| W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895. | | | | The Election of Matthias | | George Wither (1588–1667) |
| | | WHEN one among the twelve there was | |
| That did thy grace abuse | |
| Thou leftst Him, Lord, and in his place | |
| Didst just Matthias choose. | |
| So if a traitor do remain | 5 |
| Within thy Church to-day, | |
| To grant him true repentance deign, | |
| Or cast him out we pray. | |
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| Tho’ horned like the lamb he show | |
| Or sheeplike clad he be, | 10 |
| Let us his dragon language know, | |
| And wolfish nature see; | |
| Yea, cause the lot to fall on those, | |
| The charge of thine to take | |
| That shall their actions well dispose, | 15 |
| And conscience of them make. | |
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| Let us, moreover, mind his fall, | |
| Whose room Matthias got, | |
| So to believe and fear withal, | |
| That we forsake thee not | 20 |
| For titles be they ne’er so high | |
| Or great or sacred place, | |
| Can no man’s person sanctify | |
| Without thy special grace. | | | | |
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