SHOEMAKER Shoemaker. I buy hides and skins, and prepare them by means of my art, making of them foot-wear of various kinds slippers, shoes, and gaiters; bottles, reins, and trappings; flasks and leathern vessels, spur-straps and halters, bags and purses; and not one of you could pass a winter except for my trade.... COUNSELOR Teacher. Monk, you who are speaking with me, I have convinced myself that you have companions who are good and very necessary but who are these? Pupil. Smiths - a blacksmith, a goldsmith, a silversmith, a coppersmith—and a carpenter, besides workers at many other kinds of trades. Teacher. Have you any wise counselor? Pupil. Certainly I have. How can our assembly be ruled without a counselor ? Teacher. What do you say, wise man, which of these trades seems to you the greatest? 6 Counselor. I tell you, the service of God seems to me to hold the chief place among these occupations, even as it is written in the gospel, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' 1 Teacher. And which of the secular occupations appears to you to hold the supremacy? Counselor. Agriculture, because the farmer feeds us all.... The counselor says: O comrades and good workmen, let us speedily quell these disputes, and let there be peace 1 Matt. 6. 33. and concord among us, and let each one benefit the rest in his own trade, and always agree with the farmer, at whose hands we obtain food for ourselves and fodder for our horses. And this advice I give to all workmen, that each of them zealously pursue his own trade, since he who forsakes his occupation is himself forsaken by his occupation. Whosoever thou art, whether priest, or monk, or layman, or soldier, practise thyself in this, and be what thou art, because it is a great disgrace and shame for a man not to be willing to be that which he is, and that which he ought to be.... PUPILS Teacher. I ask you why you are so eager to learn? Pupil. Because we do not wish to be like stupid animals that know nothing but grass and water. Teacher. And what do you wish? Pupil. We wish to be wise. Teacher. In what wisdom? Do you wish to be crafty or Protean, subtle in deceit, shrewd of speech, guileful, speaking good and thinking evil, given to soft words, nourishing fraud within yourselves, like a whited sepulchre, beautiful without, but within full of all uncleanness? 1 Pupil. We do not wish to be wise like that, for he is not wise who deceives himself with pretenses. Teacher. But how would you be wise? Pupil. We wish to be simple, without hypocrisy, so that we may turn from evil and do good; however, you are speaking to us more profoundly than our years can comprehend. Speak to us in our own way, not so deeply. Teacher. I will do just as you say. Boy, what have you done to-day? 1 Cf. Matt. 23. 27. Pupil. I have done many things. In the night, when I heard the bell, I arose from my bed and went to church, and sang nocturns with the brethren, after which we sang of all saints and lauds, and after this, prime and seven Psalms, with the litany and the first mass. Then we sang terce, and did the mass for the day, after which we sang sext, and ate, and drank, and slept. Then again we arose and sang nones, and now we are here before you, ready to hear what you will say to us. Teacher. When will you sing evensong and compline? Pupil. When it is time. Teacher. Were you flogged to-day? Pupil. I was not, for I carefully restrained myself. Teacher. And how about your companions? Pupil. Why do you ask me that? I dare not reveal our secrets to you. Every one knows whether he was flogged or not. Teacher. What do you eat during the day? Pupil. As yet I feed on meat, for I am a child living under the rod. Teacher. What else do you eat? Pupil. Herbs, eggs, fish, cheese, butter, and beans, and all clean things, I eat with great thankfulness. Teacher. You are extremely voracious, since you eat everything that is set before you. Pupil. I am not so voracious that I can eat all kinds of food at one meal. Teacher. How then? Pupil. Sometimes I eat one food, and sometimes another, with moderation, as befits a monk, and not with voracity, for I am no glutton. Teacher. And what do you drink? Pupil. Ale if I have it, or water if I have no ale. Teacher. Do you not drink wine? Pupil. I am not so rich that I can buy wine, and wine is not a drink for children or the foolish, but for the old and the wise. Teacher. Where do you sleep? Pupil. In the dormitory with the brethren. Pupil. Sometimes I hear the bell, and arise; sometimes my master sternly arouses me with the rod. 14. FRAGMENT OF A HOMILY ON THE FALSE GODS Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Copenhagen, 1846), pp. 68-81 The latter part of this homily, the account of the false gods, is printed by Kemble, Salomon and Saturnus, pp. 120-5. A somewhat different recension may be found in Wulfstan, ed. Napier, pp. 104-7. Beloved brethren, divine Scripture teaches us the worship of one true God, in these words, 'There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.1 Of Him are all things, and through Him are all things, and in Him are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.'2 The Almighty Father begat a Son of Himself, without intercourse of woman, and by the Son He made all creatures, both seen and unseen. The Son is just as old as the Father, for the Father was always without beginning, and the Son was always begotten of Him without beginning, as mighty as the Father. The Holy Ghost is not begotten, but is the Will and the Love of the Father and the Son, of them both alike; and by the Holy Ghost are quickened all creatures that the Father created by His Son, who is 1 Eph. 4. 5. 2 Cf. Rom. 11. 36. His Wisdom. The Holy Trinity is one Almighty God, ever without beginning and end. They are three in name— Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - but they are not three Gods; these three are one Almighty God, inseparable, for in these three there is one nature, one intelligence, and one energy in all things, and it is better for us to believe truly in the Holy Trinity, and to confess it, than to wonder too much about it. This Trinity created the bright angels, and then Adam and Eve as human beings, giving them dominion over earthly creatures. And they might have lived forever, without death, if they had never broken that one commandment of God. Adam then dwelt in happiness, free from care, and no creature could harm him so long as he kept the heavenly behest. No fire hurt him, though he stepped into it, nor could water drown the man, even if he suddenly ran into the waves. Neither could any wild beast injure him, nor did any reptile dare do him harm by biting him. No more could hunger, nor thirst, grievous cold, nor extreme heat, nor sickness afflict Adam in the world, so long as he kept that little commandment with faith. But when he had sinned and broken God's behest, he lost happiness, and lived in toil, so that lice and fleas boldly bit him whom formerly not even the serpent had dared to touch. Then he had to beware of water and of fire, and to be on the watch lest harm befall him, and to provide food for himself by his own toil. Moreover, the natural gifts with which God had endowed him he had to guard with great care in order to keep them. Even so the good do still, they who with toil keep themselves from sins. The sun also, and likewise the moon, were deprived of their fair light after Adam's guilt, though not of their own deserts. The sun had been seven times brighter before |
