28 GREGORY'S PASTORAL. [Cotton MSS.
hi hæfdon mine æ, & hi me ne gecnewon. Se þe Godes bebodu ne gecnæwð, ne bið he oncnawen from Gode. Đæt ilce cwæð Paulus : Se þe God ne ongit, ne ongit God hine. Unwise lareowas cumað for ðæs folces synnum. Forðon oft for ðæs lareowes unwisdome misfarað þa hiremen, & oft for ðæs lareowes wisdome unwisum hiremonnum bið geborgen. Gif ðonne ægðer bið unwis, ðonne is to geðencenne hwæt Crist self cwæð on his godspelle, he cwæð: Gif se blinda ðone blindan lædeð, hi feallað begen on anne pyt. Be ðæm ilcan se salmscop cwæð: Sin hira eagan aðistrode þæt hi ne gesion, & hira hrycg simle gebigged. Ne cwæð he þæt forðyþe he ænegum men ðæs wyscte oððe wilnode, ac he witgode swæ swæ hit geweorðan sceolde. Soðlice ða eagan þæt bioð ða lareowas, & se hrycg þæt sint ða hiremenn; forðon ða eagan bioð on ðæm lichoman foreweardum & ufeweardum, & se hyrcg færð æfter ælcere wuhte; swæ gað ða lareowas beforan ðæm folce, & þæt folc æfter. Đonne ðæm lareowum aðistriað ðæs modes eagan, ðe beforan gán sceoldon mid godum bisnum, ðonne gebigð þæt folc hira hrycg to [mid] hefegum byrðenum monegum.
II. Ne eft ða gelæredan þa swæ nyllað libban swæ hie on bocum leornodon, þæt hie ne sceoldon underfon ða are ðæs lareowdomes.
Monige eac wise lareowas winnað mid hira ðeawum wið ðam [ða] gastlican bebodum [bibodu] þe hi mid wordum lærað, ðonne hi on ofre wisan libbað on oðre hi lærað. Oft ðonne se hirde gæð on
shepherds had not understanding; they had my law, and knew me not. He who knows not God's commands is not acknowledged by God. The same said St. Paul: “He who knows not God, God knows not him.” Foolish teachers come for the people's sins. Therefore often through the teacher's folly the disciples come to grief, and often through the teacher's wisdom foolish disciples are preserved. If, then, both are foolish, we must consider what Christ himself said in his Gospel, he said: “If the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into a pit.” On the same subject the Psalmist spoke : “May their eyes be dimmed that they may not see, and their back always bent.” He did not say this because he wished or desired it to befall any man, but he prophesied how it was to happen. For
