The highest and the holiest place
Guards not the heart from sin:
The Church that safest seems without
May harbour foes within.

Thus in the small and chosen band
Beloved above the rest,
One fell from his apostleship,
A traitor soul unblest.

But not the great designs of God
Man's sins shall overthrow;
Another witness to the truth
Forth to the lands shall go.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die;
Thy purpose shall not fail:
The word of grace no less shall sound,
The truth no less prevail.

Righteous, O Lord, are all thy ways:
Long as the worlds endure,
From foes without and foes within
Thy Church shall stand secure.


H. Alford