The Sanctuary A Companion in Verse for the English Prayer Book. By Robert Montgomery |
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Creed of St. Athanasius.
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 | The Sanctuary |  |
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Creed of St. Athanasius.
“The Catholic Faith is this,—That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.”
—Athanasius.
Oh! say not that the Church's creed
Is harsh and haughty, cold or stern,
But rather, in each Symbol read
Truths which the Lord would have us learn:
Since hate, not love, alone conceals
What truthful language there reveals.
Is harsh and haughty, cold or stern,
But rather, in each Symbol read
Truths which the Lord would have us learn:
Since hate, not love, alone conceals
What truthful language there reveals.
Nature seems Athanasian oft,—
Her guarded ways are most severe:
To earth below, or skies aloft,
What fencing laws define her sphere!
Infringe but these,—and they resent,
And make Man know his element.
Her guarded ways are most severe:
To earth below, or skies aloft,
What fencing laws define her sphere!
Infringe but these,—and they resent,
And make Man know his element.
Thus, Matter frames a creed for Sense,
And Science, too, her dogma finds,
And dares a shadowy faith dispense
To those who train their studious minds
By canons, which Creation hath,
To guide them through some devious path.
And Science, too, her dogma finds,
And dares a shadowy faith dispense
To those who train their studious minds
By canons, which Creation hath,
To guide them through some devious path.
But, if the church of Nature seems
To symbolise a Creed and Code,
In vain the darken'd sceptic dreams
That Faith can have no certain road:—
As if religion were a plan
For making Truth the slave of Man!
To symbolise a Creed and Code,
In vain the darken'd sceptic dreams
That Faith can have no certain road:—
As if religion were a plan
For making Truth the slave of Man!
Our Intellect on trial stands,
In thinking age, or thoughtless youth;
And when the heart by grace expands
To welcome in God's saving truth,
E'en then, the power of plastic will
Impresses creed and conduct, still.
In thinking age, or thoughtless youth;
And when the heart by grace expands
To welcome in God's saving truth,
E'en then, the power of plastic will
Impresses creed and conduct, still.
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Tyrannic Reason, hence, must bow,
And from the Bible learn her law;
And with confessing zeal avow
The truth, which Saints and Martyrs saw,—
That Three in One and One in Three
Image the awful Trinity.
And from the Bible learn her law;
And with confessing zeal avow
The truth, which Saints and Martyrs saw,—
That Three in One and One in Three
Image the awful Trinity.
Incarnate God, and God Triune,
The Persons, Three, the Nature, One,—
Doctrines with this, when not in tune
Are discords, in the Faith begun,
From whence flow errors, madly wild,
Sabellian dreams, and Sects defiled.
The Persons, Three, the Nature, One,—
Doctrines with this, when not in tune
Are discords, in the Faith begun,
From whence flow errors, madly wild,
Sabellian dreams, and Sects defiled.
Yet, not by oral praise alone,
Absolving Lord of heavenly love!
We clasp Thy Trinitarian throne,
And lift on speech our souls above;—
Creeds are but breaths which die away,
Unless we practise what we pray.
Absolving Lord of heavenly love!
We clasp Thy Trinitarian throne,
And lift on speech our souls above;—
Creeds are but breaths which die away,
Unless we practise what we pray.
Hence may Thy Priesthood, all-divine,
The Trinity to each impart,
And, while our names partake of Thine,
A temple build in every heart:—
In Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Be Sin and Self for ever lost!
The Trinity to each impart,
And, while our names partake of Thine,
A temple build in every heart:—
In Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Be Sin and Self for ever lost!
Then shall we learn, by love to know,
And not by science, coldly scan
What to the Trinity we owe
Of boundless mercy, brought to Man;
And, as we worship, more and more
Resemble Him our hearts adore.
And not by science, coldly scan
What to the Trinity we owe
Of boundless mercy, brought to Man;
And, as we worship, more and more
Resemble Him our hearts adore.
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