Ælfric

“ Then the king permitted the queen to go thither,
and she spake straightway to her sister thus:
'Oh, thou Migdonia! my beloved sister,
why despisest thou thy husband and dishonourest thyself?
The king himself bemoaneth it, and all his men,
that thou so suddenly hast lost thy wits.'
Migdonia answered her: 'Oh! thou my sister,
knewest thou what I know, thou wouldest not have said these words;
the apostle worketh many wonders among men,
and saith to us for a truth, that there is another life,
immortal and eternal, freed from every evil. ”

“ Some of them were slain with weapons, some burned in flame, others beaten with scourges, others transfixed with stakes, some slain on the cross, some sunk in the wide sea, others flayed alive, others torn with iron claws, some overwhelmed with stones, some afflicted with winterly cold, some slain by hunger, some with hands and feet cut off, as a spectacle to people, for their faith and the holy name of Jesus Christ. ”

“ He arose then straightway, and went up to the priest,
and made the sign of the cross on his wounds, and said to him boldly,
'In the Creator's name who created man out of the earth,
arise thou sound, and go out quickly,
to thy wall-building, and finish it well.'
He arose then sound, as if aroused from sleep,
and began to wonder how he had been brought thither. ”

“ This death betideth the soul if it allow desire and anger to reign in it, rather than reason, which should ever direct it to good deeds. Through reason alone are we better than the irrational beasts. With two dignities Almighty God adorned man's soul ; that is say, with immortality and happiness : but it lost happiness when it sinned; yet immortality it cannot lose, because it shall never end. The beauty of the soul is to have power, so that it may eschew evil; and it will be deformed through vices if it be subject unto them. The soul's powers are these four foremost and best ones ”

“ Lead us, Almighty God, to the number of thy chosen saints, into the everlasting bliss of thy kingdom, which thou hast prepared from the beginning of the world for those who love thee, thou who livest and reignest with the Eternal Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. ”

“ No man could turn him aside from the faith, nor by any means withdraw him from Julianus. Then was Martianus, and also Celsus' mother sorrowful in mind, and all their men; and Martianus asked the illustrious Julianus, ' Why wouldst thou destroy my only son by thy sorcery, and seduce him to thy Christ ? Behold our sorrow, and let our son go, and I will intercede for thee to our emperor.' Celsus, the son, said thus to the treacherous father, 'I renounce thee, father, for thy error, and I believe on Christ who hath chosen me. ”

“ Save yourself by fleeing, or by so submitting to Hinguar." Then Edmund, full of bravery as he was, said, "This I want and wish with all my heart, that I do not live after my beloved thanes in their beds, with their wives and children, have all been slain by these murderous Vikings. Nor was it ever that I might flee, but I would rather die if my country needs such. Almighty God knows that I will not turn from his worship, nor from his true love, whether I live or die." ”

“ But the word of God is quick and sharp, teaching this human intelligence within me. And this is now the end of those things that are accomplished concerning me. Now I beseech thee, entreating thee by the incarnate Word of God, to pray for me, a miserable sinner.' When she had said this, the old man ran towards her with bent knees, to prostrate himself upon the earth, crying aloud with sorrowful tears: ' Blessed be God, who alone worketh manifold wonders; and blessed be thou, O Lord God, who hast shewn me the gloriousness that thou givest to them that dread Thee. ”

“ Wherever memory is, there is understanding and will. Let us now consider the wonderful swiftness of the soul : it hath so great swiftness that at the same time, if it so will, it contemplateth heaven and flieth over sea, traverseth countries and cities, and in thought disposeth all these things in its vision ”

“ Where are the apostates, your wicked kinsmen, who have slighted my command, so that they have not offered any sacrifice to the worthy gods? Unless ye now here betray them, ye shall endure their punishment."
Then answered the kinsmen and took great oaths, and implored the emperor, and, being much affrighted, answered him, " We pray thee, dear lord, that thou wilt hear our words; we never neglected anywhere thy kingly commands, neither despised we ever the worthy gods; why wilt thou, lord, punish us for the sake of other men who contemned thy command and spent our treasures all over the earth? ”

“ What is good will but goodness, so that he grieves for another man's misfortune and rejoices in his prosperity; loves his friend not for the world, but for good; to bear with his foe with love, to command to no one that which he likes not himself, to help his neighbour's need according to his power, and to be willing beyond his power? What is any gift in comparison with this will, when the soul offers itself to God on the altar of its heart? ”

“ How can we blind ones heal the blind ?' Then said Julianus, who knew all that, to Martianus, with great joy, ‘Go in unto thy gods, they call thee to themselves !' Then went the persecutor into the temple, and saw the images all broken in pieces, both of gold and of silver, and some of amber, and some of crystal, wholly shattered. ”

“ Call them so evil and so unclean,
that if thou wouldest curse any one, thou shouldest wish him thus,
that his life be like to thy loathly gods.'
Quintianus said to her, ' Why speakest thou so much idle talk
Sacrifice to the gods, that I may not cruelly destroy thee.'
Then Agatha answered the judge fearlessly,
'If thou wilt now bait me with wild beasts,
they shall straightway be tamed to my hand through the name of Jesus.
If thou preparest fire for me, there shall suddenly come to me from heaven
a healing dew by the Lord's angels. ”

“ Now some shallow-thinking man will inquire, how God can be everywhere at once, and nowhere divided. Behold this sun, how high he ascends, and how he sends his beams over all the world, and how he enlightens all this earth which mankind inhabit. ”

“ Have now quiet and peace, and hinder not my martyrdom, but rather prepare yourselves, as God's soldiers, that ye with fearless mind may overcome all threats and bodily torments by patience. If any terror is to be dreaded, then is that to be dreaded which has no end. Verily awe of man is like smoke, and quickly, when it is agitated, vanishes. The pains in this world are either light and bearable, or they are heavy, and quickly drive out the soul. The pains which in the world to come are prepared for the evil, will be eternal ”

“ Jesus said, "Whosoever humbleth himself like this child, he shall be first in the kingdom of heaven." Let us have true humility in our lives, if we will have high dignity in God's kingdom, as Jesus said, "Every one of those who exalt themselves shall be humbled, and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted." He has the innocence of a meek child, who is displeasing to himself that he may be pleasing to God; and he will be so much the fairer in the sight of God as he shall be the more humble before himself. "He who receives one such little one in my name, receives myself." ”

“ He who loves not truth, he yet knows not God. But consider whether ye are God's sheep, whether ye yet know him, whether ye with truth love him. He said, "As my Father knoweth me, I also know him, and I give my own life for my sheep." He knows his Father through himself, and we know him through him. With that love with which he would die for mankind, he manifested how greatly he loves his Father. He said, "I have other sheep which are not of this fold, and those I shall bring, and they will hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." ”

“ Decius then commanded all the torture-tools to be prepared, before his doom-seat, and Lawrence was led to him. Decius said, "Cast away trust in thy magic, and recount to us of thy family." The blessed Lawrence answered, "According to human birth I am Spanish, a Roman foster-child, and a christian from my cradle, trained up in all divine law." Decius answered, "In sooth the law is divine, which has so emboldened thee that thou wilt not worship our gods, nor dreadest any kind of torment." Lawrence said, "In the name of Christ I fear not for thy torments." ”

“ Then he wrought many miracles, that men might believe that he was God's Child. He turned water to wine, and went over the sea with dry feet, and he stilled the winds by his behest, and he gave to blind men sight, and to the halt and lame a right gait, and to lepers smoothness and health to their bodies; to the dumb he gave power of speech, and hearing to the deaf; to the possessed of devils and the mad he gave sense, and drove away the devils, and every disease he healed; dead men he raised from their sepulchres to life ”

“ When the blessed Lawrence had, with these words and others more, lamented that he might not suffer with his teacher, the bishop answered, "My child, I forsake thee not, but thee befits a greater struggle in thy conflict. We, as old men, shall undergo the short course of a lighter conflict: but thou, a young man, wilt undergo a much more glorious triumph from this cruel king. My child, cease thy weeping: after three days thou wilt come to me triumphant to everlasting life. Take thou our church's treasures, and distribute to christian men, as it may seem good unto thee." ”