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sovereign, or any other event which causes the common universal heart to throb, there and then is the Te Deum sung. After the fifth Harry had won the battle of Agincourt, he cried :—

"Do we all holy rites, Let there be sung

Non Nobis, and Te Deum."

As it was sung after Agincourt, so it was sung after Waterloo, and will be sung after other victories yet unfought by generations yet unborn. Whenever the hearts of the men and women of the West throb high with emotions of gratitude too deep for non-rhythmic words, it is to the Te Deum that they turn for help; there alone have they for generation after generation found adequate expression. Of versions of the Te Deum there are as many as there are languages spoken by man. In this collection, which is popular and not critical, I follow, for the Latin, the text in the Roman Catholic Service Book, and, for the English, the version of the Book of Common Prayer.

WE

WE praise Thee, O God: we acknowledge
Thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.

To Thee all angels cry aloud: the heavens and all the powers therein.

To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry,

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.

The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;

The Father of an Infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son; Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man, Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine heritage.

Govern them, and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify Thee;

And we worship Thy name ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without

sin.

us.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon

O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in Thee.

O Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded.

TE

E Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur. Te æternum Patrem: omnis terra veneratur. Tibi omnes Angeli: tibi cœli, et universæ potestates.

Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim; incessabili voce proclamant,

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus: Dominus Deus Sabaoth;

Pleni sunt cœli et terra: majestatis gloriæ tuæ. Te gloriosus: Apostolorum chorus.

Te Prophetarum: laudabilis numerus.

Te Martyrum candidatus: laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum: sancta confitetur Eccle-

sia;

Patrem: immensæ majestatis;

Venerandum tuum verum: et unicum Filium.
Sanctum quoque: Paraclitum Spiritum.

Tu Rex gloriæ: Christe.

Tu Patris: sempiternus es Filius.

Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem: non horruisti Virginis uterum.

Tu devicto mortis aculeo: aperuisti credentibus regna cœlorum.

Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes: in gloria Patris.
Judex crederis: esse venturus.

Te ergo quæsumus, tuis famulis subveni: quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.

Eterna fac cum Sanctis tuis: in gloria numerari. Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine: et benedic hæreditati tuæ.

Et rege eos: et extolle illos, usque in æternum. Per singulos dies: benedicimus te.

Et laudamus nomen tuum in sæculum: et in sæculum sæculi.

Dignare, Domine, die isto: sine peccatis nos custodire.

Miserere nostri, Domine: miserere nostri. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, supernos: quemadmodum speravimus in te.

In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in æter

num.

Very shortly before her decease, Mrs. Charles, the author of the "Schönberg-Cotta Family," Songs, Old

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and New," and "The Voice of Christian Life and Song," wrote me, in reply to my inquiry as to which hymns had helped her, saying: "The Te Deum, with its glorious objectiveness, its tender humility, and its note of hope, has, perhaps, helped me and inspired me through life more than any other hymn."

As some Nonconformists may possibly object to the inclusion of such pieces as the Te Deum and the Magnificat in a collection of hymns, I may quote a line from the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes' letter to me, in which he says: "I hope that in any book you publish you will include the Te Deum, in many respects the most majestic as well as the most venerable hymn of the Christian Church."

There is, of course, another side to this. If the Te Deum has been used to express the gratitude of man for crowning mercies, it has often been used as a kind of Christian war-whoop over fallen foes. If our forefathers sang it with full hearts when England was delivered from the fell menace of the Armada, it was also chanted at Rome in honour of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. If, as an ancient heathen poet declared, —

"Unholy is the sound

Of loud thanksgiving over slaughtered men,"

impious indeed must have been the exultant strains that have gone up on high over the hecatombs of the battlefield. But this prostitution of the great Christian hymn in the service of un-Christian statecraft and sceptred murder has probably never been better exposed than by Kinglake in his memorable description of the

Te Deum in Notre Dame, "that historic pile which stands mocking the lapse of ages and the strange checkered destiny of France." Napoleon, fresh from the massacre of the Boulevards, his lips reeking with perjury, and his hands all red with blood, came into the presence of God."

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"When the Church perceived that the swearer of the oath and all his associates were ready, she began her service. Having robes whereon all down the back there was embroidered the figure of a cross, and being, it would seem, without fear, the bishops and priests went up to the high altar and scattered rich incense, and knelt and rose, and knelt and rose again. Then, in the hearing of thousands, there pealed through the aisles that hymn of praise which purports to waft into heaven the thanksgivings of a whole people for some new and signal mercy vouchsafed to them by Almighty God. It was because of what had been done to France within the last thirty days that the hosannas arose in Notre Dame. Moreover, the priests lifted their voices and cried aloud, chanting and saying to the Most High, Domine, salvum fac Ludovicum Napoleonem,' O Lord! save Louis Napoleon.

"What is good, and what is evil? and who is it that deserves the prayers of a nation? If any man, being scrupulous and devout, was moved by the events of December to ask these questions of his Church, he was answered that day in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Paris." "" 1

2-THE ENGLISH TE DEUM.

IF the Te Deum be the IIymn of Praise set apart by the Universal Church as the supreme expression of gratitude and adoration, the hymn which serves the same purpose in English congregations is "All Hail the Power of Jesu's Name." It is one of the ten hymns most used in English-speaking lands. It was written

1 History of Crimean War, vol. i. p. 335.

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