BOOK V. ALFRED'S imitation of the fourth metrum of Boetius consists chiefly of the additions of his own piety: "He that would firmly build his house, he should not set it upon the highest hill; and he that would seek heavenly wisdom must not be arrogant. And again, "As he that would firmly build his house will not place it upon sand-hills, so if thou wouldest build wisdom, set it not up on covetousness; for as the drinking sand swalloweth the rain, so covetousness absorbs the frail happiness of this world, because it will be always thirsty. "Nor can a house stand long on an high mountain if a full raging wind presses on it. Nor hath it on the drinking sand that which will continue against violent rain. "So also the mind of man is undermined and agitated from its place, when the wind of strong troubles or the rain of immeasurable anxiety shake it. "But he that will have the eternal riches, he will fly from the dangerous beauty of this middle earth, and build the house of his mind on the fast stone of lowliness; for Christ dwelt in the valley of humility and in the meditation of wisdom. "Hence the wise man will lead all his life to the joy that is unchangeable, endless, and without care. Then he will despise both earthly good, and evil also; and hope for the future, which will be eternal. Because God, who for ever abides, will preserve him every where in the riches of his mind, though the wind of this world's difficulties, and the perpetual cares of its prosperities should blow on him.” 26 FROM the diffuse meditations of St. Austin 27, Alfred selected the parts which most pleased him, and has translated these into Saxon, with that freedom, and with those additions which makes his versions so often breathe his own feelings. As the king's heart is laid open before us in these chosen effusions, it may not be uninteresting to insert some 26 Alfred's Boet. p. 22. The two last paragraphs, and some phrases of the others, are Alfred's own composition. 27 MSS. Brit. Mus. Vitell. A. 15. extracts from them, as a further delineation of his CHAP. real character: "Lord! Thou who art the maker of all creation, grant me first that I may rightly know thee and rationally address thee; then may I earn that I shall become worthy that thou, from thy mild-heartedness, shouldest redeem and free me. "I call to Thee, Lord! Thou that abandonest none of thy creatures to become nought. To thee I call; Thou that lovest all that can love Thee; both those which know what they should love and those which do not. "O Thou! that didst make all creatures very good without any evil! Thou! who wilt not openly shew thyself to any others but to those who are cleansed in their mind! To Thee, O Lord! I call, because Thou art the father of sincerity and wisdom, and true life, and of the supreme life and the supreme felicity, and of the highest good and the supreme brightness, and of intellectual light. "O Thou who art the Father of that Son which has awakened us, and yet urgeth us out of the sleep of our sins, and exhorteth us, that we become thine; to Thee, Lord! I pray, who art the supreme truth, for.all the truth that is, is truth from Thee. "Thee, I implore, O Lord! who art the highest wisdom. Through Thee are wise all those that are so. Thou art the true life, and through Thee all that live subsist. Thou art the supreme felicity, and from Thee all have become happy that are so. Thou art the highest good, and from Thee all beauty springs. Thou art the intellectual light, and from Thee man derives his understanding! "He that loveth Thee, seeketh Thee: he that followeth Thee, he will obtain Thee." AFTER indulging in these lofty feelings awhile, he proceeds more earnestly: "Come now to help me, O Thou, who art the only Eternal; the true God of glory: Father and Son, and so art now; and Holy Spirit, without any separation or mutability, and without any necessity or diminution of power, and who never diest. Thou art always dwelling in the highest brightness, and in highest happiness; in perfect unanimity, and in the fullest abundance. With Thee there is no deficiency of good, but V. BOOK Thou art ever abiding, replete with every felicity, through V. endless time. "To Thee, O God! I call and speak. Hear, O hear me! Lord! for Thou art my God and my Lord; my father and my creator; my ruler, and my hope; my wealth and my honour; my house; my country; my salvation, and my life! Hear, hear me, O Lord! Few of thy servants comprehend Thee. But Thee alone I love, indeed, above all other things; Thee I seek; Thee I will follow; Thee I am ready to serve. Under Thy power I desire to abide, for Thou alone art the sovereign of all. I pray Thee to command me as Thou wilt." ONE extract more, breathing the same warmth of feeling, may be added: "Now I have sought Thee: unlock thy door and teach me how I may come to Thee. I have nothing to bring to Thee but my good will, but I myself have nothing else. I know nothing that is better than to love Thee, the heavenly and the spiritual One, above all earthly things. Thus I also do, Good Father! because I know of nothing better than thyself. "But I know not how I can come to Thee unless Thou permittest me. Teach it to me, and help me. If those through Thee find the truth who find Thee, give me that truth. If they through Thee obtain any virtue who obtain Thee, impart that virtue to me. If wisdom, grant me that wisdom. Add to me the hope of the everlasting life, and pour thy love upon me. "Oh! how Thy goodness is to be admired, for it is unlike all other goods. I wish to come to Thee, and the more earnestly, because of all things I need this path. My desire is to Thee, and this most chiefly because without Thee I cannot come to Thee. If thou abandonest me, then I shall be removed from Thee; but I know that Thou wilt not forsake me! unless I forsake Thee. But I will not forsake Thee, because Thou art the highest good. There is none of those who seek Thee rightly that may not find Thee. But they only will seek Thee rightly whom Thou instructest to seek Thee, and teachest how to find Thee." 28 FROM the preceding extracts, and from those before given from his Boetius, it will appear that Alfred connected his belief in Christianity with 28 These extracts are taken from the Cotton MSS. Vitell. high-minded feelings. In his Boetius he takes CHA P. THE subject never occurs to his pen but he dilates upon it with such visible affection, as to show that it was the habitual and predominant feeling of his cultivated mind. Yet, frequently as he has discussed it, he never betrays any narrowminded superstition. All his conceptions are intelligent and expanded. He views the greatest of beings not only as the sovereign, but as the father, the guide, the instructor, and the benefactor of his creatures. He loves to contemplate this awful theme, and to interest others with his contemplations. It is surprising, in an age so dark and tumultuous, and amid cares and employments so harassing and multifarious, and when relics and rites were the religion that was most valued, that the mind of Alfred could have thus enlarged its religious meditations, have conceived them so justly, and expressed them so rationally, and yet so fervently. Nothing displays more emphatically the habitual greatness of his mind than his pure, and lofty, and affectionate theism, and the natural and earnest diction into which it effuses. THAT Alfred, who lost both his parents before he was ten years old; who was on the throne at the age of twenty-one, and was immersed so long in the occupations and vicissitudes of the most deadly warfares; who lived amid such desolations and ignorance, and had no education but such as in his V. BOOK maturer life he was enabled to give himself, should V. yet have formed his mind to that admirable com bination of great piety with great wisdom, enlarged intellect, liberal feelings, and as much knowledge as his inquisitive curiosity could obtain, is a phenomenon that, in far happier times, has rarely, if ever, been exhibited on the throne. As all effects have adequate causes, we are led to enquire into the origin, or first author, of this attainment. The individual within his reach to whom the commencement of his religious feelings can be most justly attributed is his kinsman 29, St. Neot. Alfred is declared to have frequently visited this pious man; to have conversed much with him on devotional subjects; to have profited greatly, both in his moral conduct and knowledge of Christianity, from these interviews; and to have been reproved by him, as already mentioned, for his faults. It is not clear whether St. Neot was his brother or his uncle. He was a king before he abandon 31 29 Asser calls Neot, " Cognatus suus," p. 32. Ingulf says, he was frequently at the feet of St. Neot and Werefrith, p. 27. 30 The Saxon life of Neot says, “On than time pæf Ælfped king and to than halzen gelomen (often) com emb hir Japle theappe." MS. Vesp. D. 14. p. 145. The oldest Latin life adds, that Neot received him as his lord with honour, and as his brother with love, blessed him, taught and instructed him, and showed him the way of prudence. Claud. A. 5. p. 153. Ramsay's prose life mentions that Neot taught him "multa in divinis et quæ Christianismo pertinebant, regi disseruit." Whit. Neot, p.347. His metrical life mentions that “ ad sanctum persepe requirit." Ibid. p. 334. The MSS. Claud. A. 5. makes him the son of Ethelwulph, So does the metrical life of and therefore brother of Alfred. Ramsay, Whit. p. $18., and the lives of St. Neot, extracted by Leland in his Collect. vol. iv. p. 13., and so Leland himself. De Script. Brit. p. 143. Other authorities state him to be the son of Figbert. I think if he had been Alfred's brother, Asser would have hardly called him “ cognatus.” |