Ihe Vision gf the Eucharist 
 ^ and other poems
 
 "^■^ -w w w w ^ • 
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 1 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
 THE 
 
 VISION OF THE EUCHARIST
 
 THE 
 
 VISION OF THE EUCHARIST 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED GURNEY, M.A. 
 
 VICAR OF s. Barnabas', pi.mlico. 
 
 ' Better to liave the poet's heart than brain. 
 Feeling than song; but better far than both 
 To be a song, a music of God's making. 
 
 George MacDo.nald 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 KEGAN TALL, TRENCH, & CO., i rATEKNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 1882.
 
 ( The rif^/tti of Iranslaticn aiiii of iff^roduction are reseited.)
 
 PR 
 47:^9 
 
 To CYRIL and WILLIE. 
 
 The father^ s craft 1 knoiu iioi as I ivoiild : — 
 If childhood we must keep true tnen to be, 
 So more of sonship must our Father see 
 
 III those 7vlw share with Him in fatherJiooa. 
 
 My boys, you have one Father Who is gooa, 
 Who loves His children unforsakingly ; 
 Your home His Bosom is, your one roof tree 
 
 The God-revealing, Christ-uplifting Rood. 
 Poor verses are the best that I can make. 
 
 To higher thoughts I can but point the way. 
 And yet, perchance, just for a father's sake. 
 
 Your love may prize them on a coming day. 
 This hope, my sons, your father s heart inspires 
 That brighter tar than his may burn your altar-Jires. 
 
 Wharfeuale, August 1881. 
 
 1G48582
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In deference to the wishes of a few of 
 my friends— with great hesitation and no h'ttle 
 misgiving — I have gathered together the follow- 
 ing poems. They deal for the most part with very 
 sacred and serious subjects upon which I have 
 felt — I do not venture to say tJiougJit — deeply. 
 The large majority have already appeared in 
 various Reviews and Magazines. I should cer- 
 tainly not have sought for them a wider circula- 
 tion, or entertained the idea that they possess 
 any merit which renders them worthy of it, but 
 for the encouragement of those to whom I 
 should find it hard to refuse anything. 
 
 Such as they are, I offer them as a Christ- 
 mas gift, first to my children, and then to my 
 people of S. Barnabas' and my other friends. 
 Should they reach a larger circle, it will be to 
 me at once a surprise and a satisfaction. 
 
 Advent, i88i.
 
 C ON TEXTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Vision op^ the Eucharist i 
 
 The Eucharist a Discovery of God . . . S 
 
 The Institution of the Eucharist . . . . 15 
 
 The Eucharistic Sacrifice iS 
 
 EucHARisTic Adoration . . , . . . 22 
 
 Before Communion 25 
 
 At Communion 28 
 
 After Communion 30 
 
 The Epiphany Eucharist 33 
 
 The Eucharistic Annunciation . . . .36 
 
 Baptism 38 
 
 Confirmation 41 
 
 Penance 43 
 
 Orders 46 
 
 Marriage 50 
 
 Unction of the Sick 53 
 
 Christmas Eve 55 
 
 Easter Eve 5S 
 
 From Christmas to Easter 61 
 
 a
 
 X C ON 'J E NTS. 
 
 PAOE. 
 
 I'tNTECOST 71 
 
 Thk Conversion of S. Paul 74 
 
 The Invention of the Cross 77 
 
 A Modern Pilgrimage 79 
 
 A Great Question 91 
 
 The Vision of the Seven Seals . . • . 93 
 
 The City of our Solemnities 97 
 
 Song for a Baptismal Birthday .... 102 
 
 A May-day Song 104 
 
 The Worship of Beauty loS 
 
 Day-Dreams no 
 
 A Lover's Song 112 
 
 A Wedding-gift 114 
 
 To MY Sister 116 
 
 To my Brother uo 
 
 Sleep and Death 124 
 
 The Grace of Tears 126 
 
 Saint Veronica 12S 
 
 The Golden Stair ijo 
 
 The Rhine at Cologne 1 52 
 
 Ober Ammergau, 1871 135 
 
 Oder Ammergau, 1S80 13S 
 
 Alexandria 141 
 
 Hethlehem 144 
 
 Calvary 14S 
 
 Prayer . . . ' 151
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Litany of Obsecration 154 
 
 A Good Friday Meditation . . . • ^17 
 
 A Thanksgiving 161 
 
 The Throne of Solomon ...... 165 
 
 DiSCIPLESHIP . 166 
 
 Priesthood 167 
 
 •Vita Vit.-e Xostr.-e 16S 
 
 The Tears of Jesus 169 
 
 The Wounds of Jesus .170 
 
 The Smilp:s of Jesus 171 
 
 The Hospitality of Jesus 172 
 
 A Dedication 173 
 
 A Book of Half-.S<innf.ts . . . ■ . . . 175 
 
 NoiE^ . . . . . . . , . ,101
 
 POEMS. 
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 ' Out of Sion hath God appeared in perfect Beauty. ' 
 
 Before Thine altars, dearest Lord, 
 
 With prostrate hearts we fall, 
 We hail Thee there enthroned, adored, 
 
 Our Jesus and our All ! 
 The soldiers of the Cross enlist 
 As champions of the Eucharist. 
 
 t 
 
 There angel-voices ever sing 
 
 The song for ever new ; 
 There Christian hearts their tribute bring 
 
 Of praise and homage too ; 
 And there in prayer the faithful dead 
 Are lovingly remembered.
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 There dawns the smile that baffles grief, 
 
 That vanquishes despair ; 
 And penitents obtain relief, 
 
 And mourners comfort, there ; 
 Whose eyes discern, as clears the mist, 
 The Jesus of the Eucharist. 
 
 And children to the altar bring 
 Their gift, they take their part ; 
 
 Methinks no sweeter offering 
 Makes glad the Sacred Heart ; 
 
 Thus all extol with one consent 
 
 That venerable Sacrament 
 
 Enkindled by the Holy Ghost 
 
 The Pentecostal Fires 
 Are burning still ; how vast the host, 
 
 How many-voiced the quires 
 Of Saints whose ceaseless prayers assist 
 The worship of the Eucharist ! 
 
 Can things below meet things above-* 
 
 Has earth so great a bliss ? 
 Yes ! in the Sacrament of love 
 
 They meet and clasp and kiss ; 
 Where righteousness and peace embrace, 
 There Jesus finds a resting place.
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 He comes to cleanse and heal and bless, 
 
 He comes to set us free ; 
 We are no longer comfortless, 
 
 No longer orphans we ; 
 He comes, His promise never fails, 
 His word is mighty, and prevails. 
 
 So by His Spirit's gracious aid, 
 
 And all-creating breath. 
 The wondrous Sacrament is made 
 
 That shows a Saviour's Death ; 
 And makes His Life their life who pray 
 Before His altars day by day. 
 
 He spreads the Board, He makes the Feast, 
 
 To Him our hearts we lift. 
 At once the Victim and the Priest, 
 
 The Giver and the Gift ; 
 He veils His Majesty, that we 
 His brothers and His friends may be. 
 
 Our altar-veils enfold Him how, 
 
 As erst the swathing-bands. 
 And there are thorn-prints on His Brow, 
 
 And nail-prints in His Hands. 
 That Face, those Hands, our lips have kissed 
 How often in the Eucharist ! 
 
 B 2
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 Yes ! there He ever comes to be 
 
 Our treasure and delight, 
 This is the priceless legacy, 
 
 I'his is the peerless rite, 
 The Gift all other gifts above. 
 The last invention of His Love. 
 
 'Tis thus He woos us ; He would thaw 
 
 The hearts made hard by sin. 
 Thus lifted up, He seeks to draw 
 
 All men, their love to win ; 
 That sweet constraint their hearts resist 
 Who disesteem the Eucharist. 
 
 Beneath the veils enable them, 
 
 Dear Lord, to find out Thee, 
 The Infant-God of Bethlehem, 
 
 The Lord of Calvary, 
 Who lovest still with men to dwell, 
 Whose Name is still Emmanuel. 
 
 The Word made Flesh ! — this Rock indeed 
 
 The Church is built upon ; 
 Her dauntless Faith, her deathless Creed, 
 
 The Dogma of Saint John,* 
 God's Eagle, Christ's Evangelist, 
 Apostle of the Eucharist. 
 * See Note A.
 
 Tim VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 The Church of Christ renews her youth, 
 Her triumphs who may tell ? 
 
 The treasure-house of grace, of truth 
 The rock-built citadel 
 
 Alas ! that men should still repeat 
 * How gives this Man His Flesh to eat ? ' 
 
 Yet oftentimes their hearts are true 
 
 Whose lips the Faith deny, 
 A present Christ they worship too, 
 
 And are engraced thereby. 
 Yes ! loving hearts have seldom missed 
 The meaning of the Eucharist. 
 
 Of Jesu's life in Mary's womb 
 
 How wondrous the repose ! 
 How hushed a shrine her bosom whom 
 
 For Spouse the Spirit chose ! 
 A stillness no less eloquent 
 Encompasses the Sacrament. 
 
 The still small voice declares His will ; 
 
 His kingdom now as then 
 Comes not with observation ; still 
 
 He rules the hearts of men, 
 Who kneel enraptured as they list 
 The silence of the Eucharist,
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 For oh, the world no music has 
 
 That may compare with this 1 
 Men close their ears to it, alas, 
 
 They know not of our bliss ! 
 What hopes, what memories enhance 
 Our Eucharistic jubilance ! 
 
 Tis this that beautifies the past, 
 
 That makes the future fair ; 
 The Vision we shall see at last 
 
 That crowns the golden stair, 
 By which we climb the Throne of God, — 
 The path the nail-pierced Feet have trod. 
 
 Thus Saints have learnt the arms to wield 
 
 That have the world subdued ; 
 Upon the Church's battle-field 
 
 How great their fortitude ! 
 The Cross uplifting high, they win 
 The frontier-fortresses of sin ; 
 
 Then storm the heights ; and though the strife 
 
 Be desperate and long, 
 Dear Lord, Thou art the Bread of Life, 
 
 \Vho feed on Thee are strong ; 
 Of mighty men the ranks consist 
 That muster round the Eucharist
 
 THE VISION OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 The Incarnation is the Tree 
 That bears such precious fruit ; 
 
 Regenerate humanity 
 Strikes so secure a root 
 
 In Jesu's Manhood ; fairest flowers 
 
 Attest its fertilizing powers. 
 
 And so before Thine altars, Lord, 
 With prostrate hearts we fall, 
 
 We hail Thee there enthroned, adored, 
 Our Jesus and our All ! 
 
 For ever be the doubts dismissed 
 
 That would dethrone the Eucharist !
 
 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF 
 
 GOD. 
 
 ' .Mine eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a litili 
 of tiiis honey.' 
 
 OxK thing above all others, Lord, 
 
 Discovers what Thou art, 
 To men and angels laying bare 
 
 The secrets of Thy Heart ; 
 Thine all-revealing Eucharist, 
 
 So simple, so august, 
 Bears witness — man is justified 
 
 Made one with the All-Just. 
 
 Thine all-embracing Eucharist 
 
 Is eloquent to tell 
 That Thou art Love, and, lover-like, 
 
 Thou doest all things well ; 
 Thine all-sustaining Eucharist 
 
 Thy Motherhood declares,* 
 And ])reaches Thy Di\inity, 
 
 And prompts Thy Church's prayers. 
 * See Note B.
 
 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF GOD. 9 
 
 It fills the Saints with ecstasy 
 
 Who worship Thee above ; 
 It kindles in the hearts of men 
 
 And feeds the flame of love ; 
 To mourners it is solace true, 
 
 To penitents relief ; 
 It sweetens every human joy, 
 
 It softens every grief. 
 
 Not only tutelage in death, 
 
 Deliverance from sin, 
 The bloodless Sacrifice avails 
 
 Repose and peace to win 
 For souls departed ; Death has lost 
 
 Its terror and its sting, 
 Since every Eucharist proclaims 
 
 Death's Conqueror our King. 
 
 They know the Unity of God 
 
 In whose awakened ear 
 The still small Eucharistic voice 
 
 Makes music ; for they hear 
 His witness Who from Both proceeds- 
 
 The Father and the Son, 
 And Him to know is to discern 
 
 That Both in Him are One.
 
 10 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF COD. 
 
 Internal to this Unity 
 
 Each with Each Other deals, 
 This life of fellowship divine 
 
 The Eucharist reveals ; 
 Thou mak'st oblation of Thyself, 
 
 O Son, unto Thy Sire, 
 Eternally Thy Heart enshrines 
 
 The Pentecostal Fire. 
 
 They know the central Verity, 
 
 Before whose lifted eyes 
 The Eucharistic vision dawns — 
 
 Banquet and Sacrifice ; 
 ' The Word made Flesh,' and ' God with us. 
 
 Ah ! this is understood 
 By all who faithfully discern 
 
 Thy Body and Thy Blood. 
 
 They know Thy Father's fatherhood 
 
 Who at Thine altars pray, 
 His the self-sacrificing love 
 
 That gives Thee day by day 
 To be His children's portion ; Thine 
 
 The joy, each day renewed, 
 Of giving, just as mothers give. 
 
 Thy little ones their food.
 
 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF GOD. ii 
 
 'Tis food convenient, mother's milk 
 
 For babes — for souls mature 
 The bread and wine that furnish strength 
 
 All crosses to endure ; 
 'Tis God's own food in sacrifice ; 
 
 And man's true life demands _ 
 No other food, no poorer food, 
 
 From Thy maternal hands. 
 
 They know the meaning of Thy Cross 
 
 WTio at Thine altars kneel. 
 To those who know not, Lord, do Thou 
 
 That mystery reveal ; 
 Thy Eucharist is eloquent 
 
 Its virtue to declare, 
 The fruitfulness of sacrifice, 
 
 The potency of prayer. 
 
 Where'er Thy priests their feet have set, 
 
 Where'er Thy Name is known, 
 'Neath veils Thy Wisdom hath devise 
 
 Thy Death is duly shown ; 
 Thy sinless Manhood pleads for man 
 
 Before God's Throne on high ; 
 No vain appeal — Thy children live 
 
 Since Thou hast deigned to die.
 
 12 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF COD. 
 
 They know the Resurrection-life 
 
 Who at Thine altars fall, 
 There make they the discovery 
 
 That death gives life to all ; 
 There learn they with a deepening love 
 
 The meaning of Thy Name, 
 For ever uttered by the tongues 
 
 Of Pentecostal Flame. 
 
 The Eucharist is eloquent 
 
 Thy Manhood to declare, 
 Divinely human is the life 
 
 Thou manifestest there ; 
 That to obey is liberty 
 
 A saving truth men find, 
 Since Thine obedience. Son of Man, 
 
 Emancipates mankind. 
 
 This to Thine altar-life belongs. 
 
 To every life of T"hinc ; 
 This is the truly human life. 
 
 Because the life divine ; 
 Thy venerable Eucharist 
 
 Proclaims it far and wide, 
 Of God and man the sacrifice, 
 
 Of Bridegroom and of Bride.
 
 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF GOD. 13 
 
 Dear Lord, by all the travail-pains 
 
 Thou on the Cross didst bear, 
 And by Thy Church's dauntless faith, 
 
 And Thy prevailing prayer, 
 And by Thy Spirit's energy, 
 
 And those dear words of Thine 
 Which make Thy Body of the bread, 
 
 Thy Life-blood of the wine : 
 
 To me, to all, Most Merciful, 
 
 A steadfast faith impart, 
 And childlike singleness of mind, 
 
 And loyalty of heart ; 
 Oh may we never doubt those words. 
 
 Of children understood. 
 Or deem that Thou art impotent 
 
 To make Thy promise good ! 
 
 For Thou art God, the Truth itself, 
 
 Thy hardest words are true, 
 Thine Arm is mighty to perform 
 
 What Thou art pledged to do ; 
 Behold the Lamb of God ! behold 
 
 The Sacrifice for sin ! 
 Thus worshippers without the veil 
 
 Unite with those within.
 
 !4 THE EUCHARIST A DISCOVERY OF GOD. 
 
 The love Thy Eucharist enshrines 
 
 Unceasingly renews 
 Its sweet appeal, though human hearts 
 
 Its overtures refuse ; 
 To those who doubt Thee, Lord, and fail 
 
 Thy presence to discern. 
 Reveal Thyself, till rebels yield, 
 
 And wanderers return. 
 
 Thine everlasting Eucharist, 
 
 ' So awful and so sweet ' — 
 This is the bond uniting all 
 
 Who gather round Thy Feet ; 
 This is the grand Epiphany 
 
 Of Thy Parental Heart ; 
 Thus, prostrate at Thine altar, we 
 
 Discover what Thou art. 
 
 PONTKESINA, AugUSt, iSSo.
 
 THE INSTITUTION OF THE 
 EUCHARIST 
 
 ' Prayer shall be made ever unto Him, and daily shall He 
 be praised ; there shall be an heap of Com in the earth, high 
 upon the hills.' * 
 
 O FOR a tongue made musical 
 
 His Goodness to declare, 
 Whose is the feast we celebrate, 
 
 Whose is the food we share ! 
 The soul enamoured and entranced 
 
 Falls prostrate at His Feet, 
 Whose work of Sacrifice endures 
 
 Because it is complete. 
 
 • I will not leave you comfortless ' — 
 That was His promise true, 
 Preluding this — ' I do the thing 
 My Father bids me do ; ' 
 
 * See Note C.
 
 i6 THE rN5;TlTUTI0N OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 Forthwith upon the bread and wine 
 His priestly Hands He laid, 
 
 And with divine, creative words 
 The Pure Oblation made. 
 
 Communion follows ; and the while 
 
 Their hearts within them burn, 
 He bids His children do the same 
 
 Awaiting His return. 
 Then speaks He of a finished work ; * 
 
 That work abideth still — 
 The world-redeeming Sacrifice 
 
 Of His surrendered willf 
 
 Rejoice we in this work complete ; 
 
 All that was lost is found, 
 We live beneath the smile of God, 
 
 We tread on holy ground ; 
 The earth His Mercy has redeemed 
 
 Is Paradise restored ; 
 Oh be His Clemency confessed, 
 
 His Majesty adored ! 
 
 * S. John xvii. 4. 
 
 f 'Noil mors scd volur.tas placuit sponte morientis.' S. 
 Hernard.
 
 THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST. 17 
 
 All sacramental ministries 
 
 Bring comfort to the soul, 
 The leper is made clean thereby, 
 
 The sick man is made whole ; 
 The Eucharist surpasses all, — 
 
 Life's ever-fruitful Tree, — 
 The glory of Christ's presence makes 
 
 Its dear supremacy. 
 
 Upon the holy mountain stands 
 
 The City where we dwell, 
 Raised high above the shifting sands, 
 
 A rock- built citadel. 
 Long since the Psalmist-seer foretold 
 
 That high upon the hills 
 God's Corn should grow, and now, behold, 
 
 His promise He fulfils ! 
 
 FfTLOCHRlE, September, 1S77.
 
 i8 
 
 THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. 
 
 ' In every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and 
 a Pure Offering.' 
 
 God's all-sufficing Fatherhood 
 
 The Sacraments proclaim, 
 Thus His dear Will is done on earih. 
 
 And hallowed is His Name ; 
 The Eucharist is eloquent 
 
 Our sonship to declare, 
 The children's worship it enshrines, 
 
 The children's daily prayer. 
 
 Deep-struck, far-spreading are its roots ; 
 Beyond creation's bound. 
 
 In God Himself, the living God, 
 
 Must they be sought and found ; 
 The eternal Altar is the Heart 
 
 Of God the Three in One, 
 And They who minister thereat 
 
 The "Father, Spirit, Son.
 
 THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. 19 
 
 Love seeks its joy in sacrifice, 
 
 It yields itself, and finds 
 Its being in another's life ; 
 
 It blesses whom it binds. 
 "Tis thus the Father loves the Son, 
 
 Thus loves the Son His Sire ; 
 And from Them Both the Spirit flows, 
 
 Love's all-consuming Fire. 
 
 The Eucharistic Sacrifice 
 
 Unveils the life Divine, 
 The glory of the Face of God 
 
 It makes around us shine ; 
 It lifts us to that blessed Home 
 
 Where love and peace abide, 
 To Jesu's Bosom it translates 
 
 The children of His Bride. 
 
 They see fulfilled what Jacob saw, — 
 
 Though planted on the earth 
 God's Ladder reaches to the world 
 
 Where angels have their birth. 
 For them what Moses saw in type 
 
 Hath its fulfilment found, 
 God's Burning Bush is unconsumed, 
 
 Rooted in holy ground, 
 c 2
 
 20 THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. 
 
 Theirs is the Whole Burnt Offering 
 
 Which God to man hath given, 
 And thus is intercourse maintained 
 
 'Twixt earth and highest heaven j 
 Theirs is the Prophecy whose voice 
 
 Grows year by year more sweet, — 
 He comes again, His Bride to crown, 
 
 His triumph to complete. 
 
 Till then 'neath sacramental signs 
 
 A hidden life He lives, 
 And lover-like solicits them, 
 
 And father-like forgives ; 
 Thus wooed and pardoned and engraced 
 
 His cliildren see in part 
 The beauty of His Face, they hear 
 
 The beatings of His Heart, 
 
 This Tabernacle for the Sun 
 
 The Hand of God hath made. 
 And set a Rainbow round about 
 
 Which nevermore shall fade. 
 The Eucharist declares His Mind, 
 
 Makes audible His Voice, 
 To sinful souls it says ' Repent,' 
 
 To contrite souls ' Rejoice.'
 
 THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. 21 
 
 The Penance of Gethsemane 
 
 Is efificacious still, 
 That Agony prepares the soul 
 
 To climb the altar-hill ; 
 The Cross is still the Tree of Life, 
 
 Its virtue is not spent, 
 For all the world its fruits are stored 
 
 In this dear Sacrament. 
 
 O Love divine, adorable ! 
 
 All precious things combine, 
 In one vast Bounty gathered up 
 
 'Neath veils of bread and wine. 
 God's all-sufficing Fatherhood 
 
 His children thus proclaim. 
 And thus His Will is done on earth. 
 
 And hallowed is His Name. 
 
 St. Ulrich, Tyrol, July, 1876.
 
 22 
 
 EUCHARISTIC ADORATION. 
 
 ' Then went up .Moses, and iVaron, Nadab and Abihu, ana 
 seventy of the Elders of Israel ; and they saw the God of 
 Israel : and there was under His Feet as it were a paved work 
 of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his 
 clearness. And upon the Nobles of the children of Israel IK- 
 laid not His Hand : also they saw God, and did eat and drink.' 
 
 ' We all, with of>en face beholding as in a glass the glory of 
 the Lord, arc changed into the same image from glory to glory, 
 even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' 
 
 The Everlasting Doors lift up, 
 
 And Jesus is revealed, 
 To loving hearts most manifest 
 
 Where most He is concealed ; 
 This is the Paradise of God, 
 
 And here in glory stands 
 The Victim-Lamb, the Eternal Priest, 
 
 With censer-laden Hands. 
 
 The Princes of the Church of God 
 
 His Altar-throne surround, 
 As priests arrayed in robes of white, 
 
 As kings enthroned and crowned ;
 
 EUCHARISTIC ADORATION. 
 
 The Living Creatures in the midst 
 Their wondrous chant upraise, 
 
 With them we too must celebrate 
 The sacrifice of praise. 
 
 The Eucharist bears witness true 
 
 To our celestial birth, 
 We know, if heaven be His throne, 
 
 God's footstool is the earth ; 
 The children of a Royal House — 
 
 We too must bear our part, 
 One common rapture of delight 
 
 Entrances every heart. 
 
 God's Rainbow girdles us, we kneel 
 
 O'ershadowed by the Tree 
 That yields such wondrous fruit, — beneath 
 
 Sparkles the crystal Sea ; 
 By its clear radiancy ensphered 
 
 We see the sapphire stone 
 Flash back the golden light that streams 
 
 From the eternal Throne. 
 
 Though high and lifted up that Throne, 
 
 Thereto His Mercy brings 
 His little children as they pray, 
 
 Anointed priests and kings.
 
 24 EUCHARISTJC ADORATIOX. 
 
 So feast we at His Royal Board, 
 So gaze we on His Face, 
 
 By His Beatitude made blithe, 
 Made gracious by His Grace. 
 
 His Purity must make us pure, 
 
 His Wisdom make us wise, 
 \N'hose Glory, seen but once of yore, 
 
 Now lives before our eyes ; 
 Our lips must learn His words to say, 
 
 Our hands His works to do, 
 So on our resurrection-day 
 
 Shall we be perfect too. 
 
 Braemar, Nativity of B. V, M., 1S77.
 
 BEFORE COMMUNION. 
 
 •' ' I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and so will I 
 go (o Thine Altar.' 
 
 Jesu, lest we quail and falter 
 As we mount the chancel-stair, 
 
 Fearing lest our hearts should palter. 
 Self-deceivers e'en in prayer, 
 
 Teach us ere we seek Thine altar 
 How to hail Thy presence there. 
 
 We are destitute, Thou knowest. 
 
 Helplessness is all our plea ; 
 To the altar straight Thou goest. 
 
 And Thy Smile says ' Comfort ye ; ' 
 Thus the homeward path Thou showest, 
 
 Thither, Lord, we follow Thee. 
 
 Thine the gracious invitation, 
 Thine the Hand stretched out to bless. 
 
 Only Source of consolation. 
 Only Fount of righteousness. 
 
 Come we in our degradation 
 To Thy footstool for redress.
 
 26 BEFORE COMMUNION. 
 
 Thine the word creative spoken 
 By Thy servant in Thy stead, 
 
 Thine the Body bruised and broken, 
 Thine the Blood so freely shed, 
 
 Of redeeming Love the token, 
 Now for us distributed. 
 
 As the woman's plague found healing 
 When she laid her hand on Thee, 
 
 Oh, when at Tliine altar kneeling, 
 Touch us sacramentally ! 
 
 As of old, Thy love revealing, 
 Let us there Thy power see. 
 
 God Thou art, we would adore Thee, 
 Man Thou art, we need not fear ; 
 
 God made Man, we bow before Thee, 
 Word made Flesh, we Thee revere ; 
 
 By Thy promise we adjure Thee, 
 Saviour, may we find Thee here ! 
 
 Oh, we know still unforsaken 
 
 Ls Thy Church, Thy i)roinise sure. 
 
 Still abides the Rock unshaken 
 Which she rests upon secure, 
 
 And till all the dead awaken 
 Shall Thy Eucharist endure I
 
 BEFORE COMMUNIOl/. 27 
 
 Thus the Church with exultation, 
 
 Till her Lord return again, 
 Shows His Death ; His mediation 
 
 Validates her worship then, 
 Pleading the divine Oblation 
 
 Offered on the Cross for men. 
 
 Lamb of God, the world's transgression 
 
 Thou alone canst take away, 
 Hear, oh hear our heart's confession. 
 
 And Thy pardoning grace convey ! 
 Thine availing Intercession 
 
 We but echo when we pray. 
 
 Now, dear Lord, Thy grace imploring. 
 We would climb Thine altar-stair, 
 
 At Thy Feet would fall adoring, 
 For Thyself our souls prepare ; 
 
 Life-imparting, health-restoring. 
 May we find Thy presence there !
 
 28 
 
 AT COMMUNION. 
 
 ' The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest 
 them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine Hand, and 
 fdlcst all things living with plenteousness.' 
 
 Life of my life, Lord Jesu Christ, 
 
 Beneath Thy Royal Feet 
 I lay my heart ; Thy love alone 
 
 Can make the bitter sweet ; 
 Thy love that makes tlic darkness light, 
 
 That makes the water wine, 
 Can feed, invigorate, enlarge, 
 
 This straitened heart of mine. 
 
 Thou fillest all the things that live 
 
 From 'I'hine exhaustless store ; 
 That Bread alone can satisfy 
 
 Which makes us hunger more ; — 
 Each bounty is a prophecy; 
 
 To-day's dear gift bestows 
 A pledge that Thou wilt meet the need 
 
 To-morrow shall disclose.
 
 AT COMMUNION. 29 
 
 The sacramental manna falls 
 
 With each returning morn, 
 When from the womb of sleep Thy Hand 
 
 Uplifts the soul re-born ; 
 And new discoveries reward 
 
 The seeker's blissful pain, 
 So let me seek, and seeking find, 
 
 And finding seek again. 
 
 All that I need, who am so poor — 
 
 All that my life demands — 
 Thou hast ; I lift my waiting eyes 
 
 To Thy dispensing Hands ; 
 My lips still hunger for Thy kiss. 
 
 Touched by Thy coal of fire ; * 
 A satisfaction ever new 
 
 Crowns every new desire. 
 
 Lord Christ ! at length my spirit wakes, 
 
 A child to Thee I come. 
 Thy sacramental presence makes 
 
 The happiness of home 3 
 In Thy dear Eucharist revealed 
 
 All-human, all-divine, 
 To Thine embracing love I yield 
 
 This beating heart of mine. 
 
 Nebvi, February 1878. 
 
 * See Note D.
 
 30 
 
 AFTER COMMUNION. 
 
 ' I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine.' ' He brought 
 me to the Banqueting House, and His Banner over me was 
 Love. ' 
 
 Once more, dear Master, we have traced 
 
 Thy Eucharistic Life, 
 Embracing Thee, by Thee embraced, 
 
 We need not fear the strife ; 
 The foes who would with us contend 
 
 Must now contend with Thee, 
 Who evermore dost condescend 
 
 Thus with Thine own to be. 
 
 With us ! in us !— O loving Lord ! 
 
 Of Hiine endearing ways 
 How dare we speak? our hearts record 
 
 Their best of love and praise. 
 Though many doubt, deny, condenm, 
 
 Tliy worshippers are we ; 
 Each altar is a Bethlehem, 
 
 And each a Calvary.
 
 AFTER COMMUNrON. 3 
 
 And each is Patmos ; we descry 
 
 That great Door opened wide 
 Through which outstreams the Hght whereb)- 
 
 The world is glorified. 
 To Thee our prostrate hearts present 
 
 The homage of their mirth, 
 The sunshine of Whose Sacrament 
 
 Illuminates the earth. 
 
 Lord, make us true to Thee, we pray, 
 
 In thought, and word, and deed, 
 Thy Lips that never can betray. 
 
 That never can mislead. 
 Have taught us what, whoe'er assails, 
 
 We never can unlearn — 
 Beneath the sacramental veils 
 
 Thy presence we discern. 
 
 We feel the beatings of Thy Heart, 
 
 We count Thy sorrows o'er, 
 AVhose dying is our life. Who art 
 
 Alive for evermore ; 
 Thou livest still to intercede, 
 
 A Victim and a Priest, 
 Thou spreadest still, our souls to feed. 
 
 The Eucharistic Feast.
 
 32 AFTER COMMUNION. 
 
 I'hus for the children of Thy Church 
 
 Salvation's cup is full, 
 Her treasures, when they try to search, 
 
 They find unsearchable ; 
 Thee, cradled once on Mary's breast, 
 
 Their grateful hearts enshrine, 
 Possessing Thee, by Thee possest. 
 
 They taste a joy divine.
 
 THE EPIPHANY EUCHARIST. 
 
 A CAROL. 
 Lei the children of Sion be joyful in their King.' 
 
 Brightly burn the tapers all, 
 Fragrantly the censer swings, 
 
 Angels to each other call, 
 
 Each a pure oblation brings ; 
 
 Children at the footstool fall 
 Of the King of Kings. 
 
 Brothers, sisters, bend the knee, 
 Lift the heart and bow the head ; 
 
 By this grand Nativity 
 Satan is discomfited ; 
 
 Lovely should the laughter be 
 In the ' House of Bread.' 
 
 See the Babe outsmiling still, 
 
 Robed in beauty, glorified, 
 On the sacramental hill 
 
 Where He loveth to abide,* 
 His dear promise to fulfil 
 
 To His chosen Bride. 
 
 * Psalm Ixviii. i6. 
 D
 
 34 
 
 THE EPIPHANY EUCHARIST. 
 
 Here the glories are revealed 
 Which of right to her belong : 
 
 Hark ! her lips already yield 
 Preludes of the triumph-song : 
 
 For that promise unrepealed 
 Makes her glad and strong. 
 
 Learn, my soul, that song to sing ; 
 
 For God's mercies manifold 
 Make a costly offering. 
 
 Myrrh and frankincense and gold- 
 Soul and body— everything ! 
 
 Filial love is bold. 
 
 Bethlehem is everywhere, 
 
 Evermore the ' House of Bread ; ' 
 Still the star shines bright and fair 
 
 Which the Royal Pilgrims led 
 To the stable mean and bare, 
 
 To the manger-bed. 
 
 Mean no more, but glory-crowned, 
 Is our Bethlehem to-day ; 
 
 Thus, while angels gather round. 
 Penitents may kneel and say — 
 ' We were lost, and we are found. 
 Therefore are we gay.'
 
 THE EPIPHANY EUCHARIST. 35 
 
 Brightly burn the tapers all, 
 Fragrantly the censer swings, 
 
 Angels to each other call, 
 Each a pure oblation brings. 
 
 Keep, my soul, the festival 
 Of the King of Kings. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 
 
 THE EUCHARISTIC ANNUNCIATION. 
 
 'Tis silence on God's holy hill, 
 The place of sacrifice is still 
 
 The place where souls are fed ; 
 And oh, the banqueters are blest, 
 In Him of all things repossest, 
 
 Who is the Living Bread ! 
 
 Of intercourse so high and sweet, 
 When God and man as lovers meet, 
 
 An Angel's tongue must tell,— 
 The messenger to Mary sent. 
 The guardian of Christ's Sacrament, 
 
 The herald Gabriel. 
 
 ' The Lord is with thee ; ' — still the same, 
 He speaks to each in Jesu's Name, 
 
 The soul-entrancing word ; 
 Its sense the Spirit must unfold. 
 Then comes a soft reply — ' Behold 
 
 The handmaid of the Lord.'
 
 THE EUCHARISTIC ANNUNCIATION. 37 
 
 This is the Mystery renewed 
 Whene'er men share the Angels' Food, 
 
 And learn their song to sing ; 
 The altar still is Mary's cell, 
 Before it stands Saint Gabriel, 
 
 The herald of our King. 
 
 Thus God deviseth means whereby, 
 
 His banished ones may be brought nigh,* 
 
 From slavery released ; 
 Christ's sacramental advent still 
 Love's mighty purpose doth fulfil, 
 
 His presence makes the Feast. 
 
 God's Church is Nazareth alway. 
 Where souls with Mary watch and pray. 
 
 And love and peace abide ; 
 Where Jesus dwells, and angels come, 
 And all the blameless joys of home 
 
 Are sweetly sanctified. 
 
 Heidelberg, Feast of the Holy Name, 1S76. 
 * 2 Samuel xiv. 14,
 
 38 
 
 BAPTISM, 
 
 * He bloweth with His Wind, and the waters flow.' 
 ' By One Spirit are we all baptized into One Body.' 
 
 Creation is a sacrament ; 
 
 All forms of beauty tell 
 Some thought that in the Mind of God 
 
 Is most adorable ; 
 To all who have a loving heart, 
 
 And a discerning eye, 
 He stands behind His handiwork, 
 
 And is revealed thereby. 
 
 He bloweth with His Wind, and fast 
 
 The cleansing waters flow, 
 Their sacrainental energy 
 
 The Church's children know ; 
 They speak of Resurrection-life 
 
 Encompassing the earth, 
 And death thereby is shown to be 
 
 God's mystery of birth.
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 The world, once buried 'neath the waves 
 
 Of its baptismal flood, 
 Is now by living water saved. 
 
 The water mixed with blood ; 
 The smitten Rock of Calvary — 
 
 This is its fountain-head ; 
 Thus death gives birth to life, the Cross 
 
 Becomes a marriage-bed. 
 
 The Virgin-Spouse of Christ conceives, 
 
 O'ershadowed by the Dove ; 
 Her babes His blood-bought children are, 
 
 Begotten from above ; 
 Behold the Bridegroom and the Bride ! 
 
 They twain one flesh are made. 
 The offspring of her virgin-womb 
 
 Are in His Bosom laid 
 
 With sacramental characters 
 
 Upon their souls impressed, 
 He folds them in His loving Arms, 
 
 Caressing and caressed ; 
 Thus is an ark of refuge found 
 
 Upon the stormy waves, 
 'Tis Jesu's grace that sanctifies, 
 
 'Tis Jesu's love that saves.
 
 40 BAPTISM. 
 
 Such joys sin-stricken souls may taste 
 
 Re-born the Font within ; 
 Enriched, ennobled, and engraced, 
 
 Freed from the yoke of sin ; 
 The Spirit breathes, and fast and far 
 
 The healing waters flow, 
 Baptized souls God's children are 
 
 Whose footsteps homeward go. 
 
 The Rhone Glacikr, August, 1876.
 
 41 
 
 CONFIRM A TION. 
 
 ' Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath 
 anointed us, is God ; Who hath also sealed us, and given the 
 earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.' 
 
 The womb of waters sanctified 
 
 Is left behind, the child 
 Has entered on the path of life 
 
 Engraced and undefiled ; 
 But not alone, — the voice of God 
 
 Within the soul is heard, 
 The Christ- child yields obedience sweet 
 
 To His creative word. 
 
 For Christ is wrapped in swaddling clothes 
 
 In souls re-born ; their birth 
 The mystery of Bethlehem 
 
 Perpetuates on earth ; * 
 In them He lives, in them He grows, 
 
 And growth and life imply 
 The Spirit's energy within, 
 
 His unction from on high. 
 
 * ' Originem quam sumpsit in utero Virginis posuit in fonte 
 baptismatis : dedit aquae quod dedit matri.' — S. Leo.
 
 42 CONFIRM A TION. 
 
 His Confirmation brings increase 
 
 Of sacramental grace, 
 Equips Christ's soldier for the fight, 
 
 His athlete for the race ; 
 Enlarges the baptismal life — 
 
 That life divinely strong, 
 In which the Virtues have their roots, 
 
 To which the Gifts belong. 
 
 Whom God confirms He consecrates ; 
 
 This Sacrament reveals 
 Their priestly character whose souls 
 
 Th' anointing Spirit seals ; 
 O priesthood of baptized men, 
 
 Sweet mystery of grace ! 
 Thus all to service are ordained 
 
 By Christ's renewed embrace. 
 
 For service out of sonship springs, 
 
 Obedience out of love ; 
 The child, o'ershadowed by the wings 
 
 Of the Eternal Dove, 
 The wisdom that has made him wise 
 
 To brothers must imjjart. 
 And to his Father sacrifice 
 
 A dedicated heart.
 
 43 
 
 PENANCE. 
 
 ' The Purification of the Sanctuary.' 
 ' The Ministry of Reconciliation.' 
 
 How lovely are the nail-pierced Feet ! 
 
 How hot the penance-tear ! 
 'Tis thine, O Sacrament most sweet, 
 
 O Discipline most dear, 
 To teach us how to kneel beside 
 The Cross, how love the Crucified ! 
 
 'Tis thine to teach us how to hate 
 The sins that made Him die, 
 
 Thus rightly may we estimate 
 Sin's fell malignity ; 
 
 To sin-sick souls in their distress 
 
 He thus reveals His loveliness. 
 
 How little Peter knew his Lord 
 
 Ere penitence began ; 
 Not all untrue the caitiff-word 
 ' I do not know the Man ; '
 
 44 PENANCE. 
 
 Christ smote him with His Eyes, the shock 
 INIelted to tears the man of rock.* 
 
 'Tis still the same ; those Eyes declare 
 
 Uninjurable Love ; 
 The sinner, filled with self-despair. 
 
 Their Tenderness must prove ; 
 So Jesus bade His Church dispense 
 The sacrament of penitence. 
 
 'Tis this that makes a grace of grief 
 
 While it forbids despair, 
 'Tis this that fortifies belief. 
 
 And re-inforces prayer ; 
 ' Blest are the mourners,' Jesus said, 
 Thus are His words interpreted. 
 
 How blest the penitents who feel 
 
 The sacramental touch 
 Of those dear Hands so skilled to heal ! 
 
 They needs must love Him much, 
 Whose Absolution sets them free 
 From sin and shame and slavery. 
 
 * ' The rocks shall melt as wax at Thy Presence.' — Judith 
 xvi. 15.
 
 PENANCE. 45 
 
 ' Thy sins are pardoned, go in peace '— 
 
 So speaks that loving Voice ; 
 And sinless angels do not cease 
 
 With sinners to rejoice ; 
 They know, who worship Him above, 
 Contrition is the child of love. 
 
 The child of love,— the harbinger 
 
 Of joy that never dies ; 
 Methinks when Jesus looked at her 
 
 With those love-laden Eyes, 
 There never was a joy more keen 
 Than that of Mary Magdalene. 
 
 Thine is the work, dear Paraclete, 
 
 All perfect works are Thine ; 
 By this are penitents made meet 
 
 To seek the Gift Divine, 
 The Gift of gifts, the Living Bread, 
 By Jesus still distributed. 
 
 'Tis thine, O Sacrament most sweet, 
 
 O Discipline most dear, 
 To draw us to the Mercy-seat, 
 
 Constrained by love and fear, 
 Where Jesus to all contrite hearts 
 His pardon and His peace imparts.
 
 46 
 
 ORDERS. 
 
 'This Man, because lie continueth ever, haih an un- 
 changeable Priesthood. ' 
 
 ' As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you.' 
 
 To be, dear Lord, a hand of Thine, 
 A heart, — this is their work divine, 
 
 (Be it their daily prayer !) 
 To whom Thine all-constraining Voice 
 Hath spoken, bidding them rejoice 
 
 Thy Priestly Life to share. 
 
 To work for Thee, with Thee, — ah, this 
 Must be their aim, their life, their bliss, 
 
 On whom Thy Hands have laid 
 A blessed and an awful thing, 
 The jewelled stole of suffering 
 
 Wherewith they are arrayed ! * 
 
 * S. Basil derives the use of the stole from the cord placed 
 on the neck of Christ in token of condemnation.
 
 ORDERS. 47 
 
 Yes ! that must be the garb of all 
 Who take, obedient to Thy call, 
 
 The Priesthood's solemn vows ; 
 Enrich them, Lord, with grace divine. 
 Make tongues of flame to burn and shine 
 
 On their anointed brows. 
 
 To shine and burn ! — this task is theirs, 
 By fruitful lives and faithful prayers 
 
 To keep the flame aglow, 
 Enkindled by the Spirit's Breath, 
 Till back from darkness and from death 
 
 God's children homeward go. 
 
 How blest a work ! how great a charge ! 
 'Tis theirs Thy Kingdom to enlarge, 
 
 A Throne for Thee to build ; 
 To tune men's hearts to praise and prayer, 
 Until Thy Will is everywhere 
 
 Triumphantly fulfilled. 
 
 'Tis theirs in Thy dear Name to bless 
 And fertilize earth's wilderness, 
 
 A desert-land no more ; 
 It blooms and blossoms as the rose ; 
 Where'er Thy saving message goes 
 
 Thy heralds go before.
 
 48 ORDERS. 
 
 Like bells upon Thy garment's hem, 
 The tongues that Thou hast given them 
 
 Speak as Thou drawest near ; 
 And sweetly, musically tell 
 Thy presence, though invisible, 
 
 To every listening ear. 
 
 O for an ever-open eye, 
 Quick to discern the mystery. 
 
 And read the lesson right 
 Of Love that stoops to woo and win, 
 Renouncing self, repulsing sin, 
 
 All mercy and all might ! 
 
 for an understanding heart, 
 
 1 o which Thy Spirit can impart 
 
 Those gifts we covet most. 
 Made fuel meet by keen desire 
 To feed tiie Pentecostal Fire 
 
 Lit by the Holy Ghost ' 
 
 Ah, Princely Spirit ! Thine the skill 
 The heart to melt, to brace the will, 
 
 The soul to beautify ! 
 A Christ-like life in all its strength, 
 In all its sweetness, — this at length 
 
 Must win the victory.
 
 OJiDERS. 
 
 Bestow Thy grace, Thy gifts dispense ; 
 Oh, guard the avenues of sense, 
 
 And keep our garments white ; * 
 Enrich our poverty, and make 
 Our weakness strength, for Jesu's sake, 
 
 And all our darkness light ! 
 
 Make brave and tender, pure and true, 
 His priests, their Master's work to do. 
 
 Empowered from above ; 
 And all mankind at length shall see 
 That Priesthood means fraternity. 
 
 Self-sacrifice, and love. 
 
 Athens, June, 1S75. 
 
 * Ecclesiastes ix. 8. 
 
 49
 
 50 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ' This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ 
 and the Church.' 
 
 ' The head of every man is Christ ; and ihc head tjf the 
 woman is the man ; and the head of Christ is God.' 
 
 Sweet is the sound of marriage-bells, 
 
 And blithe the bridal song, 
 And deep the joy of wedded hearts 
 
 Whose love is pure and strong ; 
 Love springing from a common root — 
 
 The love of Him who came 
 To reinstate humanity 
 
 Released from sin and shame. 
 
 Fair shone the sun on Cana's feast, 
 
 The guests were glad and gay, 
 \\'hen Jesus and His Mother came 
 
 One happy wedding-day ; 
 His presence made the festival, 
 
 His Hand dispensed the wine ; 
 And marriage, blest by Him, becomes 
 
 A sacrament divine.
 
 MARRIAGE. 51 
 
 He blesses all, transfigures all : 
 
 Thus womanhood is blest, 
 Anointed for a priestly work, 
 
 No longer dispossest ; 
 Her heart love's tabernacle is. 
 
 Her knees the altar, where 
 The new-born babes of God are taught 
 
 To lisp the children's prayer. 
 
 All lives He lived : the virgin-life 
 
 His Life hath glorified ; 
 Yet, Virgin though He be. He reigns 
 
 The Bridegroom of the Bride. 
 His Natures' holy wedlock speaks 
 
 Of God's eternal plan. 
 Who, stooping o'er His sleeping child, 
 
 Took woman out of man. 
 
 Man slept in ecstasy — he waked. 
 
 And on his opening eyes 
 There dawned a face love-lit, aglow 
 
 With rapturous surprise ; 
 His heart discerned the gift of God, 
 
 His image and his spouse. 
 The crown of perfect womanhood 
 
 All-radiant on her brows. 
 E 2
 
 32 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ' God gives to His Belov'd in sleep.' * 
 
 So sleeping on the Rood 
 (Strange death-sleep, while th' unsleeping heart 
 
 Yields water mixed with blood !) 
 The Second Adam bows His Head, 
 
 And from His opened Side 
 i'he Sacraments are drawn that make 
 
 The Ufe-blood of His Bride. 
 
 Thus vaster grows the mystery. 
 
 More clear the shadows fall ; 
 ]3iscerning eyes detect therein 
 
 (iod's writing on the wall ; 
 And loyal hearts are quick to own 
 
 The presence of their King ; 
 Love-tokens, God's forget-me-nots, 
 
 They find in every thing. 
 
 His Voice makes sweet the marriage-bells. 
 
 Makes blithe the bridal song, 
 And His the joy of wedded hearts 
 
 Whuse love is pure and strong, — 
 T^ove springing from a root divine, 
 
 In His dear Love made fast, 
 Who still turns water into wine, 
 
 And keeps the best till last. 
 
 Cortina, Tvroi., July, 1876. 
 
 * Psalm cxxvii. 3. This is, I believe, the true mcaninj^. 
 The psalm has been attributed to Solomon.
 
 UNCTION. 
 
 *. 
 
 ' There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of 
 the wise.' 
 
 ' The house was filled with the odour of the ointment.' 
 
 ' O GRAVE, where is thy victory ? 
 
 O death, where is thy sting ? ' 
 So round the d>ang child of God 
 
 The blessed angels sing ; 
 The sick-room has its sacrament,* 
 
 The consecrated oil 
 Declares His presence, Who is sent 
 
 The spoiler to despoil. 
 
 For Christ is still the Healer, still 
 
 To touch His garment's hem, 
 With hands outstretched, the sick folk come. 
 
 And He recovers them. 
 Or dying they inherit life ; 
 
 Sweet angel of release — 
 Death puts a limit to their strife, 
 
 And bids their sorrows cease. 
 * See Note E.
 
 54 UNCTION. 
 
 The holy oil prevails to teach 
 
 All souls that will be taught, 
 That life and death are Christ's, and each 
 
 With wondrous blessings fraught 
 ' O Jesu, Thou art strong to save, 
 
 A Conqueror, a King ! ' 
 Thus, round the death-bed and the grave, 
 
 The happy angels sing.
 
 55 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 ' Repent, prepare ' — each Advent morn 
 
 So speaks the Church's voice, 
 'Twill say, when Christmas Day shall dawn 
 
 As urgently ' Rejoice ; ' 
 For still His glory God conceals, 
 
 That we may share his joy. 
 Still Bethlehem's bright star reveals 
 
 The Mother and the Boy. 
 
 And still we make that pilgrimage, 
 
 And on that stable-floor 
 Rejoice with shepherd and with sage 
 
 To kneel and to adore ; 
 And still the Mother's bliss we share 
 
 As every Christmas morn 
 Each altar is the manger where 
 
 The Holy Babe is born.
 
 56 CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 And soon the Babe becomes the Man, 
 
 He suffers and He dies, 
 And still the sinless Life we scan, 
 
 The perfect Sacrifice ; 
 And still our Jesus is the same. 
 
 And still He grows more dear, 
 And still the world-redeeming Name 
 
 Is music to the ear. 
 
 His Voice is in the plaintive wind, 
 
 'Tis in the tuneful sea, 
 Its tones are sweet, its accents kind, 
 
 It whispers ' Come to Me, 
 All ye who suffer, ye who mourn, 
 
 With griefs and toils oppressed, 
 The weak, the weary, the forlorn, 
 
 And I will give you rest ! ' 
 
 Still, wheresoe'er the shadow falls, 
 
 Of some o'erwhelming grief. 
 When sin affrights, and death appals. 
 
 And nothing brings relief, 
 Then think we of the Love revealed 
 
 In Jesu's dying breath. 
 With blood the testament is sealed 
 
 That disinherits death.
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE. 57 
 
 So think we of the Crib, the Cross, 
 
 The Mother, and the Boy ; 
 He makes a gain of every loss, 
 
 Of every grief a joy ; 
 Oh, there's a magic in His Smile, 
 
 A music in His Voice, 
 He comes to reign and reconcile. 
 
 Let all the world rejoice ! 
 
 1S70.
 
 58 
 
 EASTER EVE. 
 
 (In Mcnioriam G.A.G.) 
 
 Wherever Christians lay their dead 
 They build the Holy Sepulchre, 
 They bring the spices and the myrrh. 
 Like her to whom the angel said — 
 
 ' The Lord is risen ; ' then like her 
 They see the great stone rolled away, 
 Their load of grief, and know that they 
 Have found a Strong Deliverer. 
 
 Across death's valley comes that voice, 
 ' The Lord is risen ; ' we can tell, 
 Since Jesus doeth all things well. 
 Why weeping mourners should rejoice. 
 
 Yon sun so bright, when day is done, 
 Is lost in the Atlantic waves ; 
 But earth, which has so many graves. 
 
 Has still a Sunrise and a Sun —
 
 EASTER EVE. 55 
 
 The Sun that dawned at Bethlehem, 
 EcUpsed at Calvary, to shine 
 More brightly still with light divine, 
 
 That gilds a thorny diadem. 
 
 Our Easter Sun ! so warm, so clear, 
 That weeping mourners cease to weep, 
 And stricken souls revive ; we keep 
 
 The resurrection of the year. 
 
 Oh, blessings on the months that bring 
 The primrose and the violet, 
 When all the groves are song-beset, 
 
 And sorrow's a forgotten thing ! 
 
 Oh, blessings on the Spring that makes 
 All Christian hearts with Paschal mirth 
 So blithe ; they hail His second Birth, 
 
 Whose Love pursuing ne'er forsakes ! 
 
 He lives who died ; He lives to bless, 
 He lives to cleanse and heal and save ; 
 A shrine is every Christian grave, 
 
 A garden is earth's wilderness. 
 
 c 
 
 Day follows night ; sweet Summer brings 
 (Though deathful Winter tarry long) 
 Her warmth and fragrance, mirth and song, 
 
 When all creation laughs and sings.
 
 6o EASTER EVE. 
 
 And Christian hearts rejoice ; our eyes 
 Discern the Risen Christ, we know- 
 To suffer is to share His woe ; 
 
 Since He has risen, we shall rise. 
 
 Wherever Christians lay their dead 
 They build the Holy Sepulchre ; 
 And sweetly rests each slumberer. 
 
 No longer disinherited.
 
 6i 
 
 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTERN 
 
 Mighty Mother, Spouse of Jesus, 
 When thou mak'st the Saving Sign, 
 
 Earth outblossoms into heaven, 
 Water blushes into wine, 
 
 All things straightway are transfigured 
 By thy ministry divine. 
 
 Led by thee we journey homeward, 
 Taught by thee we win the fight, 
 
 Thine the mighty arm that shields us 
 On the left hand and the right, 
 
 Thine the voice that softly whispers — 
 ' Walk by faith and not by sight. ' 
 
 Poets sing of happy childhood, 
 
 Tell of youth's unclouded joy. 
 Vet methinks more lasting pleasures 
 
 Bless the man than did the boy, 
 Joys more full of satisfaction, 
 
 Hopes less easy to destroy. 
 
 •-Part of this poem will be found in 'Christmas Carol;, 
 New and Old,' by Bramley and Stainer, 3rd Series, LVII.
 
 6a FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 Bright the rainbow-tints of boyhood 
 
 In the holiday of life, 
 When each face with smiles is dimpled, 
 
 Every voice with laughter rife, 
 Sweet the dream of great achievements 
 
 Compassed in the coming strife. 
 
 Oh, the world is full of wonder 
 
 That the eyes of youth behold ! 
 And to youthful ears its music 
 
 Is that talisman of old, 
 Which, when Orpheus touched the harp strings, 
 
 Savage beasts and birds controlled.* 
 
 But another spell is needed 
 
 When the pulse of youth is strong. 
 When on boyhood's mind converging 
 
 Vain imaginations throng. 
 And the passions fiercely surging 
 
 Sweep their torrent-course along. 
 
 * • For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews, 
 Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones, 
 Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans 
 Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.' 
 
 Shakesi'KARK, Two Gentlemen of Verona, .Vet ii
 
 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 63 
 
 Then thy voice my ear detected, 
 
 Whispering in accents mild, 
 ' Watch and pray, my son, that holy 
 Be thy youth and undefiled ; 
 Lo ! 'tis Christmas Day, and Christmas 
 Brings to us a little Child.' 
 
 Hence my soul, herself uplifting, 
 Through the midnight watches dim 
 
 Kneels beside the Holy Manger 
 With adoring Cherubim, 
 
 Till from them and thee, dear Mother, 
 She has learnt the Christmas hymn. 
 
 ' Now to God on high be glory, 
 
 And to men on earth be peace,' — 
 
 'Tis the Eucharistic anthem, 
 Music that shall never cease. 
 
 To a ransomed world proclaiming 
 Jesu's advent, man's release. 
 
 Christendom at all her altars 
 
 Once again the tale doth tell 
 Of His Birth, Who came to vanquish 
 
 Sin and Satan, Death and Hell, 
 Virgin-born, and Manger-cradled, 
 
 God with us, Emmanuel.
 
 64 FROM CI/KISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 Now, through all her fanes resounding, 
 Once again the trump is blown ; 
 
 Once again the holy Yule-tide 
 Makes the happy tidings known ; 
 
 Once again all Christian peojjle 
 Kneel beside the Manger-throne. 
 
 See the shepherds, heaven-greeted, 
 Worship while the Angels sing ; 
 
 See the Magi, star-directed, 
 
 Their most costly treasures bring ; 
 
 See earth's simple ones and wise ones 
 Bending o'er their Baby-King. 
 
 Happy Mother, Ever- Virgin, 
 Mary clasps Him to her breast, 
 
 All succeeding generations, 
 Speaking of her, call her blest, 
 
 And Saint Joseph joins with wonder 
 In the homage of the rest. 
 
 Saviour ! by Thy love and pity, 
 Tried so oft and proved so well. 
 
 By the victory that vanquished 
 Sin and Satan, Death and Hell. 
 
 Make us sharers in Thy triumph, 
 Jesu, our Emmanuel !
 
 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 Now, dear Lord, Thy Birth-day keeping, 
 As we bend before the shrine. 
 
 Find Thee life and health bestowing, 
 Veiled beneath the bread and wine, 
 
 Make us Hke Thee, child-like, God-like, 
 Keep, oh keep us ever Thine ! 
 
 Keep me Thine ! oh, may I never 
 Cease to oifer up that prayer ! 
 
 Great the risks that wait on boyhood, 
 Manhood also has its share ; 
 
 Doubt, the foe that now assailed rae. 
 Came, the herald of despair. 
 
 A.11 life's mystery had vanished. 
 All life's melody was hushed, 
 
 For I felt my faith was blighted, 
 
 And I knew my hopes were crush«?d ; 
 
 Like a wanderer benighted 
 
 Through the wilderness I rushed. 
 
 'Twas the desert in life's journey 
 Where so many lose the way, 
 
 See by night no flaming column, 
 And no pilot- cloud by day, 
 
 With the Promised Land before them. 
 Learn to doubt and disobey. 
 
 F
 
 6f, FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 \'ct with milk and honey flowing, 
 Still that Land its wealth displays ; 
 
 Cod with His rebellious children 
 Deals in many gracious ways, 
 
 Turning curses into blessings, 
 And defiance into praise. 
 
 Kor that voice, once more appealing. 
 Came as it had come before, — 
 
 ' Rise, what mean you thus repining ? 
 Rise, and trust Him evermore, 
 
 Who (behold 'tis Easter morning !) 
 Rises now a Conqueror.' 
 
 Wakes my soul, herself upliftu-ig, 
 All her blessedness foretells, 
 
 Finds her downward course arrested, 
 listening to the Easter-bells ; 
 
 Then a larger faith emboldens, 
 And a deeper love impels. 
 
 For the gladsome Easter-sunlight 
 Supersedes her Lenten gloom. 
 
 Burst upon her ears the tidings 
 'Christ is risen from tin- toinl),' 
 
 Risen, her Emancipator 
 
 From the darkne.ss and the doom.
 
 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 67 
 
 Two days since the Cross was lifted 
 
 On that memorable hill, 
 Lifted the appointed Victim 
 
 Her redemption to fulfil ; 
 Now, though risen and triumphant, 
 
 See ! His Wounds are open still. 
 
 Open still His Heart, inviting 
 
 Love responsive ; dearest Lord ! 
 Kindle answering devotion 
 
 In the souls Thou hast restored ; 
 Be Thy Majesty exalted ! • 
 
 Be Thy Clemency adored ! 
 
 As to-day we kneel adoring 
 
 Where the altar-tapers shine, 
 Hail the covenanted presence 
 
 Veiled beneath the bread and wine. 
 See we in Good Friday's Victim 
 
 Christmas morning's Babe Divine. 
 
 See we Him Who with the Father 
 
 From the first was glorified ; 
 His the thorn-encompassed Forehead, 
 
 His the mutilated Side, 
 His the Hands and Feet nail-tortured, 
 
 And the piercing Voice that cried — 
 
 F 2
 
 68 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 ' Father, pardon them, they know not 
 What they do ; ' — and ' It is done ; ' * 
 
 Death-stained, sin-crushed, interceding, 
 See we there the Sinless One, 
 
 See we, crucified and bleeding, 
 There the Sole-begotten Son. 
 
 Christendom at all her altars 
 Tells the wondrous tale to-day 
 
 Of the Resurrection-triumph, 
 And the great stone rolled away, 
 
 And the Sepulchre deserted, 
 Where the Lord of glory lay. 
 
 Christ is risen ; rise we with Him, 
 Through Him, to the life divine ; 
 
 He can baffle this world's sadness. 
 Making all its water wine ; 
 
 He can read life's riddle — only 
 Love and patience must combine. 
 
 Every gift and every blessing, 
 All the wealth of sea and land, — 
 
 All we are, and have, and hope for, 
 More than we can understand, — 
 
 All good things in earth and heaven 
 Reach us from the nail-pierced Hand. 
 
 * Apocalypse xvi. 17 ; xxi. 6.
 
 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 6i 
 
 And of noble aspirations 
 
 Every age has had its share ; 
 Still the voice is raised in blessing, 
 
 Still the head is bowed in prayer, 
 Still in self-renunciation 
 
 Men will suffer and will dare. 
 
 Still the world is full of music, 
 
 Still survives the saintly line, 
 Still in God's recovered garden 
 
 Grow the palm-tree and the vine, 
 Where a sick world's wounds are gaping, 
 
 Yielding oil and yielding wine.* 
 
 All the things I loved in boyhood — 
 Still I love them more and more, 
 
 But in most of them a meaning. 
 That I never found before. 
 
 Turns my wonder into homage, 
 And to love is to adore. 
 
 Past the rapids in life's voyage, 
 Broader, deeper grows the stream, 
 
 Bright the rainbow-tints of boyhood, 
 Youth's intoxicating dream ; 
 
 Ah, but words must fail to utter 
 How divinely fairer seem 
 
 * S. Luke X. 34.
 
 70 FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER. 
 
 Those that mix with manhood's sunshine ! 
 
 (Mother, thou canst tell my joy !) 
 Yes, indeed, more lasting pleasures 
 
 Bless the man than did the boy, 
 Joys replete with satisfaction, 
 
 Hopes that nothing can destroy ! 
 
 Mighty Mother, Spouse of Jesus, 
 
 By thy ministry divine 
 Sweetly all things are transfigured, 
 
 Earth is heaven, water wine ; 
 Thou for Christ didst bear, dost feed us. 
 
 Thou art His, and we are thine I
 
 71 
 
 PENTECOST. 
 
 ' Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.' 
 ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sens 
 of God.' 
 
 Where dwelleth God's Spirit there Freedom abides, 
 And the Catholic Church over which He presides 
 Is the Mother of freemen ; they only are free 
 Who consent, who rejoice His disciples to be. 
 
 His clients, His pupils, His subjects, they share 
 
 In the life of the Mystical Body, and there, 
 
 Where He dwells without measure and works without 
 
 pause, 
 Tis their joy, 'tis their pride, to submit to His laws. 
 
 The Eternal Embrace of the Father and Son, 
 In Him, the Third Person, They ever are One ; 
 They share in a common Spiration, and this 
 Is His Double Procession, Their mutual bliss.* 
 
 * ' Quod Pater et Filius se mutuo amant, oportet quod 
 mutuus amor, qui est Spiritus Sanctus, ab utroque procedat. 
 Secundum igitur originem Spiritus Sanctus non est mediu>.
 
 72 PENTECOST. 
 
 ' The Word was made Flesh,' — thus a Temple was huilt 
 Wherein He could dwell uninvaded by guilt ; 
 And thus is accomplished God's marvellous plan, 
 And the Spirit of God is the Spirit of man.* 
 
 The Church is Christ's Body made visible still, 
 
 Its law is the Spirit's adorable will, 
 
 That law supersedes every other, and they 
 
 Are as free as the wind who acknowledge its sway. 
 
 It is Thine, Re-Creator, the grace to impart 
 That awakens the conscience, that softens the heart : 
 The manifold workings of grace in the soul 
 It is Thine to originate. Thine to control. 
 
 All lessons Thou teachest, — most precious by far, 
 Men have learnt what the joys of discipleship are. 
 Of service, of sonship, — a Father's sweet name 
 Filial lips, filial hearts Thou hast taught to proclaim. 
 
 The health-giving Sacraments, — these too are Thine, 
 Thy Table is furnished with Bread and with Wine. 
 Thy Grace is a strengthening, gladdening Oil ; 
 No foe can defeat 'i'hcc, no robber despoil. 
 
 sed lertia in Trinitate Persona. Secundum vero praedictani 
 h.ihitudincm isl niedius nexus duonini ah utroquc proceden^. ' 
 S. Thomas Aquinas. And lie quotes .S. Augustine :- — ' Spiritus 
 ."^anctus est quo genitus a generante diligitur ; genitoremque 
 suum diiigit.' 
 
 * Sec Note F.
 
 PENTECOST. 73 
 
 Revive then Thy work in the midst of the years, 
 Enkindle high hopes, put to flight rebel-fears, 
 The Standard Thou liftest, empurpled with blood. 
 Can alone rout the foe that comes in like a flood. 
 
 May the fruits of Christ's Passion abound more and 
 
 more. 
 May the cloven tongues speak in the Church as of 
 
 yore. 
 That Church is Thy Palace, Thy children are we, 
 'Tis the House Thou hast built, 'tis the Home of the 
 free ! * 
 
 The Cedars of Lebanon, Whitsuntide, 1875. 
 
 * ' Ubi Ecclesia ibi Spiritus.'— S. IREN^US.
 
 74 
 
 CONVERSION OF S. PAUL. 
 
 Am, the triumphs of grace, dearest Master, are Thine, 
 The rock yields its water, the water-jars wine, 
 At Thy word of command. Oh, we thank Thee for all 
 That Thou gavest Thy Church in the gift of Saint Paul 1 
 
 What conquests were his ! what a wondrous campaign I 
 Through Asia, through Europe, — Greece, Italy, Spain, 
 The standard of Jesus he carried unfurled. 
 And he claimed for his King nothing less than the 
 world. 
 
 The Gentiles' Apostle — we all have a claim 
 To call him our father, to cherish his name ; 
 Engraced and converted, to each comes the call 
 To walk in the steps of Christ's hero Saint Paul. 
 
 So hard seemed his heart as he stood by unmoved, 
 .A.nd saw how the faith of Saint Stephen was proved, 
 Unshamed he beheld his death-throes, his last breath. 
 By his life unconvinced, unconcerned at his death.
 
 CONVERSION OF S. PAUL. 75 
 
 That breath — it was weighted, 'twas winged with a 
 
 prayer 
 That soon found its answer, — we know how and where. 
 As he drew near Damascus his pride had a fall, 
 And Saint Stephen obtained the conversion of Saul. 
 
 It is grace that prevails, it is love that subdues, 
 Oh, surely 'tis hard their appeal to refuse. 
 To kick 'gainst those pricks, to be deaf to that Voice, 
 And not to choose Him Who has made us His choice '. 
 
 Even now with their backs on Jerusalem turned 
 There are those who Christ's loving entreaty have 
 
 spurned. 
 And, breathing out slaughter, delight to proclaim 
 Their hatred of all who are called by His Name. 
 
 May the words strong and sweet that arrested Saint 
 
 Paul 
 Be spoken, dear Lord, in the hearing of all 
 Who in blindness and wTath and fanatical zeal 
 Are deaf to Thy Church's beseeching appeal. 
 
 In love take them captive, in love cast them down, 
 Then show them Thy Face, — 'tis a smile, not a frown, 
 That shall woo them and win them, so radiantly bright 
 As to dazzle and darken their eyes with its light.
 
 76 CONVERSION OF S. PAUL. 
 
 So blinded and humbled, their souls shall receive 
 The grace Thou bestowest ; they too shall believe ; 
 And the scales from their eyes thus anointed shall fall, 
 And their hearts shall be Thine like the heart of Saint 
 
 I'aul. 
 
 Damascus, Whitsuntide, 1875.
 
 77 
 
 THE INVENTION OF THE CROSS. 
 May 3RD. 
 
 Ah ! when the Cross is found and known 
 
 All things are viewed aright, 
 Upon life's scenery is thrown 
 
 A golden glory-light. 
 
 Till this discovery is made, 
 All treasures sought and found 
 
 Are like the flowers doomed to fade, 
 Uprooted from the ground. 
 
 All men are seekers ; happy they 
 
 Who fare upon this quest, 
 Seeking the priceless Cross alway 
 
 Until it be possest. 
 
 Till they their need of this confess 
 The eyes of men are sealed ; 
 
 Life's awfulness, life's blessedness, 
 To them are unrevealed.
 
 7.S THE INVENTION OE THE CROSS. 
 
 But when at length the Cross is found. 
 Straightway anointed eyes 
 
 Discern Love's Victim glory-crowned — 
 Divine Self-Sacrifice ! 
 
 Another, truer Cross they see 
 Bound to that Cross of wood ; 
 
 The world-redeeming Cross must be 
 A Cross of flesh and blood. 
 
 A mystery doth this declare 
 The Father's Heart within ; 
 
 Behold ! the Cross is planted there, 
 His protest against sin ; — 
 
 To sinners His appeal ; when this 
 
 At length is understood, 
 The Cross is found to be the kiss 
 
 Of yearning Fatherhood. 
 
 Only when that is seen and known 
 Can things be viewed aright ; 
 
 A scaffold makes a glory-throne, 
 And thorns a crown of light. 
 
 Who find the Cross must carry it : 
 
 So doing they are blest, 
 By salutary toil made fit 
 
 Beneath its shade to rest. 
 
 (iLF.NCOF., September 1880.
 
 79 
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 Oh, hapless is his lot who lives 
 
 Our modern life with little men ! 
 The golden age comes not again, 
 
 And life nor peace nor pleasure gives. 
 
 For hushed are all sweet sounds by those 
 
 That jar upon the tortured ear ; 
 
 We suffer from a constant fear, 
 An utter absence of repose. 
 
 Oh, happy, when the world was young, 
 Were men who lived a peaceful life ! 
 They knew not of our modern strife, 
 
 Or how to prostitute the tongue. 
 
 They lived among their flocks and herds 
 With simple wants and homely ways, 
 And fruitful was their length of days, 
 
 Grave w ere their thoughts, and wise their words.
 
 8o ./ MODEKX riLGRIMAGE. 
 
 Now words of wisdom seldom flow 
 
 From human lips, the fevered brain 
 Is restless, but a nameless pain 
 
 Forbids to fructify and grow. 
 
 The world a garden was of old| 
 
 Nor weed nor brier grew therein, 
 Nor death had access there, nor sin, 
 
 But God's good gifts were manifold. 
 
 The world still wore its baby-smile. 
 Not yet oblivious of the Hand 
 That fashioned it, adorned, and ])lanned 
 
 A thousand wonders to beguile : 
 
 The wonders dimly understood 
 
 By Adam when he walked with God, 
 What time the new-born earth He trod. 
 
 Pronouncing all things very good. 
 
 Where may we now His foot-prints trace .-* 
 We nothing see save pain and sin. 
 Distress without us and within, 
 
 And Ciod-forsaken seems our race. 
 
 For blind our eyes, our souls are blind, 
 If God there be, we know Him not, 
 And all uncomforted our lot, 
 
 We seek, but scarcely hope to find.
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 8i 
 
 II. 
 
 Too well we know our own distress, 
 
 And how uncomforted our lot ; 
 
 If God there be, we know Him not. 
 We share not in His blessedness. 
 
 For man his garden-home hath lost. 
 
 And, when the day is cool, no more 
 He walks with God as erst, before 
 
 This shipwrecked world was tempest-tost. 
 
 And yet there have been some, we know, 
 Not all unblest who trod this earth, 
 And now and then the angels' mirth 
 
 Hath found an echo here below. 
 
 Unless the Bible-writers lie, 
 
 Bright angel-feet have passed, 'twould seem, 
 'Twixt earth and heaven ; Jacob's dream 
 
 Revealed no unreality. 
 
 And once a voice of thunder broke 
 The silence, when to Sinai's crown 
 In Self-disclosure God came down, 
 
 And all the mountain-echoes woke.
 
 82 A MODERN PILGRIM ACE. 
 
 ' Those ancient fables but endure,' 
 I hear you say in quiet scorn, 
 ' To grace, embellish, and adorn 
 An old, outlandish literature. 
 
 ' For men were children once, and then 
 They suffered from credulity ; 
 But modern thought is bold and free : 
 Faith is for children, not for men.' 
 
 And yet, sin-burdened, wounded, crushed, 
 I find small comfort in your word ; 
 And earth, methinks, can ill afford 
 
 To have her sweetest music hushed. 
 
 Not all, not quite untrue perchance 
 
 Those ancient fables ; here and there 
 God may have heard a good man's prayer. 
 
 And showed a gracious countenance. 
 
 -Vnd one day, haply, we may find 
 Not all forsaken is our race ; 
 Though still averted be His face. 
 
 It is not otherwise than kind.
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 83 
 
 III. 
 
 If God be kind, if God be good, 
 
 Yet would it not enhance our weal, 
 Unless He made His children feel 
 
 The sonship born of fatherhood. 
 
 Old prayers, old psalms we oft have read, 
 
 Which seem (and dare we call them blind ?) 
 The words of those who thought mankind 
 
 Still God-beloved and governed. 
 
 We hear of men who knew Him well, 
 Had with Him dealings manifold, 
 And how they worshipped Him, we're told, 
 
 Xor found Him inaccessible. 
 
 ' Ho ! every one that thirsteth, try 
 
 This stream, for you its water flows, 
 On you a Father's hand bestows 
 
 The dainties wealth could never buy.' 
 
 So spake a prophet once, a sound 
 
 Most grateful to a famished world, 
 
 And Heaven's banner was unfurled 
 For helpless men to rally round. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 • The Lord my Shepherd is, and I 
 
 Need fear no want ; ' so sang the king 
 ^\^^ose youth was spent in shepherding 
 
 His father's flocks so heedfully. 
 
 You say faith is not to be prized 
 
 In men ; yet, whether false or true, 
 Methinks no evil can accrue 
 
 From words so sweetly harmonized — 
 
 From words whose music finds a way 
 To hearts enfeebled by despair — 
 Methinks strong words of praise and prayer 
 
 Can do no harm, whate'er you say. 
 
 We gather comfort, courage, strength, 
 
 From all that breathes a hope so sure, 
 A trust so dauntless, such secure 
 
 Repose in arms divine. At length 
 
 We hear a prophet-voice foretell 
 
 (But this 'twere folly to believe) 
 ' Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, 
 
 And call her babe Emmanuel.'
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 85 
 
 IV. 
 
 ' Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, 
 
 And bear a Son, and call His name 
 Emmanuel, and on the same 
 
 The ransomed nations shall believe.' 
 
 So runs the strange announcement ; yet, 
 Although the reason may rebel, 
 I hear a whispered voice ' 'Twere well, 
 
 Before that message you forget, 
 
 ' The claims to sift and scrutinize 
 
 Of Him they call the Virgin-born : 
 If so uncomforted, forlorn, 
 
 'Twere worse than folly to despise — 
 
 "Twere worse than madness to reject 
 Whatever offers you redress ; 
 His voice perchance is raised to bless, 
 
 His arm is lifted to protect' 
 
 It may be so ; I feel, if this 
 
 Be false, 'tis vain to search for truth, 
 Uncheered is age, unblest is youth, 
 
 Death hath no hope, and life no bliss.
 
 86 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 I can no other creed embrace, 
 
 No other creed of love displays 
 Such wealth ; oh ! how I long to gaze 
 
 In rapture on a human face — 
 
 A face that is divine as well, 
 
 A face I could not doubt or fear, — 
 And such a face confronts me here, 
 
 Of such the Gospel-stories tell. 
 
 They tell of One whose hand could heal ; 
 They tell of One whose love-lit eyes 
 Were full of tender sympathies ; 
 
 Of One whose princely heart could feel — 
 
 Could bleed for all, howe'er distressed ; 
 Of One whose all-commanding voice 
 Could bid despairing men rejoice, 
 
 And mock them not when thus addressed. 
 
 My darkness, Lord, illuminate. 
 
 If light there be, Thou art the light, 
 
 Assist my spiritual sight, 
 Oh, pity my forlorn estate !
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 87 
 
 To Thee the darkness and the hght 
 Are both ahke ; I well may wait 
 Till Thou my darkness dissipate, 
 
 And clear my spiritual sight. 
 
 Enough to know that Thou hast trod 
 This earth, and re-created all ; 
 I hear Thy Voice, I heed Thy call, 
 
 I know Thee now, my Lord, my God. 
 
 I hear about my path, my bed. 
 
 The words our Laay heard, 'All hail,' 
 I call to mind the wondrous tale 
 
 Of Mary, Angel-visited. 
 
 I call to mind the Virgin-birth, 
 
 The Manger-cradle, and the Rood ; 
 O Virgin-born, from Thee all good 
 
 Proceeds in heaven and in earth ! 
 
 For unto us a Child is born, 
 
 To us a Son is given, Who 
 
 The world beneath Him shall subdue, 
 He is the Day-star, His the dawn —
 
 88 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 The dawn which to my night succeeds, 
 When rises in my heart the star 
 That heralds day, and from afar 
 
 The storm-vexed spirit homeward leads- 
 
 The home which in Thine Arms I find, 
 There, only there, my Lord, my King 
 To sheep long lost and wandering 
 
 Thou art a Shepherd good and kind- 
 
 Dear Saviour, I have wandered long 
 Amid distractions and alarms, 
 I felt not Thine encircling Arms, 
 
 I did not know that they were strong — 
 
 Strong to deliver, strong to raise 
 The fallen, to emancipate 
 The captives ; Jesu, all too late 
 
 With rapture on Thy Face I gaze ! 
 
 The Face whose smile hath beautified, 
 
 Whose lips have blessed a world undone, 
 Of ransomed Christendom the sun. 
 
 Thy Church's solace and her pride.
 
 A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. 89 
 
 VI. 
 
 Dear Lover of the souls of men, 
 
 Still let me feel Thy guiding Hand, 
 And things I scarcely understand 
 
 Become intelligible then. 
 
 Thou wast made man to re-create, 
 
 Ennoble, ransom, beautify. 
 
 And sharing Thy Humanity, 
 By mysteries immaculate — 
 
 Thy healing sacramental touch — 
 Conveyed, imparted, we possess 
 Capacity for holiness 
 
 Within the Church Thou lovest much. 
 
 The Church ! Thy Life Incarnate still 
 
 Extended and prolonged. Thy Spouse, 
 Ta'en from Thy Side, what time Thy Brows 
 
 Were thorn-enclosed on yonder hill 
 
 As Eve from Adam ; — so the Blood 
 And Water from Thy Side became 
 The Church's life, and through her frame 
 
 Still flows a sacramental flood.
 
 90 A iVODERN PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 Her foes arc many ; there are those 
 
 Who worship self and mammon, worse 
 Than heathen ; others boldly curse 
 
 Their Maker, — they are open foes. 
 
 But subtler ones there are whose voice 
 Proclaims aloud one half her creed, 
 The other half, they dare to plead, 
 
 Accords not with their wilful choice. 
 
 And so her seamless robe is rent. 
 
 And marred her beauty, and her crown 
 Is taken from her. Lord, look down ! 
 
 On Thee her bleeding brows are bent 
 
 Dear is my Mother Church, whose womb 
 Hath borne me, at whose tender breast 
 I gather strength ; oh, may I rest 
 
 Beneath her blessing in the tomb — 
 
 Which is the gate of Holy Land, 
 
 And 'J'hou, to ^\"hom the souls of men 
 Are precious, wilt be with me then, 
 
 And I shall surely understand 
 
 Lent, 1868. 
 
 !
 
 91 
 
 A GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 ' \Mien the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the 
 earth?' 
 
 Christ's question through the ages rings 
 Unanswered by His Lips ; His Eyes 
 Hold in their light of love replies 
 
 To all our silent questionings. , 
 
 Ah ! silence is a sepulchre 
 
 Where faded lips wax eloquent ; 
 The question asked was surely meant 
 
 To make each soul a questioner. 
 
 Those silent Wounds, so dear and dread, 
 Are all the answer that we need ; 
 He is the Father's Word indeed, 
 
 So all things are interpreted. 
 
 Of old dwelt faith upon the earth ; 
 Men walked with God, in daily toil 
 Conversed with Him ; who dares despoil 
 
 M ankind of rights that come from birth ?
 
 92 A GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 * What rights ? ' the scoffer asks ; I say 
 
 * Birthrights ; ' my Father's child, witli I [im 
 I live my life ; my light is dim, 
 But hope anticipates the day 
 
 When, in the light of love revealed, 
 All questions shall be answered, then 
 Shall God be justified of men. 
 
 Alas 1 for those who will not yield ; 
 
 ^\^^om love repels, whose caitiff-hearts 
 Will no home-courtesies fulfil. 
 Rebellious to a Father's Will, 
 
 Rejecting what His Hand imparts. 
 
 Must, then, the children's ranks be thinned ? 
 God grant that on a coming day 
 These too might tread the homeward way, 
 
 Confessing ' Father, we have sinned.' 
 
 Then would He fold them to His Breast, 
 Aweary of their wandering. 
 And blithely would the angels sing — 
 'The lost are found, and all are blest' * 
 
 From Manger, Cross, and Sepulchre, 
 Christ's question through the ages rings ; 
 His children of all questionings 
 Discern in Him the Answerer. 
 Campo Santo, Pisa, Fcbruar)', 1878. 
 * See Note G.
 
 93 
 
 THE VISION OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 
 Apocalypse VI. 1-12 and VIII. i. 
 
 First Seal. 
 
 ' And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, 
 and I heard one of the four Living Creatures saying as with a 
 voice of thunder, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white 
 horse ; and He that sat on him had a bow ; and a crown was given 
 unto Him ; and He went forth conquering and to conquer. ' 
 
 Dear Conqueror ! the white horse bears Thee now, 
 
 As erst the ass's foal on OUvet ; 
 
 Now on Thy Head a golden crown is set, 
 
 Where once the twisted thorn-branch bound Thy Brow. 
 
 Radiant Thy Face, once bathed in bloody sweat ; 
 
 No reed Thy Hands clasp now, a lover's bow 
 
 AVTiose arrows wound, and wounding, health bestow. 
 
 Second Seal. 
 
 ' And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second 
 Living Creature saying, Come and see. And there went out 
 another horse that was red ; and power was given to Him that 
 sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should 
 kill one another ; and there was given unto Him a great sword. ' 
 
 Thou art the God of battles ; red Thy horse 
 
 Whose hoofs strike fire, and double-edged Thy sword ; 
 
 Till wrong be righted, harmony restored.
 
 94 THE VISION OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 
 
 A blood-stained path must be Thine onward course. 
 Hero of heroes, as of lords the Lord ! 
 The war Thou wagest drives false peace away, 
 And thus inaugurates God's Sabbath-day. 
 
 Third Skal. 
 
 'And when lie opened the third seal, I heard the third 
 Living Creature saying, Come and Si-e. And I beheld, and lu! 
 a black horse; and He that sat on him had a pair of balances 
 in His Hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four 
 Living Creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and 
 three measures of barley for a penny ; and see thou hurt not the 
 oil and the wine.' 
 
 Thou art the Judge, and black the horse whose rein 
 
 Thy left Hand grasps ; Thy right Hand holds on high 
 
 A pair of balances, and stern the cry 
 
 Uttered by those who follow in Thy train, 
 
 And quote the famine-prices. Must we die ? 
 
 A voice replies, with clemency divine, 
 
 ' Hurt not the oil of grace, of truth the wine.' 
 
 Fourth Seal. 
 
 ' And when He opened the fourth seal, I lieard the voice of 
 the fourth Living Creature saying. Come and see. And 1 looked, 
 and behold a pale horse, and His Name that sal on him was Death, 
 and Hell fulluvved with Him. And ]Knver was given unto Him 
 over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with 
 hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.' 
 
 The pale horse bears Thee, Lord, of death the Death, 
 j'.y whose strong Hands e'en Hell is captive led ; 
 We see our foes all numbered with the dead,
 
 THE VISION OF THE SE VEN SEALS. 95 
 
 All deadly things Thou slayest with Thy Breath, 
 Thy royal Foot is on the serpent's head. — 
 Still speak the Living Creatures, ' Come and see 
 How rides our Warrior- King to victory ! ' 
 
 Fifth Seal. 
 
 ' And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the 
 Altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and 
 for the testimony which they held ; and they cried with a loud 
 voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou 
 not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
 eartli ? And white robes were given unto every one of them. " 
 
 With happy trembling, and with holy fear, 
 
 Beneath God's Altar white-robed souls await 
 
 The further opening of the opened gate, 
 
 The brighter vision of His Face so dear. 
 
 Whose final triumph they anticipate. 
 
 And this the burden of their wistful song — 
 
 ' How long, O Lord ? O conquering Lord, how long ? " 
 
 Sixth Seal, 
 
 'And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal, and lol there 
 was a great earthquake, and the sun became black.' 
 
 All things must needs be shaken, darkness still, 
 When travail-pangs assail, broods o'er the earth, 
 So only living things attain their birth. 
 As erst upon the Cross-surmounted hill 
 God's anguish was the prelude to His mirth.
 
 96 THE VISION OF THE SEVEN SEALS. 
 
 That holy mirth a stricken world shall share 
 As love begets the hope that slays despair. 
 
 Seventh Seal. 
 
 ' And when He opened the seventh seal, ihcrc was ;,ilence 
 in heaven about the space of half an hour.' 
 
 God's thunder brings the silence, makes the peace. 
 
 Earth's noise comes only from the jaws of hell ; 
 
 To this — to all that jars— we say farewell 
 
 When Jesus bids the storm its raging cease, 
 
 And brings us home to His own citadel. 
 
 That citadel no tempests ever shake, 
 
 And naught but music can its silence break.* 
 
 • There is a French proverb full of meaning,—* Le bruit est si 
 fort, qu'on n'entend pas Dieu tonner.'
 
 97 
 
 THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. 
 
 ' Thou shall be called Sought out, a City not forsaken. ' 
 
 The Tree that grew on Calvary, 
 
 With arms far-stretching, still 
 O'ershadows Christendom, alas ! 
 
 No city on a hill ; 
 On Prophets and Apostles built, 
 
 Christ the chief Corner-stone, 
 The Church, divided, sore beset, 
 
 Still is not overthrown. 
 
 Within are fears, for Christian men 
 
 Against each other rise ; 
 Without are fightings, for the world 
 
 Its Saviour still denies ; 
 It hates that mystery of woe, 
 
 The thorn-encompassed Face, 
 It cares not for salvation's wells 
 
 Of sacramental grace. 
 
 H
 
 9S THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. 
 
 The Sacred Presence unwithdrawn 
 
 Convinces it of sin, 
 It knows itself, though fair without, 
 
 All rottenness within ; 
 It dreads the vengeance long delayed. 
 
 It dreads His Judgment-throne, 
 WTio from the Cross administers 
 
 A kingdom not its own. 
 
 I know not if for England's Church 
 
 Still darker days impend, 
 The foes are many, and but few 
 
 The citadel defend ; 
 Yet still our God is pitiful. 
 
 The Saints are strong and wise, 
 And wield a weapon which the world 
 
 May hate, but not desj)ise. 
 
 For still is heard in English fanes 
 
 The voice of daily prayer. 
 And still the daily Sacrifice 
 
 Is duly offered there 
 At English altars, where the lights 
 
 Symbolically show 
 His presence. Who, the world's true Light, 
 
 Still tarries with us so.
 
 THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. 99 
 
 He tarries, though with rebel-hearts 
 
 And sacrilegious hands 
 Bad men insult Him as of old, 
 
 Yet still the promise stands — 
 With you alway, while lasts the world, 
 
 It is My will to be,' — 
 This is My Body— Offer this 
 
 In memory of Me.' 
 
 And some there are whose tears overflow. 
 
 What time their hearts beat high, 
 Resolved for Christ alone to live, 
 
 Prepared for Him to die ; 
 They know the world's profound distress, 
 
 The Church's ills they know, 
 And higher beat their hearts, what time 
 
 Their tears the faster flow. 
 
 Lord ! may Thy Church, upraised once more. 
 
 Subdue the hearts of men, 
 And may a Pentecost transform 
 
 Thy Christendom again ; 
 And be Thy Name confessed by all, 
 
 Thy Cross uplifted high, 
 Until a ransomed world repeat 
 
 The anthems of the sky ! 
 H 2
 
 ICO THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. 
 
 All things are Thine, to Thee are due 
 
 The services of all, 
 And Thou wilt graciously accept. 
 
 And gently disenthral ; 
 Thou only canst emancipate, 
 
 Who art Thyself the Truth, 
 Thine be the thoughtfulness of age, 
 
 The hopefulness of youth ; 
 
 Thine be the strength and energy 
 
 Of manhood in its prime ; 
 Thine be the toil of hand and head, 
 
 Of every age and clime ; 
 The Church claims everything for Thee, 
 
 Recovers every loss, 
 Her merchandise she brings from far,* 
 
 Her trade-mark is the Cross. 
 
 Dear Saviour ! make our hearts to burn, 
 
 And make our lives to shine. 
 Oh, make us ever true to Thee, 
 
 Aud true to all that's Thine — 
 Thy Church, Thy Saints, Thy Sacraments, 
 
 Thy Scriptures ; may we own 
 No other Lord, no other rule, 
 
 Bnt Thee and Thine alone ! 
 
 * Proverbs xxxi. 14
 
 THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. loi 
 
 In Thine own time, in Thine own way, 
 
 The prayers shall be fulfilled, 
 Which importune Thee day by day 
 
 Our Sion to rebuild ; 
 And though our days be dark, and though 
 
 That time we may not see, 
 A priceless blessing waits, we know, 
 
 On loyalty to Thee. 
 
 Ravenna, Fassion-tide, 1869.
 
 102 
 
 SONG FOR A BAPTISMAL BIRTHDAY. 
 
 When I was born, when I was born, 
 I know not whether fear or hope 
 Presided o'er my horoscope, 
 
 'Twas early on a' rainy morn 
 That I Avas born. 
 
 When I was born, when I was born, 
 Scarce had stern Winter given place 
 To gentle Spring, whose comely face 
 
 Still looked embarrassed and forlorn, 
 When I was born. 
 
 When I was born, when I was born, 
 Perchance she fancied some distress 
 Might wait upon her loveliness, 
 
 Some cruel blight retard her dawn, 
 When I was born. 
 
 When I was born, when I was born, 
 Dark turned to light, and dull to bright, 
 Day stood upon the corpse of night. 
 
 And laughed to celebrate the morn, 
 When I was born.
 
 SONG FOR A BAPTISMAL BIRTHDAY. 103 
 
 \\'hen I was born, when I was born, 
 
 Blithe Spring, where'er her feet were set, 
 With snowdrop, primrose, violet. 
 
 Proclaimed herself no more forlorn, 
 When I was born. 
 
 When we are born, when we are born, 
 Tearful the joy, subdued the mirth ; 
 But oh, how bright that Second Birth, 
 
 When in the Font to serve we're sworn 
 The Virgin-born ! 
 
 When we are born, when we are born, 
 We pass from darkness into Ught ; 
 When wanes life's day, a second night 
 
 Conducts us to another morn. 
 In Heaven born ! 
 
 S. MORITZ, Engadine, 186S.
 
 I04 
 
 A MAY-DAY SONG* 
 
 ' Behold thy INIotlier.' 
 
 The happy birds Te Deums sing, 
 
 'Tis Mary's month of May, 
 Her smile turns Winter into Spring, 
 
 And darkness into day ; 
 And tliere's a fragrance in the air, 
 
 The bells their music make, 
 And oh ! the world is bright and fair, 
 
 And all for Mary's sake. 
 
 Where'er we seek the Holy Child, 
 
 At every sacred spot, 
 We meet the Mother undefiled, 
 
 Who shun her seek Him not ; 
 At cloistered Nazareth we see. 
 
 At haunted Bethlehem, 
 The throne of Jesus, Mary's knee, 
 
 Her smile. His diadem. 
 
 » See Note II.
 
 A MA Y-DA Y SONG. lo- 
 
 3 
 
 The Daughter, Mother, Spouse of God, 
 
 None silence her appeal, 
 Who long to tread where Jesus trod, 
 
 What Jesus felt to feel ; 
 O Virgin-born ! from Thee we learn 
 
 To love Thy Mother dear, 
 Her teach us duly to discern, 
 
 And rightly to revere. 
 
 To love the Mother, people say. 
 
 Is to defraud the Son, 
 For them, alas ! there dawns no May, 
 
 Until their hearts are won ; 
 Then when their hearts begin to burn — 
 
 Ah, then, to Jesus true, 
 And loving whom He loves, they learn 
 
 To love Saint Mary too ! 
 
 How many are the thoughts that throng 
 
 On faithful souls to-day ! 
 All year we sing our Lady's song, 
 
 'Tis still the song of May — 
 Magnificat — oh, may we feel 
 
 That rapture more and more ! 
 And chiefly. Lord, what time we kneel 
 
 Thine altar-throne before.
 
 io6 A MAY-DAV SOA'G. 
 
 'Tis then when at Thy Feet we pray 
 
 We share our Lady's mirth, 
 Her joy we know who hail to-day 
 
 Thy Eucharistic Birth, 
 That trembling joy to Mary sent, 
 
 Ah, Christians know it well, 
 With whom in His dear Sacrament 
 
 Their Saviour deigns to dwell ! 
 
 Yes ! Mary's month has come again. 
 
 The merry month of May, 
 And sufferers forget their pain, 
 
 And sorrows flee away, 
 And joys return, the hearts whose moan 
 
 ^^'as desolate erewhile 
 Are blithe and gay once more, they own 
 
 The charm of Mary's smile. 
 
 Thy Son our Brother is, and we, 
 
 Whatever may betide, 
 A mother, Mary, have in thee, 
 
 A guardian and a guide ; 
 Thy smiles a tale of gladness tell 
 
 No words can ever say ; 
 If but, like thee, we love Him well, 
 
 The year will all be May.
 
 A MAY-DAY SONG. 107 
 
 ' All hail ! ' — an Angel spake the words 
 
 We lovingly repeat, 
 The song-notes of the singing birds, 
 
 They are not half as sweet ; 
 This is a music that endures. 
 
 It cannot pass away. 
 For Mary's children it ensures 
 
 A never-ending May. 
 
 ARGELts, May 1870.
 
 io8 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF BEAUTY. 
 
 When youth and health crown Beauty's head, 
 
 Unvisited by sorrow, 
 When Beauty, gay and garlanded. 
 
 Recks nothing of to-morrow ; 
 
 When Beauty's pulse is beating high, 
 
 And Beauty's cheeks are roses, 
 When Beauty never breathes a sigh, 
 
 Except what Love imposes ; 
 
 When Beauty gaily plays her pan, — 
 
 All music, mirth and motion, — 
 Then Beauty may subdue the heart, 
 
 Constraining its devotion. 
 
 •o 
 
 But Beauty, when her eyes with tears 
 
 Are full to overflowing. 
 When Beauty, with advancing years. 
 
 Finds Grief a friend worth knowing ;
 
 THE WORSHIP OF BEAUTY. 109 
 
 When Beauty's pulse is beating low, 
 
 And Beauty's bloom departed, 
 When Beauty tries to smile, although 
 
 Bereaved and broken-hearted ; 
 
 When Beauty nobly plays her part, — 
 
 Devotion, resignation, — 
 Then Beauty must constrain the heart 
 
 To yield her adoration.
 
 no 
 
 DA Y-DBEAMS. 
 
 ' Dreams are trae while ihey last, and do we not live in 
 dreams ?'— Tennyson. 
 
 Day-dreaming oft I seem to see 
 The pleasant park, the winding lane, 
 And live those happy days again 
 
 When Sybil used to ride with me. 
 
 One tiny hand controlled the rein. 
 One dainty foot the stirrup pressed, 
 And proudly arched the chestnut's crest, 
 
 And gaily danced the chestnut's mane. 
 
 A rosebud nestled at her breast. 
 
 Whose hue her dimpled cheek would wear 
 \\'hen re-adjusting fallen hair, 
 
 Which wanton breezes had caressed. 
 
 My dreams still picture her as fair 
 As when my heart stood still to feel 
 One little word of hers must seal 
 
 My fate ;— it came — the word 'despair.'
 
 DAY-DREAMS. in 
 
 Ah, Sybil ! time can never heal, 
 The wound that you inflicted then ; 
 How many of my fellow-men 
 
 As sad a secret could reveal. 
 
 Some droop awhile, reviving when 
 They find them other lips to kiss, 
 But Sybil, let me tell you this — 
 
 Some droop, and ne'er revive again.
 
 I 12 
 
 A LOVER'S SONG. 
 
 In the school of Love we find 
 Much to discipline the mind ; 
 Learn we, as the years pass from us, 
 Loving, still to be resigned ; 
 Smiling, sighing, 
 Living, dying, 
 Strength be ours, for ever trying 
 Love's high duty to fulfil. 
 
 In the voice of Love we hear 
 Tones that justify the fear 
 Lest what once was dearly cherished 
 Should not always be held dear ; 
 Laughing, weeping, 
 Sowing, reaping, 
 I'aith be ours, for ever keeping 
 Loyal heart and steadfast will.
 
 A LOVER'S SONG. 113 
 
 In Love's conduct should we see 
 What betokens jealousy, 
 What might bring, if uncorrected, 
 Love's self into jeopardy ; 
 Sleeping, waking, 
 Giving, taking, 
 Grace be ours, for ever making 
 Trustfulness more trustful still. 
 
 Lady, should it be confessed 
 One there is who loves thee best, 
 'Mid the royalties of beauty 
 Finding thine the queenliest ; 
 Hoping, fearing, 
 Still revering, 
 Loveliness so all-endearing, — 
 Lady, should you take it ill ?
 
 114 
 
 A WEDDING GIFT. 
 
 Love makes a joy of everything ; 
 
 She heals the wound, she rights the wrong ; 
 She visits with her comforting 
 
 The lovers who have waited long ; 
 Her voice it is that bids me sing 
 
 This little marriage-song. 
 
 And yet I know not how to sing 
 
 All that my heart would wish to say ; 
 
 As pledge of love I can but bring 
 One little flower, if I may ; 
 
 Accept the homely offering 
 Which at your feet I lay. 
 
 I plucked it in a garden where 
 So many wondrous flowers grow, 
 
 And all are fragrant, all are fair — 
 The Bible-garden ! and you know 
 
 The flowers never wither there j 
 Our Lord has made it so.
 
 A WEDDING GIFT. 115 
 
 Take, then, this word-flow'r ; it upgrew 
 O'ershadowed by the Living Vine ; 
 
 Say if it be not sweet and true, 
 Almost a sacramental sign ; 
 
 Such as it is I give it you — 
 * Love makes the water wine.* 
 
 I 2
 
 ii6 
 
 TO MY SISTER. 
 
 *A countenance in which did meet 
 Sweet records, promises as sweet.' 
 
 \YORDSWORTH. 
 
 Sweet Sister, with the lips that pray, 
 
 And with the smile that scares away 
 Despondency and doubt, 
 
 And eyes so dark and yet so bright, 
 
 So radiant with unearthly light, 
 
 Theirs is the witchery of night. 
 When moon and stars are out 
 
 Thy like I never yet have seen, 
 
 Thou art not quite a fairy-queen. 
 Nor yet an elfin-sprite ; 
 
 More like a beautiful princess, 
 
 Whose every smile is a caress, 
 
 Whose voice is musical to bless, 
 Yet that thou art not quite. 
 
 The fairy-queen would laugh at us, 
 The elf would be so mischievous 
 
 And as for the princess —
 
 TO MY SISTER. 117 
 
 As tender-hearted she might be, 
 Her eyes might smile as lovingly, — 
 Methinks she'd hardly be as free 
 From ail self-consciousness. 
 
 I picture thee in every guise, 
 
 As Summer suns and Winter skies 
 
 Alternate smile and frown ; 
 'Tis always Summer in thy heart, 
 And thou to others dost impart 
 Its glow ; to me thou ever art 
 
 A queen without a crown. 
 
 And yet a triple crown is thine, 
 Which seems all others to outshine 
 
 To me comparing them ; 
 The hand that ever sows the seeds 
 Of loving thoughts and words and deeds 
 A sceptre holds ; my Sister needs 
 
 No other diadem- 
 All beauty is of love the cause, 
 Who doubt it disallow her laws, 
 
 And desecrate her shrine. 
 Oh ! had I but a poet's fire, 
 One hand at least should sweep the lyre, 
 To sing thy praise I would aspire ; 
 
 Such honour should be thine
 
 iiS TO MY SISTER. 
 
 As theirs who used in days of yore 
 By minstrel or by troubadour 
 
 To have their praises sung ; 
 Like Dante, passionate, austere, 
 With whom to love was to revere ; 
 Thus Arthur worshipped Guinevere, 
 
 When chivalry was young. 
 
 Such in my thoughts the place you hold. 
 One of a sisterhood enrolled 
 
 Whose names are very dear ; 
 All worthy of a poet's kiss 
 As were the lips of Beatrice, 
 When to her paradise of bliss 
 
 The Florentine drew near. 
 
 And more than tliat ; I picture thee 
 One of the white-robed company, 
 
 More dear than all beside, 
 Whose names I never can forget. 
 Whose memories are fragrant yet, 
 Cecilia, Agnes, Margaret, 
 
 Brides of the Crucified. 
 
 Such are my thoughts ; nor only that — 
 I hear thee sing Magnificat, 
 
 And can but think the while
 
 TO MY SISTER. 119 
 
 How all of beautiful and good 
 (If rightly loved and understood) 
 In girlhood and in womanhood 
 Blends with our Lady's smile. 
 
 S weet Sister, with the praying eyes, 
 So loyal to the sanctities 
 
 That banish doubt and fear, — 
 Dear eyes, so dark and yet so bright, 
 So radiant with unearthly light, 
 Theirs is the witchery of night, 
 
 When moon and stars shine clear ! 
 
 Tyntesfield, February 14, 1S70.
 
 120 
 
 TO MY BROTHER. 
 
 OBIIT IN FEST. S. BARNAB^, MDCCCLXIX. 
 Reqtiiescat in pace. 
 
 Another voice is sweetly hushed, 
 
 Another pulse is still, 
 Another face withdrawn, whose smile 
 
 Made sunshine on God's hill ; 
 The grave -stones where our hearts have wept 
 
 Are mile-stones on the road 
 By which, a pilgrim band, we climb 
 
 The citadel of God. 
 
 Dear Brother, when thy prayers ascend 
 
 For me before the shrine, 
 And when (it is a daily prayer) 
 
 I plead for thee in mine, 
 As wc approach a common Lord, 
 
 The thought is very sweet — 
 • Unbroken is their fellowship 
 
 Who at the altar meet
 
 TO MY BROTHER. 121 
 
 I kneel before the Sacrament, 
 
 And creed and hymn and prayer 
 Proclaim the Church's dauntless faith 
 
 That God Himself is there ; 
 And saints and angels bow the head 
 
 Before His altar-throne, 
 Who, ever loyal to His word, 
 
 Thus tarries with His own. 
 
 And thou art His \ — Oh, who can say — 
 
 What words can ever tell — 
 Their peace of mind who hear the voice 
 
 That whispers — ' All is well ! ' 
 'Tis then I feel how near thou art. 
 
 Thy face I almost see. 
 When in the Eucharist I touch 
 
 The Hand that touches thee. 
 
 And He Who now has welcomed thee 
 
 This blessing did ordain. 
 That thou on earth should'st taste with Him 
 
 The sacrament of pain ; 
 A wondrous privilege was thine 
 
 So near the Cross to stand. 
 And gaze upon the thorn-bound Brow, 
 
 And clasp the nail-pierced Hand.
 
 122 TO MY BROTHER. 
 
 Across thy path a shadow fell, 
 
 A shadow from the Rood, 
 And hence thy sweet serenity, 
 
 Thy gentle fortitude ; 
 And patience had her perfect work 
 
 When bodily distress 
 Had formed in thee the mind of Christ, 
 
 So strong in feebleness. 
 
 And when thou stood'st confronting death, 
 
 Thy feet upon the brink 
 Of that dark stream, the thought of which 
 
 Makes trembling nature shrink. 
 Thou didst not know a moment's fear, 
 
 No doubts assailed thee then, 
 So certain of His deathless love 
 
 Who lives the King of men. 
 
 He passed the threshold of thy room. 
 
 He stood beside thy bed, — 
 The Vancjuisher of sin and pain, 
 
 The Raiser of the dead, 
 The Healer of humanity, 
 
 Of blind, and deaf, and dumb, — 
 When priestly hands dispensed for thee 
 
 The sweet Viaticum.
 
 TO MY BROTHER. 
 
 He came not then to raise or heal, 
 
 But, as thine eyes grew dim, 
 To take thee, folded to His Heart, 
 
 To fall asleep in Him. 
 Thus glory blossoms out of grace, 
 
 Thine eyes are dim no more. 
 Thy soul has found its native place 
 
 On the eternal shore. 
 
 The angels of the Sepulchre 
 Seem evermore to sing — 
 ' O Grave, where is thy victory ? 
 ' O Death, where is thy sting ? ' 
 Death dies beneath the Hands of Christ ; 
 
 And, Brother, thou canst see 
 That Face, the sunrise of the world, 
 Ah, it is well with thee !
 
 X24 
 
 SLEEP AND DEATH. 
 
 ' In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth 
 upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ; then He openeth the 
 ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.' 
 
 'Whether wc wake or sleep, we shall live together with 
 
 Him.' 
 
 ' There shall be no night there.' 
 
 Forth from the sepulchre of sleep 
 With each returning morn we come, 
 God's hand uplifts us from that tomb, 
 
 His eyes unwearied vigil keep, 
 
 Till scattered by the rising sun 
 The shadows flee ; though dark and dim 
 The paths we tread, we know to Him 
 
 The darkness and the light arc one. 
 
 So sweet is sleep, a prophecy. 
 With each returning fall of night, 
 That Death, the harbinger of light 
 
 And life, shall find us by-and-bye.
 
 SLEEP AND DEATH. 125 
 
 The Lord is shepherding His sheep, 
 
 In every danger their defence ; 
 
 Sleep signifieth confidence, 
 And death is life-renewing sleep. 
 
 God sings His children's lullaby ; 
 
 Who trust His father-love may rest 
 
 Of all divinest things possest ; 
 To doubt Him is indeed to die. 
 
 Lord, slay my doubt, my darkness slay, 
 In Thee no darkness dwells at all, 
 And I am Thine whate'er befall, 
 
 My night must flee before Thy day.
 
 126 
 
 THE GRACE OF TEARS. 
 
 ' Jesus wept. ' 
 
 •Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' 
 
 Strong Son of Man, of men the King, 
 Now to Thy Heart my heart would sing, 
 
 Now to anoint Thy blessed Feet 
 Joy-tears shall be my offering. 
 
 Ah, Lord 1 what tears Thine Eyes have wept ! 
 Across Thy radiant heavens swept 
 
 A rain-storm, when two sisters showed 
 The tomb wherein their brother slept. 
 
 Yet all the tears by mourners shed 
 To laughter are transfigured, 
 
 If in Thy bottle they be stored 
 Whose love prevails to raise the dead. 
 
 And blessed are the hearts that mourn. 
 For deepest joy is sorrow-born ; 
 
 To furnish forth the Feast of feasts 
 We crush the grape and bruise the corn.* 
 
 * Isaiah xxviii. 28,
 
 THE GRACE OF TEARS. 127 
 
 The gracious tears that fill the eyes 
 Of penitents, when they arise 
 
 Absolved by Thee, are pearls that gem 
 The shining gates of Paradise. 
 
 So to Thy Heart my 'heart would sing ; 
 Though worthless be the best I bring, 
 Thy dear acceptance gives a worth 
 To it, to me, to everything. 
 
 Porto Find, Sexagesima Sunday, 1879.
 
 I2S 
 
 5. VERONICA. 
 
 A LOVELY tale, misunderstood 
 
 By those who fail to see 
 The earth o'ershadowed by the Rood, 
 
 The world a Calvary. 
 
 All feet the blood-stained path must tread, 
 
 By which the goal is won, 
 Up which the Father's Spirit led 
 
 The cross-encumbered Son. 
 
 Mothers arc there by Mary's side, 
 
 The cross their hearts within ; 
 Strong men, like Simon, glorified 
 
 By painful discipline ; 
 
 And consecrated virgins, too. 
 Whose eyes with tears are dim. 
 
 The Master's footsteps still pursue. 
 And minister to Him.
 
 S. VERONICA. 129 
 
 So she of whom the legend tells, 
 The type and pattern stands 
 
 Of virgin souls, whom love impels 
 To serve Him with their hands. 
 
 Though but a handkerchief she brin 
 To cool His aching Brows, 
 
 His graciousness the offering 
 Right gratefully allows. 
 
 Right royally He deigns to be 
 
 Indebted to her care ; 
 Straightway His generosity 
 
 Anticipates her prayer. 
 
 One word, one smile ;— He makes her whole, 
 
 He lays her heart to rest ; 
 Methinks it was upon her soul 
 
 His image was impressed. 
 
 Tyrol, September, 1S80.
 
 I30 
 
 ' THE GOLDEN STAIR: 
 
 (A PICTURE BY E. BURNE JONES.) 
 
 God's children tread life's Golden Stair, 
 A pilgrim-band descending slow ; 
 Though sorrowful, they seem to know 
 
 A secret that forbids despair. 
 
 Hushed is their music, for as yet 
 Their path descends ; in penitence 
 They seek the Master's footstool, thence 
 
 Arising, they their feet shall set 
 
 More firmly on His Stair of Gold 
 In glad ascent ; no words can tell 
 The Majesties invisible 
 
 Their eyes are destined to behold. 
 
 Meanwhile their lovely silence makes 
 Loud lamentation for their sin ; 
 Till one who holds a violin 
 
 With lovely sounds the silence breaks. 
 
 •
 
 • THE GOLDEN STAIR: 131 
 
 The Cross it is that in her hands 
 Responds to their unuttered prayer ; 
 Each maiden on the Golden Stair 
 
 Its gracious message understands. 
 
 And now the Doves of God are seen 
 O'ershadowing the Stair of Gold, 
 And on one side of it, behold ! 
 
 The Tree of Life, God's Evergreen. 
 
 And over all a radiant dawn 
 
 Gives promise of a Golden Day ; 
 The pilgrim-maidens go their way 
 
 No longer silent and forlorn. 
 
 And here the painter pauses, here 
 'Tis well for all to pause and wait ; 
 The sequel I anticipate 
 
 Painter nor poet can make clear. 
 
 Changed is the scene ; they climb, they sing : 
 Sweet is the song that celebrates 
 The opening of the Golden Gates 
 
 To happy pilgrims entering. 
 
 Learn thou, my soul, the Cross to bear, 
 Leave thou the things that are behind, 
 And Godward climb, — thou too shalt find 
 
 The path of life a Golden Stair. 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 THE RHINE AT COLOGNE. 
 
 From age to age the river flows 
 
 From Alpine heights to northern seas ; 
 
 It finds its cradle amongst those, 
 Its sepulchre with these. 
 
 A lordly river, swift and strong, — 
 'Twas once a babbling baby-stream ; 
 
 Full grown 'tis silent, and its song 
 Has passed into a dream. 
 
 Its journey was begun in haste, 
 Laughing and leaping it arose. 
 
 Unmindful of the salt sea waste, 
 The grave to which it flows. 
 
 But here a larger, sadder stream. 
 Not unpolluted are its waves ; 
 
 To share the sorrows it would seem 
 Of towns whose walls it laves.
 
 THE RHINE AT COLOGNE. 
 
 It hears the speech of every land, 
 It lends itself to every keel, 
 
 If men its voice could understand 
 What could it not reveal ! 
 
 It gathers burdens as it goes — 
 The Nations' mighty water-way ; 
 
 What secrets would its depths disclose 
 Brought to the light of day ! 
 
 Yet are there some who understand : 
 They see its waters mixed with blood, - 
 
 A guardian of the Fatherland, 
 A minister of good. 
 
 Past busy towns, past silent graves, 
 Down- lapsing ceaselessly it flows, 
 
 Unconscious of the hungry waves, 
 The tomb to which it goes. 
 
 It bids the fruitful vineyards grow 
 More fruitful still by night and day, 
 
 It shares the toil of man, and so 
 It goes upon its way.
 
 r34 THE RHINE AT COLOGNE. 
 
 On, on, the ancient river flows 
 
 Between the hills, beneath the trees ; 
 
 At length its music finds a close 
 Lost in lamenting seas. 
 
 Cologne, September, iS8o.
 
 '03 
 
 OBER AMMERGAU, 187 1. 
 
 A MOUNTAIN Stands whose lofty brow, 
 The Cross uphfting high, recalls 
 The altar-hill ; its shadow falls 
 
 Athwart the roofs of Ammergau. 
 
 Fond memory will linger long 
 
 About those highland homes, and where 
 That village church invites to prayer, 
 
 And love is keen, and faith is strong. 
 
 In shifting groups the peasants mix, 
 
 Saluting as to Mass they go ; 
 
 Unlettered folk, how well they know 
 The language of the Crucifix ! 
 
 The Church their Mother, they are blest ; 
 
 The Church their Teacher, they are wise ; 
 
 Wisdom makes bright their Teacher's eyes 
 And love makes warm their Mother's breast.
 
 136 OBER AMMERGAU. 
 
 Su taught, the things unseen they see, 
 The things they see they ponder well ; 
 So taught, those peasant-voices tell 
 
 The oft-told tale of Calvary. 
 
 AVith praying lips, and eyes that pray, 
 And hearts that worship, they prepare 
 To preach their solemn sermon, — prayer 
 
 Makes eloquent their Passion-Play. 
 
 'J'he work of loving hearts whose fire 
 Is kindled at the altar ; thence 
 Comes that impassioned eloquence, 
 
 The preaching of that peasant-quire. 
 
 May we, too, at the altar kneel ; 
 Thus, only thus, can we discern 
 God's secret ; thus alone we learn 
 
 'J'he lessons of the Passions-Spiel. 
 
 Her net the Church spreads for and wide 
 And mistress still of head and heart. 
 The home of Truth, the school of Art, 
 
 She preaches Jesus Crucified.
 
 OBER AMMERGAU. 137 
 
 Grateful my heart shall ever be 
 To Ammergau, still lingering where 
 Those awe-struck peasants kneel in prayer 
 
 Around their wondrous Calvary. 
 
 Ober Ammergau, August, 1871.
 
 I3S 
 
 OBER AMMERGAU, 1880. 
 
 The Cross a Tree of Life I see, 
 The centre of a ransomed world, 
 The banner that was first unfurled 
 
 By wounded Hands on Calvary. 
 
 The Cross, Thy sceptre, staff, and rod, 
 Rules, comforts, disciplines the hearts 
 Of men, and evermore imparts 
 
 The knowledge of Thy Heart, O God. 
 
 Nine years have passed, and once again 
 A passion-pilgrim here I kneel. 
 Thankful for what the years reveal. 
 
 And for the gladness born of pain. 
 
 These nine long years of widowhood 
 To me a deepening joy have brought : 
 Lord, Thou art found in sorrow sought, 
 
 In darkness Thou art understood.
 
 OBER AMMERGAU. I39 
 
 And this is life eternal ; this 
 
 Suffices,— Thee to find and know, 
 To love and worship ; only so 
 
 We pass from bitterness to bliss. 
 
 The Cross exhibits grief, and yet 
 
 'Twas joy that led Thee to that goal ; 
 The man who seeks to be made whole 
 
 On Calvary his feet must set; — 
 
 That Mount of myrrh and frankincense, 
 Where sweetness, born of bitterness, 
 Brings comfort to the heart's distress. 
 
 Yields solace for the soul's suspense. 
 
 The Cross discovers grace and sin ; 
 Of sin the malice, and of grace 
 The virtue to destroy all trace 
 
 Of leprosy the soul within. 
 
 The Cross discovers death and life. 
 
 Life born of death, death doomed and slain. 
 And rapture superseding pain, 
 
 And victory succeeding strife.
 
 I40 OBER AMMERGAU. 
 
 The Cross is still Thy staff and rod, 
 Thy blood-stained banner still unfurled, 
 Revealing to a ransomed world 
 
 The secrets of Thy Heart, O God. 
 
 Obkr Ammergau, September, 1880.
 
 141 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 This was the city, here the place 
 
 Where Mark first came the Cross to rear, 
 And build a throne for Christ ; and here 
 
 The royal-hearted Athanase, — 
 
 The Saint, all sweetness and all strength, — 
 Did battle with the impious lie, 
 The Christ-dethroning blasphemy, 
 
 And won the victory at length 
 
 Which gladdens still the hearts of all 
 Who love the world-redeeming Name. 
 With pride let Christian lips proclaim 
 
 His praise who helped to build the wall 
 
 That guards the Church's citadel. 
 To Christ, the Giver of all grace, 
 Be thanks for brave Saint Athanase, 
 
 And for the Creed he loved so well.* 
 
 * See Note I.
 
 142 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 And here another champion rose, 
 That priceless Creed to vindicate, 
 Upon this throne Saint Cyril sat, 
 
 A terror to the Church's foes. 
 
 / 
 
 And many another name beside, 
 Wise Clement, lofty Origen, — 
 Theirs is the honour due to men 
 
 Whose intellect is sanctified ; * 
 
 Who dedicate with duteous care 
 To God the gifts received from Him, 
 Who see, when other eyes are dim, 
 
 Truth's countenance so grave and fair. 
 
 Though dead, their works do follow them. 
 Fruits of the ever-fruitful Cross ; 
 Though all things suffer change and loss, 
 
 Unfading is their diadem. 
 
 Lord, hear the weeping prayers of men 
 Who yearn to see upraised, unfurled, 
 The Standard of a conquered world. 
 
 Thy Cross ! oh, plant it here again, 
 
 ♦ See N ote K.
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 143 
 
 Where died Saint Mark, where toiled so long 
 
 Thy great Confessor Athanase ; 
 
 Re-flood with Pentecostal grace 
 Thy Church ; dear Lord, redress her wrong I 
 
 Alexandria, January, 1875.
 
 144 
 
 BETHLEHEM. 
 
 ' A little child shall lead them.' 
 
 The music of the angels' hymn — 
 
 It has not died away, 
 From many a shrine those strains divine 
 
 Are wafted day by day. 
 
 Where'er a Christian altar stands, 
 
 Our Bethlehem is there ; 
 And morn by morn the Christ is born, 
 
 We find Him everywhere. 
 
 How priest-like was the Mother-Maid 
 When first her Child she kissed ; 
 
 How mother-like the priestly hands 
 That clasp the Eucharist ! 
 
 Yes ! Bethlehem, 'the House of Bread,' 
 
 This is our home, and here. 
 Where shines the star, the wise men are, 
 
 And pastoral spirits dear.
 
 BETHLEHEM. 145 
 
 Here souls erst dark and desolate, 
 
 Abandoned and alone, 
 Their sorrows past, repose at last 
 
 Beside the manger-throne. 
 
 Here hearts grown old regain their youth, 
 Since Mary's Babe has smiled ; 
 
 And all things sweet together meet 
 Around the Eternal Child. 
 
 His Name is still 'the Prince of Peace,' 
 
 He comes our joy to be; 
 And birthdays bright owe all their light 
 
 To His Nativity. 
 
 And souls bereaved, confessing now 
 That death has lost its sting, 
 
 He can beguile. His baby-smile 
 Transfigures everything. 
 
 His Birth it is that conquers death, 
 His Life that conquers sin ; 
 
 And oh ! how blest are all who rest 
 Those infant-arms within ! 
 
 L
 
 146 BETHLEHEM. 
 
 They share His triumphs and His joys, 
 He makes His goods their own ; 
 
 The world for them is Bethlehem, 
 An altar and a tlironc. 
 
 His Hands still multiply the loaves, 
 
 Still make the water wine ; 
 Salvation's sacramental wells 
 
 O'er flow with grace divine. 
 
 The grace is His, and His the throne 
 
 Established now on earth, 
 From under which the waters flow 
 
 Of our baptismal birth. 
 
 Out of the mouths of very babes 
 
 Has God ordained strength ; 
 And from the Strong all sweetness comes * 
 
 This Man-child born at length. 
 
 After a night of travail sore — 
 
 A weary, weary night — 
 His beauty all-consoling is, 
 
 .\ll-con(iuering His might. 
 
 *■ Judges xiv. 14.
 
 BETHLEHEM. 147 
 
 He bids us share His throne with Him, 
 
 And wear His diadem ; 
 He seeks a cradle in our hearts, — 
 
 Ah, this is Bethlehem ! 
 
 Man's heart has learnt the angels' mirth, 
 His lips their hymn — their creed. 
 
 Since Jesu's birth makes all the earth 
 A Bethlehem indeed ! 
 
 Bethlehem, April, 1S75. 
 
 I. 2
 
 14^ 
 
 CALVARY. 
 
 ' The Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of 
 God.' 
 
 Still stands the Cross, the saving Cross, 
 
 It stands for evermore, 
 So mighty to repair our loss. 
 
 Our sonship to restore. 
 
 Where'er a Christian altar stands, 
 
 Our Calvary is there ; 
 Upheld we see the wounded Hands 
 
 In sacerdotal prayer. 
 
 The worlds High Priest it is Who prays, 
 His words are strong and few ; — 
 ' Father forgive ' is what He says, 
 ' They know not what they do.' 
 
 The once-slain Lamb confronts our eyes. 
 
 We own Him Cod and Lord, 
 In sacramental mysteries 
 
 By filial hearts adored.
 
 CALVARY. 149 
 
 Earth's altars — are they not the feet 
 
 On which that Altar stands, 
 Where Jesus hath His glory-seat, 
 
 A sceptre in His Hands ? 
 
 His priestly Heart still intercedes — 
 
 A world-redeeming prayer ! 
 His priestly work endures ; He pleads 
 
 For all men everywhere. 
 
 Thus heaven and earth one Temple makt. 
 
 We kneel its porch within, 
 Beneath those nail-pierced Hands which take 
 
 Their vengeance upon sin. 
 
 Upheld to God, outstretched to men, 
 
 How mighty their appeal ! 
 Let but the grace be sought, ah, then 
 
 How swift they are to heal ! 
 
 The Cross belongs not to the past. 
 
 Its virtue is not spent ; 
 Its shadow o'er the world is cast 
 
 In this sweet Sacrament 
 
 It lives — an ever-growing Tree, 
 
 Its flowers never fade ; 
 The fruit of Immortality 
 
 We gather in its shade.
 
 CALK4A'y. 
 
 "fis Jesu's throne, a throne of Grace, 
 
 He dwells with us, and still 
 His children seek their Lord's embrace 
 
 Upon His altar-hill. 
 
 And seeking find : — Ah ! dearest Lord, 
 Thus at Thy Cross we bow ; 
 
 Discerned, confessed, embraced, adored, 
 Our All-in-all art Thou ! 
 
 Palestine, May, 1875.
 
 iSi 
 
 PR A YER. 
 
 ' When ye pray say, Our Father.' 
 
 To rest beneath a Father's eye, 
 
 Upon a Father's breast, — 
 This is the children's lot, and thus 
 
 All praying souls are blest ; 
 They gaze upon a Father's face, 
 
 A Father's voice they hear. 
 And praying lips are sweetly laid 
 
 Against a Father's ear. 
 
 For prayer is just the child's caress. 
 
 When cradled in the arms 
 Of Love Paternal ; this it is 
 
 That comforts and that calms ; 
 But prayerless souls are comfortless, 
 
 The victims of unrest, 
 Self-centred and dissatisfied, 
 
 Unquickened and unblesL
 
 152 PRAYER. 
 
 From this, dear Lord, Thou savest us 
 
 In teaching us to pray — 
 I thank Thee for the blessed words, 
 
 More precious every day — 
 The children's prayer ; in teaching this 
 
 Truly Thou teachest all ; 
 It makes the whole wide world a home, 
 
 Life one long festival. 
 
 Oh, would that souls disconsolate, 
 
 Self-weary, sick with sin, 
 Would pray this prayer, and lay them down 
 
 A Father's arms within ! 
 'Tis this that makes the burden light 
 
 Of every grief and care ; 
 It ministers the balm that soothes 
 
 The pangs of self-despair. 
 
 'Tis this that rallies souls beset 
 
 And worsted in the strife ; 
 'Tis this that re-invigorates 
 
 The sacramental life ;* 
 'Tis this that makes the feeble strong, 
 
 That makes the dying brave. 
 The prayer that is a cradle-song 
 
 Makes music at the grave. 
 
 * ' Semel abluimur Baptisinate, quotidie abluimur oratione. 
 S. Augustine.
 
 PRAYER. 153 
 
 Lord, visit those who know not how 
 
 In self-prostrating prayer 
 To fall before Thy mercy-seat, 
 
 And find their solace there ; 
 Who bring no alabaster-box 
 
 To break in homage meet, 
 No costly nard, no contrite tears, 
 
 To bathe Thy blessed Feet. 
 
 Oh, win a prayer from prayerless lips, 
 
 Make bright the souls so dim 
 Of sons who, when their Father speaks. 
 
 Refuse to answer Him ! 
 Oh, school the lips of praying men 
 
 To do their work aright — 
 Their blissful, sacerdotal work. 
 
 Till faith be lost in sight ! 
 
 Thy Kingdom come ! Thy Will be done ! 
 
 So through the night we pray. 
 Till, scattered by the rising Sun, 
 
 The shadows flee away ; 
 Then praise shall take the place of prayer. 
 
 And toil shall end in rest, 
 And all Thy children everywhere 
 
 Shall be for ever blest 1 
 
 Corfu, June, 1875.
 
 1 54 
 
 J LITANY OF OBSECRATION. 
 
 Father, listen to the crying 
 
 Of the children at Thy knee ; 
 Jesu, Thou wilt own as brothers 
 
 Those whose hearts appeal to Thee ; 
 To be called Thy friends and clients, 
 
 Holy Spirit, make us meet ; 
 We salute Thee, we invoke Thee, 
 
 By Thy Name of Paraclete ; 
 We confess Thee, we adore Thee, 
 
 Consubstantial Trinity; 
 Visit us with Thy Salvation, 
 
 Be Thyself our Jubilee ! 
 
 By Thy blissful benediction, 
 
 By Thy beautiful bequest — 
 ' Peace I leave, My peace I give you,' 
 
 And 'The peace-makers are blest,' — 
 Saviour, Master, we adjure Thee, 
 
 Aid Thy Church so tempest-tost. 
 Re-awaken Sinai's thunder 
 
 In the hush of Pentecost. 
 By Thy love, O Uncreated ! 
 
 Seeking a created home.
 
 A LITANY OF OBSECRATION. I55 
 
 Through the Spirit's operation 
 
 Cloistered in a Virgin's womb ; 
 By the joy of kings and shepherds 
 
 When Thine Eyes saluted them, 
 Brighter than the star that lingered 
 
 O'er the roofs of Bethlehem ; 
 By Thy Boyhood's constant vision 
 
 Of a fast-approaching death ; 
 By the memories that gather 
 
 Round the hearth of Nazareth ; 
 By Thy going forth to battle, 
 
 When the Tempter strove with Thee ; 
 By the long-protracted struggle, 
 
 And the blood-bought victory ; 
 AVhen the blushing Moon beheld Thee 
 
 Prostrate in a bloody sweat, 
 By the unimagined sorrows 
 
 Of that night on Olivet ; 
 By the Cross's proclamation 
 
 Of a world-embracing love, 
 When the earth beneath Thee trembled. 
 
 And the sky grew black above ; 
 By Thy Rising and Ascending ; 
 
 By the long nine days' suspense ; 
 By the Pentecostal Shower's 
 
 Manifold magnificence ; 
 On the bright baptismal waters 
 
 By the Spirit's swift descent ;
 
 156 A LITANY OF OBSECRATION. 
 
 By the love, all love excelling, 
 
 Of the Blessed Sacrament ; 
 Oh, by all Thou hast accomplished, 
 
 And by all Thou hast endured, 
 May the bulwarks of Thy Sion 
 
 Be triumphantly restored ! 
 Hear, oh, hear us, we adjure Thee ! 
 
 Make Thy Church again to shine 
 With a beauty and a lustre 
 
 Unmistakeably divine ! 
 Crown Thy Bride, and may the children 
 
 Of the Bride-chamber rejoice, 
 Folded to a Mother's bosom. 
 
 Gladdened by a Father's voice ! 
 
 Father, Thou wilt heed the crying 
 
 Of the children at Thy knee ; 
 Jesu, Thou wilt own as brothers 
 
 All who lift their hearts to Thee ; 
 Holy Ghost, Emancipator, 
 
 Thee with confidence we greet. 
 For Thy consolations fail not. 
 
 And Thy Name is Paraclete ; 
 Come to be our strong Salvation, 
 
 Come to make our Jubilee, 
 Everlasting, Undivided, 
 
 Consubstantial Trinity ! 
 
 Monte Gassing, January, 1S72.
 
 157 
 
 A GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION. 
 
 God, Thou art here, 
 I love Thee and I fear. 
 
 II, 
 
 I come to meditate on Death, 
 Life-giver, may Thy quickening breath 
 
 My inspiration be ; 
 Oh, ponder what the Spirit saith, 
 j\Iy soul, to thee ! 
 
 III. 
 
 'Tis night — dark night — on Calvary, 
 
 The Cross is very high ; 
 My straining eyes can scarcely see 
 
 Beneath the blackened sky 
 The figure of the Crucified ; 
 Ah me ! 
 For me He died.
 
 158 A GOOD FRIDAY MEDTTATION. 
 
 For me ! for all ! — still whiter grows 
 
 That figure on the Rood ; 
 His life-blood (robe of purple) flows, 
 Thus must His Spouse be wooed ; 
 The Royal Bridegroom claims the Bride, 
 The Church 
 For which He died. 
 
 And oh ! how dark my life, and dark 
 
 Its future as its past. 
 But for His saving Passion ; — hark ! 
 
 The goal is reached at last ; 
 ' 'Tis finished,' the Saviour cried ; 
 Ah me ! 
 For me He died. 
 
 He speaks of work accomplished ; yes ! 
 
 His labours have an end. 
 The Risen Christ is strong to bless. 
 
 Is mighty to befriend ; 
 And ever open is His Side, — 
 My Home, 
 For whom He died. 
 
 Thence flows the stream whose fountain-head 
 
 Is in the sacred Heart, 
 For me the precious Blood was shed, 
 
 I claim in it a part ;
 
 A GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION. 159 
 
 That cleansing sacramental tide 
 Heals nne ; 
 For this He died. 
 
 The night is past ; on Calvary 
 
 Bright shines the Easter sun ; 
 For me He died, He lives for me, 
 
 The Victory is won ! 
 And Heaven's Gate is opened wide 
 To me 
 For whom He died 
 
 IV, 
 
 Is this the vision that I see ? 
 
 The Crucified, 
 
 My God, my Guide, 
 Enthroned, triumphant, glorified • 
 
 What joy for thee. 
 For thee, my soul, for whom He died ! 
 
 To thee He speaks, as erst He spoke 
 
 To souls distrest, 
 
 And thou art blest 
 To whom these words are now addressed, 
 
 ' Assume My yoke. 
 And learn of Me ; I give thee rest.'
 
 i6o ./ GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION. 
 
 V. 
 
 Dear Lord, since Thou hast died for me, 
 And by Thy Passion set me free 
 
 From sin's degrading thrall ; 
 My joy shall be to live for Thee, 
 
 iMy God, my All ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 To God alway 
 
 My loving thanks I pay.
 
 i6i 
 
 A THANKSGIVING. 
 
 ' He hath put a new song in my mouth, even a thanksgiving 
 unto our God.' 
 
 I THANK Thee, Lord, for all the hopes 
 
 That make the future fair, 
 I thank Thee for the memories 
 
 That interdict despair ; 
 I thank Thee for the lights and shades 
 
 Of life's fast-closing day ; 
 I thank Thee for the joys that live, 
 
 The griefs that die away. 
 
 I thank Thee for the Creed that grows 
 
 More precious every year ; 
 I thank Thee for the Voice that speaks 
 
 So musically clear ; 
 I thank Thee for the ' Peace, be still ' 
 
 That calms the spirit's strife ; 
 I thank Thee for baptismal birth, 
 
 And sacramental life. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 A THANKSGIVIXG. 
 
 I thank Thee for the bread of tears, 
 
 Its bitterness is sweet ; 
 I thank Thee for the witness-wounds 
 
 In Hands and Side and Feet ; 
 I thank Thee for the discipline 
 
 Of penance and of prayer, 
 And for the healing Cross that throws 
 
 Its shadow everywhere. 
 
 Thine altar-sacrament reveals 
 
 The depths of love divine, 
 Thy priestly Hands o'ershadow still 
 
 The gifts of bread and wine ; 
 I thank Thee for that Gift of gifts, 
 
 That legacy of love, 
 The one Oblation that endures, 
 
 The Feast all feasts above. 
 
 T thank Thee for the holy Home 
 
 Where all 'I'hy children dwell, 
 The Church ! it is ' a wealthy place,' 
 
 A rock-built citadel ; 
 And angel-guards and patron-saints 
 
 Around the fortress stand ; 
 I thank Thee for their tutelage 
 
 In yonder fatherland.
 
 A THANKSGIVING. 163 
 
 I thank Thee for the blessed Book 
 
 And all its written lore ; 
 The Truth has made Thy children free, 
 
 We know Whom we adore ; 
 I thank Thee for the stream of Grace 
 
 That from Thy Throne descends, 
 I thank Thee for the Creed that speaks 
 
 Of life that never ends. 
 
 I thank Thee for the love that binds 
 
 These feeble hands to Thine, 
 Then bids them do a priestly work 
 
 And bless the bread and wine ; 
 I thank Thee for the love that lets 
 
 This feeble tongue declare 
 Thy pardon to the penitent 
 
 Who kneels to Thee in prayer. 
 
 I thank thee, Lord, for all the hopes 
 
 That make the future fair, 
 I thank thee for the memories 
 
 That interdict despair ; 
 I thank Thee for the blessedness 
 
 Of life's fast-waning day, 
 And treasure stored in that dear Land 
 
 No longer far away, 
 M 2
 
 1 64 ^-1 THANKSGIVING. 
 
 But more than all I thank Thee, Lord, 
 
 For Bliss that is Thine Own, 
 The Glory of Thy Diadem, 
 
 Thy Sceptre and Thy Throne ; 
 Oh, 'tis a joy with rapture fraught 
 
 That thrills the child-like heart. 
 To ponder Thy Beatitude — 
 
 That Thou art what Thou art ! 
 
 New Year's Day, 1876.
 
 i65 
 
 SONNETS. 
 
 THE THRONE OF SOLOMON. 
 
 ' Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and over- 
 laid it with pure gold.' 
 
 Each winter is prophetical of spring. 
 
 A prophecy he wrought who made of old 
 
 A throne of ivory o'erlaid with gold, 
 
 A seat befitting an anointed king. 
 
 There Sheba's queen beheld him, wondering ; 
 
 The wisdom God imparted and controlled 
 
 Empowered him her secrets to unfold, 
 
 And answer all her anxious questioning. 
 
 Foreshadowed by the seat of Solomon, 
 
 A royal throne more beautiful, more blest. 
 
 Hath God prepared for His Anointed Son — 
 
 The Maiden- Mother's undefiled breast. 
 
 True sons were they of Sheba's pilgrim-queen 
 
 Who laid their gifts Christ's baby-hands between.
 
 1 66 
 
 DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 ' Everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." 
 
 Who follows Christ, upon the blood-stained stair 
 
 His feet must set ; this is the homeward way, 
 
 N\'herein to walk is evermore to say — 
 
 ' Thy Will, not mine,' — the Great Forerunner's prayer 
 
 VVherein to walk is evermore to bear 
 
 The Cross, pursuing Him, Whom to obey 
 
 Is to be sealed a victim day by day, 
 
 And evermore the crown of thorns to wear. 
 
 Our Aaron's censer yields its fragrance still. 
 
 Entrusted to their wounded hands who make 
 
 The Pure Oblation on His holy hilL 
 
 An alabaster-box, my heart, Lord, take, 
 
 Its emptiness with love's sweet ointment fill, 
 
 'J'hcn let me at Thy Feet kneel down and break.
 
 1 67 
 
 PRIESTHOOD. 
 ' The priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance.' 
 
 Of old stood Aaron in the Holiest Place ; 
 The glory-star above the mercy-seat 
 Had slain him with its lustre and its heat, 
 But for the incense-cloud that veiled his face,* 
 Grand prophecy of sacramental grace ! 
 Now all are priests who firmly plant their feet 
 On holy ground, and offer what is meet, 
 Th' anointed Son unto the Sire's embrace. 
 The glory-star — it is the Father's smile ; 
 The mercy-seat — that Manhood without stain 
 Now glorified, but crucified erewhile. 
 Bejewelled with the wounds that still remain. 
 And show to simple souls and without guile 
 The glory of the sacrament of pain. 
 
 Genoa, 1S79. 
 
 * Leviticus xvi. 13.
 
 i68 
 
 VITA VITAL NOSTRAl. 
 
 *To me to live is Christ.' 
 
 God's garden blossoms in a wilderness, 
 
 The Tree of Life is planted in a tomb,* 
 
 The Life of life springs from a virgin-womb, 
 
 From death emerges One wlio comes to bless 
 
 With gifts of life, our dying to redress, 
 
 Who feeds us in His Father's upper room 
 
 With living bread ; His Breath is a perfume, 
 
 His Face a sun, His Smile a warm caress. 
 
 O Life, of death the Death I O conquering Lovt \ 
 
 Too late, alas ! to Thine embrace I come. 
 
 And yield myself the vassal of Thy Will. 
 
 Thy Spirit's light and truth send from above, 
 
 And lead me to my many-mansioned home, 
 
 lliose upper chambers on Thy holy hill. 
 
 Siena, Fcbruarj', 1879. 
 
 * See Note L.
 
 i69 
 
 THE TEARS OF JESUS. 
 
 ' With strong crying and tears learned He obedience by the 
 things which He suffered ; and being made perfect, He became 
 the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.' 
 
 Sharp is the Cross, and Calvary is steep, 
 And tearful are the love-illumined Eyes 
 Of Him who hangs thereon and meekly dies 
 That sinners, love-constrained, may learn to weep. 
 The harvest of His Passion He must reap ; 
 Responsive to His travail-tears and cries 
 Forth from their graves sin-stricken souls arise, 
 The victims Hell is powerless to keep. 
 Christ is the Shepherd of His Father's sheep, 
 The Keeper of God's ransomed Israel, 
 Whose tear-filled, love-lit Eyes refuse to sleep 
 Till vanquished are the yawning Gates of Hell. 
 These precious relics shall my heart enshrine, 
 O Tears of Christ, all- human, all- divine ! 
 
 BORDIGHERA, February, 1879.
 
 xjo 
 
 THE WOUNDS OF JESUS. 
 
 ' Faithful arc the wounds of a friend.' 
 
 Five Witness-Wounds ! in each may be discerned 
 A mouth whose speech is lovely reticence, 
 Whose reticence impassioned eloquence, 
 Whereby entranced the hearts of men have yearned 
 Like Him to grow. Who on His death-bed turned 
 Right royally His bounty to dispense 
 To Dysmas wounded, won to penitence. 
 When by the world He wooed His love was spurned. 
 Pathetic speak those silent Wounds to me, 
 Faithful they are, and this their witness true — 
 * One lives Who loves thee unforsakingly ; 
 Like Him to grow, thou must be wounded too, 
 The heart must bleed that craves like His to be, 
 And bleeding hands alone His works may do.' 
 
 Betchwortii, April, 1879.
 
 171 
 
 THE SMILES OF JESUS 
 
 ' Jesus rejoiced in spirit.' 
 
 'Show the light of Thy Countenance, and we shall be 
 whole.' 
 
 Thy Bliss, dear Lord, our human joy creates ; 
 But for the smile that lives upon Thy Face, 
 Forlorn we had not found one sunny place 
 In this dark world ; but now the Golden Gates 
 Stand ever open, and Thy gladness waits 
 On sorrow sanctified, when souls retrace 
 Their wandering steps, enkindled by Thy grace, 
 Whose joy Thy glad approval consecrates. 
 Thy Smiles outlive our tears ; there comes a day 
 When all shall know the joy of priests and kings, 
 And Thy dear Hand shall wipe all tears away. 
 Then shall Thy Smile discover many things, 
 Why laugh the hearts of children at their play, 
 Why skip the lambs, and why the skylark sings. 
 
 Siena, February, 1879.
 
 17: 
 
 THE HOSPITALITY OT JESUS. 
 
 ' And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was 
 much grass in the place.' * 
 
 With care the Feast Thou makest is prepared, 
 
 Not bread and fish alone, a grassy seat, — 
 
 And desert-grass means water cool and sweet, 
 
 And palm-tree shade ; for all Thy Love hath cared ; 
 
 Thy Hospitality no pains hath spared 
 
 To make the gift Thou givest all-complete , 
 
 Thy Hands that break the bread have washed the 
 
 feet ; 
 Thy Lips that bless the cup the thirst 'nave shared. 
 Thyself dost minister to every guest. 
 And perfect is Thine every offering ; 
 Vet still, though perfect all, the last is best 
 A shepherd-boy of old did truly sing 
 (Of all the songs he sang the loveliest) 
 ' Tlic\- nothing lack whom Thou art shepherding. 
 
 Cologne, September, 1880. 
 
 * See Note M.
 
 A BOOK OF HALF-SONNETS. 
 
 DEDICA TION. 
 To E. M. G. 
 
 A months — to every day a text cissigned : 
 It is an old device, — a Jiietkod 7teii/ 
 IVith measured words I tretnblitigly pursue. 
 
 Hoping that it may ivifi approval kind 
 From lips that /latter not, tender arid true. 
 
 Ah ! more to mc thy blame than others' praise. 
 
 So long thy love hath blest my months and days.
 
 A BOOK OF HALF-SONNETS. 
 
 ' If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.' — 
 S. John. xiii. 17. 
 
 Our days and months must, like the Church's year, 
 
 Recall that Life of labour that was rest — 
 
 Of all heroic lives the loveliest — 
 
 Which Jesus lived what time He sojourned here. 
 
 Still He abides, our Comrade and our Guest 
 
 Ah ! life becomes a festival indeed 
 
 As day by day we learn to live our Creed ! 
 
 II. 
 Advent. 
 
 ' And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all 
 things new. And He said unto me. Write : for these words are 
 true and faithful.' — Apocalypse xxi. 5. 
 
 A Father's love I know is love indeed. 
 
 His gracious purpose nothing can frustrate, 
 
 What seems is not what is, — wistful I wait 
 
 Till Jesus comes to verify my Creed, 
 
 My failing life to re-inaugurate. 
 
 Sweet are the words meanwhile, ' faithful and true,' 
 
 He comes ! He comes ! Who maketh all things new !
 
 176 
 
 III. 
 Advent. 
 
 •There arc so many kinds of voices in the world, and none 
 of them is without signification.' — I Corinthians xiv. lO. 
 
 All things their music yield,— the nights and days, 
 The psalmody of earth and sky and sea, 
 Bird-song and insect-hum, — all speak of Thee, 
 Each has a voice whose utterance is praise. 
 The Gospel-trumpets sound the Jubilee ; 
 One Voice there is, above all others heard 
 Throughout the ages, heralding the Word.* 
 
 IV. 
 Christmas. 
 
 ' And Jesus called a little child unto Ilini, and set him in 
 the midst.' — S. Matthew xviii. 2. 
 
 The filial life ! this is the life divine ! 
 
 The child is evermore th' apostle true 
 
 Of Him Who what He sees His Father do 
 
 Does only, saying ' Not My will, but Thine.' 
 
 Such was the wisdom wherein Jesus grew. 
 
 Behold the Child the Father's love hath placed 
 
 For ever 'in the midst ' to be embraced ! 
 
 * See Note N.
 
 177 
 
 V. 
 
 Epiphany. 
 
 ' And looking up to Heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, 
 Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.'* — S. Mark vii. 34. 
 
 Speak, Lord, to ears and lips, to deaf and dumb. 
 
 Thine ' Ephphatha,' — to eyes that cannot see. 
 
 Hearing Thy Voice, Thy mouthpiece shall we be, 
 
 Seeing Thy Face, Thy mirror shall become ; 
 
 And so at length we shall resemble Thee. 
 
 Our hearts Thy word must pierce, Thy love must 
 
 wound. 
 To make one music with Thine own attuned. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Epiphany. 
 
 * 1 will behold Thy presence in righteousness, and when I 
 awake up after Thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it.' — 
 Psalm xvii. 16. 
 
 ' In righteousness,' — so only can we go 
 Into the Presence-chamber, and behold 
 The Face of God ; so only be enrolled 
 Among the men of vision, — only so. 
 Thy likeness, Lord, in me Thy child unfold. 
 Bid me from sin arise, bid me awake, 
 Conformity shall satisfaction make. 
 
 * S. Ambrose, referring to this passage, calls Baptism ihe 
 ' sacrament of Opening ' {apertionis mysteriuni). 
 
 . N
 
 178 
 
 VIL 
 Epiphany. 
 
 ' We all, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the same image from glory to glory.' — 2 Corinthian* 
 iii. iS. 
 
 A MIRROR-FACE Upturned, a crj'stal Sea, 
 
 On which a glory falls from heights unseen ; — 
 
 Such heights and depths of love man stands between 
 
 Above, beneath, 'tis God's Humanity 
 
 That mediates, nought else may intervene. 
 
 Self-revelation ! 'tis God's cherished plan, 
 
 His Image we behold, the Son of Man ! 
 
 vni. 
 
 Epiphany. 
 
 ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ' — 
 S. Matthew v. 8. 
 
 Men must be men the Son of Man to see, 
 Gonformed to Him whose righteousness is love. 
 And day by day awakened from above 
 Ky the sweet Voice that whispers ' Follow me.' 
 Thus only God's beatitude we prove, 
 As day by day self-satisfaction dies. 
 And life is found to be nc victim's i)rize.* 
 * S. John xii. 24, 25.
 
 179 
 
 IX. 
 
 Lent. 
 
 ' The Father Himself loveth you. ' — S. John xvi. 27. 
 
 God holds high festival when souls awake,* 
 And from their fevered sleep of sin arise, 
 Waked by the love-light of a Father's eyes, 
 A love that fails not, that can ne'er forsake. 
 Ah ! this is life, — that love to recognise 
 And make response ; there is no life but this, 
 A Father's love to know, a Father's kiss ! 
 
 X. 
 
 Lent. 
 
 • The Well is deep.'— S. John iv. 11. 
 
 O LIPS inspired, although polluted, whence 
 Come words of truth, so little understood ! 
 Deep is that Well, the water sweet and good, 
 Which from the Heart of God His Hands dispense 
 Whose water is God's wine. Whose wine His Blood. 
 With that dear penitent I too confess 
 Thy Well is deep, sweet Lord, yea, fathomless ! 
 
 * ' Habet ergo Deus dies festos? Habet. Est enim ei 
 magna festivitas humana salus. ' — Origen. 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o 
 
 XI. 
 
 Lent, 
 
 'The kingdom of God is within you.' — S. Luke xvii. 21. 
 
 The heavens that encompass us are seen 
 By those alone within whose hearts Thy grace 
 Hath formed a mirror that reflects Thy Face ; 
 The kingdom is within them, they are clean. 
 Open to Thee, dear Lord, my door I place ; 
 So may I gaze entranced for evermore 
 Upon the heavens through Thy opened door. 
 
 XIL 
 Lent. 
 
 ' I ain the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; no man comcth 
 unto the Father but liy Me.'* — S. John xiv. 6. 
 
 Thou art the Way, because anointed Priest 
 
 And Victim of Humanity Thou art ; 
 
 The Truth art Thou, for Thine the Prophet's heart 
 
 From human error savingly released ; 
 
 Thou art the Life, empowered to impart 
 
 All that is Thine ; — a King because a Son, 
 
 A\'ho for Thy brothers hast a birthright won. 
 
 * 'Hoc est, per Me venitur; ad Mc pcrvcnitur ; in Mc {ler- 
 manetur.'— S. Augustine.
 
 i8i 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Passiontide. 
 
 ' I have called you friends.' — S. John xv. 15. 
 
 That Love is ever crucified I see, 
 
 Yet unforsaking- hastens to pursue ; 
 
 Faithful are Friendship's wounds, their witness true, 
 
 At length methinks it must triumphant be. 
 
 ' Friends and not servants have I called you ' — 
 
 Ah Princely Heart ! Thy Tenderness must win 
 
 All men at last from servitude to sin. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Passiontide. 
 
 ' Take My yoke upon you, and leam of Me .... My yoke 
 is easy and My burden is light.'— S. Matthew xi. 29, 30. 
 
 The blessed burden that they bear bears them 
 
 Who, shouldering the Cross, the road pursue — 
 
 The royal road with Calvary in view — 
 
 Which to God's City leads, Jerusalem, 
 
 That City ever old and ever new ! 
 
 Not hard the yoke, nor is the journey long 
 
 They share with Christ ; their Yokefellow is strong.
 
 I82 
 
 XV. 
 
 Maunday Thursday. 
 
 'The Lord thy God in the midst of ihee is mighty; He will 
 save, lie will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will he silent in 
 His love, He will joy over thee with singing.' — Zephaniah iii. 17. 
 
 ' God in the midst ; ' so speaks the sanctus-bcU ; 
 Ecstatic silence follows still and deep, 
 For very joy we are constrained to weep, 
 That Presence soothes and stimulates as well 
 'Tis thus a mother sings her babe to sleep ; 
 And by her fragrant lips, when morning breaks. 
 The babe saluted smilingly awakes. 
 
 XVI. 
 Good Friday. 
 
 ' The great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt 
 where also our Lord was crucified.' — Apocalypse xi. S. 
 
 Sodom and Egypt is the world, no less 
 Babel and Edom, whence the four roads meet 
 That make the Cross ; a Sacrifice complete 
 Is ofTercd there, and lo ! the wilderness 
 Becomes a garden fruitful, fair and sweet. 
 Thus God reclaims His world, reconsecrates 
 Ilis Paradise, and opes the Golden Gates.
 
 i83 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Easter Eve. 
 
 'The sleep of a labouring man is sweet.' — Ecclesiastes v. 12. 
 
 The Husbandman Divine is tasting now 
 
 The slumber sweet reserved for them who toil ; 
 
 His bloody sweat hath rebaptized the soil 
 
 Whose thorns uprooted crowned His bleeding Brow. 
 
 A Conqueror He now divides the spoil. 
 
 'Twas for our sake the earth was cursed we know ; * 
 
 And brings God's curse a blessing? — even so ! 
 
 xvni. 
 
 Easter Day. 
 
 ' The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.' — 
 ienesis iii. 4. 
 
 ■Jnwilling servant of the King of kings, 
 The arch-deceiver purposing a lie, 
 Asserting this — ' Ye shall not surely die,' 
 -deceives himself, and a true message brings. 
 Thus Satan is constrained to prophesy. 
 Mfe ever conquers death ; — ' among the dead 
 vVhy seek the Living ? ' — so an Angel said. 
 
 * Genesis iii. 17 ; cf. Galatians iii. 13.
 
 I $4 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Easter. 
 
 ' Let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is 
 alive ngain ; he was lost and is found.' — S. Luke xv. 23, 24. 
 
 ' Eat and be merry,' — 'tis the Father's voice ; 
 His chambers all with merriment resound, 
 The Dead One lives again, the Lost is found, 
 'Tis meet that men and angels should rejoice. 
 The winding-sheet for all men is unwound ; 
 Open and empty is His garden-grave 
 Who died, by death from death mankind to save. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Ascension Day. 
 
 ' I leave the world and go to the Father.' — S. John xvi. 28. 
 
 ' I LEAVE the world ; ' — and arc we then bereft ? 
 
 Is that sweet Presence now at length withdrawn, 
 
 Whose glad return made of our Easter morn 
 
 A radiant festival ? The tomb He left ; 
 
 And leaves He now the world unblcst, forlorn ? 
 
 No ! to the Father speaks a human Voice — 
 ' All Mine arc Thine ; ' — rejoice, my soul, rejoice !
 
 i85 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Pentecost. 
 • There rose up Fire out of the Rock.'— Judges vi. 21. 
 
 Christ is that sheltering Rock, whence water sweet 
 
 To fertilize a barren world outflows ; 
 
 The watered desert blossoms as a rose 
 
 Beneath His Pilgrim-Bride's advancing feet. 
 
 But more than this did Pentecost disclose • 
 
 When thereunto, a Pilgrim still, she came 
 
 Forth from that Rock upsprang an altar-flame. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Pentecost. 
 
 'All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is 
 God's.' — I Corinthians iii. 21, 23. 
 
 All things the members share with Christ the Head ; 
 
 Possest of Him, we are of all possest. 
 
 Sorrow is joy, and labour blissful rest, 
 
 If by His Spirit we be visited ; 
 
 We call His Father ' Father,' and are blest. 
 
 And oh ! what hospitality His Heart 
 
 Waits to dispense ; claim then, my soul, thy part
 
 1 86 
 
 XXIII. 
 Pentecost. 
 
 'The Preacher, the Son of David, Kin^ in Jerusalem. '- 
 Eoolesiastes i. i . 
 
 There is one Preacher, though so many preach, 
 One by Whose Lips the true prophetic word 
 Is ever uttered ; His the Spirit's sword, 
 Unsheathed to slay the lie, the truth to teach. 
 To David's Son is victory assured 
 Over all Philistines ; — Jerusalem 
 His City is, and His the Diadem. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Pentecost. 
 
 ' Upon one Stone shall be seven eyes.' — Zechariah iii. 9. 
 
 God's sanctuary-lamps are seven eyes 
 With rapture fixed upon one Altar-Stone, 
 One living Shrine, one sacramental Throne — 
 Enamoured with an ever fresh surprise 
 Of loveliness increasingly made known. 
 The seven Gifts are eyes for men to see 
 God's love revealed in Christ's Humanity.
 
 XXV. 
 
 Trinity Sunday. 
 
 ' The Spirit of the Living Creature was in the wheels.' — 
 Ezekiel i. 20. 
 
 ' God is a Spirit.' — S. John iv. 24. 
 
 The wheels revolving may be clearly seen — 
 
 Wheel within wheel, 'tis these that meet men's eyes ; 
 
 The victims of delusion, they surmise 
 
 That this grand world is only a machine. 
 
 For them there waits a beautiful surprise, 
 
 When to the Centre driven by despair 
 
 They find a Living Spirit seated there. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Corpus Christi. 
 
 ' For Thy Temple's sake at Jerusalem so shall kings bring 
 presents unto Thee.' — Psalm Ixviii. 29. 
 
 Chrlst of the Temple of His Body spake ; 
 So speaks the Psalmist, of that Flesh and Blood, 
 Uplifted on the world-redeeming Rood, 
 Whereof His children evermore partake. 
 Thou, Prince of Salem, art our daily food ; 
 Born of a J<.oyal House, our hearts we bring, 
 And lay them at Thy Feet, O Father- King !
 
 l88 
 
 XXVII. 
 Corpus Christi. 
 
 ' We were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.' — 2 Peter i. i6. 
 
 The light that shone on Tabor lingers still, 
 
 Encompassing God's people as they pray, 
 
 And making midnight brighter than noonday 
 
 Upon the summit of His holy hill. 
 
 Ah ! nevermore that vision fades away ; 
 
 It crowns the Christian altar, where the Christ 
 
 Is still transfigured in the Eucharist. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 MiCH.'VELMAS. 
 
 ' Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for 
 I say unto you that in heaven tlieir Angels do always behold the 
 Face of My Fatlier which is in heaven.' — S. Matthew xviii. lo. 
 
 Sweet angel-eyes on all God's children rest 
 As tenderly as on one holy Maid 
 One happy Angel gazed, what time he said 
 'The Lord is with thee, Mary, thou art blest,' 
 And God His Darling in her bosom laid. 
 Sweet eyes are theirs who angel-like can trace 
 In every mother's thikl the bather's Face !
 
 i89 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 All Saints' Day. 
 
 • Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper 
 of the Lamb.' — Apocalypse xix. 9. 
 
 One constant service doth the Saints employ. 
 
 Whose seats around God's Throne are lifted up, 
 
 Filled with love's wine each heart — a golden cup 
 
 Raised to His lips— a minister of joy. 
 
 Him they adore with Whom they sit and sup ; 
 
 Him they entreat that all men may repair 
 
 To His parental Heart, and shelter there. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 All Souls' Day. 
 
 • All they that go down into the dust shall kneel before Him. ' 
 — Psalm xxii. 30. 
 
 They whom we call * the Dead ' are worshippers ; 
 In silent homage at the Master's Feet 
 Entranced they kneel, and offer what is meet, 
 Love's self-oblation, fragrant as was hers 
 Whose love was sweeter than her nard so sweet. 
 They only live who love ; souls are not dead 
 Who in love-life are being perfected.
 
 I90 
 
 XXXI. 
 'Jesus said, It is finished.' — S. John xix. 30. 
 
 Mv toil unfinished leaves my task undone : 
 But He Who toiled and died sublimely said — 
 In death a Conqueror — ' 'Tis finished ; ' 
 For me He spake that word, that battle won. 
 Ah, all-achieving Lord ! Thou art my Head ; 
 When fruitless seems my life and bare of flowers, 
 'i'his comfort holds — Thy Fruitfulness is ours !
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 ' The Dogtna of S. John.' — p. 4. 
 
 I QUOTE the following words from Canon Westcott's 
 masterly introduction to the Gospel of S. John in the 
 Speaker's Commentary : — ' It is admitted on all hands 
 that his (S. John's) central affirmation, " the Word be- 
 came Flesh," which underlies all he wrote, is absolutely 
 new and unique. A Greek, an Alexandrine, a Jewish 
 doctor, would have equally refused to admit such a 
 statement as a legitimate deduction from his principles, 
 or as reconcilable with them. The message completes 
 and crowns " the hope of Israel," but not as " th° Jews" 
 expected. It gives stability to the aspirations of humanity 
 after fellowship with God, but not, as philosophers had 
 supposed, by " unclothing " the soul. S.John had been 
 enabled to see what Jesus of Nazareth was, " the Christ " 
 and " the Son of God : " it remained for him to bring 
 home his convictions to others. The Truth was clear to 
 himself : how could he so present it as to show that it 
 gave reality to the thoughts with which his contemporaries 
 were busied ? The answer is by using with necessary 
 modifications the current language of the highest religious
 
 192 NOTES. 
 
 speculation, to interpret a fact, to reveal a Person, to 
 illuminate the fulness of actual life. Accordingly he 
 transferred to the region of history the phrases in which 
 men before him had spoken of " the Logos," — " the 
 Word," " the Reason," — in the region of metaphysics. .S. 
 Paul had brought home to believers the divine majesty 
 of the glorified Christ : S. John laid open the unchanged 
 majesty of "Jesus come in the tlcsh." 
 
 ' It is characteristic of Christianity that it claims to 
 be " the Truth." Christ spoke of Himself as " the 
 Truth." God is revealed in Christ as " the only true 
 {akT]dLv<n) God." The message of the Gospel is " the 
 Truth." This title of the Gospel is not found in the 
 .Synoptists, the Acts, or the Apocalypse ; but it occurs in 
 the Catholic Epistles, and in the Epistles of S. Paul. It 
 is specially characteristic of the Gospel and Epistles of 
 S. John. 
 
 'According to the teaching of S. Jolin, the funda- 
 mental fact of Christianity includes all that " is" in each 
 sphere. Christ the Incarnate Word is the perfect reve- 
 lation of the Father : as God, He reveals God. He is 
 the perfect pattern of life, expressing in act and word 
 the absolute law of love. He unites the finite and the 
 infinite. And the whole history of the Christian Society 
 is the progressive embodiment of this revelation.'— pp. 
 XV. and xliv.
 
 NOTES. 193 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 ' Thine all-sustaimng Eucharist 
 Thy Motherhood declares.'' — p. 8. 
 
 I AM anxious to vindicate an expression that is per- 
 haps open to criticism. It is, I think, clear, from the 
 statement of Genesis i. 27, that the mystery of sex 
 belongs not only to our race, but also to our nature. 
 Man is created in God's image, male and female, and 
 is part of that creation which is declared to be '■very 
 good'' (i. 31). But almost immediately we hear from the 
 lips of God a very different announcement : 'It is not 
 good that man should be alone ; ' and then woman is 
 taken out of man (ii. 23). This separation of the man 
 and the woman introduced, I apprehend, a condition 
 of things far from perfect, but better in one respect 
 than the condition which it superseded, because an 
 onward step in the direction of the best — of perfection. 
 Just as God in the mystery of creation holds His child 
 at arm's length (so to speak) in order that the child, 
 beholding and regarding Him, may be enamoured of 
 His loveliness, and make deliberately and intelligently 
 the response which His love demands, so it may be 
 necessar>', if the distinction between the man and the 
 woman is to be rightly apprehended, upon which the 
 maintenance of right relations between them depends, 
 that they should be made to confront one another. The 
 separation, therefore, of Genesis ii. 23 would seem to 
 be preparatory to the perfected sacramental embrace 
 of which the Lord speaks, referring to this very passage 
 
 o
 
 194 A'OT/iS. 
 
 in S. Matthew xix. 5 : ' And they twain shall be one 
 flesh.' 
 
 In like manner the Manhood of the second Adam, 
 ' the first-l>orn of evcr>' creature,' was created both male 
 and female, and, as the Fathers teach, from His Side, 
 opened on the Cross, the second Eve was taken, His 
 IJride, and the Mother of all living. The Manhood of 
 Christ being perfect (not limited moreover by alliance 
 with a human personality) includes a perfect woman- 
 hood, and that womanhood a perfect motherhood. And 
 this is what the separation wrought out upon the Cross 
 discovers. Then, indeed, as the glorious consummation 
 of the all-revealing l\assion, woman was taken out of 
 Man. The Church's Motherhood is derived from His. 
 
 This profound theological conclusion, which I cannot 
 regard as in any way precarious, is supported by various 
 expressions in Holy Scripture, and is at once suggested 
 when we contemplate the Eucharistic mystery as a 
 Communion-feast, wherein with His own substance (iod 
 feeds, as with mothers milk. His Mittle children' (S. 
 John xiii. 33). S. James i. 18 is rightly translated in 
 the Revised Version : ' Of His own will He brought us 
 forth' {dirfKVT]a(i' >)fi(is) ; the word used indicates an 
 operation of the divine .Motherhood. And in the opening 
 vision of the Apocalypse the -Son of Man is represented 
 as 'girt about the paps with a golden girdle.' It is 
 observa])le that the word used here (^ao-ror, not /nofor 
 signifies the woman's breast. Such passages, if the in- 
 terpretation suggested hi: the right one, throw additiona 
 light on many others ; e./:;: Isaiah Ixvi. 13 ; S. Matthew 
 xxiii. 37. The Hypostatic Union is llie complete re- 
 covery and reconstruction of humanity, and the recon- 
 ciliation of all antinomies. From this flows the mystical
 
 NOTES. 195 
 
 union of Christ and the Church, the sacramental union 
 of Christ and the regenerate soul. The Bridegroom and 
 the Bride, though distinct, are not separate. 
 
 The Motherhood of Christ, like all the mysteries of the 
 Incarnation, points to a larger mystery in the Inner Life 
 of God. S. Gregory Nazianzen speaks of the Ever- 
 Blessed Trinity as the Eternal Virgin : npcorr; napdevoi- 
 fCTTiv ayvr] Tptay ; that Virgin is also the Eternal Mother. 
 The same idea finds musical expression in one of Mr. Aubrey 
 de Vere's ' May Carols,' a hymn for Trinity Sunday : — 
 
 ' Prime Virgin, separate and sealed, 
 Nor less of social love the root ; 
 Dimly in lowliest shapes revealed, 
 Entire in every attribute.' 
 
 It is needless to say that to apprehend in any measure 
 these truths concerning God and Christ is to be safe- 
 guarded against errors which arc always liable to creep 
 in, whenever the cultus of our Lady is not rigorously 
 submitted to the tests which are furnished by a profound 
 and accurate theological science. 
 
 I am glad to find my meaning beautifully expressed 
 by Mr. Jukes in the following passage, which I had not 
 seen when I prepared the above note, though I know not 
 for how much of the vision that has opened to me of the 
 Motherhood of God (and for much besides) I am in- 
 debted to him : — 
 
 ' One Hke unto the Son of Man walks in the midst 
 of the seven golden candlesticks, in priestly robes ; for 
 is He not the Priest, whose office is to keep alive the 
 fire, and trim the lights in God's sanctuary ; but showing 
 the woman's breast, for in the Lord the man is not with- 
 out the woman nor the woman without the man, made 
 
 O 2
 
 196 NOTES. 
 
 a,cjain, like A^' im unfallcn, where there is neither Jew 
 nor Greek, nor male nor female, but a new creature and 
 a new man in Christ Jesus. This is not the form in 
 wliich the Son of Man is seen at first, for to redeem us 
 He took our likeness, 'the likeness of sinful flesh,' and 
 was circumcised upon the eighth day, that so, sharing 
 (he shame of our divided nature, He might bear its 
 curse, and heal the breach, and through death bring us 
 back in and for Himself, again to bear the undivided 
 image of Him who formed man in His likeness.' — ('The 
 New Man,' p. 34.) 
 
 Let me add the testimony of one of the most thought- 
 ful of modern preachers. 
 
 Mr. Robertson, commenting on Galatians iii. 28, 
 understands S. Paul's words ' neither male nor female ' to 
 signify fieit/ier to the exclusion of the other. He insists 
 on the fact that in the Humanity of Chiist 'there is 
 nothing distinctive, limited, or peculiar.' 'His Heart,' 
 he says, ' had in it the blended qualities of both sexes.' 
 And again, ' There was in Him the woman-breast as well 
 as the manly brain all that was most manly, and all 
 that was most womanly.' — (.Sermons, second series, xviii.) 
 
 I may mention a lovely book which is not as well 
 known as it deserves to be, in which the idea of the 
 Motherhood of Christ recurs again and again : ' Si.xteen 
 Revelations of Divine Love, showed to a Devout Ser- 
 vant of our Lord, called Mother Juliana, an anchorite 
 of Norwich, who lived in the days of King Edward the 
 Third.' London : S. Clarke, 1843.
 
 AVTES. 197 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 ' There shall be an heap of corn in the earth, high 
 upon the hills.'' — Psalm Ixxii. 16. 
 
 ' Long since the Psalmist-seer foretold 
 That high upon the hills 
 God's Corn should grow, and noiv behold. 
 His promise He fulfils !'' — p. 17. 
 
 ' A CLOUD of Rabbinical tradition hovers round' tl>e 
 passage, and helps to frame it, that we may see it in 
 this (the sacramental) aspect. Besides the rendering 
 of the Targum given above, the following may be cited. 
 In the Midrash Coheleth, a comment on Ecclesiastes, 
 it is said that, as Moses caused manna to come down 
 from heaven, so Messiah shall be " a cake of corn upon 
 the earth." Rabbi Jonathan, in his Targum, reads, 
 "There shall be a sacrifice of bread upon the earth, on 
 the head of the mountains of the Church." And this 
 is further explained in the Sepher-Kibucim to the eftect 
 that in the days of Messiah there shall be a cake of 
 corn lifted in sacrifice over the heads of the priests in 
 the Temple. Herein, most naturally, the commentators 
 see the Elevation of the Host, that primeval rite of the 
 Divine Liturgy wherein He Who is the substantiating 
 Bread, the Memorial Sacrifice, the Corn of mighty men, 
 is uplifted in oblation to the Father, Himself the Victim 
 and Himself the Priest. 
 
 ' Again we may find a more literal fulfilment of the 
 prophecy in the events of the Gospel history, wherein 
 He who is the Bread of Life is seen so often " like a
 
 198 AOTES. 
 
 young hart upon tlic mountains." In the temple on 
 Moriah, in the place of His first preaching, in the scene 
 of many an hour of prayer, in the Transfigi.iration, the 
 Crucifixion, the Ascension, again and a;^ain His feet are 
 heautiful on the mountains. 
 
 'Thrice for us the Word Incamate high on holy hills 
 
 was set, 
 Once on Tabor, once on Calvary, and again on Olivet ; 
 Once to shine, and once to suffer, and once more as King 
 
 of kings, 
 With a merry noise ascending, bonie by cherubs on 
 
 their wings.' 
 
 Neale ami LiriLED.\LE, 
 
 ' Comtncnimy on the Psalms^ vol. ii. p. 407. 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 * Afy lips still liiaigcr for Thy kiss 
 Touched by Thy coal of fire. ^ — j). 29. 
 
 There is an interesting section of Dr. Pusey's great 
 work on ' The Doctrine of the Real Presence from the 
 J'athers,' touching the coal in Isaiah's vision regarded as 
 a type of the Holy Eucharist. I quote only a small 
 portion. 
 
 From the Liturgy of S. James : — 
 
 ' The Lord bless us and make us worthy to take with 
 the pure " tongs " of our hands the fier)' Coal, and to place 
 it on the mouths of the faithful, for the cleansing and 
 purifying of their souls and bodies, now and ever.'
 
 NOTES. 197 
 
 And more at length, in the Liturgy of S. Cyril : — 
 
 ' As Thou didst cleanse the lips of Thy servant Isaiah 
 the Prophet, vrhen one of the Seraphim took with the 
 forceps a live coal off the altar, and came to him, and 
 said to him, " Behold this hath touched thy lips, and 
 thine iniquity shall be taken away, and all thy sins 
 purged," so also do to us poor sinners, Thy wretched 
 sen-ants. Vouchsafe to sanctify our souls, our bodies, 
 our lips, and hearts ; and give us that true Coal, which 
 giveth life to our souls, bodies, and spirits, that is, the 
 holy Body and precious Blood of Thy Christ ; not to our 
 condemnation, nor that we should incur judgment.' 
 
 Renaudot says generally : — 
 
 ' That coal also whereby in the vision the lips of 
 Isaiah were touched and purified, is commonly said, in 
 the prayers of the Easterns, to have been a type of the 
 Eucharist ; and it is often said in their hymns which are 
 sung at the distribution, that mortals receive fire in 
 bread through the communion of the mysteries.' 
 
 S. John Damascene : — 
 
 ' Wherefore with all fear and a pure conscience and 
 unwavering faith, let us approach \ and it shall be to us 
 in every respect, according as we believe, nothing doubt- 
 ing. Let us honour it with all purity both of soul and 
 body. For it is twofold. Let us approach it with a 
 burning desire, and placing our hands in the form of a 
 cross, let us receive the Body of the Crucified ; and 
 having signed eyes and lips and brow, let us receive the 
 Divine Coal, that the fire of our longing, having received 
 the enkindling of the Coal, may consume our sins, and 
 enlighten our hearts, and that by the presence of that
 
 200 A'O TES. 
 
 Divine fire, we may be enkindled and deified. Isaiali 
 saw the coal ; but coal is not mere wood, but wood united 
 with fire ; so too, the bread of the Communion is not 
 mere bread, but united to the Divinity' (pp. 128-130.) 
 
 NOTE E. 
 ' T/ic sick room /uis its sacrafneni.^ — p. 53. 
 
 I QUOTE tlie following from one whose memory is en- 
 shrined in many hearts, the late Bishop of Brechin : — 
 
 'The unction of the sick is the lost pleiad of the 
 Anglican firmament. One must at once confess and 
 deplore that a distinctly Scriptural practice has ceased 
 to be commanded in the Church of England.' 
 
 And again : — 
 
 ' The Church of England acted more in conformity 
 to its declared adherence to antiquity, by appointing, in 
 the first instance, a service for the anointing of the sick 
 in her first English Prayer-book. This was among the 
 losses in those unhappy times just before the accession 
 of Mary, and aitlnnigh everything of that earlier liturgy 
 *vas praised by tliose who removed it, it has never 
 been restored. Since, however, the Visitation of the 
 Sick is a private office, and uniformity is required only 
 in the public offices, there is nothing to hinder the re- 
 vival of the Apostolic and Scriptural custom of anointing 
 the sick, whensoever any devout person may desire it. 
 It is, indeed, difficult to say on what principle it could 
 be refused. The rite was restored Ijy the non-juring
 
 NOTES. 20 1 
 
 Bishops. Meanwhile, until it can be generally restored, 
 it may be observed that it was never considered neces- 
 sary to salvation, as is formally laid down by S. Thomas. 
 It was rather a privilege of the devout.' — (' Explanation 
 of the Thirty-nine Articles,' pp. 465, 474.) 
 
 The following passage from the ' Institution of a 
 Christian Man ' declares plainly the mind of the Church 
 of England at the Reformation period : — ' All Christian 
 men should repute and account the said manner of 
 anointing among the other sacraments of the Church, 
 forasmuch as it is a visible sign of an invisible grace : 
 whereof the visible sign is the anointing with oil in the 
 Name of God ; which oil (for the natural properties 
 belonging unto the same) is a very convenient thing to 
 signify and figure the great mercy and grace of God, and 
 the spiritual light, joy, comfort, and gladness which God 
 poureth out upon all faithful people, calling upon Him 
 by the inward unction of the Holy Ghost. And the grace 
 conferred in this sacrament is the relief and recovery of 
 the disease and sickness wherewith the sick person is 
 then diseased and troubled, and also the remission of his 
 sins if he be then in sin.' 
 
 The thought has much to recommend it which dis- 
 covers in the anointing of our Lord at Bethany on the 
 eve of His Passion, ' for His Burial,' a foreshadowing of 
 this sacrament, as the first miracle was of the Eucharist, 
 and the washing of the Apostles' feet of Absolution.
 
 202 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE F. 
 
 ' The Spirit of God is the spirit of man.' — p. 72. 
 
 I QUOTE, on a subject of surpassing interest, a few sen- 
 tences from the sections of Martensen's great work on 
 ' Christian Dogmatics,' which treat of the Procession 
 of the Holy Ghost : — 
 
 ' What Christ is in unity, the Spirit is in manifold- 
 ness. The design of the world is ideally accomplished 
 in Christ ; but it is througli the Spirit that the one Christ 
 obtains a place in the manifoldness of souls, and that 
 the kingdom of (]od comes in the world. Here also is 
 the Spirit the hc;ivtnly Master-builder, Who moulds the 
 fulness of the Son into a temple of glory ; Who models 
 and prepares the manifold n.itural idiosyncrasies of men, 
 and the distinctive peculiarities of nations, into an organ 
 for the one Christ.' 
 
 'As the Son did not reveal Himself fully until He 
 became Man in the act of His Incarnation, so the Spirit 
 does not fully manifest Himself until He comes not 
 only as a temporary visitor, but as taking u]) a per- 
 manent abode, and forming an abiding union with 
 mankind ; until He becomes the Spirit working in 
 Christ's kingdom. It is only as the Spirit of Christ 
 that the Holy (ihost can enter upon an abiding union 
 with mankind. When the ideal union of the Divine 
 nature with pure and sinless human nature was accom- 
 plished, when the .Mediator between God and the king- 
 dom of God had come, then only could the kingdom 
 itself advance in power, then only could that genera
 
 NOTES. 203 
 
 union of the Divine nature with sinful human nature be 
 accomplished, which is the copy or fac-simile of the 
 union of these natures in Christ. In Christ dwells the 
 fulness of the Godhead bodily ; in Christ the union of 
 the two natures is such that the human nature possesses 
 no individuality apart from or before its union with the 
 Divine. But in the case of the Spirit, human souls 
 possess a natural and earthly individuality, apart from 
 and before jheir union with Him ; and they need to be 
 transformed by the Holy Ghost, by little and little, into 
 the image of that perfection which belongs naturally and 
 essentially to Christ. While, however, this union of the 
 Spirit with sinful humanity is not precisely the same as 
 that which took place in the Incarnation, but is an 
 inhabitation^ it is none the less a permanent, yea, an 
 indissoluble union. F"or as the union of natures in the 
 person of Christ can never be dissolved, but must con- 
 tinue through eternity, so, in virtue of the mediatorial 
 office of Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells for ever in the 
 kingdom of Christ.' 
 
 ' All that the Spirit moulds is after the pattern of 
 Christ ; and, speaking after the manner of man, we may 
 say, that as the human artificer regards in ever}' work 
 some eternal and ideal pattern which is ever in his 
 mind, and embodies this his fundamental thought in 
 his manifold productions, so the Holy Spirit, the great 
 invisible Master-builder and Artificer of the temple, has 
 ever before Him the model and pattern of Christ, and 
 does nothing but what He seeth the Son do. But 
 inasmuch as the Spirit ever moulds human nature ac- 
 cording to the one original type, yet into ever new forms, 
 ever new repetitions and varieties, He reveals Himself as 
 the Spirit of freedom^ Who displays eternal truth. The
 
 204 NOTES. 
 
 Principle of free development, continually creating the 
 new upon earth, He renews and restores to youth and 
 vigour the life of Christ in individual souls, and in the 
 entire kini,alom of Christ ; He moulds the Christian doc- 
 trine and worship into new forms ; He devises and finds 
 out new means and plans for the spread of the kinijly 
 empire of Christ. He, the holy, ever-present Principle 
 of Providence, reveals Himself as the Paraclete, Who 
 on the one hand convinces the world of sin, of righteous- 
 ness and of judgment, and on the other hand as the 
 Comforter, not only of individual souls, but of the 
 Church, wherein all the promises of history find their ac- 
 complishment. As the ever-present Principle of renewal 
 and of living development. He proves Himself the Spirit 
 oi power \ and thus through Him tlie kingly dominion 
 of Christ never dies away, never grows old.' 
 
 ' There is no operation of the .Spirit in the Christian 
 fellowship which is not in reality a display of Christ's 
 working — " He shall take of Mine and shew it unto 
 you ; " and, conversely, there is no act of Christ's which 
 is not carried on by the Spirit, "for no one can say that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord but by the }loly Chost." This 
 natural and simultaneous working of the Lord and of 
 the Spirit is manifested in the establishment, the main- 
 tenance and the perfecting of the Church.' — (' Christian 
 Dogmatics,' Eng. Tr., pp. 330-335-)
 
 NOTES. 205 
 
 NOTE G. 
 ' The lost are found., and all are blest.'' — p. 92. 
 
 At a time when we have so much reckless writing on 
 both sides of an anxious controversy, it is a pleasure to 
 be able to quote an illustrious author whose breadth, 
 culture, sobriety, and singularly disciplined enthusiasm 
 for all things lofty and lovely, invest his words with no 
 small measure of authority : — 
 
 ' Let us submit,' writes Dean Church, ' to the con- 
 ditions of our state and of our knowledge ; we, at least, 
 who in the tempest and confusions of the world have as 
 our one supreme guiding light the manifestation, the 
 words of the Son of God. Who shall say that, though 
 we must greatly fear, we may not also greatly hope, even 
 if we are met by awful certainties, if we dare not say 
 more than He has said ? We cannot tell what is be- 
 tween the grave and the judgment, but we know that 
 the living God is there, very terrible, very pitiful, very 
 just, who leads His creatures by ways they know not to 
 the end which only He knows. We may be sure that 
 He will set right in His own way the inequalities of this 
 world. We may be sure that all who seek Him in truth 
 shall one day find Him, for He has said so. We may be 
 sure that everyone in ever>- nation who feareth Him and 
 worketh righteousness is accepted with Him, for His 
 accredited apostle has said so. Is the righteousness of 
 God too small a thing to trust to, unless we can say in 
 detail how it is to be carried out ? Are " the multitude 
 of His mercies," to use a favourite phrase of the Psalms, 
 the "multitude of His mercies" to which saint and
 
 2o6 A'OTF.S. 
 
 penitent must alike appeal— arc they too stinted, too 
 straitened, tlial we cannot commit to ihcm all the intinitc 
 issues of human life, which move our fellow-feeling, our 
 pity, our sympathy ? Can 7uc be so compassionate and 
 so just, and cannot we trust Him to be so, unless He 
 shows us how? Can \sc not trust Him, in silent and 
 awful expectation, with the work of His own hands, sure 
 thai He will not despise it — sure that under the shadow 
 of His wings all tlic countless multitude of His creatures, 
 from the hit,diest to the lowest, the worst and the best, 
 shall find His perfect truth— sure that each soul will 
 receive what it ought to receive, and will be dealt witli 
 by infinite goodness and unerring justice.'- — (' Human Life 
 and its Conditions,' p. 123.) 
 
 NOTE II. 
 ' A May Day Song.' — p. 104. 
 
 The tiiTiC has surely come when her children should, 
 in tlic name of their Mother, very earnestly rebut the 
 accusation so commonly brought against the Church of 
 England, that she withholds from the blessed \'irgin 
 Mar)', whose blessedness all generations of Christian 
 men arc bound to declare, the love and veneration which 
 arc her due. At the same time, I am anxious, for my 
 own part, to disavow no less earnestly any sympathy 
 witli tlie modern devotional extravagances, so common 
 in countries subject to the Koman oljcdience, in con- 
 nection with the Month of Mary. Wlutlier a special 
 observance of that sweet month, when Nature herself 
 takes up her parable in the interests of Cirace, and
 
 NOTES. 207 
 
 strikes so tenderly her harp of many strings, may or 
 may not with much propriety be recommended to 
 English Catholics, I leave it to others to decide. Under 
 the pressure of a very' legitimate apprehension, we are 
 in some danger, I think, of failing to realise the true 
 position of the Mother of God in the Divine economy ; 
 and if this be so, not only is the glory of womanhood 
 obscured, but the intelligent acceptance of the supreme 
 mystery of the Incarnation is imperilled. It is important 
 that we should give devotional expression to all that is 
 involved in the great theological symbol of the Council 
 of Ephesus — ^forow? — to which, by God's mercy, the 
 Church of England is fully committed. And this is no 
 doubt the best safeguard against the misconceptions 
 and e.xcesses of which we do well to beware. That 
 Cardinal Newman is alive to their dangerous tendency 
 his own words have made abundantly clear. ' There is,' 
 he says, ' a healthy devotion to' the blessed Mary, and 
 there is an artificial ; it is possible to love her as a 
 Mother, to honour her as a Virgin, to seek her as a 
 Patron, and to exalt her as a Queen, without any injury 
 to solid piety and Christian good sense. I cannot help 
 calling this the English style.' — (' Letter to Dr. Pusey,' 
 p. 105.) But we still wait in vain to hear an authoritative 
 voice raised in repudiation and condemnation of the 
 ' extravagances ' against which he protests. An earnest 
 observance of the month in which Spring and Summer 
 meet, as an act of rejoicing and sustained homage to 
 the love which the Incarnation discovers, and marked by 
 the fervour wedded to sobriety which is a characteristic 
 of the higher forms of English religious life, might per- 
 haps be our best protection against those untheological 
 developments and the practices to which they give rise.
 
 2o8 NOTES. 
 
 which cannot but he a matter of regret to all well- 
 instructed Catholics. 
 
 That the devotion and veneration, to which my little 
 'Song' gives most inadequate expression, are not alien 
 to the mind of the Church of England, may be inferred 
 from the fact that she has in her calendar consecrated 
 five days to ' Our Lady,' to be observed in loving re- 
 membrance of her Conception, Nativity, Annunciation, 
 Visitation, and Purification. And appeal may be made 
 to the great representative Anglican divines — e.g. 
 Hishop Andrewes makes mention in his private devotions 
 of ' the all holy, undcfilcd, and more than blessed Mary, 
 Mother of God and Ever-Virgin.' And Bishop Pearson 
 writes : — ' It was her own prediction, Frovi henceforth 
 all generations shall call ire blessed; but tiic obligation 
 is ours to call her, to esteem her so. If Elizabeth cried 
 out with so loud a voice. Blessed art thou among "women, 
 when Christ was but newly conceived in her womb ; 
 what expressions of honour and admiration can we think 
 sufficient now that Christ is in heaven, and that Mother 
 with Him ! Far be it from any Christian to derogate 
 from that special privilege granted her, which is incom- 
 municable to any other. We cannot bear too reverend a 
 regard unto the Mother of our Lord, so long as we give 
 her not that worship which is due unto the Lord Himself. 
 Let us keep the language of the primitive Church ; let 
 her be honoured and esteemed, let Him be worshipped 
 and adored.'— (' The Creed,' art. iii. p. 319. Oxford cd. 
 1857.) Among more modern writers it is difficult to 
 make a selection, so many are the passages that speak 
 of Mar)''s beauty and beatitude. Wordsworth's sonnet, 
 however, is too lovely to be omitted : —
 
 NOTES. 209 
 
 ' Mother ! whose virgin bosom was uncrost 
 With the least shade of thought to sin allied ; 
 Woman I above all women glorified, 
 Our tainted nature's solitary boast ; 
 Purer than foam on central ocean tost ; 
 Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn 
 With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon 
 Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast ; 
 Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween, 
 Xot unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend, 
 As to a visible power, in which did blend 
 All that was mixed and reconciled in thee 
 Of mothers love with maiden purity, 
 Of high with low, celestial with terrene I ' 
 
 Keble's many verses, expressive of the tenderest 
 devotion to ' the Spotless Mother,' are too numerous to 
 quote. They have been collected in an article by 
 Cardinal Newman (' Essays Critical and Historical,' 
 vol. ii. pp. 436-440), without, however, any reference to 
 one of the most beautiful of all, ' Mother out of Sight ' 
 ('Miscellaneous Poems,' p. 254), which deserves to be 
 coupled with the ' Ave Maria ' hymn in ' The Christian 
 Year,' and that for Easter Day in the ' Lyra Innocen- 
 tium.' Dr. Pusey, in his ' Eirenicon,' speaks forcibly 
 of the not unreasonable fear by which ' our hearts have 
 been cramped' with regard to the blessed Virgin. ' It 
 is not,' he says, ' the amount of love for the Mother of 
 our Redeemer and our God (how could it be ?), but the 
 mode of its expression, to which any of us have objected.' 
 And he goes on to speak touchingly and truly of the 
 ' yearning towards her in the English Church,' by 
 reference to writers of more than one theological school. 
 (Part ii. pp. 411-419.) 
 
 P
 
 2IO A'OTES. 
 
 Bishop Forbes has a beautiful passage, in which he 
 speaks of the unfortunate results of this fear, engendered 
 by ' the exaggerated language of Roman divines ' in 
 many devout minds. 'They have shrunk,' he says, 
 ' from looking the doctrine concerning her fairly in the 
 face. They have not allowed their minds to dwell on 
 the incomparable singularity, on the incommunicable 
 prerogative of Divine maternity. While they freely d\\ ell 
 on the gifts of God in other saints, in the patriarchs 
 under the old law for instance, they shrink from resting 
 on the sweet and holy images which surround the name 
 of Mary. This is in ever)' way wrong. A theology that is 
 afraid of possible consequences is sure to err. We must 
 state the absolute truth, and leave consequences to God. 
 To eliminate from our moral theology the idea of the 
 blessed Virgin, is to strip it of some of its most delicate 
 bloom. What does not civilisation, what does not 
 woman owe to the sublime and tender conception of Mary, 
 which has done more to tame the rude social life of 
 Europe in the middle ages than any other one idea ! 
 .\nd what more constraining motive to i)uiity of soul, 
 next of course to the thought of Him Who is the great 
 E.xemplar of all virtues, can there exist than the idea of 
 such perfect spotless womanhood as a grateful Christen- 
 dom recognises in our Lady ! But there is a still more 
 serious thought. After making every allowance for the 
 reaction against the distressing language of certain 
 popular Roman devotions, there is a danger lest the 
 shrinking from a due appreciation of the dignity of the 
 Mother may not generate an imperfect belief in the 
 Divine personality of the Son, and no error is so deadly 
 as that which seeks to touch the person of Jesus.' — 
 ('Thirty-nine Articles,' p. 31.)
 
 NOTES. 211 
 
 With reference to the civilising and refining effects 
 of the medieeval devotion to the Maiden-Mother, of 
 which the Bishop speaks, I would refer to an unpre- 
 judiced witness, Mr. Lecky, who, in his 'History of 
 European Morals,' dwells upon it earnestly (3rd edition, 
 vol. ii. p. 367). And a recent writer in the ' Spectator,' 
 reviewing Mr. Aubrey de Vere's ' May Carols,' writes as 
 follows : — ' Many eyes are turned towards the home at 
 Nazareth even among those not professedly Christian, 
 and students who desire to understand the power of the 
 Gospel as a social force constraining all who come within 
 knowledge of it, are roused by their very denial of reve- 
 lation to examine the historical facts of the Christian 
 story. . . . Who can calculate how large a part the 
 cult of Mary had in establishing the European respect 
 for women and reverence for the family hierarchy ? It 
 is the Semitic crown which completes the Aryan civilisa- 
 tion, and we confess we see with alarm any treason to 
 that ideal of womanly life which has been maintained 
 by Christian masters, in whatever art.' — (' Spectator," 
 September 3, 1881.) 
 
 ' In the midst are the damsels playing with the tim- 
 brels ' — so sings the Bride of Christ in the great Pente- 
 cost Psalm. And of that virgin-choir, beside the crystal 
 sea, Mary — the true Miriam, our Elder Sister — is the 
 acknowledged leader. By her alone has the aspiration 
 of the woman-poet been perfectly realised :— 
 
 ' May I reach 
 That purest heaven, be to other souls 
 The cup of strength in some great agony. 
 Enkindle generous ardour, feed pure love, 
 Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, 
 p 2
 
 2t2 A'077-:S. 
 
 Be the sweet presence of a good diffused. 
 And in dilTusitm c\cr more intense ; 
 So shall I join the choir invisible, 
 Whose music is the gladness of the world. ' 
 
 NOTE I. 
 ' T/ic royal-hearted Athanase.'' ^' — p. 141. 
 
 I QUOTi: the following eloquent words of one to whose 
 friendship I owe much. Speaking of S. Athanasius, 
 Dr. Bright says: 'His glorious career illustrates "the 
 incredible power of an orthodox faith, held with inflexible 
 earnestness, especially when its champion is an able and 
 energetic man." One is struck with the variety of gifts 
 and unity of aim which it exhibits. The infidel histor'um 
 deemed him fit to rule an empire, and obviously he had 
 to the fullest extent the power of dealing with men ; yet 
 he was publicly called for as "the ascetic" at his election, 
 and in exile he was a model of monastic piety. If he 
 is great as a theologian, and intensely given to Scripture 
 and sacred studies, he is " pre-eminently quick in seeing 
 the right course, and full of practical energy in pursuing 
 it." He is as kindly in his judgments of Liberius, and 
 Hosius, and the Council of Ariminum, as if he were not 
 the bravest of confessors. He can make allowance for 
 the dilificulties of Semi-Arians, and recognise their real 
 " brotherhood '' with himself. " Out of the strong comes 
 forth sweetness." It is lliis union of inflexiljility and 
 
 * ' And royal -hearled Athanase, 
 Willi raul's own mantle blesl.' 
 
 Lyra Ai-ostomca.
 
 NO'IES. 213 
 
 discretion, of firmness and charity, this manysidedne^s 
 as a pattern for imitation, which makes him emphatically 
 Athanasius tJie Great. And wherever we find him — con- 
 fronting opponents, baffling conspirators, biding his time 
 in Gaul or Italy, turning his hour of triumph to good 
 account for his flock, calling on them in the hour of 
 deadliest peril to praise the Everlasting Mercies, burying 
 himself in cells and dens of the earth, bearing honour 
 and dishonour with the same kingliness of soul, uniting 
 the freshness of early enthusiasm with the settled 
 strength of heroic manhood, writing, preaching, pra)ing, 
 suffering, — he is enkindled and sustained throughout by 
 one clear purpose. 
 
 ' What lay closest to his heart was not formula, 
 however authoritative ; no Council, however ecumenic. 
 His zeal for the Consubstantiality had its root in his 
 loyalty to the Consubstantial. He felt that in the 
 Nicene dogma were involved the worship of Christ and 
 the life of Christianity. The inestimable creed which he 
 was said to have composed in a cave at Treves, is his 
 only in this sense, that, on the whole, it sums up his 
 teaching; but its hymn-like form may remind us that 
 his maintenance of dogma was a life-long act of devo- 
 tion. The union of these two elements is the lesson of his 
 life, as it was the secret of his power ; and by virtue of it, 
 as has been well said, although again and again it is 
 Athanasius coittra ntundian, yet Athanasius is in truth 
 the immortal^ and ever in the end prevails. " Ha;c est 
 victoria quae vincit mundum. Fides nostra.'" — (' History 
 of the Church,' 2nd edit. p. 148.)
 
 2 14 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 ' A>id many another name l>esiae, 
 I Vise Clement, lofty Origen, 
 Theirs is the honour due to meti 
 Whose intellect is sanctified.'— \). 142. 
 
 Much has been written of late years about the saints 
 and doctors of Alexandria, and its celebrated Catechetical 
 School. I content myself with one sentence from a sermon 
 by Dr. Liddon, which concisely and beautifully expresses 
 what seems to me to be the first of many lessons that we 
 should learn from them : — ' The great Alexandrians who 
 baptized the Platonic philosophy would have bidden us 
 of to-day welcome and christen the critical and scientific 
 spirit.' — (' University Sermons,' second series, p. il.) 
 
 NOTE L. 
 
 ' The Tree of Life is planted in a tom/>.' — p. 16S. 
 
 'Thk place of a skull '—Golgotha or Calvary — is men- 
 tioned by ail tlic Evangelists. Whether the tradition that 
 the Cross was planted in Adam's grave be true or not, it 
 certainly (like so many other legends *) points to a truth. 
 The world is a sepulchre, the sepulchre of Adam and of 
 Adam's race. The second Adam has entered this 
 sepulchre, passed through it, left it behind Him, and 
 the gate through which He rose m lriuni])ii remains open 
 to all who will follow in His steps. 
 
 * E.g. S. Veronica. Sec p. 128.
 
 iVOTES. 215 
 
 NOTE M. 
 
 ' The hospitality of Jesus.' — p. 172. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the miracle of the feeding — 
 the only one recorded by all four Evangelists — was 
 strictly preparatory to the institution of the Eucharist. 
 It took place in all probability on the Thursday preceding 
 the memorable Sabbath, when in the great synagogue 
 of Capernaum our Lord preached the sermon on the 
 Bread of Life, recorded in S. John vi. immediately after 
 the account of the miracle. His every action on this occa- 
 sion would seem to be an anticipation of what was after- 
 wards enacted with still greater solemnity in the Upper 
 Chamber, and is renewed at every celebration of the 
 Holy Mysteries. He took the loaves into His hands, 
 looked up to heaven, blessed, brake, and gave to the 
 disciples ; then followed the orderly distribution through 
 their ministry to the seated multitude. The supply was 
 more than abundant; the fragments were sufficient to 
 furnish a second meal which would be required before 
 they reached their homes. And it should be remembered 
 that the lesson was emphasized by the working of a 
 similar miracle on another occasion. As these two 
 miraculous feedings foreshadow the Eucharist, so do 
 the two cleansings of the Temple — in reality no less 
 miraculous — foreshadowtheDay of Judgment. So Joseph, 
 interpreting Pharaoh's dream to him, accounts for the 
 repetition of a Divine action : — ' For that the dream was 
 doubled twice, it is because the thing is established by 
 God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.' — Genesis 
 xli. 32.
 
 :i6 XOTES. 
 
 XOTK X. 
 
 ' One Voice there is, above oil others heard 
 Throughout the ages, heralding the Word.' — \). i 76. 
 
 S. Paul teaches us that Nature no less than Grace is 
 sacramental: — 'The invisible things of Him from the 
 creation of ihe world arc clearly seen, being understood 
 hy the things that are made, even Mis eternal power 
 and Godhead' (Romans i. 20). 'All things in the 
 world ' (to quote Stier) ' are, after their kind, only 
 variously embodied words of the Creator ; ' the sacra- 
 mental shadows, in truth, cast by ' the invisil)lc things,' 
 the spiritual realities which arc out of sight. It is thus 
 God ever veils that he may reveal Himself. Creation is 
 a sacramental veil,' and, therefore, an authentic revela- 
 tion of the mind and character of God, needing, how- 
 ever, to be interpreted by the all-revealing ' sacrament of 
 godliness,' the Incarnation. This is the master-key that 
 unlocks all mysteries. Truly has it been said by a 
 thoughtful writer ; — ' The counter-agent of materialism 
 is not idealism, but sacramentalism.' And he proceeds 
 to explain his meaning thus : — 'Science has acquired a 
 new dignity for matter by the exhibition of its intimacy 
 with spirit. The loveliness of its forms and colours, the 
 wonder of its versatility, the mystery of its strange 
 sympathies and antipathies, are for ever haunting us 
 with the suggestion thai matter is not what it seems. 
 But such suggestions have been long anticipated and 
 confirmed by the sacramental system, in whose light we 
 see the material order to be another aspect only of the 
 
 * 6Vf the pccm on Baptism, p. jS.
 
 NOTES. z\-i 
 
 spiritual, which is gradually revealing itself through 
 material concealment, in the greater and the lesser 
 Christian sacraments which radiate from the Incarna- 
 tion, and in all the types, and parables, and symbolisms 
 of nature, and the sacraments of storm and calm, and 
 of the sunset and of the star-rise, and in every flash of 
 an eye, or flush of a cheek, or pulse of a hand, that is, 
 in its degree, the material instrument of spiritual com- 
 munion. And so — 
 
 " The whole round earth is e\"ery way 
 Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." ' 
 
 J. R. Il.LIXGWORTH, 
 
 "■ Scunojis ftreached in a College Chape',' p. 173. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 EPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 
 AND PARLI.\.MENV STREET
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-50m-9.'60(B3C10B4)444
 
 PR 
 
 4729 ^urney - 
 
 G47V ^ 
 
 is ion of the 
 Eucharist 
 
 'IJJ^ 000 369 7273 
 
 PR 
 
 4729 
 
 G47v
 
 '%k:,\^l>!!A^. 
 
 ^ % 
 
 * nf