Introduction
Born: May 15, 1859, St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England.
Died: February 25, 1919, Norwich, England.
Buried: Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk, England.
Born: May 15, 1859, St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England.
Died: February 25, 1919, Norwich, England.
Buried: Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk, England.
Henry was the son of J. P. G. Beeching of Bexhill, Surrey.
He was educated at the City of London School; Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1883, MA 1887); and Durham (DLit 1903).
He took Holy Orders in 1882, and held a number of posts, including Chaplain of Lincoln’s Inn; Professor of Pastoral and Liturgical Theology, King’s College, London; Clark Lecturer in English Literature, Trinity College, Cambridge; and Dean of Norwich. He became Canon of Westminster in 1902, and Preacher at Lincoln’s Inn in 1904.
The signal comes; Azazel’s goat is dead.
Dead too our sin, and—the atonement fit
Such as His people may to God All-dread
Present and live—have paid their lives for it
A bullock and a ram; that, type of sin;
This, symbol of obedient hearts within.
And now I wash: O whiter than white snow,
Whiter than these white robes make Thou my hands,
Use Thou as I the hyssop, for I go
Before Thy face to do Thy dear commands.
I lift the veil, and thro’ the awful dark
Scatter the blood towards the Holy Ark.
So it is done: For you, O people mine
Thus year by year doth your High-priest atone;
Pouring the innocent blood of goats and kine,
Bending before the mercy-seat alone.
Lo, ye are clean; O bruised, afflicted sore,
God hath forgiven you, go, and sin no more.
Ay, put away from you the accursed thing,
Schism and sedition; give to all their dues:
Why make a Christ when Cæsar is your king,
Why kick against the pricks, O foolish Jews?
Surely ’twere well that one mad man should die,
And not the whole people perish utterly.
Henry C. Beeching
In a Garden, and Other Poems, 1895