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77
Bishop Hannington.
MASSACRED WITH HIS FOLLOWERS IN MASAI LAND, CENTRAL AFRICA, OCTOBER, 1885.
When the assured and fore-determined day
Shall flood the darker continent's dark heart,
When warriors leave the spear for plow and mart,
And the white Christ assumes His gentle sway,
Then shall thy fifty followers where they lay
In blood and silence, from their ashes start
To bear thee witness, what august a part
Was thine—thou Shepherd-herald of the Way.
Shall flood the darker continent's dark heart,
When warriors leave the spear for plow and mart,
And the white Christ assumes His gentle sway,
Then shall thy fifty followers where they lay
In blood and silence, from their ashes start
To bear thee witness, what august a part
Was thine—thou Shepherd-herald of the Way.
Those unresisting hands were fiercely bound,
Thy soul was free, thy voice was loud in prayer
Potent as Stephen's, e'er he fell asleep,
And if no Paul with hot assent was there,
Thy martyr summons went the wide world round,
The crimson seed is sown, the Church shall reap.
Thy soul was free, thy voice was loud in prayer
Potent as Stephen's, e'er he fell asleep,
And if no Paul with hot assent was there,
Thy martyr summons went the wide world round,
The crimson seed is sown, the Church shall reap.
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