Dear Christian people

he spoke to his belovèd son

with infinite compassion:

“go hence, my heart’s most precious one,

be to the lost salvation;

death, his relentless tyrant, stay,

and bear him from his sins away

with thee to live forever!”

the son came, saying: “cling to me,

thy sorrows now are ending;

freely i give myself to thee,

thy life with mine defending;

for i am thine and thou art mine,

and where i am there thou shalt shine,

the foe shall never reach us.”

“to heaven again i rise from hence,

high to my father soaring,

the master there to be, and thence

my spirit on thee pouring;

in every grief to comfort thee,

and teach thee more and more of me,

into all truth still guiding.”

“what i have done and taught on earth,

do thou, and teach, none dreading;

that so god’s kingdom may go forth,

and his high praise be spreading;

and guard thee from the words of men,

lest the great joy be lost again:

this my last charge i leave thee.”