printed at Cologne, in the year 1556, and regularly applied myself to the work of selection and translation. The result is the collection I now lay before the public. It will be observed that I have admitted no hymns but what appear to be expressly wanted for the purposes of our Church; my aim in translating them has been to be as simple as possible, thinking it better to be, of the two, rather bald and prosaic than fine and obscure. I have ventured to take the greatest part of the 2nd Hymn from the translation in the "British Magazine," which, notwithstanding the alterations I have made in it, still shines forth as the work of an evidently superior hand: for all the rest I am answerable. With respect to the originals, they bear decided marks of very remote antiquity; some may have been very much altered: some, perhaps, entirely reconstructed, but still as several of them are known to be the work of St. Ambrose and St. Gregory, and other Primitive Fathers, and as all the rest bear internal evidence of being about the same age, they may well deserve the name affixed to them of "The Hymns of the Primitive Church." To them are added all the hymns which, from the beginning of the Reformation to the present day, have been inserted into our prayer-books; these are few, but mostly well worth preserving. Thus are set forth in one view the Hymns, ancient and modern, which are the peculiar property of the Church of Christ-those which she had before the Papal Apostasy, and those which have been added to her collection since the Hymns for the Divisions of the Day, the Hymns for the Seasons of the Church, the Hymns for Particular Occasions. Here is a nucleus which, in proper hands, may be added to, and amended in such a way from more modern sources, as to form a Hymn-Book in every respect worthy of our Church. It will not, I trust, be unpleasing or unedifying to her members to see a Morning Hymn by a Bishop of Milan* of the fourth century joined to one on the same subject by a Bishop of Salisbury of the seventeenth. Perhaps, if the authorities of our Church carry on the design, we may see next to them a hymn by a Bishop of Calcutta of the nineteenth. For it should be remembered, that it was a particular wish of Bishop Heber, that there should be a Hymn-book for our Church, and all his Hymns were written with the view of forming one. Most happy, indeed, shall I be, if the present compilation can contribute, in the smallest degree, towards the accomplishment of so desirable a work. St. Ambrose, + Bishop Ken. CONTENTS. The first of days the light beheld Now morning lifts her dewy veil Once more the sun is beaming bright Blest Spirit, one with God above And now the sun's meridian beams Oh God of truth, Almighty Lord And now the sun's declining rays While we our weary eyelids close. Christmas. Oh holy Babe, our prayer receive Presentation. And now the day is past and gone Thou brightness of thy Father's face Oh thou, who wast for sinners slain Come, let us praise the name of God Our praises, Lord, thou dost not need When storms and tempests o'er us roll He speaks the word; the floods obey Matins. Oh! tis our duty, first of all Evensong. Oh Lord, how joyful 'tis to see WEDNESDAY, Noct. The wonders of th' Almighty hand Matins. A faithful promise thou hast made Evensong. O God, the hateful pride of man THURSDAY, Nocturn. The deep a two-fold offspring bore Matins. Oh, how can worthy praises, Lord Evensong. Oh, God of our salvation, Lord FRIDAY, Nocturn. And now, O God, thy mind resolves Matins. While thine avenging arrow, Lord. Evensong. Lament, ye saints, behold your God. At length creation's days are past O Jesu, Lord of heavenly Grace The Prince of Peace, to sinners given 43 Cease, weary mortals, cease to sigh While shepherds watched their flocks 45 High let us swell our tuneful notes Ah, wherefore do the impious Jews. The voice of him who cries aloud Now Jesus lifts his prayer on high Thou, great Creator, art possessed Our God, in His celestial seat Oh, ye, who followed Christ in love This solemn fast the Fathers saw The solemn season calls us now |