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106
Old and New.
(DONINGTON CHURCH.)
[_]
[At the re-opening of this church on April 29, 1879, the tower was lying in ruins, having fallen suddenly a few weeks before.]
Lapsed in ruin, blotted from the landscape,
Lies the ancient belfry to the West:
Graced with loving tendance, Nave and Chancel
Eastward rise in novel beauty dressed.
Lies the ancient belfry to the West:
Graced with loving tendance, Nave and Chancel
Eastward rise in novel beauty dressed.
Yet amid the gifts of new adornment
Age-worn carvings bear their sombre part,
And the fair proportions witness ever
To the old-world builders' reverent art.
Age-worn carvings bear their sombre part,
And the fair proportions witness ever
To the old-world builders' reverent art.
And I see it rise—that ancient belfry—
Once more perfecting the maimèd view,
(Life and order out of death and ruin,)
Old in plan, in strength and structure new.
Once more perfecting the maimèd view,
(Life and order out of death and ruin,)
Old in plan, in strength and structure new.
107
Thus for self, and thus for Church and Nation,
We would pray Thee, Lord, the life to mould,
In the great unfoldings of Thy mercy
Interblending still the new and old.
We would pray Thee, Lord, the life to mould,
In the great unfoldings of Thy mercy
Interblending still the new and old.
Teach Thy children, still with reverence tracing
Saintly footprints in the ancient ways,
All new gifts of strength and grace and wisdom
Upward ever on the old to raise.
Saintly footprints in the ancient ways,
All new gifts of strength and grace and wisdom
Upward ever on the old to raise.
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