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قراءة كتاب Hymns of the Early Church being translations from the poetry of the Latin church, arranged in the order of the Christian year
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Hymns of the Early Church being translations from the poetry of the Latin church, arranged in the order of the Christian year
hymns in Protestant service-books from Reformation times to the present day is too wide a field of inquiry to enter upon at the close of this brief introduction. This it is safe to affirm, that no hymnal with any claim to completeness will be found to omit such sacred and classic pieces as, “Brief life is here our portion,” “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,” “Jerusalem the golden,” “Jesus! the very thought of Thee,” “Jesus, Thou joy of loving hearts,” “O come, all ye faithful,” “O Jesus, King most wonderful;” and all these are translations or paraphrases of early Latin hymns.
With the increase of interest in all that concerns the praise of God’s children, which is so marked a feature of recent times, there has come an ever-growing appreciation of the grandeur and beauty, the spiritual depth and longing wistfulness that characterise the great body of Latin hymnology; and, as the result of this appreciation, the finest and sweetest products are finding a larger place in quarters from which, at no very far back point of time, they were altogether excluded. Of this we have a striking illustration in the contents of the most recent attempt to construct a hymnal for use in Presbyterian Churches. In the “Draft Hymnal,” prepared by a joint-committee of the three leading denominations in Scotland, there are 557 hymns. Of these, five are confessedly translations from the Greek, and twenty-six from the Latin. With the Latin renderings the names of Bishop Cosin, Dryden, Sir Walter Scott, Caswall, Chandler, Neale, and Ray Palmer stand honourably associated.
Ayr, October 12, 1895.
Sundays and Week Days
Sunday Morning
DIE, DIERUM PRINCIPE
By Charles Coffin, born at Ardennes in 1676; Rector of the University of Paris, 1718; died, 1749. The most of his hymns appeared in the Paris Breviary of 1736. In that service-book this is the hymn for Sunday at Matins.
I
O day, the chief of days, whose light
Sprang from the dark embrace of night,
On which our Lord from death’s grim thrall
Arose, True Light, to lighten all.
II
Death trembling heard the mighty Lord,
And darkness quick obeyed His word;—
O shame on us! our tardy will
Is slow His summons to fulfil.
III
While Nature yet unconscious lies,
Come, let us, sons of light, arise,
And cheerful raise our matin lay
To chase the dark of night away.
IV
While all the world around is still,
Come, and with songs the temple fill,
Taught by the saints of bygone days,
Whose words were song, whose songs were praise.
V
Loud trump of Heaven, our languor shake,
And bid our slumbering spirits wake;
Teach us the nobler life, and give,
O Christ, the needed grace to live.
VI
O Font of love! Our steps attend;
Those needed gifts in mercy send;
And where Thy word is heard this day,
Give Thou the Spirit’s power, we pray.
VII
To Father and to Son be praise,
To Thee, O Holy Ghost, always,
Whose presence still the heart inspires
With sacred light and glowing fires.
O NATA LUX DE LUMINE
The oldest text known of this hymn is from a tenth-century MS. It is in the Sarum Breviary (1495), also in that of Aberdeen (1509), which is substantially that of Sarum, and one of the very few surviving service-books of the Pre-Reformation period in Scotland.
I
O Light that from the light wast born,
Redeemer of the world forlorn,
In mercy now Thy suppliants spare,
Our praise accept, and hear our prayer.
II
Thou who didst wear our flesh below,
To save our souls from endless woe,
Of Thy blest Body, Lord, would we
Efficient members ever be.
III
More bright than sun Thine aspect gleamed,
As snowdrift white Thy garments seemed,
When on the mount Thy glory shone,
To faithful witnesses alone.
IV
There did the seers of old confer
With those who Thy disciples were;
And Thou on both didst shed abroad
The glory of the eternal God.
V
From heaven the Father’s voice was heard
That Thee the eternal Son declared;
And faithful hearts now love to own
Thy glory, King of heaven, alone.
VI
Grant us, we pray, to walk in light,
Clad in Thy virtues sparkling bright,
That, upward borne by deeds of love,
Our souls may win the bliss above.
VII
Loud praise to Thee our homage brings,
Eternal God, Thou King of kings,
Who reignest one, Thou one in three,
From age to age eternally.
TU TRINITATIS UNITAS
Attributed by some, but with a small degree of probability, to Gregory the Great. The hymn occurs in all the editions of the Roman Breviary, as also in