The Altar or, Meditations in Verse On The Great Christian Sacrifice By The Author of "The Cathedral," [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
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 | The Altar |  |
1.
“But it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”
The dreadful scene is o'er, the woe is past,
And closed in death; yet penitential grief
Clings to the silent Cross; nor seeks relief
Elsewhere but there alone; the sun o'ercast,
Which hid itself in sorrow, now at last
Looks forth again: but in one day so brief
What scenes crowd thick for prayer or calm belief!
Loaded with destinies the minutes haste,
And in one moment all is finishèd.
Man lives, the Giver of all life is dead:
Man by His dying lives, by living dies
To what in him was human, lives to God:
Sin dies and man revives; the serpent lies
Slain by God-Man on the extended rod.
| The Altar | |