I.

The task which I had set myself to do is completed. Whatever may be the fortune of the little work, I have had much pleasure, and, I hope, some profit, in the accomplishment of it.

At intervals from parochial visiting and ministerial duty, on a walk, or reclining by the Wye side, or on the ridge of Marcle Hill, I have made, bit by bit, the translation of the first, the earlier and shorter, part of the Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum. I have had no other edition, no explanatory notes, no help or guidance--nothing but the text of the beautiful Leipsic volume, edited in 1871 by the eminent scholars, W. Christ and M. Paranikas. Under such circumstances, it can hardly be otherwise than that I have made blunders which the learned reader will detect here and there, yet I trust the errors will be few and pardonable. Owing to the difference of idiom, and the exigency of metre, some additions, some omissions, there must be. Yet I hope to be able to claim the credit of having fairly and faithfully reproduced the poetic thoughts and holy aspirations of the grand old Greek Christians whose songs and hymns I have ventured to take in hand.

There remain four short hymns of unknown authorship (umnoi adespotoi), not in verse, but measured prose. These I now render into plain English, line for line and word for word. They are, I doubt not, true specimens of the "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" [35] of the earliest Christians, portions of the divine poetry of the Old Testament combined with the glorious facts and truths of the New. They show also the great antiquity of parts of the Church of England Liturgy and Communion Service, and may well be used now in the way they were designed of old.

A MORNING HYMN.

Glory to God in the highest, and upon earth peace,

Good-will among men:

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee,

We worship Thee, we glorify Thee,
For Thy great glory.

O Lord the King in heaven, God the Father Almighty,

O Lord the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ,
And Holy Spirit:
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

Who takest [36] away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us:

O Thou who takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer:

O Thou who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us:

For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord,
Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Every day will I bless Thee,
And praise Thy Name for ever, [37]
And for ever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, through this day also
That we may be kept without sin,
Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our fathers,
And praised and glorified be Thy Name
For ever and ever. [38] Amen.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.

O Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation:

I have said: O Lord, have mercy upon me,
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.

O Lord, to Thee have I fled for refuge: teach me to do Thy will,

For Thou art my God,
For with Thee is the fountain of life.
In Thy light shall we see light:
Extend Thy mercy to them that know Thee.
[36] aireis, takest away, or bearest.

[37] Lit.: For the age, and for the age of the age.

[38] Lit.: For the ages.