Gildas, Surnamed: "SAPIENS," OR THE WISE (c.500-570): The Ruin of Britain

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66. Britain hath priests, but they are unwise; very many that
minister, but many of them impudent; clerks she hath, but certain
of them are deceitful raveners; pastors (as they are called) but
rather wolves prepared for the slaughter of souls (for they
provide not for the good of the common people, but covet rather
the gluttony of their own bellies), possessing the houses of the
church, but obtaining them for filthy lucre's sake; instructing
the laity, but showing withal most depraved examples, vices, and
evil manners; seldom sacrificing, and seldom with clean hearts,
standing at the altars, not correcting the commonality for their
offences, while they commit the same sins themselves; despising
the commandments of Christ, and being careful with their whole
hearts to fulfil their own lustful desires, some of them usurping
with unclean feet the seat of the apostle Peter; but for the
demerit of their covetousness falling down into the pestilent
chair of the traitor Judas; detracting often, and seldom speaking
truly; hating verity as an open enemy, and favouring falsehoods,
as their most beloved brethren; looking on the just, the poor, and
the impotent, with stern countenances, as if they were detested
serpents, and reverencing the sinful rich men without any respect
of shame, as if they were heavenly angels, preaching with their
outward lips that alms are to be disbursed upon the needy, but of
themselves not bestowing one halfpenny; concealing the horrible
sins of the people, and amplifying injuries offered unto
themselves, as if they were done against our Saviour Christ;
expelling out of their houses their religious mother, perhaps, or
sisters, and familiarly and indecently entertaining strange women,
as if it were for some more secret office, or rather, to speak
truly, though fondly (and yet not fondly to me, but to such as
commit these matters), debasing themselves unto such bad
creatures; and after all these seeking rather ambitiously for
ecclesiastical dignities, than for the kingdom of heaven; and
defending after a tyrannical fashion their achieved preferments,
nor even labouring with lawful manners, to adorn the same;
negligent and dull to listen to the precepts of the holy saints
(if ever they did so much as once hear that which full often they
ought to hear), but diligent and attentive to the plays and
foolish fables of secular men, as if they were the very ways to
life, which indeed are but the passages to death; being hoarse,
after the fashion of bulls, with the abundance of fatness, and
miserably prompt to all unlawful actions; bearing their
countenances arrogantly aloft, and having nevertheless their
inward senses, with tormenting and gnawing consciences; depressed
down to the bottom or rather to the bottomless pit; glad at the
gaining of one penny, and at the loss of the like value sad;
slothful and dumb in the apostolical decrees (be it for ignorance
or rather the burden of their offences), and stopping also the
mouths of the learned, but singularly experienced in the deceitful
shifts of worldly affairs; and many of this sort and wicked
conversation, violently intruding themselves into the preferments
of the church; yea, rather buying the same at a thigh rate, than
being any way drawn thereunto, and moreover as unworthy wretches,
wallowing, after the fashion of swine, in their old and unhappy
puddle of intolerable wickedness, after they have attained unto
the seat of the priesthood or episcopal dignity (who neither have
been installed, or resident on the same), for usurping only the
name of priesthood, they have not received the orders or
apostolical preeminence; but how can they who are not as yet fully
instructed in faith, nor have done penance for their sins, be any
way supposed meet and convenient to ascend unto any ecclesiastical
degree (that I may not speak of the highest) which none but holy
and perfect men, and followers of the apostles, and, to use the
words of the teacher of the Gentiles, persons free from
reprehension, can lawfully and without the foul offence of
sacrilege undertake.

67. For what is so wicked and so sinful as after the example of
Simon Magus (even if with other faults he had not been defiled
before), for any man with earthly price to purchase the office of
a bishop or priest, which with holiness and righteous life alone
ought lawfully to be obtained; but herein they do more wilfully
and desperately err, in that they buy their deceitful and
unprofitable ecclesiastical degrees, not of the apostles or their
successors, but of tyrannical princes, and their father the devil;
yea, rather they raise this as a certain roof and covering of all
offences, over the frame of their former serious life, that being
protected under the shadow thereof, no man should lightly
hereafter lay to their charge their old or new wickedness; and
hereupon they build their desires of covetousness and gluttony,
for that being now the rulers of many they may more freely make
havoc at their pleasure. For if truly any such offer of purchasing
ecclesiastical promotions were made by these impudent sinners (I
will not say with St. Peter), but to any holy priest, or godly
king, they would no doubt receive the same answer which their
father Simon Magus had from the mouth of the apostle Peter,
saying: "Thy money be with thee unto thy perdition." But, alas!
perhaps they who order and advance these ambitious aspirers, yea,
they who rather throw them under foot, and for a blessing give
them a cursing, whilst of sinners they make them not penitents
(which were more consonant to reason), but sacrilegious and
desperate offenders, and in a sort install Judas, that traitor to
his Master, in the chair of Peter, and Nicholas, the author of
that foul heresy, in the seat of St. Stephen the martyr, it may be
at first obtained their own priesthood by the same means, and
therefore do not greatly dislike in their children but rather
respect the course, that they their fathers did before follow. And
also, if finding resistance, in obtaining their dioceses at home,
and some who severely renounce this chaffering of church-livings,
they cannot there attain to such a precious pearl, then it doth
not so much loath as delight them (after they have carefully sent
their messengers beforehand) to cross the seas, and travel over
most large countries, that so, in the end, yea even with the sale
of their whole substance, they may win and compass such a pomp,
and such an incomparable glory, or to speak more truly, such a
dirty and base deceit and illusion. And afterwards with great show
and magnificent ostentation, or rather madness, returning back to
their own native soil, they grow from stoutness to stateliness,
and from being used to level their looks to the tops of the
mountains, they now lift up their drowsy eyes into the air, even
to the highest clouds, and as Novatus, that foul hog, and
persecutor of our Lord's precious jewel, did once at Rome, so do
these intrude themselves again into their own country, as
creatures of a new mould, or rather as instruments of the devil,
being even ready in this state and fashion to stretch out
violently their hands (not so worthy of the holy altars as of the
avenging flames of hell) upon Christ's most holy sacrifices.

68. What do you therefore, O unhappy people! expect from such
belly beasts? (as the apostle calleth them). Shall your manners be
amended by these, who not only do not apply their minds to any
goodness, but according to the upbraiding of the prophet, labour
also to deal wickedly? Shall ye be illuminated with such eyes as
are only with greediness cast on those things that lead headlong
to vices (that is to say), to the gates of hell? Nay truly, if
according to the saying of our Saviour, ye flee not these most
ravenous wolves like those of Arabia, or avoid them as Lot, who
ran most speedily from the fiery shower of Sodom up to the
mountains, then, being blind and led by the blind, ye will both
together tumble down into the infernal ditch.

69. But some man perchance will objecting say, that all bishops or
all priests (according to our former exception), are not so
wickedly given, because they are not defiled with the infamy of
schism, pride, or unclean life, which neither we ourselves will
deny, but albeit we know them to be chaste, and virtuous, yet will
we briefly answer.

What did it profit the high-priest Hely, that he alone did not
violate the commandments of our Lord, in taking flesh with forks
out of the pots, before the fat was offered unto God, while he was
punished with the same revenge of death wherewith his sons were?
What one, I beseech you, of them, whose manners we have before
sufficiently declared, hath been martyred like Abel, from
malicious jealousy of his more acceptable sacrifice, which with
the heavenly fire ascended up into the skies, since they fear the
reproach even of an ordinary word? Which of them "hath hated the
counsel of the malicious, and not sat with the ungodly," so that
of him as a prophet, the same might be verified which was said of
Enoch, "Enoch walked with God and was not to be found" in the
vanity (forsooth) of the whole world, as then leaving our Lord,
and beginning to halt after idolatry? Which of them, like Noah in
the time of the deluge, hath not admitted into the ark of
salvation (which is the present church) any adversary unto God,
that it may be most apparent that none but innocents or singular
penitents, ought to remain in the house of our Lord? Who is he
that offering sacrifice like Melchisedeck, hath only blessed the
conquerors, and them who with the number of three hundred (which
was in the sacrament of the Trinity) delivering the just man, have
overthrown the deadly armies of the five kings, together with
their vanquishing troops, and not coveted the goods of others?
Which of them hath like Abraham, at the commandment of God freely
offered his own son on the altar to be slain, that he might
accomplish a precept of Christ, agreeable to this saying, Thy
right eye, if it cause thee to offend, ought to be pulled out; and
another of the prophet, That he is accursed who withholdeth his
sword from shedding blood? Who is he that like Joseph, hath rooted
out of his heart the remembrance of an offered injury? Who is he
that like Moses, speaking with our Lord in the mountain, and not
there terrified with the sounding trumpets, hath in a figurative
sense presented unto the incredulous people the two tables, and
his horned face which they could not endure to see, but trembled
to behold ? Which of them, praying for the offences of the people,
has from the very bottom of his heart cried out, like unto him,
saying: "O Lord this people hath committed a grievous sin, which
if thou wilt forgive them, forgive it; otherwise blot me guilty
out of thy book?"

70. Which of them, inflamed with the admirable zeal of God, hath
courageously risen to punish fornication, curing without delay by
the present medicine of penance, the affection of filthy lust,
lest the fire of the wrath of God should otherwise consume the
people, as Phineas the priest did, that by these means justice for
ever might be reputed unto him? Which of them hath in moral
understanding imitated Joshua, the son of Nun, either for the
utter rooting forth, even to the slaughter of the last and least
of all, the seven nations out of the land of promise, or for the
establishing of spiritual Israel in their places? Which of them
hath showed unto the people of God their final bounds beyond
Jordan that it might be known what was suited to every tribe, in
such sort as the aforenamed Phineas and Jesus have wisely divided
the land? Who is he that to overthrow the innumerable thousands of
Gentiles, adversaries to the chosen people of God, hath, as
another Jephtha, for a votive and propitiatory sacrifice, slain
his own daughter (by which is to be understood his own proper
will), imitating also therein the apostle, saying, "Not seeking
what is profitable to me, but to many, that they may be saved;"
which daughter of his met the conquerors with drums and dances, by
which are to be understood the lustful desires of the flesh? Which
of them, that he might disorder, put to flight, and overthrow the
camps of the proud Gentiles, by the number of three hundred,
(being, as we before said, the mystery of the blessed Trinity,)
and with his men holding in their hands those noble sounding
trumpets, (which are prophetical and apostolical senses, according
as our Lord said to the prophet, "Exalt thy voice as a trumpet;"
and the psalmist of the apostles, "Their sound hath passed
throughout the whole earth,") and bearing all those famous flagons
shining in the night with that most glittering fiery light, (which
are to be interpreted the bodies of saints joined to good works,
and burning with the flame of the Holy Ghost, yea having, as the
apostle writes, "This treasure in earthen vessels,") hath after
hewing down the idolatrous grave (by which is morally meant dark
and foul desire) marched on like Gideon, with an assured faith in
the evident sign of the fleece, which to the Jews was void of the
heavenly moisture, but to the Gentiles made wet with the dew of
the Holy Ghost?

71. Who is he among them that (earnestly wishing to die to this
world, and live to Christ) hash, as another Sampson, utterly cut
off such innumerable luxurious banqueters of the Gentile, while
they praised their gods, (by which is meant, while the senses of
men extolled these earthly riches, according to the apostle
speaking thus: "And covetousness, which is idolatry"), shaking
with the power of both his arms the two pillars (by which are to
be understood the wicked pleasures of the soul and body), by which
the house of all worldly wickedness is in a sort compacted and
underpropped? Which of them, like Samuel, with prayers and the
burnt sacrifice of a sucking lamb, hath driven away the fear of
the Philistines, raised unexpected thunderclaps, and showering
clouds, established without flattery a king, deposed him when he
displeased God, and anointed another his better in his place and
kingdom; and when he shall give to the people his last farewell,
shall appear like Samuel in this sort, saying, "Behold, I am
ready, speak ye before our Lord and his anointed, whether I ever
took away the ox or ass of any man, if I have falsely accused any
one, if I have oppressed anybody, if I have received a bribe from
the hands of any?" Unto whom it was answered by the people, "Thou
hast not wrongfully charged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken
anything from the hands of any." Which of them, like the famous
prophet Elias, who consumed with heavenly fire the hundred proud
men, and preserved the fifty that humbled themselves; and
afterwards denounced without flattery or dissimulation, the
impending death of the unjust king (that sought not the counsel of
God by his prophets, but of the idol Accaron), hath utterly
overthrown all the prophets of Baal (by which are meant the
worldly senses ever bent, as we have already said, to envy and
avarice), with the lightning sword (which is the word of God)? And
as the same Elias, moved with the zeal of God, after taking away
the showers of rain from the land of the wicked, who were now shut
up with famine in a strong prison, as it were of penury, for three
years and six months, being himself ready to die for thirst in the
desert, hath, complaining, said, "They have murdered, O Lord, thy
prophets, and undermined thine altars, and I alone am left, and
they seek my life?"

72. Which of them, like Elisha, hath punished his dearly beloved
disciple, if not with an everlasting leprosy, yet at least by
abandoning him, if burdened too much with the weight of worldly
covetousness for those very gifts which his master before
(although very earnestly entreated thereto) had despised to
receive? And which of these among us hath like him revealed unto
his servant, (who despaired of life, and on a sudden trembled at
the warlike army of the enemies that besieged the city wherein he
was), through the fervency of his prayers poured out unto God,
those spiritual visions, so that he might behold a mountain
replenished with a heavenly assisting army, of warlike chariots
and horsemen, shining with fiery countenances, and that he might
also believe that he was stronger to save, than the foe to hurt?
And which of them, like the above-named Elisha, with the touch of
his body, being dead to the world, but living unto God, shall
raise up another, whose fate had been different from his, namely,
death to God, but life to his vices, so that instantly revived, he
may yield humble thanks to Christ for his unexpected recovery from
the hellish torments of his mortal crimes? Which of them hath his
lips purified and made clean with the fiery coals carried by the
tongues of the cherubim, from off the altar, (that his sins may be
wiped away with the humility of confession), as it is written of
Esaias, by whose effectual prayers, together with the aid of the
godly king Ezechias, a hundred fourscore and five thousand of the
Assyrian army, through the stroke of one angel, without the least
print of any appearing wound, were overthrown and slain? Which of
them, like blessed Jeremiah, for accomplishing the commandments of
God,-for denouncing the threats thundered out from heaven, and for
preaching the truth even to such as would not hear the same, hath
suffered loathsome stinking prisons as momentary deaths? And to he
brief, what one of them (as the teacher of the Gentiles said) hath
endured like the holy prophets to wander in mountains, in dens,
and caves of the earth, to be stoned, to be sawn in sunder, and
assailed with all kinds of death, for the name of our Lord?

73. But why do we dwell in examples of the Old Testament as if
there were none in the New? Let, therefore, those, who suppose
they can, without any labour at all, under the naked presence of
the name of priesthood, enter this strait and narrow passage of
Christian religion, hearken unto me while I recite and gather into
one a few of the chiefest flowers out of the large and pleasant
meadow of the saintly soldiers of the New Testament. Which of you
(who rather sleep than lawfully sit in the chair of the
priesthood), being cast out of the council of the wicked, hath,
after the stripes of sundry rods, like the holy apostles, from the
bottom of his heart, given thanks to the blessed Trinity that he
was found worthy to suffer disgrace for Christ's true deity? What
one, for the undoubted testimony of God, having his brains dashed
out with the fuller's club, hath, like James the first, a bishop
of the New Testament, suffered corporal death? Which of you, like
James the brother of John, has by the unjust prince been beheaded?
Who, like the first deacon and martyr of the gospel, (having but
this only accusation, that he saw God, whom the wicked could not
behold), has ungodly hands been stoned to death? What one of you,
like the worthy keeper of the keys of the heavenly kingdom, has
been nailed to the cross with his feet upward, in reverence for
Christ, whom, no less in his death than in his life, he
endeavoured to honour, and hath so breathed his last? Which of
you, for the confession of the true word of Christ, hath, like the
vessel of election, and chosen teacher of the Gentiles, after
suffering imprisonment and shipwreck, after the terrible scourges
of whips, the continual dangers of seas of thieves, of Gentiles,
of Jews, and of false apostles, after the labours of famine,
fasting, and watching, after incessant care over all the churches,
after his trouble for such as scandalized, after his infirmity for
the weak, after his wonderful travels over almost the whole world
in preaching the gospel of Christ, lost his head at last by the
stroke of the descending sword ?"

74. Which of you, like the holy martyr Ignatius, bishop of the
city of Antioch, hath after his miraculous actions in Christ, for
testimony of him been torn by the jaws of lions, as he was once at
Rome? whose words, as he was led to his, passion, when you shall
hear (if ever your countenances were overcome with blushing), you
will not only, in comparison of him, esteem yourselves no priests,
but not so much even as the meanest Christians; for in the epistle
which he sent to the church of Rome, he writeth thus: "From Syria
even unto Rome, I fight with beasts, by land and sea, being bound
and chained unto ten leopards, I mean the soldiers appointed for
my sustody, who for our benefit bestowed upon them become more
cruel, but I am the better instructed by their wickedness, neither
yet am I in this justified; oh! when shall those beasts come the
workers of my salvation, which are for me prepared? when shall
they be let loose at me? when shall it be lawful for my carcass to
enjoy them? whom I do most earnestly wish to be eagerly enraged
against me, and truly I will incite them to devour me; moreover, I
will humbly pray, lest perchance they should dread to touch my
body (as in some others they have before done), yea also, if they
hesitate, I will offer violence, I will force myself upon them.
Pardon me, I beseech you, I know what is commodious for me, even
now I begin to be the disciple of Christ; let all envy, whether of
human affection or spiritual wickedness cease, that I may
endeavour to obtain Christ Jesus; let fires, let crosses, let
cruelty of beasts, let breaking of bones, and rending of limbs,
with all the pains of the whole body, and all the torments devised
by the art of the devil, be together poured out on me alone, so
that I may merit to attain unto Christ Jesus." Why do you behold
these things with the sleepy eyes of your souls? why do you
hearken unto them with the deaf ears of your senses? Shake off, I
beseech you, the dark and black mist of slothfulness from your
hearts, that so you may see the glorious light of truth and
humility. A Christian, and he not mean, but a perfect one, and a
priest not base, but one of the highest, a martyr of no ordinary
sort, but one of the chiefest, saith: "Now I begin to be the
disciple of Christ." And you, like the same Lucifer, who was
thrown down out of heaven, are puffed up with words, and not with
power, and after a sort do chew under the tooth, and make presence
in your actions, as the author of this your wickedness hath thus
expressed: "I will mount up into the heavens, and be like unto the
Highest." And again: "I have digged and drunk water, and dried up
with the steps of my feet all the rivers of the banks." You would
more rightly have imitated him and hearkened unto his words, who
is without doubt the most true example of all goodness and
humility, saying by his prophet, "I am verily a worm and not a
man, the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people." Oh
unspeakable matter! that he called himself "the reproach of men,"
when he washed away the reproaches of the whole world. And again
in the gospel; "I am not able to do any thing of myself," when at
the same time he was co-eternal with the Father, coequal with the
Holy Ghost, and consubstantial with both, and created, not by the
help of another, but by his own almighty power, the heaven and
earth, with all their inestimable ornaments; and ye nevertheless
have arrogantly lifted up your voices, notwithstanding the prophet
saith, "Why do earth and ashes swell with pride?"

75. But let us return unto our subject. Which of you, I say, like
Polycarp, the famous bishop of the church of Smyrna, that witness
of Christ, hath courteously entertained as guests at his table,
those who violently drew him out to be burned? and when for the
charity which he did bear unto Christ, he was brought to the
stake, said, "He who gave me grace to endure the torment of the
fire, will likewise grant me without fastening of nails to bear
the flames with patience." And now passing over in this my
discourse the mighty armies of saints, I will yet touch on one
only, for example's sake, Basil the bishop of Caesaria, who when
he was thus by the unrighteous prince threatened that, unless he
would on the next day be as the rest, defiled in the dirty
dunghill of the Arian heresy, he should be put to death, answered,
as it is reported, "I will be to-morrow the same as to-day, and
for thee, I do not wish thee to change thy determination." And
again, "Would that I had some worthy reward to bestow on him that
would discharge Basil from the bands of this breathing bellows."
Which one of you doth endeavour to daunt the menaces of tyrants,
by inviolably keeping the rule of the apostolical speech, which in
all times and ages hath been observed by all holy priests, to
suppress the suggestion of men when they sought to draw them into
wickedness, saying in this manner; "It behoveth us to obey God
rather than men."

76. Wherefore after our accustomed manner, taking refuge in the
mercy of our Lord, and in the sentences of his holy prophets, that
they on our behalf may now level the darts of their oracles at
imperfect pastors (as before at tyrants), so that thereby they may
receive compunction and be amended, let us see what manner of
threats our Lord doth by his prophets utter against slothful and
dishonest priests, and such as do not, both by examples and words,
rightly instruct the people. For even Eli, the priest in Shilo,
because he did not severely proceed, with a zeal worthy of God, in
punishing his sons, when they contemned our Lord, but, as a man
overswayed with a fatherly affection? too mildly and remissly
admonished them, was sentenced with this judgment by the prophet
speaking unto him: "Thus saith our Lord; I have manifestly showed
myself unto the house of thy father, when they were the servants
of Pharaoh in Egypt, and have chosen the house of thy father out
of all the tribes of Israel, for a priesthood unto me." And a
little after, "Why hast thou looked upon mine incense, and upon my
sacrifice, with a dishonest eye? and hast honoured thy children
more than me, that thou mightest bless them from the beginning in
all sacrifices in my presence? And now so saith our Lord: Because
whoever honoureth me I will honour him again; and whoso maketh no
account of me shall be brought to nothing. Behold the days shall
come, and I will destroy thy name, and the seed of thy father's
house. And let this be to thee the sign, which shall fall upon thy
two sons, Hophni and Phineas, in one day shall they both die by
the sword of men." If thus therefore they shall suffer, who
correct them that are under their charge, with words only and not
with condign punishment, what shall become of those who by
offending exhort you, and draw others unto wickedness?

77. It is apparent also what befell unto the true prophet, who was
sent from Judah to prophesy in Bethel, and forbidden to taste any
meat in that place, after the sign which he foretold was
fulfilled, and after he had restored to the wicked king his
withered hand again, being deceived by another prophet, as he was
termed, and so make to take but a little bread and water, his host
speaking in this sort unto him: ''Thus saith our Lord God: Because
thou hast been disobedient to the mouth of our Lord, and hast not
observed the precept which the Lord thy God hath commanded, and
hast returned, and eaten bread, and drunk water in this place, in
which I have charged thee that thou shouldest neither eat bread
nor drink water, thy body shall not be buried in the sepulchre of
thy forefathers. And so (saith the scripture) it came to pass,
that after he had eaten bread and drunk water, he made ready his
ass, and departed, and a lion found him in the way and slew him."

78. Hear ye also the holy prophet Isaias, how he speaketh of
priests on this wise. "Woe be to the ungodly, may evil befall him;
for the reward of his hands shall light upon him. Her own exactors
have spoiled my people, and women have borne sway over her. O my
people, they who term thee blessed, themselves deceive thee, and
destroy the way of thy footsteps. Our Lord standeth to judge, and
standeth to judge the people. Our Lord will come unto judgment
with the elders of the people and her princes. Ye have consumed my
vine, the spoil of the poor is in your house. Why do ye break in
pieces my people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith our Lord
of hosts." And also; "Woe be unto them who compose ungodly laws,
and in their writing have written injustice, that they may oppress
the poor in judgment, and work violence to the cause of the lowly
of my people, that widows may be their prey, and they make spoil
of the orphans; what will ye do in the day of visitation and
calamity approaching from afar off?" And afterwards: "But these
also in regard of wine have been ignorant, and in respect of
drunkenness have wandered astray; the priests have not understood,
because of drunkenness, and have been swallowed up in wine, they
have erred in drunkenness, they have not known him who seeth, they
have been ignorant of judgment. For all tables are filled with the
vomit of their uncleanness, in so much as there is not any free
place to be found."

79. "Hear therefore the word of our Lord, O ye deceivers, who bear
authority over my people that is in Jerusalem. For ye have said,
We have entered into a truce with death, and with hell we have
made a covenant. The overflowing scourge when it shall pass forth
shall not fall upon us, because we have placed falsehood for our
hope, and by lying we have been defended." And somewhat after:
"And hail shall overthrow the hope of lying, together with the
defence. Waters shall overflow, and your truce with death shall be
destroyed, and your covenant with hell shall not continue, when
the overflowing scourge shall pass forth; ye shall also be trodden
under foot, whensoever it shall pass along through you, it shall
sweep you away withal." And again: "And our Lord hath said:
Because this people approacheth with their mouth, and with their
lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me; behold,
therefore, I will cause this people to wonder by a great and
stupendous miracle. For wisdom shall decay and fall away from her
wise men, and the understanding of her sages shall be concealed.
Woe be unto you that are profound in heart, to conceal counsel
from our Lord, whose works are in darkness, and they say, who
seeth us? And who hath known us? for this thought of yours is
perverse." And afterwards: "Thus saith our Lord, Heaven is my
seat, and the earth my footstool. What is this house that ye will
erect unto me, and what place shall be found for my resting-place?
all these things hath my hand made, and these universally have
been all created, saith our Lord. On whom truly shall I cast mine
eye, but on the humble poor man, and the contrite in spirit, and
him that dreadeth my speeches? he that sacrificeth an ox, is as he
that killeth a man; he that slaughtereth a beast for sacrifice, is
like him who beateth out the brains of a dog; he that offereth an
oblation, is as he that offereth the blood of a hog; he that is
mindful of frankincense, is as he that honoureth an idol: of all
these things have they made choice in their ways, and in their
abominations hath their soul been delighted."

80. Hear also what Jeremy, that virgin prophet, speaketh unto the
unwise pastors in this sort: "Thus saith our Lord, What iniquity
have your fathers found in me, because they have removed
themselves far off from me, and walked after vanity, and are
become vain?" And again: "And entering in, ye have defiled my
land, and made mine inheritance abomination. The priests have not
said, Where is our Lord? and the rulers of the law have not known
me, and the pastors have dealt treacherously against me. Wherefore
I will as yet contend in judgment with you, saith our Lord, and
debate the matter with your children." And a little afterwards:
"Astonishment and wonders have been wrought in the land. Prophets
did preach lying, and priests did applaud with their hands, and my
people have loved such matters. What therefore shall be done in
her last and final ends? To whom shall I speak and make
protestation that he may hear me? Behold their ears are
uncircumcised, and they cannot hear. Behold the word of our Lord
is uttered unto them for their reproach, and they receive it not:
because I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the
earth, saith our Lord. For why, from the lesser even unto the
greater, all study avarice, and from the prophet even unto the
priest, all work deceit, and they cured the contrition of the
daughter of my people, with ignominy, saying, Peace, peace, and
peace there shall not be. Confounded they are, who have wrought
abomination: but they are not with confusion confounded, and have
not understood how to be ashamed. Wherefore they shall fall among
those who are falling, in the time of their visitation shall they
rush headlong down together, saith our Lord." And again: "All
these princes of the declining sort, walking fraudulently, being
brass and iron, are universally corrupted, the blowing bellows
have failed in the fire, the finer of metals in vain hath melted,
their malicious acts are not consumed, call them refuse and
reprobate silver, because our Lord hath thrown them away." And
after a few words: "I am, I am, I have seen, saith our Lord. Go
your ways to my place in Shilo, where my name hath inhabited from
the beginning, and behold what I have done thereunto for the
malice of my people Israel. And now because ye have wrought all
these works, saith our Lord, and I have spoken unto you, arising
in the morning, and talking, and yet ye have not heard me, and I
have called you, and yet ye have not answered, I will so deal
towards this house, wherein my name is now called upon, and
wherein ye have confidence, and to this place which I have given
unto you, and to your fathers, as I have done to Shilo, and I will
cast you away from my countenance."

81. And again: "My children have departed from me, and have no
abiding, and there is none who any more pitcheth my tent, and
advanceth my pavilion: for the pastors have dealt fondly and not
sought out our Lord. Wherefore they have not understood, and their
flock hath been dispersed." And a little after: "What is the
matter that my beloved hath in my houses committed many offences?
shall the holy flesh take away thy maliciousness from thee,
wherein thou hast glorified? our Lord shall call thy name a
plentiful, fair, fruitful, goodly olive; at the sound of the
speech a mighty fire hath been inflamed in her, and her orchards
have been quite consumed therewith." And again: "Come ye to me,
and be ye gathered together, all ye beasts of the earth, make
haste to devour. Many pastors have thrown down my vine, they have
trampled my part under foot, they have given over my portion which
was well worthy to be desired, into a desert of solitariness." And
again he speaketh: "Thus saith our Lord unto this people, which
have loved to move their feet, and not rested, nor yet pleased our
Lord; now shall he remember their iniquities and visit their
offences. Prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, and
there shall be no famine among you, but our Lord shall give true
peace unto you in this place. And our Lord hath said unto me, The
prophets do falsely foretell in my name; I have not sent them, nor
laid my commandment on them; they prophesy unto you a dying
vision, and divination together with deceitfulness, and the
seducement of their own hearts. And therefore thus saith our Lord:
In sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed; and the
people to whom they have prophesied shall by means of the famine
and sword be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there
shall be none to bury them."

82. And moreover: "Woe be to the pastors who destroy and rend in
pieces the flock of my pasture, saith our Lord. Thus, therefore,
saith our Lord God of Israel, unto the pastors who guide my
people, Ye have dispersed my flock, and cast them forth, and not
visited them. Behold I will visit upon you the malice of your
endeavours, saith our Lord. For the prophet and the priest are
both defiled, and in my house have I found their evil, saith our
Lord, and therefore shall their way be as a slippery place in the
dark, for they shall be thrust forward, and fall down together
therein, for I will bring evils upon them, the year of their
visitation, saith our Lord. And in the prophets of Samaria I have
seen foolishness, and they did prophesy in Baal, and deceived my
people Israel, and in the prophets of Jerusalem, have I seen the
like resemblance, adultery, and the way of lying, and they have
comforted the hands of the vilest offenders, that every man may
not be converted from his malice: they have been all made to me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as those of Gomorrha. Thus,
therefore, saith our Lord to the prophets: Behold, I will give
them wormwood for their food, and gall for their drink. For there
hath passed from the prophet of Jerusalem pollution over the whole
earth. Thus saith our Lord of hosts, Listen not to the words of
prophets, who prophesy unto you, and deceive you, for they speak
the vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of our Lord.
For they say unto those who blaspheme me, Our Lord hath spoken,
peace shall be unto you; and to all that walk in the wickedness of
their own hearts, they have said, evil shall not fall upon them.
For who was present in the counsel of our Lord, and hath seen and
heard his speech, who hath considered of his word, and hearkened
thereunto? Behold, the whirlwind of the indignation of our Lord
passeth out, and a tempest breaking forth, shall fall upon the
heads of the wicked; the fury of our Lord shall not return, until
the time that he worketh, and until he fulfilleth the cogitation
of his heart. In the last days of all shall ye understand his
counsel."

83. And little also do ye conceive and put in execution that which
the holy prophet Joel hath likewise spoken in admonishment of
slothful priests, and lamentation of the people's suffering for
their iniquities, saying: "Awake, ye who are drunk, from your
wine, and weep and bewail ye all, who have drunk wine even to
drunkenness, because joy and delight are taken away from your
mouths. Mourn, ye priests, who serve the altar, because the fields
have been made miserable. Let the earth mourn, because corn hath
become miserable, and wine been dried up, oil diminished, and
husbandmen withered away. Lament ye possessions, in regard of
wheat and barley, because the vintage hath perished out of the
field, the vine withered up, the figs diminished; the
pomegranates, and palm, and apple, and all trees of the field are
withered away, in respect that the children of men have confounded
their joy." All which things are spiritually to be understood by
you, that your souls may not wither away with so pestilent a
famine, for want of the word of God. And again, "Weep out ye
priests, who serve our Lord, saying, Spare, O Lord, thy people,
and give not over thine inheritance unto reproach, and let not
nations hold dominion over them, that Gentiles may not say, Where
is their God?" And yet ye yield not your ears unto these sayings,
but admit of all matters by which the indignation of God's fury is
more vehemently inflamed.

84. With diligence also attend ye what holy Hosea the prophet hath
spoken unto priests of your behaviour. "Hear these words, O ye
priests, and let the house of Israel, together with the king's
house, mark them; fasten ye them in your ears, for unto you
pertaineth judgment, because ye are made an entangling snare to
the espying watch, and as a net stretched over the toils which the
followers of hunting have framed."

85. To you also may this kind of alienation from our Lord be meant
by the prophet Amos, saying, "I have hated and rejected your
festival days, and I will not receive the savour in your solemn
assemblies, because albeit ye offer your burnt sacrifices and
hosts, I will not accept them, and I will not cast mine eye on the
vows of your declaration. Take away from me the sound of your
songs, and the psalm of your organs I will not hear." For the
famine of the evangelical meat consuming, in your abundance of
victuals, the very bowels of your souls, rageth violently within
you, according as the aforesaid prophet hath foretold, saying,
"Behold, the days shall come, saith our Lord, and I will send out
a famine upon the earth; not the famine of bread, nor the thirst
of water, but a famine in hearing the word of God, and the waters
shall be moved from sea to sea, and they shall run over from the
north even unto the east, seeking the word of our Lord, and shall
not find it."

86. Let holy Micah also pierce your ears, who like a heavenly
trumpet soundeth loudly forth against the deceitful princes of the
people, saying, "Hearken now ye princes of the house of Jacob, Is
it not for you to know judgment, who hate goodness, and seek after
mischief, who pluck their skins from off men, and their flesh from
their bones? Even as they have eaten the flesh of my people, and
flayed their skins from them, broken their bones to pieces, and
hewed them small as meat to the pot, they shall cry to God, and he
will not hear them, and in that season turn his face away from
them, even as they before have wickedly behaved themselves in
their inventions. Thus speaketh our Lord of the prophets who
seduce my people, who bite with their teeth, and preach against
them peace, and if a man giveth nothing to stop their mouths, they
raise and sanctify a war upon him. Night shall therefore be unto
you in place of a vision, and darkness unto you in lieu of
divination, and the sun shall set upon your prophets, and the day
shall wax dark upon them, and seeing dreams they shall be
confounded, and the diviners shall be derided, and they shall
speak ill against all men, because there shall not be any one that
will hear them, but that I myself shall do mine uttermost and
strongest endeavour in the spirit of our Lord, in judgment and in
power, that I may declare unto the house of Jacob their impieties,
and to Israel their offences. Hearken, therefore, unto these
words, ye captains of the house of Jacob, and ye remnants of the
house of Israel, who abhor judgment, and overthrow all
righteousness, who build up Sion in blood, and Jerusalem in
iniquities: her rulers did judge for rewards, and her priests
answered for hire, and her prophets did for money divine, and
rested on our Lord, saying, And is not the Lord among us? Evils
shall not fall upon us. For your cause, therefore, shall Sion be
ploughed up as a field, and Jerusalem as the watch-house of a
garden, and the mountain of the house as the place of a woody
wilderness." And after some words ensuing: "Woe is me for that I
am become as he that gathereth stubble in the harvest, and a
cluster of grapes in the vintage, when the principal branch is not
left to be eaten. Woe is me that a soul hath perished through
earthly actions, the reverence of sinners ariseth even with
reverence from the earth, and he appeareth not that shall use
correction among men. All contend in judgment for blood, and every
one with tribulation afflicteth his neighbour, for mischief he
prepareth his hands.

87. Listen ye likewise how the famous prophet Zephaniah debated
also in times past, concerning your revellers (for he spake of
Jerusalem, which is spiritually to be understood the church or the
soul), saying, "O the city that was beautiful and set at liberty,
the confiding dove hath not hearkened to the voice, nor yet
entertained discipline, she hath not trusted in our Lord, and to
her God she hath not approached." And he showeth the reason why,
"Her princes have been like unto roaring lions, her judges as
wolves of Arabia did not leave towards the morning, her prophets
carrying the spirit of a contemptuous despising man; her priests
did profane what was holy, and dealt wickedly in the law, but our
Lord is upright in the midst of his people, and in the morning he
will not do injustice, in the morning will he give his judgment."

88. But hear ye also blessed Zachariah the prophet, in the word of
God, admonishing you: "For thus saith our Almighty Lord, Judge ye
righteous judgment, and work ye every one towards his brother
mercy and pity, and hurt ye not through your power the widow, or
orphan, or stranger, or poor man, and let not any man remember in
his heart the malice of his brother; and they have been stubborn
not to observe these, and have yielded their backs to foolishness,
and made heavy their ears that they might not hearken, and framed
their hearts not to be persuaded that they might not listen to my
law and words, which our Almighty Lord hath sent in his Spirit,
through the hands of his former prophets, and mighty wrath hath
been raised by our Almighty Lord." And again; "Because they who
have spoken, have spoken molestations, and diviners have uttered
false visions and deceitfu1 dreams, and given vain consolations;
in respect hereof they are made as dry as sheep, and are afflicted
because no health was to be found; my wrath is heaped upon the
shepherds, and upon the lambs will I visit." And within a few
words after: "The voice of lamenting pastors, because their
greatness is become miserable. The voice of roaring lions, because
the fall of Jordan is become miserable: thus saith our Almighty
Lord: They who possessed have murdered, and yet hath it not
repented them, and they who sold them, have said, Our Lord is
blessed and we have been enriched, and their pastors have suffered
nothing concerning them. For which I will now bear no sparing hand
over the inhabitants of the earth, saith our Lord."

89. Hear ye moreover what the holy prophet Malachi denounceth unto
you, saying: "Ye priests who despise my name, and have said:
Wherein do we despise thy name? in offering on mine altar polluted
bread: and ye have said; Wherein have we polluted it? In that ye
have said: The table of our Lord is as nothing, and have despised
such things as have been placed thereon; because if ye bring what
is blind for an offering, is it not evil? If ye set and apply what
if lame or languishing, is it not evil? Offer therefore the same
unto thy governor, if he will receive it, if he will accept of thy
person, saith our Almighty Lord. And now do ye humbly pray before
the countenance of your God, and earnestly beseech him (for in
your hands have these things been committed) if happily he will
accept of your persons." And again: "And out of your ravenous
theft ye have brought in the lame and languishing, and brought it
in as an offering. Shall I receive the same at your hands, saith
our Lord? Accursed is the deceitful man who hath in his flock one
of the male kind and yet making his vow offereth the feeble unto
our Lord, because I am a mighty king, saith our Lord of hosts, and
my name is terrible among the Gentiles. And now unto you
appertaineth this commandment, O ye priests, if ye will not hear,
and resolve in your hearts to yield glory unto my name, saith our
Lord of hosts, I will send upon you poverty, and accurse your
blessings, because ye have not settled these things on your
hearts. Behold I will stretch out my arm over ye, and disperse
upon your countenances the dung of your solemnities." But that ye
may in the meantime, with more zeal prepare your organs and
instruments of mischief, to be converted into goodness, hearken ye
(if there remain ever so little disposition to listen in your
hearts) what he speaketh of a holy priest, saying "My covenant of
life and peace was with him (for historically he did speak of Levi
and Moses): I gave fear unto him, and he was timorous of me, he
dreaded before the countenance of my name; the law of truth was in
his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips, he walked with
me in peace and equity, and turned many away from unrighteousness.
For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and from out of
his mouth they shall require the law, because he is the Angel of
our Lord of hosts." And now again he changeth his style, and
ceaseth not to rebuke and reprove the unrighteous, saying: "Ye
have departed from the way, and scandalized many in the law, and
made void my covenant with Levi, saith our Lord of hosts. In
regard whereof I have also given you over as contemptible and
abject among my people, according as ye have not observed my ways,
and accepted countenance of men in the law. What, is there not one
Father of us all? What, hath not one God created us? Why therefore
doth every one despise his brother?" And again, "Behold our Lord
of hosts will come, and who can conceive the day of his coming,
and who shall endure to stand to behold him? For he shall pass
forth as a burning fire, and as the fuller's herb, and shall sit
melting and trying silver, and ye shall purge the sons of Levi,
and cleanse them as gold and as silver." And somewhat afterwards:
"Your words have grown strong against me, saith our Lord, and ye
have spoken thus: He is vain who serveth God, and what profit
because we have kept his commandments, and walked sorrowfully
before our Lord of hosts. We shall therefore now call the arrogant
blessed, for because they are erected and builded up, while they
work iniquity, they have tempted God, and are made safe."

90. But hear ye also what Ezechiel the prophet hath spoken,
saying, "Woe upon woe shall come, and messenger upon messenger
shall be, and the vision shall be sought for of the prophet, and
the law shall perish from the priests, and counsel from the
elders." And again: "Thus saith our Lord: In respect that your
speeches are lying, and your divinations vain. For this cause,
behold, I will come unto you, saith our Lord; I will stretch out
my hand on your prophets, who see lies, and them who speak vain
things; in the discipline of my people they shall not be, and in
the Scripture of the house of Israel, they shall not be written,
and into the land of Israel they shall not enter, and ye shall
know that I am the Lord, because they have seduced my people,
saying, The peace of our Lord, and there is not the peace of our
Lord. Here have they built the wall, and they anointed it, and it
shall fall." And within some words afterwards: "Woe be unto these
who fashion pillows, apt for every elbow of the hand, and make
veils upon every head of all ages to the subversion of souls, and
the souls of my people are subverted, and they possess their
souls, and contaminated me unto my people for a handful of barley,
and a piece of bread to the slaughter of the souls, whom it
behoved not to die, and to the delivery of the souls, that were
not fit to live, while ye talk unto my people that listeneth after
vain speeches." And afterwards: "Say, thou son of man, thou art
earth which is not watered with rain, neither yet hath rain fallen
upon thee in the day of wrath, in which thy princes were in the
midst of thee as roaring lions, ravening on their prey, devouring
souls in their potent might, and receiving rewards, and thy widows
were multiplied in the midst of thee, and her priests have
despised my law, and defiled my holy things. Between holy and
polluted, they did not distinguish, and divided not equally
between the unclean and clean, and from my sabbaths they veiled
their eyes, and in the midst of them they defiled."

91. And again: " And I sought among them a man of upright
conversation, and one who should altogether stand before my face,
to prevent the times that might fall upon the earth, that I should
not in the end utterly destroy it, and I found him not. And I
poured out upon it, the whole design of my mind, in the fire of my
wrath for the consuming of them: I repaid their ways on their
heads, saith our Lord." And somewhat after: "And the word of our
Lord was spoken unto me, saying: O son of man, speak to the
children of my people, and they shalt say unto them: The land
whereupon I shall bring my sword, and the people of the land shall
take some one man among them, and ordain him to be a watchman over
them, and he shall espy the sword coming upon the land, and sound
with his trumpet, and signify unto the people, whoso truly shall
then hear the sound of the trumpet, and yet hearing shall not
beware: and the sword shall come and catch him, his blood shall
light upon his own head, because when he heard the sound of the
trumpet, he was not watchful, his blood shall be upon him, and
this man, for that he hath preserved his own soul, hath delivered
himself. But the watchman if he shall see the sword coming, and
not give notice with his trumpet, and the people shall not be
aware, and the sword coming shall take away a soul from among
them, both tile soul itself is caught a captive for her
iniquities, and I will also require her blood at the hand of the
watchman. And thou, O son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman
over the house of Israel, and if thou shalt hear the word from out
of my mouth, when I shall say to a sinner, Thou shalt die the
death, and yet wilt not speak whereby the wicked may return from
his way: both the unjust himself shall die in his iniquity, and
truly I will require his blood also at thy hands. But if thou
shalt forewarn the wicked of his way, that he may avoid the same,
and he nevertheless will not withdraw himself from his course,
this man shall die in his impiety, and thou hast preserved thine
own soul."

92. And so let these few among a multitude of prophetical
testimonies suffice, by which the pride or sloth of our stubborn
priests may be repelled, to the end they may not suppose that we
act rather of our own invention, but by the authority of the laws,
and saints, denounce such threats against them. And now let us
also behold what the trumpet of the gospel, sounding to the whole
world, speaketh likewise to disordered priests; for as we have
often said, this our discource tendeth not to treat of them, who
obtain lawfully the apostolical seat, and such as rightly and
skilfully understand how to dispose of their spiritual food (in
time convenient) unto their fellow servants, if yet at this time
there remain any great number of these in this our country; but we
only talk of ignorant and unexpert shepherds, who leave their
flock, and feed on vain matters, and have not the words of a
learned pastor. And therefore it is an evident token that he is
not a lawful pastor, yea not an ordinary Christian, who rejecteth
and denieth these sayings, which are not so much ours (who of
ourselves are very little worth), as the decrees of the Old and
New Testament, even as one of ours right well doth say, "We do
exceedingly desire that the enemies of the church should also,
without any manner of truce be our adversaries: and that the
friends and defenders thereof should not only be accounted our
confederates, but also our fathers and governors." For let every
one, with true examination, call his own conscience unto account,
and so shall he easily find, whether according to true reason he
possesseth his priestly chair or no. Let us see, I say, what the
Saviour and Creator of the world hath spoken. "Ye are," saith he,
"the salt of the earth, if that the salt vanisheth away, wherein
shall it be salted? it prevaileth to no purpose any farther, but
that it be cast out of doors, and trampled under the feet of men."

93. This only testimony might abundantly suffice to confute all
such as are impudent; but that it may be yet, by the words of
Christ, more evidently proved with what intolerable bonds of
crimes these false priests entangle and oppress themselves, some
other sayings are also to be adjoined; for it followeth: "Ye are
the light of the world. A city placed on a mountain cannot be hid:
neither do they light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but
upon a candlestick, that it may shine unto all who are in the
house." What priest therefore of this fashion and time, who is so
possessed with the blindness of ignorance, doth, as the light of a
most bright candle, shine with the lamp of learning and good
works, in any house, to all that sit in the darksome night? What
one is so accounted a safe public and conspicuous refuge, to all
the children universally of the church, that he may be to his
countrymen a defensible and strong city, situated on the top of a
high mountain? Moreover, which one of them can accomplish one day
together, that which followeth: "Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
who is in heaven:" since rather a certain most obscure cloud of
theirs, and the black night of offences, hang over the island, in
such a manner, that they all turn almost away from the righteous
course, and make them to wander astray through unpassable and
cumbersome paths of wickedness, and so their heavenly Father is
not only by their works not magnified, but also by the same
intolerably blasphemed. These testimonies of holy scripture, which
are either already cited, or hereafter to be intermixed in this
epistle, I would gladly wish to interpret in some historical or
moral sense, as far as my meanness would allow.

94. But for fear lest this our little work should be immeasurably
tedious unto those who despise, loathe, and disdain, not so much
our speeches as God's sayings, I have already alleged, and mean
hereafter to affirm these sentences plainly without any
circumstance. And to proceed, within a few words after: "For
whoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and so
instruct men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven."
And again: "Judge ye not that ye may not be judged; for in what
judgment ye shall judge, ye shall be judged." And which one, I
pray you, of your company will regard this same that followeth:
"But why cost thou see," saith he, "the mote in thy brother's eye,
and considerest not the beam in thine own eye? or how dost thou
say to thy brother, suffer me to cast the mote out of thine eye,
and behold the beam remaineth still in thine own eye?" Or this
which follows: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither yet
shall ye cast your pearls before swine, lest perchance they tread
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you," which hath
often befallen you. And, admonishing the people, that they should
not by deceitful doctors, such as ye, be seduced, he saith: "Keep
yourselves carefully from false prophets, who come unto you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves: by their fruit
shall ye know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? So every good tree beareth good fruit, and the evil,
evil fruit." And somewhat afterward: "Not every one who saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but whoso
doeth the will of my Father that is in heaven, he shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven."

95. And what shall then become of you, who, as the prophet hath
said, believe God only with your lips, and do not adhere to him
with your hearts? And how do ye fulfil that which followeth:
"Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves?" Whereas
you act quite contrariwise, and proceed as wolves against a flock
of sheep: or the other following sentence: "Be ye wise as serpents
and simple as doves?" since ye are only wise to bite others with
your deadly mouths, and not, with the interposition of your whole
body, to defend your head, which is Christ, whom with all the
endeavours of your evil actions you tread under foot; neither yet
have ye the simplicity of doves, but the resemblance rather of the
black crow, which taking her flight out of the ark, that is, the
church of God, and finding the carrion of earthly pleasures, did
never with a pure return back thither again. But let us look on
the rest. "Fear not," saith he, "them who kill the body, but are
not able to slay the soul; but fear him who can overthrow both
soul and body in hell." Revolve in your minds which of these ye
have performed? And what one of you is not wounded in the very
secrets of his heart, by this testimony following, which our
Saviour uttereth unto his apostles, of evil prelates, saying, "Do
ye suffer them, the blind leaders of the blind, but if the blind
be a guide to the blind, both shall fall into the ditch?" But the
people doubtless whom ye have governed, or rather beguiled, have
just occasion to listen hereunto.

96. Mark ye also the words of our Lord speaking unto his apostles,
and to the people, which words likewise (as I hear) ye yourselves
are not ashamed to pronounce often in public: "Upon the chair of
Moses have the scribes and pharisees sat, observe ye therefore and
accomplish all that they shall speak unto you, but do not
according to their works. For they only speak, but of themselves
do nothing." It is truly to priests a dangerous and superfluous
doctrine, which is overclouded with sinful actions. "Woe be unto
you, hypocrites, who shut up the kingdom of heaven before men, and
neither yourselves enter in, nor yet suffer those that would to
enter in. "For ye shall with horrible pains be tormented, not only
in respect of your great offences, which ye heap up for punishment
in the world to come, but also in regard of those who daily perish
through your bad example, whose blood in the day of judgment shall
be required at your hands.

Yield ye also diligent attention unto the misery, which the
parable setteth before your eyes, that is spoken of the servant,
who saith in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming," and upon
this occasion, perchance, "hath begun to strike his fellow
servants, eating and drinking with drunkards. The Lord of the same
servant, therefore, saith he, will come on a day when he doth not
expect him, and in an hour whereof he is ignorant, and will divide
him, away from his holy priests, and will place his portion with
the hypocrites (that is, with them who under the presence of
priesthood do conceal much iniquity), affirming that there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth;" such as they have not
experienced in this present life, either for the daily ruin of the
children of our holy mother church, or for the desire of the
kingdom of heaven.

97. But let us see what Paul, the true scholar of Christ, and
master of the Gentiles, who is a mirror of every ecclesiastical
doctor, "Even as I am the disciple of Christ," speaketh about a
work of such importance in his first epistle on this wise:
"Because when they have known God, they have not magnified him as
God, or given thanks unto him; but vanished in their own
cogitations, and their foolish heart is blinded; affirming
themselves to be wise, they are made fools." Although this seemeth
to be spoken unto the Gentiles, look into it notwithstanding,
because it may conveniently be applied to the priests and people
of this age. And after a few words, "Who have changed," saith he,
"the truth of God into lying, and have reverenced and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever;
therefore hath God given them over unto passions of ignominy." And
again, "And even as they have not approved themselves to have God
in their knowledge, so God hath yielded them up to a reprobate
sense, that they may do such things as are not convenient, being
replenished with all iniquity, malice, uncleanness of life,
fornication, covetousness, naughtiness, full of envy murder (i.e.
of the souls of the people), contention, deceit, wickedness,
backbiters, detractors, hateful to God, spiteful, proud, puffed
up, devisers of mischief, disobedient to their parents, senseless,
disordered, without mercy, without affection, who, when they had
known the justice of God, understood not that they who commit such
things, are worthy of death.

98. And now what one of the aforesaid sort hath indeed been void
of all these? And if he were, yet perhaps he may be caught in the
sense of the ensuing sentence, wherein he saith: "Not only those
who do these things, but those also who consent unto them," for
none of them truly are free from this wickedness. And afterwards,
"But thou, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, cost
lay up for thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation
of the just judgment of God, who will yield unto every one
according unto his works." And again, "For there is no acceptation
of persons with God. For whosoever have offended without the law,
shall also without the law perish; whosoever have offended in the
law, shall by the law be judged. For the hearers of the law shall
not with God be accounted just, but the doers of the law shall be
justified." How severe a sentence shall they therefore sustain,
who not only leave undone what they ought to accomplish, and
forbear not what they are forbidden, but also flee away from the
very hearing of the word of God, as from a serpent, though lightly
sounding in their ears.

99. But let us pass over to that which followeth to this effect:
"What shall we therefore say, shall we continue still in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid, for we who are dead to sin, how
shall we again live in the same?" And somewhat afterwards, "Who
shall separate us," saith he, "from the love of Christ,
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or danger, or the sword?" What one, I pray you, of all you, shall
with such an affection be possessed in the inward secret of his
heart, since ye do not only labour for achieving of piety, but
also endure many things for the working of impiety, and offending
of Christ? Or who hath respected this that followeth? "The night
hath passed, and the day approached. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and put on the armour of light, even as in the
day: let us honestly walk, not in banqueting, and drunkenness, not
in couches, and wantonness, not in contention, and emulation; but
put ye on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no care to bestow your
flesh in concupiscences."

100. And again, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, he saith:
"As a wise workmaster have I laid the foundation, another buildeth
thereupon, but let every man consider how he buildeth thereon. For
no other man can lay any other foundation besides that which is
laid, even Christ Jesus. But if any man buildeth upon this, gold,
and silver, precious stones, hay, wood, stubble, every one's work
shall be manifest; for the day of our Lord shall declare the same,
because it shall be revealed in fire, and the fire shall prove
what every man's work is. If any man's work shall remain, all by
the fire shall be adjudged. Whoso shall build thereupon, shall
receive reward. If any man's work shall burn, he shall suffer
detriment. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple
of God, God will destroy him." And again, "If any man seemeth to
be wise among you in this world, let him be made a fool that he
may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God." And within a few words afterwards, "Your glorying is not
good. Know ye not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole mass?
Purge ye, therefore, the old leaven that ye may be a new
sprinkling." How shall the old leaven, which is sin, be purged
away, that from day to day with your uttermost endeavours is
increased? And yet again, "I have written unto you in mine
epistle, that ye be not intermingled with fornicators, not truly
the fornicators of this world, or the avaricious, ravenous, or
idolatrous, otherwise ye ought to depart out of this world. But
now have I written unto you, that ye be not intermingled, if any
one is named a brother, and be a fornicator, or avaricious, or an
idolator, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or ravenous, with such an
one ye should not so much as eat." But a felon condemneth not his
fellow thief for stealing, or other open robbery, whom he rather
liketh, defendeth, and loveth, as a companion of his offence.

101. Also in his second epistle unto the Corinthians; "Having
therefore," saith he, "this administration, according as we have
obtained mercy, let us not fail, but let us cast away the secrets
of shame, not walking in subtility, nor yet corrupting the word of
God," (that is, by evil example and flattery.) And in that which
followeth, he thus discourseth of wicked teachers, saying: "For
such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transfiguring
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan
himself transfigureth himself into an angel of light. It is not
much therefore if his ministers are transfigured as ministers of
justice, whose end will be according unto their works."

102. Hear likewise what he speaketh unto the Ephesians; and
consider if ye find not your consciences attainted as culpable of
this that followeth? where he denounceth thus: "I say and testify
this in our Lord, that ye do not as now walk like the Gentiles in
the vanity of their own sense, having their understanding obscured
with darkness, alienated from the way of God, through ignorance,
which remaineth in them in regard of the blindness of their heart,
who despairing, have yielded themselves over to uncleanness of
life, for the working of all filthiness and avarice." And which of
ye hath willingly fulfilled that which next ensueth? "Therefore be
ye not made unwise, but understanding what is the will of God, and
be ye not drunk with wine, wherein there is riotousness, but be ye
fulfilled with the Holy Ghost."

103. Or that which he saith to the Thessalonians. "For neither
have we been with you at any time in the, speech of flattery, as
yourselves do know; neither upon occasion of avarice, neither
seeking to be glorified by men, neither by you, nor any others,
when we might be honoured, as other apostles of Christ. But we
have been made as little ones in the midst of you; or even as the
nurse cherisheth her small tender children, so desiring you, we
would very gladly deliver unto you, not only the gospel, but also
our very lives." If in all things ye retained this affection of
the apostle, then might ye be likewise assured, that ye lawfully
possessed his chair. Or how have ye observed this that followeth?
"Ye know," saith he, "what precepts I have delivered unto you.
This is the will of our Lord, your sanctification, that ye abstain
from fornication; and that every one of you know how to possess
his own vessel, in honour and sanctification, not in the passion
of desire, like the Gentiles who are ignorant of God; and that
none of you do encroach upon or circumvent his brother in his
business, because our Lord is the revenger of all these. For God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification.
Therefore whoso despiseth these, doth not despise man, but God."
What one also among you hath advisedly and warily kept this that
ensueth: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth,
fornication, uncleanness of life, lust, and evil concupiscence,
for which the wrath of God hath come upon the children of
diffidence?" Ye perceive therefore upon what offences the wrath of
God doth chiefly arise.

104. In which respect hear likewise what the same holy apostle,
with a prophetical spirit, foretelleth of you, and such as
yourselves, writing plainly in this sort to Timothy: "For know you
this, that in the last days there shall be dangerous times at
hand. For men shall be self-lovers, covetous, puffed up, proud,
blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, wicked,
without affection, incontinent, unmeek, without benignity,
betrayers, froward, lofty, rather lovers of sensual pleasures,
than of God, having a show of piety, but renouncing the virtue
thereof." Avoid thou these men, even as the prophet saith: "I have
hated the congregation of the malicious, and with the wicked I
will not sit." And a little after, he uttereth that (which in our
age we behold to increase), saying: "Ever learning, and never
attaining unto the knowledge of truth; for even as Jannes and
Mambres resisted Moses, so do these also withstand the truth: men
corrupted in mind, reprobate against faith, but they shall prosper
no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all, as theirs
likewise was."

105. And evidently doth he also declare how priests in their
office ought to behave themselves, writing thus to Titus: "Show
thyself an example of good works, in learning, in integrity, in
gravity, having thy word sound without offence, that he who
standeth on the adverse part may be afraid, having no evil to
speak of us." And moreover he saith unto Timothy, "Labour thou as
a good soldier of Christ Jesus; no man fighting in God's quarrel
entangleth himself in worldly business, that he may please him
unto whom he hath approved himself; for whoso striveth in the
lists for the mastery, receiveth not the crown, unless he hath
lawfully contended." This is his exhortation to the good. Other
matter also which the same epistles contain, is a threatening
advertisement to the wicked (such as yourselves, in the judgment
of all understanding persons, appear to be). "If any one," saith
he, "teacheth otherwise, and doth not peaceably assent to the
sound sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that doctrine which is
according to piety, he is proud, having no knowledge, but
languishing about questions, and contentions of words, out of
which do spring envies, debates, blasphemies, evil suspicions,
conflicts of men corrupted in mind, who are deprived of truth,
esteeming commodity to be piety."

106. But why in using these testimonies, here and there dispersed,
are we any longer, as it were, tossed up and down in the silly
boat of our simple understanding, on the waves of sundry
interpretations? We have now therefore at length thought it
necessary to have recourse to those lessons, which are gathered
out of Holy Scriptures, to the end that they should not only be
rehearsed, but also be assenting and assisting unto the
benediction, wherewith the hands of priests, and others of
inferior sacred orders, are first consecrated, and that thereby
they may continually be warned never, by degenerating from their
priestly dignity, to digress from the commandments, which are
faithfully contained in the same; so as it may be plain and
apparent unto all, that everlasting torments are reserved for
them, and that they are not priests, or the servants of God, who
do not with their utmost power follow and fulfil the instructions
and precepts. Wherefore let us hear what the prince of the
apostles, Saint Peter, hath signified about this so weighty a
matter, saying: "Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who through his mercy hath regenerated us into the hope of
eternal life, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead, into an inheritance which can never corrupt, never
wither, neither be defiled, preserved in heaven for you, who are
kept in the virtue of God;" why then do ye fondly violate such an
inheritance, which is not as an earthly one, transitory, but
immortal and eternal? And somewhat afterwards: "For which cause be
ye girded in the loins of your mind, sober, perfectly hoping in
that grace which is offered to you in the revelation of Jesus
Christ: "examine ye now the depths of your hearts, whether ye be
sober and do perfectly preserve the grace of priesthood, which
shall be duly discussed and decided in the revelation of our Lord.
And again he saith: "As children of the benediction, not
configuring yourselves to those former desires of your ignorance;
but according unto him who hath called you holy, be ye also holy
in all conversation. For which cause it is written, Be ye holy,
because I am holy." Which one of you, I pray, hath with his whole
mind so pursued sanctity, that he hath earnestly hastened, as much
as in him lay, to fulfil the same? But let us behold what in the
second lesson of the same apostle is contained: "My dearest,"
saith he, "sanctify your souls for the obedience of faith, through
the Spirit, in charity, in brotherhood, loving one another out of
a true heart perpetually, as born again not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, through the word of God, living and
remaining for ever."

107. These are truly the commandments of the apostle; and read in
the day of your ordination, to the end ye should inviolably
observe the same, but they are not fulfilled by you in discretion
and judgment, nay not so much as duly considered or understood.
And afterwards: "Laying therefore aside all malice, and all
deceits, and dissemblings, envy, and detractions, as infants newly
born, reasonable and without guile covet ye milk, that ye may
thereby grow to salvation, because our Lord is sweet." Consider ye
also in your minds, if these sayings which have sounded in your
deaf ears have not often likewise been trodden by you under foot:
and again: "Ye truly are the chosen lineage, the royal priesthood,
tile holy nation, the people for adoption, that ye may declare his
virtues who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light." But truly by you are not only the virtues of God not
declared and made more glorious, but also through your wicked
examples are they (by such as have not perfect belief) despised.
Ye have perchance at the same time likewise heard, what is read in
the lesson of the Acts, on this wise: "Peter arising in the midst
of the disciples said: Men and brethren, it is expedient that the
Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost hath by the mouth of
David foretold of Judas." And a little after: "This man therefore
purchased a field, of the reward of iniquity." This have ye heard
with a careless or rather blockish heart, as though the reading
thereof nothing at all appertained unto yourselves. What one of
you (I pray you) doth not seek the field of the reward of
iniquity? For Judas robbed and pillaged the purse, and ye spoil
and waste the sacred gifts and treasures of the church, together
with the souls of her children. He went to the Jews to make a
market of God, ye pass to the tyrants, and their father the devil,
that ye may despise Christ. He set to sale the Saviour of the
world for thirty pence, and you do so even for one poor
half-penny.

108. What need many words? The example of Matthias is apparently
laid before you for your confusion, who was chosen into his place,
not by his own proper will, but by the election of the holy
apostles, or rather the judgment of Christ, whereat ye being
blinded, do not perceive how far ye run astray from his merits,
while ye fall wilfully and headlong into the manners and affection
of Judas the traitor. It is therefore manifest that he who
wittingly from his heart termeth you priests, is not himself a
true and worthy Christian. And now I will assuredly speak what I
think: this reprehension might have been framed after a milder
fashion, but what availeth it to touch only with the hand, or
dress with gentle ointment, that wound which with imposthumation
or stinking corruption is now grown so horrible, that it requireth
the searing iron, or the ordinary help of the fire, if happily by
any means it may be cured, the diseased in the meanwhile not
seeking a medicine, and the physician much erring from a rightful
remedy? O ye enemies of God, and not priests! O ye traders of
wickedness, and not bishops! O ye betrayers, and not successors of
the holy apostles! O ye adversaries, and not servants of Christ!
Ye have certainly heard at the least, the sound of the words,
which are in the second lesson taken out of the apostle Saint
Paul, although ye have no way observed the admonitions and virtue
of them, but even as statues (that neither see nor hear) stood
that day at the altar, while both then, and continually since he
hath thundered in your ears, saying: "Brethren, it is a faithful
speech, and worthy of all acceptance." He called it faithful and
worthy, but ye have despised it as unfaithful and unworthy. "If
any man desireth a bishopric, he desireth a good work." Ye do
mightily covet a bishopric in respect of avarice, but not for
spiritual convenience and for the good work which is suitable to
the place, ye want it. "It behoveth therefore such a one to be
free from all cause of reprehension." At this saying we have more
need to shed tears than utter words; for it is as much as if the
apostle had said, he ought to be of all others most free from
occasion of rebuke. "The husband of one wife," which is likewise
so condemned among us, as if that word had never proceeded from
him; "Sober, wise;" yea, which of ye hath once desired to have
these virtues engrafted in him, "using hospitality." For this, if
perchance it hath been found among you, yet being nevertheless
rather done to purchase the favour of the people, than to
accomplish the commandment, it is of no avail, our Lord and
Saviour saying thus: "Verily, I say unto you, they have received
their reward." Moreover, "A man adorned, not given to wine; no
fighter, but modest; not contentious, not covetous:" O lamentable
change! O horrible contempt of the heavenly commandments! And do
ye not continually use the force of your words and actions, for
the overthrowing or rather overwhelming of these, for whose
defence and confirmation, if need had required, ye ought to have
suffered pains, yea, and to have lost your very lives.

109. But let us see what followeth: "Well governing," saith he,
"his house, having his children subjected with all chastity."
Imperfect therefore is the chastity of the parents, if the
children be not also endued with the same. But how shall it be,
where neither the father, nor the son, depraved by the example of
his evil parent, is found to be chaste? "But if any one knoweth
not how to rule over his own house, how shall he employ his care
over the church of God?" These are the words, that with apparent
effects, should be made good and approved. "Deacons in like
manner, that they should be chaste, not doubled tongued, not
overgiven to much wine, not followers of filthy gain having the
mystery of faith in a preconseience, and let these also be first
approved, and so let them administer, having no offence." And now
trembling truly to make any longer stay on these matters, I can
for a conclusion affirm one thing certainly, which is, that all
these are changed into contrary actions, in so much that clerks
(which not without grief of heart, I here confess,) are shameless
and deceitful in their speeches, given to drinking, covetous of
filthy lucre, having faith (or to say more truly) unfaithfulness
in an impure conscience, ministering not upon probation of their
good works, but upon foreknowledge of their evil actions, and
being thus defiled with innumerable offences, they are
notwithstanding admitted unto the holy office; ye have likewise
heard on the same day (wherein ye should with far more right and
reason have been drawn to prison or punishment, than preferred
unto priesthood) when our Lord demanded whom his disciples
supposed him to be, how Peter answered, "Thou art Christ, the Son
of the living God;" and our Lord in respect of such his
confession, said unto him: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonas,
because flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father who is in heaven." Peter therefore, instructed by God the
Father, did rightly confess Christ; but ye being taught by the
devil your father, do, with your lewd actions, wickedly deny our
Saviour. It is said to the true priest, "Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock will I build my church:" but ye resembled "the foolish
man, who hath builded his house upon the sand." And verily it is
to be noted, that God joineth not in the workmanship with the
unwise, when they build their house upon the deceitful uncertainty
of the sands, according unto that saying: "They have made kings
unto themselves, and not by me." Similarly that (which followeth)
soundeth in like sort, speaking thus: "And the gates of hell
(whereby infernal sins are to be understood) shall not prevail."
But of your frail and deadly frame, mark what is pronounced: "The
floods came, and the winds blew, and dashed upon that house and it
fell, and great was the ruin thereof." To Peter and his
successors, our Lord doth say, "And I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven." But unto you, "I know you not, depart
from me all ye workers of iniquity," that being separated with the
goats of the left hand, ye may together with them go into eternal
fire. It is also promised unto every good priest, "Whatsoever thou
shalt loose upon earth, shall be likewise loosed in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be in like sort bound
in heaven." But how shall ye loose any thing, that it may be
loosed also in heaven, since yourselves for your sins are severed
from heaven, and hampered in the bands of your own heinous
offences, as Solomon saith, "With the cords of his sins, every one
is tied?" And with what reason shall ye bind any thing on this
earth, that above this world may be likewise bound, unless it be
your only selves, who, entangled in your iniquities, are so
detained on this earth, that ye cannot ascend into heaven, but
without your conversion unto our Lord in this life, will fall down
into the miserable prison of hell?

110. Neither yet let any priest flatter himself upon the
knowledge of the particular cleanness of his own body, since their
souls (over whom he hath government) shall in the day of judgment
be required at his hands as the murderer of them, if any through
his ignorance, sloth, or fawning adulation, have perished, because
the stroke of death is not less terrible, that is given by a good
man, than that which is inflicted by an evil person; otherwise
would the apostle never have said that which he left unto his
successors, as a fatherly legacy, "I am clear and clean from the
blood of all: for I have not forborne to declare unto you all the
counsel of God." Being therefore mightily drunken with the use and
custom of sins, and extremely overwhelmed with the waves (as it
were) of increasing offences, seek ye now forthwith the uttermost
endeavours of your minds (after this your shipwreck), that one
plank of repentance which is left, whereby ye may escape and swim
to the land of the living, that from you may be turned away the
wrath of our Lord, who saith, "I will not the death of a sinner:
but that he may be converted and live." And may the same Almighty
God, of all consolation and mercy, preserve his few good pastors
from all evil, and (the common enemy being overcome) make them
free inhabitants of the heavenly city of Jerusalem, which is the
congregation of all saints; grant this, O Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, to whom be honour and glory, world without end. Amen.


Author: Giles, J. A. (John Allen), 1808-1884. ed.

Title: Six old English chronicles, of which two are now first
translated from the monkish Latin originals.

Imprint: London, G. Bell & sons, 1891.