The Gray Brethren | Page 6

a
peasant Maid, and on a heap of yellow straw lay a tiny new-born Babe
loosely wrapped in a linen cloth: around and above were wonderful
figures of fire and mist.
The infinite, visible and attainable.
The mystery which is the greatest possible wisdom.
* * * * *
"Come, Child," said the Recluse.
The fire had burnt low; it was quite dark, save for the glow of the live
embers.
He threw on a great dry pine log; it flared like a torch. The cats'
stretched in the sudden blaze, and then settled to sleep again. The Child
and the Recluse passed out into the forest. The moon was very bright
and the snow reflected its rays, so that it was light in spite of the great

trees. The air was full of wonderful sound, voices and song, and the cry
of the bells; and the Child sang as she went in a half-dream by the side
of the Recluse:-
"In dieser heil'gen Weihnachtszeit, Alleluja! Sei, Gott der Herr,
gebenedeit, Alleluja! Alleluja!"
and wondered when she would wake up. They came to the old, old
church in the forest, and the pictured saints looked out at them from the
lighted window; through the open door they could see figures moving
about with tapers in their hands; save for these the church was still
empty.
The Recluse led the way up the nave to the north side of the Altar. The
Child started a little; she was really dreaming then a kind of circular
dream, for again she stood before the cave, again the reverend figure
kept watch and ward over the kneeling Maid and the little Babe. The
sheep and the shepherds were not there, but a little lamb had strayed in;
and the wonderful figures of fire and mist--they were there in their
place.
"Little one," said the Recluse softly, "here is a symbol-- concealment
yet revelation--the King as servant--the strong helpless--the Almighty a
little child; and thus the infinite stands revealed for all of us, visible and
attainable, if we will have it so. It is the centre of all mystery, the
greatest possible wisdom, the Eternal Child."
"You showed it me before," said the Child, "only we were out of doors,
and the shepherds were there with the sheep; but the angels are here
just the same."
The Recluse bowed his head.
"Wait for me here with them, dear Child, I will fetch you after service."
The church began to fill; old men in smock frocks and tall hats, little
children wrapped warm against the cold, lads, shining and spruce, old
women in crossed shawls and wonderful bonnets. The service was not
very long; then the Recluse went up into the old grey stone pulpit. The
villagers settled to listen--he did not often preach.
"My brothers and sisters, to-night we keep the Birth of the Holy Babe,
and to-night you and I stand at the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, the
gate which is undone only at the cry of a little child. 'Except ye be
converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter.'
"The Kingdom is a great one, nay, a limitless one; and many enter in

calling it by another name. It includes your own hearts and this
wonderful forest, all the wise and beautiful works that men have ever
thought of or done, and your daily toil; it includes your nearest and
dearest, the outcast, the prisoner, and the stranger; it holds your cottage
home and the jewelled City, the New Jerusalem itself. People are apt to
think the Kingdom of Heaven is like church on Sunday, a place to enter
once a week in one's best: whereas it holds every flower, and has room
for the ox and the ass, and the least of all creatures, as well as for our
prayer and worship and praise.
"'Except ye become as little children.' How are we to be born again,
simple children with wondering eyes?
"We must learn to lie in helpless dependence, to open our mouth wide
that it may be filled, to speak with halting tongue the language we think
we know; we must learn above all our own ignorance, and keep alight
and cherish the flame of innocency in our hearts.
"It is a tired world, my brethren, and we are most of us tired men and
women who live on it, for we seek ever after some new thing. Let us
pass out through the gate into the Kingdom of Heaven and not be tired
any more, because there we shall find the new thing that we seek.
Heaven is on earth, the Kingdom is here and now; the gate stands wide
to-night, for it is the birthright of the Eternal Child. We are none of us
too