Classic Poem

HYMN XXIII.

Our LORD a banquet has prepar'd,
And every hungry soul invites;
Among his friends at table sits,
To bless 'em with refin'd delights.

The grape's pure blood, and flower
Are proper symbols to describe
The heavenly bread believers eat,
The sacred wine which they imbibe.

Salem 's great prince, Melchisedeck ,
Priest of an order most divine,
The conquering patriarch met, and fed
His weary troops with bread and wine.

Of the same order Christ our Priest,
The other's antitype, and Lord,
For bread his broken body gives,
And does for wine his blood afford.

JESUS the king of righteousness,
And prince of peace, to entertain
Victorious saints who bear his arms,
Was willing to be bruis'd and slain.

From thee alone, O Lord of life,
Our souls their life of grace derive:
By thee, the true and living bread,
We're daily fed and kept alive.

To thee, Lord, we resolve to live,
To thee who dost our life sustain;
And with thee hope to live at last,
With thee eternally to reign.