Above:  One of My Crucifixes

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

Text (1875) by Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O perfect life of love!

All, all is finished now,

All that He left His throne above

To do for us below.

+++++

No work is left undone

Of all the Father willed;

His toils and sorrows, one by one,

The Scripture have fulfilled.

+++++

No pain that we can share

But He has felt its smart;

All forms of human grief and care

Have pierced that tender heart.

+++++

And on His thorn-crowned head,

And on His sinless soul,

Our sins in all their guild were laid,

That He might make us whole.

+++++

In perfect love He dies;

For me He dies, for me!

I all-atoning Sacrifice,

I cling by faith to Thee.

+++++

In every time of need,

Before the judgment throne,

Thy work, O Lamb of God, I’ll plead,

Thy merits, not my own.

+++++

Yet work, O Lord, in me,

As thou for me hast wrought;

And let my love the answer be

To grace Thy love has brought.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  A Crucifix

Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text by Timothy Rees (1874-1939)

Hymn Source = The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971)

+++++++++++++++++++++

O crucified Redeemer, whose lifeblood we have spilt,

to you we raise our guilty hands, and humbly own our guilt.

Today we see your passion spread open to our gaze;

the crowded town, the country road, its calvary displays.

+++++

Wherever love is outraged, wherever hope is killed,

where man still wrongs his brother man, your passion is fulfilled.

We see your tortured body, we see the wounds that bleed,

where brotherhood hands crucified, nailed to the cross of greed.

+++++

We hear your cry of anguish, we see your life outpoured,

where battlefield runs red with blood, our brothers’ blood, O Lord.

And in that bloodless battle, the fight for daily bread,

where might is right and self is king, we see your thorn-crowned head.

+++++

The groaning of creation rung out by pain and care,

the anguish of a million hearts that break in dumb despair:

O crucified Redeemer, these are your cries of pain.

O may they break our selfish hearts, and love come in to reign.

Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1909) by Walter Russell Bowie (1882-1969)

Hymn Source = Hymns for the Living Age (1923)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lovely to the outward eye

Seemed Jerusalem to lie–

Yet ’twas there thou cam’st to die,

Jesus, Son of Mary.

+++++

Far-brought stones and marble rare

Made its towers and circuits fair,

Yet thy cross was waiting there,

Wearied Son of Mary.

+++++

And would all the crowded mart,

Wealth and splendid ease and art

Of our own world please thy heart,

O thou Son of Mary?

+++++

Wouldst thou call our boasting good,

If thou sawest our triumphs stood

On the wreck of brotherhood,

Loving Son of Mary?

+++++

Jesus, pardon where we fail;

Jesus, our whole life enthrall;

Let thy Spirit rule it all,

Blessed Son of Mary.

Above:  A Crucifix

Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1928) by Walter Russell Bowie (1882-1969)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Episcopal Church

+++++++++++++++++++++

Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to men,

Upon a cross they bound thee,

And mocked thy saving kingship then

By thorns with which they crowned thee;

And still our wrongs may weave thee now

New thorns to pierce that steady brow,

And robe of sorrow round thee.

+++++

O aweful Love, which found no room

In life where sin denied thee,

And, doomed to death, must bring to doom

The power which crucified thee,

Till not a stone was left on stone,

And all a nation’s pride, o’erthrown,

Went down to dust beside thee!

+++++

New advent of the love of Christ,

Shall we again refuse thee,

Till in the night of hate and war

We perish as we lose thee?

From old unfaith our souls release

To seek the kingdom of thy peace,

By which alone we choose thee.

+++++

O wounded hands of Jesus, burn

In us thy new creation;

Our pride is dust, our vaunt is stilled,

We wait thy revelation;

O love that triumphs over loss,

We bring our hearts before thy cross,

To finish thy salvation.

Above:  The Crucifixion of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

Anonymous Latin Text, 13th-15th Centuries

English Translation by John Athelstan Laurie Riley (1858-1945)

Hymn Source = The English Hymnal (1906), The Church of England

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dost thou truly seek renown

Christ his glory sharing?

Wouldst thou win the heavenly crown

Victor’s meed declaring?

Tread the path the Saviour trod,

Look upon the crown of God,

See what he is wearing.

+++++

This the King of heaven bore

In that sore contending;

This his sacred temples wore,

Honour to it lending;

In this helm he faced the foe,

On the Rood he laid him low,

Satan’s kingdom ending.

+++++

Christ upon the Tree of Scorn,

In salvation’s hour,

Turned to gold these pricks of thorn

By his Passion’s power;

So on sinners, who had earned

Endless death, from sin returned,

Endless blessings shower.

+++++

When in death’s embrace we lie,

Then, good Lord, be near us;

With thy presence fortify,

And with victory cheer us;

Turn our erring hearts to thee,

That we crowned for ay may be:

O good Jesu, hear us!

Above:  Descent from the Cross

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904), National Council of Congregational Churches in the United States

Text (1893) by Theodore Claudius Pease (1853-1893)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O Lord of life, once laid in Joseph’s tomb,

Around Thy grave the garden bursts in bloom,

Thy glory breaks the world’s long night of gloom.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

+++++

Thou for us all didst hang upon the tree;

The burden of our sins was borne by Thee;

Thy stripes have healed, Thy sorrows set us free.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

+++++

Now all is o’er,–Thy toil, Thy grief, Thy pain;

The veil of death by Thee is rent in twain;

Thine earthly loss is our eternal gain.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

+++++

Henceforth, through hours of ease and days of care,

Help us with Thee our daily cross to bear,

Strong in Thy strength, and brave Thy cup to share.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

+++++

When through dark vales our lonely pathway lies,

Though hearts may faint, and tears may dim our eyes,

Thy light shall guide our footsteps to the skies.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

+++++

And when, at last, our work on earth is o’er,

Lead us where Thou hast trod the path before,

Through death to life with Thee forevermore!

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Above:  Adoration of the Lamb, by Jan Van Eyck

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1805) by Lewis Renatus West (1753-1826)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Praise for every scene distressing,

Praise for all Thou didst endure,

Praise for every gift and blessing

Which Thy griefs for us procure;

In Thy ransomed congregation

Shall Thy death our theme remain,

Till Thou com’st with full salvation,

Lord of glory, Lamb once slain.

+++++

Thou, to purchase our salvation,

Didst assume humanity;

Jesus, for Thy bitter passion

May we ever thankful be;

Filled with awe and humbly bowing,

At Thy feet we prostrate fall,

Gratefully this truth avowing,

That Thou art our All in awe.

Above:  Icon of the Resurrection

Image in the Public Domain

Swedish Text (1536) by Olavus Petri (1493-1552)

English Translation (Before 1899) by George Henry Trabert (1843-1931)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal and Order of Service (1925), The Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod

Some hymnals contain a shortened and altered version of the hymn, listing it as “O Paschal Feast, What Joy is Thine.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blest Easter Day, what joy is thine!

We praise, dear Lord, Thy Name divine,

For Thou hast triumphed o’er the tomb;

No more we need to dread its gloom.

+++++

The tree where Thou was offered up

Now bears the fruit of life and hope:

Thy precious blood for us is shed,

Now we may feed on heavenly bread.

+++++

We thank Thee, Jesus, that Thy hand

Has freed us from sin’s galling band;

No more its thralldom we need fear;

The year of liberty is here.

+++++

O Jesus Christ, God’s Son elect,

Our Paschal Lamb without defect,

To us Thou givest strength indeed,

In all our conflicts, all our need.

+++++

O grant, that as Thou didst arise,

We, too, with joy, may heavenward rise,

First from our sin, to love Thy way,

Then from the grave on that great Day.

+++++

All praise to Thee who from death’s might,

From carnal lust and sin’s dark plight

Redeemest me, that even I

May reach eternal life on high.

Above:  The Harrowing of Hades

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = Sursum Corda:  A Book of Praise (1898), Baptist General Convention for Foreign Missions

William Jensen Reynolds writes from a Southern Baptist perspective:

The three most significant hymnals published for Baptists in the North during the last half of the nineteenth century were The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book (1871), The Baptist Hymnal (1883), and Sursum Corda (1898).  All of these were the work of the American Baptist Publishing Society in Philadelphia.  The first, a large collection of 980 hymns, failed to meet with general acceptance, largely because of the inferior quality of the tunes.  The second collection is of better quality, and while it gives evidence of the rapidly emerging gospel song, it also reveals the initial influence among Baptists of Hymns Ancient and Modern, the most influential English hymnal of the nineteenth century.  Sursum Corda, compiled by E. H. Johnson, went further in this direction.  The compiler’s disregard for the emerging gospel song and his excessive borrowing of Anglican hymns and tunes resulted in a hymnal of the highest quality, but one unacceptable to the majority of Baptist congregations.  All of this plus the Latin title was too much for too many Baptists even in the North.

—Companion to Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, TN:  Broadman Press, 1976), page 18

I wondered why an Anglican hymn based on the Harrowing of Hell was in a Baptist hymnal.  Now I know.  I also approve of borrowing Anglican hymns, especially from Hymns Ancient and Modern.  And the Latin title is a nice touch.  The fact of my Episcopal affiliation is showing, is it not?

Sursum Corda is Latin for “Lift up your hearts,” as in that which precedes “We lift them up to the Lord.”

The Baptist General Convention for Foreign Missions helped to form the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Darkly frowns the ev’ning sky;

Falls for woe the mourner’s eye:

Silent is the rocky tomb

Where as yet no dead have come,

Armed soldiers by the side,

They have left the Crucified.

+++++

God! my God! and dost thou show

Wonders midst the dead below?

They who slumber ‘neath the earth,

Shall they wake to second birth?

Who shall these dread gates unfold,

Barred through all the days of old?

+++++

Lo! the doors are opening,

And the dead behold their King:

See! the awful fathers know

Him, who lays death’s terrors low:

Hark! he bids the ancients rise

Ransomed by his sacrifice.

+++++

When we sink into the dust,

May we fix on thee our trust!

Saviour of the sons of men,

May we die to live again!

Dying, may our faith recall

Thy dear death and burial.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++