SOFT CLOUD, THAT, WHILE THE BREEZE. 329 Till resting by th' incarnate LORD, Once bleeding, now triumphant for my sake, The sun and every vassal star, All space, beyond the soar of angel wings, He listens to the silent tear, For all the anthems of the boundless sky, Nay, gracious Saviour; but as now Our thoughts have traced Thee to Thy glory throne, We must not stand to gaze too long, Though on unfolding Heaven our gaze we bend, Where, lost behind the bright angelic throng, We see CHRIST's entering triumph slow ascend. No fear but we shall soon behold, Faster than now it fades, that gleam revive, Then shall we see Thee as Thou art, LAMB, THE ONCE CRUCIFIED! (Lamm, das gelitten, und Löwe, der sicgreich gerungen.) From the German of Mrs. Dr. META HEUSSER-SCHWEIZER, the most gifted and sweetest of female poets in the German tongue; born, 1797, at Hirzel, near Zurich, Switzerland, where she resided in modest retirement, died 1876. This truly sublime hymn is the second part of a larger hymn composed in spring, 1831, and has passed into several German hymn-books (SCHAFF, Nos. 149 and 388). Translated, April, 1868, at the request of the editor, by the Rev. Professor THOMAS C. PORTer, of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., who has successfully overcome the unusual difficulties of the German dactylic metre (adapted to the favorite choral, "Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren"). Albert Knapp has edited a collection of poems of Mrs. H., under the title Lieder einer Verborgenen, Leipzig, 1858; a second collection, under her proper name, appeared 1867. They are apples of gold in baskets of silver, and exhibit a rare union of lofty genius and humble piety. A selection of her poems, translated by Miss JANE BORTHWICK under the title of Alpine Lyrics, appeared 1875. LAMB, the once crucified! Lion, by triumph surrounded! Victim all bloody, and Hero, who hell hast confounded! Pain-riven Heart, That from earth's deadliest smart O'er all the heavens hast bounded!! 1 The first stanza is truly classical in thought and expression, but almost untranslatable: T LAMB, THE ONCE CRUCIFIED! 331 Thou in the depths wert to mortals the highest revealing, God in humanity veiled, Thy full glory concealing! "Worthy art Thou!" Shouteth eternity now, Praise to Thee endlessly pealing. Heavenly Love, in the language of earth past expression! Lord of all worlds, unto whom every tongue owes confession! Didst Thou not go, And, under sentence of woe, Rescue the doomed by transgression? O'er the abyss of the grave, and its horrors infernal, Victory's palm Thou art waving in triumph supernal: Who to Thee cling, Circled by hope, shall now bring Out of its gulf life eternal. "Lamm, das gelitten, und Löwe, der siegreich gerungen ! Blutendes Opfer, und Held, der die Hölle bezwungen! Brechendes Herz, Das sich aus irdischem Schmerz Ueber die Himmel geschwungen!" The whole range of German poetry furnishes no finer specimen of dactylic versification. What sublime contrasts, and what noble language! Son of Man, Saviour, in whom, with deep tender ness blending, Infinite Pity to wretches her balm is extending, Weary and numb, they may rest, Quickened to joy never ending. Strange condescension! immaculate Purity, deigning Union with souls where the vilest pollution is reign ing, Beareth their sin, Seeketh the fallen to win, Even the lowest regaining. Sweetly persuasive, to me, too, Thy call has re sounded; Melting my heart so obdurate, Thy love has abounded; Back to the fold, Led by Thy hand, I behold Grace all my path has surrounded. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul! who, thy pardon assuring, Heals thy diseases, and grants thee new life ever during, Joy amid woe, Peace amid strife here below, Unto thee ever securing. LAMB, THE ONCE CRUCIFIED! 333 Upward, on pinions celestial, to regions of pleasure, Into the land whose bright glories no mortal can measure, Strong hope and love Bear Thee, the fulness to prove Of Thy salvation's rich treasure. There, as He is, we shall view Him, with rapture abiding, Cheered even here by His glance, when the darkness dividing Lets down a ray, Over the perilous way Thousands of wanderers guiding. Join, O my voice! the vast chorus, with trembling emotion: Chorus of saints, who, though sundered by land and by ocean, With sweet accord Praise the same glorious Lord, One in their ceaseless devotion. Break forth, O nature! in song, when the spring tide is nighest; World that hast seen His salvation, no longer thou sighest! |