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Page 13
[Footnote 5: From St. Augustine's 'Citie of God,' Book V., ch. xi.
(English trans., printed by George Eld, 1610.)]
This for the philosophy.[6] Next, I take for example of the Religion
of our ancestors, a prayer, personally and passionately offered to the
Deity conceived as you have this moment heard.
[Footnote 6: Here one of the "Stones of Westminster" was shown and
commented on.]
"O Thou who art the Father of that Son which has awakened us, and
yet urgeth us out of the sleep of our sins, and exhorteth us that we
become Thine;" (note you that, for apprehension of what Redemption
means, against your base and cowardly modern notion of 'scaping
whipping. Not to take away the Punishment of Sin, but by His
Resurrection to raise us out of the sleep of sin itself! Compare the
legend at the feet of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in the golden
Gospel of Charles le Chauve[7]:--
"HIC LEO SURGENDO PORTAS CONFREGIT AVERNI
QUI NUNQUAM DORMIT, NUSQUAM DORMITAT IN �VUM;")
"to Thee, Lord, I pray, who art the supreme truth; for all the truth
that is, is truth from Thee. Thee I implore, O Lord, who art the
highest wisdom. Through Thee are wise all those that are so. Thou art
the true life, and through Thee are living all those that are so. Thou
art the supreme felicity, and from Thee all have become happy that
are so. Thou art the highest good, and from Thee all beauty springs.
Thou art the intellectual light, and from Thee man derives his
understanding.
[Footnote 7: At Munich: the leaf has been exquisitely drawn and legend
communicated to me by Professor Westwood. It is written in gold on
purple.]
"To Thee, O God, I call and speak. Hear, O hear me, Lord! for Thou art
my God and my Lord; my Father and my Creator; my ruler and my hope; my
wealth and my honour my house, my country, my salvation, and my life!
Hear, hear me, O Lord! Few of Thy servants comprehend Thee. But Thee
alone I _love_,[8] indeed, above all other things. Thee I seek: Thee
I will follow: Thee I am ready to serve. Under Thy power I desire to
abide, for Thou alone art the Sovereign of all. I pray Thee to command
me as Thou wilt."
[Footnote 8: Meaning--not that he is of those few, but that, without
comprehending, at least, as a dog, he can love.]
You see this prayer is simply the expansion of that clause of the
Lord's Prayer which most men eagerly omit from it,--_Fiat voluntas
tua_. In being so, it sums the Christian prayer of all ages. See now,
in the third place, how far this king's letter I am going to read to
you sums also Christian Policy.
"Wherefore I render high thanks to Almighty God, for the happy
accomplishment of all the desires which I have set before me,
and for the satisfying of my every wish.
"Now therefore, be it known to you all, that to Almighty God
Himself I have, on my knees, devoted my life, to the end that
in all things I may do justice, and with justice and rightness
rule the kingdoms and peoples under me; throughout everything
preserving an impartial judgment. If, heretofore, I have,
through being, as young men are, impulsive or careless, done
anything unjust, I mean, with God's help, to lose no time
in remedying my fault. To which end I call to witness my
counsellors, to whom I have entrusted the counsels of the
kingdom, and I charge them that by no means, be it through
fear of me, or the favour of any other powerful personage, to
consent to any injustice, or to suffer any to shoot out in any
part of my kingdom. I charge all my viscounts and those set
over my whole kingdom, as they wish to keep my friendship or
their own safety, to use no unjust force to any man, rich or
poor; let all men, noble and not noble, rich and poor alike,
be able to obtain their rights under the law's justice; and
from that law let there be no deviation, either to favour the
king or any powerful person, nor to raise money for me. I have
no need of money raised by what is unfair. I also would have
you know that I go now to make peace and firm treaty by the
counsels of all my subjects, with those nations and people who
wished, had it been possible for them to do so, which it was
not, to deprive us alike of kingdom and of life. God brought
down their strength to nought: and may He of His benign love
preserve us on our throne and in honour. Lastly, when I have
made peace with the neighbouring nations, and settled and
pacified all my dominions in the East, so that we may nowhere
have any war or enmity to fear, I mean to come to England this
summer, as soon as I can fit out vessels to sail. My reason,
however, in sending this letter first is to let all the people
of my kingdom share in the joy of my welfare: for as you
yourselves know, I have never spared myself or my labour; nor
will I ever do so, where my people are really in want of some
good that I can do them."
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