CHAPTER V. MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS. GOD'S OFFER OF SALVATION ΤΟ CHRISTIANS REPRESENTED AS UNI VERSAL-PRACTICE ESTEEMED THE ONLY TEST OF RELIGIOUS SIN- THEM For the convenience of making a distinction, apparently, Englishmen have long spelt and pronounced differently the words God and good. Anglo-Saxon documents offer no such difference to the eye; nor, possibly, did AngloSaxon speech make any such fall upon the ear. The great Creator might seem to have been known emphatically as the Good, a happy designation, at once expressive of his own most endearing attribute, and of his people's thankfulness. With equal felicity of expression, it must be mournfully acknowledged, was our Anglo-Norman ancestry contented to signify humanity and wickedness by the same word. Man meant indiffer ently either'. In strict conformity with a name so appropriately found for the Great First Cause, were Anglo-Saxon views of his moral governance. All Christians were encouraged in believing themselves to have received an offer of salvation. The health of every soul was represented as the desire of God". 1 "Obiter hic notandum, vocem his deathe on ecum witum swelte. God apud Anglo-Saxones, et Deum Ac he wile that we in thisse significasse et Bonum: uti Man, et lænan tide geearnien that we on Hominem, et Nequitiam." (LYE. ecenesse ne forwurthan. Se arin voce, Man.) Junius says in his festa Drihten and se mildheorta glossary to the Gothic gospels, ne biddath he æt us gold ne seol"Unicum ac summum bonum, for, ne nænig woruld gestreon; ac DEUS OPTIMUS MAXIMUS, he wilnath that we clansien ure Goth, dicitur." The Gothic root sawla, and ure lichaman; thæt of Man, wickedness, (Angl.-Sax.) we magon heo him swa clæne does not appear to be extant in agyfan swa he hi us or clæne the gospels of Ulphilas. That word befæste. Menn tha leofestan we occurs in the Anglo-Saxon, (Mar. sceolon mid monig-fealdum govii. 22,) answering to Tovnpiai, dum ure sawla clansian; mid the wickedness, of our authorized fæstenum, and mid ælmes-deadum, version, but the corresponding and clanum gebedum; forthon se Gothic word is Unseleins, evi- monn se gelomlice to Drihtene dently a negative form from clypath, thonne brecth he deofles Sel, good. Mr. Kemble (Gent. megn, and his costnunge him fram Mag. July, 1835, p. 27,) derives aflemth.-(Hom. De Letaniâ Mathe Saxon, Man, wickedness, jore. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 22.) from the Gothic, Mains, with The Lord with so great love us the same signification, and con- loveth, he desireth that we all be siders Goth, or Guth, God, not hale and sound, and turn to true as the neuter of Gods, good, but repentance, and to true underas an independent noun. Upon standing of his divinity. The this view, Junius and Lye are Lord desireth that our life be mistaken. established in cleanness (purity) and in truth: he will not that the sinful man in his sins continue, and after his death in everlasting punishments die. But he desires that we, in this lean (frail or transitory) tide, earn that we for ever do not perish. The gracious Lord and the mild-hearted, asketh he not of us gold, nor silver, nor any worldly gain; but he desireth that " Drihten us mid swa micelre lufan lufath, he wilnath that we ealle hale synd and gesund, and to thære sothan hreowe gecyrran, and to tham sothan andgyte his godcundnesse. Drihten wile that ure lif sy gestathelod on clannesse and on sothfæstnesse: nelt he that se synfulla mann on his synnum thurh-wunige, and after Nor were gloomy forebodings awakened in any believing mind, unless an irreligious life denied the conscience peace. When the Author of all goodness is thus attractively displayed, a serious mind inclines irresistibly to love him. Such an inclination might, however, merely generate a transient glow, productive neither of individual amelioration, nor of honour to the Church. Wisely, therefore, for the ripening of heavenly seed, were the Anglo-Saxons taught distrust in any barren impulse, however warm and creditable. Men might please themselves in observing their hearts approach to a healthier, religious tone, and not unreasonably. Would they please God, also, Anglo-Saxon divinity bade them to remember that virtuous actions must prove their feelings energetic, no less than sound'. Thus were congregations guarded against illusions from a sanguine temperament and an enthusiastic brain; holy affections were tried by the sober-minded test of moral lives; men were warned against reckoning either upon their own love to God or upon the love from him indispensable for their wants, while the habits bore no we cleanse our soul and our body; | 1 Uton we nu, forthon, men tha leofestan, neoman sibbe and lufe us betweonan; forthan on tham bith eall Drihtnes bebod mæst. Uton neoman clænnesse, and gesceadwisnesse ealra godra weorca; forthon buton them ne mag nan man Gode lician.-(Hom. De Letaniâ Majore. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 22.) Come we now, then, men the most beloved, let us take peace and love among ourselves ; for in them is the greatest of all God's commandments. Come, let us take cleanness and regard for good works; for without them no man can please God. witness to a change. Until this difficulty was overcome, all claims to the love of God were branded as nothing better than false pretences'. To the soundness of such divinity sensible men will ordinarily yield immediate assent. Nor do they overlook, when sunk in serious thought, the difficulty of thus attesting trustworthy principles. From this insight into their danger, and into their natural incompetence to overcome it, religious minds draw humility and aspirations after heavenly aid. AngloSaxon teachers inculcated, accordingly, the need of both. A proud heart was represented as fatal to the hope of divine assistance, and this latter as indispensable for establishing the soul in health'. It was to that 1 with him. Hear, my brethren, what the Healer quoth: He that loveth me, he holds my bidding. The love's proof is the work's effect. Iohannes, the apostle, also of this quoth: If any one quoth that he loveth the loving God, and his bidding hold not, he is a liar then. Truly we love the beloved Lord, if we our ill-manners adjust by his commands, and our errors by his words correct, and through what displeases him, his love do not gainsay. Eft cwath se Hælend to his leorning-cnihtum; Se the me lufath he hylt min bebod, and min Fæder hine lufath for thære gehyrsumnisse, and wyt cumath him to, and him mid wuniath. Gehyrath, mine gebrothra, hwæt se Hælend cwath: Se the me lufath he hylt min bebod. Thære lufe fandung is thas weorces fremming. Iohannes, se apostol, eac be thysum crath: Gif hwa cwyth that he lufige thone lufigendan God, and his beboda ne hylt, byth leas thonne. Sothlice we lufiath thone leofan * Dena getacniath tha eadmodan, Drihten, gif we ure unthearfas duna tha modigan. On Drihtenes geemnyttath be his hæsum, and ure to-cyme wurdon dena afyllede, and wohnisse be his wordum gerihtath, duna geeadmete, swa swa he sylf and thurh unlustas his lufe ne cwath: Elc thæra the hine onhefth withcwethath.-(Hom. De Dilec- bith eadmet, and se the hine geetione Dei et Proximi. Bibl. Bodl. admet bith geuferod. Swa swa MSS. Junii. 23.) Then quoth the water shyt of thære dune, and eft Healer to his learning-knights stent on dene, swa swa forflith se (disciples): He that loveth me, Halga Gast modigra manna heorhe holds my bidding, and my tan, and nimeth wununge on tham Father loveth him for the obedience, eadmodum.—(Hom. in Nativ. Sci and we two come to him, and dwell | Ioh. Bapt. Bibl, Bodl. MSS. Junii. 2 invisible part to which the words of Moses were applied, when he speaks of man as originally created in the image of God'. When human aims, therefore, were directed by the divine perfections, men were only striving to regain what they had been taught to consider as integral portions of their proper nature. Adam's fall, however, they were informed had enslaved the will. This had been originally free in every sense of that word. It was now warped by a constitutional bias towards iniquity; hence nothing short of divine interposition offered a hope of such courses as judgment and conscience would approve". 24.) Valleys betoken the humble, mountains the proud. At the Lord's advent were valleys filled up and mountains levelled, even as he himself quoth: Every one of those who exalt themselves shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Even as water shoots off the mountain, and then stands in the valley, even so fleeth the Holy Ghost proud men's hearts, and taketh a dwelling in the humble. halgan Thrynesse, and sothe Annesse, anre Godcundnesse. Uton wyrcan mannan: thær is seo halge Thrynnys: To ure anlicnesse: thær is seo Annys: To anre anlicnesse, na to thrym anlicnessum. On thes mannes sawle is Godes anlicnes; forthan is se man selra thonne tha saullessan nytenu, the nan andgyt nabbath embe heora agenne Scyppend.—(Hom. 15. De Exameron, that is BE GODES SIX DAGA WEORCUM. Bibl. Nu behofath ure freodom afre Bodl. MSS. Junii. 24. p. 276.) Godes fultume, forthan the we ne Here ye may hear the Holy Trinity doth nan god butan Godes fultume. and the true Unity in one Divinity. —(Hom. in Letaniâ Majore. Brit. Come let us make man: there is Mus. MSS. Cotton, Julius. E. 7. the holy Trinity: To our likeness: f. 83.) Now needeth our freedom there is the Unity: To one likeever God's aid, for we do no goodness, not to three likenesses. without God's aid. man's soul is the likeness of God; therefore is man better than the soul-less cattle, which have Næfth ure nannan leoht ænigre godnysse, buton of Cristes gife, se In the is sothre rihtwisnysse sunne | understanding about their own gehaten.-(Ib. Titus. D. 27. f. 54.) Creator. None of us hath any light of any goodness but of Christ's gift, who is called the sun of true righteous ness. 1 Her ge magon gehyran tha 2 Hwat is agen-cyre? Hwæt is frigdom to gecosan god oththe ufel? Thone frigdom hæfde man on Neorxenewange: ac nu is se fridom getheowtod; for se mann |