S. Thomas's Sunday

Ode I

"Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
"Of triumphant gladness
"God hath brought His Israel
"Into joy from sadness:
"Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
"Jacob's sons and daughters;
"Led them with unmoistened foot
"Through the Red Sea waters."

’Tis the Spring of souls to-day;
Christ hath burst His prison;
And from three days' sleep in death,
—As a sun, hath risen.
All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From His Light, to Whom we give
Laud and praise undying.

Now the Queen of Seasons, bright
With the day of Splendour,
With the royal Feast of feasts,
Comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem,
Who with true affection
Welcomes, in unwearied strains,
Jesu's Resurrection.

Neither might the gates of death,
Nor the tomb's dark portal,
Nor the watchers, nor the seal,
Hold Thee as a mortal:
But to-day amidst the Twelve
Thou didst stand, bestowing
That Thy peace, which evermore
Passeth human knowing.

Ode III

"On the rock of Thy commandments
"Fix me firmly, lest I slide:
"With the glory of Thy Presence
"Cover me on every side;
"Seeing none save Thee is holy,
"God, for ever glorified!"

New immortal out of mortal,
New existence out of old:
This the Cross of Christ accomplished,
This the Prophets had foretold:
So that we thus newly quickened,
Might attain the heavenly fold.

Thou Who comprehendest all things,
Comprehended by the tomb,
Gav’st Thy body to the graveclothes
And the silence and the gloom:
Till through fast-closed doors Thou camest
Thy Disciples to illume.

Every nail-print, every buffet,
Thou didst freely undergo,
As Thy Resurrection's witness
To the Twelve Thou cam’st to show:
So that what they saw in vision,
Future years by faith might know.

Ode IV

"'Christ, we turn our eyes to Thee,
"'And this mighty mystery!'
"Habakkuk exclaimed of old,
"In the Holy Spirit bold:
"'Thou shalt come in time appointed,
"For the help of Thine anointed!"

Taste of myrrh He deign’d to know,
Who redeemed the source of woe:
Now He bids all sickness cease
Through the honey-comb of peace:
And to this world deigns to give
That sweet food by which we live.

Patient Lord! with loving eye
Thou invitest Thomas nigh,
Showing Him that Wounded Side:
While the world is certified,
Flow the third day, from the grave,
Jesus Christ arose to save.

Blest, O Didymus, the tongue
Where that first confession hung:
First the Saviour to proclaim
First the Lord of Life to name:
Such the graces it supplied,
—That dear touch of Jesu's side!

Ode V

"Reconciliation's plan devising,
"Fellow-sharer of the Father's Throne,
"Thee, O Christ, we, very early rising,
"Tender lover of our spirits, own!"

When Thy Friends, with deep dismay confounded,
Stood amaz’d, and knew not where to fly,
All the darkness that their souls surrounded
Thou didst scatter with Thy drawing nigh.

Touch how awful, how consolatory!
When, O Thomas, thou didst stretch thine hand,
And that Side, resplendent in its glory,
Didst explore, because He gave command!

Unbelief of Thomas was the Mother
Of Thy Church's most unshaken Creed:
Thou, O Saviour, wise above all other,
Had’st, before the world was, thus decreed.