Lyrics :: :: University of Virginia Library

From Antioch to Rome with eager feet
The rugged path of martyrdom he trod:
Doomed to the lions by an emperor's nod,
The lightning of their eyes he yearned to meet,
And thunder of their throats; for death was sweet
To one who fain would look upon his God;
And so with passionate lips he kissed the rod
Lifted at last to make his joy complete.
The tyrant's threatening and the wild beast's roar
But heralded the music of a Voice,
Waiting to greet him on the peaceful shore:
His direst anguish was his dearest choice,
Since rending teeth the envious curtain tore,
And face to face allowed him to rejoice.

POLYCARP.

He looked on those who looked upon the Lord,
Holding familiar converse with St. John;
In whom the last soft glow reflected shone
From that sad Face by earth and heaven adored.
In secret cells of memory he stored
Sweet words and deeds of Christ, and passed them on
To live in other lips when he was gone,
Sealing the truths our Gospel-books record.
Christ's breath through holy John still breathed on him,
Fanning his heart's devotion high and higher,
Which not the mists of fivescore years could dim:
With ardent longings did his soul aspire
Till from a rounded century's utmost rim
He soared to Heaven on cherub-wings of fire.

JUSTIN MARTYR.

Seeking for goodly pearls from shore to shore,
A Heavenly Jewel crowned his weary toil,
And he rejoiced as one who finds great spoil—
Treasure which earth or ocean never bore.
What were the dreams of philosophic lore
To One sweet human Life without a soil?
Armed with the simple Cross he now could foil
Singly the dark mythologies of yore.
His wreath of honour nobly did he earn,
A living “witness” for his dying Lord,
Wrestling with Jew and Greek in learnèd strife:
Nor shrank he from that last encounter stern,
The fatal flashing of the Roman sword,
A dying witness for the Prince of life.

TERTULLIAN.

O fiery Roman spirit—that first bent
The conqueror's language to the Church's use,
And where the Eagle ranged the Dove let loose—
How well thy mind befits thy instrument!
In iron warfare was thy lifetime spent
For facts and doctrines and world-changing views
Of Truth; the storm, not silence of the dews,
Dear to thy heart and with thy being blent.
And what if, in the fervour of the fight,
Thy steps might err, through lack of zeal or love
In those who fought beside thee for the Right;
Still was thine eye fixed on the Lord above,
Still didst thou walk beneath the Father's light,
And catch the brooding of the mystic Dove.

IRENÆUS.

Three arches of a bridge our faith sustain
O'er two dim centuries to the solid shore,
Where floating myths are possible no more,
And History's clear, unquestioned steps remain.
By three bright links of an unbroken chain—
John, Polycarp, and the industrious lore
Of Irenæus—we are lifted o'er
The chasm, and a steadfast foothold gain.
From his far Western home in Christ-lit Gaul
Our saint could travel back a lifetime's space,
And Orient years in Ephesus recall;
And how his martyred master would retrace
Dear mem'ries which the lips of John let fall,
Sweetly descanting of Incarnate Grace.

ORIGEN.

Close-linked in youth with apostolic men,
And mighty in the Scriptures, thou didst raise
A stately fabric of immortal praise,
Based on eternal Truth, wise Origen.
And though we tremble lest thy daring pen
Venture too near the veil which hides God's ways,
We crown with evergreen thy restless days,
Thy pious insight and far-reaching ken.
For ivy-like thy busy hand hath wound
Unfading wreaths about the holy shrine
In which the Oracles of God are found;
Where Scriptures Old and New their voice combine
Through all the listening ages to resound
The full-toned thunder of the Word Divine!

EUSEBIUS.

Learnèd, devout, and liberal, he possest
The heart's love of imperial Constantine;
Who, dying, whispered of that luminous Sign,
The Cross in heaven with which his eyes were blest;
Of that repeated Vision which addrest
To his uncertain faith the words divine—
‘With this Cross conquer’—‘Let this symbol shine
A glorious standard o'er thy warrior-crest.’
Thus of the Cross above Eusebius told,
On the blue sky inscribed with golden glow;
But his laborious chronicles unfold
How that same Cross was writ in blood below,
Until, through pain and prayer and witness bold,
Earth saw the trampled Church to empire grow.

ATHANASIUS.

When Athanasius faced a frowning world—
Emperor and priest against the truth arrayed—
He grasped the precious Pearl, nor felt dismayed,
Though all earth's pride to shake him was unfurled.
What if from his high station he was hurled,
The jewel of the Faith he ne'er betrayed,
But kept it, hidden in sepulchral shade,
Or where from hermit's cell the blue smoke curled.
Then, when the storm retired, the triple bow
Was seen in perfect beauty on the cloud
Each mingling hue defined with clearer glow;
Thus through dark years of doubt and conflict loud
To one man's strenuous faithfulness we owe
The Creed to which all after time has bowed.