Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/59

50 GREGORY'S PASTORAL. [Cotton MSS. þæs alteres, ðylæs ænig unclænsod dorste on swæ micelne haligdom fon ðære clænan ðenunge ðæs sacerdhades, oððe eft ænig durre on eaðmodnesse hiewe hit ofermodlice forcweðan, swelce he licette eaðmetta, & do ðeah for gilpe, gif hiene gecistð sio uplice gifu. Ac forðæmþe hit swæ earfoðe is ænegum men to wietanne hwonne he geclænsod sie, he mæg ðy orsorglicor forbugan þa ðenunga ; & næs swæðeah to anwillice ne forbuge he, swæ we ær cwædon, ðonne he ongiete ðone ufancundan willan þæt he hit don scyle. Ægðer ðissa gefylde Moyses þa he wiðsoc swæ miclum ealdordome. Ægðer ge he wolde ge he nolde, & ðeah for eaðmodnesse geðafode. We witon ðæt he nære eaðmod, gif he underfenge ðone ealdordom swelces unrimfolces buton ege; & eft he wære ofermod, gif he wiðcwæde þæt he nære underðiedd his Scippende. Ac ægðer ðissa he dyde for eaðmodnesse & for underðiednesse. He sceawode hine selfe, [selfne] & pinsode, þa þa him ðuhte ðæt he hit don ne meahte, & swædeah gedafode, fordæmpe he getruwode tæs mægene be hit him bebead. Hwæt se halga wer ongeat þæt he hæfde Godes fultom, & swæðeah ondred þæt he underfenge ðone ladteowdom þæs folces, & nu him ne ondrædað þa dolan for hiora agnum scyldum þæt hie sien ofer oðre, & ne magon him gegadrian on ðyllicum bisene hu micel syn & hu micel frecennes hit bið. God selfa tyhte Moyses on ðone folgoð, swæðeah he him ondred ; & nu fundiað [fandiað] swelce wræccean & teoð to, woldon underfón ðone weorðscipe & eac ða byrðenne ; & ða þe beoð mid hiora agnum byrðennum ofðrycte þæt hie ne magon standan [gestondan], hie willað lustlice underfón oðerra

so holy a work of the pure ministration of the priesthood, or under the pretext of humility haughtily refuse it, as if he simulated humility, and yet showed himself vainglorious, if the divine grace chooses him. But since it is so difficult for any man to know when he is purified, he can with so much the less hesitation decline the ministration; and yet he must not decline it too obstinately, as we remarked above, when he sees that it is the divine will for him to do so. Moses fulfilled both requirements when he refused so great a sovereignty. He was both willing and unwilling, and yet from humility he con- sented. We know that he would not have been humble, if he had undertaken the rule of so vast a host without fear; and, again, he