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.