FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
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 THE 
 
 OCT 24 1932 
 
 H E A V E X L Y L A X D 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 JBt (Kontemptu fBuntrt 
 
 BERNARD DE MORLAIX MONK OF CLUNY (XII. CENTURY) 
 
 RENDERED INTO CORRESPONDING 
 
 ENGLISH VERSE 
 
 SAMUEL W. DUFFIELD 
 
 NEW YORK 
 Anson I) . K . Randolph 
 
 770 Broadway 
 
 1867 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of 
 New York. 
 
 Bradstreet Press. 
 
To Him 
 
 WHOSE LOVE ENCOURAGED THIS WORK j 
 WHO HAS BEEN THROUGHOUT 
 
 Brother more than Father; 
 
 I Dedicate 
 
 THIS POO It ILLUSTRATION OF 
 A NOBLE POEM. 
 
DE HAC POEMA. 
 
 How grand these monkish lines appear, 
 Kept purely through a bitter time ; 
 What noble rhyme 
 
 And what a grace is here ! 
 
 How sweetly full and calmly strong 
 
 They sweep our weaker thought on high- 
 To what a sky 
 
 They urge our hope along ! 
 
 rare Bernard ! I doubt no more 
 
 At that which seemed support divine, 
 For, line by line, 
 Shines through the Further Shore. 
 
 Old monk ! might I but see the day 
 Which thou beholdest, where is done 
 This feeble sun ? 
 
 Where earth has passed away ; 
 
 1 would not reckon heat or cold, 
 
 Or sadness or deep-graven grief, 
 Since such relief 
 Attends those streets of gold. 
 I 
 
K&g^r^ yv 
 
 ^fcf ^§ 
 
 El 
 
 ■gpT* 
 
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 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 NOW and then, down the long years of the 
 world, the heavenly glory seems to have 
 broken in upon mankind. Now and then its light 
 has pierced even the gloom of the Dark Ages, and 
 has brightened the cell of some poor and lonelv 
 monk with more than earthly radiance. And while 
 we remember Enoch, who " walked with God," and 
 Stephen, who looked " steadfastly up into Heaven," 
 and Paul, " caught up" by celestial power, and 
 John on Patmos, " in the spirit on the Lord's Day," 
 we should not forget those other, though later ones, 
 to whom it seemed as though they gazed across the 
 boundary stream, and saw, in very truth, the splen- 
 dor of the Heavenly Land. 
 
v iii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Such a man was Bernard de Morlaix, the Monk 
 of Cluny, whose poem I bring you here. Although 
 he designed the " De Contemptu Mundi" as a cen- 
 sure to the abuses of his time, he could not conceal 
 the longings which were in his soul. And although 
 he was no saint, in title, like his contemporary and 
 namesake, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaulx, he was 
 still a saint, indeed. We feel the reality of his 
 hope ; and while we stand in wonder at the mar- 
 vellous versification (unparalleled by any before or 
 since), we are more impressed than ever by its fine 
 simplicity. Those of his words which relate to 
 heaven have lived, because they could not die. Such 
 strains of lofty confidence appeal to every Christian 
 heart, encouraging the strong, and raising to better 
 efforts the doubting and the faint. Pilgrims our- 
 selves, as we trust, to those holy portals, we have 
 here one of the purest and noblest of all pilgrim- 
 songs. 
 
 His poem consists of three books, containing, in 
 all, some three thousand lines, and was written about 
 the year 1145. Living chiefly in the memory of 
 Protestants, it has yet, until very recently, been 
 entirely unknown through any English translation. 
 
INTRODUCTION. j x 
 
 The original is so rare, indeed, that a full copy is 
 not to be found in the United States. 
 
 For its discovery and appreciation, we are indebted 
 to Archbishop Trench. He has taken from various 
 parts of the longer poem ninety-six lines, which de- 
 scribe the glories of the Heavenly Land, and has 
 published them in his " Sacred Latin Poetry," in a 
 connected shape. But as Daniel, in his " The- 
 saurus," has, for some reason, given Bernard of 
 Clunv simply a passing reference, this is, therefore, 
 the only place from which we, on our side of the 
 water, derive a knowledge of his work. In the latest 
 edition of his volume, Trench extends our informa- 
 tion a little further. The poem is first found in 
 Flacius Illyricus, Poemm. de Corrupto Ecclesice Statu, p. 
 247. It has passed, according to Mohnike, through 
 four editions, " to which," says Trench, " I could 
 add a fifth." It was dedicated to Peter the Vener- 
 able, by its author \ and this dedication furnishes us 
 the monk's own account of the difficulty of his task. 
 It was first printed at Breme, 1597. 
 
 Shortly after its republication, the grandeur of the 
 composition aroused the interest of the Rev. John 
 Mason Neale, and encouraged him to attempt its 
 
x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 translation. He did so, and, in its sweet, earnest 
 aspiration, his poem, " The Celestial Country," 
 known also as " Jerusalem the Golden," most 
 amply represents the older hymn. It is even, 
 in the judgment of a recent writer, u better than 
 c De Contemptu Mundi.' " In spirit, the rendering 
 is perfect — yet, in fact, " The Celestial Country" is 
 an original composition with Dr. Neale. It has 
 been most wonderfully popular, in whole or in 
 parts, and nothing but this can be said against its 
 merit. 
 
 On this ground, then, Dr. Abraham Coles, of 
 Newark, N. J., has endeavored to attain a more 
 literal rendering of the " Laus Patriae Coelestis," as 
 the cento has been named. His fourteen versions of 
 the " Dies Irae" have placed him in the front rank 
 of translators, and his ability is beyond dispute. 
 And yet the anapests which he employs fail to carry 
 into our language the sounding dactyls of the Latin. 
 His lengthening of the third portion of the line is a 
 liberty, moreover, which does not enhance the com- 
 pactness of the version. While he is at times re- 
 markably literal, and while he represents better than 
 any previous translator the exact expressions of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. X J 
 
 original poem, he lacks that soaring fervor which 
 distinguishes Dr. Neale. 
 
 Place has, therefore, still been left for another 
 effort to bring the Cluniac's verses into a more per- 
 fect English dress. From this close imitation in 
 all respects, both Neale and Coles have recoiled. 
 The compiler of the " Seven Great Hymns" speaks 
 of Bernard's verse as " so difficult that the English 
 language is incapable of expressing it." Dr. Neale 
 states that he u deviated from his ordinary rule of 
 adopting the measure of the original ; because our 
 language, if it could be tortured into any distant 
 resemblance of its rhythm, would utterly fail to give 
 any idea of the majestic sweetness of the Latin." 
 Bernard himself exclaims, when recounting its diffi- 
 culties, and alluding to the failure of Hildebert de 
 Lavardin and Wichard of Lyons, two eminent ver- 
 sifiers of his day : " I may then assert, not in osten- 
 tation, but with humble confidence, that if I had 
 not received, directly from on high, the gift of in- 
 spiration and intelligence, I had not dared to attempt 
 an enterprise so little accorded to the powers of the 
 human mind." In commenting upon this extract, 
 Dr. Coles adds : " What was difficult for the 
 
Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 author would be tenfold more difficult for the trans- 
 lator, because there hang upon him numerous clogs 
 from which the other is free." He says, however, 
 in another place, that " While one would not care to 
 prosecute it through a long poem, we are persuaded 
 the thing could be done, and in a manner to make the 
 verses tolerably readable and effective" 
 
 It is on the strength of this expression that the 
 present translation is attempted. 
 
 The design was formed in Chicago, towards the 
 latter part of 1866, and occupied intervals of leisure 
 from that date until its completion, in Philadelphia, 
 in April, 1867. Its possibility was suggested by an 
 examination of the Latin verses, as given in the 
 " Seven Great Hymns," and a confidence that their 
 structure had been — partially, at least — misunder- 
 stood. The following analysis will, it is thought, 
 bear out this statement. 
 
 The measure is called " leonine and tailed rhyme, 
 with lines in three parts, between which a caesura is 
 not admissible." Each line consists of a first part 
 composed of two dactyls, a second part containing 
 two more dactyls, and a third part made up of a 
 dactyl and a trochee. The last dactyls of the first 
 
INTRODUCTION. x iii 
 
 and second parts rhyme together, and the lines are in 
 couplets — the final trochees also rhyming. This re- 
 mark upon the dactylic nature of the rhymes in the 
 first two parts is not made by Neale or Coles, or 
 the compiler of the " Seven Great Hymns." They 
 all italicise the last two syllables, whereas it should 
 be the last three^ i. e., the foot itself. Take, for 
 example, the sixth of the introductory eight lines, 
 
 Sobria in U holt || Improbl pu/uat || utraqiie juste, 
 
 which is, in all respects, a perfect line — each foot 
 being a word, and the rhyme unimpeachable. So 
 with the line immediately succeeding : 
 
 Ille \)us$Liiui8 II Ille grswisslm&s \ ecce! venlt Rex ! 
 
 The poem is a daring effort to combine a dactylic 
 hexameter (in which the last syllable is common) 
 with the monkish rhyming usual in the Middle Ages. 
 This constitutes its extreme difficulty. It seems, 
 therefore, that certain principles and licenses which 
 Bernard employed are lawful in any translation. 
 They are these which I have placed below : 
 
 1. The use of similar, though not identical vowel-sounds (our 
 " allowable rhymes";, e. g., novFssima and pt T ssima. 
 
 2 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 2. The rhyming of the two short syllables of the dactyls, 
 even when introduced by a different consonant, and preceded 
 by the same syllable, e. g., homo reus and homo Deiis, proelia 
 and priemia, gloria and sobria, where in each case the con- 
 sonant goes with the first short syllable in the spelling. 
 
 3. The rhyme must, however, be perfectly dactylic, so far as 
 possible, e. g., tribulatio and recreiitio, laurea and atirea. 
 
 4. When Bernard permits himself a license as to the long 
 syllable (a thing very frequent with him), a translator can 
 surely be allowed a like privilege in respect to the first short 
 syllable. Bernard's looseness in this part of the construction 
 is so great, that it becomes more general tha then usage which 
 is strictly correct. This led to the belief that the only rhyme 
 of the first two parts lay in the fact that the first two syllables 
 of one dactyl were identical with those of the other. A fal- 
 lacy on the face of it. But, in view of Bernard's own liberty 
 in the matter, the present translation pays more attention to 
 the beginning and end of the dactyl than it does to the 
 middle — that syllable having no accent, either primary or 
 secondary, and being, therefore, easil) slurred in reading. 
 But the closing syllable has always been carefully handled, 
 since this aforesaid secondary accent always comes on it when 
 the foot is at all broken. 
 
 These principles thus laid down have never been 
 violated by the present version, except in two in- 
 stances, where the discordance is very slight, and 
 where it was necessary to preserve an exact agree- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 ment with the original, even in its faults. And the 
 license then taken is less than Bernard himself has 
 claimed. 
 
 That the present translation may be found accept- 
 able, is hoped, for several reasons : 
 
 1. It is as close an imitation of the measure as can be con- 
 structed from the English language. 
 
 2. It endeavors, like the version of Dr. Coles, to be a true 
 and literal rendering, line for line, and often word for word. 
 
 3. It seeks, so far as may be, to catch the spirit of that 
 " heavenly homesickness" so admirably seized by Dr. Xeale. 
 
 4. Its main purpose, like that of Dean Trench, is to spread 
 wider through Christendom the knowledge of a poem which 
 is the ''real and deep utterance" of a fervent soul. 
 
 May it, even in some small degree, lift us into a 
 purer air — placing us on that " Hill called Clear," 
 from which our longing eyes can discern the glories 
 of the Heavenly Land. May it comfort us in our 
 waiting until u the former things have passed awav," 
 and we shall go to be forever with the Lord. 
 
 S. W. D. 
 
 April, 1S67 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND 
 
LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 HORA noviflima, tempora peilima 
 funt ; vigilemus ! 
 Ecce ! minaciter imminet Arbiter 
 
 ille fupremus ! 
 Imminet, imminet et mala terminet, 
 
 aequa coronet, 
 Re&a remuneret, anxia liberet, 
 
 aethera donet ; 
 Auferat afpera duraque pondera 
 
 mentes onuftae, 
 Sobria muniat, improba puniat 
 
 utraque jufte. 
 Ille piiflimus, ille graviffimus, 
 
 ecce ! venit Rex ! 
 Surgat homo reus ! Inftat Homo Deus 
 
 a Patre Judex. 
 
"THE HEAVENLY LAND.' 
 
 THESE are the latter times, these are not 
 better times, let us stand waiting: 
 Lo, how with awfulness He, first in lawfulness, 
 
 comes arbitrating ! 
 Nearer and nearer yet ! — Wrong shall in terror set, 
 
 right shine refulgent. 
 Sad ones He liberates, righteous remunerates, ever 
 
 indulgent ; 
 Harshness he mitigates, burdened souls animates, 
 
 freeing them lightly ; 
 Holy ones blesseth He, wicked distresseth He — 
 
 each alike rightly. 
 He the benignest One, He the divinest One, see! 
 
 as King reigneth ; 
 God-man from God appears — man bursts the sod 
 
 of years — Judgment remaineth! 
 
LAUS PATRIJE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Hie breve vivitur, hie breve plangitur, 
 
 hie breve fletur : 
 Non breve vivere, non breve plangere 
 
 retribuetur ; 
 O retributio ! flat brevis actio 
 
 vita perennis ; 
 O retributio ! coelica manfio 
 
 flat lue plenis ; 
 Quid datur et quibus ? iEther egentibus 
 
 et cruce dignis, 
 Sidera vermibus, optima fontibus, 
 
 aftra malignis. 
 Sunt modo praelia, poftmodo praemia ; 
 
 Qualia ? Plena, 
 Plena refeitio, nullaque paffio, 
 
 nullaque poena. 
 Spe modo vivitur, et Syon angitur 
 
 a Babylone ; 
 Nunc tribulatio ; tunc recreatio, 
 
 fceptra, coronae ; 
 Tunc nova gloria pectora fobria 
 
 clarificabit, 
 Solvet enigmata, veraque fabbata 
 
 continuabit. 
 Liber et hoftibus, et dominantibus 
 
 ibit Hebraeus ; 
 Liber habebit'ur et celebrabitur 
 
 hinc jubilaeus. 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. 
 
 5 
 
 Briefly we tarry here, briefly are harried here, here 
 is brief sorrow ; 
 
 But not to brevity comes our longevity due on 
 that morrow. 
 
 O morn victorious ! short fight and glorious — then 
 life unending : 
 
 O morn victorious ! homes meritorious on us at- 
 tending. 
 
 u What and to whom given ?" Fullness of high 
 heaven to the unworthy ; 
 
 Best things to heedless ones, guerdons to speed- 
 less ones, stars to the earthy. 
 
 Battle's malignities gain for us dignities — " What 
 are they ?" say you ? 
 
 Full, full replenishment, freedom from banishment, 
 none there to fray you. 
 
 Though she is bound and fast, Sion is crowned at 
 last (hope rules our going). 
 
 Now, tribulation comes ; then, new creation comes., 
 kingdoms bestowing. 
 
 Then shall fresh glory-light make the old story 
 bright, raising each spirit, 
 
 Ending obscurity ; true Sabbath purity then we 
 inherit. 
 
 Far over many seas, kept from his enemies, sing- 
 ing in gladness, 
 
 Then shall the Jew go free, holding his jubilee, 
 rescued from sadness. 
 3 
 
LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Patria luminis, infcia turbinis, 
 
 infcia litis, 
 Cive replebitur, amplificabitur 
 
 Ifraelitis : 
 Patria fplendida, terraque florida, 
 
 libera fpinis, 
 Danda fidelibus eft ibi civibus, 
 
 hie peregrinis. 
 Tunc erit omnibus infpicientibus 
 
 ora Tonantis 
 Summa potentia, plena fcientia, 
 
 pax pia fanclis ; 
 Pax fine crimine, pax fine turbine, 
 
 pax fine rixa, 
 Meta laboribus, atque tumultibus 
 
 anchora fixa. 
 Pars mea Rex meus, in proprio Deus 
 
 ipfe decore 
 Vifus amabitur, atque videbitur 
 
 Au&or in ore. 
 Tunc Jacob Ifrael, et Lia tunc Rachel 
 
 efficietur \ 
 Tunc Syon atria pulchraque patria 
 
 perficietur 
 O bona Patria ! lumina fobria 
 te fpeculantur, 
 Ad tua nomina fobria lumina 
 
 collacrymantur : 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. n 
 
 Land of delightfulness, safe from all spitefulness, 
 safe from all trouble, 
 
 Thou shalt be filled again, Israel built again, joy 
 shall redouble. 
 
 Land all beneficent, country magnificent, succored 
 from dangers, 
 
 Given thou art to be and there have part in thee 
 home-born and strangers ; 
 
 While upon men around, glory shall then abound, 
 vision supernal 
 
 Of that great dignity, full of benignity, peace, pure 
 eternal — 
 
 Peace without wickedness, peace without wretch- 
 edness, peace without quarrel, 
 
 Goal to all wanderings, rest to all ponderings, con- 
 quest and laurel. 
 
 Portion shall then be mine in the dear Lord divine ; 
 I shall distinguish 
 
 Him the Sole Beautiful, whom the true dutiful 
 never relinquish. 
 
 Jacob with Israel and Leah with Rachel then 
 change condition; 
 
 Then Sion's palace halls rise where no malice falls, 
 lift to completion. 
 
 O fairest Holy Land, our eyes have wholly scanned 
 
 calmly, thy splendor; 
 At thy mere mention oft, moved by attention soft, 
 
 we have grown tender. 
 
LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Eft tua mentio pectoris unctio^ 
 
 cura doloris, 
 Concipientibus aethera mentibus 
 
 ignis amoris. 
 Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus 
 
 es paradifus, 
 Non ibi lacryma, fed placidiffima 
 
 gaudia, rifus. 
 Eft ibi confita laurus, et infita 
 
 cedrus hyfopo ; 
 Sunt radiantia jafpide moenia, 
 
 clara pyropo : 
 Hinc tibi fardius, inde topazius, 
 
 hinc amethyftus ; 
 Eft tua fabrica concio coelica, 
 
 gemmaque Chriftus. 
 Tu fine littore, tu fine tempore — 
 
 fons modd rivus ! 
 Dulce bonis fapis, eftque tibi lapis 
 
 undique vivus. 
 Eft tibi laurea, dos datur aurea, 
 
 Sponfa decora ; 
 Primaque Principis ofcula fufcipis, 
 
 infpicis ora : 
 Candida lilia, viva monilia 
 
 funt tibi, Sponfa ; 
 Agnus adeft tibi, Sponfus adeft tibi, 
 
 lux fpeciofa : 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. g 
 
 Vision and speech of thee unto us teach of thee 
 
 whene'er we languish; 
 Breath from thy cherished winds, cheers our nigh 
 
 perished minds, curing our anguish. 
 Thou art our Paradise, glowing with fairy dyes 
 
 which we strive after ; 
 Not there come tears again, placidest joy shall 
 
 reign, music and laughter. 
 There, sown in equal guise, cedar and laurel rise 
 
 hyssop-attended \ 
 Bright gold and jasper stone, clear as no Hesper 
 
 shone, make thy walls splendid. 
 There, upon either hand, sardius and topaz stand, 
 
 amethysts mingle. 
 There art thou permanent, throne of the firmament, 
 
 Christ there is single. 
 Thou hast no wave or strand, thou hast no grave or 
 
 band — rill and yet river ! 
 Sweet wines there flow for us, jewels there glow for 
 
 us, radiant ever. 
 Laurels and golden toys better than olden joys thou 
 
 there shalt gather: 
 Yet in thy deference Jesus hath preference, His art 
 
 thou rather. 
 Lilies like driven snow, gems set in even row, wait 
 
 for thy wearing. 
 That Lamb is still with thee, that Spouse is still with 
 
 thee, clear light declaring. 
 
10 LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Tota negotia, cantica dulcia 
 
 dulce tonare, 
 Tam mala debita, quam bona praebita 
 
 conjubilare. 
 Urbs Syon aurea, patria lactea, 
 
 cive decora, 
 Omne cor obruis, omnibus obftruis 
 
 et cor et ora. 
 Nefcio, nefcio, quae jubilatio, 
 
 lux tibi quali«, 
 Quam focialia gaudia, gloria 
 
 quam fpecialis : 
 Laude ftudens ea tollere, mens mea 
 
 vi&a fatifcit : 
 O bona gloria ! vincor ; in omnia 
 
 laus tua vicit. 
 Sunt Syon atria conjubilantia, 
 
 martyre plena, 
 Cive micantia, Principe ftantia, 
 
 luce ferena : 
 Eft ibi pafcua, mitibus afflua, 
 
 praeftita fan&is, 
 Regis ibi thronus, agminis et fonus 
 
 eft epulantis. 
 Gens duce splendida, concio Candida 
 
 veftibus albis 
 Sunt fine fletibus in Syon aedibus, 
 
 aedibus almis ; 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. j l 
 
 No occupation there, no aspiration there, save but 
 
 sweet singing, 
 Telling of life preserved granted for grief deserved, 
 
 gratitude bringing. 
 City of lustre rare, none but the just are there, 
 
 thou shalt not crumble ; 
 Proud hearts are stupefied and, from the Crucified, 
 
 learn to be humble. 
 Naught I know, naught I know, what joys then 
 
 ought to grow, what rays shine o'er thee, 
 How deep thy pleasures are, how rare thy treasures 
 
 are, in years before thee ! 
 When I have tried thy praise, wonder denied my 
 
 lays, foiled I desisted. 
 O best of any light ! in thee does any sight fail un- 
 assisted. 
 
 There is the corridor where martyrs o'er and o'er 
 
 sing, all together ; 
 There is the shining host, Jesus enshrining most in 
 
 the clear weather ; 
 There is the pasture ground where all the meek are 
 
 found, where saints are resting ; 
 There is the royal throne, whither comes joy alone, 
 
 joined with glad feasting ; 
 There is a nation bright in congregation white, clad 
 
 in pure raiment ; 
 No lamentations there ! such habitations fair ask for 
 
 no payment. 
 
I2 LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Sunt fine crimine, funt fine turbine, 
 
 funt fine lite 
 In Syon aedibus editioribus 
 
 Ifraelitae. 
 Urbs Syon inclyta, gloria debita 
 
 glorificandis, 
 Tu bona vifibus interioribus 
 
 intima pandis : 
 Intima lumina, mentis acumina 
 
 te fpeculantur, 
 Pectora flammea fpe modo, poftea 
 
 forte lucrantur. 
 Urbs Syon unica, manfio myftica, 
 
 condita coelo, 
 Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo — 
 
 triftor, anhelo : 
 Te quia corpore non queo, pecl:ore 
 
 faepe pene»tro, 
 Sed caro terrea, terraque carnea, 
 
 mox cado retro. 
 Nemo retexere, nemoque promere 
 
 fuftinet ore, 
 Quo tua moenia, quo capitalia 
 
 plena decore ; 
 Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, 
 
 O Syon, O pax — 
 Urbs fine tempore, nulla poteft fore 
 
 laus tibi mendax ; 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. 
 
 *3 
 
 Free from all wickedness, free from all wretchedness, 
 
 free from contention, 
 Safely in peace at home Israel shall cease to roam, 
 
 cease from dissension. 
 Sion, thou city blest, they whom thy pity blessed 
 
 soon shall possess thee — 
 Thou who bestowest good upon our lowest mood 
 
 till we confess thee. 
 With my mind's vision I scan thine Elysian sky, 
 
 study thy story ; 
 Hope now my burning thought comforts, but turns 
 
 me not yet from thy glory. 
 Sion, majestic place, mansion of mystic grace, heaven- 
 built o'er me, 
 Now I rejoice in thee, now does my voice in me 
 
 fail — I long for thee ! 
 Thee, though my flesh be weak, strive I afresh to 
 
 seek by my heart's yearning ; 
 But, through my earthiness and earth's unworthiness, 
 
 faint in my learning : 
 No one discloseth yet, no one exposeth yet, unto us 
 
 mortals 
 Where are thy walls of light, on which there falls 
 
 no night, or where thy portals. 
 Thou dost each soul oppress with thy fair holiness, 
 
 Sion the peaceful ! 
 City where time is not, praise through my rhyme is 
 
 not aught but disgraceful. 
 4 
 
H 
 
 LAUS PATRIAE CCELESTIS. 
 
 O fine luxibus, O fine lu&ibus, 
 
 O fine lite, 
 Splendida curia, florida patria, 
 
 patria vitae! 
 Urbs Syon inclyta, turris et edita 
 
 littore tuto, 
 Te peto, te colo, te flagro, te volo — 
 
 canto, faluto ; 
 Nee mentis peto, nam mentis meto 
 
 morte perire, 
 Nee reticens tego, quod mentis ego 
 
 filius irae : 
 Vita quidem mea, vita nimis rea, 
 
 mortua vita, 
 Quippe reatibus exitialibus 
 
 obruta, trita. 
 Spe tamen ambulo, praemia poftulo 
 
 fpeque fideque, 
 Ilia perennia poftulo praemia 
 
 nocte dieque. 
 Me Pater optimus atque piiflimus 
 
 ille creavit ; 
 In lue pertulit, ex lue fuftulit, 
 
 a lue lavit. 
 Gratia coelica fuftinet unica 
 
 totius orbis, 
 Parcere fordibus, interioribus 
 
 unclio morbis > 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. jr 
 
 O thou secure from sin, whom tears endure not in — 
 
 thou without striving ; 
 Land of the rarest grace, country of fairest face — 
 
 ever surviving ! 
 Sion renowned and vast, thy towers are found at 
 
 last in safe location ; 
 Search for thee, care for thee, love, hope and prayer 
 
 for thee, is my vocation. 
 Not through my good I crave, for nothing good I 
 
 have, death is my merit ; 
 Nor does my reticence court thy beneficence, wrath 
 
 I inherit. 
 Living indeed has been living indeed in sin — living 
 
 yet dying : 
 Guilty already held, pride now already quelled, no 
 
 more defying — - 
 Yet do I go in faith ; honors I know He saith crown 
 
 my trust rightly ; 
 Yes, I can seek them still, however weak in skill, 
 
 daily and nightly. 
 Me that divinest One, me that benignest One, God, 
 
 has created ; 
 In my sin bore with me, kept good in store for me, 
 
 washed, renovated. 
 Grace such as His, alone brings us to bliss unknown: 
 
 earth's sole provision, 
 Fitted to spare the cursed, salving with care the worst 
 
 from Death's incision. 
 
1 6 LAUS FATRIJE CCELESTIS. 
 
 Diluit omnia coelica gratia, 
 
 fons David undans 
 Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit, 
 
 omnia mundans : 
 O pia gratia ! celfa palatia 
 
 cernere praefta, 
 Ut videam bona, feftaque confona, 
 
 coelica fefta. 
 O mea, fpes mea ! tu Syon aurea, 
 
 clarior auro, 
 Agmine fplendida, ftans duce, florida 
 
 perpete lauro, 
 O bona patria ! — num tua gaudia 
 
 teque videbo ? 
 O bona patria ! — num tua praemia 
 
 plena tenebo ? 
 Die mihi, rlagito, verbaque reddito, 
 
 dicque, Videbis. 
 Spem folidam gero ; remne tenens ero ? 
 
 die, Retinebis. 
 O facer, O pius, O ter et amplius 
 
 ille beatus, 
 Cui fua pars Deus ! — O mifer, O reus, 
 
 hac viduatus ! 
 
 Bernardus Cluniacensis. 
 
THE HEAVENLY LAND. 
 
 J 7 
 
 Grace our guilt sweeps away, David's fount keeps 
 
 alway freshly upspringing ; 
 That stream which flows for all, that which arose 
 
 for all, all pureness bringing. 
 O thou abounding love, be thou redounding love! — 
 
 show me thy dwelling, 
 That I may see the blessed gathered with thee at 
 
 rest — hear anthems swelling. 
 O thou, my trust of old, Sion, whose dust of gold 
 
 our gold outshineth, 
 Where saints in long array, praise Christ with song 
 
 alway — no flower declineth. 
 Father-land best for me, shall / find rest in thee ? 
 
 shall / behold thee ? 
 Father-land best for me, shall / be blessed in thee ? 
 
 shall grace enfold me ? 
 Speak to me now I pray, answer and show the way, 
 
 say " Thou shalt gain me." 
 Then shall my trust be strong — but wilt thou tarry 
 
 long ? O say " Attain me." 
 Sacred and free from ill, blessings for thee fulfil, 
 
 widening ever : 
 God shall thy stay appear — Ah ! how shall they ap- 
 pear who from Him sever ! 
 
 Explicit. 
 
 Dona nobis, Domine, 
 
 Haecce amplioraque 
 
 Filii e sanguine. — Amen ! 
 
"JUST AS I AM," 
 
 Ille qui fum, et line fpe 
 Nifi. in tuo fanguine 
 Et in vocatu apud Te, 
 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
 Ille qui fum, nee commorans 
 Ut purus fim, at obfecrana ; 
 Ad Te qui nunc ftas condonans, 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
 Ille qui fum, in proeliis 
 Jactatus, et in dubiis — 
 Intra extraque femper lis, 
 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
 Ille qui fum, miferrimus, 
 Caecus pauperque penitus 
 (In Te procumbat animus), 
 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
"JUST AS i am: 1 Ig 
 
 Ilium qui fum recipies 
 Et purum plane facies 
 Quod Tibi fido indies, 
 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
 Ille qui fum ! — Amafti me 
 Et clauftra fra£ta funt a Te : 
 Nunc Tuus, Tuus unice, 
 
 O Dei Agne, venio ! 
 
 From the English of Charlotte Elliott.