Hymn with Descant: Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said (Deus tuorum militum)

Excerpt from Festival Worship at Old South Church, Boston, 2/25/24. The introduction, reharmonization, and descant on the final verse are my own.
The text of "Deus tuorum militum" ("The God of your soldiers") likely dates from the 6th century of the common era and is in the style of hymns attributed to St. Ambrose. It was part of the liturgy for both Matins and Vespers for the common feast of a martyr in the Roman Breviary and had a number of chant melodies assigned to it. In 1753 it was set to the melody heard here and published in France as part of the Grenoble Antiphoner.
A number of other texts have subsequently been set to this tune, including the Lenten hymn "Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said" by the 19th century Connecticut clergyman Charles W. Everest.
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