Still to a stricken brother true,
Whatever clime hath nurtured him;
As stooped to heal the wounded Jew
The worshipper of Gerizim.
Thou look'st on man, retaining yet,
Howe'er debased and soiled and din
The crown upon his forehead set,
The immortal gift of God to him.
THE HERALDS OF THE CROSS.
FORTH Went the heralds of the cross
No dangers made them pause;
They counted all the world but loss,
For their great Master's cause.
Through looks of fire, and words of
Serene their path they trod;
And, to the dreary dungeon borne
Sang praises unto God.
Friends dropped the hand they clayed before,
Love changed to cruel hate,
And home to them was home no more;
Yet mourned they not their fate.
In all his dark and dread array,
Death rose upon their sight;
But calmly still they kept their way,
And shrank not from the fight.
They knew to whom their trust was given,
They could not doubt His word;
Before them beamed the light of heaven,
The presence of their Lord.
THE PREACHERS OF THE WORD.
THANKS to God for those who came
In the Gospel's glorious name;
Who upon the green earth trod
But to teach the truth of God.
For the great apostles, first,
Who from life's endearments burst,
Going from the Cross, and then
Leading to the Cross again:
For the next, who meekly poured
Willing blood to serve their Lord;
Fearless bore the racks of pain,
Felon's death, or captive's chain ;
And for all, from shore to shore,
Who the blessed tidings bore;
All who wrought for liberty
When 't was treason to be free.
Ye, who now, in better days,
Live to spread your Maker's praise,
Speed your embassy where'er
Life has grief, or death has fear!
THE Will Divine that woke a waiting time With desert cry and Calvary's cross sublime, Had equal need on thec its power to prove, Thou soul of passionate zeal and tendèrest love!
O slave devout of burdening Hebrew school,
Proud to fulfil each time-exalted rule,
How broke the illusion of thy swelling wrath
On that meek front of calm, enduring faith!
Then flashed it on thy spirit mightily
That thou hadst spurned a love that died for thee;
And all the pride went down in whelming flood
Of boundless shame and boundless gratitude.
What large atonement that great conscience pays!
For every wounding slight, a psalm of praise:
Unending worship shall the debt consume,
For hours of rage, a life of martyrdom.
Yet in such morning glow, such vital day,
What chilling sense of claim or debt can stay?
O wondrous power of noble love, to free
From binding Law to glorious Liberty!
Dream not that one hath drained the exhaustless sea;
Full pours the tide in widening stream for thee; Lift for new liberties that conquering sign; Shatter the severing walls with touch divine!
FOR all Thy saints, O God!
Who strove in Thee to live,
Who followed Thee, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.
For all Thy saints, O God!
Accept our thankful cry,
Who counted Thee their great reward,
And yearned for Thee to die.
They all, in life and death,
With Thee, their Lord, in view,
Learned from Thy holy spirit's breath
To suffer and to do.
For This Thy name we bless,
And humbly pray that we
May follow them in holiness,
And live and die in Thee.
THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION.
THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION.
FOR all Thy gifts we praise Thee, Lord,
With lifted song and bended knee;
But now our thanks are chiefly poured
For those who taught us to be free.
For when the soul lay bound below
A heavy yoke of forms and creeds,
And none Thy word of truth could know,
O'ergrown with tares and choked with weeds;
The monarch's sword, the prelate's pride,
The church's curse, the empire's ban,
By one poor monk were all defied,
Who never feared the face of man.
Half-battles were the words he said,
Each born of prayer, baptized in tears;
And routed by them, backward fled
The errors of a thousand years.
With lifted song and bended knee,
For all Thy gifts we praise Thee, Lord;
But chief for those who made us free,
The champions of Thy holy word.
A MIGHTY fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
God's word above all earthly powers
The spirit and the gifts are ours,
Through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill,
God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
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