Stabat mater dolorosa The third line of the second stanza reads: the several famous paintings of the mas"Come, see, ye worms, your Maker die." ters titled Mater Dolorosa. We give here In the second line of the third verse Wes- the first verse of the original: ley wrote: "To bring us rebels near to God." The fourth line he began with "We" instead of "Ye." These changes are all improvements except perhaps the last. The burden of this sweet and pathetic hymn, "My Lord, my Love, is crucified," is said to be a quotation from Ignatius the Gazing on her dying Son; 2 When no eye its pity gave us, When there was no arm to save us, He his love and power displayed; 3 Jesus, may thy love constrain us, May we in thy glory live! Qua pendebat filius; Pertransivit gladius. The keynote of the hymn is struck in the two first lines, which are taken almcst literally from the Gospel of John, Latin version: "Stabat juxta crucem mater ejus." It was perhaps in the grief which the mother suffered while thus gazing upon her dying Son that were fulfilled the words of Simeon: "A sword shall pass through thine own soul also." The various passages of Scripture on which the hymn is based are: John xix. 25; Luke ii. 35; Zechariah xiii. 6; 2 Corinthians iv. 10; Galatians vi. 17. The authorship of this hymn is by no means certain. It is generally attributed to Jacopone da Todi (also called Benedetto and Jacobus de Benedictis), an eccentric Franciscan monk, who was either erratic to the point of insanity or else feigned folly and "played the fool for Christ's cake," thinking thereby to make his messages and rebukes more impressive. We see no sufficient reason for denyJacopone da Todi. Tr. by Henry Mills. ing Jacopone's claim to the hymn, alThis is a translation of the celebrated though Julian in his Dictionary of HymLatin hymn, the "Stabat Mater" of Jaco-nology, while recognizing the great uncerpone, a Franciscan monk. It is, next to tainty of the authorship of the hymn, casts the "Dies Ira" of Thomas of Celano, the his judgment in favor of Pope Innocent most noted and historic of all the Latin III. (1161-1216) as the most probable auhymns. The original has ten stanzas, thor. Jacopone died in 1306. The hymn many of which contain idolatrous allu- dates from the thirteenth century. The sions and addresses to the Virgin Mary, Flagellants, an eccentric religious order, from all of which, however, the above brought the hymn into general notice in hymn, taken from the translation of Dr. the fourteenth century by singing it as Mills, is free. This hymn has been trans- they journeyed from town to town. lated into nearly all the languages of mod- is perhaps the most popular of all the Latern Europe and by many different persons in hymns in the Roman Catholic Church, into the English language. Many noted where it is sung every Friday during Lent. musicians have composed accompaniments The literature that has been called forth for it. It is this hymn which has inspired by the hymn is very extensive. The mu It sic that has been composed for it by Palestrina, Pergolesi, Haydn, Rossini, Dvorak, and other great masters holds a place in the very front rank of the sacred musical compositions of the world. The passionate and ceaseless desire of the pious but erratic child of genius to whom, according to the common judgment, we owe this remarkable hymn was to imitate Christ and suffer for him. On one occasion he was found weeping loudly, and on being asked the cause of his grief he replied: "Because Love is not loved." One of the finest renderings of the entire hymn into our language is that of Dr. Abraham Coles. The passionate tenderness and undying influence of this hymn are well exhibited in the following stanza taken from the translation of Coles: Who the man who, called a brother, Agonizing with her child? The translation of Dr. Mills, found in the text above, was published in the Appendix of his Hora Germanicæ, 1845, where it has seven stanzas, the above being the first, sixth, and seventh stanzas. This translation was long accredited to Dr. J. W. Alexander, due to the fact that in 1861, two years after his death, his translations were collected and published in a volume titled The Breaking Crucible and Other Translations, and this hymn was, by mistake of the editor of that volume, included among Dr. Alexander's translations. Two of the four omitted stanzas are found in many of the Church hymnals: What he for his people suffered, At our Saviour's cross to mourn: 4 Lives again our glorious King; 5 Soar we now where Christ has led, Follow our exalted Head; Made like him, like him we rise; Ours the cross, the grave, the skies! Charles Wesley. These are the first five of eleven stanzas belonging to the author's “Hymn for Easter Day," published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739. The original of the last two lines of the fourth verse is: Dying once he all doth save: In an "Easter Hymn" by Samuel Wesiey, Jr., is a stanza which probably suggested to Charles Wesley some of the language used in the third stanza above: In vain the stone, the watch, the seal, To him who breaks the gates of hell, HE Lord is risen indeed; The grave hath lost its prey; With him shall rise the ransomed seed, 2 The Lord is risen indeed; He lives, to die no more; He lives, the sinner's cause to plead, Whose curse and shame he bore. 3 The Lord is risen indeed; Attending angels, hear! Up to the courts of heaven, with speed, 4 Then wake your golden lyres, Thomas Kelly. Text: "The Lord is risen indeed." (Luke xxiv. 34.) The original contains eight stanzas. This hymn is made up of verses four, five, seven, and eight. The second line in the first verse was originally: "Then Hell has lost its prey." The rest is verbatim from Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture, first edition, 1804. UR Lord is risen from the dead; Our Jesus is gone up on high; The powers of hell are captive led, Dragged to the portals of the sky: There his triumphal chariot waits, And angels chant the solemn lay: 2 "Loose all your bars of massy light, This is not only one of Charles Wesley's finest hymns, but it is one of the most admired and frequently sung of all our Easter hymns. "This hymn," says the 3 author of Hymns that Have Helped, "has long been accepted as the best English Easter hymn. Yet it is curious to note that John Wesley dropped it out of the Wesleyan Hymn Book in 1780, and it did not regain its place there till 1830." "The Lord, that all our foes o'ercame; The world, sin, death, and hell o'erthrew; And Jesus is the Conqueror's name." Lo, his triumphal chariot waits, And angels chant the solemn lay: "Lift up your heads, ye heavenly gates: Ye everlasting doors, give way!" "Who is the King of Glory? Who?" "The Lord, of glorious power possessed; The King of saints and angels too; God over all, forever blest!" Charles Wesley. Based ing variety, warmth, and freshness of original verse, while it tenaciously adheres to the From Psalms and Hymns, 1743. on Psalm xxiv. 7-10: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." These are the last six of thirteen stan zas of four lines each, in which the author gives a metrical version of the entire Psalm. It is regarded as one of Charles Wesley's most successful and spiritual paraphrases. spirit of the inspired Psalmist. Charles Wesley made a version of a large portion, though not all, of the Psalms. He gave a manuscript copy of these in his own handwriting, it seems, to the countess of Huntingdon. This manuscript volume, curiously enough, found its way, about 1850, into a secondhand bookstore in London, neither the vendors nor the buyer apparently knowing what it was. It was here that Mr. Fish found it, and, ́recognizing the handwriting and the great value of the volume, immediately purchased it. It was from this manuscript that he obtained most of the material for the volume above referred In the introduction to a volume titled to, from the introduction to which the Charles Wesley's Version of the Psalms, foregoing quotation was taken. London, 1854, Henry Fish, the editor, says: 159 10s, 11s. D. Irregular. Though Charles Wesley has not alwaysL confined himself to the letter of the Psalms which he versified, yet in every case he has embodied the spirit, and in many of them he has kept close to the sense, of the original. Having found the Saviour everywhere in the Psalms, he introduces the Saviour everywhere in his version, and has presented him and all the great truths of experimental and practical religion to our attention in the most pleasing, soul-stirring, soul-inspiring verse. With a heart of love and lips of fire, he has sung the complaints and the afflictions and the penitential supplications and the triumphs and thanksgivings of David. He has sung in his own style - a style characterized by smoothness and harmony, by pathos and power and beauty, and occasionally by sublimity and grandeur. There is nothing in the form of poetry within the whole compass of uninspired language to surpass in composition many of the Psalms in this volume. His version of Psalm cxix. may be taken as one of those instances in which the true poetic genius of Charles Wesley shines forth in unrivaled splendor. Here he has, by a touch of his pen more potent than that of the famed philosopher's stone, transmuted the tin of the old dispensation into the pure gold of the Christian sanctuary, and has presented to us an enchanting and well-sustained poem, which, without any approach to tautology, exhibits all the pleas 2 IFT your glad voices in triumph on high, And short the dominion of death and the He burst from the fetters of darkness that Resplendent in glory to live and to save! Glory to God, in full anthems of joy; The being he gave us death cannot destroy: morrow, If tears were our birthright, and death were our end; But Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow, And bade us, immortal, to heaven ascend: Lift then your voices in triumph on high, For Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die. Henry Ware, Jr. Title: "The Resurrection of Christ." This glad hymn of victory was written in 1817, and was first published in the Christian Disciple and afterwards in the Christian Examiner, Boston. It is taken, unaltered, from the author's Works, Volume I., Boston, 1846. SING Sing the resurrection song! Death and sorrow, earth's dark story, Soon the storms of time shall cease; In God's likeness, man, awaking, Knows the everlasting peace. 2 O what glory, far exceeding All that eye has yet perceived! Never that full joy conceived. Christ has passed th' eternal gates. 3 Life eternal! heaven rejoices, Jesus lives who once was dead; Saints all longing for their heaven, 4 Life eternal! O what wonders Crowd on faith! what joy unknown, When, amidst earth's closing thunders, Saints shall stand before the throne! O to enter that bright portal, See that glowing firmament, "Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent!" From the author's Psalms and Hymns for the Church, 1873. The last four lines of the first stanza are as follows in the original: Even now the dawn is breaking. Soon the night of time shall cease, Title: "Ascension." This triumphant hymn first appeared in Hymns of the Heart, 1848. has seven stanzas. These are the first four unaltered. |