arb, with lamp aglow,
To meet the Bridegroom forth I go.

III

For Thee I leave the world behind--
Thou art my Bliss, O Bridegroom kind;
My beauty's not mine own--
'Tis Thine, O Christ, alone;
Thy bridal-chamber I would see,
In perfect happiness to be.
In holy garb, with lamp aglow,
To meet the Bridegroom forth I go.

IV

O God, exalted on Thy throne,
Who dwell'st in purity unknown,
Lo, now we humbly wait,
Throw wide the Heavenly gate,
And with the Bridegroom, of Thy grace,
Give us at Thy right hand a place.
In holy garb, with lamp aglow,
To meet the Bridegroom forth I go.

ST. GREGORY

ST. GREGORY

Gregory of Nazianzus, son of Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, and life-long
friend of Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, was born at Nazianzus, 325 A.D. He
took up the priestly office at the earnest request of his father, and for
some time was helpful to the aged bishop.

The times in which Gregory lived were trying times. The orthodox
Christians clung to the creed of Nicea, and their champions did valiant
battle with the Arians. As an advocate and exponent of evangelical truth,
Gregory was summoned to Constantinople in 379, and as bishop of that See
adorned the high position with gifts and graces as brilliant as they were
rare. But he was not the man for such a position at such a time. Hilary,
the 'Hammer of the Arians,' could keep the heretics at bay, and do in the
Latin Church what Gregory could not do in the Greek Church--maintain his
position and his cause against all comers. For one thing, the retiring
disposition of Gregory inclined him to shrink from the din of conflict,
and his high ideals weakened his hopefulness. The result was that he
abandoned his position and retired to Nazianzus in 381. Deprived by death
of his life-long friend, and of his brother Caesarius, to whom he was
bound by more than brotherly love, he retired from the world and penned
those poems, some of which are among the treasures of the Church
Catholic. He died in 390.

The hymns of Gregory are found in the second volume of the Benedictine
Edition of his works which was published in Paris in 1842. A selection
can be seen in Daniel's _Thesaurus_, and in the _Anthologica Graeca,
Carminum Christian