JESU, NOSTRA REDEMPTIO

This hymn for the Epiphany forms part of a larger one of very complex authorship, known as A solis ortûs cardine, Et usque terræ limitem. This portion of that Christmas hymn has by some been assigned to St. Ambrose, but by a majority of judges to Prudentius, "the Horace and Virgil of the Christians," in the estimate of the scholarly Bentley. Aurelius Prudentius, Clemens, or the Merciful, was born in 348, somewhere in the north of Spain. After filling various secular offices he retired, in his fifty-seventh year, into private life, and devoted himself to the composition of sacred verse. He died circa 413, but where we are not told.

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O ye who seek the Lord, come nigh,
To heaven uplift your reverent eyes,
The Royal Banner of our God
Is blazoned on the midnight skies.
Brighter than when the sun at noon
Pours forth its radiance on the earth,
See yonder star its glory sheds,
And tells to man the Saviour's birth.
O wisdom seeks the lowly stall,
And takes the guidance of the star,
To worship where the Incarnate lies,
And offer gifts from lands afar:
With incense, worships the Divine,
With gold, a kingly tribute pays,
And at the feet of God made Man,
The myrrh in sweet profusion lays.
O Bethlehem, city ever blest!
What honour more could come to thee?
The cradle of the Incarnate God,
Who came to set His Israel free!
O Jesus, to the world revealed!
To Thee let glory ever be,
To Father and to Holy Ghost,
From age to age eternally.

Probably of the seventh or eighth century. Found in three MSS. of the eleventh century in the British Museum Library; also in the old Roman, Sarum, York, and Aberdeen Breviaries. Chandler's rendering of this fine hymn--"O Christ, our hope, our heart's desire," and which is to be found in most collections, is the hymn for Evensong on Ascension Day in that author's "Hymns of the Primitive Church."

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Thou our Redeemer art, O Christ,
Our heart's desire, our fervent love;
Creator of the worlds, Thou cam'st
To wear our flesh, from heaven above.
'Twas love that brought Thee to our aid,
To bear the burden of our woe,
To bow the head in shameful death,
And life, immortal life, bestow.
Asunder burst the bands of hell,
The captives hailed the glorious day;
And by Thy mighty triumph crowned,
Thou art at God's right hand for aye.
O may Thy mercy still abound,
That, by the goodness of Thy grace,
We daily o'er our sin may rise,
And see the beauty of Thy face.
Spring of our joy, be Thou, O Christ;
Our great reward, hereafter be;
And while the endless ages run,
Our praises shall be all of Thee.