The Choir and The Oratory or Praise and Prayer. By Josiah Conder |
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 | The Choir and The Oratory |  |
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IV.
“Woman, behold thy Son!”....“Behold thy Mother!”—John xix. 26, 27.
Not the contempt of the blind Pharisee,
The mockery of the sensual and the proud;
Not the perverseness of the fickle crowd,
Nor the rude soldier's heartless ribaldry;—
Not these the bitterest anguish caused to Thee,
Most loving Lord! But, to be disavowed
By coward fear with imprecations loud,
By all deserted,—this was agony.
O Love Divine, that did not then withdraw,
Dying for treacherous friends and murderous foes!
Mindful of others only, 'mid the throes
Of torturing death! For from the cross he saw
That weeping groupe, and spake: “Thou faithful one,
Behold thy Mother—Mother, lo! thy Son!”
| The Choir and The Oratory | |