race,
To sinners be thou good.

Take, Ladye dear, this little Song
That out of sinful heart has come;
Against the fiend now make me strong,
Guide well my wandering soul:
And though I once have done thee wrong,
Forgive, and make me whole.
Wm. De Shoreham's translation
from the Latin, or French of
Robt. Grosseteste; C. 1325.

PART TWO

CHAPTER XXIII

THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts II, 3.

Holy Mother of God, Virgin ever blessed, glorious and noble,
chaste and inviolate, O Mary Immaculate, chosen and beloved
of God, endowed win singular sanctity, worthy of all praise,
thou who art the Advocate for the sins of the whole world; O
listen, listen, listen to us, O holy Mary, Pray for us.
Intercede for us. Disdain not to help us. For we are
confident and know for certain that thou canst obtain all
that thou wiliest from thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, God
Almighty, the King of ages, Who liveth with the Father and
the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.

MS. Book of Cerne, belonging to Ethelwald, BP. of Sherbourne, 760.

"When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place"--I suppose the "all" will be not merely the
"twelve," but the "all" that were mentioned by S. Luke a few verses
before. He mentions the Apostles by name and then adds, "These all
continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."

We think of our Lady as sharing in the Pentecostal gift. This was the
first act of her ascended Son, this sending forth of the Holy Spirit
whom He had promised. It was the fulfilment of the prophecy: "I will
pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams." I do not know of anything in the teaching of the
Church to lead us to suppose that this gift was to the Apostles alone:
rather the thought of the Church is that to all Christians is there a
gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is imparted to the Church as such,
and within the organisation He functions through appro