Revival: The Saviour of the World - Volume II (1908)

His Dominion

Charlotte M. Mason

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138556874
• eBook ISBN: 9781351340892
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON "THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD" VOL. II. HIS DOMINION
These reviews/comments followed the original release of His Dominion in 1908.Miss Charlotte Mason has now given us the second instalment of her elaborate work in verse on "The Saviour of the World."... Miss Mason renders into graceful and original verse part of the story of Christ as found in the Gospels. She seeks to cover each incident in His career, and each notable saying to which He gave utterance, in a single poem, the series to form a complete story. Her obvious sincerity and the high aim which is everywhere apparent make her pleasing verses singularly attractive. She is reverent throughout and always dignified.
—Dundee AdvertiserMiss Mason has much of the subtle skill of Browning, and her effusions breathe everywhere a spirit of deep devotion to "The Saviour of Mankind."
—Catholic TimesMiss Mason's gracefully versified tractate in Christian theology—for that is what the poem is—should be read without weariness by the devout... On its literary side the book will readily evoke the admiration and sympathy of readers who like to have familiar lessons of Christianity refreshed by good workmanship in metrical art.
—ScotsmanThe first volume met with a very cordial reception, and now the talented authoress gives her second volume to the world.... The authoress employs the choicest language, and shows great skill in versification. The whole work, in fact, aims at giving the whole of the Gospel story in verse—not a small task, by any means, but one for which Miss Mason seems to be specially endowed.
—Western MailMiss Mason here continues what she modestly describes as a "paraphrase in verse" of the Gospel story. As the writer aptly remarks, such a theme as this, in its sacred utterances and dramatic situations, finds a better medium of presentation in poetry than in prose. The first stage or act of the inspired narrative, The Holy Infancy, being completed, Miss Mason passes on to the Ministry of Our Lord at its commencement and first teaching (Sermon on the Mount and earlier parables), and first miracles... the sequence of the work is marked no less by the skill of the author than by the reverent spirit in which it is composed. Echoes of George Herbert and of Isaac Williams are to be caught here and there in the various pieces, as. E.g. where paraphrasing a passage in the Sermon on the Mount, Miss Mason writes: —
"Nay, keep thy soul at eve,
Nor e'er perceive
The heavy odour of an unchaste thought."
It would be difficult to express better the "atmosphere" of the new Paradise "regained" by Christ in place of that which was lost.
—BooksellerThe same careful, reverent handling of holy things characterises this new volume, which, like the former, is a paraphrase, in blank verse chiefly, of the Gospel narrative.
—Guardian

BOOK III

THE CHURCH

FOUNDATION AND INSTITUTES

Photo, Hanfstaengl

The Adoratíon of the Lamb

Jan Van Eyck

XXVII

The Church of Christ

THE Founder of our Faith a place had reached

Where roads divide, and He must choose His way;

No longer should He go in casual wise

Hither and thither as the cities urged:

Henceforth—though He should walk the plains, and preach

In synagogue on Sabbath days, and heal,—

To do these things no longer His chief care:

From out that nebulous crowd that followed Him,

Changing alway, as clouds in windy sky,

Behoved Him to carve out those solid blocks

Shaped duly and laid truly, should support

An Edifice—wide as the world and high

As heaven; roof held on multitudinous piers;

Arches of fretted beauty; windows, broad

To light the soul, and high for aspiration;

Wide-reaching aisles to gather in all folk;

And lowly door meek pilgrims to admit

Who come, in one long stream adown the years

To kneel before the Altar of the LAMB!

Ah, concept vast, immeasurable thought,

Embracing kings and peoples, all poor souls,

Including ages and each present hour,

Pregnant with health, hope, healing for mankind,—

The Church of Christ!

But, who a dome conceives—

How vast be its proportions, high-pitched, roof,—

His first care, the foundations; these must spread,

Must outline compass of the mighty whole,

Must rest secure and strong to bear the weight

Of the slow-rising pile, to pinnacle—

Fair-lettered word on the blue sky writ up!

His time was come: and, as the architect

Figures on parchment the great pile he means,

So Christ, the Church—in all its breadth and height;

Chapels of curious variety,

Each rich in tracery of human thought;

Buttresses to defy ravage of time,—

Attacks of foes and facile arts of friends

Who fain would mould to meet the passing mood

Of each succeeding age its stubborn build :—

Seeing the whole, with urgency on Him

Was pressed the imminent occasion

To give it definite shape by His own act;

Henceforth, to set Himself to work on plan,

Eternal in the heavens, of the Church of God!

Like a wise builder, His foundations first

Must He prepare; and, that no block unsound

Should jeopardy the Church to rest on it,

Behold, Christ prays, ere choosing His Twelve Stones !

There is a mountain with two several peaks;

Between the two, a little grassy plain,—

The cradle of the infant Church, men hold,

Though not with certainty; else, surely there,

On that lone mountain, Koroün Hattin,

Memorial high as Babel’s tower should rise,

Than Solomon’s temple, more magnificent!

Thither came Christ to pray; He clomb the height

Of stone-strewn peak, and saw from summit all

That Galilee He loved. Foreseeing thought—

Embracing Galilee and all the parts

Of Judah, all the countries round about,

Regions remote, and time to time’s last verge,—

Saw never anywhere in all the world

But, lo, His Church is there to cherish men!

All night He prayed as no man ever prayed;

To no man were such awful issues shown

As saw the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD that night;

A world to save through ages of endeavour;

And, all the instrument to be employed,

The CHURCH, that on the morrow He should found!

(Lord Jesus, give us grace to know our part!)

First, for the Twelve he prayed—each man came forth

And passed before the Saviour; each disclosed

All that was in Him to the searching thought

Of Him who is our Judge :—ambition, zeal,

Fiery impatience, generosity, greed,

Love, fortitude, devotion, avarice, hate,—

Were open to Him on that lonely night:

What then ? The Master would not choose to raise

Upon cohort of seraphs Church for men;

These know not man—how great he is, how small!

Better were men with men’s infirmities

But loyal to their Lord; this, the one test:

For the rest, would He not pray for them and save,

Would teach them day by day and every day,

And train them to the following of His Way!

Did one block yield a hollower sound when tried?

E’en that was fit for use, so it would yield

To mallet, chisel, grinding stone, should s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introductory
• Book I Authority (Manifested and Recognised) “He is Lord of All”
• Book II Authority (Vindicated and Defined)
• Book III The Church (Foundation and Institutes)
• Appendix
• Index