Page:Anglo-Saxon version of the Hexameron of St. Basil.djvu/21

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

xvi

preface.

geearnungum," &c. "We also should believe that every body which has received a soul shall arise at doomsday with the same body that it now has, and shall receive the reward of all its deeds; then the good shall have eternal life with God, and He will give rewards to every one according to his deserts. The sinful shall be ever suffering in hell torment, and their torment shall be also measured to every one according to his deserts," &c.

So also in Ælfric's homily for the fifth Sunday after Lent: "Hwæt is godra manna deað buton awendednys and færr fram deaðe to ðam ecan life? Se lichama awent to eorðanand anbidað æristes and on ðam fyrste nan ðing ne gefret. Seo clæne sawul anbidað eac ðæs ecan æristes ac heo wunað on wuldre on ðære hwile mid halgum. Đæs manfullan mannes deað is ðæt his sawul færð fram ðissere scortan blisse to ðam ecum witum. on ðam heo sceal ecelice cwylmian. and swa ðeah næfre ne ateorað." "What is the death of good men, but a change and passage from death to everlasting life? The body turns to earth and awaits the resurrection, and in that space feels nothing. The pure soul also awaits the eternal resurrection, but it continues for that interval, with the saints in glory. The wicked man's death is, that his soul passes from this short joy to everlasting torments, in which it shall suffer eternally, and yet never perish."

Numerous other passages from the homilies, as from that "On repentance," &c., might be adduced to confirm this point.

Again nothing is said of the supremacy and of the privileges imputed by the Romanists to St. Peter,^[1] but, the homily

↑ Dr. Lingard, in his history of the Anglo-Saxon Church, asks, "where do we find St. Paul called the head of the Church, the prince of the apostles?" The learned historian appears to have ignored the fact, that Ælfric frequently speaks of St. Paul as "Ealra ðeoda lareow," Bede as "Ille cœlestis exercitus præcipuus miles," and the royal translator, Alfred, as "Se mæsta cempa, and se hyhsta ðæs heofonlican wero- des," "the greatest champion, and the highest of the heavenly army." Mr. Paley (in his strictures upon Mr. Soames) has laid much stress on the passage, "Nu berð Petrus ðæt hiw, oððe getacnunge. ðære halgan gelaðunge on ðære he is ealdor under Christe." "Now Peter bears a semblance, or a type of the holy Church, in which he is an elder (or a ruler) under (illegible text)r. Paley has (illegible text)

[1] Dr. Lingard, in his history of the Anglo-Saxon Church, asks, "where do we find St. Paul called the head of the Church, the prince of the apostles?" The learned historian appears to have ignored the fact, that Ælfric frequently speaks of St. Paul as "Ealra ðeoda lareow," Bede as "Ille cœlestis exercitus præcipuus miles," and the royal translator, Alfred, as "Se mæsta cempa, and se hyhsta ðæs heofonlican wero- des," "the greatest champion, and the highest of the heavenly army." Mr. Paley (in his strictures upon Mr. Soames) has laid much stress on the passage, "Nu berð Petrus ðæt hiw, oððe getacnunge. ðære halgan gelaðunge on ðære he is ealdor under Christe." "Now Peter bears a semblance, or a type of the holy Church, in which he is an elder (or a ruler) under (illegible text)r. Paley has (illegible text)

[1]