ONE.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.—John, xvii. 21.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.—Ephesians, iv. 5.
One baptism, and one faith,
One lord, below, above!
The fellowship of Zion hath
One only watchword,—Love.
From different temples though it rise,
One song ascendeth to the skies.
Our Sacrifice is one;
One priest before the throne,—
The crucified, the risen Son,
Redeemer, Lord alone!
And sighs from contrite hearts that spring,
Our chief, our choicest offering.
Oh, why should they who love
One Gospel to unfold,
Who look for one bright home above,
On earth, be strange and cold?
Why, subjects of the Prince of Peace.
In strife abide, and bitterness?
Oh, may that holy prayer,
His tenderest and his last,
The utterance of his latest care,
Ere to his throne he pass’d,—
No longer unfulfill’d remain
The world’s offence, the people’s stain!
Head of thy church beneath,
The catholic,—the true,—
On her disjointed members breathe,
Her broken frame renew!
Then shall thy perfect will be done
When Christians love and live as one.
E. Robinson.
O Thou Eternal One! whose presence bright
All space doth occupy, all motion guide,
Unchanged through time’s all-devastating flight,
Thou only God!
From the Russian.