When Adam was an hundred and thirty years of age, Cain slew

BIBLE STORIES AND RELIGIOUS CLASSICS

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANSON PHELPS STOKES, JR.

_ILLUSTRATED BY_ BEATRICE STEVENS

1903

INTRODUCTION

There never was a time when the demand for books for young people was so

great as it is to-day or when so much was being done to meet the demand.

"Children's Counter," "Boys' Books," are signs which, especially at the

Christmas season, attract the eye in every large book shop. Tales of

adventure, manuals about various branches of nature study, historical

romances, lives of heroes--in fact, almost every kind of book--is to be

found in abundance, beautifully illustrated, attractively bound, well

printed, all designed and written especially for the youth of our land.

It is indeed an encouraging sign. It means that the child of to-day is

being introduced to the world's best in literature and science and

history and art in simple and gradual ways.

In the Middle Ages stories of the martyrs and legends of the Church,

along with some simple form of catechetical instruction, formed the

basis of a child's mental and religious training. Later, during and

after the Crusades, the stories of war and the mysteries of the East

increased the stock in trade for the homes of Europe; but still the

horizon remained a narrow one. Even the invention of printing did not

bring to the young as many direct advantages as would naturally be

expected. To-day, when Christian missionaries set up a printing press in

some distant island of the sea, the first books which they print in the

vernacular are almost invariably those parts of the Bible, such as the

Gospels and the stories of Genesis, which most appeal to the young, and,

what is of special importance, they have the young directly and mainly

in mind in their publishing work. This was not true a few centuries ago.

The presses were, perhaps naturally and inevitably, almost exclusively

occupied with books for the learned world. To be sure, the Legenda

Aurea, of which I shall speak later, although not intended primarily for

children, proved a great boon to them. So did the Chap Books of England.

But it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, when John

Newbery set up his book shop at St. Paul's Churchyard, London, that any

special attention was given by printers to the publication, in

attractive form, of juvenile books. Newbery's children's books made him

famous in his day, but the world seems to have forgotten him. Yet he

deserves a monument along with Æsop, and La Fontaine, and Kate

Greenaway, and Andersen, and Scott and Henty, and all the other greater

and lesser lights who have done so much to gladden the heart and enlarge

the mind of childhood and youth.

But from Newbery's day to this year of our Lord nineteen hundred and

three is a very long jump in what we may call the evolution of juvenile

literature, for the preparation of reading matter for young people seems

now almost to have reached its climax. There is one field, however, and

that the one which this volume tries to cover, which strangely enough

seems to have been almost neglected. Of "goody-goody" Sunday School

library books of an old-fashioned type, which are insipid and lacking

both in virility of thought and literary form, there are, alas, already

too many. What we need is something to take their place, something which

will furnish real literature, and yet which from subject matter and

manner of handling is specially adapted to what I still like to call

Sunday reading, a phrase which unfortunately seems to mean little to

most people to-day. Bearing this in mind, it is the purpose of this book

to gather together, in attractive form, such religious classics as are

specially fitted to interest and uplift young people.

There is a wide variety in so far as _subject matter_, _source_ and

_form_ are concerned, but a certain unity is given to the contents of

the volume by the religious note, which, whether brought prominently

forward or not, is found alike in all the selections.

The Bible has furnished directly or indirectly most of the _subject

matter_ here used. The biographies of various Scripture characters

appear in large numbers. Adam and Noah head the list, and Peter and

Paul bring up the end of a procession of worthies whose heroic deeds as

the servants of Jehovah will always appeal to the imagination of

youthful minds. But it is not with Bible characters only that this book

deals. The lives of Christian saints who entered upon their inheritance,

such as Christopher and Sylvester and Francis of Assisi, also have their

place, while yet more prominent are stories and poems based on some

Bible incidents. Even selections such as Hawthorne's Great Stone Face or

Wordsworth's Ode to Duty have their roots deep in the Bible, for they

can be understood and explained only by those who know the Revelation it

contains. In so far, then, as the subject matter of the volume is

concerned, either it or its inspiration can always be traced back to the

Bible.

When we turn from the Bible material which, as we have seen, supplies

both subject and inspiration, to the _source_ from which the selections

in their literary form as here given are derived, we find that the old

foundations have sufficed for many kinds of structure. Probably the

source from which the editor has drawn most largely is the Golden

Legend. This work, which was translated into English and printed by

Caxton in 1483, although little heard of now, was for several centuries

a household word in Christendom. It was the creation of a Genoese

Archbishop, Jacobus de Voragine, and dates from about the middle of the

thirteenth century. The good Archbishop, using the Bible and the Lives

of the Saints as a basis, and as a sharer of the superstitions of the

time having unbounded faith in every legend of the Church, put together

in simple form for the edification of his flock the various stories

about Jewish and Christian worthies which compose the original Legenda

Aurea. This was translated into French by one Jean de Vignay in the

fourteenth century, and the English version was in turn mainly made from

this translation. In the simple, sturdy language of Caxton the book

became a most popular one, being often read aloud in the Parish Churches

of England, where it helped to familiarize the people, especially the

young, with sacred story as represented by the heroes of the Old

Testament and the saints of the Church. In Caxton's introduction there

is a quaint sentence regarding the name of the book. After mentioning

the Latin title, he adds "that is to say in Englyshe the golden legende

for lyke as passeth golde in vallwe al other metallys, soo thys legende

exedeth all other bokes." Whether the good printer's judgment be

justified or no, it is not for us to say. It is true, however, that

after the passing of over six centuries since its original production,

the editor of this volume in looking for religious classics for young

people has made more use of it than of any other collection. All honor,

then, to the old Archbishop of Genoa and to William Caxton, who made

his work accessible to the youth of England.

The only other work which deserves any special mention as a source for

the contents of this volume, is the Stories and Tales of Hans Christian

Andersen. If ever there was any one who deserved the title of the

Children's Friend, surely this son of a poor Danish shoemaker is the

man. His Tales have been translated into many languages, and because of

their true imagination and their simplicity of expression they have

appealed to all children. Ten or more of them appear in this volume.

They are charming and wholesome reading, and their continued popularity

makes us realize the truth of these closing lines in Andersen's The Old

Grave Stones: "The good and the beautiful perish never; they live

eternally in tale and song."

The other sources from which this collection has been made up are so

varied as to require no mention aside from that given with each title.

The Master Poets of English Literature have been freely drawn upon:

Byron to tell of the Destruction of Sennacherib, Milton to sing of

Christ's Nativity, Wordsworth to meditate aloud on Duty, and other great

writers to emphasize various deep truths of life.

* * * * *

As we turn from subject matter and source to _form_, we again find great

variety. Almost every kind of literature is represented. The early

lengends of the Jewish people, told by the author of the Legenda Aurea

almost in the words of Scripture, bring to young and old alike the same

lessons about God and Duty. The fact that they are legends, rather than

exact history, does not in any way lessen their religious value. Then,

too, the book contains allegories, such as that of the Pilgrim's

Progress, Christendom's greatest religious classic next to the Bible

itself, and those of some of Andersen's Tales. Poetry also is well

represented, the selections being in large part suggested by Scripture.

There are in addition many stories in the ordinary sense of the

word--tales which are entirely the fabric of the imagination, but which,

like the selections from Hawthorne, have some great lesson to teach. In

fact, the literary forms represented in this volume are almost as

numerous as those of the Bible itself. The latter used to be looked upon

merely as a storehouse of historic facts and devotional songs; now we

see in it Legend, Oratory, Poetry, Allegory, History, Proverb and

Prophecy; and we find that all of these forms are used by God's servants

to teach His truth to men.

* * * * *

Sufficient has been said, I think, to show the purpose and scope of this

volume and to introduce the reader to its contents. It is my hope and

belief that the effort of my friend, Mr. Philip P. Wells, to make this a

collection of religious classics in the full meaning of these words may

prove successful. My highest wish, however, is that those who read

these selections, with their great variety of source and form, may mark

the inspiration of thought or incident common to them all, and may find

an interest in refreshing what may be an old acquaintance with that Book

of Books which gives with classic truth the fundamental subject matter

for all deep thought and high aspiration.

ANSON PHELPS STOKES, JR.

CONTENTS

THE LIFE OF ADAM

HERE BEGINNETH THE HISTORY OF NOAH

THE RAINBOW

HERE FOLLOWETH THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM

HERE BEGINNETH THE LIFE OF ISAAC, WITH THE HISTORY OF ESAU AND OF JACOB

HERE BEGINNETH THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN

HERE NEXT FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF MOSES

THE BURIAL OF MOSES

THE HISTORY OF JOSHUA

THE HISTORY OF SAUL

THE HISTORY OF DAVID

THE SONG OF DAVID

THE STORY OF A CUP OF WATER

THE HISTORY OF SOLOMON

THE HISTORY OF REHOBOAM

A LITTLE MAID

HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF JOB

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB

HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF TOBIT

HERE BEGINNETH THE STORY OF JUDITH

THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY

THE BURNING BABE

A CRADLE SONG

EASTER

THE LIFE OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE

THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE

THE LIFE OF ST. CHRISTOPHER

THE SEVEN SLEEPERS

THE LIFE OF ST. SILVESTER

OF ST. AUSTIN THAT BROUGHT CHRISTENDOM TO ENGLAND

EDWIN AND PAULINUS

THE LIFE OF ST. GEORGE, MARTYR

THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK

OF ST. FRANCIS

SONG OF THE EMIGRANTS IN BERMUDA

LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN NEW ENGLAND

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

THE PILGRIM

THE GREAT STONE FACE

THE GENTLE BOY

THE ANGEL

THE RED SHOES

THE LOVELIEST ROSE IN THE WORLD

A VISION OF THE LAST DAY

THE OLD GRAVESTONE

GOOD-FOR-NOTHING

IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEA

SOMETHING

THE JEWISH GIRL

THE STORY OF A MOTHER

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL

FLOWERS WITHOUT FRUIT

CONTENTMENT

THE SEARCH FOR PEACE

A SONG OF PRAISE

THE TRAVELLER

TRUE GREATNESS

CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE

A THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR HIS HOUSE

FRIENDS DEPARTED

THE LAND OF DREAMS

ADORATION

BIBLE STORIES AND RELIGIOUS CLASSICS

THE LIFE OF ADAM

_The Sunday of Septuagesima beginneth the story of the Bible, in which

is read the legend and story of Adam which followeth_

In the beginning God made and created heaven and earth. The earth was

idle and void and covered with darkness. And the spirit of God was borne

on the waters, and God said: Be made light, and anon light was made. And

God saw that light was good, and divided the light from darkness, and

called the light day and darkness night.

And thus was made light with heaven and earth first, and even and

morning was made one day. The second day he made the firmament, and

divided the waters that were under the firmament from them that were

above, and called the firmament heaven. The third day were made on the

earth herbs and fruits in their kind. The fourth day God made the sun

and moon and stars, etc. The fifth day he made the fishes in the water

and birds in the air. The sixth day God made the beasts on the earth,

every one in his kind and gender. And God saw that all these works were

good and said: Make we man unto our similitude and image. Here spake the

Father to the Son and Holy Ghost, or else as it were the common voice of

three persons, when it was said make we, and to our, in plural number.

Man was made to the image of God in his soul. Here it is to be noted

that he made not only the soul with the body, but he made both body and

soul. As to the body he made male and female. God gave to man the

lordship and power upon living beasts. Thus in six days was heaven and

earth made and all the ornation of them. And then he made the seventh

day on which he rested, not for that he was weary, but ceased his

operation, and showed the seventh day which he blessed. Thus he shortly

showed the generations of heaven and earth, for here he determined the

works of the six days and the seventh day he sanctified and made holy.

God had planted in the beginning Paradise a place of desire and delices.

And man was made in the field of Damascus; he was made of the slime of

the earth. Paradise was made the third day of creation, and was beset

with herbs, plants and trees, and is a place of most mirth and joy. In

the midst whereof be set two trees, that is the tree of life, and that

other the tree of knowing good and evil. And there is a well, which

casteth out water for to water the trees and herbs of Paradise. This

well is the mother of all waters, which well is divided into four parts.

One part is called Phison. This goeth about Inde. The second is called

Gijon, otherwise Nilus, and that runneth about Ethiopia, the other two

be called Tigris and Euphrates. Tigris runneth toward Assyria, and

Euphrates is called fruitful, which runneth in Chaldea. These four

floods come and spring out of the same well, and depart, and yet in some

place some of them meet again.

Then God took man from the place of his creation and brought him into

Paradise, for to work there, not to labor needily, but in delighting and

recreating him, and that he should keep Paradise. For like as Paradise

should refresh him, so should he labor to serve God, and there God gave

him a commandment. Every commandment standeth in two things, in doing or

forbidding, in doing he commanded him to eat of all the trees of

Paradise, in forbidding he commanded that he should not eat of the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil. This commandment was given to the

man, and by the man it went to the woman. For when the woman was made it

was commanded to them both, and hereto he set a pain, saying: Whatsoever

day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die by death.

God said: It is not good a man to be alone, make we to him an helper

like to himself for to bring forth children. Adam supposed that some

helper to him had been among the beasts which had been like to him.

Therefore God brought to Adam all living beasts of the earth and air, in

which he understood them of the water also, which with one commandment

all came tofore him. They were brought for two causes, one was because

man should give to each of them a name, by which they should know that

he should dominate over them, and the second cause was because Adam

should know that there was none of them like to him. And he named them

in the Hebrew tongue, which was only the language and none other at the

beginning. And so none being found like unto him, God sent in Adam a

lust to sleep, which was no dream, but as is supposed in an extasy or in

a trance; in which was showed to him the celestial court. Wherefore when

he awoke he prophesied of the conjunction of Christ to his church, and

of the flood that was to come, and of the doom and destruction of the

world by fire he knew, which afterward he told to his children.

Whiles that Adam slept, God took one of his ribs, both flesh and bone,

and made that a woman, and set her tofore Adam. Which then said: This is

now a bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; and Adam gave her a name

like as her lord, and said she should be called virago, which is as much

as to say as made of a man, and is a name taken of a man. And anon, the

name giving, he prophesied, saying: Because she is taken of the side of

a man, therefore a man shall forsake and leave father and mother and

abide and be adherent unto his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh;

and though they be two persons, yet in matrimony and wedlock they be but

one flesh, and in other things twain. For why, neither of them had power

of his own flesh. They were both naked and were not ashamed, for they

stood both in the state of innocence. Then the serpent which was hotter

than any beast of the earth and naturally deceivable, for he was full

of the devil Lucifer, which was deject and cast out of heaven, had great

envy to man that was bodily in Paradise, and knew well, if he might make

him to trespass and break God's commandments, that he should be cast out

also.

Yet he was afeard to be taken or espied of the man, he went to the

woman, not so prudent and more prone to slide and bow. And in the form

of the serpent, for then the serpent was erect as a man. Bede saith that

he chose a serpent having a maiden's cheer [face], for like oft apply to

like, and spake by the tongue of the serpent to Eve, and said: Why

commanded you God that ye should not eat of all the trees of Paradise?

This he said to find occasion to say that he was come for. Then the

woman answered and said: Ne forte moriamur, lest haply we die, which she

said doubting, for lightly she was flexible to every part. Whereunto

anon he answered: Nay in no wise ye shall die, but God would not that ye

should be like him in science, and knowing that when ye eat of this tree

ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil, he as envious forbade you.

And anon the woman, elate in pride and willing to be like to God,

accorded thereto and believed him. The woman saw that the tree was fair

to look on, and clean and sweet of savor, took and ate thereof, and gave

unto Adam of the same, happily desiring him by fair words. But Adam anon

agreed, for when he saw the woman not dead he supposed that God had said

that they should die to fear them with, and then ate of the fruit

forbidden. And anon their sight was opened that they saw their

nakedness, and then anon they understood that they had trespassed. And

thus they knew that they were naked, and they took fig leaves and sewed

them together for to cover their members in manner of breeches.

And anon after, they heard the voice of our Lord God walking, and anon

they hied him. Our Lord called the man and said: Adam, where art thou?

Calling him in blaming him and not as knowing where he was, but as who

said: Adam, see in what misery thou art. Which answered: I have hid me,

Lord, for I am naked. Our Lord said: Who told thee that thou wert naked,

but that thou hast eaten of the tree forbidden? He then not meekly

confessing his trespass, but laid the fault on his wife, and on him as

giver of the woman to him, and said: The woman that thou gavest to me as

a fellow, gave to me of the tree, and I ate thereof. And then our Lord

said to the woman: Why didst thou so? Neither she accused herself, but

laid the sin on the serpent, and privily she laid the fault on the maker

of him. The serpent was not demanded, for he did it not of himself, but

the devil by him.

And our Lord, cursing them, began at the serpent, keeping an order and

congruous number of curses. The serpent was the first and sinned most,

for he sinned in three things. The woman next and sinned less than he,

but more than the man, for she sinned in two things. The man sinned last

and least, for he sinned but in one. The serpent had envy, he lied, and

deceived, for these three he had three curses. Because he had envy at

the excellence of man, it was said to him: Thou shalt go and creep on

thy breast; because he lied he is punished in his mouth, when it was

said: Thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life. Also he took away

his voice and put venom in his mouth. And because he deceived, it was

said: I shall put enmity between thee and woman, and thy seed and her

seed. She shall break thy head, etc. In two things the woman sinned, in

pride and eating the fruit. Because she sinned in pride, he meeked her,

saying: Thou shalt be under the power of man, and he shall have lordship

over thee, and he shall put thee to affliction. Now is she subject to a

man by condition and dread, which before was but subject by love; and

because she sinned in the fruit, she is punished in her fruit, when it

was said to her: Thou shalt bring forth children in sorrow; in the pain

of sorrow standeth the curse, but in bringing forth of children is a

blessing. And so, in punishing, God forgat not to have mercy. And

because Adam sinned but only in eating of the fruit, therefore he was

punished in seeking his meat, as it is said to him: Accursed be the

earth in thy work, that is to say for thy work of thy sin, for which is

made that the earth that brought forth good and wholesome fruits

plenteously, from henceforth shall bring forth but seldom, and also none

without man's labor, and also sometime weeds, briars, and thorns shall

grow. And he added: Thereto shalt thou eat herbs of the earth, as who

saith thou shalt be like a beast or jument. He cursed the earth because

the trespass was of the fruit of the earth and not of the water. He

added thereto to him of labor: In the sweat of thy cheer [face] thou

shalt eat thy bread unto the time thou return again into the earth; that

is to say till thou die, for thou art earth, and into earth thou shalt

go again.

Then Adam, wailing and sorrowing the misery that was to come of his

posterity, named his wife Eve, which is to say, mother of all living

folk. Then God made to Adam and Eve two leathern coats of the skins of

dead beasts, to the end that they bare with them the sign of mortality,

and said: Lo, Adam is made as one of us, knowing good and evil, now lest

he put his hand and take of the tree of life and live ever, as who

saith: beware and cast him out, lest he take and eat of the tree of

life. And so he was cast out of Paradise, and set in the field of

Damascus where as he was made and taken from, for to work and labor

there. And our Lord set Cherubim to keep Paradise of delight with a

burning sword and pliant, to the end that none should enter there ne

come to the tree of life.

After then that Adam was cast out of Paradise and set in the world, he

engendered Cain, the fifteenth year after he was made, and his sister

Calmana; but after another fifteen years was Abel born, and his sister

Delbora.

When Adam was an hundred and thirty years of age, Cain slew Abel his

brother. Truth it is, after many days Cain and Abel offered sacrifice

and gifts unto God. It is to be believed that Adam taught his sons to

offer to God their tithes and first fruits. Cain offered fruits, for he

was a ploughman and tiller of earth, and Abel offered milk and the first

of the lambs, Moses saith, of the fattest of the flock. And God beheld

the gifts of Abel, for he and his sacrifices were acceptable to our

Lord; and as to Cain his sacrifices, God beheld them not, for they were

not to him acceptable, he offered withies and thorns. And as some

doctors say, fire came from heaven and lighted the sacrifice of Abel,

and the gifts of Cain pleased not our Lord, for the sacrifice would not

belight nor burn clear in the light of God. Whereof Cain had great envy

unto his brother Abel, which arose against him and slew him. And our

Lord said to him: Where is Abel thy brother? He answered and said: I wot

never, am I keeper of my brother? Then our Lord said: What hast thou

done? The voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to thee from the

earth, wherefore thou art cursed, and accursed be the earth that

received the blood of thy brother by his mouth of thy hands. When thou

shalt work and labor the earth it shall bring forth no fruit, but thou

shalt be fugitive, vagabond, and void on the earth. This Cain deserved

well to be cursed, knowing the pain of the first trespass of Adam, yet

he added thereto murder and slaughter of his brother.

Then Cain, dreading that beasts should devour him, or if he went forth

he should be slain of the men, or if he dwelt with them, they would slay

him for his sin, damned himself, and in despair said: My wickedness is

more than I can deserve to have forgiveness, whoso find me shall slay

me. This he said of dread, or else wishing, as who said, would God he

would slay me. Then our Lord said: Nay not so, thou shalt die, but not

soon, for whosoever slayeth Cain shall be punished seven sithes more,

for he should deliver him from dread, from labor and misery, and added

that he should be punished personally sevenfold more. This punition

shall endure to him in pain unto the seventh, Lameth, whosomever shall

slay Cain shall loose seven vengeances. Some hold that his pain endured

unto the seventh generation, for he committed seven sins. He departed

not truly, he had envy to his brother, he wrought guilefully, he slew

his brother falsely, he denied it, he despaired and damned, he did no

penance. And after he went into the east, fugitive and vagabond. Cain

knew his wife which bare Enoch, and he made a city and named it Enoch

after the name of his son Enoch. Here it showeth well that this time

were many men, though their generation be not said, whom Cain called to

his city, by whose help he made it, whom he induced to theft and

robbery.

He was the first that walled or made cities; dreading them that he

hurted, for surety he brought his people into the towns. Then Enoch gat

Irad, and Irad Mehujael, and he gat Methusael, and he gat Lameth, which

was the seventh from Adam and worst, for he brought in first bigamy.

This Lameth took two wives, Adah and Zilla; of Adah he gat Jabal which

found first the craft to make folds for shepherds and to change their

pasture, and ordained flocks of sheep, and departed the sheep from the

goats after the quality, the lambs by themselves, and the older by

themselves, and understood the feeding of them after the season of the

year. The name of his brother was Jubal, father of singers in the harp

and organs, not of the instruments, for they were found long after, but

he was the finder of music, that is to say of consonants of accord, such

as shepherds use in their delights and sports. And forasmuch as he heard

Adam prophesy of two judgments by the fire and water, that all things

should be destroyed thereby, and that his craft new found should not

perish, he did do write it in two pillars or columns, one of marble,

another of clay of the earth, to the end that one should endure against

the water, and that other against the fire. Josephus saith that the

pillar of marble is yet in the land of Syria. Of Zilla he begat

Tubal-cain, which found first the craft of smithery and working of iron,

and made things for war, and sculptures and gravings in metal to the

pleasure of the eyes, which he so working, Tubal, tofore said, had

delight in the sound of his hammers, of which he made the consonants and

tunes of accord in his song. Noema, sister of Tubal-cain, found first

the craft of diverse texture.

Lameth was a shooter, and used to shoot at wild beasts, for none use of

the meat of them, but only for to have the skins for their clothing, and

lived so long that he was blind and had a child to lead him. And on a

time by adventure he slew Cain. For Cain was always afeard and hid him

among bushes and briars, and the child that led Lameth had supposed it

had been some wild beast and directed Lameth to shoot thereat, and so,

weening to shoot at a beast, slew Cain. And when he knew that he had

slain Cain, he with his bow slew the child, and thus he slew them both

to his damnation; therefore as the sin of Cain was punished seven

sithes, so was the sin of Lameth seventy sithes and seven. That is to

say, seventy-seven souls that came of Lameth were perished in the deluge

and Noah's flood; also his wife did him much sorrow, and evil-entreated

him. And he being wroth said that he suffered that for his double

homicide and manslaughter, yet nevertheless he feared him by pain,

saying: Why will ye slay me? he shall be more and sorer punished that

slayeth me, than he that slew Cain.

Josephus said that when Abel was slain and Cain fled away, Adam when he

was one hundred and thirty years old engendered Seth like to his

similitude, and he to the image of God. This Seth was a good man, and he

gat Enos, and Enos Cainan, and Cainan begot Malaleel, and Malaleel

Jared, and Jared Enoch, and Enoch Methuselah, and Methuselah Lamech, and

Lamech Noah. And like as in the generation of Cain the seventh was the

worst, so in the generation of Seth the seventh was the best, that was

Enoch whom God took and brought him into Paradise, unto the time that he

shall come with Elias for to convert the hearts of the fathers into the

sons. And Adam lived after he had begotten Seth eight hundred years, and

engendered sons and daughters. Some hold opinion thirty sons and thirty

daughters, and some fifty of that one and fifty of that other. We find

no certainty of them in the Bible. But all the days of Adam living here

in earth amount to the sum of nine hundred and thirty years. And in the

end of his life when he should die, it is said, but of none authority,

that he sent Seth his son into Paradise for to fetch the oil of mercy,

where he received certain grains of the fruit of the tree of mercy by an

angel. And when he came again he found his father Adam yet alive and

told him what he had done. And then Adam laughed first and then died.

And then he laid the grains or kernels under his father's tongue and

buried him in the vale of Hebron; and out of his mouth grew three trees

of the three grains, of which trees the cross that our Lord suffered his

passion on was made, by virtue of which he gat very mercy, and was

brought out of darkness into very light of Heaven. To the which he bring

us that liveth and reigneth God, world without end.

HERE BEGINNETH THE HISTORY OF NOAH

_The First Sunday in Sexagesima_

After that Adam was dead, died Eve and was buried by him. At the

beginning, in the first age, the people lived long. Adam lived nine

hundred and thirty years, and Methuselah lived nine hundred and

sixty-nine years. S. Jerome saith that he died the same year that the

flood was. Then Noah was the tenth from Adam in the generation of Seth,

in whom the first age was ended. The seventy interpreters say that this

first age dured two thousand two hundred and forty-four years. S. Jerome

saith not fully two thousand, and Methodius full two thousand, etc.

Noah then was a man perfect and righteous and kept God's commandment.

And when he was five hundred years old, he gat Shem, Ham, and Japhet.

This time men began to multiply on the earth, and the children of God,

that is to say of Seth, as religious, saw the daughters of men, that is

to say of Cain, and took them to their wives. This time was so much sin

on the earth, wherefore God was displeased and determined in his

prescience to destroy man that he had made, and said: I shall put man

away that I have made, and my spirit shall not abide in man for ever,

for he is flesh. As who said, I shall not punish man perpetually as I

do the devil, for man is frail, and yet ere I shall destroy him I shall

give him space and time of repentance and to amend him, if he will. The

time of repentance shall be one hundred and twenty years. Then Noah,

righteous and perfect, walked with God, that is in his laws, and the

earth was corrupt by sin and filled.

When God saw the earth to be corrupt, and that every man was corrupt by

sin upon the earth, he said to Noah: The end of all people is come

tofore me except them that shall be saved, and the earth is replenished

with their wickedness. I shall destroy them with the earth, id est [that

is], with the fertility of the earth. Make to thee an ark of tree, hewn,

polished, and squared. And make there divers places, and lime it with

clay and pitch within and without, that is to wit with glue which is so

fervent, that the timber may not be loosed. And thou shalt make it three

hundred cubits of length, fifty in breadth, and thirty of height. And

make therein divers distinctions of places and chambers and of

wardrobes. And the ark had a door for to enter in and come out, and a

window was made thereon, which that the Hebrews say was of crystal. This

ark was on making, from the beginning that God commanded first to make

it, one hundred and twenty years. In which time Noah oft desired the

people to leave their sin, and how he had spoken with God, and that he

was commanded to make the ship, for God should destroy them for their

sin, but if they left it. And they mocked him and said that he raved

and was a fool, and gave no faith to his saying and continued in their

sin and wickedness. Then, when the ark was perfectly made, God bade him

to take into it of all the beasts of the earth, and also of the fowls of

the air, of each two, male and female, that they may live. And also of

all the meats of the earth that be comestible, that they may serve and

feed thee and them. And Noah did all that our Lord commanded him. Then

said our Lord to Noah: Enter thou and all thy household into the ark,

that is to say thou and thy wife and thy three sons and their three

wives. I have seen that thou art rightful in this generation. Of all

beasts that be clean thou shalt take seven, and of unclean beasts but

only two. And of the birds seven and seven, male and female, that they

may be saved on the face of the earth. Yet after seven days I shall rain

upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and shall destroy all the

substance that I made on the earth. And Noah did all things that our

Lord commanded him.

He was six hundred years old when the flood began on the earth. And then

Noah entered in and his sons, his wife, and the wives of his sons, all

into the ark to eschew the waters of the flood. Of all the beasts and

the fowls, and of all that moved and had life on earth, male and female,

Noah took in to him as our Lord had bidden. And seven days after they

were entered, the water began to increase. The wells of the abysms were

broken, and the cataracts of heaven were opened, that is to say the

clouds, and it rained on the earth forty days and forty nights. And the

ark was elevate and borne upon the waters on height above the mountains

and hills, for the water was grown higher fifteen cubits above all the

mountains, that it should purge and wash the filth of the air. Then was

consumed all that was on the earth living, man, woman, and beast and

birds. And all that ever bare life, so that nothing abode upon the

earth, for the water was fifteen cubits above the highest mountain of

the earth. And when Noah was entered he shut the door fast without

forth, and limed it with glue.

And so the waters abode elevate in height an hundred and fifty days from

the day that Noah entered in. And our Lord then remembered Noah and all

them that were in the ark with him, and also on the beasts and fowls,

and ceased the waters. And the wells and cataracts were closed, and the

rains were prohibited, and forbidden to rain no more. The seventh month,

the twenty-seventh day of the month, the ark rested on the hills of

Armenia. The tenth month, of the first day of the month, the tops of the

hills appeared first. After these forty days after the lessing of the

waters, Noah opened the window and desired sore to have tidings of

ceasing of the flood. And sent out a raven for to have tidings, and when

he was gone he returned no more again, for peradventure she found some

dead carrion of a beast swimming on the water, and lighted thereon to

feed her and was left there. After this he sent out a dove which flew

out, and when she could find no place to rest ne set her foot on, she

returned unto Noah and he took her in. Yet then were not the tops of

the hills bare. And seven days after he sent her out again, which at

even returned, bearing a branch of an olive tree, burgeoning, in her

mouth. And after other seven days he sent her again, which came no more

again.

Then in the year of Noah six hundred and one, the first day of the

month, Noah opened the covering of the ark and saw that the earth was

dry, but he durst not go out, but abode the commandment of our Lord. The

second month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, our Lord said to

Noah: Go out of the ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of

thy sons. He commanded them to go conjointly out which disjointly

entered, and let go out with them all the beasts and fowls living, and

all the reptiles, every each after his kind and gender, to whom our Lord

said: Grow ye and multiply upon the earth. Then Noah issued out and his

wife, and his sons with their wives, and all the beasts, the same day a

year after they entered in, every one after his gender. Noah then

edified an altar to our Lord and took of all the beasts that were clean

and offered sacrifice unto our Lord; and our Lord smelled the sweetness

of the sacrifice and said to Noah: From henceforth I shall not curse the

earth for man, for he is prone and ready to fall from the beginning of

his youth. I shall no more destroy man by such vengeance. And then our

Lord blessed them and said: Grow ye and multiply the earth and be ye

lords of all the beasts of the earth, of the fowls of the air, and of

the fishes. I have given all things to you, but eat no flesh with the

blood. I command you to slay no man, nor to shed no man's blood. I have

made man after mine image. Whosomever sheddeth his brother's blood, his

blood shall be shed. Go ye forth and grow and multiply and fill the

earth. This said our Lord to Noah and his sons: Lo! I have made a

covenant with you and with them that shall come after you, that I shall

no more bring such a flood to slay all people, and in token thereof I

have set my rainbow in the clouds of heaven, for who that trespasseth I

shall do justice otherwise on him. Noah lived after the flood three

hundred and fifty years. From the time of Adam until after Noah's flood,

the time and season was alway green and tempered; and all that time men

ate no flesh, for the herbs and fruits were then of great strength and

effect, they were pure and nourishing. But after the flood the earth was

weaker and brought not forth so good fruit, wherefore flesh was ordained

to be eaten. And then Noah began to labor for his livelihood with his

sons, and began to till the earth, to destroy briars and thorns and to

plant vines. And so on a time Noah had drunk so much of the wine that he

was drunk, and lay and slept. Ham, his middlest son, laughed and scorned

his father, and called his brethren to see, which rebuked Ham of his

folly and sin. And Noah awoke, and when he understood how Ham his son

had scorned him, he cursed him and also his son Canaan, and blessed Shem

and Japhet. All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and

then he died. And after his death his sons dealed all the world between

them, Shem had all Asia, Ham Africa, and Japhet all Europe. Thus was it

departed. Asia is the best part and is as much as the other two, and

that is in the east. Africa is the south part, and therein is Carthage

and many rich countries, therein be blue and black men. Ham had that to

his part Africa. The third part is Europe which is in the north and

west, therein is Greece, Rome, and Germany. In Europe reigneth now most

the christian law and faith, wherein is many a rich realm. And so was

the world departed to the three sons of Noah.

THE RAINBOW

Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky

When storms prepare to part,

I ask not proud Philosophy

To teach me what thou art.

Still seem, as to my childhood's sight,

A midway station given,

For happy spirits to alight,

Betwixt the earth and heaven.

Can all that optics teach, unfold

Thy form to please me so,

As when I dreamt of gems and gold

Hid in thy radiant bow?

When science from creation's face

Enchantment's veil withdraws,

What lovely visions yield their place

To cold material laws!

And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams,

But words of the Most High,

Have told why first thy robe of beams

Was woven in the sky.

When o'er the green undeluged earth

Heaven's covenant thou didst shine,

How came the world's gray fathers forth

To watch thy sacred sign!

And when its yellow lustre smiled

O'er mountains yet untrod,

Each mother held aloft her child

To bless the bow of God.

The earth to thee her incense yields,

The lark thy welcome sings,

When, glittering in the freshen'd fields,

The snowy mushroom springs.

How glorious is thy girdle, cast

O'er mountain, tower, and town,

Or mirror'd in the ocean vast

A thousand fathoms down!

As fresh in yon horizon dark,

As young thy beauties seem,

As when the eagle from the ark

First sported in thy beam.

For, faithful to its sacred page,

Heaven still rebuilds thy span;

Nor lets the type grow pale with age

That first spoke peace to man.

T. CAMPBELL.

HERE FOLLOWETH THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM

The Sunday called Quinquagesima is read in the church the history of the

holy patriarch Abraham which was the son of Terah. This Terah was the

tenth from Noah in the generation of Shem. Japhet had seven sons and Ham

four sons. Out of the generation of Ham Nimrod came, which was a wicked

man and cursed in his works, and began to make the tower of Babel which

was great and high. And at the making of this tower, God changed the

languages, in such wise that no man understood other. For tofore the

building of that tower was but one manner speech in all the world, and

there were made seventy-two speeches. The tower was great, it was ten

miles about and five thousand and eighty-four steps of height. This

Nimrod was the first man that found mawmetry and idolatry, which endured

long and yet doth. Then I turn again to Terah which had three sons,

which was Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Of Nahor came Us, Bus, and Batuel. Of

Us came Job, of Bus came Balaam, and of Batuel Rebekah and Laban. Of

Haran came Lot and two daughters, Melcha and Sara.

Now I shall speak of Abram of whom our blessed lady came. He wedded

Sara, daughter of his brother Haran. Abram was ever faithful and true,

he was sixty-five years old when his father died, for whom he mourned

till our Lord comforted him, which said to Abram: Abram, make thee ready

and go out of thy land and kindred, and also from the house of thy

father, and come into the land that I shall show to thee. I shall make

thee grow into much people; I shall bless thee and magnify thy name, and

thou shalt be blessed, and I shall bless them that bless thee, and curse

them that curse thee, and in thee shall be blessed all the kindreds of

the earth.

Abram was seventy years old when he departed from the land of Haran, and

he took with him Sara his wife, and Lot the son of his brother, and

their meiny [company], and his cattle and his substance, and came into

the land of Canaan, and came into the vale of Sichem, in which were ill

people which were the people of Canaan. And our Lord said to Abram: I

shall give to thee this land and to thine heirs. Then Abram did raise an

altar on which he did sacrifice, and blessed and thanked our Lord. Abram

beheld all the land toward the south, and saw the beauty thereof, and

found it like as our Lord told him. But he had not been long in the land

but that there fell great hunger therein, wherefore he left that country

and went into Egypt and took with him Sara his wife. And as they went by

the way Abram said to his wife: I fear and dread sore that when we come

to this people, which be lawless, that they shall take thee for thy

beauty and slay me, because they would use thee. Wherefore say thou art

my sister, and I thy brother, and she agreed thereto. And when they

were come in to that country the people saw that she was so fair, and

anon they told the king, which anon commanded that she should be brought

into his presence. And when she was come, God of his good grace so

purveyed for her, that no man had power to do her villany. Wherefore the

king was feared that God would have taken vengeance on him for her, and

sent for Abram and said to him that he should take his wife, and that he

had evil done to say, that she was his sister, and so delivered her

again, and gave him gold and silver, and bade that men should worship

him in all his land, and he should freely at his pleasure depart with

all his goods. Then after this Abram took his wife Sara and went home

again, and came unto Bethel, and set there an altar of stone, and there

he adored and worshipped the name of God. His store and beasts began to

multiply, and Lot with his meiny was also there. And their beasts began

so sore to increase and multiply, that unnethe [hardly] the country

might suffice to their pasture, in so much that rumor and grudging began

to sourde and arise between the herdmen of Abram and the herdmen of Lot.

Then Abram said to Lot: Lo! this country is great and wide, I pray thee

to choose on which hand thou wilt go, and take it for thy meiny and thy

beasts. And let no strife be between me and thee, ne between my herdmen

ne thy herdmen. Lo! behold all the country is tofore thee, take which

thou wilt; if thou go on the right side, I shall go on the left side,

and if thou take the left, I will go on the right side. Then Lot beheld

the country and saw a fair plain toward flom Jordan, which was pleasant,

and the flood ran toward Sodom and Gomorrah, which was like a paradise,

and took that part for him. And Abram took toward the west, which was

beside the people of Canaan at the foot of mount Mamre. And Lot dwelled

in Sodom. The people of Sodom were worst of all people.

Our Lord said to Abram: Lift up thine eyes and see directly from the

place that thou art now in, from the north to the south, and from the

east to the west. All this land that thou seest I shall give thee, and

to thy seed for evermore. I shall make thy seed as powder or dust of the

earth, who that may number the dust of the earth shall number thy seed.

Arise therefore and walk the land in length and in breadth, for I shall

give it to thee. Abram moved then his tabernacle and dwelled in the

valley of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and set there his tabernacle. It

happened soon after that there was a war in that land, that four kings

warred again other five kings, which were of Sodom, Gomorrah and other.

And the four kings overthrew the five and slew them, and spoiled and

took all the substance of the country and took also with them Lot and

all his goods. And a man gat away from them and came to Abram, and told

him how that Lot was taken and led away. And then anon Abram did do

gather his people together, the number of three hundred and eighteen.

And followed after, and departed his people in two parties because they

should not escape. And Abram smote in among them, and slew the kings,

and rescued Lot and all his goods, and delivered the men of Sodom that

were taken and the women. And they of Sodom came against him, and

Melchisedech came and met with him, and offered to him bread and wine.

This Melchisedech was king and priest of Jerusalem and all the country,

and blessed Abram. And there Abram gave to him the tythes of all he had.

And the king of Sodom would that Abram should have had such prey as he

took, but he would not have as much as the latchet of a shoe, and thus

gat Abram much love of all the people.