ms at
Oxford, he had come to believe that with Vane it was not a mere
question, as it is with too many other men, of taking Orders to secure a
profession and a position. He was entering the Church as the men of more
earnest and more faithful ages had done; because he believed that he had
a duty to do, a mission to perform, a sacrifice to make, and, above all,
an enemy to fight which was God's enemy as well as his own.

Therefore the words "leaving his father and all that he had," awakened
no bitter echoes in his soul. True it was a sacrifice for him as well as
for Vane; but for Vane's sake he had made it willingly and cheerfully,
and he was able now to look forward with perfect contentment to the
triumphs which, in his father's pride, he could not help believing his
son would win in that higher and holier sphere of life which he had
chosen.

The presentation being made and the questions as to "crime or
impediment" being duly asked and answered, the Litany and Suffrages
began, and every note and word of the solemn intonation, ringing through
the silence of the great Cathedral, found an echo which rang true in
three souls at least among the congregation:

"O God the Father of Heaven: have mercy upon us, miserable sinners.

"O God the Son, Redeemer of the world: have mercy upon us,
miserable sinners.

"O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son: have
mercy upon us, miserable sinners.

"O Holy blessed and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God:
have mercy upon us, miserable sinners.

"Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our
forefathers: neither take thou vengeance on our sins: spare us,
good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with Thy most
precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever.

"From all evil and mischief: from sin, from the crafts and assaults
of the devil: from Thy wrath and from everlasting damnation.

"From all blindness of heart: from pride, vain-glory and
hypocrisy: from envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness.

"From fornication, and all other deadly sin: and from all the
deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil.

"Good Lord deliver us!"

"Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers:
neither take thou vengeance on our sins."

These, of all the words which he heard spoken on that fateful day, the
day which ma