Scripture Verse

At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Matthew 25:6

Introduction

Words: An­cient La­tin. The ear­li­est known in­stanc­es are slight­ly var­ied forms in a ma­nu­script, cir­ca 890 (Me­di­ae Noc­tis Tem­po­re), in the Bod­lei­an Lib­ra­ry, Ox­ford, where it is tit­led A Hymn at Noc­turns on Sun­days.

In an 11th Cen­tu­ry Mo­za­rab­ic Hym­na­ri­um in the Brit­ish Mu­seum, the text is giv­en as the se­cond part of a long hymn which be­gins Je­su de­fen­sor om­ni­um (Ju­li­an, p. 722). Will­iam J. Blew trans­lat­ed this ver­sion in The Church Hymn and Tune Book (Lon­don: Fran­cis & John Riv­ing­ton, 1852), Ad­vent sec­tion, num­ber 12, as shown in the Eng­lish text below.

Music: St. Ce­le­do­ni­us The Church Hymn and Tune Book, 1852 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Blew (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

illustration
Virgins with Lamps

Jesu, our cap­tain and our king,
Adorable de­fend­er;
Now comes the night on ebon wing,
And us to sleep we ren­der.
Still rest we, Je­su, in Thy name,
Our keep­er and our guard;
And wake­ful thus in spir­it claim
The watch­er’s blest re­ward.

At noon of night, by Gos­pel voice
The Bride­groom is pro­claimed;
He comes, in Him let all re­joice
By whom Heav’n’s realm is fram­èd.
Forth haste the ho­ly maid­en bands,
To meet His com­ing state;
Bearing their bright lamps in their hands
Joying with glad­ness great.

The fooli­sh bide the gate be­fore,
And hold their lamps long quench­èd;
Smiting in vain that pa­lace door,
Whose bolts will ne’er be wrench­èd.
Then watch we and in spir­it stand
With pa­no­ply com­plete;
That we, when Christ shall be at hand,
Go forth our Lord to greet.

At noon of night its warn­ing thus
Doth voice of seer de­li­ver;
Be praise un­to the Lord from us—
To Sire and Son for­ev­er.
And to the Ho­ly Ghost be praise;
For per­fect Tri­ni­ty,
Of sub­stance one, by us al­ways
Shall be praised and laud­ed be.