O Christ the Lamb, O Holy Ghost the Dove, Reveal the Almighty Father unto us; That we may tread Thy courts felicitous, Loving Who loves us, for our God is Love. Lo, if our God be Love thro' heaven's long day, Love is He thro' our mortal pilgrimage, Love was He thro' all aeons that are told. We change, but Thou remainest ; for Thine age Is, Was, and Is to come, nor new nor old; By faith and hope triumphant thro' distress: Not with the rankling service of a thrall; But even as loving children trust and bless, Weep and rejoice, answering their Father's call, Work with tired hands, and forward upward press On sore tired feet still rising when they fall, In weariness and painfulness. Before 1886. VIGIL OF THE PRESENTATION We change, but Thou remainest; LONG and dark the nights, dim and yea and yea! Before 1893. CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL O BLESSED Paul elect to grace, Arise and wash away thy sin, Anoint thy head and wash thy face, Thy gracious course begin. To start thee on thy outrunning race Christ shows the splendour of His Face: What will that Face of splendour be When at the goal He welcomes thee? Before 1886. IN weariness and painfulness St. Paul Served God and pleased Him: after-saints no less short the days, Can wait on and can please Him, Since then Thy train hath been one and all In weariness and painfulness, Freeman and bondman, bishop, king and queen, With flaming candles and with garlands green: Oh happy all who wait One day or thousand days around Thy gate! And these have offered Thee, Beside their hearts, great stores for charity, Gold, frankincense, and myrrh; if such may be For savour or for state Within the threshold of Thy golden gate. Then snowdrops and my heart I'll bring, to find those blacker than Thou art : VIGIL OF THE ANNUNCIATION ALL weareth, all wasteth, Man hopeth, man feareth, Man droopeth :--Christ cheereth, Saints waking, saints sleeping, Yet, loving Lord, accept us in good Well they rest to-day part; And give me grace to wait, A bruised reed bowed low before Thy gate. Before 1882. While they watch and pray,— But their to-morrow's rest what tongue shall say? Before 1893. Whom devoutly copying we too cry 'All hail!' And now a strong Evangelist, St. Mark Echoing on the music of glorious Hath for his sign a Lion in his strength; And thro' the stormy water's breadth and length He helps to steer God's Ark. Thus calls he sinners to be penitents, He kindles penitents to high desire, He mounts before them to the sphere of saints, And bids them come up higher. Before 1882. ST. BARNABAS 'Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand.'-Acts xxi. 3. 'We sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.'-Acts xxvii. 4. ST. BARNABAS, with John his sister's son, Set sail for Cyprus; leaving in their wake That Chosen Vessel who for Jesus' sake Proclaimed the Gentiles and the Jews at one. Divided while united, each must run His mighty course not hell should overtake; And pressing toward the mark must own the ache Of love, and sigh for heaven not yet begun. For saints in life-long exile yearn to touch Warm human hands, and com mune face to face; But these we know not ever met again : Yet once St. Paul at distance over- Just sighted Cyprus; and once Neared it and passed ;-not there Before 1882. VIGIL OF ST. PETER O JESU, gone so far apart Only my heart can follow Thee, That look which pierced St. Peter's heart Turn now on me. Thou who dost search me thro' and thro' And mark the crooked ways I Look on me, Lord, and make me too Before 1893. ST. PETER LAUNCH out into the deep,' Christ spake of old And have not wept: ah, Lord, Thou knowest it. To Peter and he launched into Yet still I hear Thee knocking, still the deep; Strengthened should tempest wake which lay asleep, Strengthened to suffer heat or suffer cold. I hear : 'Open to Me, look on Me eye to eye, That I may wring thy heart and make it whole; Thus, in Christ's Prescience: patient And teach thee love because I hold |