The Altar or, Meditations in Verse On The Great Christian Sacrifice By The Author of "The Cathedral," [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
 |
 | The Altar |  |
1.
“By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.”
Lord, if the wicked are “a sword of Thine,”
And princes do not “bear the sword in vain,”
When, as Thy delegates, on earth they reign;
And hearts of kings are in Thy Hand Divine,
Which Thou as streams of water dost incline,
To fertilize, to freshen and sustain,
Or to destroy: then by this patient chain
To which Thou didst in love Thyself resign,
When Thou with downcast eyes and back-bound hand
Before the potentates of earth didst stand;
Teach us beneath the oppressive powers of ill
Thy chastening rod to see, and so be still;—
Loving that Church which bears Thy sign of scorn,
Nor conquers but when she that Cross hath borne.
| The Altar | |