Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/143

Rh God, the father of all, and one Lord, Jesus Christ (by whom are all things), and one Holy Spirit (in whom are all things). God the Father is one and derived from none; one and only-born is the Son, timeless, begotten of the father; one is the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father. And this is one substance and one nature of the all-holy Trinity. This faith in God we received from the divine scriptures; in this we were baptised and of this we make profession. Thou also, then, if thou believest and art baptised, shalt be saved; but if thou believest not thou art condemned. For all this glory of thine and the splendour which thou wearest is transitory. There is a time when thou must be driven forth from all this luxury and pomp of thine, and when thy body will be confined in a cramped and narrow sepulchre, alone, separated from all friends and comrades. And instead of all this wealth thou shalt rot and be the food of worms. But thy spirit they will shut up in the place of condemnation until the last day, when there is the resurrection of the dead. Then once more thy spirit shall enter thy body and both shall fall into the burning fire eternal. All this impends for those who die in infidelity. But if with upright heart thou listen to him that calls thee unto salvation, leave all and follow after him, and thou shalt receive eternal happiness."

"The life of the world is to be likened to (that of) the man who, fleeing from the presence of an unicorn, in the hurry of his flight fell into a ditch wide and deep. Then he stretched out his hands and laid hold of the branch of a tree which grew on the edge of the pit. And so he set his feet firmly on the bank of the ditch, and thought himself to be safely rescued. But he looked up and saw two mice, the one white and the other black, who were gnawing away the branch to which he clung, and they had progressed nearly so far as to cut it asunder. And looking down he saw at the bottom of the pit a terrible dragon, out of whose mouth there issued fire, and his mouth was open waiting for the man to fall in. Then he looked down to where his feet were planted and saw there the heads of four snakes that struck at the soles of his feet. But from the tree, to the bough of which he clung, there was dropping down a little sweet honey, whereupon he forgot all the stress under which he lay and opened his mouth wide to catch that little drop of sweet honey which distilled from the tree.

"Like unto him are all who pursue the vain things of the world. But in the unicorn we are to recognise the pattern of death, who assails every man from his birth unto his death. But the pit of the dragon is this world, full of all evils and deadly snares. But the branch which was being gnawed through by the two mice is the twofold duration (lit. time) of life which is being consumed and wasted by day and night, and for ever approaches the point at which it will be cut short. (The black mouse is night, and the white is day.) And the four snakes (which were at his feet) are the four natures which make up man out of four elements welded together, but which, if weakened, deal death to