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BIBLE CHRISTIAN HYMNS AND LITANIES

[Note: this is extracted from Appendix A of Samantha Calvert's dissertation on the Bible Christian Church. All of the hymns are in "common meter" (8 / 6 / 8 / 6) and thus could conceivably be sung to such standard Protestant tunes as:

St. Anne ("Oh God Our Help in Ages Past . . .")
St. Peter ("In Christ there is no East or West . . .")

. . . and others.]

HUMANITY AND RELIGION PLEADING AGAINST FLESH-EATING

“Eaters of flesh!” could you decry
Our food and sacred laws,
Did you behold the lambkin die,
And feel yourself the cause?

Lo! There it struggles! hear it moan
As stretched beneath the knife;
Its eyes would melt a heart of stone!
How meek it begs its life!

Had God, for man, its flesh design’d;
Matur’d by death, the brute
Lifeless to us had been consign’d
As is the ripened fruit.

Hold, daring man! thy hand restrain -
God is the life of all;
You smite at God, when flesh is slain, -
Can crime like this be small?

EXTRACT FROM GOLDSMITH’S THE HERMIT

No flocks, that range the valley free,
To slaughter we condemn;
Taught by that Pow’r that pities us,
We learn to pity them.

For us the garden’s fertile soil
A guiltless feast does bring;
Fresh herbs and fruits our tables spread,
Our water’s from the spring.[1]

HYMN BY W. E. A. AXON

Ours is the food that Eden knew
Ere our first parents fell,
Ours in the drink that Jesus drank,
From Sychar’s ancient well.

Our meal is innocent of blood, 
Outpoured from bird or beast;
While glowing fruits of many climes
Provide our happy feast,

Bright creatures of the air and earth 
We seek not to destroy,
But share with them the gifts of life,
Of duty, and of joy.

And strive to make this world of ours
Reflect His perfect will,
Within whose holy mountains they
Shall neither hurt or kill.

EXTRACT FROM COLERIDGE’S RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

He prayeth well who loveth well 
Both man and bird and beast, 
For he hath offered to the Lord
Who giveth to His least.

He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small, 
For the dear God who loveth us
He made and loveth all.

That it may please Thee to bless all classes of the people, and so to turn the hearts of men toward each other that the spirit of caste may be destroyed; that all unjust and needless inequalities may disappear; and that the fair brotherhood of men, which Thy Son came to establish, may exist among us of a truth.[2]

That it may please Thee to prosper all colleges and schools of sound learning; to enlighten and fill with Thy fear all who teach and train the young, and to endow with knowledge and skill all who practise the arts of healing.[3]

That it may please Thee to pity and bless the poor and sick in our workhouses and hospitals; the afflicted in our asylums; the sufferers in their own homes; and to guide us through death to a better life.[4]

The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all His works. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down; and not one of His creatures is forgotten before God. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who lovest all and forgettest none, we bring to Thee our supplications for all Thy creatures and all Thy children. For whom we love and for whom we watch and care.

For all dumb creatures; that men may be merciful to the beasts, and be touched with a feeling of their infirmities.[5]

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[1] Select Hymns, 5th edn, CCXIX, p 219

[2] Ibid, Litany 476, 

[3] Ibid, Litany 476

[4] Ibid, Litany 477

[5] Ibid, Litany 478