1636-38
CRUX FIDELIS
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be; * Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle!
With completed victory rife!
And above the Cross's trophy
Tell the triumph of the strife:
How the world's Redeemer conquer'd
By the offering of His life.
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
God, his Maker, sorely grieving,
That the first-made Adam fell,
When he ate the fruit of sorow,
Whose reward was death and hell,
Noted then this Wood the ruin,
Of the ancient wood to quell.
Ant. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
For this work of our salvation
Needs must have its order so,
And the manifold deceiver's
Art by art would overthrow,
And from thence would bring the healing,
Whence the insult of the foe.
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
Wherefore when the appointed fullness
Of the holy time was come,
He was sent who maketh all things
From th' eternal Father's home,
And proceeded, God Incarnate,
Offspring of the Virgin's womb.
Ant. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Weeps the Infant in the manger
That in Bethlehem's stable stands:
And His Limbs the Virgin Mother
Doth compose in swaddling bands,
Meetly thus in linen folding
Of her God the feet and hands.
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
Thirty years among us dwelling,
His appointed time fulfilled,
Born for this, He meets His Passion,
For that this He freely willed:
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His life-blood shall be spilled.
Ant. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and spear, and reed;
From that holy Body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By that flood from stain are freed.
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
b. Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend:
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Ant. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbor, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Ant. Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
To the Trinity be glory
Everlasting, as is meet:
Equal to the Father, equal
To the Son, and Paraclete:
Trinal Unity, Whose praises
All created things repeat.
Amen.
Ant. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
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