with his GOD, and when his work was done, he would kneel down before the altar, and in silent prayer pour out his heart before the LORD. All who came to the Church were edified by its neatness and its order, and still more so by the religious silence, the humble and grave recollectedness of him whose joy it was to be a doorkeeper in the house of his GOD. His whole deportment, we are told, seemed to say to others, "This is the house of the LORD: tremble, you that approach His sanctuary." Doubtless the words of the Psalm, "LORD, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth," told out the truthful aspirations of his heart, and it was from his continual walking as in the presence of the LORD, that a grace and a majesty of holiness were noticed in the lowly sacristan which awed the thoughtless, and rejoiced the lovers of the sanctuary. Guy, for this was the young man's name, was born in the country near Brussels, of poor parents, but they were rich in their poverty, through that godliness with contentment, which is great gain. "We shall be rich enough, if we fear GOD," was their frequent observation to their little boy, and I need not add that with such parents his home was a happy one, happier than a palace could have been in which the love and fear of Almighty GoD were wanting. They brought him up from his cradle to be obedient, gentle, modest, patient, and diligent; and though they were unable through their poverty to send him to school, or themselves to give him much of what is called scholarship, they gave him such an education as only a parent, and a Christian parent, can impart; for by example and by precept they trained him up in the way wherein he should go, and he did not depart from it. Having food and raiment, he learned to be therewith content, and to esteem a dinner of herbs where love is, better than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith. As soon as Guy was able to understand how God hath chosen the poor in this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath prepared for them that love Him, and how it was the state of our Blessed LORD Himself, when He came to visit us in great humility, he was much delighted with the goodness of GoD in placing him in such a station. If called at any time to suffer want, the parents would rejoice together with their child in the opportunity of being thus the more conformed to the example of our Divine Master, and many times they would gladly abridge their own meals to share their scanty morsel with the poor. Guy's parents rejoiced exceedingly at the grace of GoD which was so manifest at an early age in their beloved child, and earnestly did they pray that He would preserve and increase in his young heart the fire of holy love which He Himself had kindled, and their prayers were heard, for as he grew in years and stature, he made progress in all goodness. We are told of him, that while he showed to the rich and the great ones of the world all possible respect, he never envied or coveted their fortunes, but remembering those words of JESUS "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven;" he prayed the more earnestly for such, while it filled him with sorrow to see men in all estates so eagerly wedded to the goods of this present evil world, and so overrating them. When he met with poor persons who lamented over their condition, he would lovingly entreat them not to lose by murmuring, impatience, and unprofitable anxieties, and vain tormenting wishes, the treasure which, in the blessed estate of poverty, GOD had put into their hands. He would remind them how, as a holy Bishop has expressed it, GoD ranks among the reprobate not only those who, like the rich man in the parable, have received their good things and their comfort in this world, but those also who have grudged at being deprived of them, for poverty is not blessed unless it be endured meekly and contentedly, and therefore it was the daily prayer of Guy, that he might have grace to love that happy state in which the good providence of GOD had placed him, and to bear all its hardships with such meekness and joyful resignation as becometh the penitent believer in Him Who died upon the cross for us. He deprived himself not only of food, but of rest also, that he might visit and relieve the sick and the afflicted, and, while so diligent in his daily labour, his heart was continually lifted up in prayer and thanksgiving. It was while he was at prayer one day in the Church of Laken, that the curate of the place noticed his devotion and reverence, and on entering into conversation with him, was so pleased with his piety and deportment that he proposed to retain him in the service of his Church as sacristan or beadle, an offer which Guy embraced with joy and thankfulness, and in the discharge of which he acquitted himself so well, counting nothing small that concerned the service of GoD, or the decency of His house. It was discovered that he not unfrequently passed whole nights in prayer, kneeling before the altar, and not being now engaged in hard labour, he humbly and diligently observed all the fasts appointed by the Church, according to his ability, serving the LORD with all humility of mind, and with many tears. The poor man of Anderlecht, as he was called, was through life a lover and a succourer of the poor and needy, giving largely out of his own small salary, and living himself in the greatest poverty for their sake, nor was he ashamed when his own resources failed, to beg from others for their relief. It was through this desire of helping the poor that he fell at last into the trial I am about to mention. Finding himself unable to relieve them as he desired, and forgetting it may have been, that it is not with silver and gold only, but much more with our faith and love, our prayers and tears, poured like the two mites of the poor widow into the treasury of the LORD, that we may help and bless our poor brethren, he listened to the proposal of a certain merchant of Brussels, who persuaded him to endeavour by trading to get something beyond his salary as sacristan for the succour of the poor, and as he offered by taking Guy into partnership with himself, to put him quickly in a way of making a more plentiful provision for them, Guy's tender affection and compassion for the necessitous induced him to comply, and to give up his safe and happy employment in the Church at Laken, to entangle himself with the affairs of this world; but the project did not answer, and the poor man of Anderlecht was not to become rich in this world. The vessel which contained Guy's all, of earthly goods, though it was chiefly freighted by his partner, who thought perhaps to secure by his means the blessing of God upon the undertaking, perished in going out of the harbour; and as the place of sacristan had been given to another, Guy found himself left destitute; but this also, through GoD's teaching, turned to his advantage, for it taught him his mistake in following his own devices, and in forsaking a secure and humble employment in which Providence had fixed him, to engage, with however good an intention, in the affairs of the world; so taking courage, he thanked GOD that the snare was broken, the snare of hasting to be rich, and humbly acknowledged the false step he had taken, believing that God had justly and in mercy punished his rashness in forsaking a place so suitable to the practice of piety, and had graciously turned from him. those riches which might have been a source of temptation rather than a means of enlarging his charity, for how seldom is it that our almsgiving increases with our riches: and do not they who of their penury give all they have, give more in GOD's account than they who cast in of their abundance? "Silver and gold have I none," said one of CHRIST's most faithful stewards, "but such as I have give I thee;" but alas, it was when riches flowed into the Church of CHRIST, that her faith in the name of JESUS of Nazareth waxed feeble. There were not wanting those who would gladly have supplied the wants of the poor man of Anderlecht, for the fame of his piety and almsgiving was spread abroad, greatly to his own distress, for he would rather have withdrawn himself from the praise of men, humbling himself before Him Who seeth not as man seeth, and now that he had fallen, into a fault, he wished not to escape from the suffering connected with it, but judged it a good opportunity for leaving, for a time at least, the place where he was had in such esteem and honour by those who judged him more indulgently than he dared to judge himself. Had he remained at Laken he could hardly have evaded the offers of assistance which would have been pressed upon him. Nor could he so well have exercised himself in the way of labour and penitence. At least, such was his judgment, and he doubtless would seek counsel in the matter from those over him in the LORD. The result was, that he left Laken on a pilgrimage, first to Rome, and then to Jerusalem, the land so dear to every Christian, as hallowed by the footsteps of our suffering LORD. Prayerfully, laboriously, in faith and penitence, he went on his way, availing himself of every opportunity to follow in the steps of Him Who went about doing good. No doubt it was a joyful relief to the full heart of the humble pilgrim, to water with his tears the manger at Bethlehem, the garden of Gethsemane, the mount of Calvary, and the place where the LORD lay, but of his pilgrimage the life which I have seen contains no details, only we are told that on his return to Rome he there met with the dean of the Church of Anderlecht, whose name was Wondulf, and who with some others was just preparing to set out for the Holy Land. They joyfully welcomed their pious countryman, and prevailed upon him to return to Jerusalem with them as their guide. Travelling was not in those days the easy every-day occurrence which it is now; it had its hardships even for the rich, and much more for the poor and lowly pilgrim, but Guy gladly embraced the opportunity thus granted him of enduring toil and privation while serving the LORD in the person of His brethren, and so he went back with them to the Holy Land; and when on their return, they were about to set sail for Europe, the dean and his companions were attacked by a pestilential complaint, which proved fatal to all but Guy, who nursed them to the last, and took care of their funerals, and then returned, lonely, way-worn, and as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, to his native home after seven years' absence. The sub-dean of Anderlecht would not allow him to return to Laken, but gladly lodged him in his own house, and there the weary pilgrim, who had suffered much from the fatigue and hardships he had undergone, fell asleep about the year 1033, and was buried by the Canons in the ground belonging to the Church, where to this day the memory of the poor man of Anderlecht is had in honour. Short and imperfect as is this record of the pure meek-hearted peasant boy, the pious sacristan of S. Mary's Church at Laken, the pitying helper of the poor, the pilgrim penitent, the guide and tender-hearted nurse of his brethren; and last of all, the patient joyful sufferer, willing rather to depart, and to be with CHRIST which is far better, it may serve to bring home to us the Apostolic exhortation, that we also be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises, waiting for the resurrection. The following version of the eighty-fourth Psalm came so often to my mind, while dwelling on the story of Guy, that I am induced to give it here, for the benefit of those who may not have seen it. "How lovely is Thy dwelling-place: O LORD of Hosts, to me! The tabernacles of Thy grace: how pleasant, LORD, they be ! My thirsty soul longs veh'mently: yea, faints Thy courts to see; My very heart and flesh cry out: O living GOD, for Thee. "Behold, the sparrow findeth out: an house wherein to rest; The swallow also for herself: hath found a guarded nest; Even Thine altars, where she safe her young ones forth may bring, O Thou Almighty LORD of hosts: Who art my GoD and King. "Bless'd are they in Thy house that dwell: they ever give Thee praise. Bless'd is the man whose strength Thou art : in whose heart are Thy ways; Who passing through Baca's vale: therein do dig up wells; "From strength to strength they walk full fast: no faintness there shall be, And so the GOD of Gods at last in Sion they shall see. LORD GOD of Hosts, hear Thou my prayer: O Jacob's God, give ear, Look on Thine own Anointed's face O GOD, our shield, and hear. "For why? within Thy courts one day is better to abide Than other where to keep or stay: a thousand days beside. Much rather would I keep a door : within the House of GOD, Than in the tents of wickedness: to have mine own abode. will grace and glory give, from such as purely live. and happy sure is he, "For GOD the LORD, a sun and shield |