O INSTRUMENT of God, baptizing men
In vehement, lone Jordan of the wilds,
Amid the rushes, when
Thou wert startled by the sight
Of One coming, simply bright
As a Lamb, across the sand,
Thou didst tremble to abide
In the shallows and to dash the tide
Of the current on a Head
That must bow beneath the sin of men!
Thou wouldst only, at command,
Keep thy awful station, grown more awful then.

But thou wert obedient to His word,
Who was greater beyond words than thou,
As thy lips averred:
And, obedient, thou wert blest
With the presence manifest
Of the Holy Trinity—
Thou the Body of the Son
Didst behold on which thy rite was done;
Thou didst hear the Father’s Voice,
As the firmament soft thunder heard;
And thy senses, blest to hear and see,
Might behold the Spirit poised, a sunlit Bird.