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 BY THE SAM/-. AUTHOR. 
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST 
 
 \ND OTHER POEMS. 
 Crown 8vo. cloth, s v - 
 
 London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO
 
 A CHRISTMAS FAGGOT
 
 c/>*^ ^ yx^u^-c 
 
 A CHRISTMAS FAGGOT 
 
 BY- 
 
 ALFRED GURNEY, M.A. 
 
 VICAR OF S. BARNABAS', PIMLICO 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST AND OTHER POEMS* ETC. 
 
 ' The Darling of the world is come. 
 And fit it is we finde a roome 
 To welcome Him. The nobler part 
 Of all the house here is the heart, 
 Which we will give Him, and bequeath 
 This hollie and this ivie wreath 
 To do Him honour who 's our King. 
 The Lord of all this revelling' 
 
 HERRICK. A Christmas Carol 
 
 LONDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO.. i PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1884
 
 (77ie rights of translation -ion are >■■>,
 
 Crt ft 
 
 ro 
 
 AfF GODCHILDREN 
 
 ETHEL, 
 CYRIL, 
 BERTRAM, 
 LOUISE, 
 
 ALBINIA, 
 BASIL, 
 WILFRID, 
 HELEN, 
 
 ARTHUR. 
 
 When the Angel of the waters 
 With a gold and silver wing 
 
 Gently stirred the wave baptismal. 
 Heard ye not their carolling 
 
 Who of old to Eastern shepherds 
 Heralded their King ? 
 
 To the shepherds of His people 
 
 Still those angel-voices tell 
 How God's river feeds the fountain 
 
 Opened by Emmanuel, 
 Yielding the baptismal waters 
 
 Of salvation's well. 
 
 Children, you have passed those waters, 
 Love-begotten from the dead ; 
 
 Will you make a gallant promise 
 When my verses you have read — 
 ' We will trace life's lovely river 
 To the Fountain-head'? 
 
 Loch Leven : 1884. 
 
 861872
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Most of the following poems have appeared in 
 the ' S. Barnabas' Parish Magazine.' For my 
 godchildren and my people I have made them 
 up into a little bundle of sticks — a Christmas 
 faggot to feed the fires in the winter palace of 
 our King. 
 
 It is the Incarnation that justifies all joy, 
 and song is the expression of joy. The Gospel 
 Songs all celebrate the Great Nativity. Birth
 
 vi ii l' RE FACE 
 
 and marriage arc the occasions most sacred to 
 mirth and music among men ; and Christmas is 
 at once the Birthday and the Marriage Festival 
 of Humanity. 
 
 Glad and thankful shall I be if any song of 
 mine should help to fan the flame of rejoicing 
 love in any Christian heart at this holy and 
 happy season.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 YULE TIDE .1 
 
 THE MADONNA DI SAN S1STO . . ... 6 
 
 BETHLEHEM GATE II 
 
 SAINT JOSEPH . . 1 6 
 
 A CRADLE SONG . 1 8 
 
 A CRADLED CHILI) . . . . . . . 23 
 
 AN EMPTY CRADLE .26 
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 28 
 
 THE VICTIM ... 30 
 
 THE DAYSMAN ^ 
 
 THE PHYSICIAN 36
 
 x CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 mi POET • 40 
 
 THREE SISTERS 43 
 
 A CHRISTMAS PUZZLE 46 
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 4& 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S EUCHARIST 56 
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS : 
 
 I. Benedictus 59 
 
 II. Magnificat 63 
 
 III. Nunc Dimittis .... 66 
 
 NOTES 69
 
 YULE TIDE. 
 
 'They bring me sorrow touched with joy, 
 The merry merry bells of Yule.' 
 
 Tennyson, In Memoriam. 
 
 THE Royal Birthday dawns again, 
 
 A stricken world to bless ; 
 And sufferers forget their pain, 
 
 And mourners their distress. 
 
 Love sings to-day ; her eyes so fair 
 
 With happy tears are wet : 
 She is too humble to despair, 
 
 loo faithful to forget. 
 
 B
 
 YULE TIDE 
 
 Ilcr voice is very soft and sweet, 
 Her heart is brave and strong ; 
 
 ! ier vassal, I would fain repeat 
 Some fragments of her soul;. 
 
 A Birthday-song my heart would sin- 
 Its rapture to express ; 
 
 My Father's son must be a king, 
 And share I lis consciousness. 
 
 Of God's Self-knowledge comes the Word 
 
 That utters all His Thought ; 
 That Word made Flesh by all is heard 
 
 Who seek as the}' arc sought.
 
 YULE TIDE 
 
 His seeking and His finding make 
 
 Our search an easy thing ; 
 He sows good seed, and bids us take 
 
 The joys of harvesting. 
 
 Yet must His children do their part, 
 And what He gives accept ; 
 
 No heart can understand His Heart 
 That has not bled and wept. 
 
 All seasons, bring they bale or bliss. 
 
 His priceless treasures hold ; 
 The Winter's silver all is His, 
 
 And His the Summer's gold. 
 
 -
 
 YULE TIDE 
 
 Life's harvest is not reaped until 
 
 The Christ within has grown 
 To perfect manhood, and self-will 
 
 By love is overthrown. 
 
 Such manhood gained concludes the strife 
 That makes the babe a boy ; 
 
 'T is thus the seed becomes a life, 
 The life becomes a joy. 
 
 The eyes that weep are eyes that se< . 
 
 And swift arc pilgrim-feet ; 
 Ah ! hope at length may come to be 
 Than memory more sweet.
 
 YULE TIDE 
 
 So keeping festival to-day, 
 With children's laughter near, 
 
 It is not hard to sing and pray, 
 'T is hard to doubt or fear. 
 
 Father, my heart to Thee I bring, 
 To Thee my song address ; 
 
 From Winter pain and toil of Spring 
 Grows Summer happiness.
 
 THE MADONNA DI SAN S/STO. 1 
 
 ' The Lord Himself shall give you a sign ; behold, a Virgin shall 
 conceive and bear a Son.' 
 
 BEHOLD, by Raphael shown, Love's sacrament! 
 Earth's curtains part, God's veil is lifted up ; 
 
 There comes a Child, forth from His Bosom sent 
 To rule the feast of life, Mis Bread and Cup, 
 lli^ purpose making plain with man to sup. 
 
 ( )ut-streams the light, accomplished is the Sign, 
 
 A Virgin-Mother clasps a Babe Divine. 
 
 1 S<r Note A, page 69.
 
 THE MADONNA DI SAN S1ST0 
 
 Her lovely feet descend the cloudy stair. 
 Great succour bringing to a world forlorn : 
 
 On either side a man and woman share 
 A common rapture, welcoming the dawn 
 Of God's new day, the everlasting morn — 
 
 Of such a day as shall from East to West 
 
 Dispel the darkness, doing Love's behest. 
 
 He turns a face all radiant to the Sun, 
 Enamoured of the sight he looks upon ; 
 
 She to the end of what is now begun 
 
 Downgazes, stooping, shadowed by the throne 
 Made by a Maiden's arms, maternal grown ;
 
 THE MADONXA PI SAX SIS TO 
 
 Than ivory most fair, than purest gold, 
 More pure, more fair, and stronger to uphold. 
 
 On cherubs twain, whom watching has made wise, 
 A spell has fallen— a prophetic dream ; 
 
 Their upward-gazing and far-seeing ey< 
 Like stars reflected in a tranquil stream, 
 To look beyond the Child and Mother seem ; 
 
 A twisted thorn-branch and a cross to them 
 
 Are manifest — His throne and diadem. 
 
 High heaven open stands, and there a crowd 
 
 If worshippers with love-lit eyes appear, 
 Like stars down-gazing through a fleecy cloud,
 
 THE MADONNA DI SAN SISTO g 
 
 Dimly discerned as morning draweth near 
 Spreading a radiant pall upon night's bier. 
 The blessed thing the Sign doth signify 
 They partly know, and are made glad thereby. 
 
 But more the Mother knows, and more she 
 sees 
 Than soaring angel or than climbing saint ; 
 Her heart familiar grown with mysteries 
 
 Of God's own working under love's con- 
 straint, 
 The remedy she knows for man's complaint. 
 The clouds are all beneath her, and above 
 The light of life, the radiancy of love.
 
 io THE MADONNA />/ SAN SISTO 
 
 And He, Whom Lord of love and life we hail, 
 Is on her bosom borne, a blossom fair ; 
 
 The pentecostal breath that lifts her veil 
 
 Has fanned His royal brow, and stirred His hair, 
 And kissed His lips just parted for a prayer. 
 
 That spirit-wind shall blow, that Face shall shine. 
 
 Till all His brothers know their Father's Sign, 
 
 Dresden : 1883.
 
 II 
 
 BETHLEHEM GATE. 
 A Picture by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1 
 
 Of old through grates that closed on them 
 Two exiles went with eyes downcast ; 
 The Present now retrieves the Past, 
 
 God's Eden is in Bethlehem. 
 
 An Eden that no walls enclose 
 By Mary's arms encompassed, 
 A living shrine, a ' house of bread,' 
 
 A very haven of repose. 
 
 1 See Note B, page 7 1 .
 
 i2 BETHLEHEM GATE 
 
 Behold the Prince of Peace! around 
 His cradle angry tempests rage ; 
 He needs must go on pilgrimage. 
 
 An exile, homeless and discrowned. 
 
 And yet, His Rank to designate, 
 The unquenched Star of Bethlehem 
 Shines forth, a radiant diadem ; 
 
 While Angels on His footsteps wait. 
 
 E'en now the Father's Face the}- see, 
 A triumph-song e'en now they sin-, 
 And, wondering and worshippil 
 
 Attend His Pilgrim-Family.
 
 BETHLEHEM GATE 
 
 Two guard the frowning gateway : one 
 
 Is of a solemn countenance ; 
 
 To him a rapid backward glance 
 Reveals a massacre begun. 
 
 The other, forward gazing, sees 
 
 The glory of the age to come, 
 
 The fruitfulness of martyrdom, 
 Of deaths that are nativities. 
 
 O weeping mothers, dry your tears ! 
 The Mother whom this canvass shows 
 Nor fears, nor weeps, although she knows 
 
 An anguish deeper than your fears.
 
 i 4 BETHLEHEM GATE 
 
 She knows a comfort deeper still 
 For all who fare on pilgrimage ; 
 By suffering from age to age 
 
 God seals the vassals of His Will. 
 
 Her Burden is upholding her ; 
 
 And, guided by the Holy Dove. 
 
 She sees the victory of Love- 
 Beyond the Cross and Sepulchre. 
 
 To shield her, Joseph stands: his cue 
 The shadow of God's Providence. 
 How fragrant is the frankincen 
 
 Of their uninterrupted prayer!
 
 BETHLEHEM GATE 
 
 Through ever-open gates they press, 
 A new and living way they tread, 
 So gain they the true ' House of Bread,' 
 
 A garden for a wilderness. 
 
 A flight it seems to us ; to them 
 
 It is a going forth to win 
 
 The world from Satan and from sin, 
 And build the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Lord Christ ! for every seeking soul 
 Thou art Thyself the Door, the Way ; 
 All, all shall find one coming day 
 
 Thy Heart their everlasting goal ! 
 
 Loch Leven : 1884.
 
 1 6 
 
 S. JOSEPH. 
 
 A CLOISTERED garden was the place 
 
 Where Mary grew, God's perfect flower ; 
 
 One, only one, discerned her grace, 
 And visited her bower. 
 
 God's choice was his ; by love made strong 
 To guard the Mother of the King; 
 
 No heart, save hers, had e'er a song 
 So sweet as his to sing.
 
 S. JOSEPH i 7 
 
 Yet lives there on the sacred page 
 No record of a word from him ; 
 
 God's Ark he guards, a silent sage, 
 Pure as the Cherubim. 
 
 But sweeter than the sweetest word 
 Recorded of the wise and eood. 
 
 His silence is a music heard 
 On high, and understood. 
 
 Blessed are all who take their part 
 Amid the carol-singing throng ; 
 
 Thrice blest the meditative heart 
 Whose silence is a song. 
 
 Ballachulish : 1884.
 
 lS 
 
 A CRADLE SOXG. 
 
 Sing, ye winds, and sing, ye waters. 
 
 May the music of your song 
 Silence all the dark forebodings 
 
 That have plagued the world too long ; 
 I Ie who made your voices tuneful 
 
 Comes to right the wrong. 
 
 Warble on, ye feathered songsters, 
 Lift your praises loud and high,
 
 A CRADLE SONG 19 
 
 Merry lark, and thrush, and blackbird, 
 
 In the grove and in the sky 
 Make your music, shame our dumbness, 
 
 Till we make reply. 
 
 Children's laughter is a music 
 Flowing from a hidden spring, 
 
 Which, though men misdoubt its virtue, 
 Well is worth discovering ; 
 
 Slowly dies the heart that knows not 
 
 How to laugh and sing. 
 
 Hark, a cradle-song ! the Singer 
 Is the Heart of God Most High ; 
 
 < 2
 
 A CRADLE SO ■ 
 
 All sweet voices arc the echoes 
 
 That in varied tones reply 
 To that Voice which through the ages 
 
 Sings earth's lullaby. 
 
 Oftentimes a sleepless infant 
 For a season frets and cries : 
 
 All at once an unseen finger 
 
 Curtains up the little e\ 
 So the cradled child lie nurses 
 God will tranquillisc. 
 
 Ili> the all-enfolding Presence; 
 
 Oh, what tutelage it brinj
 
 A CRADLE SONG 21 
 
 To the little lives that ripen 
 
 'Neath the shelter of its wings ; 
 God's delays are no denials, 
 
 As He waits He sings ! 
 
 The)- alone are seers and singers 
 
 Who invalidate despair 
 By the lofty hopes they cherish, 
 
 By the gallant deeds they dare, 
 By the ceaseless aspirations 
 
 Of a life of prayer. 
 
 Brothers, sisters, lift your voices, 
 May the rapture of your song
 
 A CRADLE SONG 
 
 Put to flight the sad misgivings 
 
 That have vexed the world too long ; 
 God would have us share the triumph 
 
 That shall right the wrong. 
 
 LOl II I.AGGAN : 1SS4.
 
 A CRADLED CHILD. 
 (To E. A. G.) 
 
 Behold ! the world's inheritance, 
 The treasure-trove of happy homes ; 
 Whereby the poorest hut becomes 
 
 A fairy-palace of romance. 
 
 A cradle is the mother's shrine : 
 
 Two lamps o'erhang it — her sweet eyes, 
 Whose love-light falls, Madonna-wise, 
 
 On sleeping infancy divine.
 
 A CRADLI'.D CHILD 
 
 The presence of a 'hoi)- thing,' 
 Madonna-wise, her heart discerns, 
 And like a fragrant censer burns, 
 
 O'ershadowed by an angel's wing. 
 
 1 ler brooding motherhood is strong ; 
 A trembling joy her bosom stirs, 
 Her thoughts are white-robed worshippers, 
 
 ' Magnificat' is all her song. 
 
 'Mid angels whispering 'all-hails' 
 The waking moment she awaits, 
 The opening of two pearly gates, 
 
 The lifting of two silken veils.
 
 A CRADLED CHILD 
 
 Ah ! then, what words can tell the bliss. 
 The rapture of the fond embrace, 
 When mother's lips on baby's face, 
 
 Feast and are feasted with a kiss ? 
 
 And who can tell of hands and feet 
 The dimpled wonders, hidden charms, 
 The dainty curves of legs and arms, 
 
 So sweet and soft, so soft and sweet ? 
 
 This is the world's possession still, 
 The treasure- trove of wedded hearts, 
 Whereby a Father's love imparts 
 
 His joy, their gladness to fulfil. 
 
 TVXTESFIELD : 1884.
 
 26 
 
 AN EMPTY CRADLE. 
 
 ALL empty stands a little cradle-bed, 
 A mother's falling tears the only sound ; 
 Hut not of earth her thoughts, nor underground ; 
 
 Up-gazing she discerns the Fountain-head 
 
 Of life ; the living Voice she hears that said 
 ' Fear not ' to weeping women who had found 
 An empty tomb, and angels watching round, 
 
 Who asked ' Why seek the living with the dead ? '
 
 AN EMPTY CRADLE 27 
 
 So weeps our Mother Church — her tears outshine 
 Sun-smitten dewdrops on a summer's morn ; 
 
 God's rainbow girdles her, Hope's lovely sign, 
 Whereby she knows that smiles of tears are 
 born ; 
 
 Fulfilled of life herself, she would assure 
 
 Her children all of death's discomfiture. 
 
 Carlisle : 18S4.
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE. 
 
 God grant through coming years and days 
 
 Our beating hearts may be 
 The harps that celebrate His praise 
 
 Who loves eternally ! 
 
 No ache can be without relief 
 When Love Himself draws near; 
 
 No cup can empty stand, no grief 
 Embitter God's New Year
 
 NEW YEAR'S EVE 29 
 
 Time's footsteps quickly die away, 
 
 Soon emptied is his glass ; 
 We wait for an oncoming Day 
 
 Which nevermore shall pass. 
 
 Old hopes revive, new hopes are born, 
 
 The coming months to cheer ; 
 And phantom-fears and griefs outworn 
 
 Die with the dying year. 
 
 Oh, all the years and all the days 
 
 Our waiting hearts shall be 
 Harps tremulous with His dear praise 
 Whose is Eternity ! 
 S. BARis' abas' : December 31, 1S85.
 
 ?o 
 
 THE VICTIM. 
 For the Feast of the Circumcision : New Year's Day, 
 
 The sun methinks rose rosy-red 
 On that great New Year's Day, 
 
 When lUood was in the cradle shed 
 Where Mary's Darling lay. 
 
 The lark, uprising with the sun. 
 
 Was silent on the wing ; 
 The nightingale, when day was done, 
 
 Forgot her song to sing.
 
 THE VICTIM 
 
 A holy silence reigned around, 
 Arid hushed was every voice, 
 
 When in the crib the Cross was found, 
 The Infant- Victim's choice. 
 
 As moonbeam on a mountain-mere 
 
 The Mother's face was white ; 
 Her eyes were stars, and every tear 
 
 Gave lustre to their light. 
 
 Methinks a blushing moon looked dowr 
 
 Upon that manger-bed, 
 And wove a mystic glory-crown 
 
 Around the Sleeper's head.
 
 THE VICTIM 
 
 The silence issui s in a song, 
 
 It rises and it swells ; 
 E'en than the lark's more blithe and strong, 
 Sweeter than Philomel's, 
 
 His Church's anthem loud and loi 
 The Victim's triumph tells.
 
 33 
 
 THE DAYSMAN. 
 
 IN boyhood's sorrow-shadowed days. 
 Which memory recalls to-day, 
 
 In many moods and many ways, 
 My yearning heart would pray. 
 
 'T was holy ground where'er I set 
 
 My feet, God's shrine was everywhere ; 
 
 But this I scarcely knew as yet — 
 Christ is His FatJiers Prayer} 
 
 ! See Note C, page 72. 
 
 D
 
 34 THE DAYSMAN 
 
 God ever seeks His children's bliss, 
 Appeals to them ; and, rightly heard, 
 
 The music of creation is 
 The echo of His Word. 
 
 But when the child has learnt his part. 
 The echo is an answer strong ; 
 
 A prayer up-springing from the heart 
 That blossoms in a song. 
 
 Christ is the Living Word of God, 
 His Poem and His Prophecy ; 
 
 The homeward way His Feet have trod 
 Mankind must travel by.
 
 THE DAYSMAN 35 
 
 And every man, God's child and priest, 
 Is pledged to ministry divine, 
 
 Who sees the Ruler of life's feast 
 Turn water into wine ; 
 
 Who hears the Father's voice above, 
 The Spirit's whispering within ; 
 
 Who knows the Messenger of love 
 The Conqueror of sin. 
 
 Responsive to God's call, our Prayer 
 Art Thou, dear Lord, whene'er we pray ; 
 
 So always now, and everywhere, 
 My heart keeps holiday. 
 
 On the Danube : 
 
 Feast of the Holy Name, 18S3. d 2
 
 36 
 
 THE PHYSICIAN. 
 
 [S life sad for lost love's sake, 
 Falls a blight upon thy bliss, 
 
 Smiles no more their sunshine make, 
 Lips estranged withhold their kiss ? 
 
 For thy consolation take 
 
 Some such song as this 
 
 Shine on us, O Morning Star ! 
 
 Help our weeping eyes to sec; 
 Never may we deem things are 
 
 What to us they seem to be;
 
 THE PHYSICIAN yj 
 
 Rise, Thou Dayspring, and afar 
 Bid the shadows flee ! 
 
 Jesu, Thou art swift to bless, 
 
 Strong to comfort, skilled to heal ; 
 
 Failure is with Thee success, 
 Woe the forerunner of weal ; 
 
 Every stroke is a caress, 
 Every crust a meal. 
 
 Master, Thou canst raise the dead 
 From the grave, the bed, the bier, 1 
 
 i S. John xi. 43 ; S. Matt. ix. 25 ; S. Luke vii. 14.
 
 THE PHYSICIAN 
 
 Souls astray, forlorn, misled, 
 Buffeted by doubt and fear, 
 
 Cannot but be comforted 
 When Thou drawest near. 
 
 Sweeter than the Sunday-bells 
 Banishing all week-day cares. 
 
 Thine the gracious voice that tells 
 What a Father's love prepares, 
 
 Leading to salvation's wells 
 Up God's altar-stairs. 
 
 Lord, Thou art the Master-sing 
 
 And Thy song is a recall ;
 
 THE PHYSICIAN 39 
 
 Many on life's pathway linger, 
 Many by life's wayside fall, 
 
 But Thy Heart, the comfort-bringer. 
 Is a Home for all ! 
 
 Tyrol : 1882.
 
 4 o 
 
 THE POET. 
 
 The poet is the child of God, 
 Who with anointed eye 
 
 Discerns a sacrament of love 
 In earth and sea and sky, 
 
 Ami finds himself at love's behest 
 Constrained to prophesy. 
 
 Love is of loveliness the root, 
 Love is of life the spring,
 
 THE POET 41 
 
 Love is the sole interpreter 
 Of every lovely thing : 
 
 This is the burden of his song, 
 Well may the poet sing ! 
 
 A joy-inspired song he sings 
 Because far off he hears 
 
 A whisper silencing the storm, 
 A laughter through the tears, 
 
 The music of eternity 
 Beyond the dying years. 
 
 His song is rapture, for he sees 
 God's loveliness, and we,
 
 42 THE POET 
 
 When with his insight \vc arc blest, 
 
 Shall share his ecstasy ; 
 Oh, come the day when all shall sing 
 
 As blithe a song as he! 
 
 Lord Christ, Thou art the King of Love, 
 
 Thou art the Poet true ; 
 The men who would Thy vision share 
 
 Must learn Thy works to do, 
 All, all shall have the singing heart 
 
 Whose feet Thy steps pursue ! 
 
 PlTZ Ortlkr : 1882.
 
 43 
 
 THREE SISTERS. 1 
 
 THREE fountains clear as crystal spring 
 In one secluded garden-plot ; 
 In shade and shelter of one cot 
 
 Three sister-doves are harbouring. 
 
 Adown one pathway hand in hand 
 Three Sister-Graces wend their way ; 
 I shall not soon forget the day 
 
 I met with them in fairy land. 
 
 1 See Note D, page 74.
 
 44 111 REE SISTERS 
 
 They dawned, I know not how or whence 
 A halo circling round the head 
 Of each, whereby transfigured 
 
 They clomb the hill of frankincense. 
 
 I know not whence or how, they bloomed 
 Each sweeter than the sweetest rose 
 That in the haunted garden grows 
 
 Where burns the bush still unconsumed. 
 
 And one is like a rising sun 
 
 When dewy Morn unveils her eyes; 
 And one is as Minerva wise ; 
 
 And very lily-like is one.
 
 THREE SISTERS 45 
 
 And all are dear. I seem to see 
 The weaving of a threefold cord — 
 To hear a softly whispered word, 
 ' Love makes a unity of three.'
 
 4 6 
 
 A CHRISTMAS PUZZLE. 
 (For Grown-up Children.) 
 
 Children know the things I know not, 
 Though they know not that they know 
 
 I should know not, should love grow not, 
 That I know not it is so. 
 
 Flowers feebly rooted blow not, 
 
 Shallow waters overflow not, 
 Love is doomed unless it grow.
 
 A CHRISTMAS PUZZLE 47 
 
 Fools who think to reap and sow not 
 
 Growing love will overthrow ; 
 Churls who say 'We go' and go not 
 
 Love's rebuke must undergo ; 
 All who love's insignia show not, 
 Who on love themselves bestow not, 
 
 Love, full grown, shall lay them low.
 
 4 s 
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES? 
 
 The Pilgrim-Kings their King have found, 
 
 The Wise Men kneel at Wisdom's shrine, 
 Their royal gifts His Crib surround, 
 
 He gives them bread and wine. 
 
 ( )ne Star has pointed to the Sun, 
 That men may see and understand 
 
 The witness borne by all to One, 
 Who holds in His Right Hand, 
 1 See Note E, page 77.
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 49 
 
 Like lamps that round an altar burn, 
 All lights that shine, all worlds that be 
 
 Crowned are the men whose hearts discern 
 Their King's Epiphany.
 
 5o FOUR EPIPHANIES 
 
 II. 
 
 THE Child obedient sets His face 
 
 To seek His Father's House of Prayer, 
 
 With other children takes I lis place, 
 And is a learner there. 
 
 Two worlds there arc ; the child to each 
 Belongs, God's prophet, born to bless ; 
 
 Hut not by action, nor by speech. 
 Simply by winsomeness.
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 
 
 For, like the Child of Bethlehem, 
 
 Babes bring their blessing from afar, 
 
 Enriching all who wait on them 
 By being what they are. 
 
 E 2
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 
 
 III. 
 
 A VOICE from heaven spake aloud. 
 
 Heard clearly by the Bridegroom's friend 
 
 When, shadowed by the glory-cloud, 
 He saw the Dove descend. 
 
 One Voice has heralded the Word, 
 Thai listening men may truly know 
 
 What mean all voices they have heard 
 Above, around, below —
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 55 
 
 Soft whisperings and laughters loud, 
 The song of birds, the insects' hum, 
 
 Storm-music of the thunder-cloud — 
 And be no longer dumb.
 
 54 FOUR EPIPHANIES 
 
 IV. 
 
 That jubilance of bridal mirth. 
 First felt at Cana, has not ceased ; 
 
 Christ's Presence still regales the earth, 
 Still glorifies the feast. 
 
 The Ruler of the feast of life 
 Still with a sacramental sign 
 
 Confirms the love of man and wife, 
 And makes the water wine.
 
 FOUR EPIPHANIES 55 
 
 And His the glory still revealed 
 
 When lovers plight and keep their vows ; 
 Himself the Bridegroom Who has sealed 
 
 The Church to be His Spouse.
 
 56 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S EUCHARIST. 
 
 THE children's star-crowned Bethlehem, 
 
 The children's 'house of bread, 
 Where Jesus' arms encircle them, 
 
 With milk and honey fed : — 
 Such is the Church, whose altar-gates 
 
 Stand ever open, when 
 The board is furnished where He waits 
 
 To feast the hearts of men.
 
 THE CHILDREN'S EUCHARIST 57 
 
 A Babe He came one heart to bless 
 
 (It is His cradle still), 
 And evermore her blessedness 
 
 Is theirs who do His will ; 
 A Child He trod the Temple-floor, 
 
 By Mary Mother led ; 
 By children's voices evermore 
 
 His praise is perfected. 
 
 ' Forbid them not,' He said of old : 
 The words so stern and sweet 
 Still make believing mothers bold 
 To gather at His Feet,
 
 58 THE CHI LI) REX'S EUCHARIST 
 
 And bring their babes ; their hearts discern 
 
 (And oh, that others would !) 
 How mother-like His Heart must yearn 
 
 Who made their motherhood. 
 
 A happy Home where children pray, 
 
 With milk and honey fed, 
 Whose altar-hearth burns bright alway, 
 
 Whose board is richly spread :— 
 Such is the Church ; and sweet the song 
 
 Her little children sing, 
 Of all who round His Altar thronsr 
 
 The dearest to our King. 
 
 Ballachulish : 1SS4.
 
 59 
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS} 
 
 I. 
 BENEDICTUS. 
 
 Can priestly lips, long silenced, raise 
 A strain so lofty and so strong, 
 
 Making our matin hymn of praise 
 As jubilant as evensong ? 
 
 Yes : not the lips alone, the eyes 
 Of Zacharias were unsealed, 
 
 To see and sing the mysteries 
 To love and penitence revealed. 
 
 1 See Note F, page 78.
 
 Go THE GOSPEL SO \ 
 
 With keen prevision of the seer 
 
 I [e sings of a redemption wrought, 
 Whereby, released from slavish fear, 
 
 Men are to filial freedom brought. 
 
 Three things immutable and sure, 
 His promise, covenant, and oath, 
 
 Reveal God s purpose, and secure 
 
 YVhate'cr man needs for life and growth. 
 
 The promise to the fathers made 
 
 Was seen and known — th' Incarnate Word ; 
 The Cross His covenant displayed, 
 
 His oath at Pentecost was heard.
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 61 
 
 Well may this father's heart rejoice, 
 And with prophetic rapture sing ; 
 
 His song a prelude to that ' Voice ' ' 
 Predestined to proclaim the King. 
 
 His joy a foretaste of that mirth 
 Which shall the hearts of all possess, 
 
 W T hen o'er a recreated earth 
 
 Christ's sceptre reigns in righteousness. 
 
 Of light he sings for darkened eyes, 
 For wandering feet the way of peace, 
 
 Tells how the Day spring shall arise, 
 And shadows flee and sorrows cease. 
 
 1 S. John i. 23.
 
 62 THE GOSPEL SONGS 
 
 And still the Church's children raise 
 That strain so lofty and so strong. 
 
 Which makes their matin hymn of praise 
 As jubilant as evensong. 
 
 Loch Laggan : 1SS4.
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 65 
 
 II. 
 
 MAGNIFICAT. 
 
 Earth's noise God's music supersedes, 
 
 Sin's discord it excludes, 
 It tells us of a Lamb that bleeds, 
 
 And of a Dove that broods. 
 
 It tells us of a Child Who brings 
 The help that sets us free ; 
 
 The song His Maiden-Mother sings 
 Of saved Humanity.
 
 64 THE GOSPEL SONGS 
 
 The Mother's and the Sister's part 
 She plays ; she leads the choir 
 
 Of those whose purity of heart 
 Is passionate desire. 
 
 Above the blood-cncrimsoned sea, 
 
 Dispelling' doubt and fear 
 With her celestial minstrelsy, 
 
 Our Miriam doth cheer 
 
 The men whose homeward-going hearts 
 
 Are loyal to their King ; 
 When all from her have learnt their parts, 
 Then shall creation sing !
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 65 
 
 The sweetest of the Gospel songs, 
 
 To all the Saints so dear, 
 To every eventide belongs 
 
 Throughout the changeful year. 
 
 It sanctifies the vesper hour 
 
 When summer smiles serene ; 
 It is a joy-constraining power 
 
 When winter blasts are keen. 
 
 1 My soul doth magnify the Lord '- 
 
 Ecstatic is the voice 
 
 That sings of Paradise restored— 
 
 ' My spirit doth rejoice ! ' 
 Pinzoi.o : 18S2.
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 
 
 III. 
 M NC DIMITTIS. 
 
 1 < > cradle Mary's Child his heart 
 An old man opens wide : 
 
 Behold him in God's peace depart, 
 And in God's peace abide 
 
 lie sings the very Song of Peace, 
 Responsive to the Word ; 
 
 llis lullaby shall never (rase 
 To make its music heard
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 67 
 
 For all the children of the Bride, 
 
 The subjects of the King, 
 With each returning 1 eventide 
 
 Have learnt his song to sing. 
 
 He sings of ' peace,' ' salvation,' ' light : ' 
 
 His lovely words we take 
 For consolation night by night, 
 
 Until God's morning break. 
 
 Then, when our dazzled eyes grow dim, 
 Breathed with our parting breath 
 
 The old man's sweet, heart-soothing hymn 
 Glad welcome gives to death. 
 
 1- 2
 
 THE GOSPEL SONGS 
 
 We too what Simeon saw may see 
 
 The Mother undefined, 
 ( )ur hearts enfold as blissfully 
 
 The Everlasting Child ! 
 
 Tyrol : 18S2.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note A. 
 
 The Madonna di San Sisto. 
 
 Raffaelle"s world-famous picture of the Mother and her Divine 
 Child in the Gallery at Dresden is in a measure known to almost all 
 from prints and photographs. As to the colour of the picture, the 
 significant beauty of which none who have not seen the original 
 can conceive, it should be remembered that the parted curtains are 
 green (the earth-colour), and the Virgin Mother comes forth, as it 
 were, from the white bosom of a stooping heaven, whose far 
 distances, dimly seen, fade into a blue firmament peopled with 
 angelic faces. 
 
 Many have felt this picture— at once so serene and so im- 
 passioned — to be a revelation. As we yield ourselves to its 
 fascination and search further and further into its depths, we feel 
 that Faber's words justify themselves : ' Christian Art, rightly con-
 
 7o NOTES 
 
 sidered, is at once a theology and a worship ; .1 theology which 
 its own method of teaching, its own ways of representation, its own 
 devout discoveries, its own varying opinions, all of which are beau- 
 tiful so long as they are in subordination to the mind of the Church. 
 . . . Art is a revelation from heaven, and a mighty power for I rod. 
 Ii is a merciful disclosure to men of Mis more hidden beauty. It 
 brings out things in God which lie too deep for words.' {Bethlehem, 
 p. 240.) 
 
 It was a satisfaction to find my reading of this incomparable 
 
 picture powerfully endorsed by one who, more perhaps than any 
 
 living writer, has made good his claim to be regarded with the 
 
 reverence that belongs to a scribe instructed in the things of the 
 
 ritual kingdom, bringing forth from his treasure things new and 
 
 old. I quote the following passage from Canon Westcott's weighty 
 
 contribution to the discussion of a subject second to none in interest 
 
 and importance— ' The Relation of Christianity to Art:' 'In the 
 
 Madonna di San Sisto Raffaelle has rendered th f I »ivine 
 
 motherhood and Divine Sonship in intelligible forms. No one 
 
 ■ in the individual figures. The tremulous fulness of 
 
 ■ion in the face of the Mother, the intense, far-reaching 
 
 ■of the Child, constrain the beholder to look beyond. I 01 
 
 him too the curtain is drawn aside ; he feels that there is a 
 
 fellowship of earth with heaven and of heaven with earth, and 
 
 lerstands the meaning of the attendant Saints who express the 
 
 of this double communion. ' {Epistles of S. John, 
 
 P- 35 s -)
 
 NOTES 71 
 
 I will only add some beautiful words of Mrs. Jameson, which 
 also I had not seen when my verses were written : ' I have 
 seen my own ideal once, and only once, attained : there, where 
 Raffaelle — inspired if ever painter was inspired — projected on the 
 space before him that wonderful creation which we style the 
 Madonna di San Sisto ; for there she stands — the transfigured 
 woman — at once completely human and completely divine, an 
 abstraction of power, purity, and love, poised on the empurpled 
 air, and requiring no other support ; looking out with her melan- 
 choly, loving mouth, her slightly dilated, sibylline eyes, quite 
 through the universe, to the end and consummation of all things ; 
 sad, as if she beheld afar off the visionary sword that was to reach 
 her heart through Him, now resting as enthroned on that heart : 
 yet already exalted through the homage of the redeemed genera- 
 tions who were to salute her as Blessed.' {Legends of tin 
 Madonna : Introduction, p. 44.) 
 
 Note B. 
 
 Bethlehem Gate. 
 
 I extract the following from some unpublished notes on the 
 pictures by Rossetti exhibited at Burlington House two years
 
 NOTES 
 
 ago : ' '• Bethlehem Gate " is the name of a lovely little pictured 
 parable. On the left we see the massacre of innocents, representing 
 
 the world, in whose cruel habitations the same outrage is ever being 
 enacted, since all sin is in truth the sin of blood-guiltiness, bringing 
 life into jeopardy. On the right the Heavenly Dove is seen leading 
 forth God's elect children, the Holy Family, the infant Church, to 
 the land of righteousness. The Maiden-Mother, with the Divine 
 Innocent enthroned on her bosom, attended and protected by a 
 backward looking and a forward-looking angel, and escorted by 
 S. Joseph, passes the gate of the City of David. Kgypt beneath 
 her feet becomes the holy land. 1 Thus with all fitting ceremonial 
 is the Church's pilgrimage through the world, through the ages, 
 inaugurated.' 
 
 Note C. 
 The Day swan. 
 
 'The Word became Flesh and tabernacled among us' that is 
 the supreme and august Verity which dominates all the though! 
 the children of the Kingdom. Their eyes are fixed on the Life 
 that the Scripture-record contains rather than on the record itself. 
 
 See Isaiah xix. 19-25.
 
 NOTES 73 
 
 To them the oracles of God are indeed living, because they 
 discern therein not certain words about Christ, but Christ the 
 Word Himself ; reading them by the light of the great Tradition 
 which lives and grows with the life and growth of the Spirit- 
 bearing Church— the consciousness of the real Presence of Christ 
 in her and in her Scriptures alike. It is in truth no unwritten 
 Tradition, for it is inscribed in spiritual characters upon the 
 fleshy tables of the heart by the Holy Ghost Himself, the Finger 
 of God. To His pupils all things are Divine words variously 
 embodied, and the Word made Flesh is the one all-comprehending 
 Mystery, the eternal, all-revealing, and all-sufficing Sacrament. 
 That Word is a Divine Person, Whose Manhood is a living, abid- 
 ing, ever-energising Mediatorial Agency. That Word, eternally 
 uttered by the Mouth of God, was in the Incarnation uttered (so 
 to speak) in another language, and made audible and intelligi- 
 ble to man. By this language, common to God and man, the 
 thought of God became man's thought, and the thought of 
 man God's thought. In Him, the Mediating Word, they are at 
 on*; He is the Atonement. And being the Word, He is the 
 Prayer both of God and man, whose expression is the enduring 
 evidence of that Atonement, the ceaseless occupation and satisfac- 
 tion of those who in Him are atoned and united. ' A mediator 
 is not a mediator of one, but God is one,' is S. Paul's state- 
 ment of the mystery ; and of this characteristic doctrine of 
 Christianity the Psalmist had already caught a glimpse when,
 
 
 NOTES 
 
 in the exercise of a prophetical gift, I ks "I Christ as 
 
 Prayer.* 
 
 It is needless to aiKl that the sanctuary of the Eucharist is the 
 iol in which this truth is most eloquently taught and effectually 
 
 learnt. 
 
 Mote 1 >. 
 Three Sisters. 
 The following interpretation, which accompanied the poem on 
 
 its first appearance, is retained for the sake of those \\h>> then 
 wi [corned it : — 
 
 Those who sing to children no less than ihey who tell 
 
 them stories must be prepared for many question . i of them 
 difficull to answer. The two questions which recur most frequently 
 are (I) 'Is it true? 'and (2) 'What dues it mean?' 
 
 Questioned as to my little poem, I reply to the first question 
 without hesitation, ' Yes, it is all true.' But the second question 
 is more difficull to deal with. If, however, an answer is insisted 
 on, something like this is what I musl say : — 
 
 God's story has no end; it is more wonderful than anything 
 
 P aim cix. 4 : I am pray< r" is I trail latton. K w.
 
 A'OTES 75 
 
 wonderland can show ; lovelier than the loveliest thing said or sung 
 of fairyland. The Gospel and the Creed are a part of that story ; 
 and with this our little poem is concerned. It speaks of God's 
 garden — paradise regained — a renewed earth, wherein a trinity in 
 unity, observable in all things, testifies of Him, a shadow cast 
 from above. 
 
 Shall we take the verses in order ? 
 
 Verse I. Three fountains (which issue forth from beneath one 
 altar-throne) feed one river (which, strange to say, seen from 
 below, is four-fold), and by this river the whole earth, God's 
 garden, is encircled and fertilised. That garden contains the tree 
 of life, wherein three doves have one nest. 
 
 Verse 2. But the fuller revelation comes out of human nature 
 itself, when taken into fellowship with God. The elect lady, 
 representative of humanity, is from one point of view, looking at 
 fundamental relations, daughter, spouse, mother ; from another, 
 looking at essential characteristics, faith, hope, and love. The 
 place of meeting, that is dawning consciousness, is the fairyland of 
 phenomenal existence. 
 
 Verse 3. Out of this fairyland humanity is led forward and 
 upward by the path of sacrifice, until the summit of the cross- 
 crowned mountain of life is gained ; and all heads are aureoled by a 
 light which, like that of the Transfiguration, dawns and deepens 
 from within. This cannot be till we have ceased to be self-centred, 
 and have become Christ-centred. 
 
 Verse 4. All growth is very secret and mysterious, part of the
 
 76 NOTES 
 
 mystery of life. The development of humanity follows the ordei 
 indicated in the narrative of creation; light must come before 
 vegetation, sunshine befon Rowers. In the garden of the Incar- 
 nation all is recovered ; the wilderness blossoms as a rose, and the 
 poor bush of the desert becomes a garden-tree, a plant of renown, 
 unconsumed because permanently enkindled with the lire of a 
 divine life. 
 
 Verse 5. Every flower is a little sun, and shines forth, owing 
 its beauty to an effort after conformity to the likeness of it- 
 cherisher, not without the succour of gracious dews. Its sunshine 
 ministers to hope. And by faith the old-world homage rendered to 
 wisdom (with which it is really one) is justified and transfigured. 
 And love, being one with purity, looks at us out of the sweet white 
 face of the lily. 
 
 Verse 6. All men, like these sister-graces, must join hands 
 and hearts. Thus shall be woven a threefold cord, divinely strong 
 and unbreakable ; and the testimony, reiterated by the still small 
 voice of a Divine Whisperer, shall be accepted by all, because 
 realised in all : ' Love makes a unity of three ; ' and ' Cod 
 is lm 
 
 ' Is that what the poem means ? ' I think I hear my questioner 
 ask. ' Yes, that is a little of what it means — only a little.'
 
 NOTES 77 
 
 Note E. 
 Four Epiphanies. 
 
 Nothing perhaps more clearly demonstrates the Divine instinct 
 that resides in the Church than the construction of her Calendar 
 and the arrangement of her year. Like the Creed, whose truths it 
 teaches and enforces, it grew up gradually as the outcome and 
 embodiment of her devotional life. The Epiphany, or Feast of 
 Manifestation, was one of the first observed of her days of solemn 
 commemoration ; and the day came to be prolonged into a season 
 embracing six Sunday?. She would have her children understand 
 that in all that He did and said our Lord was manifesting forth His 
 glory, and justifying His great announcement — ' I am the Light of 
 the world.' 
 
 The Four Epiphanies to which the poem refers belong to the 
 Scriptures appointed for the Day itself and the two following 
 Sundays. The first was made to the Wise Men of the East, repre- 
 senting the inspired wisdom of the Gentile world ; the second to 
 the Doctors of the Temple, representing the Bible-taught wisdom of 
 the Jews ; the third to the Forerunner, the last and greatest of the 
 Prophet-heralds of the Incarnation ; the fourth to the Bridegroom 
 and Bride and the wedding guests at Cana of Galilee, represent- 
 ing Humanity, of which the family is the appointed and abiding 
 type.
 
 78 N0T1 
 
 The l ! ic Church by her methods, no less than by her 
 raments, her Scriptures, and her Ci ever maintaining her 
 
 I rotesl against the limitations by which all merely human 
 are disfigured. She is ever bearing her impassioned witness to 
 Ilim Who is 'the Light that lighteth every man that Cometh into 
 the world.' This is the real significance of the solemnities that 
 accompany her Epiphany observance. 
 
 Note F. 
 
 The Gospel Songs. 
 
 The Tree of Life is the real Christmas Tree. Its underwoven 
 roots support the cradle; its branches, overarching with many a 
 blossom and many a cluster, form the canopy of the Heavenly 
 Babe, the Darling of God Mid of man. 'The fruit thereof is for 
 meat, the leaf thereof for medicine ; ' mindful of which the h 1\ 
 I irangelists speak of the crib as a ' monger? that is the feeding 
 place. 'Lo ! we heard of the same at (Bethlehem) Ephrata, and 
 found it in tin- \\ ood.' 
 
 The Gospel songs express the joy with which by the humble 
 and simple am' pure-hearted this l'lant of Renown is discovered ;
 
 NOTES 79 
 
 this House of Bread visited. They come from the lips of a maiden 
 who is a mother, of an ancient who is a child, of a priest who is a 
 prophet. When such fountains of song are unsealed, the music 
 belongs rather to heaven than to earth. 
 
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