Easter Hymns IX

IX. PASCHA


Ecce dies celebris!
Lux succedit tenebris,
Morti resurrectio.
Laetis cedant tristia,
Cum sit major gloria
Quam prima confusio;
Umbram fugat veritas,
Vetustatem novitas,
Luctum consolatio.

Pascha novum colite;
Quod praeit in capite,
Membra sperent singula.
Pascha novum Christus est,
Quid pro nobis passus est,
Agnus sine macula.

Hosti qui nos circuit
Praedam Christus eruit:
Quod Samson praecinuit,
Dum leonem lacerat.
David, fortis viribus,
A leonis unguibus
Et ab ursi faucibus
Gregem patris liberat.

Qui in morte plures stravit,
Samson, Christum figuravit,
Cujus mors victoria.
Samson dictus Sol eorum:
Christus lux est electorum,
Quos illustrat gratia.

Jam de Crucis sacro vecte
Botrus fluit in dilectae
Penetral ecclesiae.
Jam, calcato torculari,
Musto gaudent ebriari
Gentium primitiae.

Saccus scissus et pertusus
In regales transit usus:
Saccus fit soccus gratiae,
Caro victrix miseriae.

Quia regem peremerunt,
Dei regnum perdiderunt:
Sed non deletur penitus
Cain, in signum positus.

Reprobatus et abjectus
Lapis iste, nunc electus,
In tropaeum stat erectus,
Et in caput anguli.
Culpam delens, non naturam,
Novam creat creaturam,
Tenens in se ligaturam
Utriusque populi.

Capiti sit gloria,
Membrisque concordia! Amen.

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IX. EASTER


Hail, great day of wondrous deeds!
Light to deepest gloom succeeds,
And to death new risen life.
Joy all sorrows triumphs o'er,
For the glory now is more
Than the former mingled strife;
Truth the shadow puts to flight,
What is new the old and trite,
Consolation tears and grief.

Hail to our new Passover;
What the Head did first secure
May each member hope to gain.
Our new Passover is Christ,
Who for us is sacrificed,
As a Lamb devoid of stain.

From the foe about our way
Christ delivers now the prey,
E'en as Samson once did say,
When the lion he slew of yore.
David, strong in his good cause,
Rescues from the lion's claws
And the bear's devouring jaws,
All his father's flock once more.

Samson slew the most when dying,
Jesus Christ thus typifying,
Death to Whom was victory.
Samson's name "The Sun" declareth;
As His saints' light Christ appeareth,
Whom He shines on graciously.

From the Cross's holy transom
Flow the grapes' divinest ransom
To the well-loved Church's shrine:
Round the trodden wine-press thronging,
Gentile first-fruits drink, with longing,
Draughts of new and gladdening wine.

Sackcloth, worn to rags and riven,
Is to royal uses given:
With sackcloth shod, see! peace doth go;
The flesh hath triumphed over woe.

They are from God's kingdom driven,
Who to death its king have given:
Cain hath not wholly perished yet,
But for a warning sign is set.

Though condemned once and rejected
Was this stone, it stands erected
For a trophy now, selected
As the chiefest corner-stone.
Sin, not nature, He rebateth,
A new creature He createth,
And Himself incorporateth
Jews and Gentiles into one.

To the Head all glory be,
'Mongst the members unity! Amen.