The Sanctuary A Companion in Verse for the English Prayer Book. By Robert Montgomery |
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 | The Sanctuary |  |
Whit-Sunday.
“We will come and make our abode with him.”
—Gospel for the Day.
Where is my Saviour's earthly home
In which He deigns to dwell,
And sacramental Graces come
With their divinest spell?—
In which He deigns to dwell,
And sacramental Graces come
With their divinest spell?—
Creation's priests true poets are
Who sacrifice to Song,
And worship Him, as everywhere,
To Whom their lyres belong.
Who sacrifice to Song,
And worship Him, as everywhere,
To Whom their lyres belong.
Above, around, and all below,
Where crowding grandeurs thrill
The mind with reverential glow,
From forest, mead, or hill—
Where crowding grandeurs thrill
The mind with reverential glow,
From forest, mead, or hill—
173
The Beautiful, the Bright and Fair
Preach Christ to saintly hearts;
Or, waken that unworded prayer
God's secret life imparts.
Preach Christ to saintly hearts;
Or, waken that unworded prayer
God's secret life imparts.
And, often round some cottage-hearth
His wingèd mercies wait,
ving to humble peace a worth
Beyond imperial state.
His wingèd mercies wait,
ving to humble peace a worth
Beyond imperial state.
But though an omnipresent Lord
Faith ev'rywhere divines,
It learns from His revealing Word
Where Godhead most enshrines
Faith ev'rywhere divines,
It learns from His revealing Word
Where Godhead most enshrines
The riches of His grace for Man,—
And that, the Church is proved!
Wherein He works Redemption's plan,
By saint and martyr loved.
And that, the Church is proved!
Wherein He works Redemption's plan,
By saint and martyr loved.
Where two or three together meet,
Lo! in the midst is One
Who hears adoring hearts, which beat
With life His Breath begun.
Lo! in the midst is One
Who hears adoring hearts, which beat
With life His Breath begun.
Receptive of all prayer and praise,
He counts each heavenward sigh,
And meets with sympathetic gaze
The Souls which look on high.
He counts each heavenward sigh,
And meets with sympathetic gaze
The Souls which look on high.
And, by that Font of second Birth,
Whose mystic waters gleam
With something more than soilèd earth
Can understand, or dream,—
Whose mystic waters gleam
With something more than soilèd earth
Can understand, or dream,—
There, stands the Lord of viewless grace
With His regen'rate spells,
A seed to sow, no eye can trace
Till future saintship tells.
With His regen'rate spells,
A seed to sow, no eye can trace
Till future saintship tells.
174
His Home is in the Priesthood, too,
While that deep promise stands,—
“Go preach My Word, for which on you
I lay ordaining Hands.”
While that deep promise stands,—
“Go preach My Word, for which on you
I lay ordaining Hands.”
But, if there be a Rite of awe
Where God's redemptive grace
Becomes, by preternat'ral law,
Incorp'rate with our race,
Where God's redemptive grace
Becomes, by preternat'ral law,
Incorp'rate with our race,
Say,—is it not that sacred feast,
Where Christ Himself imparts,
Under the types His chosen priest
Offers to feeding hearts?
Where Christ Himself imparts,
Under the types His chosen priest
Offers to feeding hearts?
Oh! Banquet of celestial bliss,
An Aliment for heaven,
Wherein the future Body is
By germs of myst'ry given.
An Aliment for heaven,
Wherein the future Body is
By germs of myst'ry given.
Thus, in His members, which are One,
By union with their Head,—
Is present God's Incarnate Son
Who once for sinners bled.
By union with their Head,—
Is present God's Incarnate Son
Who once for sinners bled.
The Church is, thus, Emanuel's home,
His dwelling-place, and shrine,
From whence, if wilful error roam,
It forfeits hope divine;
His dwelling-place, and shrine,
From whence, if wilful error roam,
It forfeits hope divine;
While hearts, made wise in holiness,
Attuned by constant prayer,—
The Lord will beautify and bless,
And throne his spirit there.
Attuned by constant prayer,—
The Lord will beautify and bless,
And throne his spirit there.
| The Sanctuary | |