Sequence 70. Beheading of St. John Baptist

August 29TH.
JOHN, the King of kings' precursor,
John, the new Law's bold rehearser,
Celebrates the Church to-day !

Mother ! on so glad a morning
Joy, with praise his name adorning,
And bring forth a votive lay !

Let us keep his birthday rightly.
But rejoice we no less brightly
In the martyrdom he won.

Show, Creation ! exultation;
Second is this martyrs station,
In both mark and meed, to none I
'Tis not for our fallen nature
To extol each single feature
Of such special sanctity :
Be the tale in sum repeated ;
That our love may kindle, heated
With his blessed memory.

He, no reed to bend and quiver,
But Truth's pillar, firm for ever,
Never calleth evil good ;
Scribes he strikes at and professors,
Calling all the Law's transgressors
Offspring of a viper's brood.

Herod's sin he censured gravely ;
Bound by him, he bore up bravely.

In a prison kept secure :
Pains unjust the just endureth,
Who such filthiness abhorreth
In the king and paramour,
Tyrant power against him burneth :
Whence John greater honour earneth,
And the tyrant torments dure :
Help to wisdom folly giveth,
Since the just, while here he liveth,
By the impious is made pure.

At his birthday-feast at even
Orders by the king are given,
That the head of John be brought.

She who danced that head receiveth
From the officer, and giveth
To her mother what she sought.

Christ's increase the Cross foreshoweth,
But, that less the Baptist groweth,
His beheading shadows forth.

Precious, if the Hfe preceding
Glory o'er that life were shedding,
Is the righteous' death on earth.

Christ ! the better to adore Thee
Through the Baptist sent before Thee,
We this feast-day celebrate :
Out of death's dark valley lead us
Thither, where his steps precede us,
And our path to life make straight ! Amen .