Jesus, I rest in Thee,
In Thee myself I hide!
Laden with guilt and misery,
Where can I rest beside?
‘Tis on Thy meek and lowly breast
My weary soul alone can rest.

The slave of sin and fear,
Thy truth my bondage broke;
My willing spirit loves to bear
Thy light and easy yoke;
The love that fills my grateful breast
Makes duty joy, and labor rest.

(By James G. Deck in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

When, His salvation bringing,
To Zion Jesus came,
The children all stood singing
Hosanna to His name.
Nor did their zeal offend Him,
But, as He rode along,
He bade them still attend Him,
And loved to hear their song.

Now should we fail proclaiming
Our great Redeemer’s praise,
The stones, our silence shaming,
Would their hosannas raise.
But shall we only render
The tribute of our words?
No, but with hearts made tender,
Our all shall be the Lord’s.

(By J. King in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

We wait for Thee, O Son of God,
And long for Thine appearing;
"A little while," Thou’lt come, O Lord,
Thy waiting people cheering.
Thus hast Thou said:we lift the head
In joyful expectation,
For Thou wilt bring salvation.

(By P.F. Hiller in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them,… Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come…. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man
cometh" (Matt. 24:3,4,42,44).

Saviour, come, Thy saints are waiting,
Waiting for the nuptial day,
Thence their promised glory dating;
Come, and bear Thy saints away.
Come Lord Jesus,
Thus Thy waiting people pray.

Lord, we wait for Thine appearing;
"Tarry not," Thy people say;

Bright the prospect is, and cheering,
Of beholding Thee that day,
When our sorrow
Shall forever pass away.

Till it comes, O keep us steady,
Keep us walking in Thy ways;
At Thy call may we be ready,
On Thee, Lord, with joy to gaze,
And in glory
Sing Thine everlasting praise.

(By Thomas Kelly (1769-1855) in Hymns for the Little Flock.)

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth
to meet the Bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish
took their lamps and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry
made, Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him" (Matt. 25:1-6).

How long, O Lord our Saviour,
Wilt Thou remain away?
Our hearts are growing weary
At Thy so long delay;
O when shall come the moment,
When, brighter far than morn,
The sunshine of Thy glory
Shall on Thy people dawn?

How long, O gracious Master,
Wilt Thou Thy household leave?
So long Thou now hast tarried,
Few Thy return believe:
Immersed in sloth and folly,
Thy servants, Lord, we see;
And few of us stand ready
With joy to welcome Thee.

How long, O heavenly Bridegroom!
How long wilt Thou delay?
And yet how few are grieving
That Thou dost absent stay:
Thy very bride her portion
And calling hath forgot,
And seeks for ease and glory
Where Thou, her Lord, art not.

Oh, wake the slumbering virgins,
To heed the solemn cry;
Let all Thy saints repeat it_
"The Bridegroom draweth nigh!"
May all our lamps be burning,
Our loins well girded be;
Each longing heart preparing
With joy Thy face to see.

(In Hymns and Sacred Poems by James G. Deck (1802-1884); also condensed in Hymns of Grace
and Truth.)

"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman
having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she broke the box and poured
it on His head…. And Jesus said, Let her alone;… She hath done what she could:she is come
aforehand to anoint My body to the burying" (Mark 14:3,6,8).

I lift my heart to Thee, Saviour divine!
For Thou art all to me, and I am Thine.
Is there on earth a closer bond than this,
That "my Beloved’s mine, and I am His!"

To Thee, once bleeding Lamb, I all things owe,
All that I have, and am, and all I know!
All that I have is now no longer mine,
And I am not mine own:Lord, I am Thine!

How can I, Lord, withhold life’s brightest hour
From Thee, or gathered gold, or any power?
Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee,
When Thou hast given Thyself, Thy life for me?

I pray Thee, Saviour, keep me in Thy love,
Till Thou shalt come, or sleep shall me remove
To that fair realm where sin and sorrow o’er,
Thou and Thine own are one for evermore!

(By C. E. Mudie in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body
which is given for you:this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying,
This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:19,20).

"This do_remember Me!"
O blessed, living Lord,
What depths of grace we now can trace
In that most precious word!
When darker grew Thy path,
When o’er Thee loomed the cross,
With nought down here Thy heart to cheer,
Thou didst remember us!

"This do_remember Me!"
The sword about to wake,
Thy sweat as blood upon Thee stood
When Thou the cup didst take!
There on the altar bound
Wast Thou that night of woe,
When man’s dark hour and Satan’s power
Their deepest gloom did throw!

"This do_remember Me!"
O deep desire of love,
As round Thy soul those waves did roll_
The wrath of God above!
Made sin upon the tree,
What blackness veiled the sky!
What torrents, dread, bowed low Thy head
As Thou for us didst die!

"This do_remember Me!"
O what a savor sweet,
For God above_for man what love_
In all Thy work complete!
Now gathered round Thyself,
With heart and conscience free,
O Lord, once dead, our living Head,
We do remember Thee!

(By George W. Fraser (1830-1896) in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right
hand; and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And
they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head. And after that they had mocked
Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to
crucify Him" (Matt. 27:29-31).

O Head, once full of bruises,
So full of pain and scorn_
‘Mid other sore abuses,
Mocked with a crown of thorn!
O Head e’en now surrounded
With brightest majesty_
In death once bowed and wounded
On the accursed tree!

Thou Countenance transcendent!
Thou life-creating Sun;
To worlds on Thee dependent_
Yet bruised and spit upon!

O Lord, what Thee tormented
Was our sin’s heavy load;
We had the debt augmented
Which Thou didst pay in blood.

We give Thee thanks unfeigned,
O Saviour, Friend in need.
For what Thy soul sustained
When Thou for us didst bleed!
Grant us to lean unshaken
Upon Thy faithfulness,
Until, to glory taken,
We see Thee face to face.

(By Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) in Hymns for the Little Flock and Hymns of Grace and
Truth.)

"And one of the malefactors who were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save
Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked Him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou
art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:
but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou
comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be
with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:39-43).

Behold the Lamb whose precious blood,
Drawn from His riven side,
Had power to make our peace with God,
Nor lets one spot abide.

The dying thief beheld that Lamb
Expiring by his side,
And proved the value of the name
Of Jesus crucified.

His soul, by virtue of the blood,
To paradise received;
Redemption’s earliest trophy stood,
From sin and death retrieved.

We too the cleansing power have known
Of the atoning blood,
By grace have learnt His name to own,
Which brings us back to God.

To Him, then, let our songs ascend,
Who stooped in grace so low:
To Christ, the Lamb, the sinner’s Friend,
Let ceaseless praises flow.

(By William Trotter (1818-1865) in Hymns for the Little Flock.)

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the
ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:45,46).

Amazing, holy mystery,
Unfathomed Sacrifice,
Where incarnate Love on Calvary’s tree,
Accursed for sinners, dies!
From His soul, poured out unto death, that cry
Utters sorrow and love unknown,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"
O Sufferer, so wounded, so lone!

How couldst Thou_bruised, like crushed worm
Trod down in the dust of death_
O’er that scene of wrathful gloom and storm
Pour love’s sweet undying breath?
‘Twas our doom that wrung from Thy soul the plea,
Out of depths of the direful cross,
"My God, O why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Forsaken, blest Saviour, for us!

For us Thy scars Thou wearest still_
Sweet mark of our Advocate!
Soon Thy Form of love our souls shall thrill,
Low bowed at Thy nail-pierced feet!
How Thy wounds shall speak! how Thy soul’s deep cry
Shall in echo forever fall,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"
Lord Jesus! our Glory, our All!

(By Frank Allaben in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matt. 27:50,51).

The veil is rent:our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace;
The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.

His precious blood has spoken there,
Before and on the throne;
And His own wounds in heaven declare
The atoning work is done.

‘Tis finished! here our souls have rest;
His work can never fail:
By Him, our Sacrifice and Priest,
We pass within the veil.

Within the holiest of all,
Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship Thee, O God!

Boldly the heart and voice we raise,
His blood, His name, our plea;
Assured our prayers and songs of praise
Ascend, by Christ, to Thee.

(By James G. Deck in Hymns for the Little Flock and Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they broke not His legs; but one
of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John
19:33,34).

There is a stream of precious blood
Which flowed from Jesus’ veins;
And sinners washed in that blest flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

His love, by man so sorely tried,
Proved stronger than the grave;
The very spear that pierced His side
Drew forth the blood to save.

Blest Lamb of God, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till every ransomed saint of God
Be saved to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, we saw the stream
Thy wounds supplied for sin,
Redeeming love has been our theme,
Our joy and peace has been.

Soon in a nobler, sweeter song,
We’ll sing Thy power to save;
No more with lisping, stammering tongue,
But conquerors o’er the grave.

(By William Cowper (1731-1800) in Hymns for the Little Flock; verse 2 by James G. Deck.)

"He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3).

"Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:38).

O ever homeless Stranger,
Thou dearest Friend to me;
An outcast in a manger,
That Thou might’st with us be!

How rightly rose the praises
Of heaven that wondrous night_
When shepherds hid their faces
In brightest angel-light!

"To God, in the highest, glory,
And peace on earth" to find;
And learn that wondrous story,
God’s pleasure in mankind.

Blessed Babe! who lowly liest
In manger-cradle there;
Descended from the highest
Our sorrows all to share.

We cling to Thee in weakness_
The manger and the cross;
We gaze upon Thy meekness,
Through suffering, pain, and loss.

There see the Godhead glory
Shine through that human veil;

And, willing, hear the story
Of Love that’s come to heal!

‘Midst sin, and all corruption,
Where hatred did abound,
Thy path of true perfection
Was light on all around.

In scorn, neglect, reviling,
Thy patient grace stood fast;
Man’s malice unavailing
To move Thy heart to haste.

O’er all, Thy perfect goodness
Rose blessedly divine;
Poor hearts oppressed with sadness,
Found ever rest in Thine!

Disease, and death, and demon,
All fled before Thy word,
As darkness, the dominion
Of day’s returning lord!

The love, that bore our burden
On the accursed tree,
Would give the heart its pardon,
And set the sinner free.

Still in Thee, love’s sweet savor
Shone forth in every deed;
And showed God’s loving favor
To every soul in need.

I pause_for in Thy vision
The day is hastening now,
When for our lost condition,
Thy holy head shall bow.

When, deep to deep still calling,
The waters reach Thy soul,
And_death and wrath appalling_
Their waves shall o’er Thee roll.

O day of mightiest sorrow,
Day of unfathomed grief;
When Thou should’st taste the horror
Of wrath, without relief.

Thou soughtest for compassion_
Some heart Thy grief to know.
To watch Thine hour of passion_
For comforters in woe:

No eye was found to pity_
No heart to bear Thy woe;
But shame, and scorn, and spitting_
None cared Thy name to know.

In death, obedience yielding
To God His Father’s will:
Love still its power is wielding
To meet all human ill.

On him who had disowned Thee
Thine eye could look in love_
‘Midst threats and taunts around Thee_
To tears of grace to move.

What words of love and mercy
Flow from those lips of grace,
For followers that desert Thee;
For sinners in disgrace!

The robber learned beside Thee,
Upon the cross of shame_
While taunts and jeers deride Thee_
The savor of Thy name.

Then, finished all, in meekness
Thou to Thy Father’s hand
(Perfect Thy strength in weakness)
Thy spirit dost commend.

O Lord! Thy wondrous story
My inmost soul doth move;
I ponder o’er Thy glory_
Thy lonely path of love!

We worship, when we see Thee
In all Thy sorrowing path;
We long soon to be with Thee
Who bore for us the wrath!

Come, long-expected Saviour!
Thou Man of Sorrows, come!
Almighty, blest Deliverer,
Come, take us to Thee_home!

(By J. N. Darby (1800-1882), condensed from Help and Food, Vol. 45; also, greatly condensed
in Hymns of Grace and Truth.)

"And the angel and said unto the women, Fear not ye:for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was
crucified. He is not here:for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And
go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you
into Galilee; there shall ye see Him:lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the
sepulcher with fear and great joy" (Matt. 28:5-8).

O joyful day! O glorious hour!
When Jesus, by almighty power,
Revived and left the grave;
In all His works behold Him great_
Before, almighty to create,
Almighty now to save.

The first-begotten from the dead,
He’s risen now, His people’s Head,
And thus their life’s secure;
And if, like Him, they yield their breath,
Like Him they’ll burst the bonds of death,
Their resurrection sure.

Why should His people, then, be sad?
None have such reason to be glad
As those redeemed to God:
Jesus, the mighty Saviour, lives,
To them eternal life He gives,
The purchase of His blood.

Then let our gladsome praise resound,
And let us in His work abound,
Whose blessed name is Love;
We’re sure our labor’s not in vain,
For we with Him ere long shall reign_
With Jesus dwell above.

(By Thomas Kelly in Hymns for the Little Flock.)

"Post tres dies resurgam" (Matt. 27:63, Latin Vulgate Version).

1. Night

The sun at noon is paling into night;
Without a cloud the circling hills grow dim;
A city’s murmur hushes into blank
And utter silence, as if nature stood
Suspense, to hear the uncreating word,
And at her Maker’s bidding be unmade.

One shadow only, ‘mid the deepening gloom,
Still deepening stands, as if the judgment-scroll
Upon its blighted head were nature’s doom:
As if the awful burden which it raised
Upon its naked arms, in mute appeal
To heaven, had stricken to her center earth.

Two crosses, with their freight of living death,
Of life with death which wrestles, for defeat,
Not victory; two deaths of common shame
And common sin, which the night blots but out
Easily, as a thing ‘mid myriad things
Accustomed, which but wake a moment’s ruth,
And pass, and are forgotten.

But here_though numbered with transgressors_here,
Not where the night falls, but from whence it falls,
Stilling the mocks of mockers, who for sin
Had silence, if not pity; here, not sin
Suffers, but righteousness; from hatred, love;
Love most compassionate, from basest hate
Bred by it, as corruption by the sun.
No strange thing yet, for earth which has drunk in
From many a brother’s hand a brother’s blood,
Since Abel; and the heaven looked calmly down,
Nor paled her light for many a sight like this;
The ashes from the martyr’s furnace-fire
Have flaunted in her face and brought no frown;
Her rains have washed the stains from off the earth,
And fields have fattened on her slaughtered dead.

No cloud for those upon whose face had shone,

Even to the last, heaven’s sweet approving ray;
Who smiled it back to heaven from block and stake,
And various battle-field of good with ill,
And, dying, found but death transformed to life_
Defeat to victory.

No cloud for sufferers who had but plumbed
The depths of human enmity, to find,
Beyond it all, a bottom; for their hearts
Failing, had met a heart that could not fail,
Nor yet forsake:they trusted upon God,
And, howsoe’er the storm of trial raged,
Their roof abode, they housed them in His love,
Trusting and not forsaken; shepherd-rod
And staff were there to comfort, the way of life
If yet through death; and darkness glorified
At even-tide to noon.

Here had God failed, that thus the heavens should blank?
For He was surely righteous; o’er His head
They once had opened, and the Father’s voice
Proclaimed His pleasure in His Well-beloved:
‘Gainst Him false witness witnessed but its shame;
The judge had justified whom he condemned;
The pitiless voices round about His cross
Mocked but His goodness and His trust in God.

Yet, as the darkness deepened into night_
A voiceless night, as nature had no cry,
As grief had now no meaning, but with joy
Had ceased, like shadow with the bygone sun_
His voices of truth, if still truth were, His voice,
Not of His silenced enemies, proclaimed
Himself by God forsaken.

We had built our hopes upon Him; we had thought
The wreck that yet had spared no other thing,
Could not touch Him:all other things to Him
Had been but total and mere opposites:
It seemed as if all else had failed, that He
Alone might bear the pillars of the earth,
As if He were a rock too high for floods,
On which whoever builded built secure.

He had brought light into the world, and life

Into the valley of the shadow of death,
Where hope sat dumbly gazing on despair,
Stanching, if but she might, the wounds which truth
Had gotten at the traitor hand of greed,
While discord built its Babel-empire up
And preached that evil was a phase of good
And curse was misread blessing.

His voice had made faith possible once more,
And right, being possible; the spectral mists
Rolled off the earth, rolled off the face of heaven,
And the clouds changing, changed no whit the sun,
Which kept its ordered path amid them all,
Hidden or manifest; and which was cloud
Changeful, we knew, and which was changeless sun.

Earth stood revealed, as heaven alone reveals:
Its penury, its squalor, and its sin;
Its evil worse in evil, as the pure,
Rebuking light shone, undefilable,
Upon the surging of its yeasty sea,
Which chafing, hoarse and white-lipped, had its bound
From God, and broke in vain upon the shore.

No winter ray, upon the earth it fell
And kissed the tears of night from off its face,
And waked it with the gentle touch of Spring
Into new life, life out of death, which waked
Amid the murmur of a thousand tongues
Swelling into a harmony of son
From heaven’s sweet choristers. Earth’s spring had come,
Spring with her burst of life and leaf had come,
Her winter night had fled away forever.

And He, of all her deep-hid mysteries, He,
God’s dear Interpreter, Man amongst men,
Of lowly lowliest, of near most near,
Grief’s intimate, as come to be acquaint,
Love-sent, with all the sorrows He would heal,
The crown of thorns, which but of late He wore,
Was His in more than mockery_thorns which, plucked
Out of man’s pathway, were indeed His crown.

He called not for Elias:He who called
Only on God, His God; on God He called

The hearer and the answer of prayer;
The hope of all the righteous evermore,
The refuge and the shield of the oppressed,
The Rock of all that trust Him evermore;
Out of the dark, out of the inner dark
Upon His soul, He in His agony:
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"

2. Morning

The bitter night is past, the morn is come;
The morn for which earth’s forty centuries
Have waited on in hope, that, oft deferred,
Oft nigh to death, now out of death itself
New-born, has sprung up into life o’er which
Death has no more dominion. Over Him
It has no more:our hope, our life, our all
He has brought with Him out of death, and death
Henceforth has no dominion evermore.

Darkness is past, and the true light now shines;
The shadow on the face of God is gone_
Gone with the awful shadow of the cross:
The light is in His face come back from death,
Back from the tomb so impotently closed,
To tell us of our peace secured, and heaven,
His and His Father’s dwelling-place, our home.

And now as we look back from off the bank
Of Jordan’s waters, parted for our path,
To where lie midway the memorial stones
To which our Gilgal twelve upon the shore
Answer, as resurrection to the grave_
The new-risen Sun upon the clouds which are
Its late-left bed, sheds its transfiguring rays
Till all the night of sorrow is transformed
From formless chaos into order fair,
And in each tear an orb of beauty shines.

The Son of God is glorified, and God
Is glorified in Him. There where so late
Our faith o’ershadowed fainted, following Him,
And could not follow_there alone He stood
While on Him fell the flood of all our woes,
And on Him pressed the burden of our sins,

Self-made His own; and Wisdom’s counsel-plans
And Justice’ claims, and Love’s dear purposes
Freighted the Ark of our salvation as,
Outriding all our woes, it bare us in,
Into the haven of eternal rest.

That cry of anguish, hushed in joy forever,
Was but the travail pain of our new birth,
When out of human weakness power was born
In our behalf, and love came girded down
To endear itself by lowliest services;
In manhood gaining power for sacrifice,
And loving us from enmity into love.

But yet no vain display nor meaningless
The fury of that storm which o’er Him rolled,
To which the Father’s self must give His Son,
And which the Son of God perforce must suffer:
If He His harvest-sheaves would have from earth
The precious seed with weeping must be sown;
For sin had severed love from righteousness,
And stricken from its hand the power to save;
A righteous God awoke the heart to fear,
And not to worship; sin had changed the Lord
Our dear Creator to our Judge, and gift
We had not to appease, nor bribe to turn
The sentence Time was graving on our brows,
And sending down for sad Eternity
Sadly but unrepenting to confirm.

Death was our portion, darker than the grave,
Till into death the Shepherd of the sheep,
The Son of God and God-sent Son of man,
Stepped ‘mid the breathless silence of the heavens
With love stronger than death, with zeal for God
As altar-fire consuming even Himself;
And there the sword that pierced a mother’s heart
Reached unto His.

Reached, and made bare before the eye of God
While principalities and powers adored,
A human heart which only for Him moved,
Spring of a life which lived but by His word,
And where the flame of whole burnt-offering
Brought out but incense-savor unto God.

Nought was there there of blemish nor defect,
But piety that challenged answer_love
That gave fresh argument to love. He cried,
And He was heard; the love and glory of God
Broke through the bands of darkness and of death
And resurrection from the dead proclaimed
That God had found a ransom.

And righteousness and peace have kissed each other,
The just God is the Saviour, and upon
The sinner’s side, confessed but only that,
In every attribute united stands.
Grace reigns, and reigns through righteousness; and where
It had been death to approach, the atoning blood
Makes boldness but simplicity of faith.
A Father’s house, a Father’s tenderness,
A Father’s watchful eye upon our path_
His care, without whom not a sparrow falls,
And not a hair uncounted from our heads_
These are our joys, and these our songs of praise,
As on the lighted path that leads to God
We walk, amid the glory of His face,
Unclouded and unsetting, evermore
Past shadow, evermore!

Thus the night passes and the day abides;
Out of the womb of sorrow comes our joy:
The painful lessons of the school of time
Become the wisdom of eternity.

(By F.W. Grant (1834-1902) in Leaves from the Book.)