The Grand Priory of England wishes you all the very happiest of feasts, though sadly remote from the fraternity we would expect to share together in the Order family, at altar and board.
But, Deo gratias, we are not remote from the voice of the Order, as our dear Brother, Fra' Paul Sutherland, has graciously sent a copy of his hymn to Saint John, for us to share individually in our devotions on the day.
If this organ were BBC Radio 3, we should all be encouraged to sing it simultaneously in the morning. Thankfully, the Grand Priory would never brook anything so vulgar.
HYMN IN HONOUR OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST
O GOD almighty, by whose leave,
We seek thy mercy to receive,
And undertake with single voice
To make thy will our only choice.
2 John, herald of thy Son, we thank
For cleansing souls on Jordan’s bank;
His words and deeds of such renown,
Did earn him thus a holy crown.
3 Grant, Lord, like him, that we may know
The Lamb of God’s triumphal glow,
To swell the homage we should pay
The One that taketh sins away!
4 Beneath Christ’s ensign we repair,
Thy foes to quell, thy Word declare,
Yet humbly serve the least of men,
That they may find thy grace again.
5 O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, thine only Son,
Who, with the Holy Ghost and thee,
Doth live and reign eternally. Amen.
Fra' Paul proposes the Tune 'Winchester New', which may be heard HERE.
BLESSED JOHN THE BAPTIST, PRAY FOR US
(The painting shows the Baptist by Anton Raphael Mengs, ca. 1760, housed in Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas.)
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