Classic Poem

Thou , whom with proud and happy heart I call
Mine, first by birth, but more by love unfeign'd,
And by that awful warfare most of all,
To which by holiest vows we are constrain'd,
Brother, behold thy calling! These are they,
Who arm'd themselves with Prayer, and boldly tried
Wisdom's untrodden steeps, and won their way;
God's Word their lamp, His Spirit was their guide.
These would not spare their lives for fear or ruth;
Therefore their God was with them, and the glare
Of their death-fires still lights the land to Truth,
To shew what might is in a Martyr's prayer.
Read, and rejoice; yet humbly; for our strife
Is perilous like theirs; for Death or Life.