Rampolli

VI.  THE TRINITY

I

     God, the Father, with us be,

     Let us not fall to badness;

     Make us from all sinning free,

     And help us die in gladness.

     ‘Gainst the devil well us ware,

     And keep our faith from failing,

     Our hope in thee from quailing.

     Our hearts upon thee staying,

     Make us wholly trust thy care!

     Us, with good Christians sharing,

     Save from the devil snaring,

     Him with God’s weapons daring.

     Amen! well now may we fare!

     Now sing we Halleluja!

     Jesus, Master, with us be,

     Let us not fall to badness; &c.

     Holy Spirit, with us be,

     Let us not fall to badness; &c.

     II

     Thou who art three in unity,

     A true God from eternity,

     The sun’s daylight withdraws his shine:

     Lighten us with thy light divine.

     At morn we praise thee with the day,

     At evening, too, to thee we pray;

     Our poor song glorifieth thee

     Now, ever, and eternally.

     God, Father, always be adored!

     God, Son, thou art our only Lord!

     Thee Comforter, the Holy Ghost,

     We praise now and for evermore! Amen.

VII.  THE CHURCH AND WORD OF GOD

I

     THE TWELFTH PSALM

     Ah God, from heaven look down and view;

     Let it thy pity waken;

     Behold thy saints how very few!

     We wretches are forsaken.

     Thy word they grant nor true nor right,

     And faith is thus extinguished quite

     Among the sons of Adam.

     They teach a cunning false and fine—

     In their own wits they found it;

     Their heart in one doth not combine,

     Nor on God’s word they ground it;

     One chooses this, the other that;

     Endless division they are at,

     And yet they keep smooth faces.

     God will outroot the teachers all

     Who with false shows present us;

     Besides, their proud tongues loudly call—

     Tush! tush!—who can prevent us?

     We have the right and might in full;

     And what we say, that is the rule;

     Who dares to give us lessons!

     Therefore saith God: I must be up;

     My poor ones ill are faring;

     Their sighs crowd up to Zion’s top.

     My ear their cry is hearing.

     My wholesome word shall speedily

     With comfort fill them, fresh and free,

     And strength be to the needy.

     Silver that seven times is tried

     With fire, is found the purer;

     God’s word the same test must abide—

     It still comes out the surer.

     It shall by crosses proved be;

     Men shall its power and glory see

     Shine strong upon the nations.

     God will its purity defend

     From this ill generation.

     Let us ourselves to thee commend

     Lest we fall from our station;

     The godless rout is all around

     Where these rude wanton ones are found

     Against thy folk exalted.

     II

     THE FOURTEENTH PSALM

     Although the fools say with their mouth:

     Great God, we magnify him;

     Their heart cares nothing for the truth,

     In action they deny him.

     Their being is corrupted quite;

     To God it is a horrid sight;

     Not one of them works goodness.

     From heaven God downward cast his eye

     Upon men’s sons so many;

     He set himself to look and spy

     If he could find out any

     Who their own reason up had stirred

     Earnestly to obey God’s word,

     After his will enquiring.

     Upon the right path there was none;

     From it they all were straying;

     Each followed fancies of his own,

     Them to ill deeds bewraying.

     Not one of them did good even once,

     Though many, fooled by arrogance,

     Thought God with them well pleased.

     How long by lies will they be led

     Who vain attempts redouble!

     They eat my people up as bread,

     And live upon their trouble!

     In God stands not their confidence;

     From ill they ask not his defence:

     They would themselves look after.

     Therefore their heart is never still

     But always full of fearing.

     Dwell with the good the Father will,

     Those who have ears for hearing.

     But ye despise the poor man’s ways,

     And scorn at everything he says

     Concerning God his comfort.

     Who will to Israel, poor flock—

     To Zion send salvation?

     God will take pity on his folk,

     And free his captive nation;

     That will he do through Christ his Son—

     And then is Jacob’s weeping done,

     And Isr’el filled with gladness. Amen.

     III

     THE FOURTY-SIXTH PSALM

     Our God he is a castle strong,

     A good mail-coat and weapon;

     He sets us free from every wrong

     That wickedness would heap on.

     The ancient wicked foe

     He means earnest now;

     Force and cunning sly

     His horrid policy,—

     On earth there’s no one like him!

     Our strength is vain; do what we can

     Our hopes are soon dejected;

     But He fights for us, the right man,

     By God himself elected.

     Ask’st thou who is this?

     Jesus Christ it is;

     He is the Lord of Hosts

     In whom his people boasts;

     And he must win the battle.

     And did the world with devils swarm

     All gaping to devour us,

     We fear not from them the least harm;

     Success lies sure before us.

     This world’s prince accurst,

     Let him rage his worst,

     Only roars about;

     His doom it is gone out,

     A word can overthrow him.

     The Word they’ll have to let it bide,

     Nor there claim any merit;

     He is with us, and on our side

     With his own gifts and spirit!

     Let them take our life,

     Goods, name, child, and wife—

     Everything may go:

     To them it is no gain;

     The kingdom ours remaineth.

     IV

     THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH PSALM

     Were God not with us all the time—

     Israel may loud declare it—

     Were God not with us all the time,

     We must have now despaired;

     For we are such a little flock

     Despised by such a crowd of folk,

     Who all do set upon us!

     ‘Gainst us so angry is their mood,

     If God had given them tether

     Us they had swallowed where we stood,

     Body and soul together.

     We should have been drowned all, like those

     O’er whom the waters great did close,

     And swept them off relentless.

     Thank God! their throat who did not let

     Us swallow when it gaped;

     As from a snare a bird doth flit

     So is our soul escaped.

     The snare’s in two, and we are through:

     The name of God it standeth true,

     The God of earth and heaven. Amen.

     V

     A CHILDREN’S SONG, TO SING AGAINST THE TWO ARCHENEMIES OF CHRIST AND HIS

     HOLY CHURCH, THE POPE AND THE TURKS

     Lord, keep us by thy word in hope,

     And check the murder of Turk and Pope,

     Who Jesus Christ, thine only Son,

     Would fain from off thy throne cast down.

     Proof of thy strength, Lord Christ, afford,

     For thou of all the lords art Lord;

     Thy own poor Christendom defend,

     That it may praise thee without end.

     God Holy Ghost, who Comfort art,

     Give to thy folk on earth one heart;

     Stand by us breathing our last breath;

     Into life lead us out of death.

     VI

     A SONG OF THE HOLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, FROM THE TWELFTH CHAPTER OF THE

     APOCALYPSE

     Her, the worthy maid, my heart doth hold,

     And I shall not forget her.

     Praise, honour, virtue of her are told;

     Than all I love her better.

           I seek her good,

           And if I should

           Right evil fare,

           I do not care:

     With that she’ll make me merry!

     With love and truth that never tire

     Glad she will make me very,

     And do all my desire.

     She wears a crown of pure gold, where

     Twelve stars their rays are twining;

     Her raiment like the sun is fair,

     And bright from far is shining.

           Her feet the moon

           Are set upon;

           She is the bride

           By Jesus’ side!

     She hath sorrow, must be mother

     To her fair child, the noble Son,

     Of all men lord and brother,

     Her king, her crowned one.

     That makes the old dragon ramp and roar;

     The child he tries to swallow;

     His rage is rage and nothing more!

     No hurt that rage will follow.

           The child up high

           Into the sky

           Away is heft,

           And he is left

     On earth, all mad with murder.

     The mother all alone is she,

     But God will watch and ward her,

     And her true Father be.

     VII

     A SONG CONCERNING THE TWO MARTYRS OF CHRIST, BURNT AT BRUSSELS BY THE

     SOPHISTS OF LOUBAINE, WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE YEAR 1523

     A new song here shall be begun—

     The Lord God help our singing!—

     Of what our God himself hath done,

     Praise, honour to him bringing:

     At Brussels in the Netherlands,

     By two young boys, He gracious

     Displays the wonders of his hands,

     Giving them gifts right precious,

     And richly them adorning.

     The first right fitly John was named,

     So rich he in God’s favour;

     His brother, Henry—one unblamed,

     Whose salt had lost no savour.

     From this world they are gone away,

     The diadem they’ve gained!

     Honest, like God’s good children, they

     For his word life disdained,

     And have become his martyrs.

     The ancient foe on them laid hold,

     With terrors did enwrap them;

     To lie against God’s word them told,

     With cunning would entrap them:

     From Louvaine too, to see the game

     And in his crust nets take them,

     Many a sophist gathered came:

     The Spirit fools did make them—

     Their cunning could gain nothing.

     Oh! they sung sweet, and they sung sour;

     Oh! they tried every double;

     The boys they stood firm as a tower,

     And mocked the sophists’ trouble.

     The serpent old it filled with hate

     To be thuswise defeated

     By two such youngsters—he, so great!—

     His wrath sevenfold was heated,

     And he resolved to burn them.

     Their cloister-garments off they tore,

     Undid their consecrations;

     All this the boys were ready for,

     And said Amen with patience.

     To God their Father they gave thanks

     That they would soon be rescued

     From Satan’s scoffs and mumming pranks,

     Whereby with false pretences

     The world he so befooleth.

     Then gracious God did grant to them

     To pass true priesthood’s border,

     And offer up themselves to him,

     Thus entering Christ’s own order;

     So to the world to die outright,

     With falsehood make a schism;

     And coming to heaven pure and white

     Give monkery the besom,

     And leave behind men’s prattle.

     They wrote for them a paper small:

     At their request they read it;

     They showed them every point there, all

     To which themselves gave credit.

     There was an error great indeed!

     In God we should trust solely:

     To cheat and lie, man maketh speed;

     We should distrust him wholly:

     For that they burn to ashes.

     Two awful fires they kindled then,

     The boys they carried to them;

     Great wonder seizes every man

     That with contempt they view them.

     With joy themselves they yielded quite,

     With singing and God-praising:

     The sophists had small appetite

     For these new things so dazing

     Which God was thus revealing.

     They now repent the deed of blame,

     Would gladly gloze it over;

     They dare not glory in their shame;

     The facts almost they cover.

     In their hearts gnaweth infamy—

     They to their friends deplore it:

     The Spirit cannot silent be;

     Good Abel’s blood out-poured

     Must still old Cain discover!

     To spread, their ashes will not cease;

     Into all lands they scatter;

     Stream, hole, ditch, grave will them release;

     All winds shall tell the matter.

     Them whom from life their murderous hand

     Drove down to silence triple,

     They hear them now in every land,

     In tongues of every people,

     Go about gladly singing.

     Still their foul lies they will not leave,

     But trim and dress the murther;

     The fable false which out they give

     Shows conscience grinds them further.

     God’s holy ones, even after death,

     They still go on belying;

     They say that with their latest breath

     The boys, in act of dying,

     Repented and recanted!

     Let them lie on for evermore—

     Nothing by that they’re gaining;

     For us, we thank our God therefore:

     His word is yet remaining!

     Even at the door is summer nigh,

     The winter hard is ended,

     The tender flowers come out to spy:

     His hand when once extended

     Stays not till it has finished. Amen.

VIII.  GRACE

I

THE SIXTY-SEVENTH PSALM

     Would that the Lord would grant us grace,

     And in his volume write us!

     With its clear shining let his face

     To life eternal light us;

     That we may know his work at length,

     And what men him have faith in;

     And Jesus Christ our health and strength

     Be known to all the heathen,

     And unto God convert them.

     God then will thank, and thee will praise

     The heathen with glad voices;

     Let all the world for joy upraise

     A song with mighty noises,

     Because thou art earth’s judge, O Lord,

     Nor leav’st the righteous quailing;

     Thy word it is both bed and board,

     And for all folk availing

     In the right path to keep them.

     Let them thank God, and thee adore,

     Thy folk of deeds of grace full.

     The land grows fruitful more and more;

     Thy word it is successful.

     Bless us the Father and the Son,

     And bless us, God, the Holy Ghost,

     To whom by all be honour done!

     Before him fear the human host!

     Now heartily say Amen.

     II

     THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHTH PSALM

     Happy who in God’s fear doth stay,

     And in it goeth on his way;

     Thine own hand thee shall find thy food,

     So liv’st thou right, and all is good.

     So shall thy wife be, in thy house,

     Like vine with clusters plenteous,

     Thy children sit thy table round

     Like olive plants all fresh and sound.

     See, such rich blessing hangs him on

     Whom God’s fear maketh live a man;

     From him the old curse away is worn

     To which the sons of men are born.

     From Zion God will prosper thee;

     Thou shalt behold continually

     Jerusalem’s now happy case

     So pleasing to the God of grace.

     He will thy days prolong for thee,

     With goodness ever nigh thee be

     That thou with thy sons’ sons may’st dwell,

     And there be peace in Israel.

     III

     A SONG OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE BENEFITS MOST GREAT WHICH GOD HATH SHOWN TO

     US IN CHRIST

     Dear Christians, let us now rejoice,

     And dance in joyous measure;

     That, of good cheer, and with one voice,

     We sing in love and pleasure

     Of what to us our God hath shown,

     And the sweet wonder he hath done:

     Full dearly hath he bought it!

     Forlorn and lost in death I lay

     A captive to the devil;

     My sin lay heavy, night and day,

     For I was born in evil.

     I fell but deeper for my strife

     There was no good in all my life,

     For sin had all-possessed me.

     My good works they were worthless quite,

     A mock was all my merit;

     My free will hates God’s judging light,

     To all good dead and buried.

     Me to despair my anguish drove,

     Down unto death my soul did shove:

     I must be plunged in hell-fire!

     Then God was sorry on his throne

     To see such torment rend me;

     His tender mercy he thought on,

     And his good help would send me.

     He turned to me his father-heart:

     Ah, then was His no easy part;

     His very best it cost him!

     To his dear son he said: Go down;

     Things go in piteous fashion;

     Go thou, my heart’s exalted crown,

     Be the poor man’s salvation.

     Lift him from out sin’s scorn and scathe;

     Strangle for him that cruel Death,

     And take him to live with thee.

     The son he heard obediently;

     And, by a maiden mother,

     Pure, tender—down he came to me,

     For he must be my brother!

     Concealed he brought his strength enorm,

     And went about in my poor form,

     Meaning to catch the devil.

     He said unto me: Hold by me,

     Thy matters I will settle;

     I give myself all up for thee,

     And I will fight thy battle.

     For I am thine, and thou art mine,

     And my house also shall be thine;

     The enemy shall not part us.

     Like water he will shed my blood,

     Of life my heart bereaving;

     All this I suffer for thy good—

     That hold with firm believing;

     My Life shall swallow up that Death;

     My innocence bears thy sins, He saith,

     So henceforth thou art happy.

     To heaven unto my Father high,

     From this life I am going;

     But there thy master still am I,

     My spirit on thee bestowing,

     Whose comfort shall thy trouble quell,

     And teach thy heart to know me well,

     Thee into all truth guiding.

     What I have done, what I have said,

     Thou must go doing, teaching;

     That so the kingdom of God may spread,

     To His praise all men reaching.

     But take heed what men bid thee do—

     That will corrupt the treasure true:

     With this last word I leave thee. Amen.

IX.  THE COMMANDMENTS

I

     These are the holy ten commands

     Which came to us from God’s own hands

     By Moses, who thus did his will

     On the top of Sinai’s hill.

           Kyrioleis.

     I am the Lord thy God alone;

     Of Gods besides thou shalt have none;

     Thou shalt thyself trust all to me,

     And love me right heartily.

           Kyrioleis.

     Thou shalt not speak like idle word

     The name of God who is thy Lord;

     As right or good thou shalt not praise

     Except what God does and says.

           Kyrioleis.

     Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,

     That rest thou and thy household may;

     From thine own work thou must keep free,

     That God his work have in thee.

           Kyrioleis.

     Honour thou shall and shalt obey

     Thy father and thy mother alway;

     To serve them ready be thy hand

     That thou live long in the land.

           Kyrioleis.

     In anger hot thou shalt not kill,

     Nor hate, nor take revenge for ill;

     Be patient and of gentle mood,

     And ev’n to thy foe do good.

           Kyrioleis.

     Thy marriage-bond thou shalt keep clean,

     That to no other thy heart lean;

     Thy life thou must keep pure and free,

     Temperate, with fine chastity.

           Kyrioleis.

     Money or goods steal not, nor yet

     Traffic in others’ blood and sweat;

     But open wide thy kindly hand

     To the poor man in thy land.

           Kyrioleis.

     Evil reports thou shalt not bear,

     Nor ‘gainst thy neighbour falsely swear;

     His innocence thou shalt defend,

     And hide his shame from foe or friend.

           Kyrioleis.

     Thy neighbour’s wife or house to win

     Thou shalt not seek—or aught therein;

     But wish all good to him may be,

     As thy own heart doth to thee.

           Kyrioleis.

     To us come these commands, that so

     Thou, son of man, thy sins mayst know,

     And with this lesson thy heart fill,

     That man must live for God’s will.

           Kyrioleis.

     May Christ our Lord help us in this,

     For he our mediator is;

     Our own work is a hopeless thing,

     Wrath alone all it can bring.

           Kyrioleis.

     II

     Oh man, wouldst thou live blissfully,

     And dwell with God eternally,

     Thou shalt observe the ten commands,

     Written by God with his hands:

           Kyrioleis.

     Thy God and Lord I am alway;

     No other God shall make thee stray;

     Thy heart must ever trust in me;

     Mine own kingdom shalt thou be:

           Kyrioleis.

     My name to honour thou shalt heed,

     And call on me in time of need.

     Thou shalt keep whole the sabbath day,

     That so in thee I work may:

           Kyrioleis.

     To thy father and mother thou

     Shalt, next me, in obedience bow;

     None kill, nor yield to anger wild;

     And keep thy marriage undefiled:

           Kyrioleis.

     From any one thou shalt not steal;

     Falsely with others never deal;

     Thy neighbour’s wife thou shalt not eye:

     Let his be his welcomely!

           Kyrioleis.

X.  THE CREED

     In one true God we all believe,

     Maker of the earth and heaven;

     Who, us as children to receive,

     Hath himself as father given.

     Now and henceforth he will feed us;

     Soul and body, will be round us;

     ‘Gainst mischances all will heed us;