The Christ
In olive-crowned Gethsemane,
Alone the Savior sought the power
That wrought through him at Galilee,
To stay the tide of that dark hour.
With grief bowed soul he prayed, but grace
Was His, to say: “Thy will be done.”
From Christ the Father veiled his face
And gave the world His only Son.
Tho’ His displeasure hid the day,
Spread brooding terror o’er the land,
Tho’ yielding hate its earth-born sway,
O’er-ruling Love in wisdom planned;
While human might did glut its greed
With nod of law to sanction crime,
A good, by higher law decreed,
Went forth, encircling earth and time.
Far-reaching, ’twas to win the world—
Their cruel deeds of blinded rage—
Their mocking taunts like hell-brands hurled,
Still echo from the sacred page;
That bitter cup—the crown of thorn
Upon His suffering, sinless brow—
That wail, adown the ages borne—
Are loving worship winning now.
O! blot the hard, blasphemous creed,
“A sacrifice for wrath of God;”
And teach the world ’twas human deed
That stained with blood Golgotha’s sod.
The reeling earth and darkened sun
Proclaimed aloud Jehovah’s frown;
Yet taught us that His holy one
Had by life’s cross won Heaven’s crown.
That tho’ he passed thro’ death—the tomb
To calm a world in maddened strife,
From out its broken bars of gloom
A joy would beam to beacon life,
And bless for us that morning light
That points the glory path he trod
From persecution, death and night,
Through Resurrection, up to God.
’Tis through His bearing mortal woes
We feel the throb of Love Divine!
Though wrung with agonizing throes,
His words with God-like mercy shine;
They wake the world to faith and hope—
E’en from old Memnon’s music trill,
They turn the dusky Ethiope
To catch their soul-impassioned thrill.
“Forgive—they know not what they do!”—
O, holy prayer! In every tongue
Its tender pleading pulses thro’,
As when from Calvary’s cross it rung!—
O, arms of Love’s infinitude!
They still reach down to earth from Heaven
To bind in one great brotherhood,
Through Him, the rescued world—forgiven.