Sing My Tongue, The Glorious Battle
PANGE LINGUA8.7.8.7.8.7
Words: Venantius Honorius Clementianus FortunatusTranslated by John Mason Neale, 1851Music: PANGE LINGUA, Plainsong (Sarum)
Practice player: melody only, played by your browser. The intro is the closing line of the tune, as many churches play it. Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain).
Words
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
With completed vict'ry rife,
And above the cross's trophy
Tell the triumph of the strife,
How the world's Redeemer conquered
By surrend'ring of His Life.
God his Maker sorely grieving
That the first born Adam fell,
When he ate the noxious apple
Whose reward was death and hell,
Noted then this wood, the ruin
Of the ancient wood to quell.
For the work of our salvation
Needs would have his order so,
And the multiform deceiver's
Art by art would overthrow.
And from thence would bring the med'cine
Whence the venom of the foe.
Wherefore, when the sacred fullness
Of th'appointed time was come,
This world's Maker left His Father,
Left His bright and heav'nly home,
And proceeded, God Incarnate,
From the virgin's holy womb.
Weeps the Infant in the manger
That in Bethl'hem's stable stands;
And His limbs the virgin mother
Doth compose in swaddling bands,
Meetly thus in linen folding
Of her God the feet and hands.
Thirty years among us dwelling,
His appointed time fulfilled;
Giv'n for this, He meets His Passion,
For that this He freely willed;
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
On Whose Death our hope we build.
He endured the shame and spitting.
Vinegar and nails and reed;
As His Blessed Side is opened,
Water thence and blood proceed:
Earth, and sky, and stars, and ocean,
By that flood are cleansed indeed.
Faithful Cross! above all other
One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit compares with Thee:
Sweetest wood, and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight sustaining free.
Bend thy boughs, O Tree of Glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigour
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 uphold;
For a shipwrecked world preparing
Harbor, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed
From the wounded Lamb that rolled.
Laud and honor to the Father,
Laud and honor to the Son,
Laud and honor to the Spirit,
Ever Three and ever One:
Consubstantial, co-eternal,
While unending ages run.
Scripture
The Bible passages this hymn draws on, in the King James Version.
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Suggested for these Masses
- 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B Feb 14, 2027
- 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B Feb 28, 2027
- 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B Mar 14, 2027
- Palm Sunday, Year B Mar 21, 2027
- Holy Thursday Mar 25, 2027
- Good Friday Mar 26, 2027
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