Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/345

 He was  the  first  chosen  of  all  the  Evangelists,

but he  is  for  all  that  the  fourth,  because  he  wrote  the  fourth  book,

after that  the  others  were  set  in  order

and were  widely  written  throughout  the  world.

He was  in  Asia  when  he  wrote  the  book,

and he  lived  long  in  life  after  Christ,

until the  other  apostles  had  ended  their  lives,

and had  gone,  victorious,  to  the  true  life.

These four  Evangelists  are  chosen  of  God,

and they  enlightened  all  the  world  by  their  lore,

even as  the  four  rivers  which  run  from  Paradise

together water  all  this  orb;

and these  four  Evangelists  God  revealed  of  old,

in the  Old  Law,  to  the  prophet  Ezekiel.

He saw  in  his  vision  four  beasts  such  as  these;

one of  the  four  beasts  was  seen  as  it  were  the  appearance  of  a  Man,

the second  was  like  a  Lion's  form,

and the  third  stood  like  a  Stirk  (Calf),

and the  fourth  was  like  a  variously  coloured  Eagle.

The Man's  likeness  belongeth  to  Matthew,

because he  began  his  Gospel  about  Christ's  humanity.

The Lion  belongeth,  as  the  orthodox  say,

to Mark's  likeness,  because  he  cried  with  a  loud  sound,

even as  the  lion  roareth  greedily  in  the  desert,

Vox clamantis  in  deserto,  parate  viam  domini,  rectas  facile  semitas eius; 

A voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  God's  ways,  make His  paths  straight.'

The Calf's  likeness  belongeth  to  Luke,

because he  began  his  Gospel,  even  as  God  directed  him,