Good Friday
Repeat: Sweetest wood.
He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and spear, and reed;
From that holy body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean
By that flood from stain are freed.
Repeat: Faithful Cross.
Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For a while the ancient rigour
That thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend.
Repeat: Sweetest wood.
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbour, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Repeat: Faithful Cross.
To the Trinity be glory
Everlasting, as is meet:
Equal to the Father, equal
To the Son, and Paraclete:
Trinal Unity, whose praises
All created things repeat. Amen.
Repeat: Sweetest wood.
Towards the end of the Worship of the Cross the Altar candles are lighted: and the Deacon, taking the burse, spreads the corporal in the customary way, and near by sets the vase for the purification: and when the worship is finished, he takes the Cross with reverence
