The Story of the Glory

By James Boyd.

The Birth of Jesus.

BURST of heavenly glory!
Peace on earth the story!
Angel hosts the silence of the midnight hour surprise.
Turning night to morning,
Bethlehem's plains adorning;
But a greater glory waits the shepherds' wondering eyes.

See within the manger
God, on earth a Stranger!
As a Babe in swaddling bands the world's Creator lies.
By the great neglected,
Unto scorn subjected,
Though the angels haste to feast on Him their holy eyes.

Haughty Herod, scorning
Star and Scripture warning,
Steeps in blood of helpless innocents his ruthless sword.
Envy unavailing;
Heavenly care unfailing;
Egypt's land for God's Beloved a shelter doth afford.

Godhead condescending
To be with us, bending
Down to infant weakness, brought thus wonderfully near;
Veiled in flesh, so lowly.
Holy, holy, holy!
Seeking from our wayward hearts to banish guilty fear.

The Temptation.

In the desert dreary
See Him hungry, weary,
Meet the "strong man armed" in faith's great struggle hand to hand.
Not fair Eden's fulness;
Dearth and desert dulness
Met the vision as it roamed o'er weary wastes of sand.

There with prayer and fasting,
On His Father casting
Every testing circumstance which smote His tender heart.
Bread most surely needing,
Yet more gladly feeding
On the Word of God, which strength and courage can impart.

And by might eternal
He, the fiend infernal,
Met, and bound with fetters in the lonesome wilderness.
And the conflict ending
Shining ones descending
God's unfailing care for Him as Son of man express.

Ministry.

From the waste returning,
How His heart is yearning
Man the willing captive of the devil to reclaim.
Life for dead and dying!
Death before Him flying!
Vanish every demon at the mention of His name!

And the lame are leaping,
And the voice of weeping
Hushed is, for He healeth all the broken-hearted quite.
Deaf, to sound awaking;
Dumb, the silence breaking;
Morning dawns for eyes long closed in solitary night.

And the leper, kneeling,
Welcomes virtue healing;
Power and grace divine in that one tender touch he felt.
And the poor are hearing
Tidings glad and cheering
From His lips, who ever in the Father's bosom dwelt.

And the light is shining,
Grace and truth combining.
But, alas, the darkness still refuses to depart.
Yet, not unavailing,
For that light unfailing
Found its joyous way to many a heavy-laden heart.

One, her vileness learning
And His grace discerning,
Seeks with tears of penitence the Holy One of God.
It was love that brought her,
His great love who sought her,
Drew her from the haunts of sin her feet so long had trod.

And to that poor sinner
He who stooped to win her
Spoke such words as stilled the mighty tempest of her grief;
For He would be Saviour
Spite of the behaviour
Of the murmuring hypocrite who needed not relief.

Numbers seek Him, throng Him,
Grieve Him, praise Him, wrong Him,
Tempt Him with their unbelief and base ingratitude.
Rabbi, scribe and scholar,
Pharisee and ruler,
'Stead of bowing to the Son are thirsting for His blood.

For the light is shining,
Godliness defining,
And like whited sepulchre the Pharisee appears;
And the nation's leaders,
Proud as lofty cedars,
Will not have the harlot and the publican their peers.

Oh, Thou Man of sorrows,
This hath plowed those furrows
On Thy blessed face, and caused the floods of tears Thou'st shed!
Birds have nests abiding,
Foxes holes for hiding,
But the Son of Man hath not a place to lay His head.

His Transfiguration.

On the mountain praying,
Grief and sorrow weighing
Heavy on His heart, who would the heart of man have won.
Blest in Abba's bosom,
What tho' earth refuse Him,
No one but the Father knows the mystery of the Son.

Heaven delights to own Him,
Gladly would enthrone Him;
Him the glory excellent descendeth to embrace.
As the light for whiteness,
Dazzling in its brightness,
Glisters all His raiment, while like noonday sun His face.

And the silence breaking,
Hark, the Father speaking
From the cloud of glory, "This is my beloved Son."
Let the world refuse Him,
Wrongfully accuse Him,
He that will not hear Him must for ever be undone.

But tho' power and glory
Clothe Him there, a story
In that radiant sphere is told, so strange for such a scene
For, tho' thus His coming
Shadowed forth is, looming
Darkly on the vision are the curse and cross between.

His Betrayal.

Night of dark delusion!
Night of man's confusion!
Night of bitter anguish to the holy Son of God!
Gloom upon creation!
Gloom upon the nation!
Gloom from the abyss on mind of mortal shed abroad!

Power of darkness reigning!
Nothing now restraining;
Mercy's hand, which held in check the wickedness, withdrawn.
Energy untiring;
Earth and hell conspiring,
Hating light, agree to quench the only light that shone.

And by death endeavour
To immerse for ever
In the fogs of hopeless night this miserable world;
That the fell destroyer,
Murderer and liar,
Unopposed might reign when forth the rightful Heir was hurled.

On that night of sadness,
Man and demon madness,
Night of wrong, unparalled since night and day began,
One lone hour's seclusion
From the world's intrusion
Sought that much oppressed and sore afflicted Son of Man.

Who shall tell His sorrow,
Looking toward that morrow
Black with sin's just judgment and abandonment of God!
Wrestling in temptation,
Thrice His supplication
Reaches Abba's ear amid strong crying tears and blood.

For the foe, possessing
Death's dread power, was pressing
That dark chalice on His soul, brimful of death and wrath
Due to sin; but rather
Will He from His Father,
Take it, drink it to the dregs, than swerve from duty's path.

Human comfort seeking
While His heart is breaking;
But no friend to watch one hour with Him can now be found.
Lovers few in number,
Grief forget in slumber;
He alone must meet the foe on that dread battle-ground.

Hark! alarm of voices!
Rude, discordant noises,
Glare of torch, and weapon clang, and shout of multitude!
Powers of earth assemble,
Making midnight tremble,
As upon the solitude of Jesus they intrude.

Kiss of cursed treason
Tells them who to seize on,
Like the icy serpent's chill and treacherous embrace!
Breath of hell exhaling,
Brow of murder veiling,
Hatred in the bosom lurking, friendship in the face.

As in hunger prowling,
Wolves with savage howling
Find the lamb devoted to their eager thirst for blood;
As that lamb to slaughter,
When the wolves have caught her,
Jesus unresistingly amid His captors stood.

Leaped the sword of Peter
From its scabbard fleeter
Than the tongue of lightning from the angry thunder-cloud.
Passionate and daring,
In his ardour baring
His one arm of flesh against that evil-minded crowd.

Jesus, meek and lowly,
Chides His servant's folly,
And in power and grace divine makes good the damage done.
Miracle of healing
All in vain appealing.
Unto hearts which not by God's great goodness would be won.

His Condemnation.

Man, thy day is over.
Thou hast scorned thy Lover;
One who would have sheltered thee from all that could have harmed.
Evilly affected,
Thou hast God rejected;
Words and works like His have proved thy heart could not be charmed.

Piping, yea, or mourning,
Finds thee only scorning,
And the gracious wooings of the Saviour thou hast spurned;
For, thy lusts caressing,
Thou hast thought it blessing
To be left in darkness where no lamp of heaven burned.

But the light is shining
Spite of all repining,
Hearts of all revealing as in glare of noonday sun.
And while earth is dreaming
Wakeful priests are scheming
Darkest deed of violence by fallen creature done.

And the plot unfolding
While the night is holding
O'er the face of Judah's land the cloak of sable hue;
And the heavens are steeping
In their silent weeping
Earth's broad bosom, with their floods of sorrow-laden dew.

Caiaphas and Annas
Prove what fallen man is;
Superstitious zeal allied with thoughts malevolent;
Witnesses requiring,
Eagerly desiring
By the lip of falsehood to condemn the Innocent.

Pilate vascillating,
Hopelessly debating
With those wretched men, dare not their foul demand deny.
Careless, yet unwilling
To have guilt of spilling
Righteous blood, their emnity alone to satisfy.

On Barabbas seizes —
"Shall he die or Jesus?"
Loud that mighty multitude with voice of one accord,
Cry, "Away with Jesus!"
'Tis Barabbas pleases.
They release the murderer and crucify the Lord.

Mocking they surround Him,
Spit upon Him, wound Him
Worse with their ingratitude and blasphemy than blows.
Crown of thorn and smiting!
Thus is man requiting
God's great love come down to banish hence his cares and woes.

His disciples leave Him.
Peter, but to grieve Him,
Follows in the distance to the palace of the priest.
Soon with voice of swearing
He is heard declaring
That the One despised by them he knows not in the least.

Jesus, uncomplaining,
From reproofs refraining,
Unresistingly goes forth to suffering and shame;
Tho', begirt with thunder,
Angel legions yonder,
Waited on the brow of heaven to smite the earth with flame.

Had one glance been given
Upward unto heaven,
Had one supplication to the Father been expressed,
Ether depths had trembled
With the hosts assembled,
Puissant to execute their Sovereign's behest.

Yet Thou wast not steeling,
Lord, Thy heart gainst feeling,
Nor a cloak of apathy hadst Thou at all put on;
For Thy heart, so tender,
Felt how man did render
Insult and reproach for all the grace that Thou hadst shown.

And Thy heart was broken,
For Thy love but woke in
All its fiercest fury the rebellious human will;
And for David's royal
Throne, a cross, and vial
Full of bitter death, were Thine, blest Lord, on Calvary's hill.

Man, the cross awarded;
God, His Son regarded —
In the rich man's sepulchre His holy body lay;
Watch it lest they steal it!
Place the stone and seal it:
Peaceful let the murderers keep their holy Sabbath day.

His Resurrection.

Burst of heavenly glory!
Death despoiled, the story.
Lo, a mighty messenger descending from the skies
In the mists of morning,
Mail-clad warriors scorning,
Rolls the stone back from the grave before their wondering eyes.

Forces fell defeated!
Death's dark keep depleted!
That void grave the witness of his kingdom overthrown.
Satan's legions tremble,
Man can but dissemble,
Say, while slept the soldiers He was stolen by His own.

On that marvellous morrow,
With the drops of sorrow
Streaming forth like wintry rain from sad and sleepless eyes,
Precious ointment bearing,
Hopeless and despairing,
Came His loved ones, saw, and fled in terror and surprise.

Mary desolated,
Weeping, watching, waited
By the empty rocky cave, in which her Lord had lain.
What was earth to Mary
But a graveyard dreary,
Where lay every blessed hope that she had cherished slain?

'Twas Himself had blessed her,
When a power oppressed her
From which never creature arm had might to set her free.
He who had enslaved her
Held Him who had saved her
Now within his dungeon keep, and woe her lot must be.

'Twas no time for weeping,
But an hour for keeping
Rapturous festivity, had but the truth been known.
Hence the angel's query,
Why so sad and dreary,
When from heaven light of life in death's dark cavern shone?

And her Lord behind her,
While the tears did blind her,
Called with Shepherd voice the broken-hearted by her name.
Voice well-known and tender,
His, who to defend her,
Had from Godhead glory stooped to die a death of shame.

"Mary!" — As the singing
Of a fountain springing
In the arid desert, smites the weary wanderer's ear,
And the wanderer hasting
To the fount and tasting
Deep the limpid water, finds refreshment, strength and cheer:

Thus, that one word spoken
To her spirit broken,
By her living Saviour, drove the dark cloud from her brow.
Fled the mists of weeping
From her eyes; up-leaping
Hope within her bosom spoke of deathless union now.

Then to her unsealing
Mighty truths, revealing
That high glory into which His work His own hath brought.
Theirs His God and Father.
Heavenly blessings, rather
Than an earthly kingdom, His disciples' highest thought.

Yes, the Lord is risen,
And death's gloomy prison,
Stript of bolt and bar, lies robbed of all its power to harm;
And the blood is speaking
Peace to spirits breaking
With the dreadful sense of sin's unconquerable charm.

And forth from the Father,
Into one to gather
All His own, the Spirit comes, God's Spirit from above.
Gift beyond all telling,
In and with us dwelling,
Pouring out into our hearts His everlasting love.

And the light is shining,
Love and light entwining,
Caused to shine in word, and work, and cross, and death, and grave.
And from earth's dark regions,
Spite of all hell's legions,
Light and love are leading all to Him who died to save.

And the Spirit leading,
Blessing, cheering, feeding;
Binding all together in one fellowship of life;
Broken spirits healing,
God's deep thoughts revealing,
Terminating enmity, discordancy and strife.

Hearts with ardour burning,
Wait the Lord's returning;
Heaven was now their home, and He would come to bring them there.
"Quickly" — He had said it,
They had heard it, read it,
Held it dearer than their lives, that meeting in the air.

Would that while He tarried
We had kept it, carried
Patiently within our souls that prospect fair and bright!
But the world around us
Tried us, faithless found us,
And the fire of love burned low, and heaven was lost to sight.

Hope, so purifying,
Soon lay dead or dying;
Light went out, and darkness reigned, and banners blue were furled;
Wanton, loose, and wandering
Went the church meandering,
Faithlessly coquetting with the gay voluptuous world.

Thus, by hell's invasion,
God's own habitation
Soon became a hold for every vile and hateful thing;
Till the Lord who loved them
Woke them up and proved them
When the midnight held them fast asleep beneath its wing.

"Lo, the Bridegroom!" waketh,
Rouseth up, and shaketh
To the centre of the soul the foolish and the wise.
"Go ye out to meet Him!"
All who long to greet Him
Hasten forth with well-trimmed lamp and gladness in their eyes.

Startling and astounding
Is that cry, resounding
In the ears of all who have been calling Jesus Lord;
And the false are finding
In the darkness blinding
That an oil-less lamp can never heavenly light afford.

The Rapture.

Morning Star appearing!
Loyal spirits cheering!
Shout and voice and trump unheard by this poor world below.
Heard by millions sleeping,
Heard by millions keeping
Watch throughout the only night that they shall ever know.

Sepulchres are rifled,
Sobs of mourners stifled
In the thrill of heavenly joy, and shout of victory.
Life for those who languish!
Tears of bitter anguish
Wiped away by that pierced hand man fastened to the tree.

Bodies, sown in weakness,
Raised in Jesu's likeness;
Sheep long scattered gathered home by Him who knows them all;
From beneath the willow
And the ocean billow,
From the humble hovel and the proud palatial hall.

Every lamb of Jesus
He in power releases
From the grasp of death, and brings them forth all glorified;
From the righteous Abel
Down through bloody Babel,
With her murderous story, to the last saint who had died.

Victims some of plunder,
Stoned, or sawn asunder,
Bound and burned in fires, or thrown to savage beasts of prey;
Tortures hell-invented
Had their limbs tormented,
Slain they were in thousands while the world kept holiday.

Held as beasts for slaughter,
Flowed their blood like water,
Till welled up the crimson in the blushing face of heaven;
Till the drunken harlot,
In her robes of scarlet,
Muttering her dread blasphemies, reeled on her moutains seven.

But the Star of Morning
Lifts no voice of warning,
And the weltering whore hears not upon the cloud His tread,
Till from caverns gory
Rise her slain in glory,
And nor death nor hades holds one saint alive or dead.

Moment great with gladness,
When earth's scenes of sadness
Are no more remembered for the joy of meeting Him.
Oh, the bliss of being
With Himself, and seeing
That blessed brow once crowned with thorns, those eyes with tears once dim!

The Tribulation.

Now those left discover
That the Lord and Lover
Of His own, has gathered them to meet Him in the air;
And their cry distressing
For the same rich blessing
Sinks at His denial to a wild wail of despair.

Blatant, boasting, lusting,
Blind, lukewarm, disgusting,
Spued as nauseous from the mouth of Jesus, they will go
Back to earth for lodgment,
Until righteous judgment
Buries them, to rise no more, in Babel's overthrow.

Earth's revolting story
Reads more grim and gory;
Scorners of the truth shall now the blackest lie believe;
And the Jewish nation,
Who passed condemnation
On their own Messiah, must the Antichrist receive.

And the Dragon driven
From his seat in heaven,
Comes to earth to stir the passions fierce of evil men;
Bringing tribulation,
Terror and temptation,
Such as never have been known, nor shall be known again.

False Christs, strong delusions,
Blasphemies, confusions,
Men tormented, seeking death, and death not to be found;
Seals, woes, vials, thunders,
Signs, and lying wonders,
Pestilences, earthquakes, famines, fire, and sword, abound.

Brother false to brother,
Hating one another;
Dragon, Beast, and Prophet, bound in trinity of hell,
All the world deluding,
God and Christ excluding —
Chaos, murder, woe, and wrath, and curse, and darkness fell.

But ere earth is riven
With those woes, in heaven
Girt with circling emerald bow, is set a glorious throne.
Tokens round of terror,
Eyes that search out error,
Creatures their Creator praise, and priests do homage prone.

And a new song waketh
When the slain Lamb taketh
From the hand of Him who sits upon the throne, that book,
Whose strong seals are seven,
And which not in heaven,
Nor on earth was creature found worthy thereon to look.

As each seal He breaketh
Judgment sternly speaketh
To a world that would not hear the Saviour come to bless;
Weary made with waiting,
Now in wrath debating
With rebellious man, by blows, the cause of righteousness.

Yet His grace doth never
Fail, but now as ever,
Mid the roar of judgment, mercy He doth not forget.
For the time to favour
Zion, and to save her,
Now has come, the time that He, in counsel deep had set.

And in grace abounding,
While are heard resounding
Wrath's almighty thunders mid the roar of human strife,
Mindful of their fathers
He, for their sake, gathers
Some of Judah's scattered ones for everlasting life.

And among the nations,
Suffering tribulations,
These go with the banner of the coming Christ unfurled;
And, despite all evil,
Antichrist and devil,
Soon the gracious message is proclaimed throughout the world.

And with joy unmeasured
Comes the day, long treasured
In the heart of Jesus and in her's for whom he died,
When with joy in heaven,
Clothed in white is given
To the Lamb in marriage bond His fair and spotless bride.

His Appearing.

Burst of dazzling glory!
Burning wrath the story!
Angel hosts, in flaming fire, the heedless world surprise;
Turning mirth to mourning,
And to wailing scorning,
Led by David's Son and Lord thro' thunder-clouded skies.

All the saints are with Him,
And the nations see them
Faultless in their righteousness, that raiment pure and white.
Fairer their adorning
Than the light of morning,
Brighter and more glorious than the angels of His might.

Diadems adorn Him
Where are those who scorn Him?
Lo, He stands on Olivet, His sword drawn forth in ire;
And the Beast and Prophet
Go alive to Tophet,
Dark and deep Gehenna, the devouring lake of fire.

Now in resurrection
Shine God's own election,
Who to death stood faithful when the Antichrist held sway.
And His might makes daring
Judah's band despairing,
Who like lions turn upon their enemies and slay.

Slaughter now appalling,
Rebel forces falling,
Sink in blood the horsemen and the horses which they ride;
And to wild fowl flying
Over dead and dying,
"Gather to the supper of the mighty God" is cried.

Brother against brother,
Slaughter each the other,
Discipline and order from their struggling ranks depart.
Each his neighbour seizes,
Each his grasp releases,
Only when the sword of each is driven thro' each heart.

And like ocean swelling
Is the red tide welling,
Till the sweltering warhorse dips his bridle in the gore.
God's vast, countless legions,
From their northern regions,
Fall on Zion's mountains slain, to rise again no more.

Thus the foes of heaven
Perish all, and driven
Is the fiend who led them, to the bottomless abyss;
He who first in Eden
Sowed his serpent seed in
Hearts of innocence, whence sprang a harvest such as this.

Now His throne Christ taketh,
While the whole earth shaketh
At the awful splendour of His majesty and power;
And the nations cited,
For their deeds requited,
Flames of everlasting fire His enemies devour.

Thus with judgment burning,
Jesus cleanses, turning
Upside-down the earth, and leaving nothing foul within;
Broken is rebellion,
Crushed is all that's alien
To the holiness of Him who cannot suffer sin.

Gone is all confusion;
Good no persecution
At the hands of wickedness shall ever know again.
Crushed the power infernal.
Rest and peace eternal
Bless the loyal subject, for the Prince of peace shall reign.

Israel's ten tribes driven
By the wrath of heaven
From their land, long lost among the nations of the earth,
He, their Shepherd, knows them,
Wakes them up and draws them
Back with songs of victory and everlasting mirth.

And the lame are leaping,
And the voice of weeping
Hushed is, for He healeth all the broken-hearted quite.
Deaf, to sound awaking;
Dumb, the silence breaking;
Morning dawns for eyes long closed in solitary night.

And the light is shining
Love and light entwining,
For the darkness fleeth from the glory of His face;
And the holy city,
Full of God's great pity,
Sheds among the nations of the earth her healing grace.

Now are found caressing,
In the age of blessing,
Righteousness and peace beneath the sceptre of the Son.
Truth and mercy meeting,
Bliss below completing,
And the Father's will on earth as in the heavens done.

Joy unmingled chases
Woe from off all faces,
Floods of springing waters in the thirsty desert flow.
And the waste rejoices,
Wake with singing voices,
And the barren wilderness doth blossom like the rose.

And the lamb and lion
Dwell at peace in Zion,
And a little child shall lead them both with tiny hand;
For as waters cover
Sea's deep basin over,
So the mercy of the Lord shall cover every land.

Blessing reigns, and none are
Doomed to death's dishonour,
Only when the sinner hath Jehovah's name reviled;
And the daring mortal
Passing thus death's portal,
Though an hundred years of age, is counted but a child.

Earth her increase yieldeth,
Jesus safely shieldeth
Underneath His sceptre, man in every clime from harm;
As the light of morning,
Hill and dale adorning,
Binds the gloomy world within its grief-dispelling charm.

And for sighs of sadness,
Shouts of joy and gladness
Make the welkin ring throughout the thousand golden years.
Famine, fear, nor fever,
Discord, nor deceiver,
Stalks the earth, to break the heart and blind the eyes with tears.

Yet man ever hating
Right, is only waiting
That dread moment when is loosed his leader from his chains:
Him they follow gladly,
Insolently, madly,
War declaring in their rage against the Christ who reigns.

Judgment overpowering,
Fiery wrath devouring,
Is the instant answer the insulted heavens send.
Thus the sinful story
Of the earth, grown hoary,
Is, in its rebellion and its guilt, brought to an end.

The Judgment of the Dead.

Now in awful splendour
Sits the Judge, to render
Recompence to all the dead, on that great throne and white;
From His face the heaven
And the earth are driven,
As things guilty far from justice refuge seek in flight.

And the dead, awaking
From the dust, come quaking,
As like solemn thunder they the voice of Jesus hear;
And the seas deliver
Those the wild waves cover,
And from death and hades king and peasant must appear.

None of God's election
Grace this resurrection,
In which none are sheltered by the precious blood of Christ;
Great and small together
Hasten trembling thither,
Prince and peasant, high and low, the people and the priest.

All their deeds recorded,
They shall be rewarded;
But no soul can by his works to righteousness aspire.
Sin and serpent — bitten,
And not one name written
In the book of life, all pass into the lake of fire.

For the light is shining,
And the dark designing
Of the rebel creature is in all its blackness shown;
And too late repentance
Wards not off the sentence
Of the righteous Judge who sits upon the great white throne.

None can save but Jesus,
'Tis His blood that frees us
From the grasp of Satan and the scarlet stain of sin.
Nothing damns but doing,
Man his lusts pursuing,
Spite of matchless mercy, and the love that longs to win.

Sad and woeful ending
To that stream descending
From the loins of Adam, foul, polluting where it goes,
Brawling, turbid river,
Widening, deep'ning ever,
Till into the dead sea of eternal wrath it flows.

Bless the grace surprising,
Which in power uprising,
Stooped to rescue many from the overwhelming flood!
Blessed be that Saviour
Who from our behaviour
Washed us whiter than the snow in His most precious blood!

The Glory of God.

Glory! Glory! Glory!
Rest of God the story,
Day of bliss, on which no cloud of night shall ever fall.
Love immortal, boundless,
Peerless, searchless, soundless;
Love, the light of every heart; and love, the life of all.

Gone the old creation;
Gone in condemnation:
Gone with all its wretchedness, sin, sorrow, death, and pain:
Like a vision vanished;
Like a rebel banished;
Like a viper crushed, no more to lift its head again.

All things new, eternal:
Joy supreme, supernal:
Heaven and earth resplendent in the golden light of God.
God amidst men dwelling:
Bliss beyond all telling:
Home of righteousness and love with every blessing strawed.

Down from heaven brighter
Than the sun, and whiter
Than the purest light that ever gladdened creatures' eyes,
Comes the city holy,
Bride of the once lowly
Earth-refused, despised, rejected Sovereign of the skies.

And the light is shining,
Love and light entwining:
Lighting up creation with its beatific blaze.
Man his God beholding;
God the world enfolding
With the glory of His changeless love's immortal rays.

Light and life and glory!
Love's eternal story
Girds the earth, and thrills through all the courts of highest heaven:
Man in God rejoicing;
Praises ever voicing:
Unto God and to the Lamb be adoration given.

Blessed be the glory
Of that marvellous story,
Told in Jesu's journey from the cradle to the grave;
Told in priceless offering,
Told in deep soul suffering,
Told when o'er His head went roaring wrath's devouring wave;

Told when sin enthralled us,
Told when death appalled us,
Told in darkness, cross, and curse upon Golgotha's tree;
Told from lust to win us,
Told our hearts within us,
God's great love to guilty rebel creatures such as we.

Jesus, Lord of glory,
Help us tell the story;
Help us to the weary heart the tale of love to bring.
To the soul despairing
Send us, Saviour, bearing
Tidings which shall make the heavy hearted sinner sing.

Bid the heathen hear it:
Bid the lost revere it:
Bid Thy servants carry it in heavenly grace and might.
Where in darksome places,
Blind, benighted races
Stumble in the encircling gloom, Oh, say, "Let there be light."

Jesus, blessed Jesus,
In Thy grace release us
From the cords of worldliness and from the fear of men,
Bid us tell the story
In its power and glory,
Till with hallelujahs glad the welkin rings again;

Till throughout creation
Every tribe and nation
Hears the heavenly music of the mercy of the Lord;
Till the dead awaken,
Till the gloom is shaken,
Till the powers of hell fall back before the living Word;

Till the storms declare it,
Till the thunders bear it
Where the prince of darkness hath his banner black unfurled;
Till the lightnings fleet it,
Till the rocks repeat it,
Till the wild winds waft it to the limits of the world;

Till the heights receive it,
Till the depths believe it,
Till the echoes send it back from dreary death's domain;
Till with universal
Joy, the great rehearsal
Leaps from star to star, and creatures all take up the strain;

Till the heirs of glory
All have heard the story,
Till there's not one left with conscience, heart, or soul to hear;
Till the trump is sounding,
Till, in grace abounding,
Heaven is rent, and glory-crowned, Thou shalt in might appear;

Till it needs no telling,
Till its praise up-welling,
Melody immortal thrills the universe abroad;
Till redeemed creation,
Safe from sin's invasion,
Tells the glory-story back into the ear of God.