And so this whole fallen world of ours, And souls of infants, sealed by new-creating Love. Heaven in the depth and height is seen; In deep clear waters: all between Is earth, and tastes of earth: even so To strongest seraphs there, to weakest infants here. And both are robed in white, and both On evil look unharmed, and wear To linger in the keen bright air. On Saints, so on the old the duteous-hearted boy. God's Angels keep the eternal round They boast not to be free, They grudge not to their Lord meek ear and bended knee. Oh well and wisely wrought of old, Nor without guide be sure, who first Did cherub forms as infants mould, And lift them where the full deep burst Of awful harmony Might need them most, to waft it onward to the sky: Where best they may in watch and ward May quell, with sad and stern regard, Of saving knowledge round from many a holy scroll. 461 What if in other lines than ours They write, in other accents speak? And thou shalt quickly find. The Mother best may tell the eager babe's deep mind. Haply some shield their arms embrace, The Cross of His redeeming grace, Or His dread Wounds we then descry. Learn we to face them on the dread Procession Day. And O! if aught of pride or lust Have soiled thee in the world, take heed: Angelic eyes are keen, to read By the least, lightest sign, When we foul, idle thoughts breathe in the air divine. And how, but by their whisperings soft, Nor our own ill endure In presence of Christ's babes, and of their Guardians pure. One other poem will enable us to complete the cycle of Angelical meditation. The scene of the goal is the same as that of the starting-point; we are to leave off, as we began, in Heaven. We have contemplated, so to say, the relation in which God stood to the angels; and, with St. Joseph, have seen the relation in which they stood to God. With Ken, Rist, and Newman, we have pondered on their affectionate and vigilant ministrations in their capacity of guardians of the faithful; whilst with Keble, we have been half recalled to the highest spheres of thought for the contemplation of the celestial types and representatives of terrestrial Innocents. 66 ON THE JOYS OF HEAVEN." 463 There are, so far as we can at present understand, three grand eras in the economy of Heaven. The first was that unbeginning one during which God dwelt alone, an Infinite end and centre unto Himself; the second was that in which the universe became a government and a polity by the creation first of angelic and then of human existences; and the third and unending one is to be that in whichdefection and treason, whether done in heaven or on earth, by incorporeal or by incarnate spirits, being visited with eternal chastisement and exile-the family of the saved of Mankind shall join the family of the elect Angels in the immediate presence and bliss of God for ever and ever. There is, we think, a fitness in taking from Thomas à Kempis-the putative author of the "Imitation of Christ," a hymn "On the Joys of Heaven," which illustrates the glorious era to which all faithful souls in all worlds are tending; and in which the "Tersanctus " of the very earliest Liturgies, and of our own Communion Service, shall be realized by sight, as now it is believed on the evidence of faith and love :- "Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the Company of Heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name; evermore praising Thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory: Glory be to Thee, O Lord most High. Amen." - The following translation of the Hymn of Thomas à Kempis is by the author of the "Voice of Christian Life in Song." High the angel choirs are raising Heart and voice in harmony: Whom in beauty there they see. Sweetest strains, from soft harps stealing; Trumpets, notes of triumph pealing; Up the steps of glory streaming; Where the heavenly bells are ringing, To the mighty Trinity! Holy, holy, holy! crying; Every voice is there harmonious, Whom adore the seraphim, Aye with love eternal burning; To their fount of honour turning; Oh how beautiful that region, And how fair that heavenly legion, Where thus men and angels blend! Glorious will that City be, Full of deep tranquility, Light and peace from end to end! All the happy dwellers there Shine in robes of purity, Keep the law of charity, Bound in firmest unity; Labour finds them not, nor care. Ignorance can ne'er perplex, Nothing tempt them, nothing vex; Joy and health their fadeless blessing, Always all things good possessing. St. Luke the Quangelişi. OCTOBER 18. N O historical account," says Mr. Riddle, " concerning the origin of this festival is extant. It was probably contemporary with the other festivals of the Apostles; which may, for the most part, be assigned to about the eleventh or twelfth centuries-at least so far as regards their general adoption. But Dr. Waterland, in a MS. note to Wheatly, observes that this feast is to be referred to the fifth century, 'as appears from the Carthage calendar.'"* Brady fixes upon the year 1130 as that of its first institution.† But little is known of the personal history of St. Luke; who, in addition to his honours as an Evangelist, bears also the distinction of having been the earliest of ecclesiastical historians. By some authors, who evidently do not consider his claims barred by the somewhat ambiguous inscription of his Gospel to Theophilus, he is reckoned to have been one of the Seventy Disciples, of whose commission he is the only one of the Evangelists to take notice. Others, considering that he does bar his claims to be regarded as an eye-witness and minister of the Word from the beginning (Luke i. 1-4), speak of him as one of St. Paul's converts at Antioch, of which city, according to Eusebius, † Clavis Calendaria. * Manual of Christian Antiquities. |