THE ANTIPHON.

O sad, sweet tree!

Woful and joyful we

Both weep and sing in shade of thee,
When the dear nails did lock

And graft into thy gracious stock

The hope, the health,

The worth, the wealth,

Of all the ransomed world, thou hadst the power (In that propitious hour)

To poise each precious limb,

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And prove how light the world was when it weighed with Him.

Wide mayest thou spread

Thine arms, and with thy bright and blissful head

O'erlook all Libanus. Thy lofty crown

The King himself is; thou his humble throne,
Where yielding, and yet conq'uring, he
Proved a new path of patient victory,
When wond'ring Death by death was slain,
And our captivity was captive ta'en.

THE VERSICLE.

Lo, we adore thee,

Dread Lamb! and bow thus low before thee;

THE RESPONSOR.

'Cause by the cov'nant of thy cross,

Thou'st saved the world from certain loss.

THE PRAYER.

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O my Lord Jesu Christ, Son of the living God! interpose, I pray thee, thine own precious death, thy cross and passion, betwixt my soul and thy judgment, now

and in the hour of my death: and vouchsafe to grant me thy grace and mercy; to the living and dead, remission and rest; to thy Church, peace and concord; to us sinners, life and glory everlasting. Who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

COMPLINE.

THE VERSICLE.

LORD, by thy sweet and saving sign,

THE RESPONSOR.

Defend us from our foes and thine.

Ver. Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord,

Res. And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Ver. O God, make speed to save me.

Res. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Ver. Glory be to, &c.

Res. As it was in, &c.

THE HYMN.

The compline hour comes last, to call
Us to our own life's funeral.

Ah, heartless task! yet hope takes head,
And lives in him that here lies dead.

Run, Mary, run! bring hither all the blest
Arabia, for thy royal phoenix' nest;

Pour on thy noblest sweets, which, when they touch
This sweeter body, shall indeed be such.

But must thy bed, Lord, be a borrowed grave,
Who lend'st to all things all the life they have?

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Oh, rather use this heart, thus far a fitter stone,

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'Cause, though a hard and cold one, yet it is thine own.

Amen.

THE ANTIPHON.

O save us then,

Merciful King of men!

Since thou wouldst needs be thus

A Saviour, and at such a rate, for us;

Save us, O save us, Lord!

We now will own no shorter wish, nor name a

narrower word,

Thy blood bids us be bold;
Thy wounds give us fair hold;

Thy sorrows chide our shame.

Thy cross, thy nature, and thy name

Advance our claim,

And cry with one accord,

Save them, O save them, Lord.

THE VERSICLE.

Lo, we adore thee,

Dread Lamb! and bow thus low before thee;

THE RESPONSOR.

'Cause by the cov'nant of thy cross,

Thou'st saved the world from certain loss.

THE PRAYER.

O my Lord Jesu Christ, Son of the living God! interpose, I pray thee, thine own precious death, thy cross and passion, betwixt my soul and thy judgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to grant me thy grace and mercy; to the living and dead, re

mission and rest; to thy Church, peace and concord; to us sinners, life and glory everlasting. Who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

THE RECOMMENDATION.

1 THESE hours, and that which hovers o'er my end, Into thy hands and heart, Lord, I commend.

2 Take both to thine account, that I and mine,
In that hour and in these, may be all thine.

3 That as I dedicate my devoutest breath
To make a kind of life for my Lord's death,

4 So from his living, and life-giving death,
My dying life may draw a new and never-fleeting
breath.

VEXILLA REGIS,

THE HYMN OF THE HOLY CROSS.

1 Look up, languishing soul! Lo where the fair
Badge of thy faith calls back thy care,
And bids thee ne'er forget

Thy life is one long debt

Of love to Him, who on this painful tree
Paid back the flesh he took for thee.

2 Lo, how the streams of life from that full nest
Of loves, thy Lord's too lib'ral breast,
Flow in an amorous flood

Of water wedding blood.

With these he wash'd thy stain, transferr'd thy smart, And took it home to his own heart.

3 But though great love, greedy of such sad gain, Usurp'd the portion of thy pain,

And from the nails and spear

Turn'd the steel point of fear,

Their use is changed, not lost; and now they move Not stings of wrath, but wounds of love.

4 Tall tree of life! thy truth makes good What was till now ne'er understood, Though the prophetic king

Struck loud his faithful string:

It was thy wood he meant should make the throne For a more than Solomon.

5 Large throne of love! royally spread

With purple of too rich a red,

Thy crime is too much duty;

Thy burthen too much beauty;

Glorious or grievous more? thus to make good
Thy costly excellence with thy king's own blood.

6 Even balance of both worlds! our world of sin,
And that of grace, Heaven weigh'd in Him,
Us with our price thou weighedst,
Our price for us thou payedst;

Soon as the right-hand scale rejoiced to prove
How much death weigh'd more light than love.

7 Hail, our alone hope! let thy fair head shoot
Aloft; and fill the nations with thy noble fruit.
The while our hearts and we

Thus graft ourselves on thee,