THE
SEVEN GREAT HYMNS
OF THE
I^tn iaebal Qlurcb.
Thou haft no fhore, fair Ocean i
Thou haft no time, bright Day!
Dear Fountain of refreshment
To pilgrims far away!
THIRD EDITION.
NEW YORK:
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH,
770 BROADWAY, COR. OF 9TH ST.
1867.




Entered according to AA of Congrefs, in the year x865,
By ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH,
In the Clerk's Office of the Diftriet Court of the United States for the
Southern Diftrit of New York.




CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE CELESTIAL COUNTRY..                      I
DIES IR.E..                                           44
STABAT MATER....   6
VENI SANCTE SPI'RITUS..                            106
VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. I 14
VEXILLA REGIS...   120
THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE -...,                   26
APPENDIX...     o.   a34








TO THE READER.
HIS work was fuggefted by the interef
felt in Mr. Prime's little book, the hymn,
"0 Mother Dear Jerufalem."  It is publifhed
with a wifh that it fhall be placed befide his,
and that, finding the fame welcome, it may yield,
or perhaps revive, the fame pleafure and receive
the fame approval.
To fave from years belonging to the darkened paft thoughts of real, undeparted worthto clothe thefe utterances in a drefs neither too
common for the requirements of our tafte, nor
too good for our daily ufe-to do this in the
hope that purer eyes will often reft upon its




vi'To the Reader.
pages, and a holy faith find refrefhment in its
imagery-that fome one better than its author
will keep it always near, a fecret, fympathetic
friend for lonely hours, or gather, in forrow,
from its fentences the confolation which they
poffefs-confeffes the object for which it has
exifted, and to which it is devoted.
Thefe hopes, which were expreffed in the firft
edition of this work, were fulfilled almoft at the
inftant of its publication.  And the affurances
that its real objet was attained were more grateful than even hope had promifed.  A continuing
demand by the public has led to this revifed edition, wherein fome trivial errors are correted,
and two verfions of the Dies Ira  are added.
The feven tranflations now given will render, it
is believed, the Englifh expofition of the Great
Hymn complete.
NEW YORK, June, i866.




THE
CELESTIAL COUNTRY.
BERNARD DE MORLAS, monk of Cluni, 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 century; he was born, according to one authority,
at Morlaix, in Bretagne; according to another,
at M/orlas, in the lower Pyrenees; whilft a third
gives his birth-place to England, and claffes him
with her illuftrious writers (De illuJiribus Anglic
Scriptoribus).' After feven centuries of comparative 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 poffefs his birthplace.




2              The CelefJial Country.
There ftill furvive of his writings five poems,
the greateft of which is De Contemptu Mundi.
It was written about II45, and contains three
thoufand  lines,  divided  into  three  books.   In
fubftance  the  poem   is a fatire, unforgiving  and
revere: in form it is in dactylic hexameter verfe,
wherein each line confifts of three parts, and
two of thefe parts rhyme with each other, while
the lines themfelves are in couplets of double
rhyme.   It is a verfe pedantically called " leonine
" and tailed rhyme, with lines in three parts,
"between which a casfura is not admiflible."z
The poem commences thus:
Hora novisfima, j1 tempora pesfima 1I funt, vigilemus.
Ecce minacitcr II imminet arbiter 11 ille fupremus.
Imminet, imminct II et mala terminet, II equa coronet,
Reaa remuneret, II anxia libcrct, II ethera donet,
Auferat afpera [I duraque pondera II mentes onufi?,
Sobria muniat, II improba puniat, I utraque juJte.
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 muft be;
Th' righteous retaining, finners arraigning, judging all jufIly.




the  CeleJial Country.                  3
This verfe, fo difficult that the Englifh language 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 verfifiers of his day, Hildebert de Lavardin  and  Wichard  of Lyons, he exclaims: " I
"may  then  affert, not in oftentation, but with
" humble confidence, that if I had not received
"diredly  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 Hiiioire Litteraire de la
France, "was drawn from the dull in I483, and its publication
" was achieved on the tenth of December of the fame year, at
"Paris, in magni demo 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; and furely it merits them,
"at leaft by the fentiments of piety which it exhales, and by the
"zeal with which the author attacks the abufes of his time."




4               TThe  CeleJiial  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 perified by unholy fleight.
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 fimony 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 threshold; fear no more
That any ftumbling-blocks will bar the way,
The Pope's own favor you can get for payWithout that help,'tis beft to keep away."
The  opening  of this  monkifh  fatire  on  the
corruptions of its barbarous age, glows with a
description of the Heavenly Land more beautiful  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 received the appropriate name of THE CELESTIAL
COUNTRY.




The CeleJlial Cozluntr. 
The tranflator of THE CELESTIAL COUNTRY
is Dr. John Mafon Neale, Warden of Sackville College, Suffex, England, the moft fucceffful tranflator of medieval 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 language contains.  Dr. Neale fays that he looks
upon the lines of Bernard "as the moft lovel),
"in the fame way that the Dies Irwa is the molt
"fublime, and the Stabat Mater the moft pathetic
of mediaeval poems," but his own poem may
claim more juftly that word. THE CELESTIAL
COUNTRY is better than De Contemptu Mundi.




6           The CelefJial Covz/ry.
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 relives to gladden the hearts of other Chriftians,
loved by fuch as poffefs its faith, and treafured
by the gentleft and the beft of earth.3




Che CeleJial Country.           7
THE
CELESTIAL COUNTRY.
DR. NEALE.
1.
T HE world is very evil,
The times are waxing late;
Be fober and keep vigil,
The Judge is at the gateThe 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 CeleJial Country.
2.
Arife, arife, good Chriftian,
Let right to wrong fucceed;
Let penitential forrow
To heavenly gladnefs leadTo the light that hath no evening,
That knows nor moon nor fun,
The light fo new and golden,
The light that is but one.
3And 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 fhed abroad its ray,
Refolving all enigmas,
An endlefs Sabbath-day.
4Then, then from his oppreffors
The Hebrew fhall go free,




The Celefial 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 IfraeliteThe Home of fadelefs fplendor,
Of flowers that fear no thorn,
Where they fhall dwell as children,
Who here as exiles mourn.
5Midft power that knows no limit,
And wifdom  free from  bound,
The Beatific Vifion
Shall glad the Saints aroundThe peace of all the faithful,
The calm of all the bleft,
Inviolate, unvaried,
Divineft, fweeteft, beft.
Yes, peace! for war is needlefsYes, calm! for ftorm is paftAnd goal from finifhed labor,
And anchorage at laft.




10         The CeleJiZl 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 ihall 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.
7.
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 CeleJiial Country.           1
8.
0  happy, holy portion,
RefeEtion 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 fight;
Till JESUS gives the portion
Thofe bleffed fouls to fillThe infatiate, yet fatisfied,
The full, yet craving ftill.
9.
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 fhall come in;,




12         Che CeleJial Countrv.
When the heavenly net is laden
With fiihes many and great
(So glorious in its fulnefs,
Yet fo inviolate);
And perfect from unperfeded,
And fall'n from thofe that fland,4
And the iheep-flock from the goat-herd
Shall part on either hand.
10.
And there ihall pafs to torment,
And thofe fhall triumph thenThe new peculiar nation,
Bleft number of bleft men.
Jerufalem demands them;
They paid the price on earth,
And now {hall reap the harveft
In blifsfulnefs and mirthThe glorious holy people,
Who evermore relied
Upon their Chief and Father,
The King, the CrucifiedThe facred ranfomed number
Now  bright with endlefs (heen,




The CeleJiial Colunit4.        13
Who made the Crofs their watchword
Of JESUS Nazarene,
Who (fed with heavenly neatar
Where foul-like odors play)
Draw  out the endlefs leifure
Of that long vernal day.
I I.
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 CeleJizal Country.
Who gives inftead of torment,
Eternal joys above —
Inftead of torment, glory;
Inflead of death, that life
Wherewith your happy Country,
True Ifraelites, is rife.
13Brief life is here our portion,
Brief forrow, fhort-liv'd care;
The life that knows no endingThe tearlefs life, is there.
I4.
0  happy retribution 
Short toil, eternal reft;
For mortals and for finners
A manfion with the bleft!
That we ihould look, poor wand'rers,
To have our home on high!
That worms fhould feek for dwelling,
Beyond the ftarry ky!
To all one happy guerdon
Of one celeftial grace;




The Celeiial Country. 
For all, for all, who mourn their fall,
Is one eternal place.'5.
And martyrdom  hath rofes
Upon that heavenly ground;
And white and virgin lilies
For virgin-fouls abound.
There grief is turned to pleafureSuch pleafure as below
No human voice can utter,
No human heart can know;
And after fleshly fcandal,
And after this world's night,
And after ftorm and whirlwind,
Is calm, and joy, and light.
I6.
And now we fight the battle,
But then fhall wear the crown
Of full and everlafting
And paflionlefs renown:
And now we watch and ftruggle,




i6        The CeleJizal County.
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.
I7.
The miferable pleafures
Of the body {hall decay;
The bland and flattering fSruggles
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 Celefiial Country.        1
The light that hath no evening,
The health that hath no fore,
The life that hath no ending,
But lafteth evermore.
I9.
There JESUS fhall embrace us,
There JESUS be embracedThat fpirit's food and funihine
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.




18          The CeleJfial Country.
21.
And JESUS to His true ones
Brings trophies fair to fee;
And JESUS fhall be loved, and
Beheld in GalileeBeheld, when morn fhall waken,
And fhadows fhall decay,
And each true-hearted fervant
Shall fhine 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!"
22.
Yes! GOD my King and Portion,
In fulnefs of Thy grace,
We then fhall fee for ever,
And worthip face to face.
Then Jacob into Ifrael,
From  earthlier felf eftranged,
And Leah into Rachel
For ever fhall be changed;-5




The CeleJiial Country.         19
Then all the halls of Syon
For aye fhall 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 undion to the breaft,
And medicine in ficknefs,
And love, and life, and reft.
24.
O  one, O  onely Manfion 
O  Paradife of Joy!
Where tears are ever banifhed,
And fmiles have no alloy,
Betide thy living waters
All plants are, great and fmall,
The cedar of the foreft,




20          The CeleJiial Country.
The hyffop 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 
The Day-JZar of Salvation,
The Porter and the Port!"




The CeleJiail 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't 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 protec,
And He Himfelf the Manfion,
And He the Architet.




22        The CeleJIial Country.
28.
The only art thou needeftThankfgiving for thy lot;
The only joy thou feekeftThe Life where Death is not.
And all thine endlefs leifure,
In fweeteft accents, tings
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!
30.
And when I fain would ting them,
My fpirit fails and faints;




The CeleJfial Country.    23
And vainly would it image
The affembly of the Saints.
31~
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.
32.
THERE IS THE THRONE OF DAVID,
AND THERE, FROM CARE RELEASED,
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!7




24          The CeleJial Country.
33O 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 cundipotent!
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 brighterAnd fo it is on high.
34.
Jerufalem  the glorious 
The glory of the Eledt 
O  dear and future vifion
That eager hearts expedt 




The Celecial Country.          2
Even now by faith I fee thee,
Even here thy walls difcern;
To thee my thoughts are kindled,
And ftrive, arid 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:
And none, O  peace, O  Syon,
Can fing thee as thou art 




26          The CeleJ/ial 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



The CeleJiial Country.        27
He, Judah's myftic Lion,
He, Lamb Immaculate.
O  fields that know no forrow 
O ftate that fears no ftrife!
O  princely bowers! 0  land of flowers 
O realm and home of Life!
40.
Jerufalem, exulting
On that fecureft fhore,
I hope thee, wifh thee, fing thee,
And love thee evermore!
I afk not for my merit,
I feek not to deny
My merit is deftrudion,
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          The CeleJial7 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 vitorious fold!
0  fweet and bleffed Country,
Shall I ever fee thy face?
0  fweet and b!effed Country,
Shall I ever win thy grace?
I have the hope within me
To comfort and to blefs!
Shall I ever win the prize itfelf?
0  tell me, tell me, Yes J




The CeleJiial Country.            29
43.
Exult, 0  dufi and afhes!
The LORD  jhall be thy part;
His only, His for ever,
Thou jhalt be, and thou art!
Exult, 0  duzJ and ajhes!
The LORD Jhall be thy part;
His only, His for ever,
Thou Jhalt be, and thou art! 9




30         CThe CeleJial Country.
HORA  NOVISSIMA.
BERNARD OF CLUNI.
ORA noviflima, tempora peffima funt, vigilemus.
Ecce minaciter imminet arbiter ille lupremus.
Imminet, imminet et mala terminet, aequa coronet,
Reaa remuneret, anxia liberet, aethera donet,
Auferat afpera duraque pondera mentes onuftae,
Sobria muniat, improba puniat, utraque jufte.
-       -"                       * %  
Hic breve vivitur, hic breve plangitur, hic breve
fletur;
Non breve vivere, non breve plangere retribuetur;
C retributio  ftat brevis atio, vita perennis;
0 retributio! coelica manfio ftat lue plenis;
Quid datur et quibus? aether egentibus et cruce
dignis,
Sidera vermibus, optima fontibus, aftra malignis.




The Celellial Country.           31
Sunt modo praelia, poftmodo pramia; qualia?
plena,
Plena refedio, nullaque paflio, nullaque pcena:
Spe modo vivitur, et Syon angitur a Babylone;
Nunc tribulatio; tunc recreatio, fceptra, coronae;
Tunc nova gloria pedcora fobria clarificabit,
Solvet enigmata, veraque fabbata continuabit.
Liber et hoftibus, et dominantibus ibit Hebraus;
Liber habebitur et celebrabitur hinc jubileus.
Patria luminis, infcia turbinis, infcia litis,
Cive replebitur, amplificabitur Ifraelitis;
Patria fplendida, terraque florida, libera fpinis,
Danda fidelibus eft ibi civibus, hic peregrinis.
Tunc erit omnibus infpicientibus ora Tonantis
Summa potentia, plena fcientia, pax pia fandtis;
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 Audor 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           The CeleJial Countzy.
Eft tua mentio pe6toris un6tio, cura doloris,
Concipientibus aethera mentibus ignis amoris.
Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus es paradifus,
Non ibi lacryma, fed placidiffima gaudia, rifus.
Eft ibi confita laurus, et infita cedrus hyfopo;
Sunt radiantia jafpide maenia, clara pyropo:
Hinc tibi fardius, inde topazius, hinc amethyftus;
Eft  tua  fabrica  concio  coelica, gemmaque
Chriftus.
Tu fine littore, tu fine tempore, fons modo
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,
Tam  mala debita, quam  bona praebita conjubilare.
Urbs Syon aurea, patrea ladea, cive decora,
Omne cor obruis, omnibus obftruis et cor et ora.
Nefcio, nefcio, quxe jubilatio, lux tibi qualis,
Quam focialia gaudia, gloria quam fpecialis:
Laude rfudens ea tollere, mens mea vi6ta fatifcit:




The CeleJlial 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, praftita fan6tis,
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,
Pedora flammea fpe modo, poftea forte lucrantur.
Urbs Syon unica, manfio myftica, condita ccelo,
Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo, triftor,
anhelo:
Te quia corpore non queo, pedore faepe penetro,
Sed caro terrea, terraque carnea, mox cado
retro
Nemo retexere, nemoque promere fuftinet ore,
Quo tua mcenia, quo capitalia plena decore;




34          The CeleJiala Country.
Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, O Syon, O
pax,
Urbs fine tempore, nulla poteft fore laus tibi
mendax;
fineluxibus,    fine ludibus, 0 fine   lite
Splendida curia, florida patria, patria vite!
Urbs Syon inclyta, turris et edita littore tuto,
Te peto, te colo, te flagro, te volo, canto, faluto;
Nec meritis peto, nam  meritis meto  morte
perire,
Nec reticens tego, quod meritis ego filius ira;
Vita quidem mea, vita nimis rea, mortua vita,
Quippe reatibus exitialibus obruta, trita.
Spe tamen ambulo, praemia poftulo fpeque fideque,
Illa perennia poftulo praemia no6te dieque.
Me Pater optimus atque piiifimus ille creavit;
In lue pertulit, ex lue fuftulit, a lue lavit.
Gratia coelica fuftinet unica totius orbis,
Parcere fordibus, interioribus undio morbis;
Diluit omina coelica gratia, fons David undans
Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit, omnia mundans;
0 pia gratia, celfa palatia cernere praefta,




CThe Ccelcial Country.          35
Ut videam bona, feftaque confona, ccelica 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?
Dic mihi, flagito, verbaque  reddito, dicque,
videbis.
Spem  folidam  gero; remne tenens ero? dic,
Retinebis
O facer, 0 pius, O ter et amplius ille beatus,
Cui fua pars Deus, 0 mifer, O reus hac viduatus. lo




36              The  CeleJfial  Country.
NOTES.
I "Le furnom  de Bernard varie en trois manieres dans les
manufcrits.  Les uns l'expriment par Morlanenfis qui Pitfeus
rapporte a une ville d'Angleterre fans la defigner; les autres
portent Morvalenfis, que Fabricius explique de la vallee de Maurienne; ii en eft enfin ou l'on 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 denomination eft la plus rare  2~, que les anciennes chartes emploient 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."-Hifioire 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 Angliis, ordinis S.
BenediSti, Monachus Cluniacenfis."
2 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."Medilval 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 defcription of the peace and glory of heaven, of fuch rare beauty




The  CeleJiial Country.                   37
as not eafily to be matched by any mediaeval compofition on the
fame fubje&.  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 colletions; fo that in fome ihape or other the
Cluniac's verfes have become, as it were, naturalized among us.
This led me to think that a fuller extra&t from the Latin, and a
further tranflation into English, 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 yerufalem the Golden. It has found a
place in fome twenty hymnals; and for the laft two years it has
hardly been poffible to read any newfpaper, which gives prominence  to ecclefiaftical news, without feeing its employment
chronicled at fome dedication or other feftival.  It is alfo a great
favorite with diffenters, and has obtained admiffion to the Roman
Catholic fervices.' And I fay this,' to quote Bernard's own
preface,' in no wife arrogantly, but with all humility, and therefore boldly.'
" But more thankful ftill am I that the Cluniac's verfes fhould
have toothed the dying hours of many of God's fervants, the
moft ftriking inftance, of which I know, is related in the
memoir published by Mr. Brownlow, under the title, A  Little
Child /hall lead them; where he fays that the child of whom
he writes, when fuffering 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  CeleJial  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 Ire
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 fubjeac, 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  (Mcd. Hymns, zd
Edition, London):
THE GLORY AND JOYS OF PARADISE.
THERE nor waxing moon, nor waning
Sun nor ftars in courfes bright 
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;
For the fleih made fpiritual
And the foul agree in one;
Peace unbroken fFreads enjoyment,
Sin and fcandal are unknown.




'fhe  CeleJiZal  Cozultry.                 39
Here they live in endlefs being;
Paffingnefs hath paffed away;
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 refpective merit
Hath its varying palm affigned,
Love takes all as his poffeffion,
Where his power hath all combined;
So that all that each poffeffes
All partake in unconfined.
CHRIST, Thy foldiers' palm of honor,
Unto this Thy city free
Lead me when my warfare's girdle
I fhall cat away from meA 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 confliat over,
Grant me everlafting reft 
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
Patrie decor, that both' turn upon the fame theme, the heavenly home-ficknefs; but with all the claffical beauty of the Ode,




40              The  CeleJial  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 lovelines! 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!  0 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 ihining throng,
With lilies fpread the mound where I fhall lie:
Here let me drop my chain,
And duft to duft returning, caft away
The trammel's that remain;
The reft of me flall fpring to endlefs day!"
4 Thefe two lines are taken from  the laft London edition.
In fome editions they are thus given:
"And the perfet from the fbattered,
And the fallen from them that ftand."
5 " Leah and Rachel are allegorized in three different ways by
medieval poets.  Firft, of the adive and contemplative life; and




Tloe  Celejial  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 Miffal
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 Conqueror:
A Martha to the houfelefs poor, a Mary in her love;
And though her Martha's part be gone, her Mary's lives above.
" Bernard, in the paffage we are confidering, has a double propriety 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 beholds the Bcginning, i. c., CHRIST. Thus, the change fpoken of
is from earth to the Beatific Vifion; 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 reprefent earthly  affltition patiently endured "-Mediaeval Hymns.
ad Edition.




42              The CeleJilal Country.
6 "It is not without a deep  myftical meaning that thefe
itones are feleted by the poet.
"The twelve foundation ftoncs of the Apocalypfe gave rife,
as might be expe&ed, to an infinite variety of myftical interpretations.'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 flouriihing therein, and fear
not the affaults of the devil.''The emerald is exceeding green,
furpaffing 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.'' The
fardius, which is wholly red, fignifies the martyrs who pour forth
their blood for CHRIST.''The topaz is rare, and therefore precious.  It has two colors, one like gold, the other clearer.  In
clearnefs it furpaffes 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.'"
-Mediceval Hymns.  zd Edition.
7 Thefe flanzas 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 1Medikeval
Hymns.
8 " Dccachord, with reference to the myftical explanation, which,
feeing in the number ten a type of perfection, underftands the'inftrument of ten firings' of the perfedt harmony of heaven."
9 " I have been fo often afked to what tune the words of Bernard may be fung, that I may here mention that of Mr. Ewing,
the earlietr written, the beft known, and with children the moft




The  Celeflial  Covitry.                  43
popular; 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, belf expreffes the meaning of the
words."-Mediaeval Hymns.  zd Edition.
10 No copy of De Contemptu Mundi is known to be in the
United States, and hence the extrat 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 Celefiial 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 paffages; partly to enable children readily to feleft from it ftanzas to be learned or fung; but
chiefly to render its intermingling fentences more clear to thofe
who have not become familiar with its conftrution.
2d. The punauation  has  been materially remodelled and
changed.
3d. The author's text has been altered in three inftances, wherein the errors corrected feem manifeltly flips of the pen or blunders
of the compofitor, viz., in the ninth ftanza, line fourteen, "thofe"
is fubftituted for "them;" in the twenty-fecond ftanza, line two,
"Thy" is fubftituted for "His," and in the forty-firt ftanza, line.
nine, "But" is fubffituted for "And."
4




44             The Dies I/r.
THE DIES IRAE.
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 Aflifi, founder of
the Order of Minorites. About the year 1250, as
is fuppofed, he wrote a brief lyric, which, reaching above and beyond his creed and time, has
entered in fome form into the worfhip of every
Chriftian people.  In the Romifll Burial Service 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 Ire.              45
A long lift might be framed of the great who
have avowed for it a fupreme admiration, excelling that yielded to any other compofition of
its kind.  And fuch a roll would contain the
names of men of different countries as of different 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 Scriptures, it continues through its few ftanzas the
addrefs of a fingle a6tor upon a fingle fubject.
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 adapted to comic than to elevated verfe.  Yet it
commands the homage of the Englilhman, the
German, the Italian, and the modern Greek;




46              The Dies Ire.
and even poffeTfes fo 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 clergyman has thus clofely analyzed it: "Com" bining fomewhat of the rhythm  of claffical
" Latin, with the rhymes of the medieval Latin,
" treating of a theme full of awful fublimity, and
" grouping together the moft ftartling imagery of
" 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 impaffioned feelings of the
" South, whence it emanated, the gravity of the
"North, whofe feverer ftyle it adopted."-Dr.
IF. R. Williams.
The Great Hymn has ever allured and eluded
tranflators.  Its apparent artleffnefs and fimplicity indicate that it can be turned readily into
another language, but its fecret power refufes to




The Dies Ira.               47
be thus transferred.   A  German  theologian
(Lifco, Berlin, 1843) has colleded and publifhed eighty-feven verfions, nearly all of which
are in the German.  In our Englifh tongue the
talk 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 fongDIES IRJE, DIES ILLA!
SOLVET SZECLUM  IN FAVILLA;




48             The Dies Ire.
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 fhall be the finner's ftay?
How ihall 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!




The 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, Crucis 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 illa, dies ira
Quam conemur pravenire,
Obveamque Deo ire.
The inverfion of the Scriptural text, the
poverty of the rhyme, and the weaknefs of the
thought, are not faults of the DIES IRZE.  Its
author undoubtedly took the quotation fionl
Zephaniah as a text, and placed it at the head




o50             The Dies Ire.
of his compofition; and the inverfion, " Dies illa,
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 fhould be as lit"erally rendered as the ftrudture 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
"IRSE is as old as the hymn, if not older; and
"with thofe who are familiar with both, they
"are infeparably conneced  in thought.  To
"fatisfy the exactions of fuch minds, the ca" dences muft be the fame."
In this endeavor the author has fo well fucceeded, 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 diftrating 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. Abraham  Coles, an American phyfician, has performed indeed the remarkable talk of making
thirteen different verfions; fix of which are in
the trochaic meafure and double rhyme of the
hymn, and all are fufficiently diftind and original to form  the creditable work of thirteen
different men.  This verfion is the firft of Dr.
Coles.




52               The Dies Ira.
IV.
The  next verfion  is the  eleventh  of Dr.
Coles. It is in fingle rhyme and iambic verfe,
and therein differs from the original.
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 confeffed:
"It was my Lord  Rofcommon's effay 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
into pratice."
And of whom Johnfon has recorded:
"At the moment in which he expired, he' uttered, with an energy of voice that expreffed




Tbhe 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, Rofcommon's excels all other tranflations, but its
verfe is not that of the DIES IRAE.
VI.
Crafhaw, 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              The Dies Ire.
VII.
The verfion of Dr. W. J. Irons may be regarded as the accepted verfion of the prefent
day in Great Britain, and is the one felexed 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 identity of language in many parts, exifts in the unpublithed verfion of an accomplifhed tranflator
(Mr. A. Peries, of Philadelphia), wherein feveral
ftanzas differ but little from thofe of General
Dix.  The eleventh flands as follows:
"Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant us finners abfolution
Ere the day of diffolution!"
VIII.
It is a notable fadt in the hiftory of the
DIES IRE, that the beft Englifh tranflations
which  we  poffefs are not the  work  of our




The Dies lra.                 55
great poets. A recent verfion, which fo capable
and accompliihed a critic as Mr. Prime  pronounces to be "in many refpeds the beft Englih 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," alfo illufirates this remarkable fad.
The author is Edward Sloffon, Efq., of the bar
of New York.
And in this connedion it may be obferved,
that even fo accomplifhed a mafter in profe and
verfe as Macaulay has fucceeded no better in
the difficult talk than is fhown by his verfion
written for the London  Chri/lian  Observer in
1826, beginning"On that great, that awful day,
This vain world fhall pafs away.
Thus the Sibyl fang of old;
Thus hath holy David told.
There ihall be a deadly fear
When the Avenger ihall appear;
And, unveiled before his eye,
All the works of men fhall lie."




56                   The Dies [rI.
1.
THOMAS DE CELANO.
DIES IRNE, DIES ILLA, dies tribulationis et anguftia, dies calamitatis et miferie, dies tenebrarum  et caliginis, dies nebulae et
turbinis, dies tuba et clangoris fuper civitatis munitas, et fuper
angulos excelfos!-Sophonia, i. 15, x6.
I.
IES  IR )E, DIES  ILLA!
Solvet faeclum in favilla,
Tefte  David  cum   Svbilla.
II.
Quantus tremor eft futurus,
Quando  Judex  eft  venturus,
Cun6ca Rfrite difcuffurus.
III.
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 diJirefs, a
day of.waftenefs and defolation, a day of darknefs and gloominefs,
a day of clouds and thick darknefs, a day of the trumpet and alarm
againJi the fenced cities, and againJi the high towers!-ZEPHANIAH, i. 15, 16.
I.
AY  of vengeance, without morrow!
Earth (hall 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.
3To the throne, the trumpet founding,
Through the fepulchres refounding,
Summons all, with voice abounding.




8               ~The Dies br'.
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 di&urus,
Quem  patronum  rogaturus,
Quum  vix juftus fit fecurus?




The Dies Ire.             59
4.
Death and Nature, mazed, are quaking,
When, the grave's long flumber breaking,
Man to judgment is awaking.
5On the written Volume's pages,
Life is fhown in all its ftagesJudgment-record of paft ages!
6.
Sits the Judge, the raifed arraigning,
Darkeft myfteries explaining,
Nothing unavenged remaining.
7What fhall I then fay, unfriended,
By no advocate attended,
When the juft are fcarce defended?




b0o  ~      The Dies lre.
VIII.
Rex tremendac majeftatis,
Qui falvandos falvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis!
IX.
Recordare, Jefu pie,
Quod fum  caufa tuae viae;
Ne me perdas illa die 
x.
Quaerens me, fedifti laffus,
Redemifti, crucem paffus:
Tantus labor non fit caffus.
XI.
Jufte Judex ultionis,
Donum  fac remiffionis
Ante diem rationis.




The Dies Ire.            6
8.
King of majefty tremendous,
By Thy faving grace defend us,
Fount of pity, fafety fend us!
9.
Holy JESUS, meek, forbearing,
For my fins the death-crown wearing,
Save me, in that day, despairing.
10.
Worn and weary, Thou haft fought me;
By Thy crofs and paffion bought meSpare the hope Thy labors brought me.
II.
Righteous Judge of retribution,
Give, O give me abfolution
Ere the day of diflolution.
S




62             The Dies Ire.
XII.
Ingemifco tanquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus;
Supplicanti 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.




The Dies Ire.             63
12.
As a guilty culprit groaning,
Flufhed my face, my errors owning,
Hear, O God, my fpirit's moaning!
13.
Thou to Mary gav'ft remiffion,
Heard'ft the dying thief's petition,
Bad'ft me hope in my contrition.
I4.
In my prayers no grace difcerning,
Yet on me Thy favor turning,
Save my foul from endlefs burning.
15.
Give me, when Thy fheep confiding
Thou art from the goats dividing,
On Thy right a place abiding!




64               The Dies Ire.
XVI.
Confutatis maledidis,
Flammis acribus addidis,
Voca me cum  benedidis!
XVII.
Oro fupplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quaff cinis,
Gere curam  mei finis.
XVIlI.
Lacrymofa dies illa!
Qua refurget ex favilla.
Judicandus homo reus;
Huic ergo parce, Deus 




The Dies Ire.             6
I6.
When the wicked are confounded,
And by bitter flames furrounded,
Be my joyful pardon founded!
I7.
Proftrate, all my guilt difcerning,
Heart as though to afhes turning;
Save, O fave me from the burning!
18.
Day of weeping, when from afhes
Man fhall rife mid lightning flafhes,
Guilty, trembling with contrition,
Save him, Father, from perdition!




66              The Dies Ira.
III.
DR. COLES.
I.
D    AY 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 {hall come in ipiendor,
Strid to mark and juft to render.
3Trumpet fcattering founds of wonder,
Rending fepulchres afunder,
Shall refiftlefs fummons thunder.




The Dies Ire.               67
IV.
DR. COLES.
1.
D    AY of wrath, that day of dole,
When a fire ihall wrap the whole,
And the earth be burnt to coal!
2.
O, what horror fmiting dumb
When the Judge of all fhall come,
Sinful deeds to fearch and fumn!
3Trump's reverberating roar
Through the fepulchres {hall pour,
Citing all the Throne before.




68             The Dies Ire.
4.
All aghaft then Death fhall fhiver,
And great Nature's frame ihall quiver,
When the graves their dead deliver.
5Book where acions are recorded,
All the ages have afforded
Shall be brought, and dooms awarded.
6.
When {hall fit the Judge unerring,
He'll unfold all here occurring,
No juft vengeance then deferring.
7What {hall I fay, that time pending?
Afk what advocate's befriending,
When the juft man needs defending?




che Dies Ira.             69
4.
Death and Nature ftand aghaft,
While the dead, in numbers vaft,
Rife to anfwer for the paft.
5.
Volume writ by GOD'S own pen,
Chronicling the deeds of men,
Shall be brought, and dooms be then.
6.
When the Judge fhall fit, behold!
What is fecret He'll unfold,
No juft punifhment withhold.
7Ah! what plea fhall I prepare,
To what Patron make my prayer,
When the juft well-nigh defpair?




70             The Dies Ire.
8.
Dreadful KING, all power poffeffing,
Saving freely thofe confeffing,
Save Thou me, 0 Fount of Bleffing!
9.
Think, O JESUS, for what reafon
Thou didft bear earth's fpite and treafon,
Nor me lofe in that dread feafon 
IO.
Seeking me Thy worn feet hafted,
On the crofs Thy foul death tafted:
Let fuch travail not be wafted!
II.
Righteous Judge of retribution!
Make me gift of absolution
Ere that day of execution!




The Dies Ira.              7'
8.
King majeftic beyond thought,
Whofe free grace cannot be bought,
Save me, whofe defert is naught!
9.
0 remember, JESUS, I
Was the caufe and reafon why
Thou didft come on earth to die!
I0.
Me Thou fought't with weary feet,
And my ranfom didft complete:
Let fuch pity naught defeat 
II.
Judge inflexible and tritd,
Pardon, ere that day convi6l,
And th' unchanging doom inflit!




72             The Dies Ira.
12.
Culprit-like I plead, heart-broken,
On my cheek fhame's crimfon token:
Let the pardoning word be fpoken!
13.
Thou who Mary gav'ft reniffion,
Heard'ft the dying thief's petition,
Cheer'ft with hope my loft condition.
14.
Though my prayers be void of merit,
What is needful, Thou confer it,
Left I endlefs fire inherit!
15.
Be there, Lord, my place decided
With Thy iheep, from goats divided,
Kindly to Thy right hand guided!




The Dzes Ira.              73
12.
Like a criminal I figh,
Blufhing, penitently cry:
Pafs, LORD, my offences by!
13Thou, who Mary erft didft blefs,
Heard'ft the thief in his diftrefs;
Hope has given me no lefs.
14.
Worthlefs are my prayers and vain,
But in love do not difdain,
Left I reap eternal pain!
15.
On Thy right hand grant me place
Mid the fheep, a chofen raceFar from goats devoid of grace!




74              The Dies Ire.
16.
When th' accurfed away are driven,
To eternal burnings given,
Call me with the bleffed to heaven!
17I befeech Thee, proftrate lying,
Heart as aihes, contrite, fighing,
Care for me when I am dying 
18.
Day of tears and late repentance,
Man fhall rife to hear his fentence:
Him, the child of guilt and error,
Spare, LORD, in that hour of terror!




The Dies lr.              75
16.
When the thunder of Thine ire
Headlong hurls to quenchlefs fire,
Let Thy welcome me infpire!
17.
I entreat Thee, bending low,
Heart as afhes, full of woe,
Succor in mine end beftow!
18.
When upon that day of tears
Man from duft again appears,
Fate depending on Thy nod:
Spare the finner then, O God 




76            T/he Dies Irn.
V.
EARL ROSCOMMON.
I.
T HE day of wrath, that dreadful day,
Shall the whole world in afhes lay,
As David and the Sibyls fay.
2.
What horror will invade the mind
When the ftri6t Judge, who would be kind,
Shall have few venial faults to find.
3The laft loud trumpet's wondrous found
Shall through the rending tombs rebound,
And wake the nations under ground.




The Dies Ire.             77
VI.
RICHARD CRASHAW
I.
H   EAR'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 ihall find no place:
O thofe Eyes! whofe angry light
Muft be the day of that dread night.
3O that Trump! whofe blat fhall run
An even round with th' circling Sun,
And urge the murmuring graves to bring
Pale mankind forth to meet his King.
6




78             The Dies Ire.
4.
Nature and death fhall with furprife
Behold the pale offender rife,
And view the Judge with confcious eyes.
5Then fhall, with univerfal dread,
The facred, myftic book be read
To try the living and the dead.
6.
The Judge afcends His awful throne s
He makes each fecret fin be known,
And all with ihame confefs their own.
7.
0 then, what intereft fhall I make
To fave my laft important ftake
When the moft juft have caufe to quake!




The 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 revere light.
O that Judge! whofe hand, whofe eye
None can endure, yet none can fly.
6.
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 ihall ftand?
7But Thou giv'ft leave, dread Lord, that we
Take fhelter from Thyfelf in Thee;
And with the wings of Thine own dove
Fly to Thy fceptre of foft love!




80             The Dies Ira.
8.
Thou mighty, formidable KING!
Thou mercy's unexhaufted fpring,
Some comfortable pity bring!
9.
Forget not what my ranfobm coft;
Nor let my dear-bought foul be loft,
In ftorms of guilty terrors toft.
IO.
Thou who for me didft feel fuch pain,
Whofe precious blood the crofs did ftain,
Let not there agonies be vain!
II.
Thou whom avenging powers obey,
Cancel my debt, too great to pay,
Before the fad accounting day 




The Dies [Tr.             81
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?
iO.
Juft Mercy, then, Thy reck'ning be
With my price, and not with me;'Twas paid at firft 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;
The confcious colors of my fin
Are red without, and pale within.




82            The Dies Ire.
12.
Surrounded with amazing fears,
Whofe load my foul with anguifh bears,
I figh, I weep! accept my tears 
I3.
Thou who wert moved with Mary's grief,
And by abfolving of the thief
Haft given me hope, now give relief!
14.
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.




The Dies Ire.              83
12.
O let Thine own foft bowels pay
Thyfelf, and fo discharge that day!
If Sin can figh, Love can forgive,
0, fay the word, my foul fhall live!
13.
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.
I4.
Though both my prayers and tears combine,
Both worthlefs are, for they are mine;
But Thou Thy bounteous felf ftill be,
And (how 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 bleifed " then call me!




84             lThe Dies Tra.
i6.
From that infatiable abyfs,
Where flames devour and ferpents hifs,
Promote me to thy feat of blifs.
I7.
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 compafnion find!




The Dies Ira.               85
I6.
When the dread   ITE " fhall divide
Thofe limbs of death from Thy left fide,
Let thofe life-fpeaking lips command
That I inherit Thy right hand!
17.
0, 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!




86             The Dies Jre.
VII.
DR. IRONS.
I.
D    AY of Wrath! 0 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!
3Wondrous found the Trumpet flingeth,
Through earth's fepulchres it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth!




The Dies Ira.              87
VIII.
MR. SLOSSON.
I.
D    AY 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!
3When the trump, with wondrous tone
Through the graves of nations gone,
Bids the race confront the Throne.




88             The Dies Irf.
4Death is ftruck, and nature quaking,
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an anfwer making 
5.
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.
7.
WAhat fhall I, frail man, be pleading,
Who for me be interceding,
When the juft are mercy needing?




The Dics lri.               89
4Death fhall die-fair nature too;
As the creature, ris'n anew,
Anfwers to his God's review.
5HE 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.
7What can I, then, wretched, plead?
Who will mediate in my need
When the juft fhall fcarce fucceed?




9o             The Dies Ire.
8.
King of majefty tremendous,
Who doft free falvation fend us,
Fount of pity! then befriend us 
9.
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 reck'ning day's conclufion!




IT/he Dies Ir,.           9
8.
King majeftic! Sovereign dread 
Saving all for whom He bled,
Save Thou me! Salvation's Head!
9Holy 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!. renging Judge fevere,
Grant remiffion, full and clear,
Ere th' accounting day appear.




92             The Dies fra.
12.
Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my fhame with anguifh owning;
Spare, O God, Thy fuppliant, groaning!'3.
Thou, the finful woman faveft,
Thou, the dying thief forgavet;
And to me a hope vouchfafeft!
I4.
Worthlefs are my pray'rs and fighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Refcue me from fires undying!
15With Thy favor'd fheep, O place me!
Nor among the goats abafe me;
But to Thy right hand upraife me.




The Dies Ir.             )93
12.
Like a guilty thing I moan,
Flufh'd my cheek, my fins I own,
Hear, O God, Thy fuppliant's groan!
I3Magdalen found grace with Thee,
So the thief upon the tree;
Hope Thou giveft e'en to me.
14.
Worthlefs are my vows, I know,
Yet, dear Lord, Thy pity ihow,
Left I fink in endlefs woe.
5I.
From the goats my lot divide,
With Thy lambs a place provide,
On Thy right and near Thy fide.




94            lThe Dies Tre.
I6.
While the wicked are confounded,
Doom'd to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me! with Thy faints furrounded.
17Low I kneel, with heart fubmiffion;
See, like afhes, my contrition;
Help me, in my laft condition!
I8.
Ah! that Day of tears and mourning!
From the duft of earth returning,
Man for judgment muff prepare him;
Spare! O God, in mercy, fpare him!
Lord, who didft our fouls redeem,
Grant a blefied Requiem! Amen.




The Dies Ire.              95
I6.
When th' accursed fink in fhanle,
Given to tormenting flame,
With Thy bleffed call my name.
17.
Bowed to earth, I ftrive in prayer;
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 bearSPARE HIM, GOD! IN MERCY, SPARE!




96           The Stabat Mater.
THE STABAT MATER.
T    HE STABAT MATER, with the Dies Ira,
poffeffes the power of imparting a fhadowy impreffion 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 attra&ed the fame
great admiration, and been praifed and repeated
by the fame great admirers, but always in a
leffer degree.  As the Dies Ira has been pronounced 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 diftin6ion as a jurift.  A  few  years




The 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 devotion, 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 infanity and ended in death.
Dying about the time that Petrarch was born,
and while Dante was ftill a young man, his
Cantace Spirituali mark the dawning day of
the  Italian  language.  In  an  old Venetian
copy of thefe, the hiftorian of the Francifcans  (Wadding) found  a number of Latin
poems, amongft which was the STABAT MATER,
and thus eftablithed for the Order of St. Francis
the honor of producing, within the fame century, the two moft celebrated of Latin hymns.
Few Englifh verfions of the STABAT MATER
have been made, and not one which ftriEtly
preferves its meafure.  That of Lord Lindfay
is felexted here as beft expreffing the pathos of
the original.




98           The Stabat Mater.
STABAT MATER.
JACOBUS DE BENEDICTIS.
I.
STABAT  Mater dolorofa,
Juxta crucem  lacrymofa,
Dum pendebat filius.
Cujus animam gementem,
Contriftatam et dolentem,
Pertranfivit gladius.
II.
0  quam  triftis et afflida,
Fuit illa benedida
Mater unigeniti 
Quae moerebat et dolebat,
Pia mater, dum  videbat
Nati poenas inclytio




The Stabat lMater.            99
THE STABAT MATER.
LORD LINDSAY.
1.
B Y  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.
2.
Oh! how fad, how woe-begone
Was that ever-bleffed one,
Mother of the Son of God 
Oh! what bitter tears {he fhed
Whilft before her JESUS bled'Neath the Father's penal rod 




1 co         The Stabal Mater.
III.
Quis eft homo qui non fleret,
Chrifti matrem fi videret
In tanto fupplicio?
Quis poffet non contriftari
Piam  matrem  contemplari
Dolentem cum filio?
IV.
Pro peccatis fuse gentis,
Vidit Jefum in tormentis,
Et flagellis fubditum.
Vidit fuum  dulcem  natum,
Morientem, defolatum,
Dum  emifit fpiritum.
V.
Eia mater, fons amoris,
Me fentire vim  doloris
Fac, ut tecum lugeamo
Fac ut ardeat cor meum,
In amando Chriftum Deum
Ut illi complaceam.




The Stabat Mater.            101
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 crueltiesSaw 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.




102          The Stabat Mater.
VI.
Sandca Mater, iftud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
Cordi meo valide.
Tui Nati vulnerati,
Tam  dignati pro me pati,
Poenas mecum  divide.
VII.
Fac me vere tecum  fere,
Crucifixo condolere,
Donec ego vixero.
Juxta crucem  tecum  flare,
Et tibi me fociare
In plandu defidero.
VIII.
Virgo virginum  praclara,
Mihi jam  non fis amara;
Fac me tecum  plangere.
Fac ut portem Chrifti mortem
Paflionis fac confortem,
Et plagas recolere.




Tlhe Stabat Mlater.         103
6.
Print, 0 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 crofsMake 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 vidtory.




104          The 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.
x.
Fac me cruce cuftodiri,
Morte Chrifti praemuniri,
Confoveri gratia.
Quando corpus morietur,
Fac ut animae donetur
Paradifi gloriao




The Stabat Mater.              lo0
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 
I0.
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!




o06           The Veni San.e.
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, Hij. Francais.
This King, " there is no good reafon to
"doubt" (Konigsfeld), was the author of the
VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS, a hymn that the beft
living authority regards as "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 Ira and




The Veni Sanc7e.                     107
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, lettr, et fuffifamment phi"lofophe, mais furtout excellent muficien.  I1 compofa la profe
" du Saint-Efprit, qui commence par ces mots, Adfit nobis gratia,
"les rhythmes, yuda et Hierufalem, et Cornelius Centurio, qu'il
" offrit a Rome fur l'autel de Saint-Pierre, notes avec le chant
"qui leur etoit propre, de m&me que l'antiphone Eripe, et plu"fieurs aut:-e3 beaux morceaux.'
The  tranflation  which  is here given is from
the  Lyra  Germanica of Catherine  Winkworth.
That work  profeffes to  be tranflated  from   the
German; but its verfion  of the VENI SANCTE
SPIRITUS is a finei tranflation than any that profeffes 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 " 0,"  it is prefumed that this was a:n  unintended  error of the
ufually faithful and fcrupulous tranflator.




ic8            The   enii  Sance.
VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS.
ROBERT II.
1.
A     ENI, Sande Spiritus,
Et emitte coelitus,
-Lucis tuge radium.
II.
Veni, pater pauperum,
Veni, dator munerum,
TVerni lumen cordium.
Ill.
Confolator optime,
Dulcis hofpes animax,
Dulce refrigerium.




The Yen,  Sanode.          I09
THE VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS.
CATHERINE WINKWORTH.
I.
OME, Holy Ghoft! Thou fire divine 
From higheft heaven on us down fhine 
Comforter, be Thy comfort mine!
2.
Come, Father of the poor, to earth;
Come with Thy gifts of precious worth 
Come, Light of all of mortal birth 
3Thou rich in comfort! Ever bleft
The heart where Thou art conftant gueft,
Who giv'ft the heavy-laden reft.




110           The Yeni Sane,.
IV.
In labore requies,
In aeftu temperies,
In fletu folatium.
V.
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.




Thbe yeni SaciZe.          I11
4.
Come Thou in whom our toil is fieet,
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 fkilful deed, or wifeft thought,
God counts it vain and merely naught.
7O cleanfe us that we fin no more,
O'er parched fouls Thy waters pour;
Heal the fad heart that acheth fore.




112           The kTeni SanIe.
VIII.
Flede quod eft rigidum,
Fove quod eft frigidum,
Rege quod eft devium.
IX.
Da tuis fidelibus,
In te confidentibus,
Sacrum feptenarium.
xv
Da virtutis meritum,
Da falutis exitum,
Da perenne gaudium.




The fTeni Sanie.            113
8.
Thy will be ours in all our ways;
0 melt the frozen with Thy rays;
Call home the loft in error's maze.
9.
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 I




114          I'he yeni Creator.
THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS.
"C  HARLEMAGNE, reclame par l'Eglife
comme un faint, par les Frantais comme
" leur plus grand roi, par les Allemands comme
"'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 unexpected 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 impoffible.  "The eloquence of Char" lemagne," fays his Secretary,   was abundant.
" He was able to exprefs with facility all he
"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 lan



^the Veni Crcazor.           115
"guage almof as eafily as in his own.  He
" 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 manuscript containing a commentary on the EplJle to the Romans, attributed
to Origen, and correded in the hand of Charlemagne.  The fubje(t of the hymn feems alfo
to have engaged the attention of the Emperor,
for there is a letter by him addreffed 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 paraphrafe of Dryden, of which Warton fays: " This
"is a moft elegant and beautiful little morfel,
"and one of his molf correct compofitions."
There is a tranflation in the Prayer Book (Ordering of Priefts) which is noteworthy, as being
the only Breviary hymn retained by the Epifcopal Church.




116           The   cnzi Creator.
VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS.
CHARLEMAGNE.
V    ENI, Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum  vifita,
Imple fuperna gratia,
Quae tu creafti pedora.
Qui diceris Paraclitus,
Altiffimi donum  Dei,
Fons vivus, ignis, charitas,
Et fpiritalis undio.
Tu feptiformis munere,
Digitus Paternae dextere,
Tu rite promiffum  Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.
Accende lumen fenfibus,
Infunde amorem cordibus,
I nfirma noftri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.




che /eni Creator.           117
THE VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS.
DRYDEN.
C   REATOR  Spirit, by whofe aid
The world's foundations firft 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 uncion bring,
To fantify 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 dolt the gifts of tongues difpenfe,
And crown'it Thy gift with eloquence!




18           CThe Yeni Creator.
Hoftem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus:
DuAore fic 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 faeculao




+he Yeniz Creator.          119
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 beflow;
And left our feet fhould ftep aftray,
Protedt and guide us on the way.
MAKE US eternal truths receive,
And praftife 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.
8




120          ohe ['exilla Regis.
THE VEXILLA REGIS.
T HE  VEXILLA  REGIS was written about
the year 580-two hundred years before
the time of Charlemagne, and feven hundred
years before the birth of the Engliih language.
It is therefore one of the oldeft of medieval
hymns.
Venantius Fortunatus, an Italian, whofe birthplace is unknown, was in early life a citizen of
Ravenna, from  which he was driven by the
great invafion of the Lombards.  He pafied 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'exilla  Regis.             121
" This world-famous hymn, one of the grandeft in the treafury of the Latin Church, was
compofed  by  Fortunatus  on  occafion  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 ftrilly and primarily a proceflional
hymn, though, very naturally, afterwards adapted
to Paffion-tide."-Medieval Hymns.
" C'eft de Fortunat qu'eft le VEXILLA REGIS
compoef, a l'occafion  du morceau de la vraie
croix, envoye par l'empereur Juftin a St. Radegonde."-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 netar thou:
Decked with the fruit of peace and praife,
And glorious with Triumphal lays:"Hail, Altar! Hail, O Vidim! Thee
Decks now Thy Paffion's Vi&ory 
Where Life for finners death endured,
And life by death for man procured."




122          che Vexilla Regis.
VEXILLA  REGIS.
FORTUNATUS,
I.
V   EXILLA  regis prodeunt,
Fulget crucis myfterium,
Quo came carnis conditor
Sufpenfus eft patibulo.
II.
Quo vulneratus infuper
Mucrone diro lanceae,
Ut nos lavaret crimine
Manavit unda fanguine.
III.
Impleta funt quae concinit
David fideli carmine
Dicens: In nationibus
Regnavit a ligno Deus.




The lexilla Regis.          123
THE VEXILLA REGIS.
DR. NEALE.
1.
T    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.
3Fulfill'd is all that David told
In true prophetic fong of old;
Amidft the nations GOD, faith he,
Hath reign'd and triumph'd from the Tree.




124          The Vexilla Regis.
IV.
Arbor decora et fulgida,
Ornata regis purpura,
Ele6ta digno ftipite
Tam  fanda membra tangere.
V.
Beata cujus brachiis
Pretium  pependit faculi,
Statera fada farculi
Praedamque tulit tartaris.
VI.
O crux ave, fpes unica!
Hoc paflionis tempore,
Auge piis infritiam
Reifque dona veniam.
VII.
Te fumma Deus Trinitas
Collaudet omnis fpiritus
Quas per crucis myfterium
Salvas, rege per faecula.




The rexilla Regis.          125
4.
O Tree of Beauty! Tree of Light  
O Tree with royal purple dight 
Eled on whofe triumphal breaft
Thofe holy limbs ihould find their reft 
5.
On whofe dear arms, fo widely flung,
The weight of this world's ranorn hung:
The price of human kind to pay,
And fpoil the Spoiler of his prey.
6.
O Crofs, our one reliance, hail 
This holy Paffion-tide, avail
To give frefh merit to the faint,
And pardon to the penitent.
7To Thee, Eternal Three in One,
Let homage meet by all be done;
Whom by the Crofs Thou doft reftore,
Preferve and govern evermore.




126       The Allelvuatic Sequence.
THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE.
T    HIS famous Sequence, which may be regarded as the parent of every Hallelujah
Chorus that has been written fince, was compofed 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,
C with refped to the ufe of any of my hymns that
has grieved me-the reje6tion of the noble melody of the ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE, and that for
a third-rate chant. What would be faid of chanting the Dies Ire?  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




The.lleluiatc Sequence.         127
word-of the verfion was carefully fitted to the
mufic, and the length of the lines corresponds to
the length of each troparion in the original."
"If it be faid that the original melody is difficult, 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."-Mediaval Hymns.




128       The Alleluiatic Sequence.
CANTEMUS CUNCTI.
GODESCALCUS.
ANTEMUS cuncti melodum nunc
<~ —-A~~                 ALLELUIA.
ii. In laudibus eterni regis haec plebs refultet                   ALLELUIA.
II. Hoc denique cceleftes chori cantent in
altum                  ALLELUIA.
iv. Hoc beatorum per prata paradifiaca pfallat
concentus             ALLELUIA.
v. Quin et aftrorum micantia luminaria jubilent altum            ALLELUIA.
vi. Nubium  curfus, ventorum  volatus, fulgurum coruscatio et tonitruum fonitus dulce confonent fimul
ALLELUIA.




The Alleluiiatic Sequence.       129
THE ALLELUIATIC SEQUENCE.
DR. NEALE.
T    HE ftrain upraife of joy and praife, Alleluia.
2. To the glory of their King
Shall the ranfom'd people ting Alleluia.
3. And the Choirs that dwell on high
Shall re-echo through the fky     Alleluia.
4. They through the fields ofParadife that roam,
The bleffed ones, repeat through that bright
home                       Alleluia.
5. The planets glitt'ring on their heavenly way,
The fhining 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.




130       The AZlelmnatic Sequence.
vii. Flu6tus et unde, imber et procellae, tempeftas et ferenitas, cauma, gelu,
nix, prunae, faltus, nemora pangant                  ALLELUIA.
viII. Hinc variae volucres creatorem laudibus
concinite cum         ALLELUIA.
ix. Aft illic refpondeant voces altae diverfarum
beftiarum             ALLELUIA.
x. Iftinc montium celfi vertices fonent
ALLELUIA.
xi. Hinc vallium profunditates faltent
ALLELUIA.
xiI. Tu quoque maris jubilans abyffe dic
ALLELUIA.
xiII. Nec non terrarum molis immenfitates:
ALLELUIA.
xiv. Nunc omne genus humanum  laudans exultet:                ALLELUIA.
xv. Et creatori grates frequentans confonet:
ALLELUIA.
xvI. Hoc denique nomen audire jugiter deledtatur        ~     ALLELUIA.




The Allelulaztic Sequence.      131
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
Alldluia.
9. Then let the beafts of earth, with varying
ftrain,
Join in Creation's Hymn, and cry again
Alleluia.
IO. Here let the mountains thunder forth, fonorous,                      Alleluia.
i I. There, let the valleys fing in gentler chorus,
Alleluia.
12. Thou jubilant abyfs of ocean, cry Alleluia.
13. Ye tradts of earth and continents, reply
Alleluia.
i4. To GOD, who all Creation made,
I5. The frequent hymn be duly paid:  Alleluia.
I6. This is the ftrain, the eternal ftrain, the
LORD of all things loves:  Alleluia.




132      The Allleluiatic Sequence.
xvii. Hoc etiam  carmen ccelefte comprobat
ipfe Chriftus:        ALLELUIA.
xvIII. Nunc vos focii cantate aetantes:
ALLELUIA.
xix. Et vos pueruli refpondete femper
ALLELUIA.
xx. Nunc omnes canite fimul Alleluia domino, Alleluia Chrifto pneumatique
ALLELUIA.
xxi. Laus Trinitati aternae in babtifmo domini
quae clarificatur: Hinc canamus:
ALLELUIA.




The Alleluiatic Sequenceo       133
17. This is the fong, the heav'nly fong, that
CHRIST Himfelf approves: Alleluia.
8. Wherefore we fing, both heart and voice
awaking,                   Alleluia.
I9. 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!




134                    Appendic.
APPENDIX.
THE  concluding  lines of the extrad  given at
page 4, are in the original:
"Si tua nuncia praevenit uncia, furge, fequaris;
Expete limina, nulla gravamina jam verearis.
Si datur uncia, tfat prope gratia Pontificalis;
Sin procul hec valet, hac tibi lex manet eft fchola talis."
The ninth and tenth ftanzas of the STABAT
MATER  are  more  literally rendered  in  the  following  than  in  the  verfion  of  Lord  Lindfay.
They  alfo  fhow   the  inability  of  the  Englifh
double rhyme to exprefs the pathos which invefts the Latin.
" Let me with His ftripes be rended;
Let me by His blood be cleanfedLooking to the Crucified.
Then, O Virgin, by thee lighted,
Wakened, warmed, aroufed, excited,
For the judgment fanaified.
" Let me by the Crofs direted,
By the death of CHRIST proteded,
See below His glory far.
Then, this body mouldering, rivenThen be to my fpirit given
ParadiJi Gloria!"