WHEN Christ was risen from the dead,
And Thomas of the same was told,
He would not credit it, he said,
Though he himself should him behold,
Till he his wounded hands had eyed,
And thrust his fingers in his side.
Which trial he did undertake,
And Christ his frailty did permit,
By his distrusting sure to make
Such others as may doubt of it.
So we had right, and he no wrong,
For by his weakness both are strong.
O blessed God! how wise thou art,
And how confoundest thou thy foes,
Who their temptations dost convert
To work those ends which they oppose:
When Satan seeks our faith to shake,
The firmer he the same doth make.
Thus whatsoe'er hé tempts us to,
His disadvantage let it be;
Yea, make those very sins we do
The means to bring us nearer thee:
Yet let us not to ill consent,
Though colour'd with a good intent.
LORD! with what zeal did the first martyr breathe
Thy blessed truth, to such as him withstood!
With what stout mind embraced he his death,
A holy witness, sealing with his blood!
The praise is thine, that him so strong didst make,
And blest is he, that died for thy sake,
Unquenched love in him appear'd to be,
When for his murth'rous foes he did intreat :
A piercing eye made bright by faith had he,
For he beheld thee in thy glory set;
And so unmov'd his patience he did keep,
He died, as if he had but fall'n asleep.
Our luke-warm hearts with his hot zeal enflame,
So constant and so loving let us be;
So let us living glorify thy name,
So let us dying fix our eyes on thee;
And when the sleep of death shall us o'ertake, With him to life eternal us awake.
Saint John the Evangelist.
TEACH us by his example, Lord!
For whom we honour thee to-day,
And grant his witness of thy word
The church enlighten ever may;
And as belov'd, O Christ! he was,
And therefore leaned on thy breast,
So let us also in thy grace
And on thy sacred bosom rest.
Into us breathe that life divine,
Whose testimony he intends;
About us cause that light to shine,
That which no darkness comprehends;
And let that ever blessed word,
Which all things did create of nought,
Anew create us now, O Lord!
Whose ruin sin hath almost wrought.
Thy holy faith we do profess,
Us to thy fellowship receive;
Our sins we heartily confess,
Thy pardon therefore let us have;
And as to us thy servant gives
Occasion thus to honour thee,
So also let our words and lives
As lights and guides to others be.
THAT rage whereof the Psalm doth say, Why are the Gentiles grown so mad? Appear'd in part upon that day
When Herod slain the infants had;
Yet, as it saith, these storm'd in vain, Though many innocents they slew;
For Christ they purpos'd to have slain,
Who all their counsels overthrew.
Thus still vouchsafe thou to restrain
All tyrants, Lord! pursuing thee:
Thus let our vast desires be slain,
That thou may'st living in us be;
So, whilst we shall enjoy our breath,
We of thy love our song will frame ;
And with those innocents, our death
Shall also glorify thy name.
In type those many died for one,
That one for many more was slain;
And what they felt in act alone,
He did in will and act sustain.
Lord! grant that what thou hast decreed,
In will and act we may fulfil;
And though we reach not to the deed,
From us, O God! accept the will.
The Conversion of Saint Paul.
A BLEST conversion and a strange
Was that, when Saul a Paul became;
And Lord! for making such a change
We praise and glorify thy name;
For whilst he went from place to place To persecute thy truth and thee,
And running to perdition was,
By pow'ful grace call'd back was he.
When from thy truth we go astray,
Or wrong it through our pointed zeal,
O come and stop us in the way,
And then thy will to us reveal!
That brightness shew us from above, Which proves the sensual eye-sight blind; And from our eyes those scales remove, That hinder us thy way to find.
And as thy blessed servant Paul,
When he a convert once became,
Exceeded thy apostles all
In painful preaching of thy name;
So grant that those who have in sin
Exceeded others heretofore,
The start of them in faith may win,
Love, serve, and honour thee the more.
WHEN one among the twelve there was
That did thy grace abuse,
Thou left him, Lord! and in his place
Did just Matthias chuse ;
So, if a traitor do remain
Within thy church to-day,
To grant him true repentance deign,
Or cast him out, we pray.
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