W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
The Four Evangelists
Adam of St. Victor (d. 1146)‘Supra Cœlos dum conscendit.’
S
Beholding, with unclouded sight,
The brightness of the sun,
John doth, as eagle swift, appear,
Still gazing on the vision clear
Of Christ, the Eternal Son.
With voice loud-roaring as the storm,
His risen Lord to own;
Called by the Father from the grave,
As victor crowned, and strong to save,
We see Him on His throne.
Who shows the Son of man doth bear
Man’s form with might divine,
And tracks the line of high descent,
Through which the Word with flesh was blent,
In David’s kingly line.
More clearly than the rest, doth see
Christ as the victim slain;
Upon the cross as altar true,
The bleeding, spotless Lamb we view,
And see all else in vain.
The four mysterious rivers rise,
And life to earth is given:
On these four wheels and staves, behold,
God and His ark are onward rolled,
High above earth in heaven.