Thoù the first thy LORD to own,
Sharer of His thorny Crown.

First to tread the pointed road
Through the deep Red sea of blood:-
Prince of Martyrs, thee behind

What a countless army wind!

Glory to the FATHER be,

Glory, Virgin-born, to Thee,

Glory to the HOLY GHOST

Here, and from the Angel-host. Amen.

St. John the Evangelist's Day.

A

N exile for the Faith

Of his Incarnate LORD,

Beyond the stars, beyond all space,
His soul unprison'd soar'd;

There saw in glory Him,
Who liveth and was dead;
There Judah's Lion and the Lamb,
That for our ransom bled.

There of the Kingdom learnt
The mysteries sublime;

How, sown in Martyr's blood, the Faith
Should spread from clime to clime..

There the dear City, bathed
In her dear Spouse's light,
Pure seat of bliss, his spirit saw,
And gloried in the sight.

LORD, give us Grace, like him,
In Thee to live and die;
To spurn the fleeting things of earth,
And seek for joys on high.

JESU, our Risen LORD,

We praise Thee and adore,

Who art with GOD the FATHER ONE,

And SPIRIT evermore.

Amen.

The Innocents' Day.

14. SWEETEST flowers of early spring,

Holy babes, of you we sing,

Rosebuds by the whirlwind shorn,
On the threshold of the morn.

First who gain'd the Martyrs' wreath;
Now your LORD's blest feet beneath,
Infants still ye seem to play

With your palms and chaplets gay.

Tyrant, what avails thy deed,

Canst thou quench the promised Seed?

Cease, ye great ones, to defy,
Him who sits enthroned on high.

15.

Virgin-born, to Thee be praise
Now, and through eternal days;
FATHER, equal praise to Thee,
With the SPIRIT ever be. Amen.

The Circumcision of Christ.

HE ancient law departs,

THE

And all its terrors cease;

For JESUS makes with faithful hearts
A covenant of peace.

The Light of Light divine,

True Brightness undefiled,

He bears for us the shame of sin,

A holy spotless Child.

His infant Body now

Begins our pain to feel;

Those precious drops of blood that flow,

For death the Victim seal.

To-day the Name is Thine,

At which we bend the knee;
They call Thee JESUS, Child divine!

Our JESUS deign to be.

All praise, Eternal SON,
For Thy redeeming Love,
With FATHER, SPIRIT, ever ONE,

In glorious Might above. Amen.

16.

The Epiphany.

HY impious Herod dost thou fear,

WH

When told that CHRIST the King is near?

He takes not earthly realms away

Who gives the realms that last for aye.

The Eastern sages saw from far,
And follow'd in His guiding star;
By light their way to Light they trod,
And by their gifts confess'd their GOD.

Within the Jordan's sacred flood
The heavenly Lamb in meekness stood,
That He, to Whom no sin was known,
Might cleanse His people from their own.

And oh what miracle divine,

When water redden'd into wine;
He spake the word, and forth it flow'd
In streams that waters ne'er bestow'd.

All glory, JESU, be to Thee

For this Thy glad Epiphany:
Whom, with the FATHER, we adore
And HOLY GHOST for evermore.

Amen.

17.

18.

EARTH has many a noble city;

Bethlehem, thou dost all excel:
Out of Thee the LORD from Heaven
Came to rule His Israel.

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told His Birth,
To the world its GOD announcing,
Seen in fleshly form on earth.

Eastern sages at His cradle

Made oblations rich and fair;
See them give, in deep devotion,
Gold, and Frankincense and Myrrh.

Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their GoD disclose,
Gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows.

JESU, Whom the Gentiles worshipp'd
At Thy glad Epiphany,

Unto Thee, with GOD the FATHER
And the SPIRIT, glory be. Amen.

HE Word, Who dwelt above the skies
With GOD, before the world began,

Now on the Virgin's bosom lies,
A helpless new-born Child of man.