I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quench'd, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
'I am this dark world's light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.'
I look'd to Jesus, and I found
In Him, my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I'll walk,
Till travelling days are done.
E rocks of marble! melt and weep,
Ye frowning rocks, relenting,
Ye stars, that gild the azure deep,
Ye winds! join all lamenting;
The King of Glory from above,
Comes down to bleed, and die of love.
O weep all men! drop tears like dew;
Be love by grief attended,
A flowing stream, love claims from you,
Of blood with weeping blended;
Lo! for the lost, His love to prove,
He came, He died of grief and love,
Exite Sion filiae,
Videte Jesse natum,
Spinarum diademate
Lugete coronatum,
Sponsumque vestrum plangite
Crudeliter necatum.
O quanta vis amoris est
In Jesu moriente,
O quanta vis doloris est
In Jesu patiente!
Plorare, nisi tigris es,
Debes ac redamare.
71 Oh, who that mighty love can tell,
In cruel anguish crying,
The gazing-stock of earth and hell,
Bleeding, atoning, dying!
Who could have dreamt of love so high,-
That God, for man, should deign to die!
Pour forth your plenteous flood, mine eyes!
To see that Sufferer languish;
And Memory! wake to sighs and cries,
For sins that caused such anguish :
This tribute to such love and woe,
God claims from all who dwell below.
O mighty love! beyond compare,
Behold in Jesus dying;
Ah! grief beyond all grief was there,
To God in anguish crying;
For grief and love both winged the dart,
That struck and pierced that bleeding heart.
Daughter of Zion, forth, and mourn!
The Son of man beholding;
Thorns for a diadem, in scorn,
His bleeding head enfolding;
From weeping thou may'st not refrain,
Thy Bridegroom has been pierced and slain.
My soul! see Love in matchless power,
Thy death as Surety sharing;
See matchless sorrow in that hour,
Thy crushing burden bearing:
If tears own not such love divine,
A heart all-brutish must be thine.
ANON., Sixteenth century.
|