A. D. Wackerbarth

“ In the Cross salvation yield me,
And in Jesus' passion shield me,
⁠Cherish me with mercy's aid.
When my earthly frame shall perish,
Grant around my soul to flourish
⁠Eden's joys that never fade. Amen. ”

“ In unbounded exultation,
Without fear or trepidation,
⁠Without suffering or alloy.
Angels their soft chorus swelling,
Beauteous, and in good excelling,
In existence endless dwelling,—
⁠Death is unremembered there. ”

“ E'en the spirit's inmost shrine
⁠Of thy faithful people fill:
If Thy Godhead absent be,
Man is nought but vanity,
⁠Nothing is devoid of ill.
Cleanse our souls from evil's stains,
Water all that dry remains,
⁠What is wounded heal and save. ”

“ Choose we holiness of living,
And, while yet on earth, with grieving
⁠Wail our ev'ry evil deed.
Live we not like brute creation,
Lest, when dead, to desolation
We should come, and lamentation,—
⁠God's intolerable ire ”

“ Nature rises, laws despises,
⁠Rapt in overwhelming grace:
Things preceding all unheeding
⁠In the present Virgin's case.
Breast adoréd, whence out-pouréd
⁠Food for our Incarnate Lord,
At whose bidding fruit for feeding
⁠Every age doth earth afford. ”

“ Health is theirs untouched by sickness,
⁠Endless youth unmarred by age.
Here they live in endless being,
⁠Passingness has passed away,
Here they bloom, they thrive, they flourish,
⁠For decayed is all decay,
Hungering still, they eat ”

“ There nor waxing moon, nor waning,
⁠Sun, nor stars in courses bright;
For the Lamb to that glad city
⁠Shines an everlasting light.
There the daylight beams for ever,
⁠All unknown are time and night. ”

“ Fit ourselves above for meeting
⁠Joys that holy souls desire.
Lo! the world is passing quickly,
Fall its beauty's blossoms thickly,
Viler daily and more sickly
⁠Its fallacious glories grow,
Which demerge to lakes infernal ”

“ That unto man of both combined
⁠He might become celestial food.
4.⁠Man's friend He's born in human guise,—
⁠And dwells with him his food to be,—
As his redemption's price He dies,—
⁠And reigns his crown of majesty. ”

“ And when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the Choir.⁠
5.⁠To the sacred Host inclining
⁠In adoring awe we bend,
Ancient forms their place resigning
⁠Unto rites of nobler end;
Faith the senses dark refining. ”

“ O! may grateful love possess us,
That thou still dost deign to bless us
⁠With thy fond maternal care.
Amen.⁠
↑ I owe this hymn to the kindness of George White, Esq. Jun. of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall Green, from whose forthcoming work on the passage of the Holy House of Loretto I feel sure that the faithful will gain much injoyment and much sound teaching. ”