He Dies! the Friend of Sinners Dies!

He dies! the Friend of sinners dies!
Lo! Salem’s daughters weep around;
A solemn darkness veils the skies,
A sudden trembling shakes the ground.

Come, saints, and drop a tear or two
For Him who groaned beneath your load:
He shed a thousand drops for you,
A thousand drops of richer blood.

Here’s love and grief beyond degree:
The Lord of Glory dies for men!
But lo! what sudden joys we see,
Jesus, the dead, revives again!

The rising God forsakes the tomb;
The tomb in vain forbids His rise;
Cherubic legions guard Him home,
And shout Him welcome to the skies.

Break off your fears, ye saints, and tell
How high your great Deliv’rer reigns;
Sing how He spoiled the hosts of hell,
And led the monster death in chains!

Say, “Live forever, wondrous King!
Born to redeem, and strong to save;”
Then ask the monster, “Where’s thy sting?”
And, “Where’s thy vict’ry, boasting grave?”

Beneath Thy Cross

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon–
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

The Eternal Generation of the Son

Amid the eternal silences
God’s endless Word was spoken
None heard but He who always spake,
And the silence was unbroken.

Chorus:
Oh marvellous! Oh Worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word.

For ever in the eternal land
The glorious day is dawning;
For ever is the Father’s Light
Like an endless outspread morning.

From the Father’s vast tranquillity,
In light coequal glowing
The kingly consubstantial Word
Is unutterably flowing.

For ever climbs that Morning Star
Without ascent or motion;
For ever is its daybreak
On the Spirit’s boundless ocean.

O Word! who fitly can adore
Thy Birth and Thy Relation,
Lost in the impenetrable light
Of Thine awful Generation?

Thy Father clasps Thee evermore
In unspeakable embraces,
While angels tremble as thy praise,
And shroud their dazzled faces.

And oh! in what abyss of love,
So fiery yet so tender,
The Holy Ghost encircles Thee
With His uncreated splendour!

O Word! O dear and gentle Word!
Thy creatures kneel before Thee,
And in ecstasies of timid love
Delightedly adore Thee.

Hail choicest mystery of God!
Hail wondrous Generation!
The Father’s self-sufficient rest!
The Spirit’s jubilation!

Dear Person! dear beyond all words,
Glorious beyond all telling!
Oh with what songs of silent love
Our ravished hearts are swelling!

Chorus:
Oh marvellous! Oh Worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word.