Chapter XXII: Section II: Service of Thomas Becket, on the Anniversary of His

MARTYRDOM, DEC. 29.

The other instance by which I propose to illustrate the state of religion in England before the reformation, is the service of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, a canonized saint and martyr of the Church of Rome. The interest attaching to so remarkable a period in ecclesiastical history, and to an event so intimately interwoven with the former state of our native land, appears to justify the introduction of the entire service, rather than extracts from it, in this place. Whilst it bears throughout immediately on the subject of our present inquiry, it supplies us at the same time with the strong views entertained by the authors of the service, on points which gave rise to great and repeated discussion, not only in England, but in various parts also of continental Europe, with regard to the moral and spiritual merits or demerits of Becket, as a subject of the realm and a Christian minister. It is, moreover, only by becoming familiar in all their details with some such remains of past times, that we can form any adequate idea of the great and deplorable extent to which the legends had banished the reading and expounding of Holy Scriptures from our churches; and also how much the praises of mortal man had encroached upon those hours of public worship, which should be devoted to meditations on our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; to the exclusive praises of his holy name; and to supplications {201} to Him alone for blessings at his hand, and for his mercy through Christ.

There is much obscurity in the few first paragraphs. The historical or biographical part begins at Lesson the First, and continues throughout, only interspersed with canticles in general referring to the incidents in the narrative preceding each.

* * * * *

THE SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET[70].

[Footnote 70: The copies which I have chiefly consulted for the
purposes of the present inquiry, are two large folio
manuscripts, in good preservation, No. 1512 and No. 2785 of the
Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The service commences about
the 49th page, B. of No. 2785. This MS. is considered to be of a
date somewhere about 1430. The first parts of the service are
preserved also in a Breviary printed in Paris in 1556, with some
variations and omissions. There are various other copies in the
British Museum, as well printed as in manuscript.]

Let them without change of vestments and without tapers in their hands, proceed to the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, chanting the requiem, the chanter beginning,

_Req._ The grain lies buried beneath the straw;
The just man is slain by the spear of the wicked;
The guardian of the vine falls in the vineyard,
The chieftain in the camp, the husbandman in the threshing-floor.

Then the prose is said by all who choose, in surplices before the altar.

"Let the Shepherd sound his trumpet of horn."

Let the choir respond to the chant of the prose after every verse, upon the letter [super litteram]. {202}

That the vineyard of Christ might be free,
Which he assumed under a robe of flesh,
He liberated it by the purple cross.
The adversary, the erring sheep,
Becomes bloodstained by the slaughter of the shepherd.
The marble pavements of Christ
Are wetted, ruddy with sacred gore;
The martyr presented with the laurel of life.
Like a grain cleansed from the straw,
Is translated to the divine garners.

But whilst the prose is being sung, let the priest incense the altar, and then the image of the blessed Thomas the Martyr; and afterwards shall be said with an humble voice: Pray for us, Blessed Thomas.

_The Prayer[71]._ O God for whose Church the glorious {203} high-priest and martyr Thomas fell beneath the swords of the wicked, grant, we beseech thee, that all who implore his aid may obtain the salutary effect of their petition, through Christ.

[Footnote 71: This Collect is still preserved in the Roman
ritual, and is offered on the anniversary of Becket's death. In
a very ancient pontifical, preserved in the chapter-house of
Bangor, and which belonged to Anianus, who was Bishop of that
see (1268), among the "Proper Benedictions for the circuit of
the year," are two relating to Thomas Becket; one on the
anniversary of his death, the other on the day of his
translation. The former is couched in these words: "O God, who
hast not without reason mingled the birthday of the glorious
high-priest, Thomas, with the joys of thy nativity, by the
intervention of his merits" (ipsius mentis intervenientibus),
"make these thy servants venerate thy majesty with the reverence
of due honour. Amen. And as he, according to the rule of a good
shepherd, gave his life for his sheep, so grant thou to thy
faithful ones, to fear no tyrannical madness to the prejudice of
Catholic truth. Amen. We ask that they, by his example, for
obedience to the holy laws, may learn to despise persons, and by
suffering manfully to triumph over tyrannical madness. Amen."
The latter runs thus: "May God, by whose pity the bodies of
saints rest in the sabbath of peace, turn your hearts to the
desire of the resurrection to come. Amen. And may he who orders
us to bury with honour due the members of the saints whose death
is precious, by the merits of the glorious martyr, Thomas,
vouchsafe to raise you from the dust of vanity. Amen. Where at
length by the power of his benediction ye may be clothed with
doubled festive robes of body and soul. Amen."]

The shepherd slain in the midst of the flock,
Purchased peace at the price of his blood.
O joyous grief, in mournful gladness!
The flock breathes when the shepherd is dead;
The mother wailing, sings for joy in her son,
Because he lives under the sword a conqueror.
The solemnities of Thomas the Martyr are come.
Let the Virgin Mother, the Church, rejoice;
Thomas being raised to the highest priesthood,
Is suddenly changed into another man.
A monk, under [the garb of?] a clerk, secretly clothed with haircloth,
More strong than the flesh subdues the attempts of the flesh;
Whilst the tiller of the Lord's field pulls up the thistles,
And drives away and banishes the foxes from the vineyard.

_The First Lesson._

Dearest Brethren, celebrating now the birth-day of the martyr Thomas, because we have not power to recount his whole life and conversation, let our brief discourse run through the manner and cause of his passion. The blessed Thomas, therefore, as in the office of Chancellor, or Archdeacon, he proved incomparably strenuous {204} in the conduct of affairs, so after he had undertaken the office of pastor, he became devoted to God beyond man's estimation. For, when consecrated, he suddenly is changed into another man: he secretly put on the hair shirt, and wore also hair drawers down to the knee. And under the respectable appearance of the clerical garb, concealing the monk's dress, he entirely compelled the flesh to obey the spirit; studying by the exercise of every virtue without intermission to please God. Knowing, therefore, that he was placed a husbandman in the field of the Lord, a shepherd in the fold, he carefully discharged the ministry entrusted to him. The rights and dignities of the Church, which the public authority had usurped, he deemed it right to restore, and to recall to their proper state. Whence a grave question on the ecclesiastical law and the customs of the realm, having arisen between him and the king of the English, a council being convened, those customs were proposed which the king pertinaciously required to be confirmed by the signatures as well of the archbishop as of his suffragans. The archbishop with constancy refused, asserting that in them was manifest the subversion of the freedom of the Church. He was in consequence treated with immense insults, oppressed with severe losses, and provoked with innumerable injuries. At length, being threatened with death, (because the case of the Church had not yet become fully known, and the persecution seemed to be personal,) he determined that he ought to give place to malice. Being driven, therefore, into exile, he was honourably received by our lord the pope Alexander[72] at Senon, and recommended {205} with especial care to the Monastery of Pontinea (Pontigny).

[Footnote 72: Pope Alexander III. was at this time residing as a
refugee at Sens, having been driven from Italy a few years
before by Frederick Barbarossa.]

Malice, bent on the punishment of Thomas,
Condemns to banishment the race of Thomas.
The whole family goes forth together.
No order, sex, age, or condition
Here enjoys any privilege.

_Lesson the Second._

Meanwhile in England all the revenues of the archbishop are confiscated, his estates are laid waste, his possessions are plundered, and by the invention of a new kind of punishment, the whole kin of Thomas is proscribed together. For all his friends or acquaintance, or whoever was connected with him, by whatever title, without distinction of state or fortune, dignity or rank, age or sex, were alike exiled. For as well the old and decrepit, as infants in the cradle and women lying in childbirth, were driven into banishment; whilst as many as had reached the years of discretion were compelled to swear upon the holy [Gospels][73] that immediately on crossing the sea they would present themselves to the Archbishop of Canterbury; in order that being so oftentimes pierced even by the sword of sympathy, he would bend his strength of mind to the king's pleasure. But the man of God, putting his hand to deeds of fortitude, with constancy bore exile, reproaches, insults, the proscription of parents and friends, for the name of Christ; he was never, by any injury, at all broken or changed. For so great was the firmness of this confessor of Christ, that he seemed to teach all his fellow exiles, that every soil is the brave man's country.

[Footnote 73: Tactis sacrosanctis. It may mean reliques, or
other sacred things.] {206}

Thomas put his hands to deeds of fortitude,
He despised losses, he despised reproaches,
No injury breaks down Thomas:
The firmness of Thomas exclaimed to all,
"Every soil is the brave man's country."

_Third Lesson._

The king therefore hearing of his immoveable constancy, having directed commendatory letters by some abbots of the Cistertian order to the General Chapter, caused him to be driven from Pontinea. But the blessed Thomas fearing that, by occasion of his right, injury would befal the saints, retired of his own accord. Yet before he set out from thence he was comforted by a divine revelation: a declaration being made to him from heaven, that he should return to his Church with glory, and by the palm of martyrdom depart to the Lord. When he was disturbed and sent from his retreat at Pontinea, Louis, the most Christian king of the French, received him with the greatest honour, and supported him most courteously till peace was restored. But even he too was often, though in vain, urged not to show any grace of kindness towards a traitor to the king of England. The hand of fury proceeded further, and a cruelty dreadful for pious ears to hear. For whereas the Catholic Church prays even for heretics, and schismatics, and faithless Jews, it was forbidden that any one should assist him by the supplications of prayer. Exiled, then, for six continuous years, afflicted with varied and unnumbered injuries, and like a living stone squared by various cuttings and pressures for the building of the heavenly edifice, the more he was thrust at that he might fall, the more firm and immoveable was he enabled to stand. {207} For neither could gold so carefully tried be burned away, nor a house, founded on a firm rock, be torn down. Neither does he suffer the wolves to rage against the lambs, nor the vineyard to pass into a garden of herbs.

The best of men, holy, and renowned is banished,
Lest the dignity of the Church should yield to the unworthy.
The estates of the exiled man are the spoil of the malignant,
But when placed in the fire, the fire burns him not.

_Fourth Lesson._

At length by the exertions, as well of the aforesaid pontiff as of the king of the French, many days were appointed for re-establishing peace: and because the servant of God would not accept of peace, unless with safety to the honour of God, and the character of the Church, they departed in discord from each other. At length the supreme Pontiff, pitying the desolation of the Anglican Church, with difficulty at the last extorted by threatening measures, that peace should be restored to the Church. The realms indeed rejoiced, that the King had been reconciled to the Archbishop, whilst some believed that the affair was carried on in good faith, and others formed different conjectures. Consequently in the seventh year of his exile the noble pastor returned into England, that he might either rescue the sheep of Christ from the jaws of the wolves, or sacrifice himself for the flock intrusted to his care. He is received by the clergy and the people with incalculable joy; all shedding tears, and saying, Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord. But after a few days he was again afflicted by losses and miseries beyond measure and number. Whoever offered to him, {208} or to any one connected with him, a cheerful countenance was reckoned a public enemy. In all these things his mind was unbroken; but his hand was still stretched out for the liberation of the Church. For this he incessantly sighed; for this he persevered in watchings, fastings, and prayers; to obtain this he ardently desired to sacrifice himself.

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 assail him with threats. The man of God modestly answered, to every thing, whatever reason required, adding that many injuries had been inflicted upon him and the Church of God, 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 God, 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 God; but on the part of God I charge you to do no hurt to any of mine"--imitating Christ in his passion, 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 threshing-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 God, 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 God 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 passion of the servant more fully resemble the passion 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 hell.
By[76] THEE, O Thomas ...
Let the right hand of God embrace us.

The satellites of Satan rushing 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 Thomæ vulnera,
Quæ nos ligant relaxa scelera
Ne captivos ferant ad infera
Hostis, mundus, vel carnis opera.
]

[Footnote 76:

Per te, Thoma, post lævæ 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:

Thomæ cedunt et parent omnia:
Pestes, morbi, mors, et dæmonia,
Ignis, aer, tellus, et maria.
Thomas mundum replevit gloria.
Thomæ mundus præstat obsequia.
]

_Eighth Lesson._

In good truth, the holy Thomas, the precious champion of God, was to be worthily glorified. For if the cause, yea, forasmuch as the cause makes the martyr, did ever a title 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 circumstances seemed so to concur, as perpetually to illustrate the title 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 viaticum, were suddenly snatched 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 God 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 shines 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 shine 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 God, 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 God and Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth God, 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 passage 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 præsideret. 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 God 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}

_Third Lesson._

But he, who after the example of the Baptist, with constancy had conceived in a perfect heart that the zeal of righteousness should be purified, studied also to imitate him in the garb of penitence. For casting off the fine linen which hitherto he had been accustomed to use, whilst the soft delicacies of kings pleased him, he was clothed on his naked body with a most rough hair shirt. He added, moreover, hair drawers, that he might the more effectually mortify the flesh, and make the spirit live. But these, as also the other exercises of his spiritual life, very few indeed being aware of it, he removed from the eyes and knowledge of men by superadding other garments, because he sought glory not from man, but from God. Even then the man of virtue entering upon the justifications of God, began to be more complete in abstinence, more frequent in watching, longer in prayer, more anxious in preaching. The pastoral office intrusted to him by God, he executed with so great diligence, as to suffer the rights neither of the clergy nor of the Church to be in any degree curtailed.

* * * * *

There seems here also to be another commencement, for the next lesson is called the First.

_Lesson First._

So large a grace of compunction was he wont to possess, between the secrets of prayer or the solemnities of masses, that with eyes trained to weeping he would be wholly dissolved in tears; and in the office {218} of the altar his appearance was as though he was witnessing the Lord's passion in the flesh. Knowing also that mercy softens justice, and that pity hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, therefore towards the poor and the afflicted did he bear the bowels of mercy piteously, and was anxious to reach the poor by the blessings of his alms.

_Lesson Second._

The more humble of those whom a character for religion raised high, he made his acquaintance and intimates; and that he might learn from them to hunger and thirst after righteousness, he enjoyed more frequently their secret conversation. Towards such servants and soldiers of Christ this merciful man preferred to be liberal and abundant in food and raiment, he who determined in himself to be moderate and sparing. For what would he deny to Christ, who for Christ was about to shed his blood? He who owed his coat or cloak to one who asked it, desired to add, moreover, his own flesh. For he knew that the man would never freely give his own flesh, who showed himself greedy of any temporal thing.

_Lesson Third._

Hitherto the merciful Lord, who maketh poor and enricheth, bringeth low and lifteth up, wished to load his servant with riches, and exalt him with honours; and afterwards he was pleased to try him with adversity. By trying whether he loved Him, He proved it the more certainly; but He supplied grace more abundantly. For with the temptation He made a way to escape, that he might be able to bear it. Therefore, the envious enemy, considering that the new prelate {219} and the new man was flourishing with so manifold a grace of virtues, devised to send a burning blight of temptation, which might suffocate the germ of his merits already put forth. Nor was there any delay. He who severs a man from his God, and one friend from his neighbour, sowed irreconcileable quarrels between the king and the archbishop.

Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.

_In Lauds._

A grain falls and gives birth to an abundance of corn.
The alabaster-box is broken, and the odour of the
ointment is powerful.
The whole world vies in love to the martyr,
Whose wonderful signs strike all with astonishment.
The water for Thomas five times changing colour,
Once was turned into milk, four times into blood.
At the shrine[81] of Thomas four times the light
came down,
And to the glory of the saint kindled the wax-tapers.
DO THOU BY THE BLOOD OF THOMAS, WHICH HE[82]
SHED FOR THEE;
MAKE US, O CHRIST, ASCEND,
Whither Thomas has ascended.

Extend[83] succour to us, O Thomas,
Guide those who stand, {220}
Raise up those who fall,

Correct our morals, actions, and life;

And guide us into the way of peace.

[Footnote 81: Ad Thomæ memoriam.]

[Footnote 82: Tu per Thomæ sanguinem quem pro te impendit, Fac
nos, Christe, scandere, quo Thomas ascendit.]

[Footnote 83:

Opem nobis, O Thoma, porrige,
Rege stantes, jacentes erige,
Mores, actus, et vitam corrige,
Et in pacis nos viam dirige.
]

_Final Anthem._

Hail, O Thomas, the Rod of Justice;[84]
The Brightness of the World;
The Strength of the Church;
The Love of the People;
The Delight of the Clergy.
Hail, glorious Guardian of the Flock;
Save those who rejoice in thy glory.

[Footnote 84: Salve, Thomas, Virga Justitiæ, Mundi Jubar, Robur
Ecclesiæ, Plebis Amor, Cleri Delicia. Salve Gregis Tutor
egregie, Salva tuæ gaudentes gloriæ.]

The end of the service of Thomas of Canterbury.

* * * * *

Now for a few moments only let us meditate on this service. I have already referred to the lamentable practice of substituting biographical legends for the word of God. And what is the tendency of this service? What impression was it likely to make, and to leave on minds of ordinary powers and instruction? Must it not, of necessity, tend to withdraw them from contemplating Christ, and to fix their thoughts on the powers, the glory, the exaltation, the merits of a fellow-sinner? It will be said, that they will look beyond the martyr, and trace the blessings, here enumerated, to Christ, as their primary cause, and will think of the merits of Thomas as efficacious only through the merits of their Saviour; that in their invocation of Thomas they will implore him only to pray for them. But can this be so? Does not the ascription of miracles to him {221} and to his power; does not the very form of enumerating those miracles tend much to exalt the servant to an equality with the Master?

Whilst Thomas by being thus, in words at least, presented to the people as working those miracles by his own power, (for there is throughout a lamentable absence of immediate ascription of glory to God,) is raised to an equality with Christ our Lord; many passages in this service have the tendency also of withdrawing the minds of the worshippers from an implicit and exclusive dependence on the merits of Christ alone, and of tempting them to admit the merits of Thomas to share at least with Christ in the work of grace and salvation. Let us place some texts of Scripture and some passages of this service side by side.

[Transcriber's note: They are shown here one after the other.]

_Scripture._

But after that the kindness and love of God towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.--Titus iii. 4, 5.

He who spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?--Rom. viii. 32.

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.--1 John i. 7.

One Mediator.--1 Tim. ii. 5.

Who also maketh intercession for us.--Rom. viii. 34.

He ever liveth to make intercession for them.--Heb. vii. 25.

_Service of Thomas Becket._

O Christ Jesus, by the wounds of Thomas loosen the sins which bind us.

O blessed Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, forgive us our debts, raise us from the threefold death, and restore what has been lost with thy accustomed pity.

Do thou, O Christ, by the blood of Thomas, which he shed for thee, make us ascend whither Thomas has ascended.

Holy Thomas, pray for us.

And if this service thus seems to mingle the merits of Christ, the merits of his blood and of his death, with {222} the merits of a mortal man, the immediate address to that mortal as the giver of good things temporal and spiritual, very awfully trespasses on that high, exclusive, and incommunicable prerogative of the one Lord God Omnipotent, which his Spirit hath proclaimed solemnly and repeatedly, and which he has fenced around against all invasion with so many warnings and denunciations.

_Scripture._ _Service of Becket_

1. O thou that hearest prayer, 1. For they sake, O Thomas, unto thee shall all flesh come.-- let the right hand of God embrace Ps. lxv. [vulg. lxiv.] 2. us.

By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.--Phil. iv. 6.

2. Lord, be thou my helper.-- 2. Send help to us, O Thomas; Ps. xxx. [xxix.] 10.

3. Thou shalt guide me by thy 3. Guide thou those who stand; counsel.--Ps. lxxiii. [lxxii.] 24.

He, The Holy Spirit, shall guide you into all truth.--John xvi. 13.

4. The Lord upholdeth all that 4. Raise up those who fall; fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.--Psalm cxlv. [cxliv.] 14.

5. Create in me a clean heart, 5. Correct our morals, actions O God.--Ps. li. [l.] 10. and life;

6. The steps of a good man are 6. And guide us into the way ordered by the Lord. Though of peace. he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him.--Ps. xxxvii. [xxxvi.] 23.

The day-spring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into the way of peace.--Luke i. 78, 79.

And then again, in celebrating the praises of a mortal {223} man, recourse is had to language which can fitly be used only in our hymns and praises to the supreme Lord of our destinies, the eternal Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter, the only wise God our Saviour.

_Address to Thomas._ _Language of Scripture._

1. Hail, Thomas, Rod of Justice! 1. There shall come a rod out
of the stem of Jesse. Ye denied
the Holy One, and the Just--Isaiah
xi. 1. Acts iii. 14.

2. The brightness of the world. 2. The brightness of his glory.
I am the light of the world--Heb.
i. 3. John viii. 12.

3. The strength of the Church. 3. I can do all things through
Christ, that strengthened me.
Christ loved the Church, and
gave himself for it.--Phil. iv. 13.
Eph. v. 25.

4. The love of the people: the 4. Grace be with all them that
delight of the Clergy. love our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. Delight thyself in the
Lord.--Eph. vi. 24. Ps. xxxvii. 4.

5. Hail, glorious Guardian of 5. Our Lord Jesus, that great
the Flock. Save those who rejoice Shepherd of the sheep. Give ear,
in thy glory. O Shepherd of Israel; come and
save us. He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.--Heb. xiii. 20.
Psalm lxxx. [lxxix.] 1. 1 Cor.
i. 31.

Can that worship become the disciples of the Gospel and the Cross, which addresses such prayers and such praises to the spirit of a mortal man? Every prayer, and every form of praise here used in honour of Thomas Becket, it would well become Christians to offer to the Giver of all good, trusting solely and exclusively to the mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord for acceptance; and pleading-only the merits of his most precious blood. {224} And yet I am bound to confess, that in principle, in spirit, and in fact, I can find no substantial difference between this service of Thomas of Canterbury, and the service which all in communion with the Church of Rome are under an obligation to use even at the present hour.

This point remains next for our inquiry, and we will draw from the well-head. I would, however, first suggest the application of a general test for ascertaining the real _bona-fide_ nature of these prayers and praises. The test I would apply is, to try with the change only of the name, substituting the holiest name ever named in heaven or in earth for the name of Thomas of Canterbury--whether these prayers and praises should not be offered to the Supreme Being alone through the atoning merits of his Blessed Son; whether they are not exclusively appropriate to HIM.

To (Thomas/God Almighty) all things bow and are obedient.

Plagues, diseases, death, and devils, Fire, air, land, and sea. (Thomas/The Almighty) fills the world with glory.

The world offers obeisance to (Thomas/Almighty God).

(The Martyr Thomas/Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ) began to shine forth with miracles [John ii. 11]; restoring sight to the blind [Luke vii. 21]; walking to the lame; hearing to the deaf; speech to the dumb; cleansing to the lepers [Matt. xi. 5]; making the paralytic sound [Matt. iv. 24]; healing the dropsy [Luke xiv. 4]; and all kinds of incurable diseases [Luke iv. 40]; restoring the dead to {225} life [Luke viii. 43. 55]; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils [Matt. viii. 16], and all the elements [Luke viii. 25]. He put forth his hand to unwonted and unheard-of signs of his own power [Mark ii. 12. John ix. 30].

Do thou, O Lord, by the blood of (Thomas/Christ) cause us to ascend whither (Thomas/Christ) has ascended. (O Thomas/O God), send help to us. Guide those who stand; raise up those who fall; correct our morals, actions, and life; and guide us into the way of peace.

Hail, (Thomas!/Jesus!) Rod of Justice, the Brightness of the world, the Strength of the Church, the Love of the people, the Delight of the Clergy. Hail, Glorious Guardian of the flock! Save Thou those who delight in Thy glory.

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We shall apply this same test to many of the collects and prayers used, and of necessity to be used, because they are authorized and appointed, even at the present day, in the ministrations of the Church of Rome. The impiety in many of those instances is not couched in such startling language; but it is not the less real. God forbid that we should charge our fellow-creatures with idolatry, who declare that they offer divine worship to the Supreme Being only; or that we should pronounce any professed Christian to have cast off his {226} dependence on the merits of Christ alone, who assures us that he looks for mercy only through those merits. But I know and feel, that according to the standard of Christian truth, and of the pure worship of Almighty God, which the Scriptures and primitive antiquity compel me to adopt, I should stain my own soul with the guilt of idolatry, and with the sin of relying on other merits than Christ's, were I myself to offer those prayers.

That this service excited much disgust among the early reformers, we learn from various writers[85]. On the merits of the struggle between Becket and his king; on the question of Becket's moral and religious worth, (a question long and often discussed among the exercises of the masters of Paris in the full assembly of the Sorbonne[86],) or on the motives which influenced Henry the Eighth, I intend not to say one word: those points belong not to our present inquiry. It may not, however, be thought irrelevant here to quote a passage {227} from the ordinance of this latter monarch for erasing Becket's service out of the books, and his name from the calendar of the saints.

[Footnote 85: See Mornay "De la Messe," Saumur, 1604. p. 826.
Becon, in his "New Year's Gift," London, 1564, p. 183, thus
speaks: "What saint at any time thought himself so pure,
immaculate, and without all spot of sin, that he durst presume
to die for us, and to avouch his death to be an oblation and
sacrifice for our lives to God the Father, except peradventure
we will admit for good payment these and such like blasphemies,
which were wont full solemnly to be sung in the temples unto the
great ignominy of the glorious name of God, and the dishonour of
Christ's most precious blood." Then quoting the lines from the
service of Thomas Becket, on which we have above commented, he
adds, "I will let pass many more which are easy to be searched
and found out." Becon preached and wrote in the reign of Henry
VIII. and was then persecuted for his religion, as he was
afterwards in the reign of Mary.]

[Footnote 86: We are told that forty-eight years after his
death, the masters of Paris disputed whether Thomas was a
condemned sinner, or admitted into heaven.]

In Henry the Eighth's proclamation, dated Westminster, 16th November, in the thirtieth year of his reign, printed by Bertholet, is the following very curious passage:--

"ITEM, for as moche as it appereth now clerely, that Thomas
Becket, sometyme Archbyshop of Canterburie, stubburnly to
withstand the holsome lawes establyshed agaynste the enormities
of the clergie, by the kynges highness mooste noble progenitour,
kynge HENRY the Seconde, for the common welthe, reste, and
tranquillitie of this realme, of his frowarde mynde fledde the
realme into Fraunce, and to the bishop of Rome, mayntenour of
those enormities, to procure the abrogation of the sayd lawes,
whereby arose moch trouble in this said realme, and that his
dethe, which they untruely called martyrdome, happened upon a
reskewe by him made, and that, as it is written, he gave
opprobrious wordes to the gentyllmen, whiche than counsayled hym
to leave his stubbernesse, and to avoyde the commocion of the
people, rysen up for that rescue. And he not only callyd the one
of them bawde, but also toke Tracy by the bosome, and violently
shoke and plucked hym in suche maner, that he had almoste
overthrowen hym to the pavement of the Churche; so that upon
this fray one of their company, perceivynge the same, strake
hym, and so in the thronge Becket was slayne. And further that
his canonization was made onely by the bysshop of Rome, bycause
he had ben a champion of maynteyne his usurped auctoritie, and a
bearer of the iniquitie of the clergie, for these and for other
great and urgent causes, longe to recyte, the Kynge's {228}
Maiestie, by the advyse of his counsayle, hath thought expedient
to declare to his lovynge subjectes, that notwithstandynge the
sayde canonization, there appereth nothynge in his lyfe and
exteriour conversation, wherby he shuld be callyd a sainct, but
rather estemed to have ben a rebell and traytour to his prynce.
Therefore his Grace strayghtly chargeth and commandeth that from
henseforth the sayde Thomas Becket shall not be estemed, named,
reputed, nor called a sayncte, but bysshop Becket; and that his
ymages and pictures, through the hole realme, shall be putte
downe, and avoyded out of all churches, chapelles, and other
places; and that from henseforthe, the dayes used to be
festivall in his name shall not be observed, nor the service,
office, antiphoners, colletes, and prayers, in his name redde,
but rased and put out of all the bokes[87]."

[Footnote 87: In the Roman Breviary, adapted to England, several
biographical lessons are appointed for the Anniversary of "St.
Thomas, bishop and martyr," interspersed with canticles. In one
of these we read, "This is truly a martyr, who, for the name of
Christ, shed blood; who feared not the threats of judges, nor
sought the glory of earthly dignity. But he reached the heavenly
kingdom."--Norwich, 1830. Hiem. p. 251.] {229}

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