Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
Christ, agreeable to this saying, Thy right eye, if it cause thee to
offend, ought to be pulled out; and another of the prophet, That he is
accursed who withholdeth his sword from shedding blood? Who is he that
like Joseph, hath rooted out of his heart the remembrance of an offered
injury? Who is he that like Moses, speaking with our Lord in the
mountain, and not there terrified with the sounding trumpets, hath in a
figurative sense presented unto the incredulous people the two tables,
and his horned face which they could not endure to see, but trembled to
behold? Which of them, praying for the offences of the people, has from
the very bottom of his heart cried out, like unto him, saying: "O Lord
this people hath committed a grievous sin, which if thou wilt forgive
them, forgive it; otherwise blot me guilty out of thy book?"
§ 70. Which of them, inflamed with the admirable zeal of God, hath
courageously risen to punish fornication, curing without delay by the
present medicine of penance, the affection of filthy lust, lest the fire
of the wrath of God should otherwise consume the people, as Phineas the
priest did, that by these means justice for ever might be reputed unto
him? Which of them hath in moral understanding imitated Joshua, the son
of Nun, either for the utter rooting forth, even to the slaughter of the
last and least of all, the seven nations out of the land of promise, or
for the establishing of spiritual Israel in their places? Which of them
hath showed unto the people of God their final bounds beyond Jordan that
it might be known what was suited to every tribe, in such sort as the
aforenamed Phineas and Jesus have wisely divided the land? Who is he
that to overthrow the innumerable thousands of Gentiles, adversaries to
the chosen people of God, hath, as another Jephtha, for a votive and
propitiatory sacrifice, slain his own daughter (by which is to be
understood his own proper will), imitating also therein the apostle,
saying, "Not seeking what is profitable to me, but to many, that they
may be saved;" which daughter of his met the conquerors with drums and
dances, by which are to be understood the lustful desires of the flesh?
Which of them, that he might disorder, put to flight, and overthrow the
camps of the proud Gentiles, by the number of three hundred, (being, as
we before said, the mystery of the blessed Trinity,) and with his men
holding in their hands those noble sounding trumpets, (which are
prophetical and apostolical senses, according as our Lord said to the
prophet, "Exalt thy voice as a trumpet;" and the psalmist of the
apostles, "Their sound hath passed throughout the whole earth,") and
bearing all those famous flagons shining in the night with that most
glittering fiery light, (which are to be interpreted the bodies of
saints joined to good works, and burning with the flame of the Holy
Ghost, yea having, as the apostle writes, "This treasure in earthen
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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