Jesus, the Father's son, bound in a mighty plan, Retired full oft in God, show'd not His mind to man; Nor their great matters high His human lips confess; He will His wonders work, and not make plain, but bless. The bournes of His wide way kept secret from all thought, Enring'd the outmost waste that evil power had wrought; His measure none can take, His strife we are not shown, Nor if He gathered then more sheaves than earth hath grown. "John, from the Christ of God, an answer for all time," The proof of Sonship given in characters sublime; Sad hope will He make firm, and fainting faith restore, But yet with mortal eyes will see His face no more. He bow'd His sacred head to exigence austere, Unknown to us and dark, first piercings of the spear: And to each martyr since 'tis even as if He said, "Verily I am He--I live, and I was dead. "The All-wise found a way--a dark way--dread, unknown; I chose it, will'd it Mine, seal'd for My feet alone; Thou canst not therein walk, yet thou hast part in Me, I will not break thy bonds, but I am bound with thee. "With thee and for thee bound, with thee and for thee given, A mystery seal'd from hell, and wonder'd at in heaven; I send thee rest at heart to love, and still believe; But not for thee--nor Me--is found from death reprieve." THOU HAST BEEN ALWAY GOOD TO ME. "_He doeth all things well._" Thou hast been alway good to me and mine Since our first father by transgression fell. Through all Thy sorest judgments love doth shine-- Lord, of a truth, Thou doest all things well. Thou didst the food of immortality Compass with flame, lest he thereto should win. But what? his doom, yet eating of that tree, Had been immortal life of shame and sin! I would not last immortal in such wise; Desirèd death, not life, is now my song. Through death shall I go back to Paradise, And sin no more--Sweet death, tarry not long! One did prevail that closèd gate to unseal, Where yet th' immortalizing tree doth grow; He shall there meet us, and once more reveal The fruit of life, where crime is not, nor woe. THOU THAT SLEEPEST NOT AFRAID. "_Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light_." Thou that sleepest not afraid, Men and angels thee upbraid; Rise, cry, cry to God aloud, Ere the swift hours weave thy shroud: O, for Jesus' sake, Wake! Thee full ill doth it beseem Through the dark to drowse and dream; In the dead-time of the night Here is One can give thee light: O, for Jesus' sake, Wake! The year passeth--it and all God shall take and shall let fall Soon, into the whelming sea Of His wide eternity: O, for Jesus' sake, Wake! Noiseless as the flakes of snow The last moments falter and go; The time-angel sent this way Sweeps them like a drift away: O, for Jesus' sake, Wake!