Volume 1 — LAVDA SION SALVATOREM:
Reading edition
THE HYMN FOR THE BL. SACRAMENT.[43]
I.
Rise, royall Sion! rise and sing Thy soul's kind shepheard, thy hart's King. Stretch all thy powres; call if you can Harpes of heaun to hands of man. This soueraign subject sitts aboue The best ambition of thy loue.
II.
Lo, the Bread of Life, this day's incites Triumphant text, prouokes thy prayse: The liuing and life-giuing bread To the great twelue distributed; When Life, Himself, at point to dy Of loue, was His Own legacy.
III.
Come, Loue! and let vs work a song Lowd and pleasant, sweet and long; Let lippes and hearts lift high the noise Of so iust and solemn ioyes, Which on His white browes this bright day Shall hence for euer bear away.
IV.
Lo, the new law of a new Lord, With a new Lamb blesses the board: The agèd Pascha pleads not yeares But spyes Loue's dawn, and disappeares. Types yield to truthes; shades shrink away; And their Night dyes into our Day.
V.
But lest that dy too, we are bid Euer to doe what He once did: And by a mindfull, mystick breath That we may liue, reuiue His death; With a well-bles't bread and wine, Transsum'd and taught to turn diuine.
VI.
The Heaun-instructed house of Faith Here a holy dictate hath, That they but lend their form and face;— Themselues with reuerence leaue their place, Nature, and name, to be made good, By a nobler bread, more needfull blood.
VII.
Where Nature's lawes no leaue will giue, Bold Faith takes heart, and dares beleiue In different species: name not things, Himself to me my Saviovr brings; As meat in that, as drink in this, But still in both one Christ He is.
VIII.
The receiuing mouth here makes Nor wound nor breach in what he takes. Let one, or one thovsand be Here diuiders, single he Beares home no lesse, all they no more, Nor leaue they both lesse then before.
IX.
Though in it self this soverain Feast Be all the same to euery guest, Yet on the same (life-meaning) Bread The child of death eates himself dead: Nor is't Loue's fault, but Sin's dire skill That thus from Life can death distill.
X.
When the blest signes thou broke shalt see Hold but thy faith intire as He Who, howsoe're clad, cannot come Lesse then whole Christ in euery crumme. In broken formes a stable Faith Vntouch't her precious totall hath.
XI.
So the life-food of angells then Bow'd to the lowly mouths of men! The children's Bread, the Bridegroom's Wine; Not to be cast to dogges, or swine.
XII.
Lo, the full, finall Sacrifice On which all figures fix't their eyes: The ransom'd Isack, and his ramme; The manna, and the paschal lamb.
XIII.
Iesv Master, iust and true! Our food, and faithfull Shephard too! O by Thy self vouchsafe to keep, As with Thy selfe Thou feed'st Thy sheep.
XIV.
O let that loue which thus makes Thee Mix with our low mortality, Lift our lean soules, and sett vs vp Con-victors of Thine Own full cup, Coheirs of saints. That so all may Drink the same wine; and the same way: Nor change the pastvre, but the place, To feed of Thee, in Thine Own face. Amen.
NOTES.
In 1648, line 3 has 'thou' for 'you:' line 4 'and' for 'to:' line 6, 'ambitious:' line 19, 'Lord' is misprinted 'Law:' line 39, 'names:' line 42 spells 'one' as 'on:' line 55, our text (1652) misprints 'shall:' line 75, 1648 reads 'mean' for 'lean.' G.
