Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

180 THE CHANCELLOR.
cleverness of one Thomas, a cleric of London, whose
father was called Gilbert, and mother Matilda " 1
This stroke of successful policy naturally attached
Thomas to the person of the young King, and a few
months after his accession Henry proclaimed his
friend chancellor of the realm. The choice was sug- O
gested by Archbishop Theobald and Henry of Blois,
Fishop of Winchester, who, one of the royal family
as brother to King Stephen, had not lost his spiritual
perceptions in his native atmosphere. In 1155, then,
in his thirty-seventh year, Thomas became the second
personage of the kingdom in civil power. He w
as the chronicle says, "
a cleric," and destined by his
deacon's orders for the Priesthood. Although Thomas
had always had the finer instincts of a noble nature,
it was through a conscientious discharge of his duty
as chancellor that he arrived at holiness. In the
troubled times of King Stephen, foreign adventurers
had gained a footing in the land. Thomas speedily
expelled them from the country, and destroyed many
strong O castles which had harboured evil-doers. He
applied a remedy also to the great grievance in the
Church of long vacancies by nominating at once to
sees. He had a natural love of magnificence, and
amply satisfied it by keeping up a splendid household
and retinue, and by exercising hospitality on a
royal scale. Men had good reason to say: "What
is the King of England if his chancellor is so great
a man " Worldliness was far from Thomas's mind,
] Life of St. Thomas of Canterbury, by Father Morris, p. 23.