Old English Homilies and Homiletic Treatises of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, First Series

710 Pages·1868·39.416 MB·English

by  Richard Morris (ed.)

? •
"i?*')j;;;"i';':'.V"';'-'

dlb ^nglisj) i)0milics.
\
1^
Agents forthe sale ofthe EarlyEnglishText Society's Publications.
EDINBURGH: T. G. Stevenson, 22, South Frederick Street.
GLASGOW: Ogle & Co., 1, Royal Exchange Square.
BERLIN: Asher & Co., Unter den Linden, 20.
NEW YORK C. Scribner & Co.
:
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
,
I'' •
anb
Ijomilctit treatises
(Sawles Warde, and )^e Wohunge of Ure Lauerd :
Ureisuns of Ure Louerd and of Ure Lefdi, Sec.)
of tiK
^lurlftb antJ ^Ijiriccntf) CTcnturics
EDITED FROM MRS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. LAMBETH,
AND BODLEIAN LIBRARIES;
W/T/r INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION, AND NOTES,
BY
EICHARD MORRIS,
Authorof'Spetiuuns n/Early Entjlish;'
Kililur ofHamfioU-'s 'I'rU-kt nfi'oiueiena-;' 'E'lrly Ew)lith AlliU-ralirc Pot'mt
'I'he Sli/ry of (ifiusis ami Enxiiu:' 'Tin- AyenhiU itfIiiwi/(,' ^r.
Manber ofUk Councii c(fthe I'hUolot/ictU HucUty.
FIRST SERIES.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY,
BY N. TllUBNER & CO., 60, TATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXTIII.
PR
lh3
As
OXFORD:
BY T. COMBE, M.A., E. B. GARDNER, E. P. HALL, AND H. LATHAM, M.A.
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
PREFACE.
The present volume does not consist of a continuous series of
Homilies, as was originally intended, but is merely a bundle of
fragments and smaller treatises arranp^ed in the order in which
the editor was fortunate enough to meet with them. He, there-
fore, does not think it necessary to offer any apology to the reader
for presenting them in their apparently unconnected form, since
all the pieces are of great philological value, and many of them
are not wanting in literary merit. The contents of the Lambeth
MS. 487 occupy the first and most important place in this series,
and form no inconsiderable part of the whole work. They are,
however, only a portion of a much larger and probably complete
collection ofHomilies compiled, as we shall presently see, from
various sources oF an earlier date than the MS. that contains
them^L-
The Homilies are immediately followed in the MS. by a portion
ofan old English poem- known as "A Moral Ode" (pp. 158-183),
copies of which are by no means uncommon in our ancient MSS.
It was first printed by Hickes in his "Thesaurus," vol. i. p. 222,
from one of the Digby MSS., and Mr. Furnivall afterwards edited
an excellent version of it in his " Early English Poems" (Philo-
' See p. xi.
- The handwriting of this iioeni is of the same date as the Homilies (before a.d.
1200).
—
VI PREFACE.
log-ical Society^s Transactions, 1858) from the Eg-erton MS. 613,
which I found very serviceable in completing" the Lambeth text
and correcting, in the translation, the scribal blunders that it
contains.^
The " Moral Ode^^ is an excellent sermon in verse, remarkably
free from mediaeval superstitions. In its admonitions and warnings
it administers sharp reproof to greedy niggards and oppressors of
the poor, and gives wholesome advice to "rich men and poor.^'
It exhorts all men to grow in love as well as in years, to think of
the future (pp. 159, 160), and to lay up treasure in heaven by
performing deeds of mercy here on earth. All men may purchase
—
heaven the poor man with his penny and the rich man with his
pound (p. 163). At the Day of Doom every man will be his own
accuser, for there is no greater witness than a man's own heart.
We should repent while we have health and strength, for it is too
late to cry for mercy when Death is at the door. Nor will it avail
us to loathe evil deeds when we have no longer the will or power
to do them. Mercy is offered alike to all who sincerely repent
(p. 167), but all wrongdoers who will not amend their evil ways
shall go into helFs abyss for ever; Christ will never again break
the gates ofhell to unloose their bonds (p. 170). Hell is a horrible
place of torment, where the uncharitable suffer the extremes of
hunger and thirst (p. 173); where vow-breakers, traitors, thieves,
drunkards, unjust judges, unfaithful stewards, and adulterers are
tortured in turn by fire and frost (pp. 173-175) j and where slan-
derers, envious, and proud men are torn and fretted by adders,
snakes, and ferrets. There shall they see Satan and "Belzebub the
old" (p. 177). The sum of human duty consists in "two loves"
love to God and to man (p. 179). We must forsake the broad way
(that is, our own will) which leads to hell, and choose the narrow
' Inthe Appendix the reader willfind thatportion of the "Moral Ode"from the
Egerton MS. notincluded in our text. I am inclined to think thatall the existing
copies of this Ode are taken from an older (Saxon-English) version, which may
perhaps turn up hereafter.