O solemn hour! O hour alone,
In solitary might,
When God the Father’s only Son,
As man, for sinners to atone,
Expires amazing sight!
The Lord of glory crucified!
The Lord of life has bled and died!

O mystery of mysteries!
Of life and death the tree!
Center of two eternities,
Which look with rapt, adoring eyes,
Onward and back to Thee!
O Cross of Christ, where all His pain
And death is our eternal gain!

Oh, how our inmost hearts do move,
While gazing on that cross!
The death of the incarnate Love!
What shame, what grief, what joy we prove,
That He should die for us!
Our hearts were broken by that cry,
"Eli, lama sabachthani?"