The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I.Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham
Religion
The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I.
Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham
Sermons, English (Old)
"Then he took him again, and bare him up on a mountain, and showed him all
the riches of the world and its glory, and said to him, All these things
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall at my feet, and adore me."
Presumptuously spake the devil here, as he before spake, when he was in
heaven, when he {173} would share the heavenly kingdom with his Creator,
and be equal to God; but his presumption then cast him down into hell; and
now also his presumption humbled him, when he, through Christ's passion,
let mankind out of his power. He said, "These things will I give thee." It
seemed to him that he possessed all the world; because no man withstood him
before Christ came who subdued him.
It is written in holy books, "Earth and all its fullness, and all the globe
and those who dwell on it, all are God's possessions," and not the devil's.
Nevertheless, Christ said in his gospel concerning the devil, that he was
the prince of the world, and he should be driven out. He is the prince of
those men who love this world, and set all their hope in this life, and
despise their Creator. All creatures, sun, and moon, and all stars, land,
and sea, and cattle, all serve their Creator; because they perform their
course after God's direction. Wicked man alone, when he despises the
commandments of God, and fulfils the devil's will, either through
covetousness, or through leasing, or through anger, or through other sins,
then is he the devil's thrall, then is he acceptable to the devil, and
despises him who created him.
"Christ then said to the devil, Go thou behind, Satan! It is written, Man
shall adore his Lord, and serve him alone." Quidam dicunt non dixisse
Salvatorem, "Satane, vade retro," sed tantum "Vade": sed tamen in
rectioribus et vetustioribus exemplaribus habetur, "Vade retro Satanas,"
sicut interpretatio ipsius nominis declarat; nam diabolus _Deorsum ruens_
interpretatur. Apostolo igitur Petro dicitur a Christo, "Vade retro me," id
est, _Sequere me_. Diabolo non dicitur, _Vade retro me_, sed "Vade retro,"
sicut jam diximus, et sic scripsit beatus Hieronymus, in una epistola. He
said to the devil, "Go thou behind." The name of devil is interpreted,
_Falling down_. He fell down, and he went behind from the beginning of his
enterprize, when he was cut off from heavenly bliss; he went behind again
through Christ's advent; {175} he shall go behind on doomsday, when he
shall be shut up in hell in eternal fire, he and all his associates; and
they never afterwards may burst out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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