BritLit1 Reading: "The Dedication of Saint Michael's Church" from the Blickling Homilies

The Blickling Homilies are a collection of anonymous Anglo-Saxon sermons; they survive in only one manuscript from the 900s. The Blickling Homilies are notable especially for the window they provide into Anglo-Saxon popular religion.

[...]

As St. Paul was looking towards the northern region of the earth, from whence all waters pass down, he saw above the water a hoary stone ; and north of the stone had grown woods very rimy. And there were dark mists; and under the stone was the dwelling place of monsters and execrable creatures. And he saw hanging on the cliff opposite to the woods, many black souls with their hands bound; and the devils in likeness of monsters were seizing them like greedy wolves; and the water under the cliff beneath was black. And between the cliff and the water there were about twelve miles, and when the twigs brake, then down went the souls who hung on the twigs and the monsters seized them. These were the souls of those who in this world wickedly sinned and would not cease from it before their life's end. But let us now bid St. Michael earnestly to bring our souls into bliss, where they may rejoice without end in eternity. Amen.

Source: The Blickling Homilies of the Tenth Century. Trans. R. Morris. London: EETS, 1880. Archive.org online edition.