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- Brotherhood And Service 496. O Lord, And Master Of Us All
Brotherhood and Service 496. O Lord, and Master of us all
[1916]Walsall:
Attributed to Henry Purcell (1658-1695);
Wilken's Psalmody, 1699
John G. Whittier, 1856
O Lord, and Master of us all,
Whate'er our name or sign,
We own thy sway, we hear thy call,
We test our lives by thing
Thou judgest us; thy purity
Doth all our lusts condemn;
The love that draws us nearer thee
Is hot with wrath to them;
Our thoughts lie open to thy sight;
And naked to thy glance
Our secret sins are in the light
Of thy pure countenance.
Yet weak and blinded though we be,
Thou dost our service own;
We bring our varying gifts to thee,
And thou rejectest none.
To thee our full humanity,
Its joys and pains belong;
The wrong of man to man on thee
Inflicts a deeper wrong.
Who hates, hates thee; who loves, becomes
Therein to thee allied:
All sweet accords of hearts and homes
In thee are multiplied.
Apart from thee all gain is loss,
All labour vainly done;
The solemn shadow of the cross
Is better than the sun.
Amen.