"The Bell that is like _y glwys yr angel ym mharadwys_--the joy of the
angels in Paradise--is returned; the Altar that is of a colour that no
men can discern is returned, the Cup that came from Syon is returned,
the ancient Offering is restored, the Three Saints have come back to the
church of the _tri sant_, the Three Holy Fishermen are amongst us, and
their net is full. _Gogoniant, gogoniant_--glory, glory!"
Then another Methodist began to recite in Welsh a verse from Wesley's
hymn.
God still respects Thy sacrifice,
Its savour sweet doth always please;
The Offering smokes through earth and skies,
Diffusing life and joy and peace;
To these Thy lower courts it comes
And fills them with Divine perfumes.
The whole church was full, as the old books tell, of the odour of the
rarest spiceries. There were lights shining within the sanctuary,
through the narrow archway.
This was the beginning of the end of what befell at Llantrisant. For it
was the Sunday after that night on which Olwen Phillips had been
restored from death to life. There was not a single chapel of the
Dissenters open in the town that day. The Methodists with their minister
and their deacons and all the Nonconformists had returned on this Sunday
morning to "the old hive." One would have said, a church of the Middle
Ages, a church in Ireland today. Every seat--save those in the chancel
--was full, all the aisles were full, the churchyard was full; everyone
on his knees, and the old rector kneeling before the door into the holy
place.
Yet they can say but very little of what was done beyond the veil. There
was no attempt to perform the usual service; when the bells had stopped
the old deacon raised his cry, and priest and people fell down on their
knees as they thought they heard a choir within singing "Alleluya,
alleluya, alleluya." And as the bells in the tower ceased ringing, there
sounded the thrill of the bell from Syon, and the golden veil of
sunlight fell across the door into the altar, and the heavenly voices
began their melodies.
A voice like a trumpet cried from within the brightness.
_Agyos, Agyos, Agyos._
And the people, as if an age-old memory stirred in them, replied:
_Agyos yr Tâd, agyos yr Mab, agyos yr Yspryd Glan. Sant, sant, sant,
Drindod sant vendigeid. Sanctus Arglwydd Dduw Sabaoth, Dominus Deus._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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