Blest chains, that prove no guilty criminal,

But one train'd in Christ's school, serenely bent
To suffer all,-

More precious they than golden ornament,
And glittering beads worn in the regal hall.

To Him all praise, all power, all majesty,
The Holy Son, who for His people died,
All glory be,-

All glory be to Christ the Crucified,
All glory to the Holy One and Three.

AT THE MATTINS.

Wisdom forsook not the righteous, but delivered him from sinners; she went down with him into the pit, and left him not in bonds.-WISDOM X.

66 Petrum, tyranne, quid catenis obruis."

WHERE the prison bars surround him,
In his chains shall Peter dwell;

Where the sentinel hath bound him,

Pacing by his gloomy cell?

What shall avail

Prison, chains, or sentinel?

Lo, a light, from Heav'n descending,
Glimmers, like a beauteous star,

An Angel o'er the Saint is bending,
And the wing'd night is fled afar.
His chains are burst,

Open is the massy bar.

Where the heav'nly guide is leading,
Peter follows, firm and bold;
All as in a dream proceeding

Through the portals dark and cold ;
And now, amazed,

Doth the Almighty's hand behold.

We in prison-chains are sleeping,
Chains of sin which Angels see;
Dunnest night our soul is steeping-
Christ, our light, our liberty,

Break Thou our chains,
Lighten us, and make us free.

Highest praise to Thee, the Highest,

Infinite, dread Trinity;

Who, awhile our spirits tryest,

Fitting them to dwell with Thee,

Thee adoring,

Everlasting, Holy Three.

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

AT THE FIRST AND SECOND VESPERS.

The sun shall be ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and before His ancients gloriously.-Is. xxiv.

"Hoc jussa quondam rumpimus."

BRING, happy day, to light

Things which dark-mantling Night

In envious silence hath so long been stealing; When, on the mountain floor,

Before the three of yore,

The Son of man His glory was revealing : And, through His flesh's shrouding shrine, Illuminating ran the effluence Divine.

The full irradiance flows,

To

every limb it goes,

With snowy light His fiery garments blending;

Now awe-struck silence quakes,

And the live thunder speaks,

From the bright cloud in majesty descending; There sounds the unutterable Voice, Proclaiming His dear Son, the everlasting choice.

With low-brow'd awe profound,

Be silent on the ground,

The Lord of all is in His holy hill;

And now, with voice of fear,

Let angel hosts draw near,

While all the listening world is still,

To sing the Spirit and the Word,

And Father, whose dread voice was in the thunder heard.

AT MIDNIGHT.

O Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding glorious, Thou art clothed with majesty and honour. Thou deckest Thyself with light as it were with a garment.-PSALM civ.

"Quam nos potenter allicis."

How strongly and how sweetly still
Thou, Christ, dost draw the human will,
And gently prove;

Whether Thou dost Thyself reveal,
Or from our senses dost conceal,
'Tis both in love.

The Father calls, and for Thy sake
Shall us too for His children take;
And, through Heav'n's door,
The glory which doth break on Thee
rays of immortality

Are

That go before.

What saith the Father, speaking loud?
And what the Son beneath the cloud?
Now all are gone,

The shadows fleet, around again

Silence keeps watch, there doth remain
The truth alone.