The Sanctuary A Companion in Verse for the English Prayer Book. By Robert Montgomery |
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St. Luke the Evangelist.
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 | The Sanctuary |  |
258
St. Luke the Evangelist.
“Only Luke is with me.”
—Epistle for the Day.
A holy concord of embracing hearts
Beneath the Cross of Jesus blended,
To friendship an undying spell imparts
That lives when time and toil are ended:—
Union like this survives the earth's decay
And deepens when the world dissolves away!
Beneath the Cross of Jesus blended,
To friendship an undying spell imparts
That lives when time and toil are ended:—
Union like this survives the earth's decay
And deepens when the world dissolves away!
Such was the amity serene and strong,
By Luke and Paul in union shared;
Heart link'd with heart, each persecuting wrong
Which tyranny and torture dared
On God's elect ones to inflict or bring,—
They master'd well by meekest suffering.
By Luke and Paul in union shared;
Heart link'd with heart, each persecuting wrong
Which tyranny and torture dared
On God's elect ones to inflict or bring,—
They master'd well by meekest suffering.
High in the calendar of sainted Worth
Luke the beloved most justly stands,—
Comrade of Him whose spirit walks the earth
And leavens all converted Lands
With faith and feeling,—pure as Paul inspires
When hearts are kindled with congenial fires.
Luke the beloved most justly stands,—
Comrade of Him whose spirit walks the earth
And leavens all converted Lands
With faith and feeling,—pure as Paul inspires
When hearts are kindled with congenial fires.
Danger, nor death, the dungeon, sword, nor stake
Their sacred bond of friendship broke;
Each cheer'd the other, for the Church's sake
And triumph'd in their Master's yoke;—
His Cup to drink, His destined Cross to bear,
Was all their glory and the goal of prayer.
Their sacred bond of friendship broke;
Each cheer'd the other, for the Church's sake
And triumph'd in their Master's yoke;—
His Cup to drink, His destined Cross to bear,
Was all their glory and the goal of prayer.
But he,
whose earth-chain'd spirit could not soar,
A contrast and a recreant proved;
Whose heart was canker'd at its secret core
And hollow, as the World he loved:
Fickle and faint, such cold apostate grew
To man unfeeling, and to God, untrue.
A contrast and a recreant proved;
Whose heart was canker'd at its secret core
And hollow, as the World he loved:
Fickle and faint, such cold apostate grew
To man unfeeling, and to God, untrue.
259
By peril daunted, cow'ring Demas left
The dungeon'd Paul alone—to die!
Save for St. Luke, of each true soul bereft
And bound in dark captivity:
Alas! for him, who dared not face the doom
Of preaching Christ in cave or catacomb:
The dungeon'd Paul alone—to die!
Save for St. Luke, of each true soul bereft
And bound in dark captivity:
Alas! for him, who dared not face the doom
Of preaching Christ in cave or catacomb:
He barter'd heaven for pottage
mean and base;
But, had he no remorseful hour?
Blush'd not his conscience o'er such black disgrace,
And writhed he not beneath its power,
As oft the features of forsaken Paul
Tortured remembrance would at times recall?
But, had he no remorseful hour?
Blush'd not his conscience o'er such black disgrace,
And writhed he not beneath its power,
As oft the features of forsaken Paul
Tortured remembrance would at times recall?
Craven he was;—and so, perchance, are we
Who in the calm of cloudless life
Pillars of truth so oft appear to be,—
But tremble in the storm and strife!
And were we summon'd to the martyr-cell
Would not the type of Demas warn us well?
Who in the calm of cloudless life
Pillars of truth so oft appear to be,—
But tremble in the storm and strife!
And were we summon'd to the martyr-cell
Would not the type of Demas warn us well?
Our blinded hearts are hypocrites, O Lord!
And little can the wisest know
(Unless illumined by Thy radiant word)
What serpent-guile sleeps far below;
Or be convinced, till awful crisis come,—
How far they wander from their heaven and home!
And little can the wisest know
(Unless illumined by Thy radiant word)
What serpent-guile sleeps far below;
Or be convinced, till awful crisis come,—
How far they wander from their heaven and home!
We shudder on the brink of this dread truth,—
“But Demas hath forsaken me!”
And let the lesson both for age and youth
Inspired with solemn warning be:
He lives for Jesus, who to self hath died
And on the Cross beholds it crucified.
“But Demas hath forsaken me!”
And let the lesson both for age and youth
Inspired with solemn warning be:
He lives for Jesus, who to self hath died
And on the Cross beholds it crucified.
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