Divina cujus charitas Sacrum propinat sanguinem, Almique membra corporis Amor sacerdos immolat Sparsum cruorem postibus Vastator horret angelus: Fugitque divisum mare Merguntur hostes fluctibus. Jam Pascha nostrum Christus est Paschalis idem victima, Et pura puris mentibus Sinceritatis azyma O vera coeli victima Subjecta cui sunt tartara, Soluta mortis vincula, Recepta vitae praemia Victor subactis inferis Trophaea Christus explicat, Coeloque aperto, subditum Regem tenebrarum trahit. Ut sis perenne mentibus Paschale, Jesu, gaudium: A morte dira criminum Vitae renatos libera. Now it is impossible to deny to the revised version merits of its own. Not only does it use the Latin words which classic usage requires—as _dapes_ in poetry for _coena_, _recepta_ for _reddita_, _inferis_ for _barathro_—but it brings into clearer view the facts of the Old Testament story which the hymn treats as typical of the Christian passover. The (imperfect) rhyme of the original is everywhere sacrificed to the demands of metre, which probably is no loss. But the gain is not in simplicity, vigor, and freshness. In these the old hymn is much superior. The last verse but one, for instance, presents in the old hymn a distinct and living picture—the picture Luther tells us he delighted in when a boy chorister singing the Easter songs of the Church. But in the recast the vividness is blurred, and classic reminiscence takes the place of the simple and direct speech the early Church made for itself out of the Latin tongue. Take again the first part of the dedication hymn, of which _Angulare fundamentum_ is the conclusion: Urbs beata Hierusalem Dicta pacis visio Quae construitur in coelis Vivis ex lapidibus Et angelis coronata Ut sponsata comite Nova veniens e coelo Nuptiali thalamo Praeparata, ut sponsata Copulatur domino, Plateae et muri ejus Ex auro purissimo Portae nitent margaritis Adytis patentibus, Et virtute meritorum Illuc introducitur Omnis, qui pro Christi nomine Hoc in mundo premitur Tunsionibus, pressuris Expoliti lapides Suis coaptantur locis Per manum artificis, Disponuntur permansuri Sacris aedificiis. Coelestis urbs Jerusalem Beata pacis visio Quae celsa de viventibus Saxis ad astra tolleris, Sponsaeque ritu cingeris Mille angelorum millibus. O sorte nupta prospera, Dotata Patris gloria, Respersa Sponsi gratia Regina formosissima, Christo jugata principi Coelo corusca civitas. Hic margaritis emicant Patentque cunctis ostia, Virtute namque praevia Mortalis illuc ducitur Amore Christi percitus Tormenta quisquis sustinent. Scalpri salubris ictibus Et tunsione plurima, Fabri polita malleo Hanc saxa molem construunt, Aptisque juncta nexibus Locantur in fastidia.