One Holy Church of God Appears

And one more hymn for the day, this time from Samuel Longfellow, American clergyman and brother of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), who died on this day in 1892 (b June 18 1819).

“The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (I Timothy 3:15)

One holy Church of God appears
Through every age and race,
Unwasted by the lapse of years,
Unchanged by changing place.

From oldest time, on farthest shores,
Beneath the pine or palm,
One unseen Presence she adores,
With silence, or with psalm.

The truth is her prophetic gift,
The soul her sacred page;
And feet on mercy’s errands swift
Do make her pilgrimage.

O living Church, thine errand speed,
Fulfill thy task sublime;
With Bread of life earth’s hungers feed;
Redeem the evil time!