The Crucifixion.

O'ERWHELMED in depths of woe,

Upon the tree of scorn,

Hangs the Redeemer of mankind,
With racking anguish torn.

See! How the nails those hands

And feet so tender rend;

See! Down his face, and neck, and breast,
His sacred blood descend.

Hark! With what awful cry

His spirit takes its flight;

That cry, it pierced his mother's heart,
And whelmed her soul in night.

Earth hears, and to its base

Rocks wildly to and fro;

Tombs burst; seas, rivers, mountains quake;

The veil is rent in two.

The sun withdraws his light;
The midday heavens grow pale;
The moon, the stars, the universe,
Their Maker's death bewail.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

Shall man alone be mute ?

Come youth! Come hoary hairs!

Come rich and poor! Come all mankind!
And bathe those feet in tears.

Come! fall before his cross

Who shed for us his blood

Who died the victim of pure love,

To make us sons of God.

Jesus! all praise to Thee,

Our joy and endless rest!

Be thou our guide while pilgrims here,

Our crown amid the blest.

Lyra Catholica.

179

It is Finished.

CHRIST has done the mighty work,

Nothing left for us to do

But to enter on his toil,

Enter on his triumph too.

He has sowed the precious seed,
Nothing left for us unsown;

Ours it is to reap the fields,

Make the harvest joy our own.

His the pardon, ours the sin,-
Great the sin, the pardon great;

His the good and ours the ill,

His the love and ours the hate.

Ours the darkness and the gloom,

His the shade-dispelling light;

Ours the cloud and his the sun,

His the day-spring, ours the night.

His the labor, ours the rest,

His the death and ours the life,

Ours the fruits of victory,

His the agony and strife.

Horatius Bonar.

It is Finished.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.-ST. JOHN xix. 30.

"It is finished!" All is done

As the Eternal Father willed;

Now his well-beloved Son

Hath his generous word fulfilled;
Even he who runs may read

Here accomplished what was said,
That the woman's promised seed

Yet should bruise the serpent's head!

Blood of heifer, goat, or ram;

Typical, in days of yore,

Of the one incarnate Lamb!

Lamb of God! for sinners slain,

Thou the curse of sin hast braved;

Braved and borne it-not in vain :

Thou hast died-and man is saved.

*

IT IS FINISHED.

182

"It is finished!"

Wrath of man

Here hath wrought and done its worst;

Still subservient to His plan,

Greatest, Wisest, Last, and First!

God shall magnify His praise

By that very act of shame;
And through hatred's hellish ways,
He shall glorify His name.

"It is finished!" From the tree
Where the Lord of Life hath died,
His attendant mourners, see,

Gently lower The Crucified!

With a sister's tender care,

With a more than brother's love,
Manhood, womanhood are there,
Truth's devotedness to prove.

"It is finished!" By the veil
Of the temple, rent in twain;

By the yet more fearful tale

Of the dead uprisen again;
By that dense and darkened sky,

By each rent and rifted rock,

By that last expiring cry,

Heard amid the earthquake's shock!

"It is finished!" Bear away

To the garden-tomb its dead:

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