1 Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory:
Tell his triumph far and wide;
Tell aloud the famous story
Of his body crucified;
How upon the cross a victim,
Vanquishing in death, he died.
2 Faithful cross, O tree all beauteous!
Tree all peerless and divine,
Not a grove on earth can show us
Such a flow'r and leaf as thine.
Sweet the nails, and sweet the wood,
Laden with so sweet a load!
3 Eating of the tree forbidden,
Humans sank in Satan's snare,
When our pitying Creator
Did this second tree prepare;
Destined, many ages later,
That first evil to repair.
4 Such the order God appointed
When for sin he would atone;
To the serpent thus opposing
Schemes yet deeper than his own;
Thence the remedy procuring,
When the fatal wound had come.
5 So when now at length the fullness
Of the sacred time drew nigh,
Then the Son, the world's Creator,
Left his Father's throne on high;
From a virgin's womb appearing,
Clothed in our mortality.
6 Thus did Christ to perfect manhood
In our mortal flesh attain:
Then of his free choice he goes on
To a death of bitter pain;
And as lamb upon the altar
Of the cross, for us is slain.
7 Lofty tree, bend down your branches,
To embrace your sacred load;
Oh, relax the native tension
Of that all too rigid wood;
Gently, gently bear the members
Of your dying King and God.
8 Blessing, honor everlasting,
To the immortal Deity;
To the Father, Son, and Spirit,
Equal praises ever be;
Glory through the earth and heaven,
Trinity in Unity. Amen.
Source: Breaking Bread (Vol. 39) #147
Edward Caswall was born in 1814, at Yately, in Hampshire, where his father was a clergyman. In 1832, he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1836, took a second-class in classics. His humorous work, "The Art of Pluck," was published in 1835; it is still selling at Oxford, having passed through many editions. In 1838, he was ordained Deacon, and in 1839, Priest. He became perpetural Curate of Stratford-sub-Castle in 1840. In 1841, he resigned his incumbency and visited Ireland. In 1847, he joined the Church of Rome. In 1850, he was admitted into the Congregation of the Oratory at Birmingham, where he has since remained. He has published several works in prose and poetry.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872… Go to person page >
Venantius Honorius Clematianus Fortunatus (b. Cenada, near Treviso, Italy, c. 530; d. Poitiers, France, 609) was educated at Ravenna and Milan and was converted to the Christian faith at an early age. Legend has it that while a student at Ravenna he contracted a disease of the eye and became nearly blind. But he was miraculously healed after anointing his eyes with oil from a lamp burning before the altar of St. Martin of Tours. In gratitude Fortunatus made a pilgrimage to that saint's shrine in Tours and spent the rest of his life in Gaul (France), at first traveling and composing love songs. He developed a platonic affection for Queen Rhadegonda, joined her Abbey of St. Croix in Poitiers, and became its bishop in 599. His Hymns far all th… Go to person page >
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