Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Hymns of Christ’s singers through the night of the dark ages: For They Saw The Morning Star!

3rd Century—Clement of Alexandria: “Shepherd of Tender Youth” (earliest Christian hymn).

4th Century—Ambrose of Milan:

“The dawn is sprinkling in the east

Its golden shower, as day flows in;

Fast mount the pointed shafts of light;

Farewell to darkness and to sin.”

5th Century—Claudianus Mamertus:

“Sing, my tongue, the Savior’s triumph!”

Anatolius of Constantinople:

(a) “Fierce was the wild billow,” (b) “The day is past and over.”

6th Century—Gregory the Great:

“O Christ, our King, Creator, Lord!”

St. Hilary of Aries:

“Thou art the world’s true Morning Star!”

Venantius Fortunatus:

“The royal banners forward go!”

7th Century—Andrew of Crete:

“Christian, dost thou see them?”

8th Century—Stephen of St. Sabas:

“Art thou weary?”

9th Century—Rabanus Maurass:

“Come, O Creator, Spirit Blest!”

Joseph of the Studium:

“Jesus, Lord of life eternal”;

also, “Safe home, safe home.”

Theodistus of the Studium:

“Jesus, Name all names above!”

10th Century—Metrophanes of Smyrna:

“O Unity of three-fold light.”

11th Century—Hermanus Contractus:

“Come, Holy Ghost, in Love!”

Peter Damiani:

“There not waxing moon, nor waning,

Sun nor stars in courses bright;

For the Lamb, to that glad city

Shines an everlasting light.”

12th Century—Unknown Author:

“The strife is o’er, the battle done;

He closed the yawning gates of hell;

The bars from Heaven’s high portals fell;

Let hymns of praise His triumps tell! Hallelujah!”

Adam of St. Victor:

“Earth blooms afresh in glorious dyes;

In Christ’s arising all things rise;

A solemn joy o’er nature lies;

Alleluia;”

Bernard of Cluny:

“Jerusalem, the Golden.”

Unknown Author:

“Fairest Lord Jesus” (The Crusader’s Hymn).

13th Century—Thomas of Celano: (Dies irae, dies ilia!)

“May I find grace, O Lord, with Thee?

So the thief upon the tree;

Hope, too, Thou hast breathed in me”

14th Century—Unknown Author:

“Jesus is the Name we treasure.”

Jacobus de Benedictus: (Stabat Mater)

Mechtilde of Helffde:

“If the world were mine and all its store

And were it of crystal gold;

Could I reign on its throne forevermore, From the ancient days of old,

An empress noble and fair as day,

O gladly might it be;—

That I might cast it all away:

Christ, only Christ for me!”

“For Christ, my Lord, my spirit longs,

For Christ, my Saviour dear:

The joy and sweetness of my songs

The whilst I wander here.”

As the great truths of grace began to be recovered more fully, the “Song of the Lord” burst more and more fully forth; until the Reformers took down the Church’s harps from the willows of the “Babylonian Captivity” of over a thousand years.