The Legend Of The Holy Thorn Of Glastonbury.

find prince and peasant , the learned and the unlearned , the busy merchant and the careless child , all equally convinced of the truth of the superstition to which they cling , and taking every means in their power to sheAV their faith in it . At

another and more enlightened period , we find that it is only with great exertion of priestly authority , that the lower orders are prevailed upon to believe the visionary tales whose marvels Avere considered requisite and legitimate aids for supporting

the falling fabric of the corrupt Church of Rome . In our own times , knowledge and education have done much to induce and enable men to think and reason for themselves , instead of putting a blind faith in guides no wiser than their credulous

followers ; there exists , unhappily , a danger even of believing too little , which is more to be dreaded than believing too much ; and , it Avould be well sometimes to emulate the teachable disposition of good and venerable Ashmolethe Bislup of

, Gloucester , whose remarks on the Holy Thorn we have already quoted ; and , like him , we would draw a lesson which should influence our whole lives from the mos 6

undoubted fact in all the mystic legends which centre around the Holy Thorn . As the Sacred Tree put forth her cheering buds and blossoms during the dreariest winter days , so , when we see the winter of Want , Desolation or Bereavement , withering those around usmay we be ever ready

, to yield our share of the sweet fruits of Charity , and to cheer the needy and the helpless by kind words and deeds , knowing that

" The quality of mercy is not strained , It is twice blessed ; It blesseth him that gives and him That takes . We do pray for mercy ; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy . "

In Malmsbury ' s " Chronicle " the name of Joseph occurs but once , at the beginning , when he tells us that " St . Philip sent twelve disciples , over whom as it is reported ( ut ferunt ) , his dearest friend , Joseph of Arimathea , the same who buried our Lord , presided . " Not another allusion is made to him , not even in the character of St . Patrick , which contains

a summary of the history of the mission ; or ill the list of the " various relics deposited at Glastonbury , " although that list begins with the " twelve disciples of St . Philip . " Evidently Malmsbury attached no credence to the legend of Joseph , and it Avas not at that time put forth as one of the great

g lories of the Abbey that Joseph was buried there . Adam de Domerham , the next chronicler , is equally silent on this subject , and we are thus carried to the end of the

thirteenth century . The belief that Joseph of Arimathea was really buried in the cemetery appears in the fourteenth century ; when in 1345 J . Blome obtained a royal licence " to seek within the boundary of the monastery of Glastonia for the body of Joseph of

Arimathea , " in consequence , as he asserts , of a Divine injunction and revelation made to him . The licence , dated June 10 , 1345 , permits him to dig within the precinct of the monastery for this purpose , provided that it be done without endangering the church and buildings , and also with consent of the abbot and convent .

This is the only record left of the project , but the chronicle of R . de Boston ( p . 137 ) , under the year 1367 , states that the bodies of Joseph of Arimathea and his companions were / ow-nc . in this year at Glaston ; a probable mistake for sought . These are at least indications of the growing tendency

to encourage the belief in a tradition to which , as I have shewn , the earlier chronicles of the monastery attached but small credence . On the contrary , John of Glaston their last historian , writing at the beginning of the fifteenth century , dwells upon

this tradition and spares no pains to establish it . The authority Avhich John Glaston quotes in support of the actual burial of Joseph in the cemetery' is an ancient British historiannamed Melkinwho lived before

, , Merlin , and wrote concerning the mission of St . Philip ' s disciples ; that they died in succession , and were buried in the cemetery . " Amongst them Joseh of Marmore , named of Arimathea , receives perpetual sleep . And he lies in linea bifurcata near the

south corner of the oratory , which is built of hurdles . Mr . Ray , in his " Itinerary , " 1662 , rode to Glastonbury , and " saw Joseph of Arimathea ' s Tomb and Chapel at the end of the Church , " & c . p . 261 .