We come to the fifth poem in Georg Fabricius’s hymn cycle (1, 2, 3, 4). The meter and rhyme-scheme is the same as in the others.
Also as in the others, we find Fabricius giving a brief narrative from the account of Christ’s Passion in the Gospels followed by a prayer that applies that narrative to the reader.
The Latin text:
CHRISTUS ORANS et sudans.
Psal. XXXVIII. Domine ante te omne desiderium meum, et gemitus meus a te non est absconditus.
HORA DECIMA.
Angore turbatus necis
Patrem rogat suspiriis,
Opemque caelo, crimine
Nostro gravatus, flagitat.
Cui mortis in certamine
Cruor fluebat corpore,
Tellus madet sui gemens
Heu conditoris sanguine
A patre perfert, angeli
Vox latea, spem solatii.
Audit parentis subditus
Mandata sancti filius.
Repelle non placabilis
O Christe terrores necis,
Mentes pavescant horrida
Nec inferorum nomina.
Sancto tuo nos angelo
Solare, confirma, iuva:
Mordet severa sauciae
Cum culpa conscientiae.
Ne murmuremus, cum malis
Vexamur, aut periculis:
Sed sit voluntatem sequi
Tuam voluptas pectori.
In English:
Christ Praying and Sweating
Psalm 38: “Lord, my desire is before You, and my groaning is not hidden from You.”
At the tenth hour.
Distressed by suffocating fear
Of death, the Son with choking cries
Entreats the Father for His help
From heaven, burdened by our crimes.
His sweat comes pouring out like blood,
The presage of His mortal strife,
And dyes the green of weeping earth
With her Creator’s crimson life.
An angel from the Father brings
A cheering word of confidence;
The subject Son does not refuse
The purpose for which He was sent.
Defend us, Christ, and drive away
The terrors of unyielding death,
Nor let our minds shudder and dread
Hell’s horrors in our final breath.
And let Your holy angel be
Our solace, comforter, and aid,
When wounded conscience gnaws at us
For sins whose debt You, Savior, paid.
Let us not grumble, when by ills
Or perils we are vexed and tried,
But let Your holy will be done,
And “Amen” be our heart’s reply.