treasures of wisdom and knowledge, manifested to him the dark and hidden things of his wisdom, in order that what he had learnt in darkness, he might preach in the light, and what he had heard in the ear, he might declare from the church tops. [Luke xii. 3.] Whose fiery word, as the psalmist says, [Ps. cxix. 140,] he sought earnestly, because sublimely, to understand; and so he drew near, as it were, to that flaming mount, in which the law was written with the finger of God, where, while he searches into the secret things of the sacraments, he enters with Moses into the cloudy darkness. That brightness of Moses' countenance, upon which, in the understanding of the law, the carnal Israel could not look, our spiritual Israelite, removing the veil of ignorance which is placed upon the heart of unbelievers, freely gazed upon with the eye of the intellect. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is intellectual liberty; which, because he saw it in the law of perfect liberty, his speech and doctrine, according to the apostle, was not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the words of faith, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, so that the deep of the Old Testament called to the deep of the gospel, with the voice of many waters, that is, with the voice of the prophets and apostles.

§ 12. And now, while the grace of God towered so sublimely in him, fame spread the name of this celebrated man in every direction, which poured his eminence in the Scriptures in the ears of the church. There might you see the zeal of the queen of Sheba, who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, because many thronged together from far to hear, by his interpreter, the wisdom of the true Solomon, that is, of our Peacemaker, who hath made of both one. Some cleaving to him by intimate companionship, heard the master himself; others, who could not personally visit him, addressed him by letter, soliciting his solutions of knotty questions touching chapters in the Bible, and his explanation of obscure ones. He also, at the request of some persons, expounded some entire books of canonical authority, "from head to foot," as they say, treading in the footsteps of the fathers, while he handled the subject in a plainer manner. In this way, among others, he put forth a plain exposition of the Gospel of St. Luke in six books, at the entreaty of the most reverend Acca, bishop of Hexham, whose letter conveying this request begins in these terms:-"I have often-both absent in writing, and present in conversation-suggested to you, my holy brother, that after your exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, you would be so good as to write upon the Gospel of Luke also. This you have as yet chosen rather to put off with a modest apology, than to execute." Again, in the course of the letter:"Expound St. Luke in simple style. And as St. Ambrose has passed over, without notice, several things which seemed plain and undeserving of disquisition to a man of such profound learning, mind that you carefully explain these too; after looking into the work of other Fathers, either in your own words or in theirs. I am sure, too, that to your most heedful study, who spend wakeful days and nights in meditating in the law of the Lord, the Author of light will reveal the true sense of those passages that have been passed over by him. For it is very right, and accordant with the administration of the goodness and equity which is from above, that you who have wholly withdrawn yourself from worldly occupations, and pursue with unwearied mind the eternal and true light of wisdom, should here obtain a fragment of that purer intelligence, and hereafter contemplate with a pure heart the King himself in his glory, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." In these words the holy man both gives us a hint of the sanctity of this venerable doctor, and shows that he was always free from worldly occupations, and devoted to busy leisure in the contemplation of true and eternal wisdom.

§ 13. Finally, and this also Beda mentions of himself,-during his whole life, which he spent in his dwelling in the oft-mentioned monastery of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, he gave up all his time, as is apparent from what has been already said, to meditation upon the Scriptures, and in the interval between the observance of the regular discipline and the daily duty of singing at church, he counted it his delight to be always either studying, or teaching, or writing. And so after his works had been

finished with the greatest labour, and with blameless application for nineand-twenty years, having received the reward of his holy conversation and pious labour in the church, he groaned, being burdened with the weight of the body of this death, desiring that the house of his earthly tabernacle being dissolved, he might be deemed worthy to have "a dwelling of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." [2 Cor. v. 1.] And, therefore, as a precaution that they might not be forgotten, having specified by their titles all the books that he had written, when the laying down of his tabernacle was at hand, he, with the ardour of incredible longing, panting for the fountain of water that springeth up unto life eternal, uttered this short prayer :—

"1 beseech Thee, merciful Jesu, seeing that Thou hast graciously granted me sweetly to taste the words of thy wisdom, to grant me also, of thy goodness, to come at last to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom, and to appear for ever before thy face."

HERE BEGINS THE SECOND BOOK.

§14. Thus the soul of the venerable man sighing after God, being melted in the fire of divine love, wished, yea fainted, for the coming of the Lord, that, beholding the God of gods in Sion-having cast off that which is in part, he might apprehend that which is perfect and that which he here saw in a glass darkly, he might there see face to face. The Godhead was present in mercy to the wishes and prayers of his suppliant servant, and willed that he, who in mercy and pity was to be crowned, should be purged with the discipline of holy castigation, in order that no spot or wrinkle of sin might remain in him; so that, being purer than the purest gold, purified in the furnace of a long sickness, he might shine as a precious stone in the heavenly Jerusalem, which is built as a city.

§15. At last he was seized with a severe attack of tightness of the chest, insomuch that, owing to difficulty in the passage of the throat, his voice became scarcely audible, being checked by a gasping for breath. And this suffering from nearly-intercepted breathing continued to afflict him for many, that is to say, for fifty-three days; but as virtue is made perfect in weakness, he gladly, with the apostle, gloried in his infirmities [2 Cor. xii. 5]: for, unless when lassitude, by little and little, obliged him to slumber, neither the sun by day nor the moon by night saw him abstaining from the praises of God; so that, even then upon the bed of pain, he would break forth into expressions of exultation or confession :-"I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, in the uprightness of my heart, who, in chastising, chastisest me, that Thou mayest not deliver me over unto death, that when I enter the gates of righteousness, I may, with the blessed that dwell in thine house, be thought worthy to praise Thee for ever and ever." The saving doctrine, too, namely the flow of that river which was wont to make glad the city of God, that is, the holy church, although it grew languid, still did not even then cease to flow from his lips-that is, the pipe of living water.

§ 16. This is attested in his letter to his fellow-disciple, Cuthwin, by Cuthbert, who with others never for a moment quitted the bed-side of his sick and dying master. "Day after day," says he, “he would read the holy Scriptures to us his disciples, and expound to us their mystic meaning. And after reading, he would pass the rest of the day in singing with the spirit, singing with the understanding also: for, instructed by the teaching of holy David, he at once praised and prayed to the Lord that He would deliver him from his enemies, because the Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth; that he would do the will of them that fear Him, and hear their cry, and save them." He had already, a long time before, very carefully corrected his works; and now, too, though he was constantly swooning from shortness of breath, he again and again set him

1 See the Eccl. Hist. § 456.

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.]

§ 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.