SAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY.

AUGUST 24.

COLLECT. O Almighty and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy word; grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church to love that word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HYMN.

"BEHOLD, in whom no guile I find,
An Israelite indeed!"
NATHANAEL, thus thy virtuous mind
Did Israel's sovereign read.

A guileless heart! what fairer scene
In all this world below
Does nature's loveliness contain,

Or God's creation show?

Fair are the snow-wreaths that infold
Yon Alpine mountain's head;
Fair is the stream, all crystal, rolled
Clear o'er its pebbly bed;

Fair is the star of evening bright,
A gem in heaven's blue zone;
And fair the moonlight's robe of white
O'er earth's green surface thrown;

But Alpine snow, nor crystal stream,
Can pure delight impart,

Nor moon, nor evening planet's gleam,
To match the guileless heart.

For these material works of God
Of him memorials stand,

And tell the Maker's power abroad,
The wonders of his hand:

But guileless truth and innocence,
By God to men consigned,
Reflect his moral excellence,
And image of his mind.

BP. MANT.

SAINT MATTHEW'S DAY.

SEPTEMBER 21.

COLLECT. O Almighty God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom, to be an apostle and evangelist; grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, world without end. Amen..

HYMN.

PREPARE the feast! the viands bring,
Heap high the festal board!

The subject welcomes Israel's king;
The follower greets his Lord.

But who is he, the host, whose care
Provides the costly feast?

And who are they assembled there
Around the heavenly guest?

"T is MATTHEW, 't is the publican;
The favored host is he

Who sat, a much-despised man,
Beside Tiberias' sea.

And they, the guests assembled round,
They boast no better name;
One in disgraceful union found,
Allied to sin and shame.

O holy Jesus, and are these
Associates meet for thee?

Is this the host thy soul to please,
And this the company?

"Not to the righteous was I sent;
Not to the whole I cry;

I call the sinner to repent;
The sick man's health am I.

"For them my glory I resigned;
For them endure the grave;
I came the wandering sheep to find,
The perishing to save."

Shepherd of Israel, Saviour dear!
Whose voice thy duteous sheep
Safe in thy fold delighted hear,
And to thy pasture keep;

Repentant, lo! to thee we turn,
To thee for health we pray;

Give us what thou reveal'st to learn,

And what thou bidd'st obey.

BP. MANT.

ANOTHER.

YE hermits blest, ye holy maids,
The nearest heaven on earth,

Who talk with God in shadowy glades,
Free from rude care and mirth;
To whom some viewless teacher brings
The secret lore of rural things,

The moral of each fleeting cloud and gale,

The whispers from above, that haunt the twilight vale; –

Say, when in pity ye have gazed

On the wreathed smoke afar,

That o'er some town, like mist upraised,

Hung, hiding sun and star,

Then as you turned your weary eye

To the green earth and open sky,

Were ye not fain to doubt how Faith could dwell
Amid that dreary glare, in this world's citadel?

But Love's a flower that will not die
For lack of leafy screen,

And Christian Hope can cheer the eye
That ne'er saw vernal green.

Then be sure that Love can bless

Even in this crowded wilderness,

Where ever-moving myriads seem to say,
Go-thou art naught to us, nor we to thee-away!

There are in this loud stirring tide

Of human care and crime,

With whom the melodies abide

Of the everlasting chime;