Myth And Ritual In Christianity Part 16

In common and loose speech "the Church" often refers to the Holy Orders or to the actual church building, which is understandable, since both have a structure symbolizing the Church in its proper sense as the whole Body of Christ. The earlier Christian temples were built in the style of a basilica, or court of a king-usually a wide, rectangular hall terminating at the East end in an apse. The bishop's throne was placed at the extreme end of the apse, against its semicircular wall, with the seats of the a.s.sisting clergy upon either side. They faced the people across the altar, which stood at the entrance or chord of the apse, whose entire floor was raised above that of the main court of the temple. The altar itself was usually a stone table or a cubic block, raised on steps, and before it and to either side towards the people stood two lecterns, one for the book of Lessons and the other for the book of Gospels. This remains the essential ground.plan of Eastern Orthodox churches, save that the altar within the apse is screened off from the main body i Since mediaeval times, however, the altar has been pushed to the extreme East end ofthc Church, so that the Episcopal Throne is more usually found to one side of the Sanctuary. The English word "bishop" is derived from biscop, a sloppy way of saying the Graeco'Latin episcopus, lit. "overseer". While an episcopus was normally understood, in ancient Greek speech, to be a guardian, overseer, or ruler, it is of considerable interest that the word has also the precise opposite sense of bamartanein, to sin or "miss the mark". It means a "hitting of the mark", or a "being on the mark"-a sense which is far more appropriate to the highest of the Holy Orders, though I am not aware that anyone has ever tilted attention to this.

of the church by the iconoclasts, the screen adorned with icons, while two smaller apses stand on either side of the main apse. One is a sacristy for the vestments and vessels of the Liturgy, and the other is for the prothesis--the table at which the bread and wine are prepared before being brought to the altar.

In the West, churches have undergone a far more complex development, reaching its height in the superb Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals of Europe. The usual plan of such churches is cruciform, after the pattern of the Latin Cross with the long descending arm, and the main body of the church is within the central "upright" of the cross--divided into three sections, the Sanctuary, the Choir, and the Nave. If one enters such a church by the main door, at the West end or "foot" of the cross, there will be found within the porch or narthex a small fountain or stoup for holy water-blessed for the special purpose of defeating the arts of the Devil. As the faithful enter, they dip their fingers in the stoup and make the sign of the Cross upon themselves, repeating in figure the Baptism by which they enter the Body of Christ. Beyond the narthex, and extending as far as the centre of the whole cross, is the Nave. This term is of doubtful etymology, and may be derived simply from the Greek naps, a temple, or from the Latin navis, a s.h.i.+p, and in the latter case it would be by a.s.sociation of the Church with the s.h.i.+p or Ark of Salvation. Be this as it may, the Nave is that part of the church proper to the laity, and at its extreme West end there stands the Baptismal Font, that "immaculate womb out of which man is born into the divine life.

The East end of the Nave is usually the "crossing", the physical centre of the church above which stands the central tower or dome. To either side stand the two arms of the cross, the North and South Transepts, which are normally chapels with altars dedicated to certain saints-such as the Mother of G.o.d or the Patron Saint of the church. Beyond the crossing, steps ascend to the Choir (or Chancel), often divided from the From Easter to Pentecost t95 Nave by a screen corresponding to the iconostasis--a barrier s.h.i.+elding the mystery of the inner courts.

Pa.s.sing through the Choir Screen, one enters the "upper arm" of the cross, occupied by the Choir and Sanctuary. In most Western churches the Choir is set out according to the monastic plan-that is to say, with rows of stalls running lengthwise so that the monks face one another across the church. A second flight of steps divides the Choir from the Sanctuary, and above these steps and between the flanking pillars one will normally find the Rood Beam, supporting a huge Crucifix, so named because the Cross is the Holy Rood, Rod, or Stem of the Tree of Life. To the centre and back of the Sanctuary stands the high altar, two steps higher than the floor of the Sanctuary itself. Usually it is a rectangular stone block, incised on the mensa or top with five Greek crosses, one at the centre and one in each corner. Upon it, and to the back, stands a crucifix Ranked by six candlesticks. Immediately in front of the crucifix is the Tabernacle, often a short, hollowed/ out "pillar of stone with bronze doors in which the Sacrament of Christs Body is kept at all times. Lamps hang from the roof before the altar, one white lamp in honour of the Host within the Tabernacle, and seven red lamps-following the words of the Apocalypse, "And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne, which are the seven Spirits of G.o.d"?

Because the altar is the point of pa.s.sage between time and eternity it is very properly regarded as a tomb. While it is not altogether true, as is generally supposed, that the first Christian altars were the tombs of the martyrs in the Catacombs, it has for centuries been customary to lay the altarstone over a repository containing relics of the saints. The attribution of Revelation 4: 5. Presumably the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit-Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowledge, Holy Fear, and True G.o.d, likeness. Based on Isaiah rr: a, this is, however, a purely homiletic invention, and it might seem more reasonable to equate the Seven Spirits of G.o.d with the Seven Rays of the Sun. Sec above, p. So.

fg5 Myth and Ritual in Christianity miraculous power to such relics reflects the truth that what has departed from "this" life has become divinizcd, though here, as elsewhere, the death is that of "self" rather than of the physical body. In the Eastern Church the altar is expressly identified with the Sepulchre of Christ and the Throne of G.o.d --simultaneously-with the lower linen altar/cloth representing the windingsheet, and the upper brocaded cloth the glory of the Throne.

This material house of Christ's Body exhibits the essential elements of the Axle/Tree motif which we have already noted in connection with the Tree of Eden, the Cross, and the Kundalini symbolism of Indian Yoga. For if one looks at the ground plan of such a church (as in the accompanying figure), it is immediately obvious that here is the outline of a cross, tree, or human figure, stretched between the Waters, at the feet, and the Heavens, at the head, suggested by the dome, shape of the apse. The path from the Font to the Altar repre/ cents the whole course of the spirit's ascent into liberation-from the material waters into which it descended at Creation and Incarnation. Rising from the Waters, it pa.s.ses by the Way of the Cross-marked by representations of the "Stations of the Cross" on the pillars of the Nave-to the Sanctuary within the head", answering to the symbolism of the "lotus in the skull" or the "sun in the firmament, the point at which the union of humanity with divinity is fully realized. In the church this point is the Altar, the place of the miracle of transubstantiation where the elements of material life-bread and wine-become G.o.d. Indian and Christian mythology again reveal their common structure, for as the Serpent Power (Kundalini) of human consciousness ascends the spinaltree to the sun/lotus in the head, where it realizes its divinity, so the faithful in the Church ascend from Baptism to the Ma.s.s-the sacrament of Union celebrated in the 'head" of the church towards the East, where the sun rises. This confluence of symbols is further emphasized by the fact that when the consecrated Host is FIG. 13 TYPICAL GROUND.PLAN OF A CHURCH.

exposed for adoration, it is set upon the altar in a monstrance-a golden image of the sun raised upon a pedestal.

It is unimportant that these two mythological traditions may have obscure origins in primitive sunwors.h.i.+p, for the Christian and the Hindu alike recognize that the astronomical sun is used as a figure. The yogis who stare for hours at the actual sun, or at their navels, are just as much victims of the mere letter" as Christians who gaze in adoration at the Host in the mon, strance. In both traditions, the sun, the navel, the altar, and the monstrance are figures of the central point, the Eternal Now, in which mans consciousness must come to rest if he is to be liberated from time. In this sense, the focal point is the sun door" through which one pa.s.ses from time into eternity, having FIG. I4.

FIG. 15.

FIG. 14 MONSTRANCE FOR BENEDICTION AND EXPOSITION OF THE SACRAMENT. FIG. 15 THE SPINAL'TREE OF KUNDALINI YOGA SYMBOLISM,.

showing the seven cbakras, with the thousand.petalled lotus at the head

(inscribed with the pranaua AUM, the Supreme Name) and the sleeping

serpent coiled about the phallus at the base

its numerous images in the aperture in the crown of the skull through which, in Hindu mythology, the spirit is liberated at "death", the lantern at the crown of the dome, the Tabernacle Door upon the altar, and the East window in the apse which should properly carry the figure of Christ ascending or reigning in glory.

By a common convention the East window is of the lancet form, high and narrow and thus male", corresponding to spirit, while the West window is of the rose form, circular FIG. 16 CROSS FROM THE CEMETERY OF ST. AGNES IN ROME. (Early

Christian.) FIG. 17 BUDDHIST WHEEL OF THE LAW (Dlaarmacbalera) from

Sanchi, India. A single glance will show the obvious similarity between

the four figures, showing the perennial motif of the Axle.Tree ascending

from the earth to the sun, and through the heart of the sun-the Suzy

Door-into the World beyond

and "female, corresponding to Prima Materia, the womb of creation. Thus the whole edifice of the church is the image of Christus Pontifex, Christ the Bridgemaker, between heaven and earth, Creator and creation, the spirit and the flesh, the airy heights and the watery depths-of the one and only n.o.ble Tree planted in Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, which is again the dome of the firmament, this world, and ascending by the SunDoor-I am the Door-to the world without end.

Zoo Myth and Ritual in Christianity We have considered the Church as the Mystical Body, the Communion of Saints, the Secular and Holy Orders, and the Temple. It remains to say that the Church is not only a struc ture, an organism, but also an action; for that which is done by the Communion of Saints in the Temple is the work or Sacrifice-sacer, holy, facere, to make-the work of hallowing the world. This is why the Church is sometimes called "the extension of the Incarnation, for its work is to be and do what the Christ is and does-the reconciliation of G.o.d and the world, the infinite and the finite, the eternal and the temporal. The operation by which this is achieved is the system of the Seven Sacraments: x. Baptism Holy Chrism or Confirmation The Ma.s.s Penance or Absolution Holy Matrimony Holy Order Extreme Unction The concept of a sacrament is of special importance because it is an almost perfect definition of a mythological symbol. For a sacrament is no mere sign, no mere figure for a known reality which exists in our experience quite apart from its sign. A "known reality is, in this sense, something remembered, a fact or an idea, which, because of its complexity, is conveniently indicated by a sign of greater simplicity. Thus a sacrament is not an allegorical action, a way of representing something which the partic.i.p.ants "understand" in some other and more direct manner. The "material part of a sacrament, the "matter" which it employs and the "form in which it is employed, always signifies what is otherwise unknown. That is to say, it signifies the real and present world which cannot be remembered and is never, therefore, an object of knowledge. Apart from the sacrament, it is only possible to "know" this From Easter to Pentecost aoi Reality, G.o.d, by "becoming" it. But since "no man can see G.o.d and live", it is possible to dispense with the sacrament only "after death". Theologically, this is confused with physical death, but from the metaphysical standpoint, after death" is the point-now--at which there is no "I.

There is a certain order or gradation in the Seven Sacraments, such as one finds in the hierarchy of the Holy Orders and in the cous of the Temple, for they mark the essential steps or stages of the Christian life. By Baptism one is initiated or incorporated into the Mystical Body and made "no more I, but Christ, since, as we have seen, to be born of the Font is to be born of the Virgin. Technically, Chrism or Confirmation should accompany Baptism, but with the growth of infant Baptism it became customary to defer it until a child had reached the age of reason. Consisting in the anointing with the Oil of Chrism and the laying/on of hands by the bishop, it represents the other half of the mystery of incorporation into Christ, for he was not only born of the Virgin but also conceived by the Holy Spirit. To be enChristed, a man must be born again of "water and the Spirit", and Chrism is being born of the Spirit. The fact that it is deferred until the "age of reason" suggests that its inward sense is the conscious realization of what Baptism means-not the mere verbal comprehension, but the effective experiencing of regeneration.

Because Baptism and Chrism, was.h.i.+ng and anointing, transform man into Christ, he enters into that Communion by/Sacrifice of the divine and the human which involves union with both G.o.d and humanity. He is thus ready to partic.i.p.ate in the Ma.s.s, so that after Chrism he is admitted to First Communion.

The Sacrament of Penance or Absolution exists in the scheme as a sort of renewal of Baptism for those upon whom the original initiation did not altogether "take. Baptism was always understood to involve the total "forgiveness of sins, but because the Christian consciousness has so persistently confused an event which happens in eternity with a merely temporal occurrence, it has seemed possible to commit sin "after" Baptism. This is only to say that the Sacraments do not work while they remain myths alone, and are taken to signify happenings in time. Nor do they work when misapplied, when their power is expected to join forces with relative good against relative evil-a battle which is inconclusive by definition. Obviously, then, Baptism does not "take" when it is expected to take sides, and when the "sin" from which it delivers is confused with relative evil, and the grace which it confers with relative good. So long as this confusion prevails, the effects of Baptism will seem to be disappointing. Penance will continue to exist to reinforce Baptism in its misapplied role, and, incidentally, to increase the confusion.

Commonly called "Confession", the Sacrament of Penance consists in making a confession of one's "sins" to a priest or bishop, involving the expression of a sincere intention not to commit them again, and in receiving from him-as from Christ --the authoritative Absolution, "I absolve thee from all thy sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". No Catholic Christian, feeling himself to have committed "mortal" sin, will dare to receive the Host without first seeking Absolution? With a certain practical wisdom of the "boys will be boys" type, the Church has made Absolu, tion extraordinarily easy to obtain, and priests are carefully schooled to be loving and understanding rather than scolding in their treatment of penitents. This is, indeed, "worldly wisdom" in the very best sense, but it has no relation at all to i "Mortal" sin is theologically defined as that which involves the death of the soul, in the sense that it immediately incurs the penalty of eternal d.a.m.nation. The characteristics of such in are: (r) that it const.i.tute deliberate disobedience to the known will of G.o.d; (2) that it be committed in full freedom of choice; and (3) that the actual matter of the in be of grave import-lacking which the sin is regarded as "venial". Yet when mortal sin is identified with "evil actions" in their relative sense, there will always remain the astonis.h.i.+ng contradiction of rewarding a temporal sin with an eternal punishment.

From Easter to Pentecost 203 metaphysical sin---deliverance from which is so clearly the meaning of the other Sacraments, as of the entire Catholic myth.

In the Western Church, the sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Order are alternatives, representing what in other traditions are the active and contemplative lives, or the vocations of householder and ascetic. They follow Baptism, Chrism, and the Ma.s.s as the sacraments of vocation, of the hallowing of the work to be done by the members of the By. There are, however, some differences here between the Chris, tian and other traditions, for if Holy Order is to be regarded-as in practice it was-as one of the three estates of the social order, it must not be confused with the vocation to the home, less life of the ascetic, who is beyond caste and outside society. It would seem that in a healthy society the vocation to the homeless life should follow the vocation to the life of house, holder, and not be an alternative. The Eastern Church observes this principle, at least in token, by permitting priests to marry if they do so before ordination. But when the Western Church demands celibacy ofits priesthood, it confuses the Sacerdotium, the Brahmana Caste, with the vocation to Religion, in its strict sense of the ascetic rule and the homeless life of poverty, chast.i.ty, and obedience. The Roman Church prohibits the priesthood to marry on the ostensible ground that it would const.i.tute a distraction from the vocation, but the same objection could be made with equal force to the vocation of physician or artist. The real reason is rather that the hands which consecrate the Host must not be "defiled by contact with "Woman".

Modern Christian apologists tend to tone down this objection to the marriage of priests, and at the same time to stress the fact that Holy Matrimony "enn.o.bles" the mystery of s.e.x and procreation. But if one studies the writings of Early Christian and Mediaeval theologians, there can be no doubt whatsoever that historical Christianity regards s.e.xuality with unanimous disgust, and permits the sacrament of Holy Matrimony as a concession to the weakness of human nature. As St. Paul said, "It is better to marry than to burn". Other traditions, too, have perhaps made the same mistake of blaming Maya for enthralling mens minds when, as a matter of fact, she is only the "screen upon which the spell is projected by the Word. A man who bruises his nose by trying to walk into a picture should blame, not the picture, but his ignorance of the convention of perspective. But so long as the convention "fools" him, he blames the materia against which he banged his nose rather than the "Word", the concept, which beguiled his mind. Thus man's att.i.tude to woman is always a measure of his selfrunderstanding: the less he understands, the more he projects upon her the contents of his own unconscious.

The Christian mentality has been so peculiarly hostile to the Flesh--despite the fact that "the Word was made Flesh, and G.o.d so loved the world"-because the Western mind has been so unconscious of its own depths. This is why Christianity is taken more literally than the other great mythological traditions, and why even sophisticated Christian philosophers will insist upon the eternal reality of the ego/soul, and tend to project both G.o.d and Satan into the world of external objects.

But it is to the credit of Christianity that it has never regarded woman as not having even a soul, and that, whatever its att.i.tude to s.e.xuality, the concept of Holy Matrimony has protected women and children alike from the extremes of callousness and cruelty which were so common in the Graeco/ Roman world. For this, our culture must be grateful indeed, even though this compa.s.sionate concern for woman was moved by love for the soul rather than for the body, for woman in so far as she is the same as man, rather than in the respect in which she differs from him.'

1 This is, of course, a problem of immense subtlety-such that even to begin to discuss it adequately would require a separate volume! Modern theologians make a good deal of the point of Christian "materialism", of reverence for the From Easter to Pentecost zo5 Of the seventh Sacrament, Extreme Unction, we shall have more to say when, in the following chapter, we come to the Four Last Things-Death, Judgement, h.e.l.l and Heaven-and follow the Christian soul in its departure from this world. It is enough to say here that Unction is in one way the crown of the Sacraments, in that it is held to confer immediate admission, upon death, to the Beatific Vision and the life of Heaven. In other words, the sacramental grace of Unction is such a powerful incorporation of manhood into G.o.d that in many cases those who have received it and then recovered from sickness have felt it necessary to spend the rest of their lives in the cloister--or at least in daily attendance in the church.

In a more general sense, however; the princ.i.p.al sacrament is the Ma.s.s-not only because it embodies the Sacrifice of Christ, but also because it is the regular, diurnal sacrament which is independent of special occasions, the perpetual action of wors.h.i.+p whereby the Church identifies itself with the Son and sacrifices itself to the Father. In this sense, the Ma.s.s involves all that the Church "doe's"; it is the action of the Church, since the transformation of bread and wine into Christ is the whole work of realizing the unity of creation with its Creator. For it is the anatnnesis, the remembering, of the One whose dismemberment is the formation ofthe world.

body, and insist that the Christian att.i.tude to s.e.xuality is a part of this reverence -adducing the sound reason that "l.u.s.t" is often a mere exploitation of the body to find escape from feelings of spiritual and psychological disquiet. Ai appet.i.te for food may be exploited in just the same way, not to mention a thirst for we, and both eating and drinking are quite as essential to human continuity as reproduction. The unwisdom of exploiting the appet.i.tes does not, therefore, explain the very special antagonism of the Church to "l.u.s.t". Certainly other spiritual traditions have manifested a similar prudery, but they have not attempted to force it upon society as a whole, or to regard it as anything more than a strictly voluntary discipline for those of the ascetic vocation, who have abandoned the life of householder. It should be added that the special att.i.tude to woman involved in the cult of Chivalry is of Matuchaean rather than Christian origin.

IC xc

CHAPTER VII.

The Four Last Things AFTER the long summer season of Pentecost is over, the cycle of the year returns again to Advent, which, like Ja.n.u.s whose month begins the secular year, looks backwards and forwards at once-back to the First Advent of Christ in the cave of Bethlehem, and forward to the Second Advent when he is to come again with glory, "to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Advent is, then, the season of the Four Last Things in which the Church turns its mind to the contemplation of Death and Judgement, h.e.l.l and Heaven, to the mysteries of what is called Eschatology -the science of ends. For although the Christian myth is presented as history, as the narrative of the "mighty acts of G.o.d", the fact that it is by no means a merely "historical" religion is most plainly shown in its constant expectation of the end of the world. Christianity is an eschatological, not a historical, religion-for its whole hope is directed towards ?A6.

Dies illa, that Day", upon which time and history will come to an end.

It is well known that the first Christians lived in almost daily antic.i.p.ation of the Second Advent and the End of the World, for, if one takes the words of the Gospels literally, Christ made it plain that it was to be expected in the immediate future. But as the years and centuries pa.s.sed and a temporal Last Day failed to arrive, the expectancy which had been directed towards it was gradually s.h.i.+fted to the event of physical death. In the first century the Christian was in constant watchfulness for the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, but by the Middle Ages he was watchful against the possibility of sudden death, lest it should find him, like the ghost in Hamlet, "unshrived, unhouseled, unaneled-without the last rites of Confession, Communion, and Unction. And now that, with liberal Protestantism, the very life after death has become shadowy and doubtful, Christianity has become a historical religion of this world, finding the significance of life in time rather than beyond time.

Because of his literal understanding of the Christian myth, Western man has an att.i.tude to death which other cultures find puzzling. The Christian way of thought has made so deep an impression upon our culture that this att.i.tude prevails even when the intellectual a.s.sent to Christian dogma exists no more. For it is no easy matter to cast off the influence of our history, to be rid of a habit of thought and emotion which has prevailed for close to two thousand years. Western man has learned a peculiarly exaggerated dread of death, because he has seen it as the event which will precipitate him for ever into either unspeakable joy or unimaginable misery. Few have dared to be quite certain as to the outcome, for though one might hope for the mercy of G.o.d, it was a very serious sin to presume upon it. The sense of uncertainty was, furthermore, part and parcel of Christian feeling for the insidious subtlety of evil, so that the more one approached sanct.i.ty, the more one 208 Myth and Ritual in Christianity was aware of diabolical motivations, and of the near impossi bility of a pure intent. Many sold their souls to the Devil just because this very uncertainty seemed more insupportable than d.a.m.nation itself.

For it has always seemed that there is a certain and simple way to be d.a.m.ned. But the way of salvation is as narrow as a tightrope, and the balance always in doubt. However easy of access the Sacraments, however simple to say, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief!-there always remained the prob; lem of sincerity, and of the pure intent, since if one failed to receive the Sacraments "worthily" they imparted d.a.m.nation instead of salvation. Thus, if I ask myself why I believe, why I receive the Sacraments, and if I think by a logic which must answer the question why in terms of past causes, what I am and what I do is ever the fruit of what I was and what I did. Thus I never escape the Old Adam, nor succeed in being more than a wolf in sheeps clothing. I can believe that I repent sincerely and that I love genuinely upon the sole condition of not asking questions too persistently, of not examining my conscience too clearly. It was thus that Luther saw the impossibility of obtaining salvation through works. It is interesting to wonder what would have happened if he had asked himself as persistently why he had faith.

Historical Christianity is thus a religion in which anxiety plays a far greater part than faith, and in which this anxiety is even valued as a virtue because it is a constant check to pre/ sumption and pride. Our culture has thus evolved a species which might be called h.o.m.o sollicitus, anxious man", always remembering that sollidtus means oscillating, wobbling, or trembling. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is thus of special importance that this agitation or oscillation is the characteristic behaviour of an organism confused by logical paradox. In our case this is precisely the

Philippians is i a.

2 See the excellent may on the psychological significance of logical paradox paradox of self/consciousness, which we have shown to be a.n.a.logous to the "I am lying" paradox of Eubulides. Anxiety stands as a virtue between the two opposed sins of presumption and despair-even though Christ said, "Be not anxious-Nolite solliciti", knowing, perhaps, that the illusion of self, consciousness and its attendant anxiety is the whole significance of Lucifers For Lucifer is the Dark Christ-Anti/Christwhich is to say, the divine nature under the thrall of its own spell, wobbling, oscillating, or trembling between the pairs of opposites. And Lucifer's anxiety must impress the Christian mind as a virtue so long as it seems that salvation is a matter of choice between mutually related opposites, such as good and evil, and so long as it seems that the Man to be saved is the ego/soul.

From one point of view the Catholic rites of death are the most eloquent expression of this anxiety. From another, they contain the whole mystery of overcoming anxiety. This double interpretation is possible because of the very nature of the opposites---good and evil, life and death, Heaven and h.e.l.l. In reality, in Christ the Cornerstone "who maketh both one", the opposites are reconciled. But in seeming, in the situation where there see=s to be a real distinction and a real choice between them, the equivalent of reconciliation is oscillation, so that while above there is peace, below there is trembling. Similarly, the rites of death convey peace when understood inwardly, but anxiety when taken in the letter.

When, therefore, a Christian comes to the point of death, he sends an urgent request to the priest to come to him with the Viatic.u.m, the Rites of Pa.s.sage, between this world and the by Gregory Bateson in Rueseh and Bateson, Communication (New York, 1951), ch. 8.

1 C James 2: 19, "The devils also believe, and tremble"-since trembling is the necessary consequence of in, of missing the mark and confusing the present Self which is alive and free with the past self which is dead and determined. One trembles, oscillates, because of the irresolvable paradox created by the necessity of performing a free act with determined motives.

2ro Myth and Ritual in Christianity next. Whereupon the priest goes to the Tabernacle of the Altar, attended by an acolyte carrying bell and candle. He removes a Host from the ciborium, the cup in which the Sacrament of Christs Body is reserved, and places it in a small gold vessel called a pyx. This he ceremoniously veils, and with the bell and the light proceeding him goes to the house of the dying person. Upon entering he says, "Peace be to this house, and sprinkles holy water around with the words of the psalm, Thou shalt purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

By the bed of the dying person there has been set a small table with crucifix and candles. Here the priest lays down the pyx, and, putting a purple stole about his neck, prepares to hear the last confession of the departing soul-for which purpose all others are bidden to withdraw. And when the sick man has fully unburdened himself to "G.o.d Almighty, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Blessed Michael the Archangel, Blessed John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, my Father", confessing that he has sinned in thought, word, and deed "by my fault, by my fault, by my most great fault", the priest wipes out the spiritual stain with the formula of Absolution- By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins in the Name 4j. of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

This done, the priest removes the Host from the pyx and holds it up before the dying man, saying, "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world! Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed. He then lays it upon the tongue of the departing, with the solemn words, "Receive, brother, the Viatic.u.m of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall guard thee from the malign Enemy, and bring thee unto life eternal".

After the Viatic.u.m there follows Extreme Unction. The

priest makes the sign of the cross thrice upon the departing, with the words:

In the Name of the Father 4j+, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit +, may there be extinguished in thee every power of the Devil by the imposition of our hands, and by the invocation of all the holy Angels, Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, and all the Saints.

He then moistens his thumb in the vessel of the Oleum Infirmorum, of olive oil consecrated by the bishop for the healing of physical and spiritual disease, and makes the sign of the cross with the oil on seven parts of the body, namely, the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and thighs, saying each time-for example-"By this holy Unction +, and by his most tender compa.s.sion, may the Lord forgive thee in whatsoever way thou halt sinned by sight." If the miracle of physical healing, which is sometimes to be expected from this Sacra ment, does not occur, and if the person is clearly at the very point of death, the priest begins the Litany for the dying, calling on the Mother of G.o.d, the Angels, Patriarchs, and Saints to pray for him. And then, as his eyes begin to close in death, the priest says:

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world in the Name of G.o.d the Father Almighty, who created thee; in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living G.o.d, who suffered for thee; in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon thee; in the Name of the holy and glorious Mother of G.o.d, the Virgin Mary

and so on, through the whole s.h.i.+ning hierarchy of Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Princ.i.p.alities, Powers, Cherubim, Seraphim, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, Monks, Hermits, Virgins, and Saints, concluding taday let thy place be in peace, and thine abode in holy Sion. Through the same Christ our Lord.'

At the moment of expiration the departing is urged to repeat the Name of Jesus, and to say, "Into thy hands, 0 Lord, I commend my spirit". And when the light of life has gone out at last, and the soul gone on its way to the Centre of the Universe, those remaining at the bed sing together:

Make speed to aid him, ye Saints of G.o.d; come forth to meet him, ye Angels of the Lord; receiving his soul, presenting him before the face of the Most Highest.... Rest eternal grant unto him, 0 Lord; and let light perpetual s.h.i.+ne upon him.