And to their prayers the opening heaven, To them to be God's sons is given,

And walk in endless morn!

Emblem of unstain'd purity,
And sacred, mild simplicity,
Descends the mystic Dove;

And on their hearts divinely reigning,
Protecting, cherishing, sustaining,
Prepares for God above.

We have been wash'd within the fountain
Flowing from out Thy sacred mountain !
For aye with us remain ;-

O Saviour, who hast shed Thy blood
To wash our souls and make us good,
Keep us from sinful stain.

And we, through all our earthly days,
Would sing in Thee our Maker's praise,
For Thou hast made us meet;

Let creatures all, of earth and sky,
The Son and Father glorify,

And Holy Paraclete.

ON THE SUNDAYS FROM THE OCTAVE OF THE EPIPHANY.

AT THE FIRST VESPERS.

With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob.-ISAIAH xlviii.

"Verbum quod ante sæcula."

WORD of Life, the eternal Son,
Ere the march of time begun,
Now as man He deigns to come,
Offspring of the Virgin's womb,
From our limbs to burst in twain
Fallen Adam's fatal chain;
All we lost in Thee returns,
And our hope reviving burns.

Thou dost bear the ills e'en now
Such as guilt doth undergo;
Cries that from Thy cradle rose
Presage now Thy dying woes.

Thou art poor, that we may be

Rich in Thy deep poverty.

Thou dost weep, and by Thy woe
Washest all things here below.

Thou art wrapp'd in garments mean,
Lying in a cave unclean :

Man is proud; yet Deity
In so mean a hut doth lie.
Jesu, by the Father sent
To bear our due punishment,
Leave us not to be undone

By such deep abasement won.

Endless praise to Thee be paid,
Jesu, born of mother maid;
Thee, with Father evermore,
And with Spirit we adore.

AT MIDNIGHT.

O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest Thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save ?— JEREM. XIV.

Fac, Christe, nostri gratiâ."

CHRIST, to aid our fallen nature,

Thou didst bear bereavements stern,

Grant we such with spirits holy,

And with grateful hymns return;

Though eternal born, yet Thou would'st learn to die, And didst put on the shape of frail humanity.

Soon as born, a helpless infant,

Thou didst suffer winter's cold;
For a couch of costly purple,

Hay-bands rude Thy form enfold:

Pitying us, to need our pity Thou dost seem,
And yieldest to the law, the Lawgiver supreme.

The blood its stern behest requires

From Thy deepest heart doth come;
The sword that slays the harmless infants,
To Thy breast it pierces home;

Lo, to Pharos now, an exile poor, He flies,
The true God mix'd with foul and lying deities.

But with hosts of highest Heaven,
Hence Thy ransom'd heritage
Shall, with lowest adoration,

Worship Thee from age to age;

Father eternal, and Thee, eternal Son,
And Thee, eternal Spirit, Three in One.

AT THE MATTINS.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.-EPHES. iv.

"Divine, crescebas, puer."

AND Thou art growing up, O Child divine! While on Thy life a daily dying lies; All things that open on this life of Thine Are preludes to Thy dying agonies. God, born of God, Himself He fain would hide With a mean sire the scorn of human pride; And He who moulded Heav'n's o'erarching dome In a poor earthly cottage makes His home.

K