Confessing Evangelical

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Our church service on Sunday was something of a J.M. Neale benefit gig, with the good John Mason providing three of the four hymns. The only other hymnwriter to get a look-in was Joseph A. Robinson, whose Transfiguration-themed hymn "'Tis good, Lord, to be here" includes the marvellous final verse:

'Tis good, Lord, to be here.
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.

Returning to J.M. Neale, the final hymn was his translation of the 11th century Latin hymn, Al­le­lu­ia, dul­ce car­men. The footnote in HS98 describes this hymn as "burying the Alleluia" before the season of Lent, when the church refrains from singing "Alleluia". So it seemed a good item to post the day before Ash Wednesday:

Alleluia, song of gladness,
Voice of joy that cannot die;
Alleluia is the anthem
Ever dear to choirs on high;
In the house of God abiding
Thus they sing eternally.

Alleluia thou resoundest,
True Jerusalem and free;
Alleluia, joyful mother,
All thy children sing with thee;
But by Babylon’s sad waters
Mourning exiles now are we.

Alleluia we deserve not
Here to chant forevermore;
Alleluia our transgressions
Make us for a while give o’er;
For the holy time is coming
Bidding us our sins deplore.

Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee,
Grant us, blessèd Trinity,
At the last to keep Thine Easter
In our home beyond the sky;
There to Thee forever singing
Alleluia joyfully.

Great stuff. The only problem was we sang it to Lauda Anima (i.e. "Praise, my soul, the king of heaven"), which was fine for verses 1 and 4, but jarred somewhat with the end of verse 3 and the whole of verse 4. Oh well.

Labels: church year, hymns, lent