"

So from step to step the liturgy moved on with its sonorous and exultant
tramp, and the crowding thoughts forgot themselves, and watched as the
splendid heralds went by; the triumphant trumpets of _Gloria in excelsis_
had long died away; the proclamation of the names and titles of the Prince
had been made. _Unum Dominum Jesum Christum_; _Filium Dei Unigenitum_;
_Ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula_; _Deum de Deo_; _Lumen de Lumine_;
_Deum Verum de Deo Vero_; _Genitum non factum_; _Consubstantialem Patri._

Then His first achievement had been declared; "_Per quem omnia facta
sunt._"

Then his great and later triumphs; how He had ridden out alone from the
Palace and come down the steep of heaven in quest of His Love; how He had
disguised Himself for her sake; and by the crowning miracle of love, the
mightiest work that Almighty God has ever wrought, He was made man; and
the herald hushed his voice in awe as he declared it, and the people
threw themselves prostrate in honour of this high and lowly Prince; then
was recounted the tale of those victories that looked so bitterly like
failures, and the people held their breath and whispered it too; then in
rising step after step His last conquests were told; how the Black Knight
was overthrown, his castle stormed and his prison burst; and the story of
the triumph of the return and of the Coronation and the Enthronement at
the Father's Right Hand on high.

The heralds passed on; and mysterious figures came next, bearing
Melchisedech's gifts; shadowing the tremendous event that follows on
behind.

After a space or two came the first lines of the bodyguard, the heavenly
creatures dimly seen moving through clouds of glory, Angels, Dominations,
Powers, Heavens, Virtues, and blessed Seraphim, all crying out together
to heaven and earth to welcome Him Who comes after in the bright shadow
of the Name of the Lord; and the trumpets peal out for the last time,
"Hosanna in the highest."

Then a hush fell, and presently in the stillness came riding the great
Personages who stand in heaven about the Throne; first, the Queen Mother
herself, glorious within and without, moving in clothing of wrought gold,
high above all others; then, the great Princes of the Blood Royal, who
are admitted to drink of the King's own Cup, and sit beside Him on their
thrones, Peter and Paul and the rest, with rugged faces and scarred
hands; and with them great mitred figures, Linus, Cletus and Clement,
wit