7.ix The Sermon of the Wolf

Read the excerpt from the Sermon of the Wolf to the English.

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The sermon of the Wolf to the English, when the Danes were greatly persecuting them, which was in the year 1014 after the Incarna­tion of our Lord Jesus Christ:       

Dearly beloved, know the truth: this world is in haste and it nears the end. And therefore the longer things go on in this world, the worse things become. And so it must needs be that things quickly worsen, on account of people's sinning from day to day, before the coming of Antichrist. And indeed it will then be awful and grim far and wide throughout the world. Understand also that the Devil has now led this nation astray for many years, and that little loyalty has remained among men, though they spoke well. And too many crimes reigned in the land, and there were never many of men who delib­erated about the remedy as eagerly as one should, but daily they piled one evil upon another, and commit­ted injustices and many violations of law all too widely throughout this entire land...               

...It is extremely necessary that each man henceforth eagerly heed the law of God better than he has done, and justly pay God's dues. In heathen lands one does not dare withhold little nor much of that which is appointed to the worship of false gods; and we withhold everywhere God's dues all too often...

God's dues have dimin­ished too long in this land in every district, and laws of the people have deteriorated entirely too greatly, since Edgar died... And widows are widely forced to marry in unjust ways and too many are impoverished and fully humiliated; and poor men are sorely betrayed and cruelly defrauded, and sold widely out of this land [as slaves] into the power of foreigners, though innocent; and infants are enslaved by means of cruel injustices, on account of petty theft everywhere in this nation...

No­thing has gone well for a long time now, either at home or abroad. There has been havoc and hunger, burning and blood­shed... stealing and slaying, plague and pesti­lence... And excessive taxes have afflicted us, and storms have often caused crops to fail. Therefore in this land there have been, as it may appear, many years now of injustices and unstable loyalties everywhere among men. Now very often a kinsman does not spare his kinsman any more than the foreigner, nor the father his children, nor sometimes the child his own father, nor one brother the other. Neither has any of us ordered his life just as he should, neither the ecclesiastic according to the rule nor the lay­man according to the law... almost everyone has deceived and injured another by words and deeds; and indeed almost everyone unjustly stabs the other from behind with shameful assaults and with wrongful accusa­tions...

In the time of the Britons there was a historian called Gildas, who wrote about their misdeeds, how with their sins they infuriated God so much that He finally allowed the English army to conquer their land, and to destroy the forces of the Britons entirely. And that came about, just as he said, through breach of rule by the clergy and through breach of laws by laymen, through robbery by the strong and through coveting of ill-gotten gains, violations of law by the people and through unjust judgments, through the laziness of the bishops and folly, and through the wicked cowardice of messengers of God, who swallowed the truths entirely too often and they mumbled through their jaws where they should have cried out;  also through foul pride of the people and through gluttony and manifold sins they destroyed their land and they themselves perished. But let us do what is necessary and take warning from such; and it is true what I say, we know of worse deeds among the English than we have heard of anywhere among the Britons. Therefore, there is a great need for us to take thought for ourselves, and to intercede eagerly with God himself. And let us do as is necessary for us, turn towards the right and to abandon some wrong-doing, and eager­ly atone for what we previously transgressed; and let us love God and follow God's laws, and carry out well that which we promised when we received baptism, or those who were our sponsors at baptism; and let us order words and deeds justly, and cleanse our thoughts with zeal, and keep oaths and pledges carefully, and have some loyalty between us without evil practice. And let us often reflect upon the great Judgment to which we all shall go, and let us save ourselves from the torments of the welling fire of hell, and gain for ourselves the glories and joys that God has prepared for those who work his will in the world. God help us. Amen.
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Adapted from Donata Kick's translation