Thomas Browne
Paul Griffin draws our attention to a seventeenth-century
writer whose inspired turns of phrase and outlook on life
and death have given him great encouragement
J
ust when you have given up hope man, and know upon what slender fila- about the real-
for the Church of England, and con- ments that fabric hangs…and considering ity, everyone
cluded that God is washing his hands the thousand doors that lead to death, do went crazy: debts were cancelled, slaves
of it, you come across someone recogniz- thank my God that we die but once.’ given freedom, and property returned to
ably Anglican, and recognizably loveable, its original owners. And what does Old
good, and sound as a bell. It may be a The afterlife Misery say about that? ‘The first day of
person today, or one from history who A proper old misery, you may say our Jubilee is death.’
staggered on with many ups and downs, No: rather a man who by the beauty of
from Hooker to Rowan Williams: Donne his words restores our faith in the great Death as awakening
or Lancelot Andrewes, or Samuel Johnson dream of the afterlife, from which we are No, please don’t give up on him. All
or Bishop Edward King, or some person woken, not by any temporary shouting he means is that whether you win or lose
known to you who quietly stands for the of crowds in the streets of Jerusalem or test matches, the nature of the game of
old and faithful virtues, who attends the London, but by what he calls ‘that unex- cricket remains. There are certain unal-
Eucharist and lives for others. At such tinguishable laugh in heaven’. terable truths that may sound irrelevant
times you feel reassured, so that you can Earthly rejoicing, without a conscious- when England actually wins a match,
stagger on yourself for a bit more history. ness of that dream, is never part of it. but which can cheer you up when they
That seventeenth-century Norwich Remember the Israelites when they shook do not. All rejoicing, and all sorrow, pale
doctor, Sir Thomas Browne, is one such off their Egyptian slavery, and launched before the vast truth of the Resurrection.
for me. It is unfortunate that because of joyfully across the Red Sea. We’re free! Death may be inevitable, but regarded as
his intricate style, he can never be to eve- Hooray! O goodness: now we have to a waking up it transcends all else. ‘Who
ryone’s taste, except in extract. Yet at a wander around endlessly in the desert! can be drowsy,’ asks Browne, ‘at that hour
time when we lament the flat state of our Down with Moses! Remember the Soviet which frees us from everlasting sleep? or
liturgical writing, he holds the rare secret Union when it shook off Communism. have slumbering thoughts at that time,
of lifting our hearts with memorable We’re free! Hooray! O goodness: we have when sleep itself must end, and, as some
utterance. Give us an occasion of rejoic- no security any more! Down with Gor- conjecture, all shall awake again?’
ing, when the ointment of life seems to bachev and Yeltsin! No harm in earthly It cannot be a completely hopeless
have no flies in it (Palm Sunday, for exam- rejoicing in itself, as long as you remem- Church that produces that, can it? My
ple), or an occasion of gloom, when there ber what sort of an earth you inhabit. respected father-in-law used to say: ‘I
seem more flies than ointment (following There must always be a place for Jubilees. am a Catholic; but I cannot deny the
the Crucifixion, perhaps), and there is the A Jubilee, remember, was signalled Church that has sustained me through all
steady voice of the experienced old doctor: by the Jews with a yobel, a ram’s horn, these years.’ To which the older Anglican
‘Darkness and light divide the course of every fifty years. In theory at any rate, says he is ‘…ready to be anything, in the
time…I that have examined the ways of though one cannot but be a little cynical ecstasy of being ever.’
ND
Touching Place ST MICHAEL, CASCOB, RADNOR
Y
ou come to this humble church, of the seventeenth century: ‘O Lord Jesus Archangel; defend us in the day of
near the head of the Cas valley, after Christ we beseech thee for mercy grant battle. Be thou our safeguard against the
driving for several miles along a narrow, that this holy charm ABRACADABRA wickedness and snares of the enemy.’
hedge-lined road. Remote, with hardly may cure thy servant Elizabeth Loyd from Grid reference SO239664
any settlement nearby, it occupies a part- all Evil Spirites and from all her Desesis. Simon Cotton
circular churchyard (often a sign of an early Amen xxx.’
church built on a pre-Christian holy site). Take your map, and find
The oldest visible part of the building is and enjoy unspoilt little
probably thirteenth century, though the Cascob church. And if you
massive walls argue for an early date. The are there at a weekend,
upper parts of both the tower and porch don’t forget Sunday Mass
are attractively half-timbered. Like many at nearby St Andrew,
churches in the Marches, Cascob retains Norton, a FiF parish.
its medieval roodscreen; here, though the Remember in prayer all
loft has gone, the front of the loft has been those afflicted by disease
replaced as a parapet on top of the screen. of the mind, body and
More singular, and touching, is the soul, and all those who
survival of the prayer and incantation used care for them.
to deliver Elizabeth Loyd towards the end Pray: ‘Holy Michael,
February 2008
■
newdirections
■
31
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36