Thou art the everlasting Word
The Father’s only Son,
God manifest, God seen and heard,
The Heavens beloved One!
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

In Thee most perfectly expressed,
The Father’s self doth shine,
Fullness of Godhead, too: the Blest,
Eternally divine!
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

Image of the Infinite Unseen,
Whose being none can know,
Brightness of light no eye hath seen,
God’s Love revealed below!
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

The higher mysteries of Thy fame
The creature’s grasp transcend;
The Father only Thy blest name
Of Son can comprehend.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

Yet loving Thee, on whom His love
Ineffable doth rest,
The worshipers, O Lord, above,
As one with Thee, are blest.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

Of the vast universe of bliss,
The center Thou, and Sun!
The eternal theme of praise is this,
To Heaven’s beloved One:
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow!

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?"

All hail! O glorious Son of God,
In triumph risen again!
All heaven resounds with joyful land
The songs of ransomed men!
The mighty chains of death are riven!
The Risen Christ is throned in heaven!

O joy! the Second Adam stands
Within God’s Paradise!
No longer barred by flaming brands,
The shining pathway lies:
Within, the glorious Head has passed:
Each member must be there at last!

Behind us lie the cross and grave;
Before, eternal bliss,
Where blossoms, from the garden cave,
The Tree of Righteousness!
The Face that shame and spitting bore,
Is crowned with radiance evermore!

Before Thee, Lord, in shining hosts,
Thy mighty angels bend!
Thy saved ones, from a thousand coasts,
Their psalms of victory blend!
I join that song, so passing sweet!
I cast my crown before Thy feet!