By CHR. WORDSWORTH, D.D., Bishop of Lincoln, died 1885. From his Hymns for the Holy Year, London, 1862, p. 129. Verses 6, 7, and 10 (a doxology) are omitted.
EE, the Conqueror mounts in triumph,
See the King in royal state,
Riding on the clouds His chariot,
To His heavenly palace-gate;
Hark, the choirs of angel-voices
Joyful Hallelujahs sing!
And the portals high are lifted,
To receive their heavenly King.
Who is this that comes in glory,
With the trump of Jubilee?
LORD of battles, GOD of armies,
He has gained the victory;
He who on the cross did suffer,
He who from the grave arose,
He has vanquished sin and Satan,
He by death has spoiled His foes.
Now our heavenly Aaron enters,
With His blood within the veil ;
Joshua now is come to Canaan,
And the kings before Him quail;
Now He plants the tribes of Israel
In their promised resting-place;
Now our great Elijah offers
Double portion of His grace.
Thou hast raised our human nature
On the clouds to God's right hand;
There we sit in heavenly places,
There with Thee in glory stand;
JESUS reigns, adored by angels;
Man with GOD is on the throne;
Mighty LORD, in Thine Ascension
We by faith behold our own.
Lift us up from earth to heaven,
Give us wings of faith and love,
Gales of holy aspirations
Wafting us to realms above;
That, with hearts and minds uplifted,
We with CHRIST our LORD may dwell,
Where He sits enthroned in glory
In the heavenly citadel.
So at last, when He appeareth,
We from out our graves may spring,
With our youth renewed like eagles',
Flocking round our heavenly King,
Caught up on the clouds of heaven,
And may meet Him in the air,
Rise to realms where He is reigning,
And may reign for ever there.
HE IS GONE; BEYOND THE SKIES.
A. P. STANLEY, D.D., Dean of Westminster, born at Alderley, 1815, died at Westminster, 1881. Now printed in full from a MS. copy presented by the author in 1869.
E is gone-beyond the skies,
A cloud receives Him from our eyes:
Gone beyond the highest height
Of mortal gaze or angel's flight:
Through the veils of time and space,
Passed into the holiest place:
All the toil, the sorrow done,
All the battle fought and won.
And our hearts within us burn;
Olivet no more shall greet
With welcome shout His coming feet:
Never shall we track Him more
On Gennesareth's glistening shore:
Never in that look or voice
Shall Zion's walls again rejoice.
He is gone and we remain
In this world of sin and pain:
In the void which He has left,
On this earth, of Him bereft,
We have still His work to do,
We can still His path pursue:
Seek Him both in friend or foe,
In ourselves His image show.
HE IS GONE; BEYOND THE SKIES.
"Good that I should go away;
Gone is that dear form and face,
But not gone His present grace;
Tho' Himself no more we see,
Comfortless we cannot be —
No! His Spirit still is ours,
Quickening, freshening all our powers.
He is gone towards their goal,
World and church must onward roll;
Far behind we leave the past;
Forward are our glances cast:
Still His words before us range
Through the ages, as they change:
Wheresoe'er the truth shall lead,
He will give whate'er we need.
He is gone but we once more
Shall behold Him as before,
In the heaven of heavens the same
As on earth He went and came.
In the many mansions there,
Place for us He will prepare:
In that world, unseen, unknown,
He and we may yet be one.
He is gone - but, not in vain,
Wait, until He comes again:
He is risen, He is not here;
Far above this earthly sphere:
Evermore in heart and mind,
Where our peace in Him we find,
To our own Eternal Friend,
Thitherward let us ascend.
SING, O HEAVENS! O EARTH, REJOICE!
By JOHN S. B. MONSELL, LL.D. From his Hymns of Love and Praise, 1863.
ING, O Heavens! O Earth, rejoice!
Angel harp and human voice,
Round Him, as He rises, raise
Your ascending Saviour's praise:
Hallelujah!
Bruised is the serpent's head,
Hell is vanquished, Death is dead;
And to Christ, gone up on high
Captive is captivity :
Hallelujah!
All His work and warfare done,
He into His heaven is gone,
And, beside His Father's throne,
Now is pleading for His own:
Hallelujah!
Asking gifts for sinful men,
That He may come down again,
And, the fallen to restore,
In them dwell for evermore:
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