Page:Good Friday Exeter Book.djvu/20

 Repeat: Sweetest wood.

He endured the nails, the spitting,

Vinegar, and spear, and reed;

From that holy body broken

Blood and water forth proceed:

Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean

By that flood from stain are freed.

Repeat: Faithful Cross.

Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!

Thy relaxing sinews bend;

For a while the ancient rigour

That thy birth bestowed, suspend;

And the King of heavenly beauty

On thy bosom gently tend.

Repeat: Sweetest wood.

Thou alone wast counted worthy

This world's ransom to uphold;

For a shipwrecked race preparing

Harbour, like the Ark of old;

With the sacred Blood anointed

From the smitten Lamb that rolled.

Repeat: Faithful Cross.

To the Trinity be glory

Everlasting, as is meet:

Equal to the Father, equal

To the Son, and Paraclete:

Trinal Unity, whose praises

All created things repeat. Amen.

Repeat: Sweetest wood.

Towards the end of the Worship of the Cross the Altar candles are lighted: and the Deacon, taking the burse, spreads the corporal in the customary way, and near by sets the vase for the purification: and when the worship is finished, he takes the Cross with reverence