Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle

Sing

my tongue

the glo­ri­ous bat­tle

Sing the end­ing of the fray;

Now above the cross

the tro­phy

Sound the loud tri­umph­ant lay:

Tell how Christ the world’s Re­deem­er

As a vic­tim won the day.

He

our mak­er

deep­ly griev­ing

That the first made Ad­am fell

When he ate the fruit for­bid­den

Whose re­ward was death and hell

Marked e’en then this tree the ru­in

Of the first tree to dis­pel.

Tell how

when at length the full­ness

Of th’ap­point­ed time was come

Christ

the Word

was born of wo­man

Left for us His heav­en­ly home;

Showed us hu­man life made per­fect

Shone as light amid the gloom.

Lo! He lies an in­fant weep­ing

Where the nar­row man­ger stands

While the mo­ther-maid His mem­bers

Wraps in mean and low­ly bands

And the swad­dling clothes is wind­ing

Round His help­less feet and hands.

Thus

with thir­ty years ac­comp­lished

Went He forth from Na­za­reth

Destined

de­di­cat­ed

will­ing

Wrought His work

and met His death.

Like a lamb He hum­bly yield­ed

On the cross His dy­ing breath.

There the nails and spears He suf­fers

Vinegar

and gall

and reed;

From His sac­red bo­dy pierc­èd

Blood and wa­ter both pro­ceed;

Precious flood

which all cre­ation

From the stain of sin hath freed.

Faithful cross

thou sign of tri­umph

Now for us the nob­lest tree

None in fo­li­age

none in blos­som

None in fruit thy peer may be;

Symbol of the world’s re­demp­tion

For the weight that hung on thee!

Bend thy boughs

O tree of glo­ry!

Thy re­lax­ing sin­ews bend;

For awhile the an­cient ri­gor

That thy birth be­stowed

sus­pend;

And the King of heav­en­ly beau­ty

On thy bo­som gent­ly tend!

Thou alone wast count­ed wor­thy

This world’s ran­som to sus­tain

That a ship­wrecked race for­ev­er

Might a port of re­fuge gain

With the sac­red blood an­oint­ed

Of the Lamb of sin­ners slain.

To the Tri­ni­ty be glo­ry

Everlasting

as is meet:

Equal to the Fa­ther

eq­ual

To the Son

and Pa­ra­clete:

God the Three in One

whose prais­es

All cre­at­ed things re­peat.