Poems (Toke)/Saint Matthias's day

by Emma Toke

SAINT MATTHIAS'S DAY.

GOD! upon this solemn day,
 A day of warning and of fear,
Help us with guileless lips to pray,
 With lowly hearts to Thee draw near.

For awful is the thought, that he
 Who saw Thy face, who heard Thy call,
And shared the mystic cup with Thee,
 So fearfully at last could fall!

From guilt like his, from deadly sin,
 O God! in mercy keep us free:
The fatal seed may lurk within;
 Then help us, lest we fall from Thee.

And for Thy holy Church we pray,
 That Thou wouldst keep her, as of old,
Alike from shepherds who betray,
 And sheep that wander from her fold.

With holy pastors bless her still,
 Faithful and firm to lead her on,
Through light and darkness, good and ill,
 Till earth is past, and Heaven is won.