Primitive Christian Worship Part 13

From the greatest joy of affairs, The greatest wailing is in the Church, For the absence of so great a patron.

But when the miracles return, Joy to the people returns.

The crowd of sick flock together, And obtain the grace of benefits.

_Fifth Lesson._

Now on the fifth day after the birth-day of our Lord, four persons of the palace came to Canterbury, men indeed of high birth, but famous for their wicked deeds; and having entered, they attack the archbishop with reproachful words, provoke him with insults, and at length a.s.sail him with threats. The man of G.o.d modestly answered, to every thing, whatever reason required, adding that many injuries had been inflicted upon him and the Church of G.o.d, since the re-establishment of peace, and there was no one to correct what was wrong; that he neither could nor would dissemble thereafter, so as not to exercise the duties of his function.

The men, foolish in heart, were disturbed by this, and having loudly given utterance to their iniquity they forthwith went out. On their retiring, the prelate proceeded to the Church, to offer the evening praises to Christ. The mail-clad satellites of Satan followed him from behind with drawn swords, a {209} large band of armed men accompanying them. On the monks barring the entrance to the Church, the priest of G.o.d, destined soon to become a victim of Christ, running up re-opened the door to the enemy; "For," said he, "a Church must not be barricaded like a castle." As they burst in, and some shouted with a voice of phrenzy, "Where is the traitor?" others, "Where is the Archbishop?" the fearless confessor of Christ went to meet them. When they pressed on to murder him, he said, "For myself I cheerfully meet death for the Church of G.o.d; but on the part of G.o.d I charge you to do no hurt to any of mine"--imitating Christ in his pa.s.sion, when he said, "If ye seek me, let these go their way." Then rush the ravening wolves on the pious shepherd, degenerate sons on their own father, cruel lictors on the victim of Christ, and with fatal swords cut off the consecrated crown of his head; and hurling down to the ground the Christ [the anointed] of the Lord, in savage manner, horrible to be said, scattered the brains with the blood over the pavement.

Thus does the straw press down the grain of corn; Thus is slain the guard of the vineyard in the vineyard; Thus the general in the camp, the shepherd in the fold, the husbandman in the thres.h.i.+ng-floor.

Thus the just, slain by the unjust, has changed his house of clay for a heavenly palace.

Rachel, weeping, now cease thou to mourn That the flower of the world is bruised by the world.

When the slain Thomas is borne to his funeral, A new Abel succeeds to the old.

The voice of blood, the voice of his scattered brains, Fills heaven with a marvellous cry. {210}

_Sixth Lesson._

But the last words of the martyr, which from the confused clamour could scarcely be distinguished, according to the testimony of those who stood near, were these,--"To G.o.d, and the blessed Mary, and Saint Dionysius, and the holy patrons of this Church, I commend myself and the cause of the Church[74]." Moreover, in all the torments which this unvanquished champion of G.o.d endured, he sent forth no cry, he uttered no groan, he opposed neither his arm nor his garment to the man who struck him, but held his head, which he had bent towards the swords, unmoved till the consummation came; prostrated as if for prayer, he fell asleep in the Lord. The perpetrators of the crime, returning into the palace of the holy prelate, that they might make the pa.s.sion of the servant more fully resemble the pa.s.sion of his Lord, divided among them his garments, the gold and silver and precious vessels, choice horses, and whatever of value they could find, allotting what each should take. These things therefore the soldiers did. Who, without weeping, can relate the rest?

So great was the sorrow of all, so great the laments of each, that you would think the prophecy were a second time fulfilled, "A voice is heard in Rama, lamentation and great mourning." Nevertheless the divine mercy, when temptation was multiplied, made a way to escape; and by certain visions, giving as it were a prelude to the future miracles, [declared that] the martyr was thereafter to be glorified by wonders, that joy would return after sorrow, {211} and a crowd of sick would obtain the grace of benefits.

[Footnote 74: I have already suggested a comparison between this prayer and the commendatory prayer of the Martyr Polycarp, page 92.]

O Christ Jesus[75], BY THE WOUNDS OF THOMAS, Loosen the sins which bind us; Lest the enemy, the world, or the works of the flesh.

Bear us captive to h.e.l.l.

By[76] THEE, O Thomas ...

Let the right hand of G.o.d embrace us.

The satellites of Satan rus.h.i.+ng into the temple Perpetrate an unexampled, unheard-of, crime.

Thomas proceeds to meet their drawn swords: He yields not to threats, to swords, nor even to death.

Happy place! Happy Church, In which the memory of Thomas lives!

Happy the land which gave the prelate!

Happy the land which supported him in exile!

Happy Father! succour us miserable, That we may be happy, and joined with those above!

[Footnote 75:

Christe Jesu per Thomae vulnera, Quae nos ligant relaxa scelera Ne captivos ferant ad infera Hostis, mundus, vel carnis opera.

[Footnote 76:

Per te, Thoma, post laevae munera Amplexetur nos Dei dextera.

_Seventh Lesson._

Jesus said unto his disciples, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.

THE HOMILY OF S. GREGORY, POPE.

Ye have heard, most dear brethren, from the reading of the Gospel, your instruction; ye have heard also {212} your danger. For behold! he who is not from any gift happening to him, but who is essentially good, says, I am the good shepherd; and he adds the character of the same goodness, which we may imitate, saying, The good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep. He did what he taught; he showed what he commanded. The good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep; that in our sacrament he might change his body and blood, and satisfy, by the nourishment of his flesh, the sheep which he had redeemed. Here is shown to us the way, concerning the contempt of death, which we should follow; the character is placed before us to which we should conform. [In the first place, we should of our pity sacrifice our external good for his sheep; and at last, if it be necessary, give up our own life for the same sheep. From that smallest point we proceed to this last and greater. But since the soul by which we live is incomparably better than the earthly substance which we outwardly possess, who would not give for the sheep his substance, when he would give his life for them? And there are some who, whilst they love their earthly substance more than the sheep, deservedly lose the name of shepherd: of whom it is immediately added, But the hireling who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. He is called not a shepherd, but a hireling, who feeds the Lord's sheep not for inward love, but with a view to temporal wages. He is a mercenary who seeks indeed the place of shepherd, but seeks not the gain of souls.]

(The sentences between brackets are not in MS. No. 1512.)

To Thomas all things yield and are obedient: Plagues, diseases, death, and devils, {213} Fire, air, land, and seas.

Thomas filled the world with glory.

The world offers obeisance to Thomas[77].

[Footnote 77:

Thomae cedunt et parent omnia: Pestes, morbi, mors, et daemonia, Ignis, aer, tellus, et maria.

Thomas mundum replevit gloria.

Thomae mundus praestat obsequia.

_Eighth Lesson._

In good truth, the holy Thomas, the precious champion of G.o.d, was to be worthily glorified. For if the cause, yea, forasmuch as the cause makes the martyr, did ever a t.i.tle of holy martyrs exist more glorious?

Contending for the Church, in the Church he suffered; in a holy place, at the holy time of the Lord's nativity, in the midst of his fellow-priests and the companies of the religious: since in the agony of the prelate all the circ.u.mstances seemed so to concur, as perpetually to ill.u.s.trate the t.i.tle of the sufferer, and reveal the wickedness of his persecutors, and stain their name with never-ending infamy. But so did the divine vengeance rage against the persecutors of the martyr, that in a short time, being carried away from the midst, they nowhere appeared.

And some, without confession, or the viatic.u.m, were suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed away; others tearing piecemeal their own fingers or tongues; others pining with hunger, and corrupting in their whole body, and racked with unheard-of tortures before their death, and broken up by paralysis; others bereft of their intellects; others expiring with madness;--left manifest proofs that they were suffering the penalty of unjust persecution and premeditated murder. Let, therefore, the Virgin Mother, the Church, rejoice that the new martyr has borne away the triumph over the {214} enemies. Let her rejoice that a new Zacharias has been for her freedom sacrificed in the temple. Let her rejoice that a new Abel's blood hath cried unto G.o.d for her against the men of blood. For the voice of his blood shed, the-voice of his brain scattered by the swords of those deadly satellites, hath filled heaven at once and the world with its far-famed cry.

Thomas s.h.i.+nes with new miracles; He adorns with sight those who had lost their eyes; He cleanses those who were stained with the spots of leprosy;

He looses those that were bound with the bonds of death.

_Ninth Lesson._

For at the cry of this blood the earth was moved and trembled. Nay, moreover, the powers of the heavens were moved; so that, as if for the avenging of innocent blood, nation rose against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; nay, a kingdom was divided against itself, and terrors from heaven and great signs took place. Yet, from the first period of his martyrdom, the martyr began to s.h.i.+ne forth with miracles, restoring sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, language to the dumb. Afterwards, cleansing the lepers, making the paralytic sound, healing the dropsy, and all kinds of incurable diseases; restoring the dead to life; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils and all the elements: he also put forth his hand to unwonted and unheard-of signs of his own power; for persons deprived of their eyes merited by his merits to obtain new members. But some {215} who presumed to disparage his miracles, struck on a sudden, were compelled to publish them even unwillingly. At length, against all his enemies the martyr so far prevailed, that almost every day you might see that to be repeated in the servant which is read of the Only-begotten: "They who spoke evil of thee shall come unto thee, and adore the traces of thy feet." Now the celebrated champion and martyr of G.o.d, Thomas, suffered in the year from the incarnation of the Lord, according to Dionysius, 1171, on the fourth of the kalends of January, on the third day of the week, about the eleventh hour, that the birth-day of the Lord might be for labour, and his for rest; to which rest the same our G.o.d and Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth G.o.d, for ever and ever. Amen.

O good Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, Forgive us our debts; Visit the house, the gate, the grave; And raise us from the threefold death.

What has been lost by act, in mind, or use, Restore with thy wonted pity.

Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.

N.B. This appears to be the end of the first service in honour of Thomas Becket[78]; and at this point {216} another service seems to commence, with a kind of new heading, "In the commemoration of St. Thomas[79]."

[Footnote 78: All the Lessons between this pa.s.sage and "In Lauds," are wanting in MS. 1512.]

[Footnote 79: Another Feast was kept in honour of his translation, on the 7th of July.]

_The First Lesson._

When Archbishop Theobald, of happy memory, in a good old age, slept with his fathers, Thomas, archdeacon of the Church of Canterbury, is solemnly chosen, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be archbishop and primate of all England, and afterwards is consecrated. Then pious minds entertained firm hope and confidence in the Lord[80].

[Footnote 80: There is much of obscurity in the next paragraph.

Reference seems to be made to his twofold character of a regular and a secular clergyman, and to his improved state morally. The Latin is this: "Erat autem piis mentibus spes firma et fiducia in Domino, quod idem consecratus utriusque hominis, habitu mutato moribus melioratus praesideret. Probatissimum siquidem tenebatur sedem illam sedem sanctorum esse sanctam recipere aut facere, vel citius et facile indignum abicere, quod et in beato Thoma Martyre misericorditer impletum est."]

_Second Lesson._

Therefore the chosen prelate of G.o.d being elected, and anointed with the sanctifying of the sacred oil, immediately obtained a most hallowed thing, and was filled with manifold grace of the Holy Spirit. For walking in newness of life, a new man, he was changed into another man, all things belonging to whom were changed for the better; and with so great grace did he consecrate the commencement of his bishopric, that clothing himself with a monk's form secretly, he fulfilled the work and merit of a monk. {217}