Venice masks

Sunday 2 December 2018

Gabriel's Message Does Away - Jacobus Finno

Gabriel's message does away
Satan's curse and Satan's sway,
out of darkness brings our Day:
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.

He that comes despised shall reign;
he that cannot die, be slain;
death by death its death shall gain:
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.

Weakness shall the strong confound;
by the hands, in grave clothes wound,
Adam's chains shall be unbound.
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.

By the sword that was his own,
by that sword, and that alone,
shall Goliath be o'erthrown:
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.

Art by art shall be assailed;
to the cross shall Life be nailed;
from the grave shall hope be hailed:
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.

Jacobus Finno (c. 1540–1588) Finland
Translated by John Mason Neale
Source: Carols for Christmas-tide. Novello, 1853
Original in Latin is from Piae Cantiones, 1582

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