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The Antiphon

O save us then,
Merciful King of men!

Since Thou wouldst needs be thus

A Saviour, and at such a rate,1 for us;
Save us, O save us, Lord.

We now will own no shorter wish, nor name a narrower word;

Thy Blood bids us be bold,

Thy Wounds give us fair hold,
Thy Sorrows chide our shame :

Thy Cross, Thy Nature, and Thy Name

Advance our claim,

And cry with one accord,

Save them, O save them, Lord!

THE RECOMMENDATION

These Hours, and that which hovers o'er my end, Into Thy hands and heart, Lord, I commend.

Take both to Thine account, that I and mine,
In that hour and in these, may be all Thine.

That as I dedicate my devoutest breath
To make a kind of life for my Lord's death,

So from His living, and life-giving death,

My dying life may draw a new and never fleeting breath.

1 Terrible payment, price.

VEXILLA REGIS

THE HYMN OF THE HOLY CROSS

I

LOOK up, languishing soul! Lo, where the fair
Badge of thy Faith calls back thy care,
And bids thee ne'er forget
Thy life is one long debt

Of love to Him, Who on this painful Tree 1
Paid back the flesh He took for thee.

II

Lo, how the streams of life, from that full nest,
Of loves, Thy Lord's too liberal breast,
Flow in an amorous flood

Of water wedding blood.

With these He wash'd thy stain, transferr'd thy smart,

And took it home to His own Heart.

III

But though great Love, greedy of such sad gain, Usurp'd the portion of thy pain,

And from the nails and spear

Turn'd the steel point of fear :

Their use is changed, not lost; and now they

move

Not stings of wrath, but wounds of love.

1 Cross.

IV

Tall Tree of life! thy truth makes good
What was till now ne'er understood,
Though the prophetic king

Struck loud his faithful string:

It was thy wood he meant should make the throne For a more than Solomon.

V

Large throne of Love, royally spread

With purple of too rich a red,

Thy crime is too much duty,

Thy burthen too much beauty.

Glorious or grievous more? thus to make good Thy costly excellence with thy King's own blood.

VI

Even balance of both worlds; our world of sin,
And that of grace, Heaven weighed in Him:
Us with our price thou weighedst;
Our price for us thou payedst,

Soon as the right-hand scale rejoiced to prove
How much Death weigh'd more light than Love.

VII

Hail, our alone hope! let thy fair head shoot
Aloft, and fill the nations with thy noble fruit :
The while our hearts and we

Thus graft ourselves on thee,

Grow thou and they. And be thy fair increase
The sinner's pardon and the just man's peace.

Live, O for ever live and reign

The Lamb Whom His own love hath slain ; And let Thy lost sheep live to inherit

That kingdom which this Holy Cross did merit.

Amen.

NO MAN WAS ABLE TO ANSWER HIM

NEITHER DURST ANY MAN FROM THAT DAY ASK HIM

ANY MORE QUESTIONS.- —MATT. xxii. 46.

MIDST all the dark and knotty snares,

Black wit or malice can or dares,

Thy glorious wisdom breaks the nets,
And treads with uncontrolled steps.
Thy quell'd foes are not only now
Thy triumphs, but Thy trophies too.
They both at once Thy conquests be,
And Thy conquests' memory.
Stony amazement makes them stand
Waiting on Thy victorious hand,
Like statues fixed to the fame

Of Thy renown, and their own shame,
As if they only meant to breathe,
To be the life of their own death.

when they

'Twas time to hold their peace
Had ne'er another word to say:
Yet is their silence, unto Thee
The full sound of Thy victory;
Their silence speaks aloud, and is
Thy well pronounc'd panegyris.1
While they speak nothing, they speak all
Their share in Thy memorial.

1 Praise.

While they speak nothing, they proclaim
Thee with the shrillest trump of fame.
To hold their peace is all the ways
These wretches have to speak Thy praise.

ON THE WOUNDS OF OUR
CRUCIFIED LORD

THESE wakeful wounds of Thine!
Are they mouths? or are they eyes?

Be they mouths, or be they eyne,1
Each bleeding part some one supplies.

Lo! a mouth, whose full-bloom'd lips
At too dear a rate are roses :
Lo! a blood-shot eye that weeps,
And many a cruel tear discloses.

O Thou,2 that on this foot hast laid
Many a kiss, and many a tear;
Now thou shalt have all repaid,
Whatsoe'er thy charges were.

This foot hath got a mouth and lips,
Το pay the sweet sum of thy kisses;
To pay thy tears, an eye that weeps,
Instead of tears, such gems as this is.

The difference only this appears,
(Nor can the change offend)
The debt is paid in ruby tears,
Which thou in pearls didst lend.
1 Eyes.

2 Possibly St. Mary Magdalene.

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