History of St Ninians URC - the first forty years
In Honour of Saint Ninian
Before the Legions marched away.
And chaos darkened all,
The Lord sent Ninian back to us,
With gospel fire, from Gaul.
Though much is buried deep in time,
And much has been outgrown,
Today we meet to celebrate
This saint who is our own.
From here, in Scotland, Ninian built
His Mission Church of stone,
And cells as white as purity
For those who pray alone.
And here he trained evangelists,
And sent them far and wide -
None knows how great their sacrifice,
Save him, the Crucified.
The facts and mysteries of faith
That drove Saint Ninian on,
Sustain us still, in heart and will,
And make all Christians one.
May we defeat, as he did then,
Those dark satanic powers
That war against the souls of men,
And daily threaten ours.
Say not that Ninian toiled in vain,
That all he gained was lost;
The Light is never overcome,
Though skies be overcast,
In fellowship with all the saints
Take courage from the past;
Before us lies eternity
And Christ shall reign at last!
F. Pratt Green (b.1903) (C) Reprinted by kind permission of the minister, St.Ninian’s Priory - Whithorn.