John Mason Neale

“ Death shall be thy birth's beginning,
And life's losing be the winning
⁠Of the true and better Life.
Whom the Holy Ghost endueth,
Whom celestial sight embueth,
⁠Stephen penetrates the skies;
There Good's fullest glory viewing,
There his victor strength renewing,
⁠For his near reward he sighs.
See, as Jewish foes invade thee,
See how Jesus stands to aid thee:
⁠Stands to guard His champion's death: [1]
Cry that opened Heaven is shown thee:
Cry that Jesus waits to own thee:
⁠Cry it with thy latest breath! ”

“ The strain upraise of joy and praise, Alleluia.
2. To the glory of their King
Shall the ransom'd people sing Alleluia.
3. And the Choirs that dwell on high
Shall re-echo through the sky Alleluia.
4. They through the fields of Paradise that roam,
The blessed ones, repeat through that bright home Alleluia.
5. The planets glittering on their heavenly way,
The shining constellations, join, and say Alleluia. ”

“ Two Suns appear to man to-day: one made,
One Maker: one eternal, one to fade.
One the star's King; the King of their King, one:
This makes,—that bids him make,—the hours to run.
The Sun shines with the True Sun, ray with ray,
Light with light, Day with Him that makes the day.
Day without night, without seed bears she fruit,
Unwedded Mother, Flower without a root. ”

“ To succour miserable man.
Alleluia.
The holy women to the tomb
With gifts of precious ointment come:
Alleluia.
And Christ the Lord they seek with pain,
For our transgressions Who was slain.
Alleluia.
An Angel clad in white appears
To bring glad tidings to their ears.
Alleluia.
"Fear not! O trembling ones!" ”

“ I add another translation, which I made for the Hymnal Noted.
Glory, and laud, and honour,
⁠To Thee, Redeemer King!
To Whom the lips of children
⁠Made sweet Hosannas ring!
Thou art the King of Israel;
⁠Thou David's Royal Son;
Who in the Lord's Name comest
⁠The King and Blessed One.
The Company of Angels
⁠Are praising Thee on high:
And mortal men, and all things
⁠Created, make reply. ”

“ Living Bread, Which givest life to man below,
Let my spirit ever eat of Thee and live,
And the blest fruition of Thy sweetness give!
Pelican of Mercy, Jesu, Lord and God,
Cleanse me, wretched sinner, in Thy Precious Blood:
Blood, whereof one drop for humankind outpoured
Might from all transgression have the world restored. ”

“ Fall on thy knees, and thank Him for the deed:
Pray that the dragon, who in this same hour
Adam destroyed, o'er thee may have no power:
That God, at noon for man a Sacrifice,
May shield thee from the flesh, and fiend's surprise. ”

“ This Advent Hymn is little more than a versification of some of the Christmas antiphons commonly called the O's.
Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear;
Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall he born for thee, O Israel!
Draw nigh, O Jesse's Rod, draw nigh,
To free us from the enemy ”

“ Shows the King of realms eternal,
⁠And the vengeance of His sword.
On these wings evangelistic
Rolls the Monarch's chariot mystic,
⁠One among the Living Four:
While the harpers pour their praises,
And the adoring people raises
⁠Alleluia evermore. ”

“ Hence with sadness,
Sing with gladness
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
After sharp death that Him befell,
Jesus Christ hath harrowed hell.
Earth is singing,
Heaven is ringing,
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! ”

“ Death hath no power to hurt you more,
Whose own is Life's eternal store,—
Who sow their seed, and, sowing, weep, [1]
In everlasting joy shall reap:
What time they shine in heavenly day,
And every tear is wiped away. ”

“ This elegant little Advent Hymn can scarcely be earlier than the fifteenth century.
Storm and terror, grief and error,
Comes the Sun to chase away:
And the morning fast adorning
All the sky proclaims the day. ”

“ And better life from death appear?
Death should the hook devour amain,
And self in self-made knots enchain?
The Life of all men should be slain,
That all men's life might rise again?
So S. Hildebert, in his Epigrams (if we may so call them) named the moral interpretation of Scripture:
Fisher the Father is: this world, the sea;
Christ's Flesh the bait, the Hook His Deity,
The line His generation. Satan took
The offered bait; and perished by the hook.
And so Adam of S. Victor:
Sic hamum divinitatis
⁠Occultat mortalitas:
Sic voracis Leviathan
⁠Luditur voracitas ”

“ Wherefore, sinner, haste to these
Fountains of salvation:
Life thou mayest draw therefrom
And illumination:
Cure thou mayest find for sin,
Strength to meet temptation:
Refuge may'st thou gain against
Satan's condemnation. ”

“ Hath risen victorious from the tomb. Alleluia.
The dart of death is knapped in twain:
At Jesu's feet death's self lies slain. Alleluia.
In consolation our annoy,
Our sorrow hath his end in joy. Alleluia. ”

“ Elect on whose triumphal breast
Those holy limbs should find their rest!
On whose dear arms, so widely flung,
The weight of this world's ransom hung:
The price of human kind to pay,
And spoil the Spoiler of his prey. ”

“ Through the bitterness of its cold, nothing can dwell there but griffins, and one-eyed arimasps that fight with them. By the emerald we understand those who excel others in the vigour of their faith, and dwell among infidels, who be frigid and arid in love. The griffins, that keep watch over them, be devils, who envy them that have this precious gem of faith ”

“ Right gloriously strife endeth now!
Henceforward all things to Thee bow,
And, at the Father's Side sit Thou!
O Jesu, all our wishes' goal,
Be Thou our joy when troubles roll,
And the reward of every soul! ”

“ I translated it for the Hymnal Noted, whence it has been copied into several hymnals.
The Church, on earth, with answering love,
Echoes her mother's joys above:
These yearly feast-days she may keep,
And yet for endless festals weep.
In this world's valley, dim and wild,
That Mother must assist the child ”

“ And bring us to Thy holy seat!
⁠Defend our onward path:
⁠Protect from hostile wrath,
And to our land return our feet!
⁠Thy Right Hand be stretched out,
⁠Thy Left be round about,
In every peril that we meet! ”

“ In holy David's song of old: Alleluia.
My Lord is seated with the Lord, Alleluia.
Upon the Throne of God adored. Alleluia.
In this great triumph of our King, Alleluia.
To God on high all praise we bring. Alleluia. ”

“ In hastening to Thy Passion,
⁠They rais'd their hymns of praise:
In reigning 'midst Thy glory,
⁠Our melody we raise.
Thou didst accept their praises;
⁠Accept the prayers we bring,
Who in all good delightest,
⁠Thou good and gracious King! ”

“ No bloodless malady impales their face,
No age drops on their hair his silver snow,
No nakedness their bodies doth embase,
No poverty themselves and theirs disgrace;
⁠No fear of death the joy of life devours,
⁠No unchaste sleep their precious time deflowers,
No loss, no grief, no change, wait on their winged hours. ”

“ Marbodus teaches, "shines as gold, and emits fiery sparkles: it signifies the wise and charitable, who impart to others that which they possess themselves. For wisdom and charity excel other virtues, as gold other metals." Ayguan is more ingenious: "The Chrysolite shines as gold in the day: as fire in the night. By the day, the good; by the gold, their crown, are represented: by the night the wicked, and by the fire their punishment. Hence the stone typifies their final separation, and thus the seventh Article of the Creed: From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead." ”

“ S. Notker, also, or one of his followers, in a Christmas sequence:—"This the present shining day testifies; increased in its length, because the True Sun, born on earth, hath with the ray of its light dispersed the darkness." ”

“ The following Hymn, from the Meissen Breviary, was appropriated to the Feast of the Face of our Saviour, celebrated on January 15. This was one of the festivals which, however well suited to the simplicity of the middle ages, have been, it cannot be denied, wisely allowed to drop from the Calendar. The hymn itself, though exceedingly rude, is, to my mind, of a very sweet simplicity.
Let every faithful heart rejoice,
And render thanks to God on high:
And with each power of soul and voice
Extol His praises worthily.
Into this dark world Jesus came,
And all men might His form behold ”

“ In the stable born our Brother,
⁠Whom the angelic hosts adore:
He, once cradled in a manger,
Heal our sin and calm our danger;
For our life, to this world stranger,
⁠Is in peril evermore. Amen. ”

“ I have here deviated from my ordinary rule of adopting the measure of the original:—because our language, if it could be tortured to any distant resemblance of its rhythm, would utterly fail to give any idea of the majestic sweetness which invests it in Latin. Its difficulty in that language is such that Bernard, in a preface, expresses his belief that nothing but the special inspiration of the Spirit of God could have enabled him to employ it through so long a poem. It is a dactylic hexameter, divided into three parts, between which a cæsura is inadmissible. ”

“ By whose Division mayest Thou preserve Thy flock, collected and undivided, and in the bond of peace; that in Thee we may be one, as with the Father Thou art One.
23. Have mercy on us, Thou that dwellest in the heavens. ”

“ If it be said that the original melody is difficult, I can only reply, that I have frequently heard it sung 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 small ones joining in for the greater part, with the whole of their little energy.
I most confess that it does seem to me unseemly in a great gathering of choirs, such as those at Lichfield and Salisbury, to shrink from a difficulty which can be mastered by an ordinary village choir. ”

“ The wheels of the Prophet, which roll along the earth, signify the account given by the Evangelists of the earthly Life of our Lord: the wings of the Apostles set forth their knowledge of His Eternal Deity. And again: as four wheels must necessarily keep time together, so there is the most perfect concord between the narrations of the Evangelists. ”

“ Christ therefore willed to be exalted on the Cross, not without a reason: but that in accordance with the four arms of the Cross, whereby the four parts of the world be signified, He might draw all men to love, to imitate, and to reign together with Him. ”

“ But, as a contrast to the misery and pollution of earth, the poem opens with a description of the peace and glory of heaven, of such rare beauty, as not easily to be matched by any mediaeval composition on the same subject. Dean Trench, in his "Sacred Latin Poetry," gave a very beautiful cento of ninety-five lines from the work. Yet it is a mere patchwork—much being transposed as well as cancelled; so that the editor's own admission that he has adopted "some prudent omissions," would scarcely give a fair idea of the liberties which have in reality been taken with it. ”

“ With affection's recollections
⁠Greet we your return again.
Mighty deeds they wrought, and wonders,
⁠While a frame of flesh they bore:
We with meetest praise, and sweetest,
⁠Honour them for evermore. ”