FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS

[1]
Forty days and forty nights
thou wast fasting in the wild,
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled:

[2]
let us thy endurance share
and from earthly greed abstain,
with thee watching unto prayer,
with thee strong to suffer pain.

[3]
And if Satan, vexing sore,
flesh or spirit should assail,
thou, his vanquisher before,
grant we may not faint nor fail.

[4]
So shall we have peace divine,
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us too shall angels shine
such as ministered to thee.

[5]
Keep, O keep us, Saviour dear,
ever constant by thy side,
that with thee we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.