THE WEISSENBRUN HYMN.*

THIS I've heard from ancient sages,
Men the chief of elder ages,
That in time of old gone by
There was not the heav'n on high-
Heav'n on high, nor earth below:
Then nor star was seen to glow;

Nor the sun was shining bright;
Nor the moon gave forth her light;
Nor was mountain then, nor tree;
Nor th' interminable sea :
Of this universal round

Not a whit from bound to bound.

But though lower world was none,
Yet there wanted not the one
Almighty God in being then :
He, most merciful to men!

And with Him there were of old
Godlike spirits manifold.

Holy God Almighty, thou

Heav'n and earth hast fashioned now,

And thy creature man dost bless

With provisions numberless :

Me thy way in mercy show,

And on me thy grace bestow :

Faith, to thy pure truth resign'd;
Prompt to serve, a willing mind;
Prudent heart, and active hand,
Craft of Satan to withstand;
Evil ever to eschew,

And thy will, O God, to do.

Δ.

HYMN,

"STABAT MATER DOLOROSA," TRANSLATED.t

By the cross, sad vigil keeping,

Stood the mother, doleful, weeping,

Where her Son extended hung:

For her soul, of joy bereaved,
Smit with anguish, deeply grieved,

Lo! the piercing sword had wrung!

This is a Metrical Version of the Weissenbrun Hymn, so called from its disco. very in a Manuscript belonging to the convent of that place in Franconia, supposed to be of the eighth century. The original Teutonic, with an Anglo-Saxon, and a literal English version, is given by the late reverend and excellent J. J. Conybeare, in his "Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry."

+ This latter is a Translation of "Stabat Mater dolorosa," of which an Imitation appeared not long ago in the Magazine. The translation is attempted in the same metre as the original Latin Hymn, and keeps pretty closely to the original, except a deviation for an obvious reason in the last stanza.

O! how sad and sore distressed
Now was she, that mother blessed
Of the sole begotten One!
Woe-begone, with heart's prostration,
Mother meek, the bitter passion
Saw she of her glorious Son!

Who on Christ's fond mother looking,
Such extreme affliction brooking,

Born of woman, would not weep?
Who on Christ's fond mother thinking,
With her Son in sorrow sinking,

Would not share her sorrow deep?

For his people's sins afflicted,

She her Jesus saw rejected,

Crown'd with thorns, with scourges rent:
Saw her Son from judgment taken,

Her belov'd in death forsaken,

Till his spirit forth he sent.

With thy mother's deep devotion,
Make me feel her strong emotion,

Fount of love, Redeemer kind!
That my heart, fresh ardour proving,
Thee my God and Saviour loving,

May with thee acceptance find!

Δ.

Hymnus Diebus Dominicis Vernæ Anni Partis ad Laudes dicendus.

The day is coming, thy own day,
When all things loveliest charms display;
May we this day rejoice, who share
Thy guiding help, thy tender care.

From the decaying world to Thee
Be praise, all bounteous Trinity!
While we, by grace renewed, prolong,
Throughout eternity, the song!

Lyra Apostolica.

Γνοῖεν δ', ὡς δὴ δηρὸν ἐγὼ πολέμοιο πέπαυμαι.

No. V.

COMMUNE EPISCOPORUM.

"At even, being the first day of the week, the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews."

"ARE the gates sure?-is every bolt made fast?
No dangerous whisper wandering through-
Dare we breathe calm, and, unalarmed, forecast
Our calls to suffer or to do ?"

O ye of little faith! twelve hours ago,

He whom ye mourn, by power unbound
The bonds ye fear; nor sealed stone below

Barred Him, nor mailed guards around.

The Lord is risen indeed! His own have seen,
They who denied, have seen his face,
Weeping and spared.

Shall loyal hearts not lean

Upon His outstretched arm of grace?

Shine in your orbs, ye stars of God's new Heaven,
Or gathered or apart, shine clear!

Far, far beneath the opposing mists are driven,
The Invisible is waiting near.

"Jesus came, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."

Is He not near?-look up and see:

Peace on His lips, and in His hands and side
The wounds of love, He stays the trembling knee,
Nerves the frail arm, His ark to guide.
Is He not near? O trust His seal
Baptismal, yet uncancelled on thy brow;
Trust the kind love His holy months reveal,
Oft as His altar hears thy deep heart-searching vow.
And trust the calm, the joy benign,

That o'er the obedient breathes in life's still hour,
When Sunday-lights with summer airs combine,
And shadows blend from cloud and bower.
And trust the wrath of JESUS' foes;

They feel Him near, and hate His mark on you;
O take their word, ye whom He loved and chose!
Be joyful in your KING; the rebels own you true.

"Then said JESUS unto them again, Peace be unto you. As my FATHER hath sent me, so send I you."

AND shrink ye still?-He nearer draws,

And to His mission and His cause

Welcomes His own with words of grace and might:
"Peace be to you!"-their peace who stand

In sentry with God's sword in hand,

The peace of CHRIST's loved champions warring in His sight. "Peace be to you!"-their peace who feel,

E'en as the SON the FATHER's seal,

So they the Son's; each in his several sphere
Gliding, on fearless angel wing,

One heart in all, one hope, one KING.
Each an apostle true, a crowned and robed seer.
Sent as the FATHER sent the SON,
'Tis not for you to swerve, nor shun
Or power or peril; ye must go before.

If caught in the fierce bloody shower,

Think on your LORD's o'erwhelming hour ;

Are ye not priests to Him who the world's forfeit bore?
Throned in His church till He return,

*

Why should ye fear to judge and spurn
This evil world, chained at His feet and yours?
Why with dejected faltering air

Your rod of more than empire bear?

Your brows are royal yet; GoD's unction aye endures.

"And having said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST."

Wakening your mazed thoughts with an Almighty spell;

By His word, and by His hour

When the PROMISE came with power,

By His HOLY SPIRIT'S token,

By His saintly chain unbroken,

Lengthening, while the world lasts on,

From His cross unto His throne,

Guardians of His Virgin Spouse !

Know that His might is yours, whose breathing sealed your vows.

"Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; AND WHOSESOEVER SINS YE RETAIN, THEY ARE RETAINED."

BEHOLD your armoury !—sword, and lightning shaft,
Culled from the stores of God's all-judging ire,

And in your wielding left! The words, that waft
Power to your voice absolving, point with fire

Your awful curse. O grief! should Heaven's dread sire
Have stayed, for you, the mercy-dews of old
Vouchsafed, when pastors' arms in deep desire
Were spread on high to bless the kneeling fold!
IF CENSURE SLEEP, WILL ABSOLUTION HOLD?
Will the Great KING affirm their acts of grace
Who careless leave to cankering rust and mould

The flaming sword that should the unworthy chase
From His pure Eden? O beware! lest vain
Their sentence to remit, who never dare retain.

* Vide Rev. ii. 26-28, which is also addressed to a Christian bishop.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions
of his Correspondents.

TRAVELS OF AN IRISH GENTLEMAN IN SEARCH OF A RELIGION. ON THE DISCIPLINA ARCANI.

MR. EDITOR,-1 come now to the consideration of the Disciplina Arcani, to which, as I observed in my last letter, the Roman catholic writers fly as to their last refuge in cases of difficulty. According to our Traveller, a broad line of distinction was drawn in the early church between the baptized and the unbaptized. The latter were carefully excluded from all knowledge of those more recondite and awful doctrines of the faith, in which the wisdom of God in a mystery lies concealed. The chief object of this secrecy was to guard from the profaning scoffs of the infidel such doctrines as the ear of faith was alone worthy to listen to; and the authority alleged for its adoption was no less sacred an one than the injunction of Christ himselfPlace not holy things before dogs, nor pearls before swine. Respecting the precise time when the discipline of the Secret was first introduced into the church, the Roman catholic writers differ among themselves. Its commencement has been dated as low down as the fourth century. Our Traveller thinks that the principle was acted upon in the Christian church from the very beginning, though the rule was not strictly enforced till about the close of the second century. To the influence of this discipline are to be traced the restraint and ambiguity which are observable in the language of some of the Fathers respecting the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Eucharist. Such is our Traveller's account of the Disciplina Arcani; let us now examine the foundations on which it rests. It cannot be doubted that the Christian teachers, whose office it was to prepare the heathen converts for admission to baptism, proceeded gradually from the simpler and more practical to the sublimer and more mysterious truths of the gospel. They did not plunge at once into all the subtle and difficult questions which are involved in the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation. * The catechumen was taught that he must renounce the false gods who had hitherto been the objects of his worship, and, together with them, all the sinful habits and practices in which he had indulged. He was instructed in the several articles of the creed; and after he had given proof of his proficiency in Christian knowledge, and of the stedfastness of his purpose to lead a Christian life, he was admitted to baptism. After baptism, he was further prepared for admission to the eucharist, by instruction in the nature and design of that sacrament. If, then, by the Disciplina Arcani nothing more is meant, than that the more recondite articles of the Christian faith were not pro

See Origen adv. Celsum, 1. 3. p. 120.

VOL. IV.-Oct. 1833.

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