"What hour like thine is clothed in depth of gloom,
O Cross! thy speech is that of judgment for man's sin.

For in that hour the Christ of God is seen,
The Sinless burden Bearer of man's sin,
His breast all bared to ward the Judge's stroke;
The gathering clouds of wrath divine on Calvary's
hill-
They burst with anger on the center cross,
Whereon that precious Victim hung, the Life of men.

That cry speaks forth the sorrow of Thy heart,
And yet Thy voice sends forth its note of victory
Which tells of judgment passed, the work all done,
The darkness of that hour now pierced; the cloud,
too, gone,
The scabbard holds the sword; the sinner freed
And all the claims of righteousness are fully met
Whilst now the stream of love has found it's course.

O Cross! Thou tellest forth that God is love;
Thy story, too, the summing up of ages past-
The consummation of the sin of man.
Yet fully in it all we trace Divine decree
And see the shining of eternal truth!
There from the Lamb of sacrifice the blood has flowed
Which washeth every stain of sin away
And changes all the depth of sin's deep scarlet hue
To snow-white purity.

Thus opened are the channels of eternal love.
The purposes and counsels of the past eternity
Converge and meet, encircling round Thy thorn-
crowned brow-
Their answer fully given ; the heart of God is satisfied
In that blest One the cross has borne twixt earth
and heaven
For us to gaze upon, and life be given to every one
Who, with the heart believing, looks upon that
stricken One.

But, now we see Thee on the Father's throne
No longer stricken ; Thou art now the Glorified.
Thy once pierced brow is crowned with many crowns,
And with eternal glory Thy blest visage shines.
We gaze upon Thee there, we wait Thy call-
The Victor's shout, heraldic note, the angel's trump;
And with Thee we shall rise, and, like Thee; then
Forever in the glory Thou hast made our own
With Thee abide.

J. B. Jr.