And thou wert laid within the narrow tomb, [bound;

Thy clay-cold limbs with shrouding grave-clothes The sealed stone confirmed thy mortal doom, Lone watchmen walked thy desert burial-ground,

Whom heaven could not contain,

Nor th' immeasurable plain
Of vast Infinity inclose or circle round.

For
us,
for

us, thou didst endure the pain,
And thy meek spirit bowed itself to shame,
To wash our souls from sin's infecting stain,
Tavert the Father's wrathful vengeance flame:

Thou, that couldst nothing win

By saving worlds from sin,
Nor aught of glory add to thy all-glorious name.

XXXIX.

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the cross I spend;
Life, and health, and peace possessing
From the sinner's dying friend.

Here I'll sit for ever viewing
Mercy's streams in streams of blood,
Precious drops, my soul bedewing,
Plead and claim my peace with God.
Love and grief my heart dividing,
Gazing here I'd spend my breath ;
Constant still in faith abiding,
Life deriving from his death:
Lord, in ceaseless contemplation,
Fix
my

heart and eyes on thine, Till I taste Thy whole salvation, Where unveiled Thy glories shine!

XL.

If human kindness meets return,

And owns the grateful tie;
If tender thoughts within us burn,

To feel a friend is nigh:

Oh! shall not warmer accents tell

The gratitude we owe To Him who died, our fears to quell,

Our more than orphan's woe?

While yet his anguished soul surveyed Those pangs

he would not flee; What love his latest words displayed,

“ Meet and remember me !"

Remember Thee ! thy death, thy shame,

Our sinful hearts to share ! O memory,

leave no

other name But His, recorded there !

XLI.

ANGELS come, on joyous pinion,

Down the Heaven's melodious stair;
Triumphing o'er death's dominion,
Up to this our lower air,

Christ is rising,
And doth burst the sepulchre.

All in vain the posted station

Of the armed soldiery,–
All in vain the faithless nation
Sets the seal and watches nigh;

Ye need not fear,
None shall reach where He doth lie.

He Himself, from sleep awaking,

Who spontaneous bears the gloom, Through your seals, and without breaking, Shall come forth and leave the tomb;

Death cannot hold
Him born of a virgin's womb.

When His heart stern death was rending,

They cried out,“ Thy death-bed leave,
And from off Thy cross descending,
We will upon Thee believe.”

To death resigned,
He would suffer no reprieve.

No, He hath not thence descended,

Or ye would for ever grieve,
But from death He hath ascended,
Will ye not in Him believe?

'Tis He alone
Can
your

chains of death relieve.

Lord, with Thee in daily dying

May we die, and with Thee rise;
And on earth ourselves denying,
Have our hearts within the skies,

To sing our God,
Three in One, sole good and wise.

XLII.

Go to dark Gethsemane,

Ye that feel the Tempter's power, Your Redeemer's conflict see,

Watch with him one bitter hour; Turn not from his griefs away, Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment-hall,

View the Lord of Life arraigned; O the wormwood and the gall!

O the pangs His soul sustained ! Shun not suffering, shame or loss; Learn of Him to bear the cross.

Calvary's mournful mountain climb,

There adoring at His feet, Mark that miracle of time,

God's own sacrifice complete : “ It is finished !”—hear the cry; Learn of Jesus Christ to die.