XVII.
ON AUGURIES.
THE Apostle Paul, the teacher of all nations, exhorted those Christians whom he had formerly converted to the faith, in an Epistle, that is a letter, thus saying: ' Fratres, Spiritu ambulate, et desideria carnis non perficietis, et cetera ' — ' My brethren, walk in the Spirit, that is in spiritual conversation, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of your flesh. The flesh verily warreth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These things verily, that is the body and the soul, fight between themselves. But the soul is the flesh's mistress, and it befitteth her that she should ever rule the bondmaid, that is the flesh, according to her bests. Ill fareth it with the house where the bondmaid is the ruler of the mistress and the mistress is in subjection to the bondmaid; so also will the life of man be ordered backward, if the flesh which is corruptible and mortal shall subdue the spirit, which is eternal and imperishable, to its base lusts, which will destroy them both, and bring them to everlasting torments. The Apostle said, 'If ye be led by the Spirit, then are ye not under the Law.' He said in another place, ' There is no law set for righteous men, but for unrighteous and disobedient, for the profane and the guilty;' because the law, that is the righteous rule, will not greet [i. e. visit] the righteous man with any evil, but it will punish the unrighteous according to their works. The righteous verily need not fear the strict rule which God's law teacheth, if he restraineth himself from all foolishness. Paul said, ' Manifest are the works of the flesh, adultery and uncleanness, lasciviousness or lust, idolatry or witchcraft, enmity and strife, spite and anger, contention and sedition, heresy and envy, murder and drunkenness, surfeiting and other such like, the which I tell you beforehand, even as I told you formerly; for they who work such works shall not attain to God's kingdom.' Every one may cease from evil and amend; but if he continueth in wickedness and despiseth his Creator's commands and pleaseth the devils, then shall he against his will suffer in eternity, in the unquenchable fire, amidst the worst serpent-kind which shall never be destroyed, but shall ever chew the bodies of the wicked in the fire of hell. Again, said the Apostle in another epistle, ' Fratres, nolite errare ; neque fornicarii, neque idolis seruientes, neque adul- teri, neque molles, neque fures, neque auari, neque ebriosi, neque maledici, neque rapaces, regnum dei non possidebunt. ' — ' My brethren, be ye not deceived; neither fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor those who have other men's wives, nor the effeminate or weak-minded — these are they who have no sternness against sins — nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drinkers — these are they who love drunkenness — nor revilers, whose mouths are ever filled with poisoned cursing, nor robbers, shall ever possess God's kingdom.' He said yet again to the people thus, 'Such ye were, but now are ye cleansed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord our Saviour Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.'
Idolatry is that a man forsake his Lord and his Christianity, and yield to diabolical heathenism, dishonouring his Creator. There is another idolatry, hurtful to the soul, when the man despiseth his Creator's commands, and practiseth the shameful sins which the devil teacheth him. The fruits of the Spirit are those good dispositions,
that the man love the living God,
and have true love ever in his mind,
and spiritual joy, and be peaceable,
patient and long-suffering, and in manners have
goodness, and gladness, and meekness,
faith and temperance, and cleanness of mind,
and continence without rashness.
There is no law contrary to (against) men thus disposed,
but those that are Christ's crucify their flesh,
so that they will not incline to shameful sins,
nor to those evil desires, but will fight against them
until they depart victoriously to Christ,
and to the everlasting glory in exchange for the short warfare,
and they shall rejoice for ever blithely with Christ.
Augustine the wise bishop said likewise in a certain book,
' My brethren most beloved, often I have warned you,
and with fatherly carefulness I lovingly exhorted you
that, as for the odious witchcraft which unwise men observe,
ye should altogether renounce [it], like faithful men,
for except I warn you, and forbid you that mischief,
I shall have to give an account to the righteous judge
for my carelessness, and shall be condemned with you.
Now I deliver myself as regards God, and with love forbid you,
that any of you should enquire through any witchcraft
concerning anything, or concerning any sickness,
or seek enchanters to anger his Creator;
for he that doeth this, he letteth go his Christianity,
and is like the heathen who cast lots concerning themselves
by means of the devil's art, which will destroy them for ever;
and unless he offer alms and much penance
to his Creator, he shall be lost eternally.
Nevertheless a man may cast lots, in faith,
in worldly things, without witchcraft,
that he may allot himself pastures, if men wish to divide any thing [i. e. any land] ;
this is no sorcery, but is very often a direction.
So likewise he who trusteth in auguries,
either from birds, or from sneezings,
either from horses or from dogs,
he is no Christian, but is an infamous apostate.
Neither may any man give heed to days,
on which day he shall journey, or on which he shall return,
because God created all the seven days
which succeed in the week, until this world's ending.
But he who wishes to journey any whither, let him sing his Paternoster
and Credo, if he know [them], and cry to his Lord,
and cross himself, and travel without care
through God's protection, without the devil's sorceries.
It shameth us to tell all the shameful sorceries,
which ye foolish men practise through the devil's lore,
whether in wiving, or in travelling,
or in brewing, or if a man pray for anything,
when they begin anything, or anything is born to them.
But know ye of a truth, that the devil teacheth you
such delusions that he may have your souls
when ye believe his lying deceits.
Now a certain sorcerer saith that witches often declare
even as a matter happens with a true result.
Now say we of a truth, that the invisible devil no
who flieth through these worlds, and seeth many things,
revealeth to the witch what she shall say to men,
that they may be destroyed who seek this sorcery.
Many things said the magicians through the devil's art,
Jamnes and Jambres, [A. S. Mambres], even as Moses wrote,
and they seduced Pharaoh with their deceits,
until he was drowned in the deep sea.
So likewise Simon, the wily sorcerer,
strove so long with Saint Peter, until he was cast down,
when he desired to fly to heaven, so that he burst into four parts,
and so that impious man departed in torment to hell.
Many others have perished who followed sorcery,
even as we read in books, but their story is tedious.
Neither shall the Christian enquire of the foul witch
concerning his health, though she may be able to tell
something through the devil, for it will be harmful,
and all will be poisonous which cometh from him,
and all his followers shall perish in the end.
Some men are so blinded, that they bring their offerings
to an earth-fast stone, and eke to trees,
and to well-springs, even as witches teach,
and will not understand how foolishly they act,
or how the dead stone or the dumb tree
can help them, or give them health,
when they themselves never stir from the place.
The Christian man must cry to his Lord
with mind and with mouth, and beseech His protection,
that He may shield him against the devil's snares,
and set his hope in the true God,
Who alone ruleth over all creatures,
that He may provide for his safety,
even, lo! as He will, as being the all-ruling God.
I We should on every occasion and in every trouble
cross ourselves with true faith,
and by the sign of the Cross put to flight the wicked ones,
because the wicked devil was vanquished by the Cross,
land it is ever our beacon of victory against the fiend.
Likewise some witless women go to cross-roads,
and draw their children through the earth,
and thus commit themselves and their children to the devil.
Some of them kill their children before they are born,
or after birth, that they may not be discovered,
nor their wicked adultery be betrayed;
but their wickedness is awful, and everlasting their perdition.
Then the child perisheth, a loathsome heathen,
and the wicked mother, unless she ever do penance for it.
Some of them devise drinks [philtres] for their wooers,
or some mischief, that they may have them in marriage.
But such shameful ones shall go to hell,
where they shall ever suffer in the tormenting fire,
and in awful punishments, for their witlessness.
But Christian men must fight against devils
by strong faith, like trained champions,
and shun those hags, and such heathendom,
and the devil's delusions, and worship their Lord.
Then will the devil see that ye despise him,
and it will be grievous to him, in his accursed mind,
that ye are so stedfast, and he will take indignation against you,
and will vex you with some sickness,
or suddenly kill some of your cattle,
because he must try every man,
in many ways, whether his mind will
swerve through persecution from the Almighty God.
But know ye for certain, that the cruel devil
cannot hurt men by any sickness,
neither destroy their cattle, without the Lord's permission.
God is all goodness, and He ever willeth well,
but the minds of men may be excited to evil;
then God permitteth the devil very often
to afflect men for their misdeeds.
We ought to seek, if we be afflicted,
restoration from God, not from the cruel witches,
and with all our hearts please our Saviour,
because nothing can withstand His might.
He saith in His gospel that, without God's command,
not even a bird falleth in death.
It is to be expected that He will ever watch over His servants
both in life and in death, since the little bird
falleth not into a snare without God's will.
Our Saviour drave devils by His best out of a possessed man.
There was then nigh at hand an herd of swine,
and they straightway prayed that they might go into the swine,
and thereupon the Lord granted it to the devils.
Then they [entered] into the swine, and they all became mad,
and ran to the sea, and forthwith were drowned.
The devil cannot hurt men without God's permission,
nor mar their property, since he could not go
even into the swine, unless the Saviour permitted him.
If the devil vexeth us or destroyeth our property,
then it so betideth us for [one of] two reasons;
either God so punisheth our perverse deeds,
or He proveth us through the peril,
and the fiend shall vanish away from us,
if we be steadfast in our faith,
and Christ shall drive him away that he shall not harm us,
if we humbly endure the persecution,
and ever thank God without murmuring.
Nevertheless it will all happen to us for good,
if we be patient and thank our Lord,
and in the trial pray for His assistance,
who can always easily deliver us
from all perils of fiendish temptations.
Medicine is granted for bodily infirmity,
and holy prayers, with God's blessing;
and all other aids are hateful to God,
even as Paul wrote, saying these words,
'Ye cannot drink both our Lord's chalice
and the devil's cup to the death of your souls;'
and our Lord said, that ' a man cannot please
two masters at once, lest be should despise one;'
neither can we please both Christ and the devil.
Now some men say that it must happen to them
even as it was determined for them and ordained from the beginning,
and that they cannot avoid acting amiss.
Now say we of a truth, if it is to be so,
[that it is a useless command] which God commanded through
David, Declina a malo et fac honum :
Turn from evil and do good:' and again the Apostle saith,
' How much the more a man laboureth for God, so much better reward shall he have : '
if each man's life can ever take such a course
that he cannot turn aside from shameful deeds,
then it is unjust for the unrighteous to receive
any punishment for their wickedness.
Likewise the good are unjustly honoured,
if it can be true that it was so determined for them ;
and we labour in vain in our service,
either in alms, or in other deeds,
if we have no more reward from our Lord for it,
than those reckless men who live without consideration,
and go in all things by their own will,
and spend their lives in their own pleasures.
God Almighty formed many creatures,
and gave to none of them their own freedom
or reason, save to the shining angels
and to men, of the creatures whom He formed by His hands.
These two creations possess reason,
and every man hath his own freedom,
so that he knoweth what he willeth, and knoweth what he nilleth,
but nevertheless God compelleth us not to do good,
neither doth He debar us from working evil,
because He hath given us our own choice.
He gave a most stedfast gift and a most stedfast law
together with that gift, to every man until his end, both to poor and rich.
This is the gift, that a man may do what he will,
and this is the law, that God recompenseth to every man according to his works,
both in this world, and in that which is to come,
whether good or evil, whichsoever he practiseth.
Now if any man should wonder why God willed
to give to evil men their own freedom,
when He knoweth beforehand, that they will do evil:
then say we, that it becometh not any rich king,
that they all should be slaves who have to serve him,
and that there should not be one free man in his dominion.
So likewise it befitted not the Almighty Lord,
that in all His kingdom there should not be any creature
who should not be strictly compelled in doing service.
Now our freedom ever needeth God's assistance,
because we can do no good thing without God's help;
may He ever guide us in this world,
and bring us through Himself to the eternal life,
even as He promised to all them that love Him.
To Him be praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.