Let not this word be narrowed to define
Within its scope only the outward line
And attitude of person, motion, art;
Nor yet what paganism sets apart
Personified in human shape as three
Proud deities of Greek mythology;
Nor yet what classifying thinking places
In groups as social or as mental graces,
Meticulously pigeonholed in high
Neat finiteness.
But let it signify
That infinite and single grace which "came
By Jesus Christ," triumphant; let it name
That wide unmeasured mercy wherewith Truth
Rejects the eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth
Of callous Pharisaic computation;
Let grace describe the tide of demonstration
Which flowed unebbingly where Jesus' word,
At urgent call of human need, conferred
Hearing and sight, activity and peace,
For every kind of lack, the quick release
Of God's impartial love.
Let grace recall
That omni-racial mission wherewith Paul
Transcended barriers of tribal clique,
Affirmed that faith, not outworn code, should speak,
And spread the hospitality of church
Across a waiting empire, till men's search
Found one transforming worship.
