Preaching And Judgement

Vos estis, dicente Veritate, lux totius Britanniae, sal terrae, civitas super montem posita, lucerna super candelabrum elevata. Item beato principe apostolorum attestante: Vos estis genus electum, regale sacedotium. Per vestrae vero praedicationis instantiam nos erimus, quod in eadem sequitur Epistola: Gens sancta, populus acquisitionis: quatenus per vis virtus annuntietur illius, qui nos omnes de tenebris vocavit in admirabile lumen suum. Qui aliquando non populus Dei, nunc autem populus Dei. Patres itaque nostri, Deo dispensante, licet pagani, hanc patriam bellica virtute primum possederunt. Quam grande igitur opprobrium est ut nos Christiani perdamus quod illi pagani acquisiverunt? Hoc dico propter flagellum quod nuper accidit partibus insulae nostrae, quae prope trecentis quinquaginta annis a parentibus inhabitata est nostris. Legitur in libro Gildi Brettonum sapientissimi, quod iidem ipsi Brettones propter rapinas et avaritiam principum, propter iniquitatem et injustitiam judicum, propter desidiam et pigritiam praedictionis episcoporum, propter luxuriam et malos mores populi, patriam perdiderunt. Caveamus haec eadem nostris temporibus vitia inolescere, quatenus benedictio divina nobis patriam conservet in prosperitate bona, quam nobis in sua misericordia perdonare dignat est. Ut hoc ipsum omnipotentis Dei largissima efficiat pietas, vos qui clavem regni coelestis cum Apostolis, ligandi solvendique potestatem accepistis a Christo aperite assiduis praedicationibus portas coeli populi Dei, et nolite tacere, ne populi peccata vobis imputentur. Requirit enim a vobis animas Deus, quas ad regendum accepistis. Ex subjectorum salute vestra multiplicatur remuneratio. Alcuinus, Epistola X, Ad Aethelhard Archiepiscopum Source: Migne PL 100.154c-155b

You are, says the Truth, the light of all Britain, the salt of the earth, a city set on a mount, a lamp hung on a lamp stand. 1 And the same thing the blessed prince of the Apostles testifies, 'You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood.' And by the urging of your preaching we shall be what follows in the same letter: 'A holy people, a people acquired,' as much as by you virtue is announced to us, 'who all were called from the darkness into His wonderful light. Who once were not a people of God but now are indeed a people of God.' 1 Our fathers, by the dispensation of God, although pagan, gained possession of this land by force of war. How grave then will be our disgrace if we Christians lose what pagans acquired? I say this on account of the tribulations which have fallen on parts of our island, 3 which have been inhabited by our parents for around three hundred and fifty years. We read in the book of Gildas, the wisest of the Britons, 4 that those same Britons lost their country on account of the rapine and avarice of princes and the iniquity and injustice of judges and idleness and indolence of the preaching of bishops, and the luxury and the wicked behaviour of the people. Let us then admonish the vices that grow in our own times, since it is the Divine blessing given to us that preserves us in the prosperity of good things, which to us in His mercy He deigns to give. That this holy largess of almighty God be effective, you who with the Apostles have received from Christ the key of the heavenly kingdom and the power of binding and losing, open with assiduous preaching the gates of heaven to the people of God, and do not be silent, nor let the people attribute faults to you. God requires souls from you, the rule of which you have received. By the salvation of your subjects your reward will be measured. Alcuin of York, from Letter 10, To the Archbishop Aethelhard 1 Mt 5.13-15 2 1 Pet 2.9-10 3 The Danish invasions 4 De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae