“GABRIEL, MAKE THIS MAN TO UNDERSTAND THE VISION.”—DAN. viii. 16.
ONE day the Novice-master, Brother Adam, a most worthy man, came in sore
trouble to the Prior and would resign his office.
“Surely never before did such an ill-conditioned brood find shelter in a
monastery!” he cried. “They grow fat, idle, insolent, quarrelsome-never
at peace among themselves; never a Pater or an Ave too many, or a task
fulfilled, save for fear of stripes. I would that the time of
blood-letting were here that their high stomachs might be brought low. I
am no longer young, my Father, and this burden tries me sorely. Prithee,
let it be shifted to another and a stronger back.”
The Prior listened with many an inward _mea culpa_. “’Tis a sad hearing,
Brother Adam, but young blood is hard of mastering; maybe this ill mood
will pass. The lad Robert is surely ever gentle and decorous? He hath a
most beauteous voice.”
The Novice-master threw up his hands.
“Nay, Father, nay, he hath indeed the voice of an angel, but methinks his
body is surely the habitation of Satan. He will sing an it please him—or
when thou art by, my Father,—but, an it please him not, he is silent; ay,
even under grievous stripes. The Precentor giveth him as negligent and
ill-conditioned; and in choir, when he looketh most like to one of God’s
Saints, he is but plotting mischief for the day.”
The Prior heard him sadly.
“And Hubert?” he said. “Hubert methinks hath a great love of colour and
a fine hand with the brush.”
Brother Adam was almost speechless.
“Hubert! Nay Father, forgive me, Father, but even this very Hubert but
yesterday slipped a handful of pebbles into Brother Edmund’s mess,
whereby he was like to break his teeth or take some more grievous hurt.
And indeed the peace of the Brethren is much troubled, wherefore they
complain bitterly.”
“Young blood, young blood, but not of necessity evil,” said the Prior.
Then, seeing the Novice-master’s aggrieved face, he bade him have
patience yet a little, for he himself would speak to the novices; and
with this Brother Adam must fain be content.
* * * * *
The next day in the Chapter the Prior spoke.
It comes to pass oftentimes that men seeing a sign are made curious by
it; and then forgetting, find the clue thereto, it may be, long after.
Even thus it happened on this day in the Chapter; and when Prior Hilarius
was gathered to his rest the Brethren remembered how they had marked and
marvelled at the strange beauty of his face, the beauty as of one who
sees the face of the Lord.
“My children,” he cried—“for my children ye are, though I see among you
many it were more fitting I should hail as father, but that the ruling of
the Lord cannot be gainsaid—my children, I am minded to think that I have
this day a message on my lips that is not mine own.
“Last night a vision came to me as I slept. Blessed Benedict, our
Father, stood at my side, and his face was troubled.
“‘Arise, my son,’ he cried, ‘arise, for the Lord is at hand and hath need
of thee.’
“And I, deeming it was of judgment that he spake, sprang up in shame and
fear that the Master should find me sleeping.
“Then cried Blessed Benedict again:—
“‘If thou wilt serve the Lord, make haste, for He hath called thee these
many times,’ and so saying passed from my sight.
“Brethren, I went forth as one bewildered, and made haste to the Church
lest peradventure I should find Him; but the lamps burnt dim and all was
silent. Then I turned aside and went out into the night, and it was very
dark, with no sound but the wind in the forest trees.
“My heart was a-hungered, and I sought in cloister and garth; and as I
hasted to the gate I cried aloud, even as she cried who sought Him in a
garden—‘They have taken away my Lord.’
“At the gate I stayed me, and besought the Lord for a sign; and lo, in
the darkness one came and led me by the hand away from the gate, across
the garth and up the dormitory stair, nor loosed me until I passed within
where the Brethren lay sleeping, and the chamber was bright with
exceeding radiance.
“I found myself by the pallet of my dear son Robert: his face was wet
with tears; and as he lay I saw upon his shoulder the mark of many
stripes.
“Again, one took my hand and led me from one to another of our Brethren,
and on every face lay the shadow of a great need, but in every face there
was somewhat of the Christ; and the lesson burnt in my heart.
“Then One came swiftly and laid healing hands on the boy Robert; but I
fled, for I might not see Him; and I awoke sore troubled—ay, and the
trouble is on me still.
“My Brethren, I can but tell the vision as it came to me. Great is the
rule of Benedict, our Father, and in it stripes, grievous and many as our
sins, have their rightful place; but mayhap we forget that love, and love
alone, should strike. Ay, and I mind me how Prior Stephen, my Father,
said that to be monk a man must learn before all things to hunger and to
love. Love should draw the water and build the fire, till the field and
attend the sanctuary; and hunger we should cherish in our hearts, hunger
for righteousness and for the souls of our brethren, for this is the
hunger of God.
“Men come over lightly to the Lord’s work; and lo! pride and emulation,
jealousy and discontent, spring up and thrive, and the end is shame and
confusion.
“I speak as to my children; it is in my heart that the Lord is at hand:
let us see that we love while there is yet time.”
Then he turned to the novices and stretched out his hands to where they
stood amazed, and it may be ashamed—not after this manner was Brother
Adam wont to rebuke them.
“And ye, who are, as it were, the babes of our Order, give heed to your
ways, neither bring unwilling hands to this service. Better far go
forth, yea, even to death, than mock the Lord with froward feet and a
heart that is full of vanity. Remember the sacrifice which Cain offered
and the Lord rejected, for he gainsayed the voice of the Lord and
disobeyed His Commandment; wherefore the wrath of God fell upon him.
“I who speak now, speak in love; give ear to my words, and let fear
befriend you; for the coming of the Lord is as a thief in the night, and
lo! stripes bitter and many await that servant whom the Master finds
sleeping.”
Then the Prior, having made an end of speaking, raised his hand to bless,
and went forth in silence; and no man stirred in his place, for they knew
that the Lord had spoken and were afraid.