What comfort at thy death - Sheppard, John

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"Two three-part verses, probably extracted from a longer composition, perhaps in five or six parts, about the martyrdom of St Stephen."

⌛ Period → Renaissance ◈ Genre / Form → Partsongs ♬ Voicing → SATB ¶ Language → English

Parts 4

Instruments A cappella

Pages 7

CPDL # 83567

Editor Jason Smart

Posted 2025-01-26

License Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

¶Lyrics / Text

What comfort at thy death, holy Stephen, was it to see heaven open and Christ there standing up to receive thee. He saw Christ standing up at his father's right hand, as ready not only him to help, but in each land all those that for his faith suffer any torment by stoning, by fire, by sword, or other enforcement and likewise as ready to strike and to destroy them all that his faithful persecuteth to death or thrall, the cruel to cast down to the fire infernal, the meek men to lift up to glory eternal. Death thus to suffer for Christ when cause thereto shall call is an especial gift given to few men and not to all, but our enemies to forgive and for them thus to pray is to all us Christians necessary alway: without which charity to heaven no man may come by no kind of sufferance, though it be martyrdom. Keep we then Christ his faith and follow Stephen's charity if we will see heaven open and there behold the Deity.

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