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On the Ruin of Britain

St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899

3. Respecting the Last Days

RESPECTING THE LAST DAYS GILDAS SAYS IN HIS EPISTLES:¹ Excessively evil times shall come, and men shall be lovers of self, covetous, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, impure, without natural affection, without peace, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, holding the good in hate, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Many shall perish doing evil, as the Apostle says having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they do not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. They find fault with all brethren who have not, along with them, carried out their inventions and presumptions. These, whilst they eat bread² by measure, glory on that account beyond measure: whilst they use water, they drink at the same time of the cup of hatred: they take their enjoyment simultaneously of dry dishes and back-biting; as they lengthen their vigils, they nevertheless brand certain men while soundly sleeping, saying as if to the feet and other members: “If thou be not head, as I am, I shall count thee as nothing.” This assurance is given, not so much out of love as of contempt, at the time when they are musing on their leading principles; they prefer servants to lords, the common herd to kings, lead to gold, iron to silver, the prop (to the vine). In this way they give preference to fasting over love, to vigils over righteousness, to their own imagination over harmony; they prefer the cell³ to the church, severity to humility, in fine, man to God. They are bent not on what the Gospel, but on what their own will commands; not what the Apostle, but what pride teaches; without observing that the position of stars in heaven is unequal, and that the offices of angels are unequal. These are men that fast, which, unless they follow after other virtues, profits nothing. The others, taught of God, with full purpose follow after love, which is the highest fulness of the law, since the harps of the Holy Spirit say All our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment. But these bellows of the devil say, perhaps to better men whose angels see the face of the Father, Hold aloof from us, for ye are unclean. To this the Lord makes answer, These will be smoke in my wrath and fire burning continually. Not those that despise brethren: the Lord calls the poor blessed, not the haughty poor but the meek; neither the envious, but those that weep for either their own or others’ sins; those who hunger and thirst, not for water with scorn of other men, but for righteousness; nor those who hold others in contempt, but the merciful; those not of a proud but of a pure heart; not those severe to others, but the peace-makers; not those who bring wars, but those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, are certainly the men who possess the kingdom of heaven.

Notes

H. lxvi, 6, where the scriptural quotation is not given.
The Hibernensis begins with “Hi dum pane:” some variations occur, as, for instance, “while they feed on sacred dishes, they use detractions” (Dum sanctis ferculis vescuntur, detractationibus utuntur); the whole is curtailed.
The antithetical character of the language in this extract reminds us of many parts of the De Excidio; Gildas’ phrases were likely to catch, such as, “eating bread by measure, glorying therein beyond measure,” “enjoying dry dishes and backbiting,” etc., and we do not wonder they were preserved.
Clausulam ecclesiae. The abandonment of the common life of a monastery for a hermit’s cell carried with it also the loss of the Church’s common life; the benefits of ministry and sacraments were in this way thrown aside in the isolation of the desert. So far as this deprivation was involved, the new spirit is censured by Gildas. Clausula is explained by Du Cange as “a small clausum or an enclosed cell in which Inclusi or Hermits dwelt.” Clausum is found with the meaning of claustrum, a monastery, from which, no doubt, came the phrase clas Bangor, clas Beuno; that is, the monastery of Bangor, of Beuno; e clas ar abbadeu. Ancient Laws of Wales, i, 106, 140; Du Cange adds, “Gallis, clos.”