HOLY ORDERS.
HOLY ORDERS.
I will wash my hands in innocency.
1.
I’ll wash my hands in waters
That are innocent as snow,
And thus unto thine altars,
My Redeemer, will I go:
I’ll stand within thy temples,
In garments pure and white,
And take thy yoke upon me,
For ’tis easy and ’tis light.
2.
But give me in the beauty
Of holiness to shine,
And to sound upon the mountains
That cheery trump of thine;
And to ope the gushing fountains
In the desert’s dreary ways,
And herald joyful tidings,
And the holy cross to raise.
3.
And with a soul that tramples
On the laurel and the gem,
May I strive, in godlike meekness,
For a brighter diadem;
And run my race with glory,
And fight a noble fight,
Till I join the victor-pæan
Of the conquerors in light.
4.
Now clothe me in mine armor,
Ye fathers of the host,
And give my hand the banner
Of the dove-like Holy Ghost;
While swells around the war-song
Of my Redeemer King,
And all the warrior-anthems
That the noble armies sing.
5.
Then bless me for the onset
That I may battle well,
For the Captain of salvation,
’Gainst the leaguered hosts of hell;
Nor shun the hottest conflict,
Where the spoiler is abroad,
But breast his fiercest phalanx,
In the panoply of God.
6.
Oh, glorious is the warfare
And the triumph-cry shall sound,
Not sweeter to the victors,
Than the vanquished heathen round:
Messiah’s armies ever,
To their foemen faint in strife,
Bend down the laden branches
Of the healing tree of life.
7.
Yet, Saviour, not with boasting
Would I gird me for the fight,
And take thy yoke upon me,
Though so easy and so light!
Who putteth on his harness,
And striveth for a crown,
Oh, let him never glory
Till he lays his armor down.