Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/443

 So likewise  those  unrighteous  judges  who  pervert  their  judgments,

always for  gain,  and  not  for  justice,

and always  offer  their  justice  for  sale,

and thus  sell  themselves  for  the  sake  of  money,

then shall  they  have  in  the  end,  for  their  unrighteousness,

eternal torments  with  the  treacherous  devil.

The righteous  judge  must  judge  ever  aright,

and ever  further  justice  for  the  love  of  God,

seeing that  bribes  blind,  even  as  books  tell  us,

the minds  of  men  who  wickedly  take  them  [Prov. xxii. , Vulg.],

and thus  pervert  their  judgments  into  injustice.

None of  God's  thanes  may  decide  a  cause  for  gain,

but maintain  the  judgment,  if  he  be  the  Lord's  man,

without miserable  bribes,  ever  for  the  right,

that he  may  receive  his  reward  in  the  eternal  life.

Likewise some  men  sell  even  a  church  for  hire,

as it  were  worthless  mills,  the  glorious  House  of  God,

which was  dedicated  to  God  for  His  service,

for that  Christianity  which  Christ  Himself  founded;

but it  befitteth  not  that  men  make  God's  House

like unto  a  mill,  for  vile  toll;

and he  who  doeth  it  shall  sink  [or  sinneth]  very  deeply.

May the  Creator,  who  created  us  as  men,  shield  us

from the  deceit  of  the  devil  who  layeth  snares  about  us,

and mercifully  bring  us  to  the  eternal  life,

wherein is  everlasting  glory  for  ever  and  ever. Amen.