Author: Venantius Fortunatus, 530-609; Percy Dearmer, 1867-1936; J. M. Neale, 1818-66 Hymnal: The New English Hymnal #517c (1986) First Line: Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle Lyrics: Faithful Cross! above all other,
One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
1 Sing, my tongue, how glorious battle,
Sing the ending of the fray,
O'er the Cross, the victor's trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's Redeemer,
As a Victim won the day.
2 God in pity saw man fallen,
Shamed and sunk in misery,
When he fell on death by tasting
Fruit of the forbidden tree:
Then another tree was chosen
Which the world from death should free.
3 Therefore when the appointed fullness
Of the holy time was come,
He was sent who maketh all things
Forth from God's eternal home:
Thus he came to earth, incarnate,
Offspring of a maiden's womb.
4 Thirty years among us dwelling,
Now at length his hour fulfilled,
Born for this, he meets his Passion,
For that this he freely willed,
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where his life-blood shall be spilled.
5 Bend thy boughs, O Tree of Glory,
Thy too rigid sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigour
That thy birth bestowed, suspend,
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend.
6 Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's Ransom to sustain,
That a shipwrecked race might ever
Thus a port of refuge gain,
With the sacred blood anointed
From the Lamb for sinners slain.
7 He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar and spear and reed;
From that holy Body pierced
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth and stars and sky and ocean
By that flood from stain are freed.
8 To the Trinity be glory,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
Ever Three and ever One,
One in love and one in splendour,
While unending ages run. Amen.
Topics: Good Friday Tune Title: PICARDY
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