CHAPTER FORTY




OF SIR ROGER BLOXAM'S SECOND CHOICE OF CAREER.





   If was reasonably hoped by many that, under the direct tutelage of so great and so upright a churchman as Cardinal Mentula, it would come about that Sir Roger developed into a theologian of the first water. The words ``Holy Orders'' were freely mentioned in connection with his name. None doubted his fundamental capacity. Yet -- could one so modest and so pious face a multitude, and deliver a sermon? 'Twas this, naught else, that determined his advisers to rehearse him. Fiat experimentatum in corpore vilo, cried they; and summoned the Master and Fellows of Saint Catherine's College to hear him, one Shrove Tuesday. It may well be that they chose the day badly; the God Pan is an ill councellor in speech and act, think you not, Euphemia?


   ``My text for this morning, dearly belove'd brethren,'' began Sir Roger, ``is taken from Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the Twelfth Chapter and the Fourth Verse. ``Many members in one body.'' The Fourth Verse of the Twelfth Chapter of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans. ``Many members in one body.'' What can be more glorious, dearly belove'd, than this wonderful thought? Many members! Not one member only, not two, three or four members; not even several members; no, brethren; many members. Many members! There is no limit to the Divine Love; and in this fresh proof of the Great Mercy of God we are constrained to lift up our hearts in utter overflowing. Think of this apex and apostrophe of the Apostle, I beseech you: many members! Try to represent them to yourselves. Think of them in rows -- in files -- in squadrons. ``Not in single spies, but in battalions.'' Think oif them as the stars squandered over the whole field of fight. Think of the great loving-kindness of the Lord, his munificence, his bounty, nay, if one dare say so with reverence, his prodigality! Many members! Is it legitimate to pursue this analogy of stars, dearly belove'd? Surely we may do so. Surely we may reckon on the uniformity of His creation! So, just as no two stars are exactly alike, no two men, no two roses, we may assume that of all these many members the variety is infinite. Even as with the very noses upon our faces, where we perceive short noses, long noses, straight noses, bent noses, stumpy noses, lank noses, turned-up noses, pudgy noses, snouty noses, broken noses, red noses, pale noses, sensitive noses, vigorous noses, flabby noses, strong noses, fat noses, muscular noses, bulbous noses, vinous noses, warty noses, port-wine noses, itchy noses, greasy noses, dewy noses, Jewy noses, Hughie noses, bluey noses, ticklish noses, ready-to-blow noses, hairy noses, fairy noses, drooping noses, inquisitive noses, thoughful noses, may it not be with these many members of which the Apostle of the Gentiles speaks with such eloquence and fervour even as it was given him of the Holy Spirit? Dearly belove'd brethren, were these two words alone -- many members -- the very sum and apogee of the divine grace, what cause should we not have for thanksgiving? Should we not praise Him? Should we not extol Him? Yea, verily. But, by overplus and superstroke of mercy, the Magnificence of the Heavenly Bounty beggars our gratitude. How does the sublime phrase culminate? Many members. Ah, but where? Scattered and lost, as sheep not having a shepherd? Wasted as the sands of the desert? Nay, dearly belove'd, it is not so! These many members are collected, concentrated, into One Body! It humbly seems possible to me that Saint Paul may have had the figure of the Empress Messalina in his mind when the Spirit of God led him to use this phrase of joy. In one body! Many Members! Many members in one body! What blessed words of comfort they are! Think of it; consider all that it implies. It might have been that all these many members were dispersed among an infinitude of bodies; it might have been that you or I might have had to eke out the exiguity of a single member with some such succeedaneum as a banana. But God is the author of all true riches; and He does not leave His servants without full provision. Many members in one body! Blesse'd, year blesse'd for ever be His name! We all of us know how unreliable is any single member; one may be weak, another weary, a thirt sick, a fourth grown old. Brethren, the Lord has foreseen all such calamities; He has provided against failure. In one body -- many members! Let us pray!''


   We shall touch but lightly upon the painful sequel to this sermon; for a novelissim should be pleasant as ice-cream in Hell, or in New York in Summer. Suffice it to say that the congregation came up to congratulate the preacher, two by two, and then four by four, so that Sir Roger had his hands full. Ave Virgo, plena gratia! The boy remarked, after Blake, that you never knew what was enough till you knew what was too much -- and abandoned theology.