Scriptural narratives of those passages in Our Blessed Lord's life and ministry, which are subjects of annual commemoration in the church preceded by preliminary notices of the days on which they are commemorated, and followed by reflexions and collects: adapted to the greater holydays of the United Church of England and Ireland; and designed, together with biographical notices of the apostles, evangelists, and other saints, to form a course of reading on all the holydays of the church. By Richard Mant |
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 | Scriptural narratives of those passages in Our Blessed Lord's life and ministry, which are subjects of annual commemoration in the church |  |
441
WHITSUNDAY.
462
“Come, let us raise on high
A tower, may reach the sky,
And o'er the earth establish our renown.”
And so on Shinar's plain,
The “mighty Hunter's” reign,
Up sprang the tower of haughty Babylon.
Tier above tier, and stage o'er stage it rose;
And still with heavenward aim the giant fabrick grows.
A tower, may reach the sky,
And o'er the earth establish our renown.”
And so on Shinar's plain,
The “mighty Hunter's” reign,
Up sprang the tower of haughty Babylon.
Tier above tier, and stage o'er stage it rose;
And still with heavenward aim the giant fabrick grows.
But God from heaven comes down,
And with reproving frown
Stays of the sons of men the proud career:
Each from his fellow's tongue,
Like bells at random rung,
Nought save a jar of babbling sounds can hear;
A maze of words, a wilderness of speech,
Nor ear those sounds can scan, nor understanding reach.
And with reproving frown
Stays of the sons of men the proud career:
Each from his fellow's tongue,
Like bells at random rung,
Nought save a jar of babbling sounds can hear;
A maze of words, a wilderness of speech,
Nor ear those sounds can scan, nor understanding reach.
463
With varied speech and new
Discordant fancies grew,
Till He, who rul'd the world of right alone,
His sovereign power defied,
Saw other gods beside
Advanc'd to unseat him from his heaven's high throne:
Gods manifold from all creation's range,
Strange rivals of their Maker, numberless as strange.
Discordant fancies grew,
Till He, who rul'd the world of right alone,
His sovereign power defied,
Saw other gods beside
Advanc'd to unseat him from his heaven's high throne:
Gods manifold from all creation's range,
Strange rivals of their Maker, numberless as strange.
He saw with jealous eye
His own bright host on high,
Cloth'd with the glory of the Eternal King:
Nor less each nether birth
Of water, air, and earth;
Dead deities of man's imagining,
Beast, fish, and winged fowl, and creeping worm,
Whatever nature breeds, or fabling visions form.
His own bright host on high,
Cloth'd with the glory of the Eternal King:
Nor less each nether birth
Of water, air, and earth;
Dead deities of man's imagining,
Beast, fish, and winged fowl, and creeping worm,
Whatever nature breeds, or fabling visions form.
Nor wanted stone and stock
The Lord of life to mock,
As men in vaunted light through darkness rov'd;
While, by just judgment blind,
The undiscerning mind
Sinn'd as it will'd, and what it sinn'd approv'd.
Thus stain'd by lust, and prodigal of blood,
The apostate world was plung'd in guilt's ingulphing flood.
The Lord of life to mock,
As men in vaunted light through darkness rov'd;
While, by just judgment blind,
The undiscerning mind
Sinn'd as it will'd, and what it sinn'd approv'd.
Thus stain'd by lust, and prodigal of blood,
The apostate world was plung'd in guilt's ingulphing flood.
But now these times of night
Have sped their destin'd flight:
Through earth's bewilder'd nations far and wide
Their long usurped seat
Must the idol creatures quit,
And the Creator's self be glorified:
“Go, teach the nations,” said the incarnate Son,
“And wash them in the name of Him, the Three in One.”
Have sped their destin'd flight:
Through earth's bewilder'd nations far and wide
Their long usurped seat
Must the idol creatures quit,
And the Creator's self be glorified:
“Go, teach the nations,” said the incarnate Son,
“And wash them in the name of Him, the Three in One.”
464
But how the nations teach?
Can Galilean speech
With men of other lips acceptance find?
In vain would God's own truth
In phrase unknown, uncouth,
Win through the listening ear the obedient mind.
Who made the plague, must now the cure bestow:
Who sends his legates forth, must give them skill to go.
Can Galilean speech
With men of other lips acceptance find?
In vain would God's own truth
In phrase unknown, uncouth,
Win through the listening ear the obedient mind.
Who made the plague, must now the cure bestow:
Who sends his legates forth, must give them skill to go.
Hark, where together met
The chosen twelve are set,
A sound as of a rushing mighty wind!
With that celestial sound
The house is fill'd around,
The circling air repeats it unconfin'd:
And see, while every look is upward flung,
Sits on each favour'd head a cloven fiery tongue.
The chosen twelve are set,
A sound as of a rushing mighty wind!
With that celestial sound
The house is fill'd around,
The circling air repeats it unconfin'd:
And see, while every look is upward flung,
Sits on each favour'd head a cloven fiery tongue.
He comes, in that bright shower,
The Godhead's promis'd Power:
He comes, no strife of jarring tongues to spread;
As when he came of yore
On yon disastrous tower;
But from the elements, which discord bred,
To fix on earth the reign of truth and light,
And in one note of praise all faithful hearts unite.
The Godhead's promis'd Power:
He comes, no strife of jarring tongues to spread;
As when he came of yore
On yon disastrous tower;
But from the elements, which discord bred,
To fix on earth the reign of truth and light,
And in one note of praise all faithful hearts unite.
He bids the lips unclose,
He utteance bestows;
And lo! amazement whelms the hearer's soul!
From where Ulai's stream
Glows with the orient beam,
From the twin floods round Aram's plain that roll;
From northern lands that skirt the Euxine wave,
And those whose southern shore the Great Sea's waters lave;
He utteance bestows;
And lo! amazement whelms the hearer's soul!
From where Ulai's stream
Glows with the orient beam,
From the twin floods round Aram's plain that roll;
From northern lands that skirt the Euxine wave,
And those whose southern shore the Great Sea's waters lave;
465
From Asia's sun-bright coast,
Where, Greece, thy offspring boast
The far-fam'd wonder of Diana's dome;
From where Cyrene stands
The pride of Libya's sands,
Egyptian Memphis, and Italian Rome;
From Crete's fair towns by meeting seas embrac'd,
Judæa's stately towers, Arabia's tented waste;
Where, Greece, thy offspring boast
The far-fam'd wonder of Diana's dome;
From where Cyrene stands
The pride of Libya's sands,
Egyptian Memphis, and Italian Rome;
From Crete's fair towns by meeting seas embrac'd,
Judæa's stately towers, Arabia's tented waste;
From every land and isle,
Whereon the seasons smile,
All who in Salem's honour'd courts appear,
On God's high holyday
Their first-fruit gifts to pay,
Jew, Proselyte, with deep amazement hear,
Each in his country's tongue proclaim'd abroad
By Galilean lips the wondrous works of God.
Whereon the seasons smile,
All who in Salem's honour'd courts appear,
On God's high holyday
Their first-fruit gifts to pay,
Jew, Proselyte, with deep amazement hear,
Each in his country's tongue proclaim'd abroad
By Galilean lips the wondrous works of God.
Now on, Christ's chosen band!
Now give each peopled land
Those wondrous works in all their tongues to learn!
The plague of Babylon
Is banish'd now and gone:
Behold, the many-languaged nations turn
From their dead vanities of stock and stone,
To seek the living God, and worship him alone.
Now give each peopled land
Those wondrous works in all their tongues to learn!
The plague of Babylon
Is banish'd now and gone:
Behold, the many-languaged nations turn
From their dead vanities of stock and stone,
To seek the living God, and worship him alone.
From distant climes preferr'd
So shall one pray'r be heard,
Fruit of one faith, from one united flock;
All brought alike to lave
In one baptismal wave,
All taught to drink from one enlivening rock:
And one fair bond of brotherhood shall bind
The families and tribes of long dispers'd mankind.
So shall one pray'r be heard,
Fruit of one faith, from one united flock;
All brought alike to lave
In one baptismal wave,
All taught to drink from one enlivening rock:
And one fair bond of brotherhood shall bind
The families and tribes of long dispers'd mankind.
466
So shall the enlighten'd sight
A road to yonder height,
Other than they of Shinar's plain descry:
And men with holy dread
The heavenward path shall tread,
Which angels traverse between earth and sky;
Forego Ambition's vaulting, and be fain
By way of humbleness that steep ascent to gain.
A road to yonder height,
Other than they of Shinar's plain descry:
And men with holy dread
The heavenward path shall tread,
Which angels traverse between earth and sky;
Forego Ambition's vaulting, and be fain
By way of humbleness that steep ascent to gain.
| Scriptural narratives of those passages in Our Blessed Lord's life and ministry, which are subjects of annual commemoration in the church | |