Library › St Gildas › On the Ruin of Britain
On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
3. Quotations of incriminatory passages directed against “lazy and unworthy priests” (a)…
3. Quotations of incriminatory passages directed against “lazy and unworthy priests” (a) from the Old Testament, cc. 76-91; (b) from the New, cc. 92-105; (c) from the selections of Scriptural Lessons found in the British Ordinal, or Service-book used in ordinations, cc. 106-107. (a) Old Testament passages
Let us therefore make our flight to the Lord’s mercy1 and the words of His holy prophets, so that they for us may poise the javelins of their oracles against imperfect pastors, as heretofore against tyrants, in order that through compunction they may be healed. Let us see what threats the Lord utters by the prophets against slothful and unseemly priests, and such as did not teach the people well by example and words. Eli, that priest in Shiloh, because he had not with a zeal worthy of God punished his sons when they held God in contempt, but mildly and gently admonished them, certainly with the feelings of a father, is condemned in such a censure as the following. The prophet says to him: Thus saith the Lord,—Plainly did I show myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt, slaves in the house of Pharaoh. A nd I chose the house of thy father out of all the tribes of Israel for me in the priesthood. After a few words: Why didst thou look upon my incense and my sacrifice with an evil eye, and didst honour thy sons more than me, so as to bless them from the beginning in all the sacrifices before me? And now thus saith the Lord: Because them that honour me will I honour, and they that despise me shall be brought to nought, behold the days shall come that I shall destroy thy name and the seed of thy father s house. And let this be a sign unto thee, which shall come upon thy two sons Hophni and Phineas: in one day shall they both die by the sword of men. I f therefore they who merely correct those subject to them by words, and not by deserved punishment, suffer these things, what shall be to those who incite and draw men to wicked deeds by sinning?
Notes
- Solito more. We have now a repetition of the method adopted in c. 38, that is, long quotations of the words spoken by prophets; let us note, however, that Gildas is swayed not simply by a spirit of invective; he appeals to Divine compassion in the hope that “slothful and unworthy priests” may feel compunction and be saved. As before, he begins with Samuel and ends, after long tarrying with the Minor Prophets, with Ezekiel. See p. 97, on the order of extracts.