scripture saith, "When the king heareth the
unjust word, all under his dominion become wicked." And,
the just king (according to the prophet) raiseth up his region.
But warnings truly are not wanting to thee, since thou hast had
for thy instructor the most eloquent master of almost all Britain.
Take heed, thereof, lest that which Solomon noteth, befall thee,
which is, "Even as he who stirreth up a sleeping man out
of his heavy sleep, so is that person who declareth wisdom unto
a fool, for in the end of his speech will he say, What hast thou
first spoken? Wash thine heart (as it is written) from malice,
O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved." Despise not (I beseech
thee) the unspeakable mercy of God, calling by his prophet the
wicked in this way from their offences: "I will on a sudden
speak to the nation, and to the kingdom, that I may root out,
and disperse, and destroy, and overthrow." As for the sinner
he doth in this wise exhort him vehemently to repent. "And
if the same people shall repent from their offence, I will also
repent of the evil which I have said that I would do unto them."
And again, "Who will give them such an heart, that they may
hear me, and keep my
commandments, and that it may be well with them all the days of
their lives." And also in the Canticle of Deuteronomy, "A
people without counsel and prudence, I wish they would be wise,
and understand, and foresee the last of all, how one pursueth
a thousand and two put to flight ten thousand." And again,
our Lord in the gospel, "Come unto me, all ye who do labour
and are burdened, and I will make you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and
ye shall find repose for your souls." For if thou turn a
deaf ear to these admonitions, contemn the prophets, and despise
Christ, and make no account of us, humble though we be, so long
as with sincere piety and purity of mind we bear in mind that
saying of the prophet, that we may not be found, "Dumb dogs,
not able to bark;" (however I for my part may not be of that
singular fortitude
in the spirit and virtue of our Lord, as to declare, "To
the house of Jacob their sins, and the house of Israel their offences;")
and so long as we shall remember that of Solomon, "He who
says that the wicked are just, shall be accursed among the people,
and odious to nations, for they who reprove them shall have better
hopes." And again, "Respect, not with reverence thy
neighbour in his ruin, nor forbear to speak in time of salvation."
And as long also as we forget not this, "Root out those who
are led to death, and forbear not to redeem them who are murdered;"
because, as the same prophet says, "Riches shall not profit
in the day of wrath, but justice delivereth from death."
And, "If the just indeed be hardly saved, where shall the
wicked and sinner appear? If as I said, thou scorn us, who obey
these texts, the dark flood of hell shall without doubt eternally
drown thee in that deadly whirlpool, and those terrible streams
of fire that shall ever torment and never consume thee, and then
shall the confession of thy
pains and sorrow for thy sins be altogether too late and unprofitable
to one, who now in this accepted time and day of salvation deferreth
his conversion to a more righteous way of life.
37. And here, indeed, if not before, was this lamentable
history of the miseries of our time to have been brought to a
conclusion, that I might no further discourse of the deeds of
men; but that I may not be thought timid or weary, whereby I might
the less carefully avoid that saying of Isaiah, "Woe be to
them who call good evil, and evil good placing darkness for light,
and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,
who seeing see not, and hearing hear not, whose hearts are overshadowed
with a thick and black cloud of vices; "I will briefly set
down the threatenings which are denounced against these five aforesaid
lascivious horses, the frantic followers of Pharaoh, through whom
his army is wilfully urged forward to their utter destruction
in the Red Sea, and also against such others, by the sacred oracles,
with whose holy testimonies the frame of this our little work
is, as it were, roofed in, that it may not be subject to the showers
of the envious, which otherwise would be poured thereon. Let,
therefore, God's holy prophets, who are to mortal men the mouth
of God, and the organ of the Holy Ghost, forbidding evils, and
favouring goodness, answer for us as well now as formerly, against
the stubborn and proud princes of this our age, that they may
not say we menace them with such threats, and such great terrors
of our own invention only, and with rash and over-zealous meddling.
For to no wise man is it doubtful how far more grievous the sins
of this our time are than those of the primitive age, when the
apostle said, "Any one transgressing the law, being convicted
by two or three witnesses, shall die, how much worse punishment
think ye then that he deserveth, who shall trample under his foot
the Son of God?"
38. And first of all appears before us, Samuel, by God's
commandment, the establisher of a lawful kingdom, dedicated to
God before his birth, undoubtedly known by marvellous signs, to
be a true prophet unto all the people, from Dan even to Beersheba,
out of whose mouth the Holy Ghost thundereth to all the potentates
of the world, denouncing Saul the first king of the Hebrews, only
because he did not accomplish some matters commanded him of our
Lord, in these words which follow: "Thou hast done foolishly
neither yet hast thou kept the commandments of our Lord thy God,
that he hath given thee in charge; which if thou hadst not committed,
even now had our Lord prepared thy reign over Israel for ever,
but thy kingdom shall no farther arise." And what did he
commit, whether it were adultery or murder, like to the offences
of the present time? No, truly, but broke in part one of God's
commandments, for, as one of our writers says, "The question
is not of the quality of the sin, but of the violating of the
precept." Also when he endeavoured to answer (as he thought):
the objections of Samuel, and after the fashion
of men wisely to make excuses for his offence in this manner:
"Yea, I have obeyed the voice of our Lord, and walked in
the way I through which he hath sent me;" with this rebuke
was he corrected by him: "What! will our Lord have burnt
offerings or oblations, and not rather that the voice of our Lord
should be obeyed? Obedience is better than oblations, and to hearken
unto him, better than to offer the fat of rams. For as it is the
sin of soothsaying to resist, so is it the offence of idolatry
not to obey; in regard, therefore, that thou hast cast away the
word of our Lord, he hath also cast thee away that thou be not
king." And a little after, "Our Lord hath this day rent
the kingdom of Israel from thee, and delivered it up to thy neighbour,
a man better than thyself. The Triumpher of Israel truly will
not spare, and will not be bowed with repentance, neither yet
is he a man that he
should repent;" that is to say, upon the stony hearts of
the wicked: wherein it is to be noted how he saith, that to be
disobedient unto God is the sin of idolatry. Let not, therefore,
our wicked transgressors (while they do not openly sacrifice to
the gods of the Gentiles) flatter themselves that they are not
idolaters, whilst they tread like swine the most precious pearls
of Christ under their feet.
39. But although this one example as an invincible affirmation might abundantly suffice to correct the wicked; yet, that by the mouths of many witnesses all the offences of Britain may be proved, let us pass to the rest. What happened to David for numbering his people, when the prophet had spake unto him in this sort? Thus saith our Lord: "The choice of three things is offered thee, choose which thou wilt, that I may execute it upon thee. Shall there befall thee a famine for seven years, or shalt thou flee three months before thine enemies, and they pursue thee, or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land?" For being brought into great straits by this condition, and willing rather to fall into the hands of God who is merciful, than into those of men, he was humbled with the slaughter of seventy thousand of his subjects, and unless with the affection of an apostolic charity, he had desired to die himself for his countrymen, that the plague might not further consume them, saying, "I am he that has offended, I the shepherd have dealt unjustly: but these sheep, what have they sinned? Let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against the house of my father;" he would have atoned for the unadvised pride of his heart with his own death. For what does the scripture afterwards declare of his son? "And Solomon wrought that which was not pleasing before our Lord, and he did not fill up the measure of his good deeds by following the Lord like his father David. And our Lord said unto him, Because thou hast thus behaved thyself, and not observed my covenant and precepts, which I have commanded thee, breaking it asunder; I will divide thy kingdom, and give the same unto thy servant."
40. Hear now likewise what fell upon the two sacrilegious
kings of Israel (even such as ours are), Jeroboam and Baasha,
unto whom the sentence and doom of our Lord is by the prophet
in this way directed: "For what cause have I exalted thee
a prince over Israel, in regard that they have provoked me by
their vanities. Behold I will stir up after Baasha and after his
house, and I will give over his house as the house of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat. Who so of his blood shall die in the city, the
dogs shall eat him, and the dead carcass of him that dieth in
the field shall the fowls of the air eat." What cloth he
also threaten unto that wicked king of Israel, a worthy companion
of the former, by whose collusion and his wife's deceit, innocent
Naboth was for his father's vineyard put to death, when the holy
mouth of Elias, yea, the selfsame mouth that was instructed with
the fiery speech of our Lord, thus spake unto him: "Hast
thou killed and also taken possession, and after this wilt thou
yet add more? Thus saith our
Lord, in this very place, wherein the dogs have licked the blood
of Naboth, they shall lick up thy blood also." Which fell
out afterwards in that very sort, as we have certain proof. But
lest perchance (as befell Ahab also) the lying spirit, which pronounceth
vain things in the mouths of your prophets may seduce you, hearken
to the words of the prophet Micaiah: "Behold God hath suffered
the spirit of lying to possess the mouths of all thy prophets
that do here remain, and our Lord hath pronounced evil against
thee." For even now it is certain that there are some teachers
inspired with a contrary spirit, preaching and affirming rather
what is pleasing, however depraved, than what is true: whose words
are softer than oil, and the same are darts, who say, peace, peace,
and there shall be no peace to them, who persevere in their sins,
as says the prophet in another place also, "It is not for
the wicked to rejoice, saith our Lord."
41. Azarias, also, the son of Obed, spoke unto Asa, who
returned from the slaughter of the army of ten hundred thousand
Ethiopians, saying, "Our Lord is with you while you remain
with him, and if you will seek him out, he will be found by you,
and if you will leave him, he will leave you also." For if
Jehosaphat for only assisting a wicked king, was thus reproved
by the prophet Jehu, the son of Ananias, saying, "If thou
givest aid to a sinner, or lovest them whom our Lord doth hate,
the wrath of God doth therefore hang over thee," what shall
become of them who are fettered in the snares of their own offences?
whose sin we must of necessity hate, if not their souls, if we
wish to fight in the army of the Lord, according to the words
of the Psalmist, "Hate ye evil, who love our Lord."
What was said to Jehoram, the son of the above-named Jehosaphat,
that most horrible murderer (who being himself a bastard, slew
his noble brethren, that he might possess the throne in their
place, by the prophet Elias, who
was the chariot and charioteer of Israel? "Thus speaketh
the Lord God of thy father David. Because thou hast not walked
in the way of thy father Jehosaphat, and in the ways of Asa the
king of Judah, but hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel,
and in adultery according to the behaviour of the house of Ahab,
and hast moreover killed thy brethren, the sons of Jehosaphat,
men far better than thyself, behold, our Lord shall strike thee
and thy children with a mighty plague." And a little afterwards,
"And thou shalt be very sick of a disease of thy belly, until
thy entrails shall, together with the malady itself, from day
to day, tome forth out of thee." And listen also what the
prophet Zachariah, the son of Jehoiades, menaced to Joash, the
king of Israel, when he abandoned our Lord even as ye now do,
and the prophet spoke in this manner to the people: "Thus
saith our Lord, Why do ye transgress the commandments of our Lord
and do not prosper? Because ye have left our Lord, he will also
leave you."
42. What shall I mention of Isaiah, the first and chief
of the prophets, who beginneth his prophecy, or rather vision,
in this way: "Hear, O ye heavens, and O thou earth conceive
in shine ears, because our Lord hath spoken, I have nourished
children, and exalted them, but they themselves have despised
me. The ox hath known his owner, and the ass his master's crib,
but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood."
And a little further with threatenings answerable to so great
a folly, he saith, "The daughter of Sion shall be utterly
left as a tabernacle in the vineyard, and as a hovel in the cucumber
garden, and a city that is sacked." And especially, convening
and accusing the princes, he saith, "Hear the word of our
Lord, O ye princes of Sodom, perceive ye the law of our Lord,
O ye people of Gomorrah." Wherein it is to be noted, that
unjust kings are termed the princes of Sodom, for our Lord, forbidding
sacrifices and gifts to be offered to him by such persons, and
seeing that we greedily receive those offerings which in all nations
are displeasing unto God, and to our own destruction suffer them
not to be bestowed
on the poor and needy, speak thus to them who, laden with riches,
are likewise given to offend on this head: "Offer no more
your sacrifice in vain, your incense is abomination unto me."
And again he denounceth them thus: "And when ye shall stretch
out your hands, I will turn away mine eyes from you, and when
ye shall multiply your prayers, I will not hear." And he
declareth wherefore he does this, saying, "Your hands are
full of blood." And likewise showing how he may be appeased,
he says, "Be ye washed, be ye clean, take away the evil of
your thoughts from mine eyes: cease to do evil, learn to do well:
seek for judgment, succour the oppressed, do justice to the pupil
or orphan." And then assuming as it were the part of a reconciling
mediator, he adds, "Though your sins shall be as scarlet,
they shall be made white as snow: though they shall be as red
as the little worm, they shall be as white as wool. If ye shall
be willing to hear me, ye shall feed on the good things of the
land; but if ye will not, but
provoke me unto wrath, the sword shall devour you."
43. Receive ye the true and public avoucher, witnessing,
without any falsehood or flattery, the reward of your good and
evil, not like the soothing humble lips of your parasites, which
whisper poisons into your ears. And also directing, his sentence
against ravenous judges, he saith thus: "Thy princes are
unfaithful, companions of thieves, all love gifts, hunt after
rewards: they do no justice to the orphan, the widow's cause entereth
not unto them. For thus saith our Lord God of hosts, the strong
one of Israel, Alas, I will take consolation upon my foes, and
be revenged upon mine enemies; and the heinous sinners shall be
broken to powder, and offenders together with them, and all who
have left our Lord, shall be consumed." And afterwards, "The
eyes of the lofty man shall be brought low, and the height of
men hath bowed down." And again, "Woe be to the wicked,
evil befall him, for he shall be rewarded according to his handy-work."
And a little after, "Woe be unto you who arise early to follow
drunkenness, and to drink even to the very evening, that ye may
fume with wine. The harp, and the lyre, and the tabor, and the
pipe, and wine are in your banquets, and the work of our Lord
ye respect not, neither yet consider ye the works of his hands.
Therefore is my people led captive away, because they have not
had knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and
their multitude hath withered away with thirst. Therefore hath
hell enlarged and dilated his spirit, and without measure opened
his mouth, and his strong ones, and his people, and his lofty
and glorious ones, shall descend down unto him." And afterwards,
"Woe be unto you who are mighty for the drinking of wine,
and strong men for the procuring of drunkenness, who justify the
wicked for rewards, and deprive the just man of his justice. For
this cause even as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble,
and as the heat of the flame burneth up, so shall their root be
as the ashes, and their branch shall rise up as the dust. For
they have cast away the law of our Lord of hosts, and despised
the speech of the holy one of Israel. In all these the fury of
our
Lord is not turned away, but as yet his hand is stretched out."
44. And further on, speaking of the day of judgment and
the unspeakable fears of sinners, he says, "Howl ye, because
the day of our Lord is near at hand (if so near at that time,
what shall it now be thought to be?) for destruction shall proceed
from God. For this shall all hands be dissolved, and every man's
heart shall wither away, and be bruised; tortures and dolours
shall hold them, as a woman in labour so shall they be grieved,
every man shall at his neighbour stand astonished, burned faces
shall be their countenances. Behold, the day of our Lord shall
come, fierce and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury,
to turn the earth into a desert, and break her sinners in small
pieces from off her; because the stars of heaven and the brightness
of them, shall not unfold their light, the sun in his rising shall
be covered over with darkness, and the moon shall not shine in
her season; and I will visit upon the evils of the world, and
against the wicked, their own iniquity, and I will make the pride
of the unfaithful
to cease, and the arrogancy of the strong, I will bring low."
And again, "Behold our Lord will disperse the earth, and
he will strip her naked, and afflict her face, and scatter her
inhabitants; and as the people, so shall be the priest; and as
the slave, so shall be his lord; as the handmaid, so shall be
her lady; as the purchaser, so shall be the seller; as the usurer,
so shall be he that borroweth; as he who demandeth, so shall he
be that oweth. With dispersing shall the earth be scattered, and
with sacking shall she be spoiled. For our Lord hath spoken this
word. The earth hath bewailed, and hath flitted away; the world
hath run to nothing, she is weakened by her inhabitants, because
they have transgressed laws, changed right, brought to ruin tile
eternal truce. For this shall malediction devour the earth."
45. And afterwards, "They shall lament all of them
who now in heart rejoice, the delight of the timbrels hath ceased,
the sound of the gladsome shall be silent, the sweetness of the
harp shall be hushed, they shall not with singing drink their
wine, bitter shall be the potion to the drinkers thereof. The
city of vanity is wasted, every house is shut up, no man entering
in; an outcry shall be in the streets over the wine, all gladness
is forsaken, the joy of the land is transferred, solitariness
is left in the town, and calamity shall oppress the gates, because
these things shall be in the midst of the land, and in the midst
of the people." And a little further, "Swerving from
the truth, they have wandered out of the right way, with the straggling
of transgressors have they gone astray. Fear and intrapping falls,
and a snare upon thee who art the inhabitant of the earth. And
it shall come to pass: whoso shall flee from the voice of the
fear, shall tumble down into the intrapping pit; and whoso shall
deliver himself out of the downfall, shall be
caught in the entangling snare: because the food-gates from aloft
shall be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.
With bruising shall the earth be broken, with commotion shall
she be moved, with tossing shall she be shaken like a drunken
man, and she shall be taken away as if she were a pavilion of
one night's pitching, and her iniquities shall hang heavy upon
her, and she shall fall down, and shall not attempt to rise again.
And it shall be, that our Lord in the same day shall look on the
warfare of heaven on high, and on the kings of the earth, who
are upon the earth, and they shall be gathered together in the
bundle of one burden into the lake, and shall there be shut up
in prison, and after many days shall they be visited. And the
moon shall blush, and the sun be confounded, when our Lord of
hosts shall reign in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem, and be glorified
in the sight of his seniors."
46. And after a while, giving a reason why he threateneth
in that sort, he says thus: "Behold the hand of our Lord
is not shortened that he cannot save, neither is his ear made
heavy that he may not hear. But your iniquities have divided between
you and your God, and your offences have hid his face from you,
that he might not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lying, and
your tongue uttereth iniquity. There is none who calleth on justice,
neither is there he who judgeth truly, but they trust in nothing,
and speak vanities, and have conceived grief, and brought forth
iniquity." And a little after, "Their works are unprofitable,
and the work of iniquity is in their hands; their feet run into
evil, and make haste that they may shed the innocent blood; their
thoughts are unprofitable thoughts, spoil and confusion are in
their ways, and the way of peace they have not known, and in their
steps there is no judgment, their paths are made crooked unto
them, every one who treadeth in them is ignorant of peace; in
this respect is judgment removed far off from you, and justice
taketh no hold on you." And after a few words, "And
judgment hath been turned back, and justice hath stood afar oft,
because truth hath fallen down in the streets, and equity could
not enter in; and truth is turned into oblivion, and whoso hath
departed from evil, hath lain open to spoil. And our Lord hath
seen, and it was not pleasing in his eyes, because there is not
judgment."
47. And thus far may it suffice among many, to have recited
a few sentences out of the prophet Isaiah. But now with diligent
ears hearken unto him, who was foreknown before he was formed
in the belly, sanctified before he came
out of the womb, and appointed a prophet in all nations: I mean
Jeremiah, and hear what he hath pronounced of foolish people and
cruel kings, beginning his prophecy in his mild and gentle manner.
"And the word of God was spoken unto me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and thou shalt pronounce, Hear the word of our Lord, thou house of Jacob, and all ye kindred of the house of Israel: Thus saith our Lord; What iniquity have your fathers found in me, who have been far removed from me, and walked after vanity, and are become vain, and have not said, Where is he who made us go up out of the land of Egypt?" And after a few words, "From the beginning of thine age thou hast broken my yoke, violated my bands, and said, I will not serve, I have planted thee my chosen vine, all true seed. How art thou therefore converted into naughtiness? O strange vine! If thou shalt wash thee with nitre, and multiply unto thee the herb borith, thou art spotted in my sight with thine iniquity, saith our Lord." And afterwards, "Why will ye contend with me in judgment? Ye have all forsaken me, saith our Lord in vain have I corrected your children, they have not received discipline. Hear ye the word of our Lord. Am I made a solitariness unto Israel, or a late bearing land! why therefore hath my people said, we have departed, we will come no more unto thee? Doth the virgin forget her ornament, or I the spouse her gorget? my people truly hath forgotten me for innumerable days. Because my people are foolish, they I have not known me, they are unwise and mad children. They are wise to do evil, but to do well they have been ignorant."
48. Then the prophet speaketh in his own person saying,
"O Lord thine eyes do respect faith, thou hast stricken them,
and they have not sorrowed, thou hast broken them and they have
refused to receive discipline, they have made their faces harder
than the rock, and will not return." And also our Lord: "Declare
ye this same to the house of Jacob, and make it to be heard in
Judah, saying, Hear, ye foolish people who have no heart, who
having eyes see not, and ears hear not. Will ye not therefore
dread me, saith our Lord, and will ye not conceive grief from
my countenance, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea,
an eternal commandment which she shall not break, and her waves,
shall be moved, and they cannot, and her surge shall swell and
yet not pass the same? But to this people is framed an incredulous
and an exasperating heart, they have retired and gone their ways,
and not in their heart said, Let us fear our Lord God." And
again, "Because there are found among my people wicked ones,
framing wiles to entangle as if they were fowlers, setting snares
and gins to catch men: as a net that is full of birds,
so are their houses filled with deceits. Therefore are they magnified
and enriched, they are become gross and fat, and have neglected
my speeches most vilely, the orphans' cause they have not decided,
and the justice of the poor they have not adjudged. What! shall
I not visit these men, saith our Lord? or shall not my soul be
revenged upon such a nation?"
49. But God forbid that ever should happen unto you, that
which followeth, "Thou shalt speak all these words unto them,
and they shall not hear thee; and thou shalt call them, and they
shall not answer thee; and thou shalt say unto them, This is the
nation that hath not heard the voice of their Lord God, nor yet
received discipline, faith hath perished, and been taken away
from out of their mouth." And after some few speeches, "Whoso
falleth doth he not arise again, and whoso is turned away, shall
he not return again? why therefore is this people in Jerusalem,
with a contentious aversion alienated? they have apprehended lying,
and they will not come back again. I have been attentive, and
hearkened diligently, no man speaketh what is good. There is none
who repenteth of his sin, saying, What have I done? All are turned
unto their own course, like a horse passing with violence to battle.
The kite in the sky hath known her time, the turtle, and swallow,
and stork have kept the season of their coming, but my people
hath not known the judgment of God." And the prophet, being
smitten with fear at so wonderful a blindness, and
unspeakable drunkenness of the sacrilegious, and lamenting them
who did not lament themselves (even according to the present behaviour
of these our unfortunate tyrants), beseecheth of our Lord, that
an augmentation of tears might be granted him, speaking in this
manner, "I am contrite upon the contrition of the daughter
of my people, astonishment hath possessed me is there no balm
in Gilead, or is: there no physician there? Why therefore is not
the wound of the daughter of my people healed? Who shall give
water unto my head, and to mine eyes a fountain of tears, arid
I will day and night bewail the slaughtered of my people? who
will grant me in the wilderness the inn of passengers? and I will
utterly leave my people, and depart from them; because they are
all of them adulterers, a root of offenders, and they have bent
their tongue as the bow of lying, and not of truth, they are comforted
in the earth, because they have passed from evil to evil, and
not known me, saith our Lord." And again: "And our Lord
hath said, Because they have forsaken my law, which I have given
them, and not heard my voice, nor walked
thereafter, and have wandered away after the wickedness of their
own heart, in that respect our Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
saith these words, Behold I will feed this people with wormwood,
and give them to drink the water of gall." And a little after
(speaking in the person of God), "See therefore thou do not
pray for this people, nor assume thou for them praise and prayer,
because I will not hear in the time of their outcry unto me, and
of their affliction."
50. What then shall now our miserable governors do, these
few who found out the narrow way and left the large, were by God
forbidden to pour out their prayers for such as persevered in
their evils, and so highly provoked his wrath, against whom on
the contrary side when they returned with all their hearts unto
God (his divine Majesty being unwilling that the soul of man should
perish, but calling back the castaway that he should not utterly
be destroyed) the same prophets could not procure the heavenly
revenge, because Jonas, when he desired the like most earnestly
against the Ninevites, could not obtain it. But in the meanwhile
omitting our own words, let us rather hear what the prophetic
trumpet soundeth in our ears speaking thus: "If thou shalt
say in thy heart, Why have these evils befallen? For the multitude
of thine iniquities. If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or
the leopard
his sundry spots, ye may also do well when ye have learned evil,"
ever supposing that ye will not. And afterwards: "These words
doth our Lord say to this people, who have loved to move their
feet, and have not rested, and not pleased our Lord, Now shall
he remember their iniquities, and visit their offences; and our
Lord said unto me, Pray thou not for this people to work their
good, when they fast, I will not hear their prayers; and if they
offer burnt sacrifices and oblations, I will not receive them."
And again, "And our Lord said unto me, If Moses and Samuel
shall stand before me, my soul is not bent to this people, cast
them out away from my face, and let them depart." And after
a few words: "Who shall have pity on thee Jerusalem, or who
shall be sorrowful for thee, or who shall pray for thy peace?
Thou hast left me (saith our Lord) and gone away backward, and
I will stretch forth my hand over thee, and kill thee." And
somewhat after: "Thus saith our Lord, Behold I imagine a
thought against you, let every man return from his evil course,
and make straight your ways and endeavours, who said, we despair,
we will go after our own thoughts, and every one of us will do
the naughtiness of his evil heart. Thus therefore saith our Lord,
Ask the Gentiles, who hath heard such horrible matters, which
the virgin Israel hath too often committed? Shall there fail from
the rock of the field, the snow of Libanus? or can the waters
be drawn dry that gush out cold and flowing? because my people
hath forgotten me." And somewhat also after this propounding
unto them an election, he speaking saith, "Thus saith our
Lord, Do ye judgment and justice, and deliver him who by power
is oppressed out of the hand of the malicious accuser; and for
the stranger, and orphan, and widow, do not provoke their sorrow,
neither yet work ye unjustly the grief of others, nor shed ye
forth the innocent blood. For if indeed ye shall accomplish this
word, there shall enter in through the gates of this house, kings
of the lineage of David, sitting upon his throne. But if ye will
not hearken unto these words, by myself I have sworn (saith our
lord) that this house shall be turned into a desert." And
again (for he spoke of a wicked king), "As I live (saith
our Lord) if so be that
Jechonias shall be a ring on my right hand, I will pluck him away,
and give him over into the hands of them who seek his life."
51. Moreover, holy Abraham crieth out, saying, "Woe be unto them who build a city in blood, and prepare a town in iniquities, saying, Are not these things from our almighty Lord? and many people have failed in fire, and many nations nave been diminished." And thus complaining, he begins his prophecy: "How long, O Lord, shall I call, and thou wilt not hear? Shall I cry out unto thee, to what end hast thou given me labours and griefs, to behold misery and impiety?" And on the other side, "And judgment was sat upon, and the judge hath taken in regard hereof, the law is rent in pieces, and judgment is not brought fully to his conclusion, because the wicked through power treadeth the just under foot. In this respect hath passed forth perverse judgment."
52. And mark ye also what blessed Hosea the prophet says of princes: "For that they have transgressed my covenant, and ordained against my law, and exclaimed, we have known thee, because thou art against Israel. They have persecuted good, as if it were evil. They have reigned for themselves and not by me; they have held a principality, neither yet have they acknowledged me."
53. And hear ye likewise the holy prophet Amos, in this sort threatening: "In three heinous offences of the sons of Judah, and in four I will not convert them, for that they have cast away the law of our Lord, and not kept his commandments, but their vanities have seduced them. And I will send fire upon Judah, and it shall eat the foundations of Jerusalem. Thus saith our Lord, In three grievous sins of Israel, and in four I will not convert them, for that they have sold the just for money, and the poor man for shoes, which they tread upon the dust of the earth, and with buffets they did beat the heads of the poor, and have eschewed the way of the humble." And after a few words, "Seek our Lord and ye shall live, that the house of Joseph may not shine as fire, and the flame devour it, and he shall not be, that can extinguish it. The house of Israel hath hated him who rebuketh in the gates, and abhorred the upright word." Which Amos, being forbidden to prophesy in Israel, without any fawning flattery, saith in answer, "I was not a prophet, nor yet the son of a prophet, but a goatherd; I was plucking sycamores and our Lord took me from my herd, and our Lord said unto me, Go thy way and prophesy against my people of Israel: and now hear thou the word of our Lord (for he directed his speech unto the king), thou sayest, do not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not assemble troops against the house of Jacob. For which cause our Lord saith thus, thy wife in the city shall play the harlot, and thy sons and daughters shall die by the sword, and thy ground be measured by the cord, and thou in a polluted land shalt end thy life, but for Israel, she shall be led from his own country a captive." And afterwards, "Hear therefore these words, ye who do outrageously afflict the poor, and, practise your mighty power against the needy of the earth, who say, when shall the month pass over that we may purchase, and the sabbaths that we may open the treasuries." And within a few words after, "Our Lord doth swear against the pride of Jacob, if he shall in contempt forget your actions, and if in these the earth shall not be disturbed, and end every inhabitant thereof fall to lamentation, and the final end as a flood ascend, and I will turn your festival days into wailing, and cast haircloth on the loins of every one, and on the head of every man baldness, and make him as the mourning of one over beloved, and those who are with him as the day of his sorrow." And again, "In the sword shall die all the sinners of my people, who say, evils shall not approach nor yet shall light upon us."
54. And listen ye, likewise, what holy Michah the prophet hath spoken, saying, "Hearken, ye tribes. And what shall adorn the city? Shall not fire? and the house of the wicked hoarding up unjust treasures, and with injury unrighteousness? If the wrongful dealer shall be justified in the balance, and deceitful weights in the scales by which they have heaped up their riches in ungodliness."
55. And hear also what threats the famous prophet Zephaniah thundereth out: saith he, "The great day of our Lord is near; it is at hand, and very swiftly approacheth. The voice of the day of our Lord is appointed to be bitter and mighty, that day, a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and necessity, a day of clouds and mist, a day of the trumpet and outcry, a day of misery and extermination, a day of darkness and dirtiness upon the strong cities and high corners. And I will bring men to tribulation, and they shall go as if they were blind, because they have offended our Lord, and I will pour out their blood as dust, and their flesh as the dung of oxen, and their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of our Lord. And in the fire of his zeal shall the whole earth be consumed, when the Lord shall accomplish his absolute end, and bring solitariness upon all the inhabitants of the earth. Come together and be joined in one, thou nation without discipline, before ye be made as the fading flower, before the wrath of our Lord falleth upon ye."