Imatges de pàgina
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When the wicked are confounded,
And by bitter flames surrounded,
Be my joyful pardon sounded!

Prostrate, all my guilt discerning.
Heart as though to ashes turning;
Save, oh, save me from the burning!

Day of weeping, when from ashes
Man shall rise 'mid lightning flashes,
Guilty, trembling with contrition,
Save him, Father, from perdition!

Three other great Latin hymns remain to be considered: one, De Contemptu Mundi, by BERNARD OF CLUNY; another, Jesu Dulcis Memoria, by BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX; and still a third, O Deus Ego Amo Te, by ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. With the first of these hymns Dr. Neale has made the English-speaking world familiar by his translation. The second brings before us one of the giants of the Middle Ages, called by Luther "the best monk that ever lived." The third stirs with a blast from one of the greatest missionary heroes the world has ever

known.

The subject of the poem of BERNARD OF CLUNY is “Contempt of the World." It is strong in its denunciation of the sins of which the earth is full, and in its painting contrasts them with the joys of heaven. Four of our hymns are taken from it, numbered 405, 406, 407, and 408. A characteristic stanza is this:

408 Jerusalem, the golden,

With milk and honey blest;
Beneath thy contemplation

Sink heart and voice opprest.
I know not, oh, I know not,
What joys await us there,
What radiance of glory,

What bliss beyond compare.

The recognition of the merits of Dr. Neale's rhythmical rendering of this hymn has been very great, but "more thankful

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When the wicked are confounded,
And by bitter flames surrounded,
Be my joyful pardon sounded!

Prostrate, all my guilt discerning.
Heart as though to ashes turning;
Save, oh, save me from the burning!

Day of weeping, when from ashes
Man shall rise 'mid lightning flashes,
Guilty, trembling with contrition,
Save him, Father, from perdition!

Three other great Latin hymns remain to be considered: one, De Contemptu Mundi, by BERNARD OF CLUNY; another, Jesu Dulcis Memoria, by BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX; and still a third, O Deus Ego Amo Te, by ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. With the first of these hymns Dr. Neale has made the English-speaking world familiar by his translation. The second brings before us one of the giants of the Middle Ages, called by Luther "the best monk that ever lived." The third stirs with a blast from one of the greatest missionary heroes the world has ever known.

The subject of the poem of Bernard of ClunY is "Contempt of the World." It is strong in its denunciation of the sins of which the earth is full, and in its painting contrasts them with the joys of heaven. Four of our hymns are taken from it, numbered 405, 406, 407, and 408. A characteristic stanza is this:

408 Jerusalem, the golden,

With milk and honey blest;
Beneath thy contemplation

Sink heart and voice opprest.
I know not, oh, I know not,
What joys await us there,
What radiance of glory,

What bliss beyond compare.

The recognition of the merits of Dr. Neale's rhythmical rendering of this hymn has been very great, but "more thankful

[graphic][merged small]

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