e Word, He is the _Prayer_ both
of God and man, whose expression is the enduring evidence of that
Atonement, the ceaseless occupation and satisfaction of those who in Him
are atoned and united. 'A mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is
one,' is S. Paul's statement of the mystery; and of this characteristic
doctrine of Christianity the Psalmist had already caught a glimpse
when, in the exercise of a prophetical gift, he speaks of Christ as
_Prayer_.[10]

It is needless to add that the sanctuary of the Eucharist is the school
in which this truth is most eloquently taught and effectually learnt.

NOTE D.

_Three Sisters._

The following interpretation, which accompanied the poem on its first
appearance, is retained for the sake of those who then welcomed it:--

Those who sing songs to children no less than they who tell them stories
must be prepared for many questions, some of them difficult to answer.
The two questions which recur most frequently are (1) 'Is it true?' and
(2) 'What does it mean?'

Questioned as to my little poem, I reply to the first question without
hesitation,--'Yes, it is all true.' But the second question is more
difficult to deal with. If, however, an answer is insisted on, something
like this is what I must say:--

God's story has no end; it is more wonderful than anything wonderland
can show; lovelier than the loveliest thing said or sung of fairyland.
The Gospel and the Creed are a part of that story; and with this our
little poem is concerned. It speaks of God's garden--paradise
regained--a renewed earth, wherein a trinity in unity, observable in all
things, testifies of Him, a shadow cast from above.

Shall we take the verses in order?

Verse 1. Three fountains (which issue forth from beneath one
altar-throne) feed one river (which, strange to say, seen from below, is
four-fold), and by this river the whole earth, God's garden, is
encircled and fertilised. That garden contains the tree of life, wherein
three doves have one nest.

Verse 2. But the fuller revelation comes out of human nature itself,
when taken into fellowship with God. The elect lady, representative of
humanity, is from one point of view, looking at fundamental relations,
daughter, spouse, mother; from another, looking at essential
characteristics, faith, hope, and love. The place of meeting, that is
dawning consciousness, is the fairyland of phenomenal existence.

Verse 3. Out of this fairyland humanity is