Lord of the World

assage leading to the Cathedral. As he passed out through the sacristy he heard far in front the murmur of an organ, and on coming through into the chapel used as a

ix lights as they had burned day by day for more than a century; behind that again lay the high line of the apse-choir with the dim, window-pierced vault above where Christ reigned in majesty. He let his eyes wander round for a few moments before beginning his deliberate prayer, drinking in the glory of the place, listening to the thunderous chorus, the peal of th

hands, drew a couple of lo

d external, and he was left a single person with a beating heart, an intellect that suggested image after image, and emotions that were too languid to stir themselves. Then he made his second descent, renounced all that he possessed and was, and became conscious that even the body was left behind, and that his mind a

reflection, in that secret place to which he had learned the road by endless effort, in that strange region where realities are evident, where perceptions go to and fro with the swiftness of light, where the swaying will catches now this, now that act, moulds it and sp

moments, absor

elf to consciousness

t Thou and I…. I lay this all in Thy hands-Thy apostate priest, Thy people

till all of which he thought l

t is Thou Who dost preserve me. Maintain and finish Thy work within my soul. Let me

ill flickered in self-consciousness, and he repeated acts of faith, hope and love to steady it. T

unite myself with all saints and angels and Mary Queen of Heaven; look on them and me, and hear us. Emitte lucem tuam et

ry heart of prayer. The eyes of his soul flew hither and thither, from Calvary to heaven and back again to the tossing troubled earth. He saw Christ dying of desolation while the earth rocked and groa

delicate, passing like shadows, that his will sweated blood

ur; he saw the life-blood drop by drop run down from His head and hands and feet. The world was gathered mocking and good-humoured beneath. "He saved others: Himself He cannot save…. Let Christ come down from the Cro

and there and do nothing; and the Resurrection must seem to him no more than a dreamed-of hope. There was the Sabbath yet to come, while the Body Mystical must lie in its sepulchre cut off from light, and even the dignity of the Cross must be withdrawn and the knowledge that Jesus lived. That inner world, to which by lo

not bear it!

e him. The organ was silent now, and the choir was gone, and the lights out. The sunset colour, too, had faded from the walls, and grim cold faces l

ty, too, to the Lord that gave Himself to the senses as well as to the inner spirit. S

on his white hair, he saw an old woman watching him very closely. He hesitated an instant,

pardon, sir,

holic then. He li

ything for y

t were you at Brighton, at

w

: my daughter-in-

was a little tired of being identifi

u there,

sly, moving her old, eyes up and down h

ughter-in-law-I beg yo

rying to keep the impa

he Archbis

led, showing h

est. Dr. Cholmondeley is Archbis

ittle old-world movement of a bow; and Percy passed