XIX. PRIMITIVE SAXON CLERGY.
Having spoken of the zeal, disinterestedness, and temperance
of the clergy of those times, Bede thus proceeds:—‘Unde et in
magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus, ita ut
ubicunque clericus aliquis, aut monachus adveniret, gaudenter
ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in
itinere pergens inveniretur, accurrebant, et flexâ cervice, vel
manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici, gaudebant. Verbis
quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum præbebant.’ Lib.
iii. cap. 26.
How beautiful your presence, how benign,
Servants of God! who not a thought will share
With the vain world; who, outwardly as bare
As winter trees, yield no fallacious sign
That the firm soul is clothed with fruit divine!
Such Priest, when service worthy of his care
Has called him forth to breathe the common air,
Might seem a saintly Image from its shrine
Descended:—happy are the eyes that meet
The Apparition; evil thoughts are stayed
At his approach, and low-bowed necks entreat
A benediction from his voice or hand;
Whence grace, through which the heart can understand,
And vows, that bind the will, in silence made.
