De " Ce Deum f
Structure,
SY TN 9MHT *?,
JOHN WORDSWORTH, D,0,
BIBL. MA],
COLLEGE
THE "TE DEUM."
OXFORD; HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
THE "TE DEUM,"
ITS STRUCTURE AND MEANING, AND
ITS MUSICAL SETTING AND
RENDERING,
TOGETHER WITH A REVISED LATIN TEXT,
NOTES AND TRANSLATION.
BY THE
RIGHT REV. JOHN WORDSWORTH, D.D.,
/// Q
BISHOP OF SALISBURY.
REVISED EDITION.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE " Wg^rig E TRACT COMMITTEE
BIBL. MAJ.
COLLEGE *
LONDON :
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. ; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G.
BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET.
NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
1903.
S0235
NOTE.
THE chief part of this Paper appeared as
an article in the Churchwoman. It is now
revised and enlarged in the hope that it may
reach a larger circle of readers.
Lent, 1902.
In issuing a Second Edition I should like
to acknowledge my obligations to the Rev.
A. E. Burn, Hector of Kynnersley, Wellington,
Salop, both for his private help and for the
information contained in his book. An Intro
duction to the Creeds and to the Te Deum
(Methuen & Co. : London, 1899). I have also
to thank several organists of distinction,
especially Dr. Prendergast, now of Winchester
Cathedral, for giving practical currency to
the methods here advocated.
JOHN SARUM.
Christmas, 1902.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ......?
WHAT THE " TE DEUM" REALLY is . . . .8
THE FIRST HYMN (TE DEUM) n
THE SECOND HYMN (Tu REX) 14
THE VERSICI.ES AND RESPONSES 17
MUSICAL TREATMEMT BY CHOIRS. . . . .18
THE ENGLISH TEXT 21
THE LATIN TEXT 24
NOTES 26
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE HYMN . . . .29
THE "TE DEUM,"
Its Structure and Meaning, and its
Musical Setting and Rendering.
INTRODUCTION.
CIRCUMSTANCES led me some years ago to
make careful researches into the history of
the great Latin hymn, best known by its
opening words, Te Deum laudamus, of which
I gave some account in Dr. Julian s Dictionary
of Hymnology, published in 1892, both in the
body of the book and in one of its supplements.
Since that time the general conclusions of that
article 1 , in which I had the help of several
learned persons, such as Dr. Gibson (of Leeds)
and Mr. W. J. Birkbeck, have been largely
accepted by scholars, but they do not seem
to have penetrated very far into the musical
1 I have in one or two minor points seen reason to
incline to a different opinion ; but in general I retain
the opinions there expressed. As regards the author
ship, Dom G. Morin s suggestion that it is by Bishop
Nicetas, or Niceta, of Remesiana in Dacia (now Mustapha
Palanka), between Naissus and Sardica, is the most
plausible that I have seen. He nourished circa A. D. 400.
He is praised as a Christian poet and hymn-writer by
Paulinus of Nola, Carm. 17, 109 foil.
8 THE " TE DEUM."
world. They have, however, so far prevailed
that, in the third of the new forms of
Accession Services, agreed upon by the two
Convocations of Canterbury and York, and
authorized for use by Royal Warrant, dated
November 9, 1901, the principle of a triple
division of the Te Deum has been distinctly
recognized by the use of capital letters. For
the first time, too, I suppose, in the history of
the Prayer-book is the Te Deum printed in
it as forming the chief portion of a solemn
thanksgiving service, and it is something to
rejoice at that it is now printed in a more
correct form than has hitherto been the case.
Let me explain first what the Te Deum
really is, and then give my thoughts as to the
manner of setting and rendering it.
WHAT THE " TE DEUM " KEALLY is.
It is in reality, in my opinion, two distinct
but connected hymns, said one after the other,
with a set of versicles and responses to follow,
which might be added to any other similar
hymn or hymns. I am inclined to think the
first hymn (lines 1-13) to be rather older
than the second (lines 14-21). The existence
of an old Greek version of the first, and not
of the second, as well as the parallel between
REALLY IS.
it and Psalm cxlviii, favours this opinion.
I believe, however, that the second hymn was
written as a sequel to the first.
It must, however, be noted that Dom
G. Morin and Mr. Burn, who both agree in
the threefold division, believe the two hymns
to be by the same author (Niceta) and to be
written by him as parts of one whole. They
insist especially on the continuity of the
rhythm, which began, apparently, to be
popular about the end of the fourth century.
In any case this rhythm should be noticed
by any one who can read the original, and
who is familiar with the laws of the Latin
accent. I may remark, for the benefit of
those who may need the information, that
the Latin accent (unlike the Greek) is very
nearly that which we give to Latin words in
our ordinary way of reading them. In words
of more than one syllable it falls on the last
syllable but one (the penultimate), or the
last but two (the antepenultimate), never on
the last syllable (except in the case of rare con
tracted syllables). In disyllables the accent is
on the first syllable of the word, whether it
be short or long, as tuae, chdrus, Christe. In
words of three or more syllables, if the
penultimate is long, it is accented, as confite-
A 3
10 THE " TE DEUM.
mur, venerdtur ; if short, the previous syl
lable is accented, as numerus, exercitus.
In accentual rhythm, or accentual poetry like
that of Commodian, all other syllables besides
the one accented may be treated as short.
In the Te Deum most of the lines end with
two feet, which, roughly speaking, may be
described as equivalent to the end of a hexa
meter verse. Seven have the exact hexameter
ending (- w w | -) if scanned accentually, as
voce procldmant, deus sabdoth, gldriae tuae,
gldriae Chrikte, regna caeldrum, gl6ria pdtris,
esse venturus. Seven end with two dactyls
(- w w | - w w) as lauddbilis numerus, laudat
exercitus, confitetur eccle sia, unigenitum (or
tinicum) f ilium, pardclitum spirit um (ac
cording to the frequent pronunciation after
the Greek accent of Trapa.K\r]Tos) sempiternus
es filius, virginis uterum. One ends with
two spondees (-- | -), viz. apostoldrum
chorus. The other six lines have a less
regular but very effective ending, all with
quadrisyllables (confitemur, venerdtur, pote-
stdtes, redemisti, and munerdri), accented on
the penultimate. I must leave the fuller dis
cussion of this rhythm to specialists, but the
simple analysis already given will show its
reality and its general character, and proves
THE FIRST HYMN. II
its continuity throughout the hymn. Similar
rhythmical endings are found at the end of
the first half of lines 16 suscepisti (or susce-
pturus) hdminem, 17 mdrtis aculeo, and
20 fdmulis subveni, and in some lines the
rhythm is continuous. Further detailed in
formation may be found in Mr. Burn s work,
pp. 248-252, and 272-3. He refers particularly
to an article by a German scholar, W. Meyer,
in the Gottingen Gelehrie Anzeigen for 1893,
and to letters from Mr. J. Shelly, quoted in
his article in the Guardian, 10 March, 1897.
THE FIKST HYMN : Te Deum.
I. The first of these hymns is the real
Te Deum. It begins with an antiphon aptly
chosen from Ps. cxiii. i : " Praise the Lord, ye
servants : O praise the name of the Lord." It
consists of the first thirteen verses of the com
posite hymn, ending with "Also the Holy Ghost,
the Comforter." This is a hymn of praise to
the Blessed Trinity, divided into two parts,
which seems to be modelled generally on the
same lines as Psalm cxlviii, " O praise the Lord
of heaven : praise him in the height. Praise
him, all ye angels of his : praise him, all his
host." This parallel had evidently struck the
translators of the "New Version" of the
12 THE " TE DEUM.
Psalms (Tate and Brady), who rise somewhat
higher than usual at this point. Their first
verse may be quoted as a specimen :
"Ye boundless realms of joy
Exalt your Maker s fame,
His praise your song employ,
Above the starry frame ;
Your voices raise,
Ye Cherubim
And Seraphim,
To sing His praise."
The first half of the Te Deum proper (verses
1-6), like the first half of Psalm cxlviii, chiefly
records the worship of the invisible Church,
and particularly of the Angels and heavenly
Powers. But this it does, not in directly
Scriptural phrase, but in language, borrowed
apparently from some form of the ancient
Latin liturgy, in which Cherubim and Sera
phim were described as uttering the thrice-
holy name of God. The Latin origin of this
hymn is proved by the substitution of the
title, "Lord God of Hosts/ for the more
original and Scriptural title, "Lord of Hosts,"
which has been retained by the Greek Church,
from Isaiah vi. 3.
The second half of the Te Deum proper
records the worship offered by the Church
as it consists of human beings, whether living
THE FIRST HYMN. 13
or departed ; the chief orders being mentioned
Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs in lan
guage which recalls a well-known passage
of St. Cyprian, Jh his tract about the plague,
written circa A.D. 252. There the three bodies
of human witnesses are grouped together with
somewhat similar epithets " There is the
glorious choir of the Apostles ; there is the
company of the Prophets exulting; there
is the innumerable multitude of Martyrs,
crowned on account of the glory of their
struggle and the victory of their passion 1 ."
The Trinitarian Gloria of the Angels is
paralleled in this second half of the Te Deum
by the more explicit confession of the
Church, a short and yet original summary
of the Creed :
" The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son ;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.*
As a further evidence of the Latin origin
of the Te Deum I may remark that an early
Greek version of it is found in some Graeco-
Latin psalters (at Cologne, Bamberg, and
1 De Mortalitate, xxvi, " Illic apostolorum gloriosus chorus,
illic prophetarum exultantium numerws, illic martyrum in-
numerabilis populus ob certaminis et passionis gloriam
et victoriam coronatus, triumphantes virgines . . . remu-
nerati miseriCordes," &c.
14
St. Gall), but ending with verse n or 12,
thus showing that there was no complete
Greek text even of the first division. Yet
the Latin is not Roman ; rfor the Roman
Liturgy does not mention c Cherubim and
Seraphim " in the preface to the " Triumphal
Hymn," but in its oldest form only the
" Seraphim," ^ though the Greek Liturgies
generally have both. They occur also together,
with other remarkable expressions of the Te
Deum, in forms of the Gallican Liturgy ] ; so
that the origin of the hymn is " Gallican,"
in a broad sense, not Roman. It is to be
noticed further that a lately-discovered tract,
attributed to St. Jerome, insists that Seraphim
ought not to be set above Cherubim, as they
apparently were by Origen 2 , and practically
by the Roman Liturgy. St. Jerome, I may
remark, came from the neighbourhood of
Aquileia.
THE SECOND HYMN: Tu Eex.
II. The second hymn should be known by
its first words, Tu Eex gloriae, Gkriste, " Thou
1 See Dr. E. Gibson in Ch. Quarterly Review, April, 1884
(vol. xviii, p. 19), and Burn, p. 270 foil. These parallels
are much too close to be accidental.
2 See S. Hieronymi Contra Origenent de Visione Isaiae,
c. 7. p. 14 foil. Ed. Ambr. M. Amelli, tipogr. di Monte-
cassino, 1901.
THE SECOND HYMN. 15
art the King of Glory, O Christ." It is a
prayer to Christ, as incarnate in humility,
and as having overcome the " sting of death,"
that is his murderous weapon, and opening the
way into heaven for all believers, as sitting at
the right hand of God and about to come to be
our Judge. By all these triumphs it implores
Him to help those whom He has redeemed,
and to make them to be endowed or gifted
(" munerari," not " numerari ") 1 , in company
with His saints, with glory everlasting. We
may well believe that this was intended to
be a supplement to the Te Deum proper, the
" Saints " being the Apostles, Prophets, and
Martyrs there mentioned. The passage of
St. Cyprian already referred to was probably
the ultimate source of both phrases, since it
contains the remarkable word "remunerati"
a little after the words quoted. This hymn
also seems to have a "Gallican" character.
Like many Collects of that Liturgy it begins
with " Thou," a pronoun which runs through
the whole of both hymns. The rhythm also,
as we have seen, is the same throughout.
1 No MSS. read "numerari." It was introduced in
some printed Breviaries from A. D. 1491 onwards. The
misreading is perhaps not due only to the confusion of
letters, but also to the words in the Liturgy, "in electorum
tuorum iubeas grege numerari," as Dr. Gibson suggests.
l6 THE
It is interesting to notice that the four
ancient Irish manuscripts of this hymn have
a various reading of the i6th verse, which
appears to me, as it did to a much greater
scholar, Bishop Lightfoot, to be more correct
than that usually current. The Irish texts
read Tu ad liberandum mundum suscepisti
liominem: non horruisti virginis uterum,
which may be rendered x :
"Thou took st upon thee man the world to free;
Thou didst not scorn a maiden s child to be."
Our rendering, l( When thou tookest upon
thee to deliver man," is in any case certainly
inexact. Even without "mundum " the words
Tu ad liberandum suscepisti (or suscepturus)
hominem must mean, "Thou tookest (or When
thou wert about to take) man upon thee to
deliver (him)." The construction is harsh
without "mundum," but it may be so rendered
without great violence to the Latin idiom.
The rendering of our version is an impossible
one. But the phrase suscipere hominem, " to
take up man/ which was used by early Latin
writers without scruple, came to be associated
with Nestoriamsm, and to be misinterpreted
as taking up " a man " (separately existing),
1 Mr. Burn compares with this the frequent use of
the phrase " salvator mundi " (from St. John iv. 42) in
Irish liturgical texts.
THE VERSICLES AND RESPONSES. . 1 7
and so suggesting the error of a double per
sonality in our Saviour. This accounts, in
my opinion, for the omission of mundum
from the other texts, for the further omission
of suscepisti in the Milanese, and for the mis-
rendering of our version in the Prayer-book.
Mr. Burn, who hesitates to accept this read
ing, acknowledges the value of the Irish text
in some other particulars. I may add that
Irish texts of the Vulgate New Testament
sometimes retain correct readings of the Gos
pels which are lost elsewhere.
THE VEKSICLES AND RESPONSES.
III. The third division of the whole is a set
of versicles and responses, which are all, with
one exception ("Vouchsafe, O Lord"), found
in the Bible and particularly in the Psalter.
Some of them occur in our Morning and Even
ing Prayer, others in the older hour services.,
In some forms of the Compline or late even
ing service .we have "Vouchsafe . . . this
night without sin." Many of them, including
the " Vouchsafe," are found in connexion with
the morning hymn, " Glory to God in the high
est," in one of the oldest manuscripts of the
Greek Bible. They might be said, then, with
any prayer or hymn at either a morning or an
l8 THE ll TE DEUM.
evening service, with the slight alteration of
" day " into " night " to suit the time of day.
Those who wish to follow the early history of
this part of the hymn into detail should read
Mr. Burn s discussion of it, pp. 277-9. He
makes it probable that verses 22, 23 were the
" capitellum " or antiphon said after the Te
Deum in the Gallican Church ; while 24, 25
were, we know, attached in like manner to
the Gloria in excelsis. In order to bring this
out I have altered the division so as to show
the parallelism between the two pairs of verses.
MUSICAL TREATMENT BY CHOIRS.
I will only add a few words as to the musi
cal setting. Three single chants or Gregorian
tones abundantly suffice ; and the expression
and variation should be found rather in the
parts of the choir employed than in the ela
boration of the music. The first two verses
should be sung, I think, by the full choir.
Then the trebles and altos should take the
next two verses ("To thee all Angels" . . .
" To thee Cherubin " . . .). The two verses
of the Gloria (" Holy, Holy, Holy . . . glory ")
should be full.
The praise of the Church (four verses)
should be sung by tenors and basses, the
THE VEKSICLES AND RESPONSES. TQ
whole choir taking up the triple Gloria
("The Father . . . Comforter"). A few bars
should intervene before the next hymn, Tu
Rex gloriae, Christe, which should be sung to
a different chant. This, being composed in
an antithetical and responsive strain, should
be sung, not by contrasted voices, but by
opposite halves of the choir, expression being
found in the usual way by greater loudness
or softness. The last two verses, which are a
solemn and pathetic climax, should be sung
slowly and softly (" We therefore pray thee
. . . glory everlasting"), but by the whole
choir, and with emphasis and decision. The
six pairs of versicles and responses that
follow V. "0 Lord, save thy people, and
bless thine heritage," down to 7. " Lord, in
thee have I trusted : R. Let me never be con
founded" should be sung as versicles and
responses, a single voice, if possible that of
a priest, taking the versicle, and the full choir
the response. They might be sung to the
same music as the versicles and responses in
Morning and Evening Prayer, but something
different would probably be more effective.
In any case they should be sung in quite a
different manner from the two hymns that
precede them, and they should also be recited
20 THE " TE DEUM. 3
like versicles and responses when the Te Deum
is merely read.
I hope that these simple suggestions may
help not only the better performance of the
Accession Service on January 22, but the
general and more constant recitation of the
hymn which the Church of England, by a
true instinct, uses more frequently perhaps
than any other Church. I append the whole
with the suggestions for its division among
the voices and sides of the choir, so as to
make my meaning quite clear.
I have added also the Latin original as
I believe it to have been with a few notes,
which may be interesting to those familiar
with Greek and Latin.
Lastly, I have ventured to print a version
of my own in English verse which may per
haps help the reader who is unfamiliar with
the ancient languages to perceive some of the
points which a literal translation does not
quite express. I am conscious of its defects
in point of rhythm and euphony ; and I shall
be grateful to any critic who can suggest
amendments which may be made in detail
without detriment to force and faithfulness.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS. 21
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.
Antiphon (Ps. cxiii. i).
Praise the Lord, ye servants:
praise the Name of the Lord.
Full.
WE praise tbee, O God : we acknow
ledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee : the Father
everlasting.
Trebles and Altos.
To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens,
and all the Powers therein ;
To thee Cherubin, and Seraphin : continu
ally do cry,
FULL
Holy, Holy, Holy : Lord God of Sabaoth ;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
Tenors and Basses.
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 ;
Full.
The Father : of an infinite Majesty ;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son ;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
THE " TE DEUM.
Tu REX GLOKIAE, CHRISTE.
Decani.
THOU art the King of Glory : O
Christ.
Cantoris.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
Decani.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver
man : thou didst not abhor the Virgin s
womb.
Cantoris.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness
of death : thou didst open the Kingdom
of Heav3ii to all believers.
Decani.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in
the Glory of the Father.
Cantoris.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be
our Judge.
Full, but soft and slow.
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.
VERSICLES AND RESPONSES. 23
VEBSICLES AND RESPONSES.
The Versicle is to be sung by a single voice, the response
by the full choir.
Antiphon (Ps. xxviii. 10).
OLORD, save thy people, and bless
thine heritage:
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Antiphon (Ps. cxlv. 2).
Day by day we magnify thee :
And we worship thy Name ever world
without end.
Preces.
Vouchsafe, O Lord :
To keep us this day (or night) without
sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us :
Have mercy upon us.
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.
24
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.
Antiphon (Ps. cxiii. i).
Laudate pueri Dominum : laudate nornen
Domini.
1. riTE deuin laudamus : te d<5minum con-
-*- fite inur.
2. Te,aeternum patrem, omnis teVra veneratur.
3. Tibi omnes angeli, tibi caeli et unive rsae
potestates,
4. Tibi cherubim et seraphim, incessabili
voce proclamanfc,
5. Sancfcus, sanctus, sanctus, dominus d^us
sabaoth ;
6. Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis g!6riae
tuae.
7. Te gloriosus apostol<5rum ch(5rus ;
8. Te prophetaruin laudabilis numerus ;
9. Te martyrum candidatus laiidat ex^rcitus.
10. Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur
eccle sia,
11. Patrem imm^nsae maiestatis,
12. Venerandum tuum verum unigenitum
filium,
13. Sanctum quoque paraclitum spiritum.
14. TU rex gloriae, Christe ;
15. Tu patris sempiternus es filius.
1 6. Tuadliberandummundum suscepistihdmi-
nem : non horruisti virgin is uterum.
LATIN TEXT. 25
17. Tu, devicto mdrtis aculeo, aperuisti cre-
dentibus re gna caelorum.
18. Tu ad dexteram del sedes in gloria patr is.
19. ludex crederis e sse venturus.
20. Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni,
quos pretioso sanguine redemisti ;
21. Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis gldria mu-
nerari.
Antiphon (Ps. xxviii. 10).
22, 23. SALVUM fac populum tuum domine, et
benedic hereditati tuae :
Et rege eos et extolle eos usque in
aeternum.
Antiphon (Ps. cxlv. 2).
24, 25. PEK singulos dies benedicimus te :
Et laudamus nomen tuum in sae-
culurfi et in saeculum saeculi.
Preces.
26. DiaNABE, domine, die isto :
Sinepeccato nos custodire(v(jivos t&Qwos).
27. Miserere nostri, domine :
Miserere nostri (Ps. cxxiii. 3).
28. Fiat misericordia tua, domine, super nos :
Quemadriwdum speravimus in te (Ps.
xxxiii. 21).
29. In te, domine, speravi :
Non confundar in aeternum (Ps.
xxxi. i et Ixxi. i).
26
NOTES.
THERE are three recensions of the hymn : i. the Irish
in four MSS. (" Bangor Antiphoner," two at Dublin and
B. M. Harl. 7653 = H.) ; 2. the Milanese (in a Milan
Breviary and Vat. MS. 82) ; 3. the current text. I have
printed them side by side in the Dictionary of Hymnoloyy,
pp. 1120-1 (except H.). The versicles, &c., differ con
siderably. See Burn, 1. c., pp. 273, 277-9.
i. Te dominum confitemur. Te, deum laudetvnus H. The
book called The Testament of our Lord, i. 26, gives
a service of praise at dawn which has the response :
" Te laudamus, tibi benedicimus, tibi confitemur, Do-
mine ; teque supplicamus, Deus noster." Cp. St. Thomas
words, St. John xx. 28.
3. After angeli the Milan text adds et archangeli. tibi
oasli + et terra H.
4. After proclamant*the Milan text adds dicentes, in the
style of many Eucharistic prefaces ; cp. Isa. vi. 3.
6. et terra : et universa terra Irish, et terrae Milan,
maiestatis gloriae tuas : honore gl. t. Irish ; gloria
tua osanna in excelsis H. ; gloriae maiestatis tuae Milan.
Probably the original was simply " of thy glory " as
Isa. vi. 3. The readings of the Fathers there differ,
Ambrose 3 de Sp. S. 21, 160 having maiestate, the others
gloria.
7, 8. The words chorus and numerus are taken from
St. Cyprian (de Mortal. 26). Chorus means a small and
distinct company ; numerus is a larger band, and it is
often used of soldiers. It probably suggested exercitus
(army), where St. Cyprian has populus, in verse 9. It is
just possible also that there is a reference to the " com
pleted number of the prophets " of which we read in the
Muratorian fragment on the canon in connexion with the
Montanist controversy. The Montanists held that new
prophets were added by their sect (Tertullian, de anima
9). The Testamtnt of our Lord, i. 19, made the number of
NOTES. 27
the prophets twenty-one, ordering a baptistery to be 21
cubits long, as " a complete type of the prophets" ; and
12 broad to represent the apostles.
9. candidatus, "white-robed/ 1 This is naturally con
nected with Rev. vii. 9, 13, 15- Ifc is > however, also a
military term for the picked troops who specially guarded
the Emperor s person, laudat : laudet Bang. ; om. H.
11. Patrem : Pater Milan.
12. unigenitum Irish and Milan (Vat.) = povoyfvij :
unicum Milan (M) and others, probably from the Latin
creed. Unigenitus, which is rare in Latin creeds, occurs
in that of Cyprian of Toulon. For other instances see
Hahn, Bill, der Symbolen, ed. 3, pp. 64, 69, 75, 77, 79, 90,
91, 93, 113, 115, 149-
14. rex glorias. The title " King of glory " is from Ps.
xxiv. 7, and at once suggests the Ascension.
15. patris : patri H.
16. tu ad liberandum mundum suscepisti Irish : tu
ad liberandum suscepisti or suscepturus most MSS. ; tu ad
liberandum (om. suscepisti} Milan and Brit. Mus. Add. MS.
10046 (Thou wert not- skoymus of the maiden s wombe
to delyver mankynde). On this verse see above, pp. 1 1,
12. It is not very easy to decide between suscepisti and
suscepturus ; but the former is more in the general abrupt
style of the hymn, the latter reads like a corrector s
refinement. If so, it is an old one. It is found in a
letter of Cyprian, Bp. of Toulon (A.D. 524-546) to Maximus
of Geneva, in which he speaks of the hymn being sung
daily by the whole Church throughout the world. See
Burn, pp. 257-8 and 276. horruisti : aborruisti H.
17. devicto mortis (devicta morte H.) aculeo. The " sting
of death " (i. e. his murderous weapon) is from some old
Latin versions of Hosea xiii. 14 and i Cor. xv. 55. Dr.
Gibson compares the victor ascendit ad caelos of more than
one Gallican creed, and mortis vicit aculeum of the " Missale
Gothicum," p. 623. apemisti, om. credentibus H.
28 THE " TE DEUM."
1 8, 19. H. reads only Tu ad dexteram sedis in gloria patris
ecce venturus. sedes Milan and other MSS. : sedens Irish,
which is possibly right, and not merely a correction to
avoid the anacoluthon ; for all the other separate clauses
begin with tu, except ludex crederis.
20. quaesumus + sancte Milan.
21. aeterna : aeternam Irish, sanctis tuis Milan and
others : om. tuis Bangor and H. The phrase tuis famulis
occurring just before suggests that sanctis alone is right.
gloria munerari Irish (grZoriam), Milan and others : in
gloria munerari a few MSS. ; in gloriam intrare H. ; in gloria
numerarino MSS., but many printed breviaries from 1491,
not however all. Dr. Gibson suggests that this error is
not so much due to the natural confusion of letters, as to
the words added by Gregory the Great to the Liturgy in
electorum tuorum iubeas grege numerari. Note that the word
munerari does not necessarily imply repayment, reward,
but may be used of a free gift bestowed.
The hymn ends here in H,, and a prayer follows : see
Warren on the Bangor Antiphoner, ii. pp. 83 foil.
22. foil. The references to the Psalms are to the
numbering of the English Prayer-book.
23. The MSS. read eos . . illos Irish and others ; illos . .
eos Milan. The pronouns are the same in the Greek and
Hebrew ; and in some Psalters we have illos . . illos or
eos . . eos,
26-29. These " preces " from Dignare to aeternum are
not found either in the Milan or Irish text : but the
Milan has a text of Daniel (iii. 26 and 52) Benedictus es,
domine, deus patrum nostrorum, et laudabilis etgloriosus in saecula
saeculorum, and Irish has (after Amen in Bangor Ant.),
Fiat, domine, misericordia tua super nos quemadmodum spera-
vimus in te.
27. Mr. Burn reads nobis . . . nobis for nostri . . . nostri.
ENGLISH VERSION. 29
ENGLISH VERSION.
r I \HEE do we praise, who art our God, and
-L thee
Acknowledge and confess our Lord to be.
To thee, eternal Father, all the earth
Doth bow, adoring Him who gave her birth.
To thee all Angels and Archangels cry,
The Heavens and all the Powers of the sky ;
To thee bright Cherubim and Seraphim
Chant with untiring voice th alternate hymn,
Lord God of Hosts, thrice holy is thy Name j
All Heavens, all Earth, thy Majesty proclaim.
Thee the Apostles glorious choir, and thee
The Prophets praise, a loyal company.
Thy Name the martyrs white-robed hosts
confess ;
Thee holy Church, through all the world,
doth bless,
Infinite Father, Majesty unknown,
Thine honourable, true and only Son,
Who with the holy Paraclete are one.
rjlHOU art the King of glory, Christ our
-L Lord;
Thou art the Father s coeternal Word.
THE " TE DEUM."
Thou took st upon thee man the world to free ;
Thou didst not scorn a maiden s child to be.
Thou, when the sting of death was overcome,
Didst make Heaven s palace the believer s
home.
Thou, sitting in the Father s glory, throned
At God s right hand, our future Judge art
owned.
Thou, therefore, help thy servants, Lord, we
pray,
For whom thy precious blood the price did
pay-
Grant that not one of them thy gift may miss
To taste, with all thy Saints, eternal bliss.
J. 3.
25 March, 1902.
90235
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