At midnight (saith the Parable) A cry was made, the Bridegroom came; Those who were ready entered in: The rest, shut out in death and shame, Strove all too late that Feast to win, Their die was cast, and fixed their lot; 30 A gulf divided Heaven from Hell; The Bridegroom said--I know you not. But Who is this that shuts the door, And saith--I know you not--to them? I see the wounded hands and side, The brow thorn-tortured long ago: Yea; This Who grieved and bled and died, This same is He Who must condemn; He called, but they refused to know; So now He hears their cry no more. 40 'BEFORE THE PALING OF THE STARS' (_Lyra Messianica_, 1864.) Before the paling of the stars, Before the winter morn, Before the earliest cockcrow Jesus Christ was born: Born in a stable, Cradled in a manger, In the world His hands had made Born a stranger. Priest and king lay fast asleep In Jerusalem, 10 Young and old lay fast asleep In crowded Bethlehem: Saint and Angel, ox and ass, Kept a watch together, Before the Christmas daybreak In the winter weather. Jesus on His Mother's breast In the stable cold, Spotless Lamb of God was He, Shepherd of the fold: 20 Let us kneel with Mary maid, With Joseph bent and hoary, With Saint and Angel, ox and ass, To hail the King of Glory. EASTER EVEN (_Lyra Messianica_, 1864.) There is nothing more that they can do For all their rage and boast; Caiaphas with his blaspheming crew, Herod with his host, Pontius Pilate in his Judgement-hall Judging their Judge and his, Or he who led them all and passed them all, Arch-Judas with his kiss. The sepulchre made sure with ponderous Stone, Seal that same stone, O Priest; 10 It may be thou shalt block the holy One From rising in the east: Set a watch about the sepulchre To watch on pain of death; They must hold fast the stone if One should stir And shake it from beneath. God Almighty, He can break a seal And roll away a Stone, Can grind the proud in dust who would not kneel, And crush the mighty one. 20 * * * * * * * There is nothing more that they can do For all their passionate care, Those who sit in dust, the blessed few, And weep and rend their hair: Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, The Virgin unreproved, Joseph, with Nicodemus, foremost men, And John the Well-beloved, Bring your finest linen and your spice, Swathe the sacred Dead, 30 Bind with careful hands and piteous eyes The napkin round His head; Lay Him in the garden-rock to rest; Rest you the Sabbath length: The Sun that went down crimson in the west Shall rise renewed in strength.