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the village of Reybuzh, just facing the church, stands a two-storeyed house with a stone foundation and an iron roof. In the lower storey the owner himself, Filip Ivanov Kashin, nicknamed Dyudya, lives with his family, and on the upper floor, where it is apt to be very hot in summer and very cold in winter, they put up government officials, merchants, or landowners, who chance to be travelling that way. Dyudya rents some bits of land, keeps a tavern on the highroad, does a trade in tar, honey, cattle, and jackdaws, and has already something like eight thousand roubles put by in the bank in the town.

His elder son, Fyodor, is head engineer in the factory, and, as the peasants say of him, he has risen so high in the world that he is quite out of reach now. Fyodor's wife, Sofya, a plain, ailing woman, lives at home at her father-in-law's. She is for ever crying, and every Sunday she goes over to the hospital for medicine. Dyudya's second son, the hunchback Alyoshka, is living at home at his father's. He has only lately been married to Varvara, whom they singled out for him from a poor family. She is a handsome young woman, smart and buxom. When officials or merchants put up at the house, they always insist on having Varvara to bring in the samovar and make their beds.


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 This may be demonstrated by the example of Lazarus and the rich man; for the soul of the former was carried away by angels into heaven, while that of the latter was carried by devils into hell.

15. (vi) And that those are thrice happy, who order their conduct in such a way that they are found worthy to stand in God’s presence.

For apart from God, the source of light and of life, there is nothing but darkness, terror, agony, and everlasting death that knows no end; so that it were better that they had never been born, who stray from God and cast themselves into the pit of eternal destruction.

16. (vii) But that those who have communed with God on earth, will go to Him after death.

As did Enoch and Elias, both while living, and others also (Gen. v. 24).

17. (viii) That those commune with God who keep Him continually before their eyes, fear Him, and fulfil His word.

And that this is the whole duty of man (Eccles. xi.xii. [sic] 13), to which Christ referred when He said, “There is but one thing needful” (Luke x. 42). This is what Christians should ever have on their lips and in their hearts, lest, like Martha, they be too much engrossed with the cares of this life.

18. (ix) They should, therefore, acquire the habit of referring to God all that they see, hear, touch, do, and endure on earth.

Instances of this should be given. Those, for instance (it may be pointed out), who devote themselves to letters and a life of contemplation, should do so with but one object in view, namely, that they may see in everything the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God, that they may be filled with love for Him, and may unite themselves so fast to Him in love that they can never be torn away. Those, again, who are engaged in practical pursuits, such as agriculture or mechanics, these have to seek bread and the necessaries of life; but they should do so merely that they may live in decent comfort, and should strive to live thus solely that they may be enabled to serve God with a

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26 One June evening when the sun was setting and the air was full of the smell of hay, of steaming dung-heaps and new milk, a plain-looking cart drove into Dyudya's yard with three people in it: a man of about thirty in a canvas suit, beside him a little boy of seven or eight in a long black coat with big bone buttons, and on the driver's seat a young fellow in a red shirt.

The young fellow took out the horses and led them out into the street to walk them up and down a bit, while the traveller washed, said a prayer, turning towards the church, then spread a rug near the cart and sat down with the boy to supper. He ate without haste, sedately, and Dyudya, who had seen a good many travellers in his time, knew him from his manners for a businesslike man, serious and aware of his own value.

Dyudya was sitting on the step in his waistcoat without a cap on, waiting for the visitor to speak first. He was used to hearing all kinds of stories from the travellers in the evening, and he liked listening to them before going to bed. His old wife, Afanasyevna, and his daughter-in-law Sofya, were milking in the cowshed. The other daughter-in-law, Varvara, was sitting at the open window of the upper storey, eating sunflower seeds.

"The little chap will be your son, I'm thinking?" Dyudya asked the traveller.

"No; adopted. An orphan. I took him for my soul's salvation."

They got into conversation. The stranger seemed to be a man fond of talking and ready of


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Rh speech, and Dyudya learned from him that he was from the town, was of the tradesman class, and had a house of his own, that his name was Matvey Savitch, that he was on his way now to look at some gardens that he was renting from some German colonists, and that the boy's name was Kuzka. The evening was hot and close, no one felt inclined for sleep. When it was getting dark and pale stars began to twinkle here and there in the sky, Matvey Savitch began to tell how he had come by Kuzka. Afanasyevna and Sofya stood a little way off, listening. Kuzka had gone to the gate.

"It's a complicated story, old man," began Matvey Savitch, "and if I were to tell you all just as it happened, it would take all night and more. Ten years ago in a little house in our street, next door to me, where now there's a tallow and oil factory, there was living an old widow, Marfa Semyonovna Kapluntsev, and she had two sons: one was a guard on the railway, but the other, Vasya, who was just my own age, lived at home with his mother. Old Kapluntsev had kept five pair of horses and sent carriers all over the town; his widow had not given up the business, but managed the carriers as well as her husband had done, so that some days they would bring in as much as five roubles from their rounds.

"The young fellow, too, made a trifle on his own account. He used to breed fancy pigeons and sell them to fanciers; at times he would stand for hours on the roof, waving a broom in the air and whistling; his pigeons were right up in the clouds, but it wasn't enough for him, and he'd want them to go higher


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28 yet. Siskins and starlings, too, he used to catch, and he made cages for sale. All trifles, but, mind you, he'd pick up some ten roubles a month over such trifles. Well, as time went on, the old lady lost the use of her legs and took to her bed. In consequence of which event the house was left without a woman to look after it, and that's for all the world like a man without an eye. The old lady bestirred herself and made up her mind to marry Vasya. They called in a matchmaker at once, the women got to talking of one thing and another, and Vasya went off to have a look at the girls. He picked out Mashenka, a widow's daughter. They made up their minds without loss of time and in a week it was all settled. The girl was a little slip of a thing, seventeen, but fair-skinned and pretty-looking, and like a lady in all her ways; and a decent dowry with her, five hundred roubles, a cow, a bed Well, the old lady—it seemed as though she had known it was coming—three days after the wedding, departed to the Heavenly Jerusalem where is neither sickness nor sighing. The young people gave her a good funeral and began their life together. For just six months they got on splendidly, and then all of a sudden another misfortune. It never rains but it pours: Vasya was summoned to the recruiting office to draw lots for the service. He was taken, poor chap, for a soldier, and not even granted exemption. They shaved his head and packed him off to Poland. It was God's will; there was nothing to be done. When he said good-bye to his wife in the yard, he


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Rh bore it all right; but as he glanced up at the hay-loft and his pigeons for the last time, he burst out crying. It was pitiful to see him.

"At first Mashenka got her mother to stay with her, that she mightn't be dull all alone; she stayed till the baby—this very Kuzka here—was born, and then she went off to Oboyan to another married daughter's and left Mashenka alone with the baby. There were five peasants—the carriers—a drunken saucy lot; horses, too, and dray-carts to see to, and then the fence would be broken or the soot afire in the chimney—jobs beyond a woman, and through our being neighbours, she got into the way of turning to me for every little thing Well, I'd go over, set things to rights, and give advice Naturally, not without going indoors, drinking a cup of tea and having a little chat with her. I was a young fellow, intellectual, and fond of talking on all sorts of subjects; she, too, was well-bred and educated. She was always neatly dressed, and in summer she walked out with a sunshade. Sometimes I would begin upon religion or politics with her, and she was flattered and would entertain me with tea and jam In a word, not to make a long story of it, I must tell you, old man, a year had not passed before the Evil One, the enemy of all mankind, confounded me. I began to notice that any day I didn't go to see her, I seemed out of sorts and dull. And I'd be continually making up something that I must see her about: 'It's high time,' I'd say to myself, 'to put the double windows in for the winter,' and the whole


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30 day I'd idle away over at her place putting in the windows and take good care to leave a couple of them over for the next day too.

"'I ought to count over Vasya's pigeons, to see none of them have strayed,' and so on. I used always to be talking to her across the fence, and in the end I made a little gate in the fence so as not to have to go so far round. From womankind comes much evil into the world and every kind of abomination. Not we sinners only; even the saints themselves have been led astray by them. Mashenka did not try to keep me at a distance. Instead of thinking of her husband and being on her guard, she fell in love with me. I began to notice that she was dull without me, and was always walking to and fro by the fence looking into my yard through the cracks.

"My brains were going round in my head in a sort of frenzy. On Thursday in Holy Week I was going early in the morning—it was scarcely light—to market. I passed close by her gate, and the Evil One was by me—at my elbow. I looked—she had a gate with open trellis work at the top—and there she was, up already, standing in the middle of the yard, feeding the ducks. I could not restrain myself, and I called her name. She came up and looked at me through the trellis Her little face was white, her eyes soft and sleepy-looking I liked her looks immensely, and I began paying her compliments, as though we were not at the gate, but just as one does on namedays, while she blushed, and laughed, and kept looking straight into my eyes without winking I lost all sense and began to de-


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36 all wrapped up in bandages, nothing but her eyes and nose to be seen; she was looking at the ceiling. I said: 'Good-evening, Marya Semyonovna!' She did not speak. And Vasya was sitting in the next room, his head in his hands, crying and saying: 'Brute that I am! I've ruined my life! O God, let me die!' I sat for half an hour by Mashenka and gave her a good talking-to. I tried to frighten. her a bit. 'The righteous,' said I, 'after this life go to Paradise, but you will go to a Gehenna of fire, like all adulteresses. Don't strive against your husband, go and lay yourself at his feet.' But never a word from her; she didn't so much as blink an eyelid, for all the world as though I were talking to a post. The next day Vasya fell ill with something like cholera, and in the evening I heard that he was dead. Well, so they buried him, and Mashenka did not go to the funeral; she didn't care to show her shameless face and her bruises. And soon there began to be talk all over the district that Vasya had not died a natural death, that Mashenka had made away with him. It got to the ears of the police; they had Vasya dug up and cut open, and in his stomach they found arsenic. It was clear he had been poisoned; the police came and took Mashenka away, and with her the innocent Kuzka. They were put in prison The woman had gone too far—God punished her Eight months later they tried her. She sat, I remember, on a low stool, with a little white kerchief on her head, wearing a grey gown, and she was so thin, so pale, so sharp-eyed it made one sad to look at her. Behind her stood a soldier with a


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Rh clare my love to her She opened the gate, and from that morning we began to live as man and wife"

The hunchback Alyoshka came into the yard from the street and ran out of breath into the house, not looking at any one. A minute later he ran out of the house with a concertina. Jingling some coppers in his pocket, and cracking sunflower seeds as he ran, he went out at the gate.

"And who's that, pray?" asked Matvey Savitch.

"My son Alexey," answered Dyudya. "He's off on a spree, the rascal. God has afflicted him with a hump, so we are not very hard on him."

"And he's always drinking with the other fellows, always drinking," sighed Afanasyevna. "Before Carnival we married him, thinking he'd be steadier, but there! he's worse than ever."

"It's been no use. Simply keeping another man's daughter for nothing," said Dyudya.

Somewhere behind the church they began to sing a glorious, mournful song. The words they could not catch and only the voices could be heard—two tenors and a bass. All were listening; there was complete stillness in the yard Two voices suddenly broke off with a loud roar of laughter, but the third, a tenor, still sang on, and took so high a note that every one instinctively looked upwards, as though the voice had soared to heaven itself.

Varvara came out of the house, and screening her eyes with her hand, as though from the sun, she looked towards the church.


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Rh hook. Go to your husband,' I cried. 'Don't shame me before folks. Fear God!' And every day there was a scene of that sort.

"One morning I was standing in my yard near the stable cleaning a bridle. All at once I saw her running through the little gate into my yard, with bare feet, in her petticoat, and straight towards me; she clutched at the bridle, getting all smeared with the pitch, and shaking and weeping, she cried: 'I can't stand him; I loathe him; I can't bear it! If you don't love me, better kill me!' I was angry, and I struck her twice with the bridle, but at that instant Vasya ran in at the gate, and in a despairing voice he shouted: 'Don't beat her! Don't beat her!' But he ran up himself, and waving his arms, as though he were mad, he let fly with his fists at her with all his might, then flung her on the ground and kicked her. I tried to defend her, but he snatched up the reins and thrashed her with them, and all the while, like a colt's whinny, he went: 'He—he—he!'"

"I'd take the reins and let you feel them," muttered Varvara, moving away; "murdering our sister, the damned brutes! "

"Hold your tongue, you jade!" Dyudya shouted at her.

"'He—he—he!'" Matvey Savitch went on. "A carrier ran out of his yard; I called to my workman, and the three of us got Mashenka away from him and carried her home in our arms. The disgrace of it! The same day I went over in the evening to see how things were. She was lying in bed,


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32 "It's the priest's sons with the schoolmaster," she said.

Again all the three voices began to sing together. Matvey Savitch sighed and went on:

"Well, that's how it was, old man. Two years later we got a letter from Vasya from Warsaw. He wrote that he was being sent home sick. He was ill. By that time I had put all that foolishness out of my head, and I had a fine match picked out all ready for me, only I didn't know how to break it off with my sweetheart. Every day I'd make up my mind to have it out with Mashenka, but I didn't know how to approach her so as not to have a woman's screeching about my ears. The letter freed my hands. I read it through with Mashenka; she turned white as a sheet, while I said to her: 'Thank God; now,' says I, 'you'll be a married woman again.' But says she: 'I'm not going to live with him.' 'Why, isn't he your husband?' said I. 'Is it an easy thing? I never loved him and I married him not of my own free will. My mother made me.' 'Don't try to get out of it, silly,' said I, 'but tell me this: were you married to him in church or not?' 'I was married,' she said, 'but it's you that I love, and I will stay with you to the day of my death. Folks may jeer. I don't care' 'You're a Christian woman,' said I, 'and have read the Scriptures; what is written there?'"

"Once married, with her husband she must live," said Dyudya.

"'Man and wife are one flesh. We have sinned,' I said, 'you and I, and it is enough; we must repent


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34 wife; I can't live with you,' and all sorts of foolishness. I bowed down at Vasya's feet, and said: 'We have sinned against you, Vassily Maximitch; forgive us, for Christ's sake!' Then I got up and spoke to Mashenka: 'You, Marya Semyonovna, ought now to wash Vassily Maximitch's feet and drink the water. Do you be an obedient wife to him, and pray to God for me, that He in His mercy may forgive my transgression.' It came to me like an inspiration from an angel of Heaven; I gave her solemn counsel and spoke with such feeling that my own tears flowed too. And so two days later Vasya comes to me: 'Matyusha,' says he, 'I forgive you and my wife; God have mercy on you! She was a soldier's wife, a young thing all alone; it was hard for her to be on her guard. She's not the first, nor will she be the last. Only,' he says, 'I beg you to behave as though there had never been anything between you, and to make no sign, while I,' says he, 'will do my best to please her in every way, so that she may come to love me again.' He gave me his hand on it, drank a cup of tea, and went away more cheerful.

"'Well,' thought I, 'thank God!' and I did feel glad that everything had gone off so well. But no sooner had Vasya gone out of the yard, when in came Mashenka. Ah! What I had to suffer! She hung on my neck, weeping and praying: 'For God's sake, don't cast me off; I can't live without you!'"

"The vile hussy!" sighed Dyudya.

"I swore at her, stamped my foot, and dragging her into the passage, I fastened the door with the


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Rh and fear God. We must confess it all to Vasya,' said I; 'he's a quiet fellow and soft—he won't kill you. And indeed,' said I, 'better to suffer torments in this world at the hands of your lawful master than to gnash your teeth at the dread Seat of Judgment.' The wench wouldn't listen; she stuck to her silly, 'It's you I love!' and nothing more could I get out of her.

"Vasya came back on the Saturday before Trinity, early in the morning. From my fence I could see everything; he ran into the house, and came back a minute later with Kuzka in his arms, and he was laughing and crying all at once; he was kissing Kuzka and looking up at the hay-loft, and hadn't the heart to put the child down, and yet he was longing to go to his pigeons. He was always a soft sort of chap—sentimental. That day passed off very well, all quiet and proper. They had begun ringing the church bells for the evening service, when the thought struck me: 'To-morrow's Trinity Sunday; how is it they are not decking the gates and the fence with green? Something's wrong,' I thought. I went over to them. I peeped in, and there he was, sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, his eyes staring like a drunken man's, the tears streaming down his cheeks and his hands shaking; he was pulling cracknels, necklaces, gingerbread nuts, and all sorts of little presents out of his bundle and flinging them on the floor. Kuzka—he was three years old—was crawling on the floor, munching the gingerbreads, while Mashenka stood by the stove, white and shivering all over, muttering: 'I'm not your


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Rh "Am I to bring in the bags?" asked the second in a hoarse bass voice.

"You can't leave them there." Saying this, the first figure began untying his hood, but gave it up, and pulling it off impatiently with his cap, angrily flung it near the stove. Then taking off his greatcoat, he threw that down beside it, and, without saying good-evening, began pacing up and down the hut.

He was a fair-haired, young postman wearing a shabby uniform and black rusty-looking high boots. After warming himself by walking to and fro, he sat down at the table, stretched out his muddy feet towards the sacks and leaned his chin on his fist. His pale face, reddened in places by the cold, still bore vivid traces of the pain and terror he had just been through. Though distorted by anger and bearing traces of recent suffering, physical and moral, it was handsome in spite of the melting snow on the eyebrows, moustaches, and short beard.

"It's a dog's life!" muttered the postman, looking round the walls and seeming hardly able to believe that he was in the warmth. "We were nearly lost! If it had not been for your light, I don't know what would have happened. Goodness only knows when it will all be over! There's no end to this dog's life! Where have we come?" he asked, dropping his voice and raising his eyes to the sexton's wife.

"To the Gulyaevsky Hill on General Kalinovsky's estate," she answered, startled and blushing.

"Do you hear, Stepan?" The postman turned


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10 happens to-night do you hear? if anything happens to-night, I'll go straight off to-morrow morning to Father Nikodim and tell him all about it. 'Father Nikodim,' I shall say, 'graciously excuse me, but she is a witch.' 'Why so?' 'H'm! do you want to know why?' 'Certainly' And I shall tell him. And woe to you, woman! Not only at the dread Seat of Judgment, but in your earthly life you'll be punished, too! It's not for nothing there are prayers in the breviary against your kind!"

Suddenly there was a knock at the window, so loud and unusual that Savély turned pale and almost dropped backwards with fright. His wife jumped up, and she, too, turned pale.

"For God's sake, let us come in and get warm!" they heard in a trembling deep bass. "Who lives here? For mercy's sake! We've lost our way."

"Who are you?" asked Raïssa, afraid to look at the window.

"The post," answered a second voice.

"You've succeeded with your devil's tricks," said Savély with a wave of his hand. "No mistake; I am right! Well, you'd better look out!"

The sexton jumped on to the bed in two skips, stretched himself on the feather mattress, and sniffing angrily, turned with his face to the wall. Soon he felt a draught of cold air on his back. The door creaked and the tall figure of a man, plastered over with snow from head to foot, appeared in the doorway. Behind him could be seen a second figure as white.


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 quiet and cheerful spirit, and that, by serving Him and proving acceptable to Him, they may be united with Him eternally. Those who have other ends in view deviate from God’s will and from God Himself.

19. (x) From the very outset they should learn to find their chief occupation in those things that lead directly to God: in reading the Scriptures, in religious ceremonies, and in other good works.

For the perusal of the Scriptures renews and fosters our acquaintance with God, religious ceremonies create a link between God and man, and good works strengthen this link, for they show that we really observe the Word of God. These three should be seriously commended to all who are destined to lead a Godly life (as are all the Christian youth, dedicated to God through baptism).

20. (xi) The Holy Scriptures must be the Alpha and the Omega of Christian schools.

Hyperius said that a theologian was born of the Scriptures, and we may find this observation at greater length in the Apostle Peter, who says that the sons of God are born of incorruptible seed, through the Word of God that liveth and abideth (1 Peter i. 23).

In Christian schools, therefore, God’s Book should rank before all other books; that, like Timothy, all the Christian youth may, from boyhood, know the sacred writings which are able to make them wise unto salvation (2 Tim. iii. 15), and may be nourished in the words of the faith (1 Tim. iv. 6). On this subject Erasmus has written well in his Paraclesis, or Exhortation to the Study of Christian Philosophy. “The Holy Scripture” (he says) “is equally suitable to all, is within the capacity of little ones, nourishes them with milk, cherishes them, sustains them, and does all for them until they grow up in Christ. But, while it can be comprehended by the lowest intelligences, it is none the less an object of wonder to the highest. There is no age, no sex, no rank of life to which it is unsuitable. The sun is not more the common property of mankind than is the teaching of Christ. It rejects none


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 save those who hold themselves at a distance.” He continues, “Would that it were translated into all languages, that it might be known by the Turks and the Saracens, and by the Scotch and the Irish as well. Many would mock, it is true, but some would be won over. Would that the ploughman might sing it at his plough, that the weaver might repeat it at his loom, that the traveller might beguile the tedium of the journey by its sacred story, and that the conversations of Christians were taken from its pages; for our daily conversation represents our true character. Let each one get and read as much of Holy Writ as he can. Let him who is behind not envy him who is in front. Let him who is in front beckon forward him who is behind, and despise him not. Why do we confine to a few the book that contains the faith of all?” And near the end, “May all whom we have dedicated to Christ in baptism be imbued with His teaching while in the arms of their parents and among the caresses of their nurses. For that which the mind first drinks in, sinks deepest and remains longest. Let our first babbling be of Christ, and let our infancy be modelled upon His Evangelists, which should be set before boys in such a way that they may like them. In these studies they should be trained, until by a silent increase they develope into men, whose strength is in Christ. Happy is he whom death snatches away while engaged on this study. Let us all, therefore, drink in God’s Word with our whole hearts, let us embrace it, let us die while occupied with it, let us be converted into it, since our morals are so intimately connected with our studies.” In his Compendium of Theology also he says: “In my opinion, it would not be a waste of time to learn the Holy Book off by heart, even though we did not understand it, as says St. Augustine.”

Christian schools, therefore, should resound not with Plautus, not with Terence, not with Ovid, not with Aristotle, but with Moses, David, and Christ, and methods should be devised by which the Bible may be given to children dedicated to God (for all the children of Christians


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 are holy) (1 Cor. vii. 14) as a means of learning their A B C; for thus they would grow familiar with it. For as language is made up of the sounds and the symbols of letters, thus is the whole structure of religion and piety formed out of the elements of Holy Scripture.

21. (xii) Whatever is learned from Scripture should convey a lesson of faith, charity, and hope. These are the three noblest dispositions, and to these everything that God has seen good to reveal to us in His Word has reference. For He reveals some things to us that we may believe them, others He commands us that we may do them, and others again He promises that we may expect them from His mercy, both in this and in the future world. In the whole Bible nothing occurs that cannot be brought under one of these heads. All, therefore, should be taught to understand and to read intelligently what God has revealed.

22. (xiii) Faith, charity, and hope should be taught for practical use.

From the very beginning it is necessary to form practical and not theoretical Christians, if we wish to form true Christians at all. For religion is a real thing and not a reflection of reality, and should prove its reality by the practical results that it produces, just as a seed that is planted in good earth soon germinates. Hence the Scripture requires a “working faith” (Gal. v. 6), calls faith apart from works “barren” (James ii. 20), and asks for a “living hope” (1 Peter i. 3). Hence the constant injunction, that things are revealed from on high that we should do them. Christ also says: “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them” (John xiii. 17).

23. (xiv) Faith, charity, and hope will be taught in a practical manner, if boys and all men are taught to believe implicitly in all that God reveals, to do all that He commands, and to expect all that He promises.

It should be carefully impressed on the young that, if they wish the Word of God to supply them with divine strength, they should bring to it a humble and devoted


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 heart, prepared to submit itself to God on all occasions, and actually doing so at the time. The sunlight reveals nothing to him who refuses to open his eyes, nor can a banquet satisfy him who refuses to eat; and in the same way the divine light supplied to our minds, the rules given for our actions, and the happiness promised to those who fear God, are all in vain unless they are received with prompt faith, earnest charity, and firm hope. Thus Abraham, the father of the faithful, trusted the Word of God and believed things incredible to the reason; obeyed the commands of God, no matter how hard they were (when bidden leave his native land and sacrifice his son); and hoped for things that seemed impossible, trusting in the promises of God-which living and active faith was counted to him for righteousness. All, therefore, who devote themselves to God, should be taught to fulfil these duties in their own persons.

24. (xv) Whatever is taught to the young in addition to the Scriptures (sciences, arts, languages, etc.) should be taught as purely subordinate subjects. In this way it will be made evident to the pupils that all that does not relate to God and to the future life is nothing but vanity.

Socrates is praised by the ancients because he turned philosophy from its barren and thorny speculations and brought it to bear on the province of morals. The Apostles professed to recall Christians from the thorny questions of the law and to lead them to the sweet charity of Christ (1 Tim. i. 5 seq.), and in the same way many modern theologians urge us to leave confused controversies, that destroy the Church far more than they build it up, and to attend to our own consciences and the practice of piety.

O that God would have pity on us, that we might find some universal method by which all that occupies the mind of man might be brought into relation with God, and that we might learn to convert the business of this life, in which all mankind is immersed, into a preparation for the life to come! This would, indeed, be a sacred ladder on which our minds might mount to the


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 eternal protector of all things, to the source of true happiness.

25. (xvi) All should be taught to reverence God both inwardly and outwardly. For inward without outward reverence tends to grow faint, while outward without inward reverence degenerates into hypocrisy.

The outward worship of God consists in conversing about Him, in preaching and hearing His Word, in adoring Him on bended knee, in singing His praises in hymns, and in attending to the Sacraments and the other services of the Church, public and private. The inward worship of Go consists of continual meditation on the divine presence, of fearing and loving God, of abnegation and resignation of self, and of the ready will to do or to suffer all that God desires. These two forms of worship must be joined together, and not torn asunder; not only because it is right that God should be glorified in our bodies and in our minds, which belong to Him (1 Cor. vi. 20), but also because they cannot be separated without danger. Outward ceremonies without inward truth are an abomination to God, who says: “Who demands these things from you?” (Isaiah i.), “for He is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth” (John iv.) But, since we are not merely spirits but have bodies and senses as well, it is necessary for our senses to be outwardly stimulated, that we may inwardly do what is right in spirit and in truth. On this account God, though He lays more stress on inward worship, ordained outward ceremonies and wishes them to be observed. Christ freed the worship of the New Testament from ceremony and taught that God should be worshipped in spirit and in truth, yet He Himself bent His head when He prayed to His Father, and continued His prayer for nights together; used to attend religious meetings, heard and questioned the doctors of the law, preached the Word, and sang hymns. Therefore, when we educate the young, we should educate them thoroughly, externally and internally, since otherwise we may produce either hypocrites, that is to say, superficial, fraudulent, and false worshippers


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 of God, or fanatics, who delight in their own visions, and through their contempt of outward form undermine the Church, or, finally, lukewarm Christians, in whom the stimulus of external or the reality of internal worship is wanting.

26. (xvii) Boys should be carefully habituated to the outward works which are commanded by God, that they may know that it is true Christianity to express faith by works.

Such works are the exercise of temperance, justice, pity, and patience, which should continually occupy our attention. “For, unless our faith brings forth such fruit it is manifestly dead” (James ii.) But it must be living if it is to bring us salvation.

27. (xviii) They should also learn to distinguish carefully the objects of the blessings and of the judgments of God, that they may make a good use of them.

Fulgentius (Letter II. to Gallas) divides the blessings of God into three classes. According to him, some are to last for ever, others are to help us to attain eternity, while others are only for the use of this present life. Of the first kind are the knowledge of God, the joy of the Holy Spirit, and the love of God that fills our hearts. Of the second kind are faith, hope, and compassion for our neighbours. Of the third kind are health, riches, friends, and the other external goods that of themselves make us neither happy nor unhappy.

In the same way the judgments or chastisements of God are of three kinds. Some (whom God wishes to spare in the life everlasting) are seized on earth and are tortured that they may be purified and whitened (Dan. xi. 35; Rev. vii. 14), as was the case with Lazarus. Others are spared here that they may be punished in eternity, as was the Rich Man. While the punishments of others begin here and are continued in eternity, as is the case with Saul, Antiochus, Herod, Judas, etc.

Men, therefore, must be taught to distinguish all these from one another, that they may not be deceived by the good things of the flesh and give precedence to what is


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title: Sophy of Kravonia/Part 3/Chapter 1


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 transitory, that they may realise that present ills are less to be feared than hell-fire, and “that they should not fear those who can only kill the body and have no further power, but Him who can destroy the body and can also thrust the soul down to hell” (Luke xii.)

28. (xix) They should also be told that the safest path of life is the path of the Cross; that Christ the King of Life has trodden it before us, and invites to it and leads along it those whom He loves best.

The mystery of our salvation was consummated on the Cross and depends on the Cross; for by it the old Adam was slain that the new Adam, fashioned after God’s image, might live. Those, therefore, whom God loves, He chastises and crucifies with Christ, that when they rise with Christ He may set them on His right hand in heaven. Now, though this lesson of the Cross tells the power of God to save those who believe, to the flesh it is foolishness and an offence (1 Cor. i. 18). It is therefore very necessary to teach this lesson to Christians with great care, that they may understand that they cannot be the disciples of Christ unless they deny themselves, bear the Cross of Christ on their shoulders (Luke xiv. 26), and are prepared throughout their whole lives to follow God wherever He may lead them.

29. (xx) Care must be taken that, while all this is being taught, no conflicting examples come in the way.

That is to say, the boys must not hear or see blasphemies, perjuries, or other acts of impiety, but, whichever way they turn, should encounter nothing but reverence for the Deity, observance of religion, and conscientiousness. Evil conduct, also, whether at home or at school, should always be severely punished, and, if the punishment for profanity be always greater than for offences against Priscian or for other faults, it will be impressed upon them that the former error is the more important to guard against.

30. (xxi) In this corrupt state of the world and of human nature we never make as much progress as we ought, or, if we do advance, are filled with complacency and spiritual pride, through the depravity of our flesh.


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RV 398 (CANTO II.])


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 Now this is a very great danger (for God resists the proud), and therefore all Christians should be taught in their youth that our endeavours and our works are of no avail, unless Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, help us with His perfection. On Him we must call and Him we must trust.

We shall thus have finally placed the hope of our salvation in safety, when we have laid the burden on Christ, the corner-stone. For He is the culminating point of all perfection in heaven and on earth, and is the one and only originator and guardian of our faith, our charity, our hope, and our salvation. For this reason God sent Him from heaven that He might become Immanuel (or God in man) and unite all men in God, and that, living with purity in the life which He had assumed, He might give men the example of a divine life; that by His innocent death He might expiate the sins of the world in His person, and might wash us clean with His blood; that He might show His victory over death by His resurrection, and ascending into heaven might send the Holy Ghost, the pledge of our salvation; and that He might thus rule us and preserve us, and, finally, take us to Himself, that we may be with Him and see His glory.

31. Thus to the eternal Saviour of all men, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be praise, and honour, and blessing, and glory, for evermore. Amen.

32. It remains to draw up detailed method for the several classes.


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title: Sophy of Kravonia/Part 3/Chapter 3


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title: Sophy of Kravonia/Part 3/Chapter 4


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title: Sophy of Kravonia/Part 3/Chapter 5


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The little boy, therefore, who guided Samson by the hand, pre-typified John the Baptist, who showed to the people the faith in Christ. And the house in which they were assembled signifies the world, in which dwell the various heathen and unbelieving nations, offering sacrifice to their idols. Moreover, the two pillars are the two covenants. The fact, then, of Samson leaning himself upon the pillars, [indicates] this, that the people, when instructed, recognised the mystery of Christ.

"And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a tree, and cast it in there, and the iron floated." This was a sign that souls should be borne aloft through the instrumentality of wood, upon which He suffered who can lead those souls aloft that follow His ascension. This event was also an indication of the fact, that when the holy soul of Christ descended [to Hades], many souls ascended and were seen in their bodies. For just as the wood, which is the lighter body, was submerged in the water; but the iron, the heavier one, floated: so, when the Word of God became one with flesh, by a physical and hypostatic union, the heavy and terrestrial [part], having been rendered immortal, was borne up into heaven, by the divine nature, after the resurrection.

The Gospel according to Matthew was written to the Jews. For they laid particular stress upon the fact that Christ [should be] of the seed of David. Matthew also, who had a still greater desire [to establish this point], took par-


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RV 277 (Rh)


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 them by God would not take [immediate] effect, when He said, "For in the day that ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die?" And not this merely, but that along with the impunity [attending their sin] the eyes of those should be opened who had not seen until then? But with the opening [of their eyes] referred to, they made entrance upon the path of death.

When, in times of old, Balaam spake these things in parables, he was not acknowledged; and now, when Christ has appeared and fulfilled them, He was not believed. Wherefore [Balaam], foreseeing this, and wondering at it, exclaimed, "Alas! alas! who shall live when God brings these things to pass?"

Expounding again the law to that generation which followed those who were slain in the wilderness, he published Deuteronomy; not as giving to them a different law from that which had been appointed for their fathers, but as recapitulating this latter, in order that they, by hearing what had happened to their fathers, might fear God with their whole heart.

By these Christ was typified, and acknowledged, and brought into the world; for He was prefigured in Joseph: then from Levi and Judah He was descended according to the flesh, as King and Priest; and He was acknowledged by


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 Riboulet having been safely delivered of his fourteen couplets, Manon la Blonde was desirous of evincing the powers of her lungs. "Now for another!" said she; "attend to one I learnt at Lazarre; open your listenere, and repeat after me."

(She interrupted herself with "just as we now are.")


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 Christian catechumens, then used force against them, in order to learn from them some secret thing [practised] among Christians, these slaves, having nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ, and imagining that it was actually flesh and blood, gave their inquisitors answer to that effect. Then these latter, assuming such to be the case with regard to the practices of Christians, gave information regarding it to other Greeks, and sought to compel the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina to confess, under the influence of torture, [that the allegation was correct]. To these men Blandina replied very admirably in these words: "How should those persons endure such [accusations], who, for the sake of the practice [of piety], did not avail themselves even of the flesh that was permitted [them to eat]?"

How is it possible to say that the serpent, created by God dumb and irrational, was endowed with reason and speech? For if it had the power of itself to speak, to discern, to understand, and to reply to what was spoken by the woman, there would have been nothing to prevent every serpent from doing this also. If, however, they say again that it was according to the divine will and dispensation that this [serpent] spake with a human voice to Eve, they render God the author of sin. Neither was it possible for the evil demon to impart speech to a speechless nature, and thus from that which is not to produce that which is; for if that were the case, he never would have ceased (with the view of leading men astray) from conferring with and deceiving them by means of serpents, and beasts, and birds. From what quarter, too, did it, being a beast, obtain infor-


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1. necessity compels us to treat at length a subject which we have touched on in the previous chapter. If we wish our schools to be truly Christian schools, the crowd of Pagan writers must be removed from them. First, therefore, we will set forth the reasons which underlie our views, and then the method of treating these ancient writers so that, in spite of our caution, their beautiful thoughts, sayings, and deeds may not be lost to us.

2. Our zeal in this matter is caused by our love of God and of man; for we see that the chief schools profess Christ in name only, but hold in highest esteem writers like Terence, Plautus, Cicero, Ovid, Catullus, and Tibullus. The result of this is that we know the world better than we know Christ, and that, though in a Christian country, Christians are hard to find. For with the most learned men, even with theologians, the upholders of divine wisdom, the external mask only is supplied by Christ, while the spirit that pervades them is drawn from Aristotle and the host of heathen writers. Now this is a terrible abuse of Christian liberty, a shameless profanation, and a course replete with danger.


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 3. Firstly, our children are born for heaven and are reborn through the Holy Ghost. They must therefore be educated as citizens of heaven, and their chief instruction should be of heavenly things, of God, of Christ, of the angels, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This instruction should take place before any other, and all other knowledge should be shielded from the pupil; firstly, because of the uncertainty of life, that no one may be snatched away unprepared, and secondly, because first impressions are the strongest, and (if they are religious impressions) lay a safe foundation for all that follows in life.

4. Secondly, God, though He made provision of every kind for His chosen people, gave them no school other than his own Temple, where He Himself was the Master, we were the pupils, and his oracles were the subject taught. For thus He speaks by Moses: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. vi. 4). And by Isaiah: “I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go” (xlviii. 17); and again, “Should not a people seek unto their God?” Christ also says: “Search ye the Scriptures” (John v. 39).

5. God has shown by the following words that His voice is the brightest light for our understanding, the most perfect law for our actions, and the surest support for our weakness. “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments! Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, which shall hear all these statutes and say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding


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 mation regarding the injunction of God to the man given to him alone, and in secret, not even the woman herself being aware of it? Why also did it not prefer to make its attack upon the man instead of the woman? And if thou sayest that it attacked her as being the weaker of the two, [I reply that], on the contrary, she was the stronger, since she appears to have been the helper of the man in the transgression of the commandment. For she did by herself alone resist the serpent, and it was after holding out for a while and making opposition that she ate of the tree, being circumvented by craft; whereas Adam, making no fight whatever, nor refusal, partook of the fruit handed to him by the woman, which is an indication of the utmost imbecility and effeminacy of mind. And the woman indeed, having been vanquished in the contest by a demon, is deserving of pardon; but Adam shall deserve none, for he was worsted by a woman,—he who, in his own person, had received the command from God. But the woman, having heard of the command from Adam, treated it with contempt, either because she deemed it unworthy of God to speak by means of it, or because she had her doubts, perhaps even held the opinion that the command was given to her by Adam of his own accord. The serpent found her working alone, so that he was enabled to confer with her apart. Observing her then either eating or not eating from the trees, he put before her the fruit of the [forbidden] tree. And if he saw her eating, it is manifest that she was partaker of a body subject to corruption. "For everything going in at the mouth, is cast out into the draught." If then corruptible, it is obvious that she was also mortal. But if mortal, then there was certainly no curse; nor was that a [condemnatory] sentence, when the voice of God spake to the man, "For earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return," as the true course of things proceeds [now and always]. Then again, if the serpent observed the woman not eating, how did he induce her to eat who never had eaten? And who pointed out to this accursed man-slaying serpent that the sentence of death pronounced against


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This chorus, which we took up, as it were, from Manon's mouth, before she had finished uttering them, was repeated eight or ten times, in a manner which almost broke the windows of the house about us. After this burst of bacchanalian hilarity, the first fumes of wine, which are usually most potent, beginning somewhat to dissipate, we entered into conversation. The chapter of confidences, according to custom, opened


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 people” (Deut. iv. 5, 6). To Joshua, also, He speaks thus: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success” (Jos. i. 8). By David also He says: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm xix. 8). Finally, the Apostle bears witness “that every scripture inspired of God is profitable for teaching, etc., that the man of God may be complete” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The wisest of men (by this I mean truly enlightened Christians) have made the same assertion. Chrysostom has said: “What it is needful to know, and what it is not needful to know, that we can learn from the Scriptures.” And Cassiodorus says: “The Scriptures are a heavenly school, a guide through life, the only true source of information. To search for the true meaning of them should occupy the student’s whole time, and leave him no leisure to be led astray by philology.”

6. God expressly forbade His chosen people to have anything to do with the learning or the customs of the heathen: “Learn not the way of the nations” (Jer. x. 2); and again, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron? (2 Kings i. 3); “Should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them” (Isaiah viii. 19, 20). And why? Surely because “all wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever. To whom else hath the root of wisdom been revealed?” (Ecclesiasticus i. 1, 6); “Although they have seen light and dwelt on the earth, the way of knowledge have they not known. Nor understood the paths thereof, etc. It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the authors of fables and searchers out of understanding, have not known the way


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The business of the Christian is nothing else than to be ever preparing for death.

We therefore have formed the belief that [our] bodies also do rise again. For although they go to corruption, yet they do not perish; for the earth, receiving the remains, preserves them, even like fertile seed mixed with more fertile ground. Again, as a bare grain is sown, and, germinating by the command of God its Creator, rises again, clothed upon and glorious, but not before it has died and suffered decomposition, and become mingled with the earth; so [it is seen from this, that] we have not entertained a vain belief in the resurrection of the body. But although it is dissolved at the appointed time, because of the primeval disobedience, it is placed, as it were, in the crucible of the earth, to be re-cast again; not then as this corruptible [body], but pure, and no longer subject to decay: so that to each body its own soul shall be restored; and when it is clothed upon with this, it shall not experience sorrow, but shall rejoice, continuing permanently in a state of purity, having for its companion a just consort, not an insidious one, possessing in every respect the things pertaining to it, it shall receive these with perfect accuracy; it shall not receive bodies diverse from what they had been, nor delivered from suffering or disease, nor as [rendered] glorious, but as they departed this life, in sins or in righteous actions: and such as they were, such shall they be clothed with upon resuming life; and such as they were in unbelief, such shall they be faithfully judged.

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 of wisdom. But he that knoweth all things knoweth it and hath found out all the way of knowledge and hath given it unto Jacob his servant and Israel his beloved” (Baruch iii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 32, 36, 37); “He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they have not known them” (Psalm cxlvii. 20).

7. Whenever His people went aside from His laws to the snares of man’s imagination, God used to blame not only their folly in forsaking the fountain of wisdom (Baruch iii. 12), but the twofold evil that they had committed, in forsaking Him, the fountain of living waters, and hewing them out broken cisterns that could hold no water (Jer. ii. 13). Through the agency of Hosea He complained also that His people held too much intercourse with other nations, saying: “Though I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts, they are counted as a strange thing” (Hos. viii. 12). But, I ask, is not this what those Christians are doing who hold heathen books in their hands night and day, while of the sacred Word of God they take no account, as if it did not concern them? And yet, as God bears witness, it is no vain thing, but our very life (Deut. xxxii. 47).

8. Therefore the true Church and the true worshippers of God have sought for no teaching other than the Word of God, from which they have drawn the true and heavenly wisdom that is superior to all earthly knowledge. Thus David says of himself: “Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies,” and “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm cxix. 98, 99). Similarly Solomon, the wisest of mortals, confesses: “The Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” (Prov. ii. 6). The son of Sirach also testifies (in the prologue to his book) that his wisdom is drawn from the law and the prophets. Hence the exultation of the righteous when they see light in the light of God (Psalm xxxvi. 9); “O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us” (Baruch


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 vi. 4). “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John vi. 68).

9. The examples of all ages show us that it has been an occasion for stumbling whenever the Church has turned aside from the fountain of Israel. Of the Jewish Church, sufficient is known from the lamentations of the Prophets. As regards the Christian Church, we learn from history that a pure faith lasted as long as the Gospel, and nothing else, was preached by the Apostles and their successors. But as soon as the heathen entered the Church in numbers, and the ardour that existed at first grew cold, pagan books were read, at first in private and then in public, and the result was a great confusion of doctrine. The key of knowledge was lost by the very men who boasted that they alone possessed it, and from that time opinions without number were substituted for the articles of faith. Then did strife arise, whose end is not yet visible; charity grew cold, and piety disappeared. And thus, under the name of Christendom, paganism came into existence again, and still reigns supreme. For the threat of the Lord Jehovah had to be fulfilled: “If they speak not according to the Word of God, surely there is no morning for them” (Isaiah viii. 20). “Therefore the Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of sleep, and hath closed their eyes, that all vision might become unto them as the words of a book that is sealed,” because they worshipped God in accordance with the teaching man (Isaiah xxix. 10, 11, 13, 14). O, how truly in their case is fulfilled what the Holy Spirit says of the heathen philosophers: “They became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened” (Rom. i. 21). In short, if the Church is to be purified from uncleanness, there is only one way, and that is to put aside all the seductive teaching of man and return to the pure springs of Israel, and thus to give over ourselves and our children to the teaching and guidance of God and of His word. Thus at last will the prophecy come to pass, “And all thy children shall be taught of God” (Isaiah liv. 13).


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 10. Indeed our dignity as Christians (who have been made sons of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven through Christ) does not permit us to degrade ourselves and our children by allowing them to have an intimate acquaintance with pagan writers, and to read them with such approval. We do not choose parasites, fools, or buffoons, but serious, wise, and pious men as tutors for the sons of our kings and princes. Should we not blush, therefore, when we confide the education of the sons of the King of Kings, of the brothers of Christ and heirs of eternity, to the jesting Plautus, the lascivious Catullus, the impure Ovid, that impious mocker at God, Lucian, the obscene Martial, and the rest of the writers who are ignorant of the true God? Those who, like them, live without the hope of a better life, and wallow in the mire of earthly existence, are certain to drag down to their own level whoever consorts with them. Christians, we have carried our folly far enough! Let us pause here. God calls us to better things, and it is good to obey His call. Christ, the eternal Wisdom of God, has opened a school for the sons of God in His own house; in which the supreme control is exercised by the Holy Spirit, and the professors and masters are the Prophets and the Apostles, all endowed with true wisdom, and all holy men, who, by their teaching and example, point out the way of truth and of salvation; where the pupils are the elect of God, the first-fruits of men, ransomed by God and by the Lamb; where the inspectors and guardians are the angels and archangels, the principalities and powers in heaven (Eph. iii. 10); and where true wisdom, which is of use to us in this world and the next, is taught on all subjects that the mind of man can grasp. For the mouth of God is the fountain from which all the streams of wisdom flow; the countenance of God is the torch from which the rays of true light are scattered; the Word of God is the root from which spring the shoots of true wisdom. Happy are they, therefore, who look on the face of God, listen to His words, and receive His sayings in their hearts. For this is the only


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 is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death under Him. Now this custom took its rise from apostolic times, as the blessed Irenæus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his treatise On Easter, in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon which [feast] we do not bend the knee, because it is of equal significance with the Lord's day, for the reason already alleged concerning it.

For as the ark [of the covenant] was gilded within and without with pure gold, so was also the body of Christ pure and resplendent; for it was adorned within by the Word, and shielded without by the Spirit, in order that from both [materials] the splendour of the natures might be clearly shown forth.

Ever, indeed, speaking well of the deserving, but never ill of the undeserving, we also shall attain to the glory and kingdom of God.

It is indeed proper to God, and befitting His character, to show mercy and pity, and to bring salvation to His creatures, even though they be brought under danger of destruction. "For with Him," says the Scripture, "is propitiation."


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 true and infallible way to attain the true and eternal wisdom.

11. Nor can we omit all mention of the earnestness with which God forbade His people to have anything to do with the works of the heathen, and of the consequences that followed their disregard of His injunction: “The Lord will consume those nations from thy sight. But the graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire. Thou shalt not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein, for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God; and thou shalt not bring an abomination into thine house, and become a devoted thing like unto it” (Deut. vii. 22, 25, 26). And again: “When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? But what thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deut. xii. 29). After their victory Joshua reminded them of this, and advised them to remove the idols (Jos. xxiv. 23); but they did not obey him, and these heathen productions became a snare for them, so that they continually fell into idolatry until both kingdoms were overthrown. Should not we, therefore, take warning by their example, and avoid their error?

12. “But books are not idols,” some one will say. I reply: They are the works of the heathen, whom God has destroyed from before the face of His Christian people, as He did of old. Nay, they are more dangerous than idols. For these only led away those who were fools at heart (Jer. x. 14), while books deceive even the wisest (Col. ii. 8). The former were works of men’s hands (as God used to say when chiding the folly of the idolaters), the latter are the works of the human understanding. The former dazzled the eyes by the brilliancy of their gold and silver, the latter blind the intelligence by the plausibility of their


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 by interrogatories. I did not require to be much questioned, but went beyond the communications which they desired to know: a stranger in Paris, I had only known Riboulet in prison at Valenciennes, when he was sent back to his regiment as a deserter; he was a college chum, (a fellow-prisoner,) whom I had met again. As to the rest, I took care to represent myself in colours which charmed them: I was a thorough out-and-outer (sacripan fini.) I know not what I had not done, and was ready to do any thing. I unbosomed myself that they might unbosom as freely in their turn; it is a tactic which has often been successful with me: the party soon chattered like magpies, and I became as well acquainted with all their doings as if I had never been separated from them. They told me their names, residences, exploits, misfortunes, hopes; they had met a man who was really worthy of their confidence: I returned it, I suited them, and all was said.

Such explanations always make a man thirsty, more or less: all the liquor-shops in our road were visited: more than a hundred toasts were drank in honour of our new convention, and we were not to separate again. "Come along with us, come," they said, and they were so pressing, that, quite unable to refuse their importunities, I agreed to go to their abode. Rue des Filles-Dieu, No. 14, where they lodged in a furnished house. Once in their abode, it was impossible to refuse a share of their bed: it is difficult to describe what good fellows they were; and so was I, and they were the better convinced of it, as, during an hour, whilst I pretended to be sleeping, my friend Riboulet passed an eulogy on me, in a low tone of voice, of which not even half was true, or I should have richly merited a sentence for ten times the term of my natural life. I was not born coiffeur, like a certain personage whom the witty Figaro ridicules, I was born coiffé, and had the happiness of killing a generation of honest men with vexation. At last


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 carnal wisdom. Do you still deny that pagan books are idols? What was it that led the Emperor Julian away from Christ? What was it that so undermined the understanding of Pope Leo X. that he believed the history of Christ to be a mere fable? Under what influence did Cardinal Bembo dissuade Sadoleto from reading the Bible (saying that such folly was unsuitable for so great a man)? What is it that in these days leads so many learned Italians and others towards Atheism? Would that there were none in the reformed Church of Christ who have been drawn away from the Scriptures by Cicero, Plautus, and Ovid, writers that reek of death.

13. But it may be said: The abuse must be attributed not to the things, but to the persons. There are pious Christians to whom no harm is done by reading pagan authors. The Apostle replies: “We know that no idol is anything in the world: howbeit in all men there is not that knowledge (that is to say, the power of discerning). Take heed lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak” (1 Cor. viii. 4, 7, 9).

Now God in His mercy preserves many from destruction, and there is no excuse for us if, knowingly and willingly, we have anything to do with such snares (I mean the divers inventions of the human mind or of Satan’s cunning), since it is certain that some, nay most men, are unhinged by them and are led into Satan’s net. Let us rather obey God and not bring idols into our house, nor set up Dagon by the Ark of the Covenant, nor mingle the wisdom that is from on high with that which is earthly, bestial, and devilish, nor give any occasion for stirring up the anger of God against our sons.

14. Of a precisely similar nature was the event that Moses uses as an illustration. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and young priests (in ignorance of their duty), filled their censers with common, instead of with sacred, fire. For this they were smitten with fire by God, and died (Levit. x. 1). Now what are the children of Christians but a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to


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 God? (1 Peter ii. 5). If we fill their censers, their minds, with strange fire, are we not handing them over to the anger of God? For to a Christian soul all is strange, and should be strange, that has any other source than the Holy Spirit; and of such a kind are the ravings of the heathen philosophers and poets, as the Apostle bears witness (Rom. i. 21, 22; Col. ii. 8, 9). Not without reason did Jerome call poetry the wine of devils; since it intoxicates the incautious and sends them to sleep, and, while they sleep, plies them with monstrous opinions, dangerous temptations, and the foulest desires. We should therefore be on our guard against these philtres of Satan.

15. If we do not obey the wise counsels of God, the Ephesians will stand in judgment against us, for they, as soon as the light of divine wisdom shone upon them, burnt all their curious books, since these were henceforth useless to them as Christians (Acts xix. 19). The modern Greek Church also, although there exist the most excellent philosophical and poetical works, written by the Greeks of old, who were reputed the wisest of men, has forbidden its followers to read them under pain of excommunication. The result of this is that, although with the invasion of barbarism they have fallen into great ignorance and superstition, God has hitherto preserved them from being carried away by anti-Christian error. In this matter, therefore, we ought to imitate them, that (greater stress being laid on the reading of Scripture) the heathen darkness, which still remains, may be removed, and that in the light of God we may see light (Psalm xxxvi. 9). “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah ii. 5).

16. Let us now see by what reasonings the mind of man rebels against these injunctions, and winds about like a snake, seeking to avoid the necessity of obeying the Faith and serving God. The arguments used are as follows:

17. (i) Great wisdom is to be found in the philosophers, the orators and the poets. I answer: Those are worthy of darkness who turn away their eyes from the light. Twilight is as mid-day to the owl, but animals, that are


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 accustomed to light, think otherwise. O foolish men who look for light in the darkness of the human reason! Lift up your eyes on high. The true light comes from heaven, from the Father of Light! Any light that is visible in human efforts arises from a few sparks that seem to shine because of the darkness that surrounds them; but what are a few sparks to us, in whose hands a blazing torch has been placed (the effulgent word of God)? If men investigate natural phenomena, they do but set the glass to their lips, without touching the wine; while in the Scriptures the Ruler of the Universe Himself counts the mysteries of His works, and explains the nature of things created, visible and invisible. When the philosophers talk of morals, they are like birds that have been caught with quicklime, for they make great efforts to move without making any advance. But the Scriptures contain true descriptions of the virtues, with keen exhortations that pierce to the marrow. When pagan writers wish to teach piety, they merely teach superstition, since they are not imbued with the true knowledge of God or of His will. “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee” (Isaiah lx. 2). Now the sons of light should be at liberty to journey to the sons of darkness, that, having seen what a difference there is, they may rejoice the more in the path of light, and may feel compassion for the darkness of their neighbours; but to wish to exalt their glimmer above our own light is intolerable, and an insult to God and to our souls. “Of what advantage is it,” says Isidor, human doctrine, and know nothing of “to be learned in divine? to follow perishable inventions, and despise heavenly mysteries? If we love the Scriptures we must avoid those books that outwardly are eloquent and well written, but inwardly lack wisdom.” What a condemnation of such books! They are husks without kernels. Such was also the opinion of Philip Melanchthon: “What do the best philosophers teach but self-confidence and self-love? Cicero in his De Finibus estimates each kind of virtue with


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 Riboulet had so completely placed me in good odour with our hosts, that about break of day they proposed to me to go out upon a job with them, a robbery which they had planned in the Rue de la Verrerie.

I had only just time to warn the chief of the second division, who made his arrangements so well, that they were apprehended with the property about their persons. Riboulet and I remained on the look out, to give alarm in case of danger, as the thieves believed, but, in fact, to see if the police were on their posts. When they passed near us, all three in a coach, whence they could not see us, "Well!" said Riboulet, "there they are, like Manon's song, tretonstretous [sic] marrons paumés," (taken in the very act.) They were also condemned, and if the names of Debuire, Rolé, and Hippolyte, called la Biche, are still on the muster-roll at the Bagnes, it is the result of an evening passed at Guillotin's amongst the children of the sun, (aux enfants du soleil.)

frequently fell into my clutches when I least expected them; it was said that their evil genius impelled them to come and find me. It must be confessed that those who thus flung themselves into the wolf's throat were horribly unlucky or infernally stupid. When I saw with what facility the majority of them gave themselves up, I was really astonished that they should have chosen a profession in which, to avoid perils, so many precautions are necessary: some of


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 reference to self-love. How much pride and haughtiness there is in Plato! It seems to me that a self-sufficient character must inevitably imbibe faulty instincts from the ambition that pervades his writings. The teaching of Aristotle is nothing but one long struggle to prove himself worthy of a good place among the writers on practical philosophy” (System of Theology).

18. (ii) Again it is said: If they do not teach theology rightly, at any rate they teach philosophy, and this cannot be learned from the sacred writings, that have been given us for our salvation. I answer: The Word of God most high is the fountain of wisdom (Ecclesiasticus i. 5). True philosophy is nothing but the true knowledge of God and of His works, and this cannot be learned better than from the mouth of God Himself. For this reason St. Augustine, praising the Holy Scripture, says: “Here is philosophy, since the cause of everything that exists is in the Creator. Here are ethics, since a good and honest life can only be formed if those things are loved which ought to be loved, that is to say, God and our neighbour. Here is logic, since truth, the light of the rational soul, is God Himself. Herein is the salvation of the state; for the state can never be well guarded, or test on a foundation of confidence and peace, unless the common good be loved, and this, in its highest and truest sense, is God.” Recently, too, it has been pointed out by many that the foundations of all the sciences and philosophic arts are contained in Scripture, and more truly than elsewhere, so that the part played by the Holy Spirit in our education is indeed wonderful. For, though its first object is to instruct us in things invisible and eternal, it nevertheless unfolds the laws of nature and of art at the same time, teaching us how to reason wisely on all subjects and how to apply our reason in a practical manner. Yet of all this there is but a trace in the works of the pagan philosophers. A writer on theology has said that the marvellous wisdom of Solomon consisted in bringing the law of God into the families, the schools, and the public places,


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 and there is no reason why the wisdom of Solomon, that is to say, true and heavenly wisdom, should not once more be ours, if we give our children the Word of God instead of pagan books, and thus supply them with counsels for all the chances of life. Our object, therefore, should be to have in our homes that which can make us wise, even in that external or worldly wisdom that we call philosophy. Those were luckless times when the children of Israel had to go down to the Philistines to polish each man his plough, his mattock or his axe, because there was no smith in the land of the Israelites (1 Sam. xiii. 19, 20). But it is surely not necessary that the resources of the Israelites should always be limited in this way; especially as the arrangement was a bad one, for the following reason: the Philistines supplied the Israelites with harrows, but on no account would they supply them with swords that might be used against themselves. From the pagan philosophers, in the same way, you can get the well-known syllogisms and flowers of speech, but from this source you will find it impossible to procure swords and spears with which to combat impiety and superstition. Let us then hope for the times of David and of Solomon, when the Philistines were laid low but Israel reigned and rejoiced in its good fortune.

19. (iii) But, for the sake of style, students of Latin should read Terence, Plautus, and similar writers. I answer: Are we to bring our children into ale-houses, cook-shops, taverns, and other dens of iniquity, in order that they may learn how to speak? For, I ask you, is it not into such unclean places that Terence, Plautus, Catullus, Ovid, and the rest of them lead our young? What do they set before them but jesting, feasting, drunkenness, amours, and deceits, from which Christians should avert their eyes and ears, even if they encounter them by chance? Is the natural man not depraved enough, that it is necessary to bring to him and to show to him all manner of wickedness, and, as it were, to seek out opportunities to hurl him to destruction? But it will be said: “The matter in those authors is not all bad.” I answer: Evil sticks far more


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 readily than good, and it is therefore a very dangerous practice to send the young to a spot where good and evil occur in combination. If we wish to poison any one, we do not give him poison alone, but mix it with some pleasant drink, the presence of which does not interfere with the action of the poison. This is precisely the way in which these men-destroyers of old mixed their hellish poisons with cunning inventions and with elegance of style; and are we to remain conscious of their devices and not strike the potion from their hands?

Some one else may object: “They are not all lascivious writers. Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and others are serious and earnest.” I answer: None the less they are blind pagans, and turn the minds of their readers from the true God to other gods and goddesses (Jove, Mars, Neptune, Venus, Fortune, etc.), though God has said to His people: “Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth” (Exodus xxiii. 13). Then what a chaos of superstitions, of false opinions, of earthly desires at variance with one another, is to be found in these writers! The spirit with which they fill their readers must be very different from that of Christ. Christ calls us from the world, they plunge us into the world. Christ teaches self-abnegation, they teach self-love. Christ teaches us to be humble, they to be magnanimous. Christ demands meekness, they inculcate self-assertion. Christ bids us be simple as doves, they show us how to turn an argument in a thousand different ways. Christ urges us to modesty, they spend their time in mocking others. Christ loves those who believe easily, they prefer those who are suspicious, argumentative, and obstinate. To conclude briefly and in the words of the Apostle: “What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. vi. 15). Rightly does Erasmus say: “Bees avoid withered flowers; and no book, the contents of which are impure, should be opened.” And again: “It is safest to sleep on clover,


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 for it is said that no serpents lurk in it, and on the same principle we should confine ourselves to those books in which no poison is to be feared.”

20. Moreover, what attraction have these pagan authors that is not to be found in our sacred writers? Are they the only people who understand the elegances of style? The most perfect master of language is he who gave it to us, the Holy Spirit. His words are sweeter than honey and more piercing than a two-edged sword; more active than the fire that liquefies metals, and weightier than a hammer which grinds rocks to powder, for they tell us of God. Is it heathen writers alone who relate marvellous events? Our Scriptures are full of events that are truer and far more wonderful. Are they the only authors who can fashion figures of speech, and riddling sayings, or write passages that are forcible and pithy? Our Scriptures are full of such passages. Leprous is his imagination who prefers Abana and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, to Jordan and the waters of Israel (2 Kings v. 12). Blind is the eye to which Olympus, Helicon, and Parnassus seem more beautiful than Sinai, Sion, Hermon, Tabor, and Olivet. Deaf is the ear to which the lyre of Orpheus; of Homer, or of Virgil sounds sweeter than David’s lute. Corrupt is the palate to which Nectar, Ambrosia, and the Castalian springs taste better than celestial Manna and the fountains of Israel. Perverse is the heart that finds more pleasure in the names of the gods, the goddesses, the muses, and the graces than in the adorable names of Jehovah, of Christ the Saviour, and of the Holy Ghost. Blind is the hope that wanders through the Elysian fields in preference to the gardens of Paradise. With them all is romance, a mere shadow of truth, while with us all is reality and the very essence of truth.

21. But it will be said: These writers contain elegances of speech and moral sentiments that are worthy of our adoption. Is not this a sufficient reason for sending our children to them? Should we not spoil the Egyptians


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 and strip them of their raiment ? Does not God bid us do so? (Exodus iii. 22). It is the right of the Church to usurp all the possessions of the heathen. I answer: When Manasseh and Ephraim wished to seize the land of the heathen, the men alone advanced; the women and children stayed behind in safety (Joshua i. 14). We should do the same. Men of wisdom and judgment, steadfast in the faith, should go forward and disarm these pagan writers; the young should not be exposed to danger. What if our youths were killed or wounded or taken prisoner? How many, alas, has pagan philosophy already drawn away from Christ and given over to Atheism! The safest plan, therefore, is to send armed men to deprive those accursed by heaven of their gold, silver, and precious things, and to distribute them among the heirs of God. O that God would stir up some heroic spirit to cull those flowers of elegance from the vast deserts in which they grow, and plant them in the garden of Christian philosophy, that nothing be lacking there.

22. Finally, if any pagan writers are to be countenanced, let them be Seneca, Epictetus, Plato, and similar teachers of virtue and honesty; since in these comparatively little error and superstition are to be found. This was the opinion of the great Erasmus, who advised that the Christian youth be brought up on the Holy Scriptures, but added: “If they have anything to do with profane literature, let it be with those books that approximate most closely to the Scriptures” (Compendium of Theology). But even these books should not be given to the young until their Christian faith is well assured; and in any case careful editions should be issued in which the names of the gods and the general tone of superstition should be removed. For it is on the condition that their heads be shaved and their nails pared, that God allows heathen maidens to be taken to wife (Deut. xxi. 12). Let there be no misunderstanding. We do not absolutely prohibit Christians from reading heathen writings, since to those who believe Christ has given the power of taking up serpents, and drinking deadly things


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 with impunity (Mark xvi. 18); but the sons of God, whose faith is yet weak, should not be exposed to these serpents, and to give them the opportunity of drinking such poison would indeed be rash. Great caution should therefore be used, and this is what we urge. The Spirit of Christ has said that the children of God should be nourished by the spiritual milk that is without guile (1 Peter ii. 2; 2 Tim. iii. 15).

23. But those who thus incautiously aid the cause of Satan and oppose that of Christ have yet another argument. “The Holy Scriptures,” they say, “are too hard for the young, and therefore some other books must be given them to read until their judgment is mature.”

I answer: This is the language of those who err and know not the Scriptures nor the power of God, as I will show in three ways: firstly, there is a well-known story told of Timotheus the celebrated musician, that whenever he took a fresh pupil he asked him if he had already learned the rudiments with another master. If he answered in the negative he took him at a moderate price; if in the affirmative he charged twice as much. For he said that those who had already learned give him twice as much trouble, as he had first to cure them of their bad habits, and then to teach them the right way to play. Now, our master, and that of the human race, is Jesus Christ, and we are forbidden to go to any other (Matt. xvii. 5, and xxiii. 8). He it was who said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not” (Mark x. 14), and shall we, contrary to His will, lead them elsewhere? Are we afraid that Christ’s task will be too light, and that He will teach them His ways too easily? And are we therefore to take them through the cook-shops and taverns, and give them to Christ to reform when thoroughly corrupt? This is a terrible proposal for the unhappy and innocent boys; for either they will have to spend their whole lives in laboriously getting rid of the habits they have acquired, or they will be altogether rejected by Christ, and given over to the tuition of Satan. Is not that which has been


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 consecrated to Moloch an abomination to God? Let the Christian magistrates and the heads of the Churches—by God’s mercy I implore it—take steps to prevent Christian boys, born in Christ and consecrated through baptism, from being offered up to Moloch.

24. The cry that the Scriptures are too difficult to be understood by children, is altogether false. Does God not know how to suit His Word to our understanding? (Deut. xxxi. 11, 12, 13). Does not David say that the law of the Lord gives wisdom to little ones (N.B. to little ones)? Does not Peter say that the Word of God is milk for the newborn babes of God, given to them that they may grow thereby unto salvation (1 Peter ii. 2)? The Word of God, therefore, is the sweetest and best milk for the new-born children of God. Why oppose God on this point? Especially since pagan learning needs teeth to masticate it; yes, and often breaks them. Therefore the Holy Spirit, through David, invites the little ones into His school: “Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm xxxiv. 11).

25. Lastly, that the Scriptures contain passages of great profundity is perfectly true; but they are of such a kind that, while elephants sink to the bottom, lambs can swim with ease in them, to quote the words of St. Augustine when he wished to lay stress on the difference between the wise of the world who rush into Scriptural criticism presumptuously and Christ’s little ones who approach God’s Word in a humble and meek spirit. Besides, what need is there to begin with difficult passages? We can proceed step by step. First, we should embark upon the Catechism, and then keep in shallow water by teaching Scripture history, moral sentences, and the like, that can be easily understood, but which at the same time lead to the weightier matters that follow. And finally, when our pupils are fit for it, we can introduce them to the mysteries of the Faith. Thus, knowing the sacred writings from their infancy, they will be the more easily preserved from worldly corruption, and will be made wise unto salvation through


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 faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. iii. 15). For, if a man give himself up to God, sit at the feet of Christ, and listen to the wisdom that comes from on high, it is impossible that the Spirit of Grace should not fill him, kindle within him the light of true reason, and point out the true path of salvation.

26. I pass over the fact that those authors who are placed before Christian boys instead of the Bible (Terence, Cicero, Virgil, etc.), possess the very defects that are attributed to the Scriptures, since they are difficult and not suited to the young. It was not for boys that they wrote, but for men of mature judgment, accustomed to the theatre and the law-courts, and it therefore goes without saying that they can be of no advantage to any one else. One thing at any rate is certain, that he who has reached man’s estate will derive more profit from reading Cicero once than if he had learned his entire works off by heart when a boy, and that such studies should therefore be deferred to a suitable season, and then only approached by those to whom they will be of use, if indeed they are of use to any one.

Of far greater importance is the point that has already been mentioned, namely, that the task of Christian schools is to form citizens, not for the world, but for heaven, and that they should accordingly be supplied with masters who are better acquainted with heavenly than with earthly things.

27. Let us conclude, therefore, with the angelic words: “In the place wherein the highest beginneth to show his city, there can no man’s building be able to stand” (2 Esdras x. 54). As God wishes us to be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isaiah lxi. 3), we should not allow our children to be shrubs in the plantation of Aristotle, or of Plato, or of Plautus, or of Cicero, or of any author whose works they may chance to read: “Every plant, which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up” (Matt. xv. 13); “Tremble therefore, ye who cease not to murmur, and to exalt yourselves against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. x. 5).


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188 facilities for giving a show of probability to any such purely artificial arrangements. Their death-blow was given by the admirable paper of the lamented Mr. Strickland, published in the 'Annals of Natural History,’ in which he so clearly showed the true synthetical method of discovering the Natural System.

If we now consider the geographical distribution of animals and plants upon the earth, we shall find all the facts beautifully in accordance with, and readily explained by, the present hypothesis. A country having species, genera, and whole families peculiar to it, will be the necessary result of its having been isolated for a long period, sufficient for many series of species to have been created on the type of pre-existing ones, which, as well as many of the earlier-formed species, have become extinct, and thus made the groups appear isolated. If in any case the anti-type had an extensive range, two, or more groups, of species might have been formed, each varying from it in a different manner, and thus producing several representative or analogous groups. The Sylviadæ of Europe and the Sylvicolidæ of North America, the Heliconidæ of South America and, the Huplæas of the East, the group of Trogons inhabiting Asia, and that peculiar.to South America, are examples that may be accounted for in this manner.

Such phenomena as are exhibited by the Galapagos Islands, which contain little groups of plants and animals peculiar to themselves, but most nearly allied to those of South America, have not hitherto received any, even a conjectural explanation. The Galapagos are a volcanic group of high antiquity, and have probably never been more closely connected with the continent than they are at present. They must have been first peopled, like other newly-formed islands, by the action of winds and currents, and at a period sufficiently remote to have had the original species die out, and the modified prototypes only remain. In the same way we can account for the separate islands having each their peculiar species, either on the supposition that the same original emigration peopled the whole of the islands with the same species from which differently modified prototypes were created, or that the islands were successively peopled from each other, but that new species have been created in each on the plan of the pre-existing ones. St. Helena is a similar case of a very ancient island having obtained an entirely peculiar, though limited, flora. On the other hand, no example is known of an island which can be proved geologically to be of very recent origin (late in the Tertiary, for instance), and yet possesses generic or family groups, or even many species peculiar to itself.

When a range of mountains has attained a great elevation, and has so remained during a long geological period, the species


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 In the year 804, the Year of the Dog (1985 BE), His Divine Highness Borommarachathirat the Lord went to take Chiang Mai Town; and He failed to approach and seize the town, for with an illness He came down; and His royal host returned.

In the year 806, the Year of the Rat (1987 BE), [His Divine Highness] went to suppress factions, and He set His royal host in the district of Pathai Khasem. On that occasion, having taken twelve myriad captives, the royal host returned.

In the year 810, the Year of the Dragon (1991 BE), His Divine Highness Borommarachathirat the Lord entered nirvana. So His royal child, His Divine Highness Ramesuan the Lord, assumed kingship under the name of His Divine Highness Borommatrailok the Lord.

In the year 813, the Year of the Goat (1994 BE), on that occasion, the high king came to take Chakangrao Town. Having conquered it, he came to take Sukhothai Town. Failing to approach and seize the town, he retired his host and returned.

In the year 816, the Year of the Dog (1997 BE), on that occasion, the evil bane befell all the people that so many died.

In the year 817, the Year of the Pig (1998 BE), a host was commissioned to go and take Malaka Town.

In the year 818, the Year of the Rat (1999 BE), a host was commissioned to go and take Li Sop Thin Town. On that occasion, [His Divine Highness] went to reinforce the host, faring north to set His royal host in Khon District.

In the year 819, the Year of the Ox (2000 BE), on that occasion, rice was dear, being eight hundred bia per thanan. When reckoned at the rate of one bia equal to eight hundred fueang, a cartload cost three chang and ten bat.