self to amend some minor matters that had been overlooked while he was occupied with things of greater moment, in order that, when reposing in peace from his labours in the place which was prepared for him, not only no sentiment of his might offend any ecclesiastical person, but no expression either gaping with vowels or rugged with consonants might occasion uneasiness to the learned grammarian. For, as has been remarked, however elegant and disciplined the genius may be, and however, by long practice, the language may glide smoothly on, still, unless it be smoothed and polished by the author's hand, the rust of negligence will betray itself. § 17. While thus engaged, the memorable doctor was convulsed with still more violent pantings; and now, on the verge of a happy triumph after his departure, he was vehemently urged on to pay the debt of death by a difficulty of breathing; while a swelling that indicated the commencement of mortification had already appeared in the lower parts of his body. And he, like a branch abiding in Christ, the vine, although he had already brought forth the fruit of a sweet odour, yet did God, the husbandman, purge him by scourging him more severely, that he might bring forth a greater abundance of wholesome fruit. But lest he should curse God to his face, by murmuring against the will of his Lord, he draws from the mercy-seat of God's word sayings to confirm his hope and exultation:'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and Scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. For," saith the apostle, "what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" [Heb. xii. 5,6.] And again, of those that are predestinated for the kingdom of God, he says :—“ He who spared not his own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? When," said he, " this promise shall be fulfilled, what shall we be, what manner of persons shall we be, what blessings shall we receive in that kingdom, seeing that, through Christ dying for us, we have already received such a pledge?" On the other hand, he thought that nothing was so unhappy as the happiness of sinners who pass their days in pleasure, and in a moment go down into hell; who are not occupied in the labours of men, and are not scourged with men, that they may be tormented for ever with devils. And truly the divine severity allows such persons the desires of their heart without stint, because it condemns them with terrible and righteous sentence; and against them, under the character of undone and lost Jerusalem, is that tremendous sentence passed by God when he is forsaking them :-" I will make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee." [Ezek. xiv. 42.] But as for those whom He hath predestinated as vessels of mercy, "He visits their offences with a rod, and their sins with scourges;" upon whom He will bestow the blessing of the predestinated inheritance, "when," as the Scripture saith, "He giveth his beloved sleep.” [Ps. cxxvii. 2.] And that saying of St. Ambrose, "I have not so lived as to be ashamed to have lived amongst you; neither am I afraid to die,” is a brief commendation, but enough for a man whose walk was perfect. Nor is it to be set down as a mark of arrogance that what was imitable by all, he affirmed of himself, for the benefit of those who heard him, that they might "glorify our Father who is in heaven: and this, too, when he was just at his last gasp. When the praise of virtue puffs not up the praised heart with pride, and when the hearers are the more inflamed with a zeal for virtue, the condition of the body sets before their eyes the absolute unavoidableness of death; wherefore the apostle, (who had said just before, 'I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God," [1 Cor. xv. 9,]) when the hour of his departure was at hand, commending himself, but still in the Lord, that "he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord," saith, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." [2 Tim. iv. 8.] 66 § 18. With these and similar passages of Scripture, he, in a measure, deadened his sense of pain in the midst of all his infirmities, whilst with tears of love he drew in "the multitude of thy mercy, O Lord, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee." [Ps. xxxi. 19.] Meanwhile began the annual order of the seasons to bring round the festive day of the church, on which the Son of God, ascending with triumph into the highest heaven, by his power led our captivity captive: a day, I say, longed for by Beda, which was to bring to a close his transient day, and to give a beginning to that which lasteth for ever and ever. Wherefore he, it would appear, forewarned of the hour of his departure, on the day before his death commanded his disciples to come near, that they might deliberately ask for his solution of any doubts that were still lingering in their minds, and commit his solutions to writing, lest they should forget them. And then there was the interrogation of the inquirer mixed with weeping; aye, and the voice of eager questioners choked with sobs. And while unrestrained grief cannot be sated with tears, it checks the issue of the breath in the very throat. And no wonder; for when once they shall have lost such a master, they must abandon all hope of ever receiving instruction like his. § 19. And soon after an affectionate circle of brethren encompass the dying man, who exhorts them, that, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forward to those things that are before, they should obtain the prize of the high calling of God, and bear in mind the lesson taught by the example of Joseph's Egyptian mistress, namely, that the cloak to worldly concupiscence, that is, the ensnaring ties of things secular, must be cast aside; that while they rid themselves of her unchaste embraces by flight, by bringing the sinful flesh into subjection, they must subdue the kingdom of Egypt, that is, the sway of their vices. He tells them that they can in no otherwise give an experimental proof of Christ dwelling in them than by the spirit of holy charity, which cannot be sundered. That they, who, by communion of the bread from heaven, are made one body in Christ, must not be divided from the unity of the same body by the spirit of dissension. And, "Oh," said he, "my most beloved brethren, since I must now pay the debt of nature, I beseech you to implore the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, that, through Him in whom the prince of this world found nothing, He would send the angel of peace to meet me for my good, encompassed by whose guardian care I shall not be confounded when I speak with mine enemies in the gate. For indeed I long to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, whose death having destroyed death, I firmly trust that I shall pass from death to life. And if I have in any measure toiled on your behalf, if I have brought to the church any fruit, however small, I ask of you no other return, than that, when I am gone, you will not forget me in that place where Christ is at once the priest and the peace-offering." This touched the affectionate hearts of the brethren, who at last gave full vent to their tears—the result, on the one hand, of exceeding joy; on the other, of boundless grief. They rejoiced that they had had a share in cherishing him who was now on the point of going to heaven; they mourned, because in him a light of the church was about to be extinguished. But because faith hath sometimes no perception of its loss, however great that loss may be, they did not so much deplore their bereavement, as congratulate themselves upon his entering upon his abode with God, to whom all things live. § 20. All this time, while he was in joyful expectation of the hour of death, or rather of the beginning of life eternal, there remained one portion of Scripture, respecting which his disciples felt themselves constrained to ask their master's opinion. When they had obtained this from him, and it had been written down, and when the transcriber said, "It is finished," catching at the word of consummation with more than his usual cheerfulness, he joyfully exclaimed, "Well and truly hast thou spoken: It is finished." That was all: he begged to be laid upon the floor of his little cell, in which he had been wont to write, to dictate, to study, and teach; and there he lay, with his head raised a little by the hands of his friends, so that, with the oratory facing him, in which he had been accustomed to pray in secret, and the very sight of which now afforded him pleasure, he might "worship toward thy holy temple, and confess thy name, O Lord." Preparing himself in this way for his journey heavenward, and for his approach to God the Fountain of living water, he said, "My heart said unto Thee, O Lord, I have sought thy face. O Lord, I beseech Thee, turn not away from thy face, upon which the angels desire to gaze." § 21. Now came the festive day of memorable solemnity-the day on which our Head and Chief went before us into heaven, that thither the members of his believing people might follow Him: when this holy person, as if his eyes were fixed upon Jesus now ascending, sighed through all his frame to follow Him, the breath now panting in his hands, with his hands stretched out in praise of the ascension of Jesus Christ, as one who was himself on the point of ascending, he exclaimed, "O King of glory, Lord of power, who didst ascend this day, a victor, above all heavens, leave us not destitute, leave us not destitute, but send to us the promise of the Father, even the Spirit of truth. Hallelujah." When he had added the praise of the holy and undivided Trinity, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," as he was naming the Holy Spirit, his spirit was loosened from the flesh, and was instantly carried to heaven by a blessed company of holy spirits, where mingling with the hymning choir in the new Jerusalem, the blessed man joins for ever in praising the King eternal, the Lord of hosts, One in substance, Three in Persons. §22. Thus went the way of his fathers that pillar and Doctor of the church, the venerable Beda; and thereupon the devoted affection of the brethren, after bemoaning with tears the lot of our mortality, and testifying their joy in the hope of a resurrection, with anthems, that re-echoed from every side, reverently celebrated his obsequies, and solemnly committed to the tomb the remains of him who had been at once their pupil and their instructor. He entered upon his sleep of eternal repose in the reign of Ceolwulf, in the year of our Lord seven hundred and thirty-five, and in the fifty-ninth year of his age, which was the hundred and first year after the church of Christ had been founded and established in the province of the Bernicii by a most illustrious king and a most holy bishop, I mean Oswald and Aidan, which still exists, and exults in the catholic faith, under its author and ruler God, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom, living and reigning for ever with the Father and the Holy Spirit, every spirit praises and worships as the Lord. THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH NATION. BY THE VENERABLE BEDA. BOOK I. PREFACE. To the most glorious King Ceolwulph,' Beda, the Servant of Christ, and Presbyter. I FORMERLY, at your request, most readily transmitted to you the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, which I had lately published, that you might read it, and give it your approbation; and I now send it again to be transcribed, and more fully considered at your leisure. And I cannot but commend the sincerity and zeal, with which you not only diligently give ear to hear the words of Holy Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the actions and sayings of former men of renown, especially those of our own nation. For when history relates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is excited to imitate that which is good; or when it mentions evil things of wicked persons, nevertheless the religious and pious hearer or reader, by shunning that which is hurtful and perverse, is the more earnestly excited to perform those things which he knows to be good, and worthy of God. Of which you also being most deeply sensible, are desirous that the said history should be more fully made familiar not only to yourself, but also to those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you governor, from your great regard to their general welfare. 1 Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, succeeded Osric 9 May, 729, and in 737 he resigned his crown, and became a monk at Lindisfarne. The date of his death is uncertain. Mabillon, (Act. SS. ord. S. Bened. III. ii. 159,) following Florence, assigns it to A.D. 760; but a preference should apparently be given to the authority of the northern historians, Symeon of Durham and Hoveden, who refer it to 764. An outline of his history may be seen in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, Jan. tom. i. p. 1081, and in the Acta Sanctorum ord. S. Bened. III. ii. 158. good works. For, brought up among saints, and by saints, under monastic discipline, and imbued with polite literature, holy with the holy, and innocent with the innocent, he trod the path of life, and aimed with all his might to keep himself unspotted from the world. §2. In testimony of the certain truth of these assertions, we have laid together, in our description of a perfect man in Christ, both what he himself as well as others have written concerning him; for we have drawn our facts from various sources, like the different parts of the members compacted into one body. For the series of recorded facts, which, by being interrupted here and there in the works of various writers, had deprived the reader of an acquaintance with this remarkable man; by being linked together, as the order of the incidents requires, more vividly depicts his character by the force of a composition lucidly arranged. And assuredly the difficulty of this task, which even the unflinching diligence of able writers will readily acknowledge, far exceeds our abilities, who have nothing to boast of either in eloquence or learning. But as all things are possible to him that believeth, we will not shrink from the word, who believe in the Word, I mean in Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God; and that we may be thought worthy to have Him for the beginning and end of our work and discourse, may his mercy vouchsafe to prevent with its inspiration, and to further with its help all, that we shall do and say. HERE BEGINS THE LIFE OF THE VENERABLE BEDA, PRESBYTER, AND MONK OF JARROW. BOOK I. § 3. Jesus Christ, the author of man's salvation, was sending forth his labourers into the harvest of that multitude, which would give ear to their holy preaching; and the grace of the gospel was already shining upon every creature throughout the whole world, when the province of Northumberland also, though far removed to the very outskirts of the globe, became a partaker of divine knowledge, and even in the frozen region of the north it glowed with the Saviour's holy fire. For the Lord came to send upon earth the fire of his Holy Spirit; and because no one can hide himself from the heat thereof, it darts into remotest nations, and enkindles the flames of its love in the hearts of men, that, departing from the old life, they may become a new creature in Christ. And, at length, when faith had supplanted infidelity, which, as the Scripture testifieth, hath its dwelling in the apostate north, [Ezek. xxxii. 30,] even there was founded the city of the great King, which, rejoicing with exultation, proclaims, to the whole world, in praise of its Founder, "Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city of our God." [Ps. xlviii. 1.] For, to begin with the rulers-the very kings of that province, as soon as they acknowledged their Creator, held their crowns the more securely, by how much the more devotedly they rejoiced in being the subjects of Christ, the King eternal; and the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem which was to come became the servants of Babylon by bearing, by a constrained service, the burdens of public government. Witness the fervency of king Edwin, and his pious regard for religion. Witness, too, Oswald's invincible constancy in the faith, who, while he gloried in nothing but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by that cross triumphed over the foes of the holy cross; and by devoting his treasures to the support of the needy, entered heaven adorned with the double crown of charity and martyrdom. In his brother Oswy was kindled the zeal of God's house, insomuch that those tares, which the enemy had sown among the good seeds of the gospel by means of heretics and schismatics, he cut away with the sickle of catholic truth, and pulling them up by the roots, wholly cast them out of his kingdom. I pass over the labours of his son Ecgfrid; I pass over his wisdom and goodness exhibited in founding monasteries in various parts of his kingdom. Authentic records attest that he was a man of eminent piety, and beloved of God. To omit other things, this alone raises him to the highest pinnacle |