The Ayenbite of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience): A Translation of Parts into Modern English — John Shaqi
The Ayenbite of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience): A Translation of Parts into Modern EnglishMichel, Dan, active 14th century
Religion
The Ayenbite of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience): A Translation of Parts into Modern English
Michel, Dan, active 14th century
Christian life -- Early works to 1800; Devotional literature
The second behest is as follows: ‘Thou shalt not take God’s name in
vain;’ that is to say, ‘Thou shalt not swear for naught and without good
reason,’ which our Lord Himself forbids us in His Gospel, that one
should not swear, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by other
creature. Yet from good cause one may swear without sin, as in judgment,
where one demands oath of truth, or out of judgment from other good
cause, and with purity and reason. In no other manner is it right to
swear. And, therefore, whosoever swears without reason the name of our
Lord, and for naught, if he wittingly swears false he forswears himself,
and acts against this behest, and swears deadly, for he swears against
conscience, that is to say (understand), when he forswears himself by
thought and by long thinking. But he that swears true wittingly, and
always for naught or for some bad reason, not wickedly, but lightly and
without slander, swears venially. Nevertheless the habit is sinful, and
may well turn to deadly sin unless he beware. But he that swears
horribly by God or by His saints, and breaks him in pieces, and says
slanders about him that are not to be said, the same sins deadly. Nor
can he have reason, that he may excuse himself. And he that accustoms
himself to swear most, sins most.
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
The third behest is this: ‘Look that thou hallow the day of the sabbath
(Saturday),’ that is to say, thou shalt not do on the day of the sabbath
(Saturday) thy business, nor thy works, that thou mightest do on other
days. But thou shalt rest thyself in order the better to prepare thyself
to pray to and to serve thy Creator, who rested the seventh day from
works that He had made in the six days before, in which He made and
ordained (ordered) the world. This behest he spiritually fulfils who
keeps by his might the peace of his conscience, in order to serve God
more holily. Then this word ‘Saturday,’ which the Jews call ‘sabbath,’
signifies (as much as) rest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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