The Seven Deadly or Capital Sins are Pride, Envy, Anger or Hatred, Sloth, Avarice or Covetousness, Gluttony, Intemperance. Pride is the love of one’s own superiority (amor propriæ excellentiæ), from whence spring boasting, ostentation, hypocrisy, schism (sasinata), and such like. Envy is hatred of another’s good: whence come detraction, strife, complainings, dissension, perverse judgements, and such like. Anger is the desire of revenge, of doing hurt to any person, when it continues upon the mind it settles into hatred; whence proceed outrage in words and acts, quarrels, murders, and such like. Sloth (accidia)[215] is a strong indisposition for spiritual good, so that a man has no delight in God or in His praises; out of it come idleness, cowardice, despair, and the like. Avarice is an immoderate love of riches, either by unlawful gathering or unlawful hoarding; out of it spring fraud, theft, sacrilege, simony, and every sort of base gain. Gluttony is an immoderate love of gratifying the palate in food and drink, and it sins in many ways; first, in regard to time, when a man eats too early or too late or too often; second, in respect to quality, when he is too nice in the choice of his diet; third, in respect of quantity, when he eats and drinks too much, which is the most degrading form of gluttony; also in respect of avidity and voracity, and lastly, in too nice a preparation of food so as to excite the appetite; all which are contained in this verse—
“Præ, propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose.”
Lastly, as for Luxuria, it is not needful to explain it, for its infamy poisons the whole atmosphere.
The Seven Principal Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity, which, having God for their object, are called the Theological Virtues; and the others, Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, which relate to ourselves and our neighbours. The action of Prudence is to make a proper choice; of Justice to do what is good and right; of Temperance not to be hampered by pleasures; Fortitude is not to desert our duty for any pain or hardship. These are called the seven cardinal or principal virtues, because from these seven many others are deduced; concerning which, since we work chiefly for the benefit of the plainer sort of people, we shall at present add no more.
There are Seven Sacraments of the Church, the power of administering which is committed to the clergy. Five of these Sacraments ought to be received by all Christians in general; that is, Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, the Holy Eucharist, and Extreme Unction, which last is only for one who seems to be in danger of death; it should be given, if it may be, before a man is so far spent as to lose the use of his reason; but if he happens to be seized by a frenzy, or suffer from any alienation of mind, this Sacrament ought nevertheless to be administered to him, provided he gave signs of a religious disposition before his mind was disturbed. Under such qualifications Extreme Unction is believed to be beneficial to the sick person provided he is predestinated (predestinationis filius), and either procures him a lucid interval or some spiritual advantage. The other two Sacraments are Order and Matrimony. The first belongs to the perfect, but the second in the time of the New Testament belongs to the imperfect only, and yet we believe that, by the virtue of the sacrament, it conveys grace, if it is contracted with a sincere mind.
Thoresby, Archbishop of York in 1357, commissioned John Graytrigg, a monk of York, to write in English verse an exposition of these six things: The Fourteen Points of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Works of Mercy, the Seven Virtues, the Seven Deadly Sins; and this he sent to all his priests, and bade them teach them often to their people, and urge them to teach their children; and to examine them as to their knowledge when they come to confession in Lent. At a synod held at Ely in 1364, priests were enjoined frequently to preach, to expound the Ten Commandments, etc., to study the sacred Scriptures, to see that children are taught prayers, and to examine adults when they come to confession as to their religious knowledge. When Arundel, in 1408, forbade preaching without a licence, he expressly excepted the parish priests, who were bound to instruct their people in simple language.
A provincial synod at York, under Archbishop Nevil, in 1465, orders systematic teaching quarterly in simple language on points which the canon elaborately sets forth.
There were numerous helps to preachers. Ælfric, towards the end of the Saxon period, freely translated forty homilies from Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Gregory, and other great ancient writers, which were put forth for the use of the clergy under the authority of Archbishop Siric; he afterwards added forty others of a more legendary character; and there are many other Saxon sermons still extant, printed by Wanley, Sharon Turner, Thorpe, the Early English Text Society, etc. Of a later period there are series of sermons by Grostete of Lincoln, FitzRalph of Armagh, and literally hundreds of other writers, some for all the Sundays of the year, some for the great festivals only. A series of sermons for Sundays and feast days, by John Felton, Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford, c. 1450, seems to have been popular, since many manuscripts of it remain. The “Liber Festivalis” of John Myrk, Canon of Lillieshall, was also popular; Caxton’s printed “Liber Festivalis” was founded upon it. The “Summa Predicantium” is a book of sermon notes for preachers; the “Alphabetum Exemplarium” is a collection of illustrations and anecdotes from which the preacher might cull examples.
The “Speculum Christiani,” by John Watton, in the fourteenth century, was intended, as is stated in the preface, to help the parish priests to carry out Peckham’s injunctions. A great part of it is in English, and it contains rhymed versions of the Commandments to help the memory. Several editions of it (one in 1480, at the cost of a London merchant) are among the earliest printed books. The “Flos Florum” was another book of the same class explaining the Lord’s Prayer, Virtues, and Vices, etc. There were also many private manuals instructing the clergy in all their duties: as the “Pars Oculi Sacerdotis” of W. Parker, about 1350 A.D.; and the revised edition of it, under the title of “The Pupilla Oculi” of Burgh, in 1385.