I've been brainstorming on this hymn for several days. What I tried to bring out as the thematic verses in each of the four gospels was Matthew 13:52 and 24:45ff; Mark 4:26-29; Luke 1:1-4 and 24:44; and John 20:31; though there are allusions to other verses as well. The original tune is titled FOUR ANGELS.
Dear Christ, our thanks we sing:
Whose gospel proved Your fitness
To style Yourself our King.
In bringing forth a treasure
Both old and new, that scribe
Took faithfully the measure
Of Your elected tribe.
Lord, feed us through Your trusty slave
And prove his gospel’s pow’r to save!
At Mark’s avowed beginning
Of Your new testament,
The baptist found men sinning;
Your Son bade them repent.
Mark showed His human weakness,
The passion of His soul,
And how in perfect meekness
He died to make us whole.
Lord, from this gospel’s tiny seed
Raise up a teeming crop indeed!
By Luke, the dear physician,
A clear account is told
How springs the church’s mission
From sacred writ of old.
Luke made a careful study
From Jesus’ humble birth
Till He on altar bloody
Atoned for all the earth.
Now, Lord, in breaking of the bread
Show us Your Son, no longer dead!
John gazed upon creation
When God’s redeeming plan
Designed the incarnation,
His Word becoming man.
Portraying Jesus smitten,
Too meek his name to give,
John’s book for us was written
That we might trust and live.
Lord, by this witness feed Your sheep
Till we with John arise from sleep!
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