Dodo, a powerful retainer of Pepin the lord of Herstal; and has been regarded by the Church as a Martyr in consequence of his patience and meekness. He is described as having thrown himself upon the ground, with his arms extended like a cross, and calmly waited for the approach of his murderers. Fiercely from the northern mountains, blew the blast of winter's might, Darkly over cot and palace sank the long and grisly night, And the silent snow fell gleaming, blotting out the green earth's face, And the ice-crowned king was conquering lakes and streams with speedy pace; Yet he kneels before the symbol of his SAVIOUR's pangs and death,* Though the icy chill darts through him, and the snow-storm stops his breath, Yes, he kneels before that symbol 'neath the dark and howling sky, Scanty is his fluttering raiment, and his head and feet are bare, Matins now are past and over, and the morning hymn is done, For the Abbat has commanded, and the Bishop will obey; But the Abbat sees his error, and he falls before his feet: 46 Thus it was that God's good servants in the faithful elder days, Blest be thy deep faith and patience, exiled Bishop, care-worn Saint, * On rising to his devotions one night in the monastery of Stavalo, he accidentally let fall his wooden slipper, and the Abbat thinking some one had broken the rule of silence, sent orders that the brother who had made the noise should go and pray before the Cross at the abbey gate. S. Lambert immediately obeyed, VI. SEPTEMBER 26.-S. CYPRIAN, ARCHBISHOP AND MARTYR.A.D. 258. Thascius Cyprian was born of pagan parents of senatorial rank, at Carthage, where for many years he enjoyed the fame of being a distinguished orator and teacher of rhetoric. When past the prime of life, he was converted to Christianity, and baptized by Cæcilius, a Priest. Soon afterwards he was consecrated to the see of Carthage, vacant by the death of Donatus. In his time, persecution raged so fiercely that he was more than once obliged to withdraw, and remain in exile till its fury had somewhat abated. But he kept up a constant communication with his own and other Western Churches, by means of letters and treatises, many of which it has pleased GOD to preserve to us. He suffered martyrdom at the hands of the executioner, near Carthage, on the 14th of September, 258. Two churches were afterwards raised in his honour; one on the scene of his passion, the other containing his remains. His festival was transferred to September 26, in order that the martyrdom of another Cyprian, a Bishop of Antioch, in the fourteenth century, might be commemorated with his. Ye, who in distant lands have musing stood, Ye, the twin shrines and the memorial dust * Alluding to Monica, S. Augustine's mother. The champion rose, upon his brow imprest No more he spreads the lore of ancient sage, The silvery crown girds round the old man's head; Mourn not for him; his pure dream verified, No pang to suffer at his Master's side, Sleep 'neath the Cross, and wake in Eden's bower ;Mourn not, but muse: each Saint is as a gem For ever set in yonder glorious zone, Binding the cavern to the diadem In mystic fellowship, -for ever One. VII. SEPTEMBER 30.-S. JEROM, PRIEST, CONFESSOR, AND DOCTOR. A.D. 420. S. Jerom, the son of Eusebius, was born at Stridonium, a small town in Pannonia, about the year 342; and sent to Rome at an early age, and as yet unbaptized, to study under Donatus, a famous grammarian. After his studies were finished he entered the legal profession, and ere many years had passed he was baptized, and having entertained more serious thoughts of religious matters, he took a vow of celibacy. He went a journey to the East in 375, where he spent much time in seclusion and study. He was ordained priest at Antioch, by Paulinus, the Bishop, A.D. 378. After many labours in the East and West, and particularly at Rome, he died in peace at Bethlehem; and was interred in a vault among the ruins of his monastery, which had been destroyed by the Pelagians. To S. Jorom we owe most of the Vulgate Bible; and he wrote many other works, some of which were directed against the heresy of Pelagius, and the errors of Origen. Oh ever as each passing year unfolds its varied page, More greedy of life's passing joys, shrinking from earthly loss, With pageantry and pomp we strive to soothe our earth-bound sight, "Twere vain to tell of saintly men, the brave and strong of soul, Or, if perchance some strive to walk along the rugged way, And so the flood of time rolls on, day gliding after day, Nay rouse thee, Christian; faint not thus, lest over thee prevail How know'st thou how with GoD may plead thy fasting and thy prayer?— If so the precious flowers of faith may bloom again as fair. Yea, onward! and to cheer thy soul from Bethlehem's sacred clime, Well hast thou fought the fight of faith, and few like thee have been Then faint not, Christian soul! the world pursues its weary way INSTRUMENTA ECCLESIASTICA. Instrumenta Ecclesiastica. Edited by the Ecclesiological late Cambridge Camden Society. London: John Van Voorst. MR. SEWELL Somewhere says, would he had said all things as well!—that every art and science has its Athanasian Creed as well as the Church. More especially must this be the case in those branches of art which are connected with the Church, both on account of the importance of their ultimate object, and the resemblance which in a certain degree they must bear to her whose ministers they are. And yet this truth for a long time found no acceptance among English Churchmen. Every parish Priest had his own ideas of Ecclesiastical beauty and propriety; and woeful ideas too often they were: and when a conviction was forced upon the English Priesthood that churches must as to essentials be built one way, as to their ornaments, every man followed the caprices of his own imagination. "Ye shall not do as we do here this day, every man that which is right in his own eyes; for ye are not yet come unto the rest and the land which the LORD your God giveth you." No one who is in the slightest degree acquainted with the infinite importance of correct design in the fittings of churches, will call the quotation a light one; and, thanks to the Cambridge Camden Society, it is by no means so true an one as two years ago it would have been. |