W. H. D. Rouse
speaker
684 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 1 Aug
W. H. D. Rouse’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
overhead the mystery of daybreak was silently transfiguring the sky the curtain of darkness had lifted softly upward along the edge of the horizon the ragged crests of mount silpius were outlined with pale rosy light in the central vault of heaven a few large stars twinkled drowsily
the great city still chiefly pagan lay more than half asleep but multitudes of the christians dressed in white and carrying lighted torches in their hands were hurrying towards the basilica of constantine to keep the latest holy day of the church the new festival of the birthday of their master
the vast bare building was soon crowded and the younger converts who were not yet permitted to stand among the baptized found it difficult to come to their appointed place between the first two pillars of the house just within the threshold there was some good-humored pressing and jostling about the door but the candidates pushed steadily forward by your leave friends our station is beyond you will you let us pass many thanks
a touch here a courteous nod there a little patience a little persistence and at last they stood in their place hermas was taller than his companions he could look easily over their heads and survey the white sea of people stretching away through the columns under the shadows of the high roof as the tide spreads on a calm day into the pillared cavern of staffa quiet as if the ocean hardly dared to breathe
the light of many flambeaux fell in flickering uncertain rays over the assembly at the end of the vista there was a circle of clearer steadier radiance hermas could see the bishop in his great chair surrounded by the presbyters the lofty desks on either side for the readers of the scripture the communion table and the table of offerings in the middle of the church the call to prayer sounded down the long aisle
thousands of hands were joyously lifted in the air as if the sea had blossomed into waving lilies and the amen was like a murmur of countless ripples in an echoing place then the singing began led by the choir of a hundred trained voices which the bishop hall had founded in
timidly at first the music felt its way as the people joined with a broken and uncertain cadence the mingling of many little waves not yet gathered into rhythm and harmony soon the longer stronger billows of song rolled in sweeping from side to side as the men and the women answered in the clear antiphony
hermas had often been carried on those tides of music's golden seas setting toward eternity but to-day his heart was a rock that stood motionless the flood passed by and left him unmoved
looking out from his place at the foot of the pillar he saw a man standing far off in the lofty bema short and slender wasted by sickness gray before his time with pale cheeks and wrinkled brow he seemed at first like a person of no significance a reed shaken in the wind
but there was a look in his deep-set poignant eyes as he gathered all the glances of the multitude to himself that belied his mean appearance and prophesied power hermas knew very well who it was the man who had drawn him from his father's house
the teacher who was instructing him as a son in the christian faith the guide and trainer of his soul john of antioch whose fame filled the city and began to overflow asia and who was called already chrysostom the golden-mouthed preacher
hermes had felt the magic of his eloquence many a time and to-day as the tense voice vibrated through the stillness and the sentences moved onward growing fuller and stronger bearing argosies of costly rhetoric and treasures of homely speech in their bosom and drawing the hearts of men with a restless magic hermes knew that the preacher had never been more potent
more inspired he played on that immense congregation as a master on an instrument he rebuked their sins and they trembled he touched their sorrows and they wept he spoke of the conflicts the triumphs the glories of their faith and they broke out in thunders of applause he hushed them into reverent silence and led them tenderly with the wise men of the east to the lowly birthplace of jesus
do thou therefore likewise leave the jewish people the troubled city the bloodthirsty tyrant the pomp of the world and hasten to bethlehem the sweet house of spiritual bread for though thou be but a shepherd and come hither thou shalt behold the young child in an inn
though thou be a king and come not hither thy purple robe shall profit thee nothing though thou be one of the wise men this shall be no hindrance to thee only let thy coming be to honour and adore with trembling joy the son of god to whose name be glory on this his birthday and for ever and for ever
the soul of hermas did not answer to the musician's touch the strings of his heart were slack and soundless there was no response within him he was neither shepherd nor king nor wise man only an unhappy dissatisfied questioning youth he was out of sympathy with the eager preacher the joyous hearers in their harmony he had no part
was it for this that he had forsaken his inheritance and narrowed his life to poverty and hardship what was it all worth the gracious prayers with which the young converts were blessed and dismissed before the sacrament sounded hollow in his ears never had he felt so utterly alone as in that praying throng he went out with his companions like a man departing from a banquet where all but he had been fed
farewell hermas they cried as he turned from them at the door but he did not look back nor wave his hand he was alone already in his heart when he entered the broad avenue of the colonnades the sun had already topped the eastern hills and the ruddy light was streaming through the long double row of archways and over the pavements of crimson marble but hermas turned his back to the morning and walked with his shadow before him
the street began to swarm and whirl and quiver with the motley life of a huge city beggars and jugglers dancers and musicians gilded youths in their chariots and daughters of joy looking out from their windows
all intoxicated with the mere delight of living and the gladness of a new day the pagan populace of antioch reckless pleasure-loving spendthrift were preparing for the saturnalia but all this hermes had renounced he cleft his way through the crowd slowly like a reluctant swimmer weary of breasting the tide
Showing 261–280 of 684 · page 14 of 35
← Previous
Next →