And here we must leave them--time passing sweetly on, the current of
their lives flowing softly and gently to the mighty ocean of eternity:
"Where the faded flower shall freshen,
Freshen never more to fade;
Where the shaded sky shall brighten,
Brighten never more to shade."
_Bonar_.
THE END.
i For authorities for his various statements the Author
must beg to refer his readers to the notes at the end of the volume.
ii Homilies in the Anglo-Saxon Church
"The mass priest, on Sundays and mass days, shall speak the sense of the
Gospel to the people in English, and of the Paternoster, and of the
Creed, as often as he can, for the inciting of the people to know their
belief, and to retain their Christianity. Let the teacher take heed of
what the prophet says, 'They are dumb dogs, and cannot bark.' We ought
to bark and preach to laymen, lest they should be lost through
ignorance. Christ in His gospel says of unlearned teachers, 'If the
blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch.' The teacher is
blind that hath no book learning, and he misleads the laity through his
ignorance. Thus are you to be aware of this, as your duty requires."--
23d Canon of Elfric, about A.D. 957.
Elfric was then only a private monk in the abbey of Ahingdon, and
perhaps composed these canons for the use of Wulfstan, Bishop of
Dorchester, with the assistance of the abbot, Ethelwold. They commence
"Aelfricus, humilis frater, venerabili Episcopo Wulfsino, salutem in
Domino.
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