Oratory hymns [ed. by F.W. Faber?].

Part H.

74.

The Three Kings.

I WHоare these that ride so fast o'er the desert's sandy road,

That have tracked the Red Sea shore, and have swum the rivers broad;

Whose camel's bells are tinkling through the long and starry night—

For they ride like men pursued, like the vanquished of a fight?

2 Who are these that ride so fast? They are eastern monarchs three,

Who have laid aside their crowns, and renounced their high degree;

The eyes they love, the hearts they prize, the well-known voices kind,

Their people's tents, their native plains, they've left them all behind.

3 The very least of faith's dim rays beamed on them from afar,

And that same hour they rose from off their thrones to track the star;

They cared not for the cruel scorn of those who called them mad;

Messiah's star was shining, and their royal hearts were glad.

4 No Bibles and no books of God were in that eastern land,

No Pope, no blessed Pope, had they to guide them with his hand;

No Holy Roman Church was there, with its clear and strong sunshine;

With its voice of truth, its arm of power, its sacraments divine.

5 But a speck was in the midnight sky, uncertain, dim, and far,

And their hearts were pure, and heard a voice proclaim Messiah's star:

And in its golden twinkling they saw more than common light,

The Mother and the Child they saw in Bethlehem by night!

6 And what were crowns, and what were thrones, to such a sight as that?

So straight away they left their tents, and bade not grace to wait;

They hardly stop to slake their thirst at the desert's limpid springs,

Nor note how fair the landscape is, how sweet the skylark sings!

7 Whole cities have turned out to meet their royal cavalcade,

Wise colleges and doctors all their wisdom have displayed;

And when the star was dim, they knocked at Herod's royal gate,

And troubled with the news of faith his politic estate.

8 And they have knelt in Bethlehem! The Everlasting Child

They saw upon His Mother's lap, earth's monarch meek and mild;

His little feet, with Mary's leave, they pressed with loving kiss,—

O what were thrones, O what were crowns, to such a joy as this!

9 One little sight of Jesus was enough for many

years,

One look at Him, their stay and staff in the dismal vale of tears;

Their people for that sight of Him they gallantly withstood,

They taught His faith, they preached His word, and for Him shed their blood.

10 Ah! me, what broad daylight of faith our thankless souls receive,

How much we know of Jesus, and how easy to believe:

'Tis the noonday of His sunshine, of His sun that setteth never:

Faith gives us crowns, and makes us kings, and our kingdom is for ever!

11 O glory be to God on high for these Arabian kings,

These miracles of royal faith, with eastern offerings:

For Gaspar and for Melchior and Balthazzar, who from far

Found Mary out and Jesus by the shining of a star!

12 Let us ask these martyrs, then, those monarchs of the East,

Who are sitting now in heaven at their
Saviour's endless feast,

To get us faith from Jesus, and hereafter
faith's bright home,

And day and night to thank Him for the glorious faith of Rome!

75.

St. Philip and the World.

1 THE world is wise, for the world is old; Five thousand years their tale have told Yet the world is not happy as the world might be