LET US RISE IN EARLY MORNING.

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Before the ark, a type to pass away,

David of old time danced: we, holier race,

Seeing the Antitype come forth to-day,

Hail with a shout Christ's own Almighty grace.

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE.

LET US RISE IN EARLY MORNING.

ὀρθρίσωμεν ὄρθου βαθέος.

LET us rise in early morning

And, instead of ointments, bring
Hymns of praises to our Master,
And his Resurrection sing:

We shall see the Sun of Justice
Risen with healing on His wing.

Thy unbounded loving-kindness,

They that groaned in Hades' chain,
Prisoners, from afar beholding,

Hasten to the light again;

And to that eternal Pascha

Wove the dance and raised the strain.

Go ye forth, His Saints, to meet Him!
Go with lamps in every hand!

From the sepulchre He riseth:
Ready for the Bridegroom stand:
And the Pascha of salvation

Hail, with his triumphant band.

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE.

THE FURNACE.

̔Ο παῖδας ἐκ καμίνου.

WHO from the fiery furnace saved the Three,
Suffers as mortal; that, His passion o'er,
This mortal, triumphing o'er death, might be
Vested with immortality once more.

He Whom our fathers still confessed
God over all, forever blest.

The women with their ointment seek the tomb,

And Whom they mourned as dead, with many a tear,
They worship now, joy dawning on their gloom,
As Living God, as mystic Passover;

Then to the Lord's Disciples gave
The tidings of the vanquished grave.

We keep the festal of the death of death;

Of hell o'erthrown; the first-fruits, pure and bright,

Of life eternal; and, with joyous breath,

Praise Him that won the victory by His might;
Him Whom our fathers still confessed

God over all, forever blest.

All-hallowed festival, in splendor born!

Night of salvation and of glory! Night
Foreheralding the Resurrection morn!
When from the tomb the everlasting Light,
A glorious frame once more his own,
Upon the world in splendor shone.

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE.

JERUSALEM.

φωτίζου, φωτίζου.

THOU New Jerusalem, arise and shine!

The glory of the Lord on thee hath risen.

Sion, exult! rejoice with joy divine,

Mother of God! Thy Son hath burst his prison.

O Heavenly Voice! O word of purest love! "Lo! I am with you alway to the end." This is the anchor, steadfast from above,

The golden anchor, whence our hopes depend.

O Christ, our Pascha! greatest, holiest, best! God's Word and Wisdom and effectual Might! Thy fuller, lovelier presence manifest

In that eternal realm that knows no night!

THE DAWN IS SPRINKLING.

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THE DAWN IS SPRINKLING.

Aurora jam spargit polum.

THE dawn is sprinkling in the east
Its golden shower, as day flows in;
Fast mount the pointed shafts of light;-
Farewell to darkness and to sin!

Away, ye midnight phantoms all!
Away, despondence and despair!
Whatever guilt the night has brought,
Now let it vanish into air.

So, Lord, when that last morning breaks

Which shrouds in darkness earth and skies,

May it on us, low bending here,

Arrayed in joyful light arise!

To God the Father glory be,
And to His sole-begotten Son;

The same, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
While everlasting ages run.