Zyma vetus expurgetur

Purge we out the ancient leaven,
That the feast of earth and Heaven,
We may celebrate aright :
On to-day our hope stands founded :
Moses teacheth how unbounded
Is its virtue and its might.

This day Egypt's treasure spoiled
And the Hebrews freed that toiled,
Pressed with bondage and in chains :
From the mortar, brick, and stubble
Heaviest toil and sorest trouble
Had they known in Zoan's plains.

Now the voice of exultation,
Now the triumph of salvation
Free and wide its tidings flings :
This is the day the Lord hath made: the day
That bids our sin and sorrow flee away,
Life and light and health that brings.

In the Law the types lay shaded :
In the promised End they faded,
Christ, Who all things consummates ;
Christ, Whose Blood aside hath turned
That devouring sword which burned,
Waving wide, at Eden's gates.

Yea, that child, our Mystic Laughter,
For whose sake the ram fell after,
Signifies the Joy of Life ;
Joseph from the prison goeth :
Christ, by Resurrection, showeth
He hath conquered in the strife.

He the Dragon that, devouring
Pharaoh's dragons, rose, o'erpowering
All their malice and their might ;
He the Serpent set on high
That the people might not die
From the fiery serpents' bite.

He the Hook, that hid awhile,
Pierced Leviathan with guile :
He the Child that laid His hand
On the cockatrice's den :
That the ancient lord of men
Might avoid the ransomed land.

They, whose scorn the Seer offended ;
As to Bethel He ascended,
Feel the Bald-head's wrath, and flee :
David, after madness feigned,
Scapegoat, now no more detained,
Ritual sparrow, all go free.

Alien wedlock first despising,
With a jawbone Samson rising
Thousand Philistines hath slain :
Then in Gaza as he tarried,
Forth her brazen gates he carried
To the mountain from the plain.

Sleeping first the sleep of mortals
Judah's Lion thus the portals
Of the grave hath borne away :
While the Father's voice resounded,
He, with majesty unbounded,
Sought our Mother's courts of day.

Jonah, by the tempest followed,
Whom the whale of old time swallowed,
Type of our True Jonah, giving,
Three days pass'd is rendered living
From that dark and narrow space.
Now the myrrh of Cyprus groweth,
Widelier spreadeth, sweetlier bloweth ;
Law its withered blossoms throweth
That the Church may take their place.

Death and life have striven newly ;
Jesus Christ hath risen truly ;
And with Christ ascended duly
Many a witness that He lives :
Dawn of newness, happy morrow
Wipes away our eve of sorrow :
Since from death our life we borrow,
Brightest joy the season gives.

Jesu, Victor, Life, and Head :
Jesu, Way Thy people tread ;
By Thy death from death released
Call us to the Paschal Feast,
That with boldness we may come ;
Living Water, Bread undying,
Vine, each branch with life supplying,
Thou must cleanse us, Thou must feed us,
From the Second death must lead us
Upward to our Heavenly Home !