\tn¥'€ 
 
THE 
 
 SEVEN GREAT 
 
 HYMNS 
 
THE 
 
 SEVEN GREAT HYMNS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 jtflefciaetal Cjmrci) 
 
 ANNOTATED BY 
 
 CHARLES C. NOTT 
 
 I! 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CMxrfn £>♦ <&ov\)am, &ubligt>tv 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONS HOUSE 
 MCMII 
 

 Copyright, 1902, by 
 EDWIN S. GORHAM 
 
 GENERAL 
 
To 
 
 the One who First Inspired 
 
 the Work, it is 
 
 Dedicated 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAtiB 
 Introduction to this Edition . « . ix 
 
 JThe Celestial Country . • • . . I 
 
 Dies Irje . 44 
 
 Stabat Mater and Mater Speciosa . . 118 
 
 Veni Sancte Spiritus . . . . . .126 
 
 Veni Creator Spiritus . . • . . 134 
 
 Vexililla Regis . , . • . . .140 
 
 The Alleluiatic Sequence . . . . 146 
 
 Appendix •••••*.. 154 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 / T A HE firft edition of the Seven Great 
 -*• Hymns was publifhed anonymoufly, years 
 ago, because I did not wifti to aflume a fcholar- 
 fhip which I did not poflefs. In framing the 
 book the procefs of felection and rejection was 
 inftin&ive or intuitive rather than the operation 
 of a well-informed judgment. It was the cafe 
 of one reaching out for fomething which he 
 intenfely defired to find with the refult of finding 
 it. The purpofe of the book was what might be 
 termed expofition — to give to American readers 
 an expofition of the fubjecl: by placing before 
 them the greateft of the mediaeval hymns, and 
 an expofition of each hymn by appending to it 
 its beft tranflation. Since then there have been 
 immenfe additions to the English branch of the 
 subject in the form of translations and com- 
 mentaries ; and it would be an eafy tafk now 
 with the material at hand to make this volume 
 
I Introduction 
 
 three times its prefent fize; but after traveling 
 around the circle of thefe years I flop very 
 nearly where I began, for I am now of the 
 opinion that the prefent edition, with the altera- 
 tions and additions which it embodies, does 
 about all for the reader in the way of expofition, 
 either of the general subject or of the feveral 
 hymns, which it is poflible for me to do. 
 
 During this lapfe of years there have been 
 three books publifhed which mould be brought 
 to the attention of any perfon who may be 
 interefted in early religious poetry. The firft is 
 the " Chrift in Song " of Dr. Schaff. This is not 
 limited to mediaeval times, but on the contrary 
 contains a wealth of the beft hymns of all 
 times and lands. In it will be found many 
 tranflations of mediaeval hymns with Dr. Schaff's 
 annotations — the annotations of one of the 
 moft learned and judicious commentators who 
 ever touched the fubje&. The fecond is a fmall 
 volume of mediaeval hymns with tranflations 
 and notes by the late Eraftus C. Benedict, a 
 member of the New York bar. Its title is 
 "The Hymn of Hildebert." The third is the 
 "Chriftian Life and Song" of Mrs. Charles, 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Detter known as the author of the Schonberg- 
 Cotta Family. This work fweeps over the 
 whole wide horizon of Greek, Latin and Ger- 
 man hymns, and is, in my opinion, the molt 
 interefting and truftworthy work of combined 
 hiftory and tranflation that has ever been pub- 
 lifhed in Englifh. Indeed, I know of no book 
 which fo combines the fervor of a religious and 
 poetic temperament with the calm difcrimina- 
 tion and good fenfe of a judicial mind. 
 
 During thefe intervening years, I have not, 
 in the proper fenfe of the term, purfued the 
 ftudy of mediaeval hymns, but there are fome 
 conclufions of my maturer judgment which I 
 wifh to note; and there are fome changes in 
 this final edition which mould be explained: 
 
 The De Contemptu Mundi is not properly a 
 hymn. It has come to be clafled as fuch in 
 confequence of the admiration of Archbifhop 
 Trench and the beautiful paraphrafe of Dr. 
 Neale. It cannot, therefore, be compared with 
 the other hymns in this volume, but ftands 
 xi 
 
Introduction. 
 
 alone a fragment taken from an extended poem. 
 The fubfequent notes, retained from the firft 
 edition, will disclofe the difficulty, the almoft 
 impoffibility of tranflation into Englifh and the 
 incomparable adaptability of the Latin, both for 
 meafure and rhyme. Neverthelefs, the Rev. 
 Samuel W. Duffield has made a tranflation in 
 the meafure of the original with the intermediate 
 dactylic rhymes and the final double-rhymes, 
 which moreover, is a literal rendering of the 
 poem line for line and often word for word. 
 The introduction of Mr. Duffield is alfo a 
 valuable eflay upon the construction of the verfe. 
 
 The great difficulty of rendering thefe mediae- 
 val hymns into Englifh is caufed by the fact 
 that generally they are both in Latin and in 
 rhyme, and the rhyme is often double-rhyme, 
 an element which is little better than artificial 
 in our monofyllabic Englifh tongue. If the 
 reader will compare the following fpecimens he 
 will fee how far apart tranflators can be. 
 
 The firft tranflation is Mr. Duffield's; the 
 
 fecond is one which I made for the Seven Great 
 
 Hymns; the third, it is needlefs to fay, is Dr. 
 
 Neale's. 
 
 xii 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Hora noviflima, || tempora peflima || funt, vigilemus. 
 Ecce minaciter || imminet arbiter || ille furpremus. 
 Imminet, imminet || et mala terminet, || aequa coronet, 
 Recta remuneret, || anxia liberet, || aethera donet, 
 Auferat afpera || duraque pondera || mentes onuftae, 
 Sobria muniat, || improba puniat, | utraque jufte. 
 
 Thefe are the latter times, thefe are not better 
 
 times, let us ftand waiting: 
 Lo, how with awfulnefs He, firft in lawfulnefs, 
 
 comes arbitrating! 
 Nearer and nearer yet! — Wrong fhall in terror fet, 
 
 right mine refulgent. 
 Sad ones He liberates, righteous renumerates, ever 
 
 indulgent ; 
 Harflinefs He mitigates, burdened fouls animates, 
 
 freeing them lightly; 
 Holy ones blefleth He, wicked diftrefieth He — 
 
 each alike rightly. 
 
 Hours of the lateft! times of the bafeft! our vigil before us! 
 Judgment eternal of Being fupernal now hanging o'er us! 
 Evil to terminate, equity vindicate, cometh the Kingly; 
 Righteoufnefs feeing, anxious hearts freeing, crowning each fingly, 
 Bearing life's wearinefs, tafting life's bitternefs, life as it must be 
 Th' righteous retaining, finners arraigning, judging all juftly. 
 
 The world is very evil, 
 
 The times are waxing late; 
 Be fober and keep vigil, 
 
 The Judge is at the gate— 
 
 xiii 
 
Introduction. 
 
 The Judge that comes in mercy, 
 
 The Judge that comes with might, 
 To terminate the evil, 
 
 To diadem the right. 
 When the juft and gentle Monarch 
 
 Shall fummon from the tomb, 
 Let man, the guilty, tremble, 
 
 For Man, the God, fhall doom! 
 
 II. 
 
 The Dies Irte is undoubtedly the greateft of 
 the mediaeval hymns. It ftands "majeftic and 
 folitary" in the words of Mr. Benedict; its 
 ftrain is "fo clear and deep that its fofteft tones 
 are heard throughout Chriftendom," in the 
 words of Mrs. Charles. The zeal of the trans- 
 lator has not cooled, and many tranflations 
 have been publifhed, and many, unpubliihed, 
 have been fent to me fince the flrft edition of 
 this work. A fecond verfion was made by 
 General Dix, which he deemed fuperior to the 
 flrft, but which was unqueftionably inferior. 
 The firft ftanza, for example, is as follows: 
 
 Day of vengeance, lo ! that morning 
 On the earth in afhes dawning, 
 David with the Sibyl warning. 
 
 xiv 
 
Introduction. 
 
 For this he difplaced the ftanza of the firft 
 verfion which the Rev. Franklin Johnfon has 
 characterized as never furpafled in "its high 
 finifh, its delicate fuggeftion of the antique and 
 its perfection of form." I have, therefore, 
 retained the firft verfion. The effort of trans- 
 lators generally has been to reproduce the 
 double-rhyme of the original; but the truth is 
 that the fingle-rhyme better preferves for the 
 Englifh reader the two important elements of 
 Simplicity and ftrength. Of fuch tranflations I 
 have found none better than that of Mr. Sloflbn. 
 In 1883 a tranflation of the Dies Irae was 
 publifhed by the Rev. Franklin Johnfon, of 
 Chicago, which I regard as the moft nearly 
 perfect in form that has ever been made, and 
 which I have incorporated in this edition. Dr. 
 Johnfon fays in his preface that he publifhed a 
 previous edition in 1865; that the work of 
 tranflation occupied his attention at frequent 
 intervals during a period of fifteen years, and 
 that there were weeks in succeffion during 
 which, both day and night, his mind was filled 
 with the ftanzas. I may well believe this, for 
 nothing has ever been publifhed which denotes 
 xv 
 
. Introduction. 
 
 in the translator fuch fervor of admiration re- 
 ftrained by fuch exacting criticifm. Indeed, I 
 am inclined to believe that Dr. Johnfon fo scru- 
 puloufly complied with his own inexorable 
 canons as to difpoil his tranflation of poetic 
 beauties which might better have been retained. 
 For example, he facrificed the moft exact and 
 poetical tranflation of the thirteenth ftanza that 
 has ever been made becaufe it contained the 
 word " fhriven " — becaufe the word fhrive " is 
 a fectarian term, and is ufed in general with 
 reference to the Romifh Church, the Dies Irae 
 being Angularly free from everything peculiar 
 to the communion of which its author was a 
 member." When the word is taken in con- 
 nection with Him "by whom the thief was 
 fhriven," I deem this criticifm is too technical 
 and the tranflation is as free from sectarianifm 
 as the original. I have, therefore, taken the 
 liberty of reftoring the rejected ftanza. Taking 
 this verfion all in all, its adherence to the 
 meafure of the original, its retention of the 
 double-rhyme, its avoidance of the Englifh par- 
 ticiple ending in " ing," its prefervation of the 
 ideas and imagery of the original, I doubt 
 xvi 
 
Introduction, 
 
 whether a better tranflation will ever be made 
 by a tranflator of the critical fchool. 
 
 Neverthelefs, thefe things muft be borne in 
 mind — that power is the great characteristic of 
 the Dies Irae ; that its power cannot be trans- 
 ferred to Englifh verfe by means of the weakeft 
 form of Englifh words ; that the double-rhyme 
 has, to the Englifh ear, fomething of the jingle 
 of the humorous ballad ; and that, if we would 
 feel the ftrength of the great hymn, we muft, 
 foregoing form, go to the old verfion of Crafhaw, 
 or to single-rhyme tranflations like that of Mr. 
 Sloflbn. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Stabat Mater lofes more by tranflation, 
 probably, than any other piece of poetry that 
 was ever written. "The foft, fad melody of 
 its verfe is untranflatable " (Dr. Schaff). If 
 we take the lines, melodious in their pathos, 
 
 Quae moerebat et dolebat, 
 Pia mater, dum videbat, 
 
 and render them into Englifh as Dr. Schaff has 
 
 done, 
 
 xvii 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Who flood grieving, fighs upheaving, 
 Spirit-reaving, bofom-cleavingj 
 
 or as Dr. Coles tranflates them, 
 
 Trembling, grieving, bofom-heaving; 
 While perceiving, fcarce believing, 
 
 we bring them periloufly near to the abfurd. 
 
 In a word, free tranflations do not catch the 
 delicate pathos of the Stabat Mater, and are not 
 echoes of its melody. I have hitherto had an 
 occafion to fay that a tranflator may well make 
 three tranflations of a poem; one to portray its 
 ftructure, that is, its meafure, melody, move- 
 ment and rhyme ; one to present in detail its 
 ideas and images; and one to produce an 
 impreflion as fimilar as poflible to that of the 
 original on the mind of the reader. But many 
 renderings do not feem to bring nearer to us 
 the elufive power of this original. The more 
 the Stabat Mater is tranflated, the farther it 
 drifts from us. 
 
 Here, however, I mould add that Dr. Franklin 
 Johnfon has publifhed a tranflation of the Stabat 
 Mater — a beautiful poem in a beautiful fetting 
 — which probably comes as near to the fpirit of 
 the original as Englifh verfe will ever bring us. 
 xviii 
 
Introduction. 
 
 The Mater Speciofa is not one of the Seven 
 Great Hymns. It has been inferted here becaufe 
 it is clofely aflbciated with the other poem and 
 in fome degree an expofition of it. Like the 
 Stabat Mater, it has generally been afcribed to 
 Jacobus de Benedic~his, and I have left his name 
 as the reputed author. My own opinion, how- 
 ever, is that it was neither written by him nor 
 before the Stabat Mater. Thefe conclufions 
 reft on what we know of Jacobus and on the 
 internal evidence of the two poems. I. One 
 of them is undifputably fecondary — a com- 
 panion-piece to the other. 2. The Stabat 
 Mater is founded on the fcriptural basis of the 
 text in John, "there stood by the cross of Jesus 
 his mother," as the Dies Irae is founded on the 
 scriptural basis of the terrible text in Joel. 
 This fact alone is fumcient to be termed con- 
 clufive; i. e., the poem fprings from that text 
 and not from another poem. Converfely, the 
 Mater Speciofa fprings from the other poem 
 and not from a fcriptural image. The picture 
 in John was the germ of both poems. 3. The 
 Stabat Mater is the poem of the great tragedy 
 of the world; the Mater Speciofa runs upon 
 xix 
 
Introduction. 
 
 lines of ordinary human emotions. It follows 
 the meafure and catches the melody and adopts 
 the fentiment of its original; but it is of inferior 
 texture, and in places its pathos verges on the 
 extravagant. 4. One or the other of thefe 
 two poems has the fundamental element of 
 imitation; it is neceflarily a clever piece of 
 literary workmanfhip, following the other in 
 stanza, in meafure, in words, and often in the 
 repetition of lines; it may be melodious, poetical, 
 beautiful, but confefledly it cannot be in the 
 true fenfe of the term original. If I muft 
 choofe between the two, I do not hefitate to fay 
 that the fecondary poem is the Speciofa. The 
 Stabat Mater feems to me one of thofe mar- 
 velous outburfts which feize the hearts and 
 imaginations of men and come down the cen- 
 turies with unabated power. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Veni Sancte Spiritus is ftill reprefented by 
 a fingle tranflation, that of Catherine Wink- 
 worth, which is indeed but a tranflation of a 
 tranflation, the German. The reader will find 
 a much more actual rendering in Mrs. Charles' 
 xx 
 
Introduction, 
 
 "Chriftian Life in Song.** But here again the 
 two renderings illuftrate how the more free is 
 occafionally the more literal; how it may give 
 the leading thought or image of the author 
 which the more critical may overlook. Thus 
 the 
 
 Come, Thou Father of the poor, 
 Giver from a boundlefs ftore 
 Light of Hearts, O fhine! 
 
 of Mrs. Charles, mifles the impreflive Veni, 
 Veni, Veni of the original, which is fplendidly 
 rendered by Mifs Winkworth: 
 
 Come, Father of the poor, to earth; 
 Come with Thy gifts of precious worth; 
 Come, Light of all of mortal birth ! 
 
 The Veni Creator Spiritus has been afcribed to 
 Charlemagne, and in the flrft edition it was faid, 
 with fome refervation, that his authorfhip is not 
 impoflible. I have allowed his name to remain 
 at the head of it, but my prefent conclufion is 
 that it was written before the time of the Great 
 King. Mr. Benedict, judging from internal 
 evidence alone, afcribes it to St. Ambrofe, who 
 xxi 
 
Introduction, 
 
 xlied in 397. It feems to me improbable that fo 
 well known a hymn would not have been always 
 clafled with his other hymns, and that it would 
 have flept, if written before 397, for at leaft 
 three hundred years. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Vexilla Regis is the fixth of thefe expofi- 
 tional hymns. The firft five, as it were, 
 felected themfelves, i. e., there was no queftion 
 as to their being taken and others left. But at 
 this point the work of rejection began. This 
 hymn is not one of the great fpiritual hymns of 
 the world; but the object of this compilation 
 was to give an expofition of the fubjecl: by 
 hymns which were both reprefentative and cele- 
 brated. The Vexilla has indeed been a famous 
 hymn — a hymn of ecclefiaftical warfare and 
 victory which has rung around the world. 
 <c In the churches of our own country and 
 time," as the late Prefident Welling has faid, 
 ** may be heard fnatches and echoes of that 
 antique poefy which was firft intoned in the 
 New World by the Jefuit miflionaries and 
 
 Komifti ecclefiaftics who planted the cedar and 
 xxii 
 
Introduction. 
 
 the cedar-crofs along the fhores of the Great 
 Lakes and the waters of the West, chanting 
 the while, amidft the painted favages who ftood 
 around in their robes of beaver and buffalo, the 
 fonorous paffion-hymn of Fortunatus, " Vexilla 
 regis prodeunt." 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Alleluiatic Sequence may likewife be clafled 
 as a famous hymn. It was felected for the 
 fame reafons as the Vexilla Regis, and for the 
 additional reafon that it is regarded as the parent 
 of every Hallelujah Chorus that has been 
 written fince. At the time of the original com- 
 pilation I hefitated for a long time between it 
 and the De Gloria et Gaudiis Paradifi of 
 Damiani, but at laft compromifed with my 
 doubts by felecting the chorus but fetting forth 
 Mr. Wackerbarth's tranflation of the De Gloria 
 in the notes to the Celeftial Country, where it 
 will now be found. 
 
 C. C. Nott. 
 January, 1902. 
 
 xxin 
 
THE 
 
 CELESTIAL COUNTRY, 
 
 BERNARD DE MORLAS, monk of Clu- 
 ni, is not to be confounded with the great 
 Bernard his contemporary, Abbot of Clairvaux, 
 and Saint in the Romifh calendar. The place 
 of his nativity is uncertain, and the years of his 
 birth and of his death are alike unknown. He 
 lived during the firft half of the twelfth cen- 
 tury ; he was born, according to one authority, 
 at Morlaix, in Bretagne ; according to another, 
 at Morlas, in the lower Pyrenees ; whilft a third 
 gives his birth-place to England, and claffes him 
 with her illuftrious writers [De illujiribus Anglics 
 Scriptoribus). 1 After feven centuries of com- 
 parative forgetfulnefs, the genius of two Englifh 
 fcholars has revived a portion of his works ; and 
 hereafter his name will be beft known in that 
 country, which may poffibly poflefs his birth- 
 place. 
 
2 Tbe Celeftial Country. 
 
 There ftill survive of his writings five poems, 
 the greateft of which is De Contemptu Mundu 
 It was written about 1 145, and contains three 
 thoufand lines, divided into three books. In 
 fubftance the poem is a fatire, unforgiving and 
 fevere : in form it is in da&ylic hexameter verfe. 
 According to Dr. Duffield, to whofe judgment 
 I defer, "each line confifts of a firft part com- 
 pofed of two da&yls, a fecond containing two 
 more dactyls, and a third made up of a dactyl 
 and a trochee. The laft da£tyls of the firft and 
 second parts rhyme together, and the lines are 
 in couplets — the final trochees alfo rhyming. 
 This remark upon the dactylic nature of the 
 rhymes in the firft two parts is not made by 
 Neale or Coles or the compiler of the Seven 
 Great Hymns. They all italicife the laft two 
 fyllables, whereas it mould be the laft three, 
 i. e., the foot itself. 
 
 Sobria muniat || improba puniat || utraque juste, 
 
 is in all refpects a perfect line — each foot being 
 a word, and the rhyme unimpeachable." 
 
tfbe Celefiial Country, 3 
 
 This verfe, fo difficult that the Englifh lan- 
 guage is incapable of expreffing it, is continued 
 through the three thoufand lines of the poem. 
 In his preface the monk avows the belief that 
 nothing but the fpecial infpiration of the Spirit 
 of God enabled him to employ it through fo 
 long a poem. After recounting its difficulties, 
 and alluding to the faint attempts of the two 
 great verifiers of his day, Hildebert de Lavar- 
 din and Wichard of Lyons, he exclaims : " I 
 " may then afTert, not in oftentation, but with 
 " humble confidence, that if I had not received 
 " directly from on high the gift of infpiration 
 "and intelligence, I had not dared to attempt 
 "an enterprife fo little accorded to the powers 
 " of the human mind." 
 
 " This work," fays the author of the Hijioire Litteraire de la 
 France, "was drawn from the duft in 1483, and its publication 
 " was achieved on the tenth of December of the fame year, at 
 *' Paris, in magni domo campi Gaillardi. The Proteftants, eager 
 " to gather every thing which appears unfavorable to the Church 
 " of Rome, have fince multiplied the editions. Some Catholics 
 " have alfo given to it fome praifes j and furely it merits them, 
 " at leaft by the fentiments of piety which it exhales, and by the 
 "zeal with which the author attack* the abufea of his time." 
 
4 tfhe Celefiial Country, 
 
 " In holy Rome the only power is gold ; 
 There all is bought — there every thing is fold. 
 Becaufe fhe is the very way to right, 
 There truth is perifhed by unholy Height. 
 Even as the wheel turns, Rome to evil turns, 
 Rome, that fpreads fragrance as when incenfe burns. 
 Rome wrongs mankind, and teaches men the road 
 To flee far off from Righteoufnefs' abode ! 
 To feek for ruinous and difgraceful gain, 
 The pallium's felf with limony to ftain. 
 If aught you wifh, be fure a goodly bribe 
 Will hafte the fealing of the lingering fcribe. 
 Rife ! follow ! let your penny go before, 
 Seek boldly then the threfhold ; fear no more 
 That any ftumbling-blocks will bar the way, 
 The Pope's own favor you can get for pay — 
 Without that help, 'tis beft to keep away." 
 
 The opening of this monkifh fatire on the 
 corruptions of its barbarous age, glows with a 
 defcription of the Heavenly Land more beauti- 
 ful than ever before was wrought in verfe. 
 This a great fcholar of our time has taken from 
 the poem and brought within the reach and 
 notice of the world (Trench). It alfo has been 
 re-woven into fimple Englifh verfe, and has re- 
 ceived the appropriate name of The Celestial 
 Country. 
 
'The Celeftial Country. 5 
 
 The tranflator of The Celestial Country 
 is Dr. John Mafon Neale, Warden of Sack- 
 ville College, SufTex, England, the moft fuccefT- 
 ful tranflator of mediaeval hymns, and one of 
 the moft varied and voluminous writers of the 
 time. "Lays and Legends of the Church of 
 England ;" " A Church Hiftory for Children ;" 
 feven volumes of romances ; a hiftory of Greece ; 
 a hiftory of Portugal ; of the Patriarchate of 
 Alexandria, and of the Janfenift Church of 
 Holland ; a large number of tales and hymns 
 for children, and a moft learned and elaborate 
 commentary on the Book of Pfalms, are included 
 in the long catalogue of his works. 
 
 This fcholar of Cambridge, and this monk of 
 Cluni, have given to the religious world the 
 fweeteft and deareft religious poem that our lan- 
 guage contains. Dr. Neale fays that he looks 
 upon the lines of Bernard u as the moft lovely, 
 " in the fame way that the Dies Ira is the moft 
 " fublime, and the Stabat Mater the moft pathetic 
 u of mediaeval poems," but his own poem may 
 claim more juftly that word. The Celestial 
 Country is better than De Contemptu Mundi. 
 
6 The Celefiial Country. 
 
 The beautiful fimplicity of its artlefs, childlike 
 lines portrays more naturally the fervid imagery 
 of the monk. After feven hundred years of 
 darknefs, the holy fervor of Bernard re-kindles 
 in it as warmly as when in the warmth of his 
 devotion he believed himfelf fpecially infpired 
 by the Moft High. In another language, at 
 another time, and among thofe who can but 
 dimly trace his name in the crumbling record 
 of his works, the Rhyme of the poor monk re- 
 lives to gladden the hearts of other Chriftians, 
 loved by fuch as poflefs its faith, and treafured 
 by the gentleft and the beft of earth. 3 
 
f tbe Celeftial Country. 
 
 THE 
 
 CELESTIAL COUNTRY 
 
 DR. NEALE. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE world is very evil, 
 The times are waxing late ; 
 Be fober and keep vigil, 
 
 The Judge is at the gate — 
 The Judge that comes in mercy, 
 
 The Judge that comes with might, 
 To terminate the evil, 
 
 To diadem the right. 
 When the juft and gentle Monarch 
 
 Shall fummon from the tomb, 
 Let man, the guilty, tremble, 
 
 For Man, the God, fhall doom ! 
 
8 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 Arife, arife, good Chriftian, 
 
 Let right to wrong fucceed ; 
 Let penitential forrow 
 
 To heavenly gladnefs lead — 
 To the light that hath no evening, 
 
 That knows nor moon nor fun, 
 The light fo new and golden, 
 
 The light that is but one. 
 
 And when the Sole-Begotten 
 
 Shall render up once more 
 The kingdom to the Father, 
 
 Whofe own it was before, 
 Then glory yet unheard of 
 
 Shall ftied abroad its ray, 
 Refolving all enigmas, 
 
 An endlefs Sabbath-day. 
 
 Then, then from his oppreffors 
 The Hebrew fhall go free, 
 
^The Celeftial Country. 
 
 And celebrate in triumph 
 
 The year of Jubilee ; 
 And the funlit Land that recks not 
 
 Of tempeft nor of fight, 
 Shall fold within its bofom 
 
 Each happy Ifraelite — 
 The Home of fadelefs fplendor, 
 
 Of flowers that fear no thorn, 
 Where they fhall dwell as children, 
 
 Who here as exiles mourn. 
 
 Midft power that knows no limit, 
 
 And wifdom free from bound, 
 The Beatific Vifion 
 
 Shall glad the Saints around — 
 The peace of all the faithful, 
 
 The calm of all the bleft, 
 Inviolate, unvaried, 
 
 Divineft, fweeteft, beft. 
 Yes, peace ! for war is needlefs — 
 
 Yes, calm ! for ftorm is paft — 
 And goal from finifhed labor, 
 
 And anchorage at laft. 
 
lO ^he Celeflial Country. 
 
 6. 
 
 That peace — but who may claim it ? 
 
 The guilelefs in their way, 
 Who keep the ranks of battle, 
 
 Who mean the thing they fay — 
 The peace that is for heaven, 
 
 And mall be for the earth ; 
 The palace that re-echoes 
 
 With feftal fong and mirth ; 
 The garden, breathing fpices, 
 
 The paradife on high ; 
 Grace beautified to glory, 
 
 Unceafing minftrelfy. 
 
 There nothing can be feeble, 
 
 There none can ever mourn, 
 There nothing is divided, 
 
 There nothing can be torn. 
 'Tis fury, ill, and fcandal, 
 
 'Tis peacelefs peace below ; 
 Peace, endlefs, ftrifelefs, agelefs, 
 
 The halls of Syon know. 
 
The Celeftial Country. 11 
 
 8. 
 
 O happy, holy portion, 
 
 Refe&ion for the bleft, 
 True vifion of true beauty, 
 
 Sweet cure of all diftreft ! 
 Strive, man, to win that glory ; 
 
 Toil, man, to gain that light ; 
 Send hope before to grafp it, 
 
 Till hope be loft in light ; 
 Till Jesus gives the portion 
 
 Thofe blefled fouls to fill— 
 The infatiate, yet fatisfied, 
 
 The full, yet craving ftill. 
 
 That fulnefs and that craving 
 
 Alike are free from pain, 
 Where thou, midft heavenly citizens, 
 
 A home like theirs fhalt gain. 
 Here is the warlike trumpet ; 
 
 There, life fet free from fin, 
 When to the laft Great Supper 
 
 The faithful mall come in - } 
 
12 ^he Celefiial Country, 
 
 When the heavenly net is laden 
 
 With fifties many and great 
 (So glorious in its fulnefs, 
 
 Yet fo inviolate) ; 
 And perfect from unperfe&ed, 
 
 And fall'n from thofe that ftand,4 
 And the fheep-flock from the goat-herd 
 
 Shall part on either hand. 
 
 10. 
 
 And thefe fhall pafs to torment, 
 
 And thofe (hall triumph then — 
 The new peculiar nation, 
 
 Bleft number of bleft men. 
 Jerufalem demands them ; 
 
 They paid the price on earth, 
 And now fhall reap the harveft 
 
 In blifsfulnefs and mirth — 
 The glorious holy people, 
 
 Who evermore relied 
 Upon their Chief and Father, 
 
 The King, the Crucified — 
 The facred ranfomed number 
 
 Now bright with endlefs fheen, 
 
The Celeftial Country. 13 
 
 Who made the Crofs their watchword 
 
 Of Jesus Nazarene, 
 Who (fed with heavenly ne&ar 
 
 Where foul-like odors play) 
 Draw out the endlefs leifure 
 
 Of that long vernal day. 
 
 11. 
 
 And, through the facred lilies 
 
 And flowers on every fide, 
 The happy dear-bought people 
 
 Go wandering far and wide ; 
 Their breafts are filled with gladnefs, 
 
 Their mouths are tun'd to praife, 
 What time, now fafe for ever, 
 
 On former fins they gaze : 
 The fouler was the error, 
 
 The fadder was the fall, 
 The ampler are the praifes 
 
 Of Him who pardoned all. 
 
 12. 
 
 Their one and only anthem, 
 The fulnefs of His love, 
 
14 The Celejlial Country. 
 
 Who gives inftead of torment, 
 
 Eternal joys above — 
 Inftead of torment, glory ; 
 
 Inftead of death, that life 
 Wherewith your happy Country, 
 
 True Ifraelites, is rife. 
 
 *3- 
 
 Brief life is here our portion, 
 Brief forrow, fhort-liv'd care ; 
 
 The life that knows no ending — 
 The tearlefs life, is there. 
 
 14. 
 
 O happy retribution ! 
 
 Short toil, eternal reft ; 
 For mortals and for finners 
 
 A manfion with the bleft ! 
 That we fhould look, poor wand'rers, 
 
 To have our home on high ! 
 That worms mould feek for dwelling, 
 
 Beyond the ftarry Iky ! 
 To all one happy guerdon 
 
 Of one celeftial grace ; 
 
<Tbe Celejiial Country. 
 
 For all, for all, who mourn their fall, 
 Is one eternal place. 
 
 15- 
 
 And martyrdom hath rofes 
 
 Upon that heavenly ground ; 
 And white and virgin lilies 
 
 For virgin-fouls abound. 
 There grief is turned to pleafure — 
 
 Such pleafure as below 
 No human voice can utter, 
 
 No human heart can know ; 
 And after flefhly fcandal, 
 
 And after this world's night, 
 And after ftorm and whirlwind, 
 
 Is calm, and joy, and light. 
 
 16. 
 
 And now we fight the battle, 
 But then mail wear the crown 
 
 Of full and everlafting 
 And paflionlefs renown : 
 
 And now we watch and ftruggle, 
 
16 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 And now we live in hope, 
 And Syon, in her anguifh, 
 
 With Babylon muft cope ; 
 But He whom now we truft in 
 
 Shall then be feen and known, 
 And they that know and fee Him 
 
 Shall have Him for their own. 
 
 17. 
 
 The miferable pleafures 
 
 Of the body fhall decay ; 
 The bland and flattering ftruggles 
 
 Of the flefh fhall pafs away ; 
 And none fhall there be jealous, 
 
 And none fhall there contend ; 
 Fraud, clamor, guile — what fay I ? 
 
 All ill, all ill fhall end ! 
 
 18. 
 
 And there is David's Fountain, 
 And life in fulleft glow ; 
 
 And there the light is golden, 
 And milk and honey flow — 
 
The Celeftial Country. 17 
 
 The light that hath no evening, 
 The health that hath no fore, 
 
 The life that hath no ending, 
 But lafteth evermore. 
 
 19. 
 
 There Jesus fhall embrace us, 
 
 There Jesus be embraced — 
 That fpirit's food and funfhine 
 
 Whence earthly love is chafed. 
 Amidft the happy chorus, 
 
 A place, however low, 
 Shall fhew Him us, and fhewing, 
 
 Shall fatiate evermo. 
 
 20. 
 
 By hope we ftruggle onward : 
 
 While here we muft be fed 
 By milk, as tender infants, 
 
 But there by Living Bread. 
 The night was full of terror, 
 
 The morn is bright with gladnefs ; 
 The Crofs becomes our harbor, 
 
 And we triumph after fadnefs. 
 
x8 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 21. 
 
 And Jesus to His true ones 
 
 Brings trophies fair to fee ; 
 And Jesus (hall be loved, and 
 
 Beheld in Galilee — 
 Beheld, when morn fhall waken, 
 
 And fhadows fhall decay, 
 And each true-hearted fervant 
 
 Shall mine as doth the day ; 
 And every ear fhall hear it — 
 
 " Behold thy King's array, 
 Behold thy God in beauty, 
 
 The Law hath pafs'd away/ 9 * 
 
 22. 
 
 Yes ! God my King and Portion, 
 
 In fulnefs of Thy grace, 
 We then fhall fee for ever, 
 
 And worfhip face to face. 
 Then Jacob into Ifrael, 
 
 From earthlier felf eftranged, 
 And Leah into Rachel 
 
 For ever fhall be changed; 5 
 
^he Celejlial Country. 19 
 
 Then all the halls of Syon 
 
 For aye fliall be complete, 
 And in the Land of Beauty, 
 
 All things of beauty meet. 
 
 23- 
 
 For thee, O dear, dear Country ! 
 
 Mine eyes their vigils keep ; 
 For very love, beholding 
 
 Thy happy name, they weep. 
 The mention of thy glory 
 
 Is unction to the breaft, 
 And medicine in ficknefs, 
 
 And love, and life, and reft. 
 
 24. 
 
 O one, O onely Manfion I 
 
 O Paradife of Joy ! 
 Where tears are ever banifhed, 
 
 And fmiles have no alloy, 
 Befide thy living waters 
 
 All plants are, great and fmall, 
 The cedar of the foreft, 
 
20 The Celeftial Country, 
 
 The hyflbp of the wall ; 
 With jafpers glow thy bulwarks, 
 
 Thy ftreets with emeralds blaze, 
 The fardius and the topaz 
 
 Unite in thee their rays ; 
 Thine agelefs walls are bonded 
 
 With amethyft unpriced ; 
 Thy Saints build up its fabric, 
 
 And the corner-ftone is Christ. 6 
 
 25. 
 
 The Crofs is all thy fplendor, 
 
 The Crucified thy praife ; 
 His laud and benediction 
 
 Thy ranfomed people raife : 
 " Jesus, the Gem of Beauty, 
 
 True God and Man" they fing, 
 " The never-failing Garden, 
 
 The ever-golden Ring ; 
 The Door, the Pledge, the Hujband, 
 
 The Guardian of his Court s 
 The Day-flar of Salvation, 
 
 The Porter and the Port!" 
 
The Celeftial Country 21 
 
 26. 
 
 Thou hast no shore, fair ocean ! 
 
 Thou hast no time, bright day ! 
 Dear fountain of refreshment 
 
 To pilgrims far away ! 
 Upon the Rock of Ages 
 
 They raise thy holy tower ; 
 Thine is the victor's laurel, 
 
 And thine the golden dower ! 
 
 27. 
 
 Thou feel'ft in myftic rapture, 
 
 O Bride that know'ft no guile, 
 The Prince's fweeteft kiffes, 
 
 The Prince's lovelieft fmile ; 
 Unfading lilies, bracelets 
 
 Of living pearl thine own ; 
 The Lamb is ever near thee, 
 
 The Bridegroom thine alone. 
 The Crown is He to guerdon, 
 
 The Buckler to protect, 
 And He Himfelf the Manfion, 
 
 And He the Architect. 
 
22 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 28. 
 
 The only art thou needeft — 
 Thankfgiving for thy lot ; 
 
 The only joy thou feekeft — 
 The Life where Death is not. 
 
 And all thine endlefs leifure, 
 In fweeteft accents, fings 
 
 The ill that was thy merit, 
 
 The wealth that is thy King's ! 
 
 29. 
 
 Jerusalem the golden, 
 
 With milk and honey blest, 
 Beneath thy contemplation 
 
 Sink heart and voice oppressed. 
 i know not, o i know not, 
 
 What social joys are there ! 
 What radiancy of glory, 
 
 What light beyond compare ! 
 
 3°- 
 And when I fain would fing them, 
 My fpirit fails and faints 5 
 
c Tbe Celeftial Country. 23 
 
 And vainly would it image 
 The affembly of the Saints. 
 
 3 1 - 
 
 They stand, those halls of Syon, 
 
 conjubilant with song, 
 And bright with many an angel, 
 
 And all the martyr throng ; 
 The Prince is ever in them, 
 
 The daylight is serene ; 
 The pastures of the Blessed 
 
 Are decked in glorious sheen. 
 
 3 2 - 
 
 There is the Throne of David, 
 
 And there, from care releaser 
 The song of them that triumph, 
 
 The shout of them that feast ; 
 And they who, with their Leader, 
 
 Have conquered in the fight, 
 For ever and for ever 
 
 Are clad in robes of white ! f 
 
24 The Celejlial Country* 
 
 33- 
 
 O holy, placid harp-notes 
 
 Of that eternal hymn ! 
 O facred, fweet refection, 
 
 And peace of Seraphim ! 
 O thirft, for ever ardent, 
 
 Yet evermore content ! 
 O true peculiar vifion 
 
 Of God cunclipotent ! 
 Ye know the many manfions 
 
 For many a glorious name, 
 And divers retributions 
 
 That divers merits claim ; 
 For midft the conftellations 
 
 That deck our earthly fky, 
 This ftar than that is brighter— 
 
 And fo it is on high. 
 
 34- 
 
 Jerufalem the glorious ! W*-* J**** wX* 
 
 The glory of the Elecl: ! 
 O dear and future vifion 
 
 That eager hearts expect ! 
 
The Celeflial Country, 25 
 
 Even now by faith I fee thee, 
 Even here thy walls difcern ; 
 
 To thee my thoughts are kindled, 
 And ftrive, and pant, and yearn. 
 
 35. 
 
 Jerufalem the onely, 
 
 That look'ft from heaven below, 
 In thee is all my glory, 
 
 In me is all my woe ; 
 And though my body may not, 
 
 My fpirit feeks thee fain, 
 Till flefh and earth return me 
 
 To earth and flefh again. 
 
 36. 
 
 O none can tell thy bulwarks, 
 
 How glorioufly they rife ! 
 O none can tell thy capitals 
 
 Of beautiful device ! 
 Thy lovelinefs oppreffes 
 
 All human thought and heart j 
 And none, O peace, O Syon, 
 
 Can fing thee as thou art ! 
 
26 *Tbe Celefiial Country. 
 
 37- 
 
 New manfion of new people, 
 
 Whom God's own love and light 
 Promote, increafe, make holy, 
 
 Identify, unite ! 
 Thou City of the Angels ! 
 
 Thou City of the Lord ! 
 Whofe everlafting mufic 
 
 Is the glorious decachord ! 8 
 
 38. 
 
 And there the band of Prophets 
 
 United praife afcribes, 
 And there the twelvefold chorus 
 
 Of Ifrael's ranfomed tribes, 
 The lily-beds of virgins, 
 
 The rofes' martyr-glow, 
 The cohort of the Fathers 
 
 Who kept the Faith below. 
 
 39- 
 And there the Sole-Begotten 
 Is Lord in regal ftate — 
 
He Celeftial Country. 27 
 
 He, Judah's myftic Lion, 
 
 He, Lamb Immaculate. 
 O fields that know no forrow ! 
 
 O ftate that fears no ftrife ! 
 
 princely bowers ! O land of flowers ! 
 
 realm and home of Life ! 
 
 40. 
 
 Jerufalem, exulting 
 
 On that fecureft fhore, 
 
 1 hope thee, wifh thee, fing thee, 
 
 And love thee evermore ! 
 I afk not for my merit, 
 
 1 feek not to deny 
 My merit is deftru&ion, 
 
 A child of wrath am I ; 
 But yet with Faith I venture 
 
 And Hope upon my way ; 
 For thofe perennial guerdons 
 
 I labor night and day. 
 
 4i. 
 The beft and deareft Father, 
 Who made me and who faved, 
 3 
 
28 ^tbe Celefiial Country. 
 
 Bore with me in defilement, 
 
 And from defilement laved, 
 When in His ftrength I ftruggle, 
 
 For very joy I leap, 
 When in my fin I totter, 
 
 I weep, or try to weep : 
 But grace, fweet grace celeftial, 
 
 Shall all its love difplay, 
 And David's Royal Fountain 
 
 Purge every fin away. 
 
 42. 
 
 O mine, my golden Syon ! 
 
 O lovelier far than gold, 
 With laurel-girt battalions, 
 
 And fafe victorious fold ! 
 O fweet and bleffed Country, 
 
 Shall I ever fee thy face ? 
 
 fweet and blefled Country, 
 Shall I ever win thy grace ? 
 
 1 have the hope within me 
 
 To comfort and to blefs ! 
 Shall I ever win the prize itfelf ? 
 O tell me, tell me, Yes I 
 
The Celeftial Country. 29 
 
 43- 
 
 Exult, O duji and ajhes ! 
 
 The Lord Jhall be thy part j 
 His only, His for ever, 
 
 Thou Jhalt be, and thou art ! 
 Exult, O duji and ajhes ! 
 
 The Lord Jhall be thy part ,• 
 His only, His for ever, 
 
 Thou Jhalt be, and thou art ! 9 
 
30 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 HORA NOVISSIMA. 
 
 BERNARD OF CLUNI. 
 
 HORA noviffima, tempora peflima flint, vigi' 
 lemus. 
 Ecce minaciter imminet arbiter ille fupremus. 
 Imminet, imminet et mala terminet, aequa coro- 
 net, 
 Rec~la remuneret, anxia liberet, aethera donet, 
 Auferat afpera duraque pondera mentes onuflae, 
 Sobria muniat, improba puniat, utraque jufte. 
 
 Hie breve vivitur, hie breve plangitur, hie breve 
 
 fletur ; 
 Non breve vivere, non breve plangere retri- 
 
 buetur ; 
 O retributio ! flat brevis a&io, vita perennis ; 
 O retributio ! ccelica manfio flat lue plenis ; 
 Quid datur et quibus ? aether egentibus et cruce 
 
 dignis, 
 Sidera vermibus, optima fontibus, aflra malignis. 
 
^he Celeftial Country. 31 
 
 Sunt modo praelia, poftmodo praemia ; qualia ? 
 
 plena, 
 Plena refe&io, nullaque paflio, nullaque poena : 
 Spe modo vivitur, et Syon angitur a Babylone ; 
 Nunc tribulatio ; tunc recreatio, fceptra, coronae ? 
 Tunc nova gloria pe&ora fobria clarificabit, 
 Solvet enigmata, veraque fabbata continuabit. 
 Liber et hoftibus, et dominantibus ibit Hebrasus ; 
 Liber habebitur et celebrabitur hinc jubilaeus. 
 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 fan&is ; 
 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 pulcraque patria perficietur. 
 
 O bona Patria, lumina fobria te fpeculantur, 
 Ad tua nomina lumina fobria collacrymantur ; 
 
32 ^he Celeftial Country, 
 
 Eft tua mentio pectoris un£Ho, cura doloris, 
 Concipientibus aethera mentibus ignis amoris. 
 Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus es paradifus, 
 Non ibi lacryma, fed placidiflima gaudia, rifus. 
 Eft ibi confita laurus, et infita cedrus hyfopo -, 
 Sunt radiantia jafpide maenia, 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, fponfa decora, 
 Primaque Principis ofcula fufcipis, infpicis ora : 
 Candida lilia, viva monilia funt tibi, Sponfa, 
 Agnus adeft tibi, Sponfus adeft tibi, lux fpeciofa : 
 Tota negocia, cantica dulcia dulce tonare, 
 Tarn mala debita, quam bona praebita conju- 
 
 bilare. 
 Urbs Syon aurea, patrea la£tea, cive decora, 
 Omne cor obruis, omnibus obftruis et cor et ora. 
 Nefcio, nefcio, quae jubilatio, lux tibi qualis, 
 Quam focialia gaudia, gloria quam fpecialis : 
 Laude ftudens ea tollere, mens mea vi&a fatifcit : 
 
The Celeftial Country. 33 
 
 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 fplendida, concio Candida veftibus 
 
 albis 
 Sunt fine fletibus in Syon aedibus, aedibus almis ; 
 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, 
 Pechora flammea fpe modo, poftea forte lucran- 
 
 tur. 
 Urbs Syon unica, manfio myftica, condita coelo, 
 Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo, triftor, 
 
 anhelo : 
 Te quia corpore non queo, pe&ore faepe penetro, 
 Sed caro terrea, terraque carnea, mox cado 
 
 retro 
 Nemo retexere, nemoque promere fuftinet ore, 
 Quo tua mcenia, quo capitalia plena decore ; 
 
 -©RAH 
 OF THE 
 
34 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, O Syon, O 
 
 pax, 
 Urbs fine tempore, nulla poteft fore laus tibi 
 
 mendax ; 
 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, fa- 
 
 luto ; 
 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 fide- 
 
 que, 
 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 un&io morbis ; 
 Diluit omina coelica gratia, fons David undans 
 Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit, omnia mundans ; 
 O pia gratia, celfa palatia cernere praefta, 
 
Hbe Celeftial Country. 35 
 
 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, flagito, verbaque reddito, dicque, 
 
 videbis. 
 Spem folidam gero j remne tenens ero ? die, 
 
 Retinebis 
 O facer, O pius, O ter et amplius ille beatus, 
 Cui fua pars Deus, O mifer, O reus hac vidu- 
 
 atus. IO 
 
36 Hbe Celefiial Country, 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1 "Le furnom de Bernard varie en trois manieres dans les 
 manufcrits. Les uns Texpriment par Morlanenfis qui Pitfeus 
 rapporte a une ville d*Angleterre fans la defigner ; les autres 
 portent Morvalenfis, que Fabricius explique de la vallee de Mau- 
 rienne j il en eft enfin ou Ton trouve Morlacenfis, qu'on peut 
 appliquer ou a Morlaix en Baffe-Bretagne, ou a la Morlas dans 
 le comte de Bigorre. Mais il eft certain, i°, que la feconde de- 
 nomination eft la plus rare ; 2°, que les anciennes chartes em- 
 ploient indifferemment les deux autres pour marquer un citoyen 
 de la derniere ville, ce qui nous fait pencher a la regarder comme 
 la vraie patrie de Bernard." — Hijioire Litteraire de la France. 
 
 Dr. Neale fays that Bernard was " born at Morlaix in Bretagne, 
 but of Englifh parents." Trench calls him "the contemporary 
 and fellow-countryman of his more illuftrious namefake of 
 Clairvaux." Pitfeus fimply fays, " Natione Anglus^ or dints S. 
 Benedicliy Monachui Cluniacenfis." 
 
 1 In his introduction to " The Celeftial Country," Dr. Neale 
 fays : — " I have here deviated from my ordinary rule of adopting 
 the meafure of the original ; becaufe our language, if it could be 
 tortured to any diftant refemblance of its rhythm, would utterly 
 fail to give any idea of the majeftic fweetnefs of the Latin." — 
 Mediaval Hymns and Sequences. London, 2d Edition. 
 
 3 " As a contraft to the mifery and pollution of earth," fays 
 Dr. Neale, " the poem [De Contemptu Mundi\ opens with a de- 
 fcription of the peace and glory of heaven, of fuch rare beauty 
 
The Celefiial Country. 37 
 
 as not eafily to be matched by any mediaeval compofition on the 
 fame fubjeft. Dean Trench, in his * Sacred Latin Poetry,' gave 
 a very beautiful cento of ninety-five lines from the work. From 
 that cento I tranflated the larger part in the firft edition of the 
 prefent book, following the arrangement of Dean Trench, and 
 not that of Bernard. The great popularity which my tranflation, 
 however inferior to the original, attained, is evinced by the very 
 numerous hymns compiled from it, which have found their way 
 into modern collections} fo that in fome fhape or other the 
 Cluniac's verfes have become, as it were, naturalized among us. 
 This led me to think that a fuller extract from the Latin, and a 
 further tranflation into Englifh, might not be unacceptable to the 
 lovers of facred poetry." 
 
 " It would be moft unthankful did I not exprefs my gratitude 
 to God for the favor He has given fome of the centos made from 
 the poem, but efpecially Jerujalem the Golden. It has found a 
 place in fome twenty hymnals j and for the laft two years it has 
 hardly been poflible to read any newfpaper, which gives promi- 
 nence to ecclefiaftical news, without feeing its employment 
 chronicled at fome dedication or other feftival. It is alfo a great 
 favorite with diflenters, and has obtained admifiion to the Roman 
 Catholic fervices. * And I fay this,' to quote Bernard's own 
 preface, * in no wife arrogantly, but with all humility, and there- 
 fore boldly.' 
 
 " But more thankful ftill am I that the Cluniac's verfes mould 
 have foothed the dying hours of many of God's fervants, the 
 moft ftriking inftance, of which I know, is related in the 
 memoir publifhed by Mr. Brownlow, under the title, A Little 
 Child pall lead them ; where he fays that the child of whom 
 he writes, when fuftering agonies which the medical attendants 
 declared to be almoft unparalleled, would lie without a murmur 
 or motion, while the whole four hundred lines were read. 
 
38 
 
 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 " I have no hefitation in faying that I look on thefe verfes of 
 Bernard as the moft lovely, in the fame way that the Dies Ira 
 is the moft fublime, and the Stabat Mater the moft pathetic of 
 mediaeval poems. They are even fuperior to that glorious hymn 
 on the fame fubjeft, the De Gloria et Gaudiis Paradifi of St. 
 Peter Damiani. For the fake of comparifon, I quote fome of 
 the moft ftriking ftanzas of the latter, availing myfelf of the 
 admirable tranflation of Mr. Wackerbarth [Med. Hymns, ad 
 Edition, London) : 
 
 THE GLORY AND JOYS OF PARADISE. 
 
 There nor waxing moon, nor waning 
 
 Sun nor ftars in courfes bright j 
 For the Lamb to that glad city 
 
 Shines an everlafting light : 
 There the daylight beams for ever, 
 
 All unknown are time and night. 
 
 For the Saints, in beauty beaming, 
 
 Shine in light and glory pure ; 
 Crowned in triumph's flufhing honors, 
 
 Joy in unifon fecure ; 
 And in fafety tell their battles, 
 
 And their foes' difcomfiture. 
 
 Freed from every ftain of evil, 
 
 All their carnal wars are done j 
 For the flefh made fpiritual 
 
 And the foul agree in one j 
 Peace unbroken fpreads enjoyment, 
 
 Sin and fcandal are unknown. 
 
^he Celejiial Country. 39 
 
 Here they live in endlefs being ; 
 
 Paffingnefs hath paffed away j 
 Here they bloom, they thrive, they flourifh, 
 
 For decayed is all decay : 
 Lafting energy hath fwallowed 
 
 Darkling death's malignant fway. 
 
 Though each one's refpe&ive merit 
 
 Hath its varying palm afligned, 
 Love takes all as his pofleflion, 
 
 Where his power hath all combined j 
 So that all that each poffefles 
 
 All partake in unconfined. 
 
 Christ, Thy foldiers' palm of honor, 
 
 Unto this Thy city free 
 Lead me when my warfare's girdle 
 
 I fhall cart away from me — 
 A partaker in Thy bounty 
 
 With Thy bleffed ones to be. 
 
 Grant me vigor, while I labor 
 
 In the ceafelefs battle preffed, 
 That Thou mayft, the conflict over, 
 
 Grant me everlafting reft j 
 And I may at length inherit 
 
 Thee, my portion ever bleft." 
 
 ** Archdeacon Trench fays very well, after referring to the 
 Ode of Cafimir (the great Latin poet of Poland), Urit me 
 Patriae decor, that both ' turn upon the fame theme, the heav- 
 enly home-ficknefs ; but with all the claflical beauty of the Ode, 
 
4<3 The Celefiial Country, 
 
 and it is great, who does not feel that the poor Cluniac monk's 
 is the more real and deep utterance ?' 
 
 " The Ode, however, is well worthy of a tranflation, and here 
 is an attempt : 
 
 IT KINDLES ALL MY SOUL. 
 
 It kindles all my foul, 
 My Country's lovelinefs ! Thofe ftarry choirs 
 
 That watch around the pole, 
 And the moon's tender light, and heavenly fires 
 
 Through golden halls that roll. 
 O chorus of the night ! O planets, fworn 
 
 The mufic of the fpheres 
 To follow ! Lovely watchers, that think fcorn 
 
 To reft till day appears ! 
 Me, for celeftial homes of glory born, 
 
 Why here, oh why fo long, 
 Do ye behold an exile from on high ? 
 
 Here, O ye mining throng, 
 With lilies fpread the mound where I fhall lie : 
 
 Here let me drop my chain, 
 And duft to duft returning, caft away 
 
 The trammels that remain j 
 The reft of me fliall fpring to endlefs day !" 
 
 4 Thefe two lines are taken from the laft London edition. 
 In fome editions they are thus given : 
 
 " And the perfect from the fluttered, 
 
 And the fallen from them that ftand." 
 
 5 " Leah and Rachel are allegorized in three different ways by 
 mediaeval poets. Firft, of the a&ive and contemplative life j and 
 
The Celeftial Country. 41 
 
 thence alfo, by an eafy tranfition, to the toil we endure on earth, 
 and the eternal contemplation of God's glory in Heaven as here. 
 So again, in a fine but rugged profe in the Nuremberg Miflal 
 for St. Jerome's Day : 
 
 Then, when all carnal ftrife hath ceafed, 
 And we from warfare are releafed, 
 O grant us in that Heavenly Feaft 
 
 To fee Thee as Thou art : 
 To Leah give, the battle won, 
 
 Her Rachel's dearer heart ; 
 To Martha, when the ftrife is done, 
 
 Her Mary's better part. 
 
 "The parallel fymbol of Martha and Mary is, however, in 
 this fenfe far more common, and is even found in epitaphs, as 
 in that of Gundreda de Warren, daughter of William the Con- 
 queror : 
 
 A Martha to the houfelefs poor, a Mary in her love j 
 
 And though her Martha's part be gone, her Mary's lives above. 
 
 u Bernard, in the paflage we are confidering, has a double pro- 
 priety in the changes of which he fpeaks. Ifrael, according to 
 St. Auguftine's rendering, means, He that beholds God; Rachel, 
 according to the unwarrantable mediaeval explanation, That be- 
 holds the Beginning, i. c, Christ. Thus, the change fpoken of 
 is from earth to the Beatific Virion ; and has a reference alfo to 
 the New Name and White Stone of the Apocalypfe. 
 
 " The fecond allegory of Leah and Rachel expounds them of 
 the Synagogue and the Church ; the third makes them to repre- 
 fent earthly affliction patiently endured " — Mediaeval Hymns. 
 ad Edition. 
 
42 The Celeftial Country. 
 
 6 "It is not without a deep myftical meaning that thefe 
 ftones are feledted by the poet. 
 
 "The twelve foundation ftones of the Apocalypfe gave rife, 
 as might be expected, to an infinite variety of myftical interpre- 
 tations. 'Jafper,' fays the comment of Marbodus, 'is the firft 
 foundation of the Church of God, and is of a green color.' ' It 
 fignifies thofe who always hold the Faith of God and never depart 
 from it, or wither, but are always flourilhing therein, and fear 
 not the affaults of the devil.' 'The emerald is exceeding green, 
 furpafiing all gems and herbs in greennefs.' « By the emerald we 
 underftand thofe who excel others in the vigor of their faith, and 
 dwell among infidels who be frigid and arid in their love.' l The 
 fardius, which is wholly red, fignifies the martyrs who pour forth 
 their blood for Christ.* * The topaz is rare, and therefore pre- 
 cious. It has two colors, one like gold, the other clearer. In 
 clearnefs it furpaftes all gems, and nothing is more beautiful. It 
 fignifies thofe who love God and their neighbor, ' ' The amethyft 
 is entirely red, and fhoots out rofy flames. Its color fignifies 
 earthly fuffering; its emiffions, prayers for thofe that caufe it."* 
 — Mcdia-val Hymns. 2d Edition. 
 
 7 Thefe ftanzas are evidently confidered by Dr. Neale his beft. 
 See page 37. In deference to that opinion, they are given here in 
 the form in which they appear in the laft edition of Mediaval 
 Hymns. 
 
 8 "Decachord, with reference to the myftical explanation, which, 
 feeing in the number ten a type of perfection, underftands the 
 4 inftrument of ten firings ' of the perfect harmony of heaven." 
 
 9 " I have been fo often afked to what tune the words of Ber- 
 nard may be fung, that I may here mention that of Mr. Ewing, 
 the earlieft written, the beft known, and with children the moft 
 
The Celefiial Country. 43 
 
 popular j that of my friend, the Rev. H. L. Jenner, perhaps the 
 moft ecclefiaftical $ and that of another friend, Mr. Edmund 
 Sedding, which, to my mind, beft expreffes the meaning of the 
 words." — Mediaeval Hymns, ad Edition. 
 
 10 No copy of De Contemptu Mundi is known to be in the 
 United States, and hence the extract given is only the cento from 
 Trench's Sacred Latin Poetry, preceded by the firft fix lines of 
 the poem. It is the part firft tranflated by Dr. Neale, beginning 
 at the line, " Brief life is here our portion." 
 
 NOTE, that in this edition of The Celeftial Country thefe 
 changes have been made : 
 
 ift. The poem has been divided into irregular ftanzas. This 
 change of form is partly for the convenience of thofe who love 
 to refer and re-refer to favorite pafTages ; partly to enable chil- 
 dren readily to feledr. from it ftanzas to be learned or fung 5 but 
 chiefly to render its intermingling fentences more clear to thofe 
 who have not become familiar with its conftru&ion. 
 
 2d. The punftuation has been materially remodelled and 
 changed. 
 
 3d. The author's text has been altered in three inftances, where- 
 in the errors corrected feem manifeftly flips of the pen or blunders 
 of the compofitor, viz., in the ninth ftanza,line fourteen, "thofe" 
 is fubftituted for " them 5" in the twenty-fecond ftanza, line two, 
 "Thy" is fubftituted for "His," and in the forty-firft ftanza, line 
 nine, "But" is fubftituted for "And." 
 4 
 
44 The Dies Ira. 
 
 THE DIES IRiE 
 
 A FRANCISCAN monk named Thomas, 
 born near the beginning of the thirteenth 
 century, at Celano,a Neapolitan village, achieved 
 fome reputation in his time as the friend and 
 biographer of St. Francis de Affifi, founder of 
 the Order of Minorites. About the year 1 250, as 
 is fuppofed, he wrote a brief lyric, which, reach- 
 ing above and beyond his creed and time, has 
 entered in fome form into the worfhip of every 
 Chriftian people. In the Romiih Burial Ser- 
 vice it forms the Sequence for the Dead, and is 
 fung with folemn majefty at the great Sixtine 
 Chapel, while portions of it enter into the praife 
 or meditations of nearly "all who profefs and 
 call themfelves Chriftians." So that, becoming 
 more highly efteemed, and more generally known 
 with each century of its long hiftory, it is at the 
 prefent time both fung at Rome and approved 
 by all Proteftant Chriftendom. 
 
The Dies Ira. 45 
 
 A long lift might be framed of the great who 
 have avowed for it a fupreme admiration, ex- 
 celling that yielded to any other compofition of 
 its kind. And fuch a roll would contain the 
 names of men of different countries as of dif- 
 ferent creeds ; of foldiers, ftatefmen and poets ; 
 of hiftorians, Churchmen, and compofers, upon 
 whofe lips it has hovered, and in whofe works 
 it has been engraved. Mozart, Haydn, Goethe, 
 Schlegel, Johnfon, Dryden, Scott, Milman, and 
 Jeremy Taylor would be among thefe names. 
 
 This lyric, which is the greateft of hymns, 
 neverthelefs is caft in the fimpleft of forms. 
 Beginning with an exclamation from the Scrip- 
 tures, it continues through its few ftanzas the 
 addrefs of a fingle actor upon a fingle fubjecl:. 
 Its meafure could not be more artlefs, nor its 
 ftanzas more fimple. The auguft language in 
 which it is clothed, it has bent into the form of 
 rhyme, and this rhyme is of a kind which is 
 faid to be wanting in dignity, and better adapt- 
 ed to comic than to elevated verfe. Yet it 
 commands the homage of the Englifhman, the 
 German, the Italian, and the modern Greek; 
 
46 c Dx Dies Ira. 
 
 and even poffeffes (o ftrange a gift of fafcination, 
 a gift in which no other compofition equals and 
 but one other approaches it, that the very found 
 of its words will allure him who is ignorant of 
 their meaning. 
 
 This marvellous power cannot be meafured 
 and defined, yet a diftinguifhed American cler- 
 gyman has thus clofely analyzed it : " Com- 
 " bining fomewhat of the rhythm of claflical 
 " Latin, with the rhymes of the mediaeval Latin, 
 cc treating of a theme full of awful fublimity, and 
 " grouping together the moft ftartling imagery of 
 u Scripture as to the laft Judgment, and throwing 
 " this into yet ftronger relief by the barbaric fim- 
 " plicity of the ftyle in which it is fet, and adding 
 " to all thefe its full and trumpet-like cadences, 
 " and uniting with the impaflioned feelings of the 
 " South, whence it emanated, the gravity of the 
 " North, whofe feverer ftyle it adopted." — Dr. 
 W. R. Williams. 
 
 The Great Hymn has ever allured and eluded 
 translators. Its apparent artleflhefs and fim- 
 plicity indicate that it can be turned readily into 
 another language, but its fecret power refufes to 
 
1'be Dies Ira. 47 
 
 be thus transferred. A German theologian 
 (Lifco, Berlin, 1843) nas colle&ed ana< P UD ~ 
 liftied eighty-feven verfions, nearly all of which 
 are in the German. In our Englifh tongue the 
 tafk of rendering the Latin into verfe of the 
 fame meafure is more difficult, and fome of our 
 tranflators have fought to reproduce the form, 
 and others to preferve the power of the original. 
 The reader of Scott will remember with what 
 ftrength a few ftanzas burft on us in the firft 
 reading of " The Lay." In form and meaning 
 they hardly claim the name of a tranflation, yet 
 they have caught the fpirit of the hymn with a 
 vividnefs that nothing in our language equals. 
 
 The mafs was fung, and prayers were faid, 
 And folemn requiem for the dead ; 
 And bells toll'd out their mighty peal, 
 For the departed fpirit's weal ; 
 And ever in the office clofe 
 The hymn of interceffion rofe ; 
 And far the echoing aifles prolong 
 The awful burden of the fong — 
 Dies Irje, Dies Illa ! 
 
 SOLVET S-ffiCLUM IN FAVILLA ; 
 
48 The Dies Ira. 
 
 While the pealing organ rung ; 
 Were it meet with facred ftrain 
 To clofe my lay fo light and vain, 
 
 Thus the holy Fathers fung : 
 
 That day of wrath, that dreadful day ! 
 When heaven and earth fhall pafs away, 
 What power (hall be the finner's ftay ? 
 How fhall he meet that dreadful day ? 
 
 When fhrivelling like a parched fcroll 
 The flaming heavens together roll ; 
 When louder yet, and yet more dread, 
 Swells the high trump that wakes the dead ! 
 
 Oh ! on that day, that wrathful day 
 When man to judgment wakes from clay, 
 Be Thou the trembling finner's ftay, 
 Though heaven and earth fhall pafs away ! 
 
^he Dies Ira. 49 
 
 I. 
 
 The eftablifhed verfion of the hymn is 
 known as that of Paris. It differs in but one 
 line from that of Rome, which has for the third 
 line of the firft ftanza, Cruets expandens vexilla. 
 
 There have been ftanzas prefixed to the hymn 
 and others added ; but, in its great ftrength, it 
 has fhaken off all fuch fpurious additions. A 
 marble flab in the Church of St. Francis, at 
 Mantua, bore a copy of the hymn prefaced 
 by five ftanzas, which many fcholars have 
 thought, from the great age of the church, 
 authentic. But the church is a century younger 
 than the hymn, and thefe ftanzas condemn 
 themfelves : 
 
 Dies ilia, dies irae 
 
 Quam conemur praevenire, 
 
 Obveamque Deo irae. 
 
 The inverfion of the Scriptural text, the 
 poverty of the rhyme, and the weaknefs of the 
 thought, are not faults of the Dies Ir^e. Its 
 author undoubtedly took the quotation from 
 Zephaniah as a text, and placed it at the head 
 
50 The Dies Ira. 
 
 of his compofition ; and the inverfion, "Dies illa y 
 dies ira" is the play upon words to which an 
 imitator alone would refort. 
 
 II. 
 
 The author of the firft tranflation given in 
 this volume, in a preface to his work, fays : 
 
 " A production univerfally acknowledged to 
 " have no fuperior of its class mould be as lit- 
 M erally rendered as the ftru&ure of the lan- 
 " guage into which it is tranflated will admit. 
 " Moreover, no tranflation can be complete 
 " which does not conform to the original in its 
 " rhythmic quantities. The mufic of the Dies 
 " \&m is as old as the hymn, if not older ; and 
 " with thofe who are familiar with both, they 
 "are infeparably connected in thought. To 
 " fatisfy the exactions of fuch minds, the ca- 
 " dences muft be the fame." 
 
 In this endeavor the author has fo well fuc- 
 ceeded, that when this verfion is compared 
 ftanza by ftanza with the original, it will be 
 found to be in the fame trochaic meafure, in the 
 
The Dies Ira. 51 
 
 fame difficult double rhyme, in ftanzas of the 
 fame triplicate conftru&ion, and, with feweft 
 errors, to be as a tranflation the moft literal and 
 juft that has been made. Yet this fuccefs in 
 letters was achieved by a foldier, during the 
 gloomieft period of a great and diftracling war. 
 The author is Major-General John A. Dix, 
 U. S. V., and the tranflation was made at 
 Fortrefs Monroe, in the fecond year of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 III. 
 
 The intenfe power of the Great Hymn is 
 alfo exemplified in the different renderings which 
 have been made by the fame author. Dr. Abra- 
 ham Coles, an American phyfician, has per- 
 formed indeed the remarkable tafk of making 
 thirteen different verfions ; fix of which are in 
 the trochaic meafure and double rhyme of the 
 hymn, and all are fufficiently diftincl: and origi- 
 nal to form the creditable work of thirteen 
 different men. This verfion is the firft of Dr. 
 Coles. 
 
52 Tie Dies Ira. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The next verfion is that of the Rev. Franklin 
 Johnfon, fpoken of in the introduction and now 
 fubftituted in the place of one of Dr. Coles'. 
 
 V. 
 
 This verfion is by that nobleman of whom 
 Pope has written : 
 
 " Such was Rofcommon, not more learned than good, 
 Of manners generous as his noble blood : 
 To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, 
 And every author's merit but his own." 
 
 And of whom Dryden has confefTed : 
 
 " It was my Lord Rofcommon's efTay on 
 " tranflated verfe which made me uneafy till I 
 " tried whether or no I was capable of follow- 
 " ing his rules, and of reducing the fpeculation 
 M into practice." 
 
 And of whom Johnfon has recorded : 
 
 " At the moment in which he expired, he 
 M uttered, with an energy of voice that exprefled 
 
tfhe Dies Ira. 53 
 
 " the moft fervent devotion, two lines of his 
 " own verfion of Dies Irje : 
 
 ' My God, my Father, and my Friend, 
 Do not forfake me in my end.' *' 
 
 In the beautiful fervor of its devotion, Rof- 
 common's excels all other tranflations, but its 
 verfe is not that of the Dies Irje. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Craftiaw, the contemporary of Herbert, and 
 friend of Cowley, is the author of this verfion. 
 It is the oldeft in our language (1646), though 
 there is a weak paraphrafe by Drummond of 
 Hawthornden, beginning : 
 
 Ah, filly foul ! what wilt thou fay 
 When He, whom heaven and earth obey, 
 Comes man to judge in the laft day ! 
 
 No tranflation furpaffes Crafhaw's in ftrength, 
 but the form of his ftanza and the meafure of 
 his verfe are leaft like thofe of the original. 
 
54 ^ke Dies Ira. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The verfion of Dr. W. J. Irons may be re- 
 garded as the accepted verfion of the prefent 
 day in Great Britain, and is the one fele&ed by 
 the Hymnal Noted. It is in the double rhyme 
 and meafure of the original, and parts of it bear 
 a ftriking refemblance to the American verfion 
 of General Dix. But a much more curious 
 coincidence in conception, with an abfolute iden- 
 tity of language in many parts, exifts in the un- 
 publifhed verfion of an accomplifhed tranflator 
 (Mr. A. Peries, of Philadelphia), wherein feveral 
 ftanzas differ but little from thofe of General 
 Dix. The eleventh ftands as follows : 
 
 " Righteous Judge of retribution, 
 Grant us finners abfolution. 
 Ere the day of diflblution !'* 
 
 VIII. 
 
 It is a notable fadr. in the hiftory of the 
 Dies Irje, that the beft Englifh tranflations 
 which we poffefs are not the work of our 
 
The Dies Ira. 55 
 
 great poets. A recent verfion, which fo capable 
 and accomplished a critic as Mr. Prime pro- 
 nounces to be M in many refpe&s the beft Eng- 
 lifh verfion hitherto produced, and peculiarly 
 valuable for thofe who do not read the Latin, 
 and who defire to gain fome idea of the power 
 and beauty of this moft celebrated hymn of the 
 Church," alio illuftrates this remarkable facl:. 
 The author is Edward SlofTon, Efq., of the bar 
 of New York. 
 
 And in this connection it may be obferved, 
 that even fo accomplifhed a mafter in profe and 
 verfe as Macaulay has fucceeded no better in 
 the difficult tafk than is mown by his verfion 
 written for the London Chrijiian Obferver in 
 1826, beginning — 
 
 " On that great, that awful day, 
 This vain world fliall pafs away. 
 Thus the Sibyl fang of old j 
 Thus hath holy David told. 
 There fliall be a deadly fear 
 When the Avenger fliall appear; 
 And, unveiled before his eye, 
 All the works of men fliall lie." 
 
56 The Dies Ira, 
 
 I. 
 
 THOMAS DE CELANO. 
 
 Dies ir^:, dies illa, dies tribulationis et anguftiae, dies calam% 
 itatis et miferiae, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulae et 
 turbinis, dies tubae et clangoris fuper civitatis munitas, et fuper 
 angulos excelfos! — Sophonia, i. 15, 1 6. 
 
 DIES IR-ffi, DIES ILLA ! 
 Solvet faeclum in favilla, 
 Tefte David cum Sybilla. 
 
 11. 
 
 Quantus tremor eft futurus, 
 Quando Judex eft venturus, 
 Cun&a ftri&e difcuflurus. 
 
 in. 
 
 Tuba mirum fpargens fonum 
 Per fepulcra regionum, 
 Coget omnes ante thronum. 
 
The Dies Ira, 57 
 
 II. 
 
 GENERAL DIX. 
 
 That day, a day of wrath, a day of trouble and difirejs, a 
 day of ivafienefs and defolation, a day of darknefs and gloominefs, 
 a day of clouds and thick darknefs, a day of the trumpet and alarm 
 againjl the fenced cities, and againji the high towers ! — Zeph- 
 
 ANIAH, i. I5, 1 6, 
 
 DAY of vengeance, without morrow ! 
 Earth mall end in flame and forrow, 
 As from Saint and Seer we borrow. 
 
 2. 
 
 Ah ! what terror is impending, 
 When the Judge is feen defcending, 
 And each fecret veil is rending. 
 
 3- 
 To the throne, the trumpet founding, 
 Through the fepulchres refounding, 
 Summons all, with voice aftounding. 
 
58 The Dies Ira. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Mors ftupebit, et natura, 
 Quum refurget creatura, 
 Judicanti refponfura. 
 
 v. 
 
 Liber fcriptus proferetur, 
 In quo totum continetur, 
 Unde mundus judicetur. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Judex ergo cum fedebit, 
 Quidquid latet, apparebit 
 Nil inultum remanebit. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Quid fum, mifer ! tunc difturus, 
 Quern patronum rogaturus, 
 Quum vix juftus fit fecurus ? 
 
The Dies Ira. 59 
 
 Death and Nature, mazed, are quaking, 
 When, the grave's long (lumber breaking, 
 Man to judgment is awaking. 
 
 On the written Volume's pages, 
 Life is fhown in all its ftages — 
 Judgment-record of paft ages ! 
 
 Sits the Judge, the raifed arraigning, 
 Darkeft myfteries explaining, 
 Nothing unavenged remaining. 
 
 What mall I then fay, unfriended, 
 
 By no advocate attended, 
 
 When the juft are fcarce defended ? 
 
Oo The Dies Ira. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Rex tremendae majeftatis, 
 Qui falvandos falvas gratis, 
 Salva me, fons pietatis ! 
 
 IX. 
 
 Recordare, Jefu pie, 
 Quod fum caufa tuae viae ; 
 Ne me perdas ilia die I 
 
 Quaerens me, fedifti laffus, 
 Redemifti, crucem paffus : 
 Tantus labor non fit caffiis. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Jufte Judex ultionis, 
 Donum fac remiflionis 
 Ante diem rationis. 
 
The Dies Ira. 61 
 
 8. 
 
 King of majefty tremendous, 
 By Thy faving grace defend us, 
 Fount of pity, fafety fend us ! 
 
 Holy Jesus, meek, forbearing, 
 
 For my fins the death-crown wearing, 
 
 Save me, in that day, defpairing. 
 
 10. 
 
 Worn and weary, Thou haft fought me ; 
 By Thy crofs and paifion bought me — 
 Spare the hope Thy labors brought me. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Righteous Judge of retribution, 
 Give, O give me abfolution 
 Ere the day of diflblution. 
 
 5 
 
62 The Dies Ira. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Ingemifco tanquam reus, 
 Culpa rubet vultus meus j 
 Supplicant! parce, Deus ! 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Qui Mariam abfolvifti, 
 Et latronem exaudifti, 
 Mihi quoque fpem dedifti. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Preces meae non funt dignae, 
 Sed Tu bonus fac benigne 
 Ne perenni cremer igne ! 
 
 xv. 
 
 Inter oves locum praefta, 
 Et ab haedis me fequeftra, 
 Statuens in parte dextra. 
 
Tbe Dies Ira. 63 
 
 12. 
 
 As a guilty culprit groaning, 
 Flufhed my face, my errors owning, 
 Hear, O God, my fpirit's moaning ! 
 
 I 3- 
 
 Thou to Mary gav'ft remiffion, 
 Heard'ft the dying thief's petition, 
 Bad'ft me hope in my contrition. 
 
 14. 
 
 In my prayers no grace difcerning, 
 Yet on me Thy favor turning, 
 Save my foul from endlefs burning. 
 
 15. 
 
 Give me, when Thy flieep confiding 
 Thou art from the goats dividing, 
 On Thy right a place abiding ! 
 
64 The Dies Ira. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Confutatis maledi&is, 
 Flammis acribus addi&is, 
 Voca me cum benedi&is J 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Oro fupplex et acclinis, 
 Cor contritum quafi cinis 3 
 Gere curam mei finis. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Lacrymofa dies ilia ! 
 Qua refurget ex favilla. 
 Judicandus homo reus ; 
 Huic ergo parce, Deus I 
 
The Dm Ira. 65 
 
 16. 
 
 When the wicked are confounded, 
 And by bitter flames furrounded, 
 Be my joyful pardon founded ! 
 
 *7- 
 
 Proftrate, all my guilt difcerning, 
 Heart as though to aihes turning ; 
 Save, O fave me from the burning f 
 
 18. 
 
 Day of weeping, when from afhes 
 Man mail rife mid lightning flames, 
 Guilty, trembling with contrition, 
 Save him, Father, from perdition ! 
 
66 tie Dm Ira. 
 
 III. 
 
 DR. COLES. 
 
 rXAY of wrath, that day of burning, 
 -*-^ Seer and fibyl fpeak concerning, 
 All the world to afhes turning. 
 
 2. 
 
 Oh, what fear fhall it engender, 
 When the Judge fhall come in fplendor, 
 Strict to mark and juft to render. 
 
 3- 
 
 Trumpet fcattering founds of wonder, 
 Rending fepulchres afunder, 
 Shall refiftlefs fummons thunder. 
 
"the Dies Ira. 67 
 
 DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 TTV AY of wrath, that day of burning ! 
 ■*-^ Earth fhall end, to afhes turning : 
 Thus fing Saint and Seer difcerning. 
 
 Ah, the dread beyond expreflion 
 When the Judge in awful feffion 
 Searcheth out the world's tranfgreflion ! 
 
 3- 
 
 Then is heard a found of wonder : 
 Mighty blafts of trumpet-thunder 
 Rend the fepulchers afunder. 
 
68 The Dies Ira. 
 
 All aghaft then Death fhall fhiver, 
 And great Nature's frame fhall quiver, 
 When the graves their dead deliver. 
 
 5- 
 
 Book where a&ions are recorded, 
 
 All the ages have afforded 
 
 Shall be brought, and dooms awarded. 
 
 6. 
 
 When fhall fit the Judge unerring, 
 He'll unfold all here occurring, 
 No juft vengeance then deferring. 
 
 What fhall I fay, that time pending ? 
 Afk what advocate's befriending, 
 When the juft man needs defending ? 
 
The Dies Ira. 69 
 
 4. 
 
 What can e'er that woe refemble 
 Where even Death and Nature tremble 
 As the rifing throngs aflemble ! 
 
 Vain, my foul, is all concealing ; 
 For the Book is brought, revealing 
 Every deed and thought and feeling. 
 
 On His throne the Judge is feated, 
 And our fins are loud repeated, 
 And to each is vengeance meted. 
 
 Wretched me ! How gain a hearing, 
 Where the righteous falter, fearing, 
 At the pomp of His appearing ? 
 
7° <Jbe Dies Ira. 
 
 8. 
 
 Dreadful King, all power poffefling, 
 
 Saving freely thofe confeffing, 
 
 Save Thou me, O Fount of Bleffing ! 
 
 Think, O Jesus, for what reafon 
 Thou didft bear earth's fpite and treafon, 
 Nor me lofe in that dread feafon ! 
 
 10. 
 
 Seeking me Thy worn feet halted, 
 On the crofs Thy foul death tailed 
 Let fuch travail not be wafted ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Righteous Judge of retribution ! 
 Make me gift of abfolution 
 Ere that day of execution ! 
 
"The Dies Ira. 71 
 
 8. 
 
 King of majefty and fplendor, 
 Fount of pity, true and tender, 
 Be, Thyfelf, my ftrong defender. 
 
 From Thy woes my hope I borrow : 
 I did caufe Thy way of forrow : 
 Do not lofe me on that morrow. 
 
 10. 
 
 Seeking me, Thou weary sankeft, 
 
 Nor from fcourge and crofs Thou flirankeft 
 
 Make not vain the cup Thou drankeft. 
 
 11. 
 
 Thou wert righteous even in flaying; 
 Yet forgive my guilty ftraying, 
 Now, before that day difmaying. 
 
7 2 <Hhe Dies Ira. 
 
 12. 
 
 Culprit-like I plead, heart-broken, 
 On my cheek fhame's crimfon token 
 Let the pardoning word be fpoken ! 
 
 *3- 
 
 Thou who Mary gav'ft remiffion, 
 Heard'ft the dying thief's petition, 
 Cheer'ft with hope my loft condition, 
 
 14. 
 
 Though my prayers be void of merit 1 
 What is needful, Thou confer it, 
 Left I endlefs fire inherit ! 
 
 15. 
 
 Be there, Lord, my place decided 
 With Thy fheep, from goats divided, 
 Kindly to Thy right hand guided ! 
 
The Dies Ira. 73 
 
 12. 
 
 Though my fins with fharne suffufe me, 
 Though my very moans accufe me, 
 Canft Thou, Loving One, refufe me ? 
 
 J 3- 
 
 He by whom the Thief was fhriven 
 And the Magdalen forgiven 
 Grants to me the hope of Heaven. 
 
 Though unworthy my petition, 
 Grant me full and free remiflion, 
 And redeem me from perdition. 
 
 15. 
 
 Be my lot in love decreed me : 
 From the goats in fafety lead me ; 
 With Thy fheep forever feed me. 
 
74 the Dies Ira. 
 
 16. 
 
 When th' accurfed away are driven, 
 
 To eternal burnings given, 
 
 Call me with the blefled to heaven ! 
 
 I befeech Thee, proftrate lying, 
 Heart as afhes, contrite, fighing, 
 Care for me when I am dying ! 
 
 18. 
 
 Day of tears and late repentance, 
 Man mail rife to hear his fentence : 
 Him, the child of guilt and error, 
 Spare, Lord, in that hour of terror ! 
 
The Dies Ira. 75 
 
 16. 
 
 When Thy foes are all confounded, 
 And with bitter flames furrounded, 
 Call me to Thy blifs unbounded. 
 
 17- 
 
 From the duft, I pray Thee, hear me : 
 When my end fhall come, be near me ; 
 Let Thy grace fuftain and cheer me. 
 
 18. 
 
 Ah, that day, that day of weeping, 
 When, no more in ashes sleeping, 
 Man shall rise and stand before Thee ! 
 Spare him, spare him, I implore Thee. 
 
?6 Lbe Dies Ira. 
 
 V. 
 
 EARL ROSCOMMON. 
 I. 
 
 >T^HE day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
 -*■ Shall the whole world in afties lay, 
 As David and the Sibyls fay. 
 
 2. 
 What horror will invade the mind 
 When the ftricl: Judge, who would be kind, 
 Shall have few venial faults to find. 
 
 3- 
 
 The laft loud trumpet's wondrous found 
 Shall through the rending tombs rebound, 
 And wake the nations under ground. 
 
Tf>e Dies Ira. 77 
 
 VI. 
 
 RICHARD CRASHAW 
 
 HEAR' ST thou, my foul, what ferious things 
 Both the Pfalm and Sibyl fings 
 Of a fure Judge, from whofe fharp ray 
 The world in flames fhall fly away ! 
 
 2. 
 
 O that Fire ! before whofe face 
 Heaven and earth fhall find no place : 
 O thofe Eyes ! whofe angry light 
 Muft be the day of that dread night. 
 
 3- 
 O that Trump ! whofe blaft (hall run 
 An even round with th' circling Sun, 
 And urge the murmuring graves to bring 
 Pale mankind forth to meet his King. 
 
78 The Dies Ira. 
 
 4. 
 Nature and death fhall with furprife 
 Behold the pale offender rife, 
 And view the Judge with confcious eyes. 
 
 5. 
 
 Then fhall, with univerfal dread, 
 The facred, myftic book be read 
 To try the living and the dead. 
 
 6. 
 
 The Judge afcends His awful throne 5 
 He makes each fecret fin be known, 
 And all with fhame confefs their own. 
 
 7- 
 O then, what intereft fhall I make 
 To fave my laft important flake 
 When the moft juft have caufe to quake ! 
 
Tbe Dies Ira. 79 
 
 4- 
 Horror of Nature, Hell, and Death ! 
 When a deep groan from beneath 
 Shall cry, " We come, we come !" and all 
 The caves of night anfwer one call. 
 
 5. 
 
 O that book ! whofe leaves fo bright 
 Will fet the world in fevere light. 
 O that Judge ! whofe hand, whofe eye 
 None can endure, yet none can fly. 
 
 Ah then, poor foul ! what wilt thou fay ? 
 And to what patron choofe to pray, 
 When ftars themfelves fhall ftagger, and 
 The moft firm foot no more fhall ftand ? 
 
 7- 
 But Thou giv'ft leave, dread Lord, that wc 
 Take fhelter from Thyfelf in Thee ; 
 And with the wings of Thine own dove 
 Fly to Thy fceptre of foft love ! 
 
80 <fbe Dies Ira. 
 
 8. 
 Thou mighty, formidable King ! 
 Thou mercy's unexhaufted fpring, 
 Some comfortable pity bring ! 
 
 9- 
 
 Forget not what my ranfom coft ; 
 Nor let my dear-bought foul be loft. 
 In ftorms of guilty terrors toft. 
 
 10. 
 
 Thou who for me didft feel fuch pain, 
 Whofe precious blood the crofs did ftain, 
 Let not thefe agonies be vain I 
 
 II. 
 
 Thou whom avenging powers obey, 
 Cancel my debt, too great to pay, 
 Before the fad accounting day ! 
 
The Dies Ira. 8l 
 
 8. 
 
 Dear [Lord], remember in that day 
 Who was the caufe Thou cam'ft this way ; 
 Thy fheep was ftrayed, and Thou wouldft be 
 Even loft Thyfelf in feeking me ! 
 
 9- 
 Shall all that labor, all that coft 
 Of love, and even that lofs, be loft ? 
 And this loved foul judged worth no lefs 
 Than all that way and wearinefs ? 
 
 10. 
 
 Juft Mercy, then, Thy reckoning be 
 With my price, and not with me ; 
 'Twas paid at iirft with too much pain 
 To be paid twice, or once in vain. 
 
 II. 
 
 Mercy, my Judge, mercy I cry, 
 With blufhing cheek and bleeding eye 5 
 The confcious colors of my fin 
 Are red without, and pak within. 
 
82 <%be Dies Ira. 
 
 12. 
 
 Surrounded with amazing fears, 
 Whofe load my foul with anguifh bears, 
 I figh, I weep ! accept my tears ! 
 
 13- 
 
 Thou who wert moved with Mary's grief. 
 
 And by abfolving of the thief 
 
 Haft given me hope, now give relief I 
 
 H. 
 Reject not my unworthy prayer ; 
 Preferve me from the dangerous fnare 
 Which death and gaping hell prepare. 
 
 15. 
 Give my exalted foul a place 
 Among Thy chofen right-hand race, 
 The fons of God and heirs of grace. 
 
tfhe Dies Ira. 83 
 
 12. 
 
 O let Thine own foft bowels pay 
 Thyfelf, and fo difcharge that day ! 
 If Sin can figh, Love can forgive, 
 O, fay the word, my foul fhall live ! 
 
 Thofe mercies which Thy Mary found, 
 Or who Thy crofs confefs'd and crowned, 
 Hope tells my heart the fame loves be 
 Still alive, and ftill for me. 
 
 14- 
 
 Though both my prayers and tears combine, 
 Both worthlefs are, for they are mine ; 
 But Thou Thy bounteous felf ftill be, 
 And fhow Thou art by faving me. 
 
 15. 
 
 O when Thy laft frown fhall proclaim 
 The flocks of goats to folds of flame, 
 And all Thy loft fheep found fhall be, 
 Let " Come ye blefled " then call me ! 
 
84 "The Dies Ira. 
 
 16. 
 
 From that infatiable abyfs, 
 
 Where flames devour and ferpents hifs, 
 
 Promote me to thy feat of blifs. 
 
 17- 
 
 Proftrate my contrite heart I rend, 
 My God, my Father, and my Friend : 
 Do not forfake me in my end ! 
 
 18. 
 
 Well may they curfe their fecond breath 
 Who rife to a reviving death : 
 Thou great Creator of mankind, 
 Let guilty man companion find ! 
 
The Dies Ira. 85 
 
 16. 
 
 When the dread «1T£" fhall divide 
 Thofe limbs of death from Thy left fide, 
 Let thofe life-fpeaking lips command 
 That I inherit Thy right hand ! 
 
 17. 
 
 O, hear a fuppliant heart all crufh'd, 
 And crumbled into contrite duft ! 
 My hope, my fear — my Judge, my Friend ! 
 Take charge of me, and of my end ! 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
86 Hbe Dies Ira. 
 
 VII. 
 
 DR. IRONS. 
 
 DAY of Wrath ! O Day of mourning ! 
 See ! once more the Crofs returning, 
 Heav'n and earth in afhes burning ! 
 
 2. 
 
 O what fear man's bofom rendeth, 
 When from Heav'n the Judge defcendeth, 
 On whofe fentence all dependeth ! 
 
 Wondrous found the Trumpet flingeth, 
 Through earth's fepulchres it ringeth, 
 AH before the throne it bringeth ! 
 
"The Dies Ira. 87 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MR. SLOSSON. 
 
 DAY of wrath ! of days That Day ! 
 Earth in flames fhall melt away, 
 Pfalmift thus and Sibyl fay. 
 
 2. 
 
 What fwift terrors then fhall fall, 
 When defcends the Judge of all, 
 Every action to recall ! 
 
 When the trump, with wondrous tone 
 Through the graves of nations gone, 
 Bids the race confront the Throne. 
 
88 The Dies Ira. 
 
 Death is ftruck, and nature quaking, 
 
 All creation is awaking, 
 
 To its Judge an anfwer making ! 
 
 Lo, the Book, exactly worded ! 
 Wherein all hath been recorded ; 
 Thence fhall judgment be awarded. 
 
 6. 
 
 When the Judge His feat attaineth, 
 And each hidden deed arraigneth, 
 Nothing unaveng'd remaineth. 
 
 What fhall I, frail man, be pleading, 
 Who for me be interceding, 
 When the juft are mercy needing ? 
 
( Tbe Dies Ircz. 89 
 
 Death fhall die — fair nature too ; 
 As the creature, ris'n anew, 
 Anfwers to his God's review. 
 
 He the fcroll of fate fhall fpread, 
 Writ with all things done or faid, 
 Thence to judge th* awaken'd dead. 
 
 6. 
 
 Lo ! He takes His feat of light ; 
 All that's dark fhall leap to fight, 
 Guilt, the fword of vengeance fmite. 
 
 What can I, then, wretched, plead ? 
 Who will mediate in my need 
 When the juft fhall fcarce fucceed ? 
 
90 The Dies Ira, 
 
 King of majefty tremendous, 
 Who doft free falvation fend us, 
 Fount of pity ! then befriend us ! 
 
 Think ! Kind Jefu, my falvation 
 Caus'd Thy wondrous Incarnation ; 
 Leave me not to reprobation ! 
 
 10. 
 
 Faint and weary Thou haft fought me, 
 On the Crofs of fuffering bought me ; 
 Shall fuch grace be vainly brought me ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Righteous Judge of retribution, 
 
 Grant Thy gift of abfolution, 
 
 Ere that reckoning day's conclufion ! 
 
^Ihe Dies Ira. 91 
 
 8. 
 
 King majeftic ! Sovereign dread ! 
 Saving all for whom He bled, 
 Save Thou me ! Salvation's Head ! 
 
 9- 
 
 Holy Jefus ! pricelefs ftay ! 
 Think ! for me Thy bleeding way ! 
 Lofe me not, upon That Day. 
 
 10. 
 
 Faint and weary, Thou haft fought, 
 By the Crofs, my crown haft bought ; 
 Can fuch anguifh be for naught ? 
 
 II. 
 
 Oh ! avenging Judge fevere, 
 Grant remiffion, full and clear, 
 Ere th' accounting day appear. 
 
Q2 ^he Dies Ira. 
 
 12. 
 
 Guilty, now I pour my moaning, 
 All my fhame with anguifh owning •, 
 Spare, O God, Thy fuppliant, groaning ! 
 
 r 3- 
 
 Thou, the finful woman faveft, 
 Thou, the dying thief forgaveft ; 
 And to me a hope vouchfafeft ! 
 
 14. 
 
 Worthlefs are my pray'rs and fighing, 
 Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, 
 Refcue me from fires undying ! 
 
 15- 
 
 With Thy favor'd ftieep, O place me ! 
 Nor among the goats abafe me ; 
 But to Thy right hand upraife me. 
 
The Dies Ira. 93 
 
 12. 
 
 Like a guilty thing I moan, 
 Flufti'd my cheek, my fins I own, 
 Hear, O God, Thy fuppliant's groan ! 
 
 J 3- 
 
 Magdalen found grace with Thee, 
 So the thief upon the tree ; 
 Hope Thou giveft e'en to me. 
 
 Worthlefs are my vows, I know, 
 Yet, dear Lord, Thy pity fhow, 
 Left I fink in endlefs woe. 
 
 15. 
 
 From the goats my lot divide, 
 With Thy lambs a place provide, 
 On Thy right and near Thy fide. 
 
94 The Dies Ira. 
 
 1 6. 
 
 While the wicked are confounded, 
 Doom'd to flames of woe unbounded, 
 Call me ! with Thy faints furrounded. 
 
 i7- 
 
 Low I kneel, with heart fubmiflion ; 
 See, like afhes, my contrition ; 
 Help me, in my laft condition ! 
 
 18. 
 
 Ah ! that Day of tears and mourning ! 
 From the dull of earth returning, 
 Man for judgment muft prepare him ; 
 Spare ! O God, in mercy, fpare him ! 
 
 Lord, who didft our fouls redeem, 
 Grant a blefled Requiem ! Amen. 
 
The Dies Ira. 95* 
 
 16. 
 
 When th' accursed fink in fhame, 
 Given to tormenting flame, 
 With Thy bleffed call my name. 
 
 17- 
 
 Bowed to earth, I ftrive in prayer j 
 Heart like cinders, fee, I bear; 
 Its laft throbbing be Thy care ! 
 
 18. 
 
 Ah ! That Day of burning tears, 
 When from afhes reappears 
 Man all guilt, his doom to bear — 
 Spare him, God ! in mercy, spare ! 
 
96 3& Stabat Mater. 
 
 THE STABAT MATER 
 
 THE Stabat Mater, with the Dies Ira, 
 poflefles the power of imparting a fhad- 
 owy impreflion of its meaning by the melody of 
 its verfe. Its foft, fad cadence echoes the feeling 
 of its pathetic words. In fame it ranks next to 
 the Dies Ira, yet is neither fo fimple nor fo 
 grand ; nor does it rife, like the Great Hymn, 
 above fe&arian faults. It has attracted the fame 
 great admiration, and been praifed and repeated 
 by the fame great admirers, but always in a 
 lefTer degree. As the Dies Ira has been pro- 
 nounced the greateft, fo the Stabat Mater 
 univerfally is deemed the moft pathetic of 
 hymns. 
 
 The life of its author was in fit keeping with 
 its plaintive utterances. He was born at Todi, 
 of the noble Italian houfe of Benedette, and 
 rofe to diftin&ion as a jurift. A few years 
 
c tbe Stabat Mater. 97 
 
 after the Dies Ira was written (1268), he loft 
 his wife, and, broken-hearted, renounced the 
 world to join, like Thomas of Celano, the 
 Order of St. Francis. In the ardor of his devo- 
 tion, he tried to atone by felf-fought tortures 
 not only for his own fins, but, like our Saviour, 
 for the fins of others. At laft his forrows fank 
 into infancy and ended in death. 
 
 Dying about the time that Petrarch was born, 
 and while Dante was ftill a young man, his 
 Cantate Spirituali mark the dawning day of 
 the Italian language. In an old Venetian 
 copy of thefe, the hiftorian of the Francif- 
 cans (Wadding) found a number of Latin 
 poems, amongft which was the Stabat Mater, 
 and thus eftablifhed for the Order of St. Francis 
 the honor of producing, within the fame cen- 
 tury, the two moft celebrated of Latin hymns. 
 
 When the firft edition of this book was pub- 
 lifhed, there was a weaknefs in the Englifh ex- 
 pofition of the STABAT MATER which no 
 fearch after fitting tranflations could cure, and 
 the reader was warned that few Englifh verfions 
 had been made, and not one that ftxi&ly pre- 
 
98 Tbe Stabat Mater. 
 
 ferved its meafure. That of Lord Lindfay was 
 fele&ed, and is ftill retained, as beft expreiling 
 the pathos of the original. Since then, however, 
 this portion of our literature has received fuch 
 additions as will render the expofition of the 
 moft pathetic of hymns as complete as it probably 
 ever can be made. 
 
 The firft of thefe new verfions is by the accom- 
 plifhed foldier whofe verfion of the Dies Ira: pre- 
 vioufly is given. The facl: is noticeable that 
 while his accurate rhythmic tranflation of the 
 " Great Hymn " was written amidft the din of 
 war, and while its author was on duty in the field, 
 this pathetic verfion of the STABAT MATER 
 has been compofed while its author was furrounded 
 by the gayeties of the French capital, and engrofled 
 in his duties as Minifter Plenipotentiary, In a 
 private letter, General Dix fays : — 
 
 " As I proceeded, I could not but think under how much more 
 favorable circumftances than mine Jacobus de Benzdictis muft 
 have written the immortal hymn. He was in all probability fit- 
 ting in his narrow cell, the external world entirely fhut out, with 
 nothing before him but a crucifix, to which it was only neceflary 
 to lift his eyes for aid when he felt the fpirit of infpiration flag- 
 
The Stabat Mater. 99 
 
 ging. On the other hand, I was compelled to write in a Parifian 
 faloon, amid the glare of meretricious gilding, almoft under the 
 fhadow of the great triumphal arch — one of thofe gigantic 
 memorials of human victories which for the caufe of human civil- 
 ization had much better be forgotten than commemorated j the 
 canvas on the walls fwarming with young fauns, cupids, and 
 other Pagan devices. 
 
 " In making the tranflation I kept in view three or four lead- 
 ing objects which I will briefly ftate. 
 
 " I. An inflexible adherence to the rhythm. 
 
 " 2. A faithful prefervation of every thought contained in the 
 original. 
 
 " 3. A vigorous exclufion of every thought not contained in it. 
 
 " 4. A prefervation as far as poflible, of the tendernefs of feel- 
 ing and expreflion, which is the chara&eriftic of the hymn." 
 
 The fecond of the new tranflations is by that 
 accomplifhed author, two of whofe remarkable 
 renderings of the Dies Ira already enrich this 
 work. Of the veriion now given a diftinguifhed 
 fcholar fays, " The Englifh double rhyme rarely 
 expreffes the melody and pathos of the Latin. 
 Dr. Abraham Coles, of Newark, has probably 
 beft succeeded in a faithful rendering of the Mater 
 Dolorofar—Dr. Philip Schaff. 
 
 A further expofition of the Stabat Mater is 
 given in the newly found companion-hymn, Stabat 
 
loo ^be Stabat Mater. 
 
 Mater Speciofa, with its translation, the laft work 
 of Dr. John Mafon Neale. This long-loft 
 lyric has recently been introduced to American 
 readers by Dr. Schaff, who has briefly told its 
 ftory, and thus admirably analyzed its relation to 
 the Stabat Mater : — 
 
 " While the latter has been known and admired for nearly five 
 centuries, the former, though probably as old, was buried in ob- 
 fcurity, until it was brought to light in our day by A. F. Ozanam 
 in his work on the Francifcan Poets, and in the improved Ger- 
 man edition of this work by Julius, with an admirable tranflation 
 of the hymn by Cardinal Diepenbrock, then bifhop of Breflau. 
 The poem has alfo attracted the attention of Englifh hymnologifts, 
 and been tranflated for the firft time into Englifh by the late Dr. 
 John Mafon Neale, who published the original Latin with the 
 tranflation a few days before his death, in Auguft, 1866, thus 
 clofing his ufeful and brilliant hymnological labors. 
 
 The Mater Speciofa and the Mater Dolorofa are, apparently, the 
 product of the fame genius. They are companion-hymns, and re- 
 femble each other like twin Afters. The Mater Dolorofa was 
 evidently fuggefted by the Scripture fcene, as briefly ftated by St. 
 John, Stabat juxta crucem mater ejus ; and this again, fuggefted the 
 cradle-hymn as a counterpart. It is a parallelifm of contraft which 
 runs from beginning to end. The Mater Speciofa is a Chriftmas 
 hymn, and fings the overflowing joy of Mary at the cradle of 
 the new-born Saviour. The Mater Dolorofa is a Good Friday 
 hymn, and fings the piercing agony of Mary at the crofs of her 
 
The Stabat Mater. 101 
 
 divine human Son. They breathe the fame love to Chrift, and 
 the burning defire to become identified with Mary by fympathy in 
 the intenfity of her joy as in the intenfity of her grief. They are 
 the fame in ftru&ure, and excel alike in the Angularly touch- 
 ing mufic of language, and the foft cadence that echoes the fenti- 
 ment. Both confift of two parts, the firft of which defcribes the 
 obje&ive fituation ; the fecond identifies the author with the 
 fituation, and addrefles the Virgin as an object of worfhip. Both 
 bear the imprefs of their age and the monaftic order which 
 probably gave them birth. The myfterious charm and power of 
 the two hymns are due to the subject and to the intenfity of feeling 
 with which the author feized it. Mary at the manger, and Mary 
 at the crofs, opens a vifta to an abyfs of joy and of grief fuch as 
 the world never faw before. Mary ftood there not only as the 
 mother, but as the reprefentative of the whole Chriftian church, 
 for which the eternal Son of God was born an infant in the 
 manger, and for which he fuffered the moft ignominious death on 
 the crofs. 
 
102 The Stabat Mater. 
 
 STABAT MATER 
 
 JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS. 
 
 I. 
 
 STABAT Mater dolorofa, 
 Juxta crucem lacrymofa, 
 Dum pendebat films. 
 Cujus animam gementem, 
 Contriftatam et dolentem, • 
 Pertranfivit gladius. 
 
 II. 
 
 O quam triftis et affli£a, 
 Fuit ilia benedi£ta 
 
 Mater unigeniti ! 
 Quae moerebat et dolebat, 
 Pia mater, dum videbat 
 
 Nati poenas inclyti. 
 
Tie Stabat Mater. 103 
 
 THE STABAT MATER. 
 
 LORD LINDSAY. 
 
 I. 
 
 BY the Crofs, fad vigil keeping, 
 Stood the mournful mother weeping, 
 While on it the Saviour hung ; 
 In that hour of deep diftrefs, 
 Pierced the fword of bitternefs 
 
 Through her heart with forrow wrung. 
 
 Oh ! how fad, how woe-begone 
 Was that ever-bleffed one, 
 
 Mother of the Son of God ! 
 Oh ! what bitter tears fhe fhed 
 Whilft before her Jesus bled 
 
 'Neath the Father's penal rod I 
 
104 We Stabat Mater. 
 
 in. 
 
 Quis eft homo qui non fleret, 
 Chrifti matrem fi videret 
 
 In tanto fupplicio ? 
 Quis non poffet contriftari 
 Piam matrem contemplari 
 
 Dolentem cum filio ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Pro peccatis fuae gentis, 
 Vidit Jefum in tormentis, 
 
 Et flagellis fubditum. 
 Vidit fuum dulcem natum, 
 Morientem, defolatum, 
 
 Dum emifit fpiritum. 
 
 Eia mater, fons amoris, 
 Me fentire vim doloris 
 
 Fac, ut tecum lugeam. 
 Fac ut ardeat cor meum, 
 In amando Chriftum Deum 
 
 Ut illi complaceam. 
 
<ihe Stabat Mater. 105 
 
 3- 
 
 Who's the man could view unmoved 
 Christ's fweet mother, whom He loved, 
 
 In fuch dire extremity ? 
 Who his pitying tears withhold, 
 Christ's fweet mother to behold 
 
 Sharing in His agony ? 
 
 4. 
 For the Father's broken law, 
 Mary thus the Saviour faw 
 
 Sport of human cruelties — 
 Saw her fweet, her only Son, 
 God-forfaken and undone, 
 
 Die a finlefs facrifice ! 
 
 5. 
 
 Mary mother, fount of love, 
 Make me fhare thy forrow, move 
 
 All my foul to fympathy ! 
 Make my heart within me glow 
 With the love of Jesus — fo 
 
 Shall I find acceptancy. 
 
ic6 The Stabat Mater. 
 
 VI. 
 
 San&a Mater, iftud agas, 
 Crucifixi fige plagas 
 
 Cordi meo valide. 
 Tui Nati vulnerati, 
 Tarn dignati pro me pati, 
 
 Poenas mecum divide. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Fac me vere tecum flere, 
 Crucifixo condolere, 
 
 Donee ego vixero. 
 Juxta crucem tecum ftare, 
 Et tibi me fociare 
 
 In plan&u defidero. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Virgo virginum praeclara, 
 Mihi jam non fis amara ; 
 
 Fac me tecum plangerec 
 Fac ut portem Chrifti mortem 
 Paffionis fac confortem, 
 
 Et plagas recolere. 
 
*Hhe Stabat Mater. 107 
 
 Print, O Mother, on my heart, 
 Deeply print the wounds, the fmart 
 
 Of my Saviour's chaftifement ; 
 He who, to redeem my lofs, 
 Deigned to bleed upon the crofs — - 
 
 Make me fhare His punifhment. 
 
 7- 
 Ever with thee, at thy fide, 
 'Neath the Christ, the Crucified, 
 
 Mournful mother, let me be ! 
 By the Crofs fad vigil keeping, 
 Ever watchful, ever weeping, 
 
 Thy companion conftantly ! 
 
 8. 
 
 Maid of maidens, undefiled, 
 Mother gracious, mother mild, 
 
 Melt my heart to weep with thee ! 
 Crown me with Christ's thorny wreath, 
 Make me confort of His death, 
 
 Sharer of His victory. 
 
108 ^he Stabat Mater. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Fac me plagis vulnerari, 
 Fac me cruce inebriari, ». 
 
 Et cruore filii. 
 Inflammatus et accenfus, 
 Per te, Virgo, fim defenfus, 
 
 In die judicii. 
 
 Fac me cruce cuftodiri, 
 Morte Chrifti praemuniri, 
 
 Confoveri gratia. 
 Quando corpus morietur, 
 Fac ut animae donetur 
 
 Paradifi gloria. 
 
"The Stabat Mater. 109 
 
 9- 
 
 Never from the mingled tide 
 Flowing ftill from Jesus' fide, 
 
 May my lips inebriate turn ; 
 And when in the day of doom, 
 Lightning-like He rends the tomb, 
 
 Shield, oh fhield me, left I burn ! 
 
 10. 
 
 So the fhadow of the tree 
 Where thy Jesus bled for me 
 
 Still fhall be my fortalice ; 
 So when flefh and fpirit fever 
 Shall I live, thy boon, for ever 
 
 In the joys of Paradife ! 
 
HO ^he Stabat Mater 
 
 STABAT MATER 
 
 GENERAL DIX. 
 
 NEAR the Crofs the Saviour bearing 
 Stood the mother lone, defpairing, 
 Bitter tears down falling faft. 
 Wearied was her heart with grieving, 
 Worn her breaft with forrow heaving, 
 Through her foul the fword had pafled. 
 
 Ah ! how fad and broken-hearted 
 Was that bleffed mother, parted 
 
 From the God-begotten One ! 
 How her loving heart did languifh 
 When me faw the mortal anguifti 
 
 Which o'erwhelmed her peerlefs Son. 
 
Hhe Stabat Mater. in 
 
 STABAT MATER, 
 
 DR. COLES. 
 
 I. 
 
 STOOD the afflifted mother weeping 
 Near the crofs her ftation keeping 
 Whereon hung her Son and Lord ; 
 Through whofe fpirit fympathizing, 
 Sorrowing and agonizing 
 Alfo parted the cruel fword. 
 
 2. 
 
 Oh ! how mournful and diftrefled 
 Was that favored and moft blefled 
 
 Mother of the only Son ! 
 Trembling, grieving, bofom heaving, 
 While perceiving, fcarce believing, 
 
 Pains of that Illuftrious One. 
 
112 He Stabat Mater 
 
 Who coula witnefs without weeping 
 Such a flood of forrow fweeping 
 
 O'er the ftricken mother's breafl ? 
 Who contemplate without being 
 Moved to kindred grief by feeing 
 
 Son and mother thus opprefled ? 
 
 For our fins me faw Him bending 
 And the cruel lafh defcending 
 
 On His body ftripped and bare ; 
 Saw her own dear Jefus dying, 
 Heard His fpirit's laft out-crying 
 
 Sharp with anguifh and defpair. 
 
 5- 
 
 Gentle Mother, love's pure fountain ! 
 Caft, oh ! caft on me the mountain 
 
 Of thy grief that I may weep ; 
 Let my heart with ardor burning, 
 Chrift's unbounded love returning, 
 
 His rich favor win and keep. 
 
The Stabat Mater. 113 
 
 3- 
 
 Who the man, who, called a brother, 
 Would not weep, faw he Chrift's mother 
 
 In fuch deep diftrefs and wild ? 
 Who could not fad tribute render 
 Witneffing that mother tender 
 
 Agonizing with her child ? 
 
 For His people's fins atoning, 
 Him (he faw in torments groaning, 
 
 Given to the fcourger's rod ; 
 Saw her darling offspring dying, 
 Defolate, forfaken, crying, 
 
 Yield His fpirit up to God. 
 
 5. 
 
 Make me feel thy forrow's power, 
 That with thee I tears may fhower, 
 
 Tender mother, fount of love ! 
 Make my heart with love unceafing 
 Burn toward Chrift the Lord, that pleafing 
 
 I may be to Him above. 
 
114 The Stabat Mater. 
 
 6. 
 
 Holy Mother, be thy ftudy 
 
 Chrift's dear image fcarred and bloody 
 
 To enfhrine within my heart ! 
 Martyred Son ! whofe grace has fet me 
 Free from endlefs death, oh ! let me 
 
 Of Thy fufferings bear a part. 
 
 Mother, let our tears commingle, 
 Be the crucifix my fingle 
 
 Sign of forrow while I live : 
 Let me by the Crofs ftand near thee, 
 There to fee thee, there to hear thee, 
 
 For each figh a figh to give. 
 
 8. 
 
 Pureft of the Virgins ! turn not 
 Thy difpleafure on me — fpurn not 
 
 My defire to weep with thee. 
 Let me live Chrift's paflion fharing, 
 All His wounds and forrows bearing 
 
 In my tearful memory. 
 
The Stabat Mater. 115 
 
 Holy mother, this be granted, 
 
 That the flain one's wounds be planted 
 
 Firmly in my heart to bide. 
 Of Him wounded, all aftounded — 
 Depths unbounded for me founded, 
 
 All the pangs with me divide. 
 
 Make me weep with thee in union ; 
 With the Crucified, communion 
 
 In His grief and fuffering give ; 
 Near the crofs with tears unfailing 
 I would join thee in thy wailing 
 
 Here as long as I mall live. 
 
 8. 
 
 Maid of maidens, all excelling ! 
 Be not bitter, me repelling, 
 
 Make thou me a mourner too ; 
 Make me bear about Chrift's dying, 
 Share His paffion, fhame defying, 
 
 All His wounds in me renew. 
 
ll6 Tbe Stabat Mater. 
 
 9- 
 
 Be, ye wounds, my tribulation ! 
 Be, thou Crofs, my infpiratiori ! 
 
 Mark, O blood, my Heaven-ward way. 
 Thus to fervor rapt, O tender 
 Virgin, be thou my defender 
 
 In the dreadful Judgment Day. 
 
 10. 
 
 With the Crofs my faith I'll cherifh ; 
 By Chrift's death fuftained I'll perifti, 
 
 Through His grace again to rife. 
 Come then, Death, this body fealing, 
 To my ranfomed foul revealing 
 
 Glorious days in Paradife. 
 
The Stabat Mater, 117 
 
 Wound for wound be there created ; 
 With the crofs intoxicated 
 
 For thy Son's dear fake, I pray — 
 May I, fired with pure affe&ion, 
 Virgin, have through thee protection 
 
 In the folemn Judgment Day. 
 
 10. 
 
 Let me by the Crofs be warded, 
 By the death of Chrift be guarded, 
 
 Nouriflied by divine fupplies. 
 When the body death hath riven, 
 Grant that to the foul be given 
 
 Glories bright of Paradife. 
 
ll8 ^he Stabat Mater. 
 
 MATER SPECIOSA 
 
 JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS. 
 
 STABAT Mater fpeciofa 
 Juxta foenum gaudiofa, 
 Dum jacebat parvulus ; 
 Cujus animam gaudentem 
 Lactabundam ac ferventem 
 Pertranfivit jubilus. 
 
 ii. 
 
 O quam laeta et beata 
 Fuit ilia immaculata 
 
 Mater Unigeniti ! 
 Quae gaudebat et ridebat, 
 Exultabat, cum videbat % 
 
 Nati partum inclyti. 
 
The Stabat Mater. 119 
 
 MATER SPECIOSA 
 
 DR. NEALE. 
 
 FULL of beauty flood the mothel 
 By the manger, bleft o'er other, 
 Where her little one fhe lays : 
 For her inmoft foul's elation, 
 In its fervid jubilation, 
 
 Thrills with ecftafy of praife. 
 
 2. 
 
 Oh ! what glad, what rapturous feeling 
 Filled that bleffed mother, kneeling 
 
 By the Sole-Begotten One ! 
 How, her heart with laughter bounding, 
 She beheld the work aftounding, 
 
 Saw His birth, the glorious Son. 
 
120 tfhe Stabat Mater. 
 
 in. 
 
 Quis jam eft, qui non gauderet 
 Chrifti matrem fi videret 
 
 In tanto folatio ? 
 Quis non poflet collaetari, 
 Chrifti matrem contemplari 
 
 Ludentem cum filio ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Pro peccatis fuse gentis 
 Chriftum vidit cum jumentis 
 
 Et algori fubditum ; 
 Vidit fuum dulcem natum 
 Vagientem, adoratum • 
 
 Vili diverforio. 
 
 v. - 
 
 Nato Chrifto in praefepe 
 Caeli cives canunt laete 
 
 Cum immenfo gaudio 5 
 Stabat fenex cum puella 
 Non cum verbo nee loquela 
 
 Stupefcentes cordibus 
 
T£<? Stabat Mater. 121 
 
 3- 
 
 Who is he, that fight who beareth, 
 Nor Chrift's mother's folace fhareth 
 
 In her bofom as He lay : 
 Who is he that would not render 
 Tend'reft love for love fo tender, 
 
 Love, with that dear babe at play ? 
 
 For the trefpafs of her nation 
 She with oxen faw His flation 
 
 Subjected to cold and woe ; 
 Saw her fweeteft offspring's wailing, 
 Wife men Him with worfhip hailing, 
 
 In the ftable, mean and low. 
 
 Jefus lying in the manger, 
 Heavenly armies fang the ftranger, 
 
 In the great joy-bearing part ; 
 Stood the old man with the maiden, 
 No words fpeaking, only laden 
 
 With this wonder in their heart. 
 
122 The Stabat Mater. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Eja mater, fons amoris, 
 Me fentire vim ardoris, 
 
 Fac ut tecum fentiam ! • 
 Fac ut ardeat cor meum 
 In amatum Chriftum Deum, « 
 
 Ut fibi complaceam. 
 
 VII. 
 
 San&a mater, iftud agas, 
 Prone introducas plagas w 
 
 Cordi fixas valide. 
 Tui nati ccelo lapfi, 
 Jam dignati foeno nafci 
 
 Pcenas mecum divide. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Fac me vere congaudere, 
 Jefulino cohaerere 
 
 Donee ego vixero. 
 In me fiftat ardor tui ; a. 
 Puerino fac me frui 
 
 Dum fum in exilio. 
 Hunc ardorem fac communem, 
 Ne me facias immunem 
 
 Ab hoc defiderio. 
 
Tbe Stabat Mater. 123 
 
 6. 
 Mother, fount of love ftill flowing, 
 Let me, with thy rapture glowing, 
 
 Learn to fympathize with thee : 
 Let me raife my heart's devotion 
 Up to Chrift with pure emotion, 
 
 That accepted I may be. 
 
 7- 
 Mother, let me win this blefling, 
 Let His forrow's deep imprefling 
 
 In my heart engraved remain : 
 Since thy Son, from heaven defcending, 
 Deigned to bear the manger's tending, 
 
 Oh ! divide with me His pain. 
 
 8. 
 Keep my heart its gladnefs bringing, 
 To my Jefus ever clinging 
 
 Long as this my life fhall laft ; 
 Love like that thine own love, give i^ 
 On my little child to rivet, 
 
 Till this exile fhall be paft. 
 Let me fhare thine own affli&ion ; 
 Let me fuffer no rejection 
 
 Of my purpofe fixed and faft. 
 
124 c ^ je Stobat Mater. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Virgo virginum praeclara, 
 Mihi jam non fis amara ; 
 
 Fac me parvum rapere ; 
 Fac ut pulchrum fantem portem, 
 Qui nafcendo vicit mortem, 
 
 Volens vitam tradere. 
 
 x. 
 
 Fac me tecum fatiari, * 
 Nato me inebriari, 
 
 Stans inter tripudio. 
 Inflammatus et accenfus 
 Obftupefcit omnis fenfus 
 
 Tali de commercio. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Omnes ftabulum amantes, * 
 Et paftores vigilantes 
 
 Perno&antes fociant. 
 Per virtutem nati tui 
 Ora ut ele&i sui 
 
 Ad patriam veniant. - 
 
The Stabat Mater. 125 
 
 Virgin, peerlefs of condition, 
 Be not wroth with my petition, 
 
 Let me clafp thy little Son ; 
 Let me bear that child fo glorious, 
 Him, whofe birth, o'er death victorious, 
 
 Willed that life for man was won. 
 
 10. 
 
 Let me, fatiate with my pleafure, 
 Feel the rapture of thy treafure 
 
 Leaping for that joy intenfe : 
 That, inflamed by fuch communion, 
 Through the marvel of that union 
 
 I may thrill in every fenfe. 
 
 11. 
 
 All that love this ftable truly, 
 And the fhepherds watching duly, 
 
 Tarry there the livelong night : 
 Pray that, by thy Son's dear merit, 
 His elected may inherit 
 
 Their own country's endlefs light. 
 
126 "the Feni Santte. 
 
 THE VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 
 
 IN the year 997, "whilft the priefthood ftrug- 
 " gled to regain through their anathemas the 
 " property that had been taken from them by 
 " violence, a young man, who knew neither to 
 " threaten nor to lie, nor to infpire others with 
 " fear, fucceeded to the royal dignity which his 
 " father had ufurped. It was Robert, only fon 
 " of Hugh Capet." — Sifmondi, Hi/i. Francois. 
 
 This King, " there is no good reafon to 
 M doubt" (Konigsfeld\ was the author of the 
 Veni Sancte Spiritus, a hymn that the beft 
 living authority regards as M the lovelieft of all 
 " the hymns in the whole circle of Latin facred 
 " poetry." — Trench. 
 
 The ability of Robert II. to have compofed 
 the hymn which ranks next to the Dies Ires and 
 
The Feni Sanffe. 127 
 
 Stabat Mater, is not improbable, for, according 
 to the chronicle of Saint Bertin, he was a faint, 
 a poet, and a mufician : 
 
 " Robert etoit tres-pieux, prudent, lettre, et fuffifamment phi- 
 ** lofophe, mais furtout excellent muficien. II compofa la profe 
 ** du Saint-Efprit, qui commence par ces mots, Adfit nobis gratia, 
 " les rhythmes, Juda et Hierufalem y et Cornelius Centurio, qu*il 
 " offrit a Rome fur l'autel de Saint-Pierre, notes avec le chant 
 " qui leur etoit propre, de meme que 1'antiphone Eripe, et plu- 
 *' fieurs auttes beaux morceaux." 
 
 The translation which is here given is from 
 the Lyra Germanica of Catherine Winkworth. 
 That work profefTes to be tranflated from the 
 German ; but its verfion of the Veni Sancte 
 Spiritus is a finer tranflation than any that pro- 
 fefTes to be from the Latin. 
 
 The only alteration which has been made in 
 the text is the firft word of the Englifh verfion. 
 As there was no reafon for rendering the Latin 
 verb by the Englifh interjection " O," it is pre- 
 fumed that this was an unintended error of the 
 ufually faithful and fcrupulous tranflator. 
 
128 The Feni Santte. 
 
 VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 
 
 ROBERT II. 
 
 I. 
 
 "^TENI, San&e Spiritus, 
 
 T Et emitte coelitus, 
 Lucis tuae radium. 
 
 II. 
 
 Veni, pater pauperum, 
 Veni, dator munerum, 
 Veni, lumen cordium. 
 
 HI. 
 
 Confolator optime, 
 Dulcis hofpes animae, 
 Dulce refrigerium. 
 
^he Feni Santte. 129 
 
 THE VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. 
 
 CATHERINE WINKWORTH. 
 
 COME, Holy Ghoft ! Thou fire divine ! 
 From higheft heaven on us down mine ! 
 Comforter, be Thy comfort mine ! 
 
 Come, Father of the poor, to earth ; 
 Come with Thy gifts of precious worth ; 
 Come, Light of all of mortal birth ! 
 
 3- 
 
 Thou rich in comfort ! Ever bleft 
 
 The heart where Thou art conftant gueft, 
 
 Who giv'ft the heavy-laden reft. 
 
130 The Feni Sanffe. 
 
 IV. 
 
 In labore requies, 
 In aeftu temperies, 
 In fletu folatium. 
 
 O lux beatiffima ! 
 Reple cordis intima, 
 Tuorum fidelium. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Sine tuo numine, 
 Nihil eft in homine, 
 Nihil eft innoxium. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Lava quod eft fordidum, 
 Riga quod eft aridum, 
 Sana quod eft faucium. 
 
The Feni Santte. 131 
 
 Come Thou in whom our toil is fweet, 
 Our fhadow in the noon-day heat, 
 Before whom mourning flieth fleet. 
 
 5- 
 
 Bright Sun of Grace ! Thy funfhine dart 
 On all who cry to Thee apart, 
 And fill with gladnefs every heart. 
 
 6. 
 
 Whate'er without Thy aid is wrought, 
 Or Ikilful deed, or wifeft thought, 
 God counts it vain and merely naught. 
 
 7- 
 
 O cleanfe us that we fin no more, 
 O'er parched fouls Thy waters pour 5 
 Heal the fad heart that acheth fore. 
 
132 The reni Santte. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Fle&e quod eft rigidum, 
 Fove quod eft frigidum, 
 Rege quod eft devium. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Da tuis fidelibus, 
 In te confidentibus, 
 Sacrum feptenarium. 
 
 x. 
 
 Da virtutis meritum, 
 Da falutis exitum, 
 Da perenne gaudium. 
 
The Feni Santte. 133 
 
 8. 
 
 Thy will be ours in all our ways ; 
 O melt the frozen with Thy rays ; 
 Call home the loft in error's maze. 
 
 And grant us, Lord, who cry to Thee, 
 And hold the Faith in unity, 
 Thy precious gifts of charity. 
 
 10. 
 
 That we may live in holinefs, 
 And find in death our happinefs, 
 And dwell with Thee in lafting blifs ! 
 
J 34 'ike Feni Creator. 
 
 THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 
 
 "/CHARLEMAGNE, reclame par l'Eglife 
 V^ comme un faint, par les Francais comme 
 " leur plus grand roi, par les Allemands comme 
 cc leur compatriote, par les Italiens comme leur 
 " empereur," is the reputed author of this 
 Latin hymn. Men naturally prefer to trace a 
 venerable and renowned compofition to an un- 
 expected authorfhip, and to find the refinement 
 of letters in thofe otherwife diftinguifhed ; ftill 
 more, to difcover in a great foldier and a great 
 king the doubly refined gift of facred poetry. 
 It is not impoflible. " The eloquence of Char- 
 " lemagne," fays his Secretary, " was abundant. 
 " He was able to exprefs with facility all he 
 cc wifhed ; and, not content with his mother- 
 " tongue, he beftowed great pains upon foreign 
 " languages. He had taken fo well to the Latin, 
 "that he was able to fpeak publicly in that Ian- 
 
The Feni Creator. 135 
 
 "guage almoft as eafily as in his own. He 
 u underftood Greek, and ftudied Hebrew." 
 
 There remains of his mufe an epitaph on 
 Adrian I., in thirty-eight verfes ; the Song of 
 Roland , an ode to the fcholar Warnefride, and 
 an epigram in hexameter verfe. This epigram 
 was found in a manufcript containing a com- 
 mentary on the Epijile to the Romans, attributed 
 to Origen, and corrected in the hand of Char- 
 lemagne. The fubjecl: of the hymn feems alfo 
 to have engaged the attention of the Emperor, 
 for there is a letter by him addrefled to his 
 bifhops, entitled De gratia feptiformis Spiritus. 
 He died at Aix-la-Chapelle, his crown upon his 
 head, and his copy of the Gofpels upon his 
 knees, January 28, 814, 
 
 The Englifh verfion of the hymn is the para- 
 phrafe of Dryden, of which Warton fays : " This 
 "is a raoft elegant and beautiful little morfel, 
 "and one of his moft correct compositions." 
 There is a translation in the Prayer Book (Or- 
 dering of Priefts) which is noteworthy, as being 
 the only Breviary hymn retained by the Epifco- 
 pal Church. 
 
136 c tbe Feni Creator, 
 
 VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 VENI, Creator Spiritus, 
 Mentes tuorum vifita, 
 Imple fuperna gratia, 
 Quae tu creafti pe&ora. 
 
 Qui diceris Paraclitus, 
 Altiffimi donum Dei, 
 Fons vivus, ignis, charitas, 
 Et fpiritalis un&io. 
 
 Tu feptiformis munere, 
 Digitus Paternae dexterae, 
 Tu rite promiflum Patris, 
 Sermone ditans guttura. 
 
 Accende lumen fenflbus, 
 Infunde amorem cordibus, 
 Infirma noftri corporis 
 Virtute firmans perpeti. 
 
1?be Feni Creator. *37 
 
 THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 CREATOR Spirit, by whofe aid 
 The world's foundations flrft were laid, 
 Come vifit every pious mind, 
 Come pour Thy joys on human kind ; 
 From fin and forrow fet us free, 
 And make Thy temples worthy Thee. 
 
 O source of uncreated light, 
 The Father's promifed Paraclete ! 
 Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire, 
 Our hearts with heavenly love infpire ; 
 Come, and Thy facred unction bring, 
 To fan&ify us while we fing. 
 
 Plenteous of grace, defcend from high, 
 
 Rich in Thy fevenfold energy ! 
 
 Thou ftrength of His almighty hand, 
 
 Whofe power does heaven and earth command. 
 
 Proceeding Spirit, our defence, 
 
 Who doft the gifts of tongues difpenfe, 
 
 And crown'ft Thy gift with eloquence ! 
 
i38 The Veni Creator. 
 
 Hoftem repellas longius, 
 Pacemque dones protinus : 
 Du&ore fie te praevio 
 Vitemus omne noxium. 
 
 Per te fciamus da Patrem, 
 Nofcamus atque Filium ; 
 Teque utriufque Spiritum 
 Credamus omni tempore. 
 
 Deo Patri fit gloria 
 Et Filio qui a mortuis 
 Surrexit, ac Paraclito, 
 In faeculorum faecula. 
 
^he Feni Creator. J 39 
 
 Refine and purge our earthly parts ; 
 But, oh, inflame and fire our hearts ! 
 Our frailties help, our vice control, 
 Submit the fenfes to the foul ; 
 And when rebellious they are grown, 
 Then lay Thy hand and hold 'em down. 
 
 Chase from our minds th' infernal foe, 
 And peace the fruit of love beftow ; 
 And left our feet fhould ftep aftray, 
 Protect and guide us on the way. 
 
 Make us eternal truths receive, 
 And pra&ife all that we believe ; 
 Give us Thyfelf, that we may fee 
 The Father and the Son by Thee. 
 
 Immortal honor, endlefs fame, 
 Attend the Almighty Father's name : 
 The Saviour Son be glorified, 
 Who for loft man's redemption died ; 
 And equal adoration be, 
 Eternal Paraclete, to Thee. 
 
Ho the Fexilla Regis. 
 
 THE VEXILLA REGIS. 
 
 T 
 
 iHE Vexilla Regis was written about 
 A the year 580 — two hundred years before 
 the time of Charlemagne, and feven hundred 
 years before the birth of the Englifh language. 
 It is therefore one of the oldeft of mediaeval 
 hymns. 
 
 Venantius Fortunatus, an Italian, whofe birth- 
 place is unknown, was in early life a citizen of 
 Ravenna, from which he was driven by the 
 great invafion of the Lombards. He paned into 
 France, and became the fafhionable poet of his 
 time. Subfequently he devoted his talents to a 
 holier object, and became the friend of Saint 
 Radegunde and Saint Gregory. He removed to 
 Tours, was made Bifhop of Poitiers, and died 
 about the year 600. 
 
The Vexilla Regis. 14 1 
 
 " This world-famous hymn, one of the grand- 
 eft in the treafury of the Latin Church, was 
 compofed by Fortunatus on occaiion of the 
 reception of certain relics by Saint Gregory of 
 Tours and Saint Radegunde, previoufly to the 
 confecration of a church at Poitiers. It is 
 therefore ftri&ly and primarily a proceffional 
 hymn, though, very naturally, afterwards adapted 
 to Paffion-tide." — Mediaval Hymns. 
 
 " C'eft de Fortunat qu'eft le Vexilla Regis 
 compofe, a Poccafion du morceau de la vraie 
 croix, envoye par Pempereur Juftin a St. Rade- 
 gonde . ' ' — Biographie Univerfelle . 
 
 The laft two verfes were added when the 
 hymn was appropriated to Paffion-tide. The 
 ending of Fortunatus is this : 
 
 " With fragrance dropping from each bough, 
 Sweeter than fweeteft neftar thou : 
 Decked with the fruit of peace and praife, 
 And glorious with Triumphal lays: — 
 
 "Hail, Altar! Hail, O Victim ! Thee 
 Decks now Thy Paflion's Victory ; 
 Where Life for finners death endured, 
 And life by death for man procured." 
 
142 The Fexilla Regis. 
 
 VEXILLA REGIS. 
 
 FORTUNATUS. 
 I. 
 
 VEXILLA regis prodeunt, 
 Fulget crucis myfterium, 
 Quo carne carnis conditor 
 Sufpenfus eft patibulo. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Quo vulneratus infuper 
 Mucrone diro lanceae, 
 Ut nos lavaret crimine 
 Manavit unda fanguine. 
 
 in. 
 
 Impleta funt quae concinit 
 David fideli carmine 
 Dicens : In nationibus 
 Regnavit a ligno Deus. 
 
^he Fexilla Regis. 143 
 
 THE VEXILLA REGIS. 
 
 DR. NEALE. 
 I. 
 
 r I ^HE Royal Banners forward go; 
 
 -■- The Crofs fhines forth in myftic glow ; 
 Where He in flefh, our flefh who made, 
 Our fentence bore, our ranfom paid. 
 
 2. 
 
 Where deep for us the fpear was dy'd, 
 Life's torrent rufhing from His fide, 
 To wafh us in that precious flood 
 Where mingled water flow'd, and blood. 
 
 3- 
 
 Fulfill'd is all that David told 
 
 In true prophetic fong of old ; 
 
 Amidft the nations God, faith he, 
 
 Hath reignM and triumph'd from the Tree. 
 
144 ^e ^ ex2 '^ a Regis. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Arbor decora et fulgida, 
 Ornata regis purpura, 
 Electa digno ftipite 
 Tarn fan&a membra tangere, 
 
 v. 
 
 Beata cujus brachiis 
 Pretium pependit faeculi, 
 Statera fa&a faeculi 
 Praedamque tulit tartaris. 
 
 VI. 
 
 O crux ave, fpes unica ! 
 Hoc paflionis tempore, 
 Auge piis inftitiam 
 Reifque dona veniam. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Te fumma Deus Trinitas 
 Collaudet omnis fpiritus 
 Quas per crucis myfterium 
 Salvas, rege per faecula. 
 
^he Fexilla Regis, 145 
 
 4- 
 O Tree of Beauty ! Tree of Light ! 
 O Tree with royal purple dight ! 
 Eledt on whofe triumphal breaft 
 Thofe holy limbs fhould find their reft ! 
 
 5- 
 
 On whofe dear arms, fo widely flung, 
 The weight of this world's ranfom hung : 
 The price of human kind to pay, 
 And fpoil the Spoiler of his prey. 
 
 6. 
 
 O Crofs, our one reliance, hail ! 
 This holy Paflion-tide, avail 
 To give frefh merit to the faint, 
 And pardon to the penitent. 
 
 7- 
 
 To Thee, Eternal Three in One, 
 Let homage meet by all be done ; 
 Whom by the Crofs Thou doft reftore, 
 Preferve and govern evermore. 
 
146 The Alleluiatic Sequence. 
 
 THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE. 
 
 THIS famous Sequence, which may be re- 
 garded as the parent of every Hallelujah 
 Chorus that has been written fince, was com- 
 pofed by Godefcalcus, prior to the year 950 — the 
 year of his death. The little that is known of 
 him is given by his tranflator. 
 
 " There is only one thing," fays Dr. Neale, 
 " with refpecl: to the ufe of any of my hymns that 
 has grieved me — the rejection of the noble mel- 
 ody of the Alleluiatic Sequence, and that for 
 a third-rate chant. What would be faid of chant- 
 ing the Dies Ira ? And yet I really believe 
 that it would fuffer lefs than does the Cantemus 
 cuncti by fuch a fubftitution. Further, be it 
 noticed, every fentence — I had almoft faid every 
 
Hhe Alleluiatic Sequence. H7 
 
 word — of the verfion was carefully fitted to the 
 mufic, and the length of the lines correfponds to 
 the length of each troparion in the original." 
 
 " If it be faid that the original melody is diffi- 
 cult, I can only reply that I have frequently 
 heard it fung by a choir of children, of ages 
 varying from four to fourteen ; and never more 
 prettily than when, without any accompaniment 
 at all, in the open fields — the very fmall ones 
 joining in for the greater part with the whole of 
 their little energy." — Medieval Hymns. 
 
148 The Alleluiatic Sequence. 
 
 CANTEMUS CUNCTI. 
 
 GODESCALCUS. 
 
 CANTEMUS cuncti melodum nunc 
 Alleluia. 
 11. In laudibus aeterni regis haec plebs reful- 
 tet Alleluia. 
 
 hi. Hoc denique coeleftes chori cantent in 
 altum Alleluia. 
 
 iv. Hoc beatorum per prata paradifiaca pfallat 
 concentus Alleluia. 
 
 v. Quin et aftrorum micantia luminaria jubi- 
 lent altum Alleluia. 
 
 vi. Nubium curfus, ventorum volatus, ful~ 
 gurum coruscatio et tonitruum fo- 
 nitus dulce confonent fimul 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
The Alleluiatic Sequence, 149 
 
 THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE, 
 
 DR. NEALE. 
 
 THE ftrain upraife of joy and praife, Alleluia. 
 2. To the glory of their King 
 
 Shall the ranfom'd people fing Alleluia. 
 
 3. And the Choirs that dwell on high 
 
 Shall re-echo through the Iky Alleluia. 
 
 4. They through the fields of Paradife that roam, 
 The bleffed ones, repeat through that bright 
 
 home Alleluia. 
 
 5. The planets glitt'ring on their heavenly way, 
 The mining conftellations, join, and fay 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 6. Ye clouds that onward fweep ! 
 Ye winds on pinions light ! 
 
 Ye thunders, echoing loud and deep ! 
 
 Ye lightnings, wildly bright ! 
 
 In fweet confent unite your Alleluia. 
 
15° °£he Alleluiatic Sequence. 
 
 vii. Flu£us et undae, imber et procellae, tem- 
 peftas et ferenitas, cauma, gelu, 
 nix, prunaE, faltus, nemora pan- 
 gant Alleluia. 
 
 viii. Hinc variae volucres creatorem laudibus 
 concinite cum Alleluia. 
 
 ix. Aft illic refpondeant voces altae diverfarum 
 beftiarum Alleluia. 
 
 x. Iftinc montium celn* vertices fonent 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xi. Hinc vallium profunditates faltent 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xii. Tu quoque maris jubilans abyfle die 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xiii. Nee non terrarum molis immenfitates : 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xiv. Nunc omne genus humanum laudans ex- 
 ultet : Alleluia. 
 
 xv. Et creatori grates frequentans confonet : 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xvi. Hoc denique nomen audire jugiter de- 
 
 lecl:atur • Alleluia. 
 
tfbe Alleluiatic Sequence. \t\ 
 
 7. Ye floods and ocean billows ! 
 Ye ftorms and winter fnow ! 
 Ye days of cloudlefs beauty ! 
 Hoar froft and fummer glow ! 
 Ye groves that wave in fpring, 
 
 And glorious forefts, fing Alleluia, 
 
 8. Firft let the birds, with painted plumage gay, 
 Exalt their great Creator's praife, and fay 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 9. Then let the beafts of earth, with varying 
 
 ftrain, 
 Join in Creation's Hymn, and cry again 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 10. Here let the mountains thunder forth, fono- 
 
 rous, Alleluia. 
 
 1 1 . There, let the valleys fing in gentler chorus, 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 12. Thou jubilant abyfs of ocean, cry Alleluia. 
 
 13. Ye traces of earth and continents, reply 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 14. To God, who all Creation made, 
 
 15. The frequent hymn be duly paid : Alleluia. 
 
 16. This is the ftrain, the eternal ftrain, the 
 
 Lord of all things loves : Alleluia 
 
15 2 *The Alleluiatic Sequence. 
 
 xvii. Hoc etiam carmen coelefte comprobat 
 ipfe Chriftus : Alleluia, 
 
 xviii. Nunc vos focii cantate laetantes : 
 
 Alleluia, 
 xix. Et vos pueruli refpondete Temper 
 
 Alleluia. 
 xx. Nunc omnes canite fimul Alleluia dom- 
 ino, Alleluia Chrifto pneumatique 
 Alleluia. 
 
 xxi. Laus Trinitati aeternae in babtifmo domini 
 
 quae clarificatur : Hinc canamus : 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
Hhe Alleluiatic Sequence. 153 
 
 17. This is the fong, the heav'nly fong, that 
 
 Christ Himfelf approves : Alleluia. 
 
 18. Wherefore we fing, both heart and voice 
 
 awaking, Alleluia. 
 
 19. And children's voices echo, anfwer making, 
 
 Alleluia. 
 
 20. Now from all men be out-pour'd 
 Alleluia to the Lord ; 
 
 With Alleluia evermore 
 
 The Son and Spirit we adore. 
 
 21. Praife be done to the Three in One. 
 
 Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 
 
154 Appendix. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The concluding lines of the extract given at 
 page 4, are in the original : 
 
 " Si tua nuncia praevenit uncia, furge, fequaris j 
 Expete limina, nulla gravamina jam verearis. 
 Si datur uncia, flat prope gratia Pontificalis ; 
 Sin procul haec valet, haec tibi lex manet eft fchola talis." 
 
 The ninth and tenth ftanzas of the Stabat 
 Mater are more literally rendered in the fol- 
 lowing than in the verflon of Lord Lindfay. 
 They alfo (how the inability of the Englifh 
 double rhyme to exprefs the pathos which in- 
 verts the Latin. 
 
 " Let me with His ftripes be rended ; 
 Let me by His blood be cleanfed — 
 
 Looking to the Crucified. 
 Then, O Virgin, by thee lighted, 
 Wakened, warmed, aroufed, excited, 
 
 For the judgment fandrified. 
 
 * Let me by the Crofs directed, 
 By the death of Christ protected, 
 
 See below His glory far. 
 Then, this body mouldering, riven- 
 Then be to my fpirit given 
 
 Paradiji Gloria /" 
 
A 
 
 % 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 24lan'65CS 
 
 ^rtTD I 
 
 M 1 1 '65 
 
 ■»4# 
 
 f fcU 
 
 GY3TS 
 
 fol't&WtA \0jv\^ 
 
 t) 
 
 W 
 
 mm. jan 2 it? 
 
 RECEIVED ^Y 
 
 OCT 1 <l 1980 
 
 ORCUIAT1QN PFPT. 
 
 LD 21A-60m-4,'64 
 (E4555sl0)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley