W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.

Good Friday

Joseph Anstice (1808–1836)

“But He was wounded for our transgressions.”—ISAIAH LIII. 5.

DARKLY rose the guilty morning

When, the King of glory scorning,

Raged the fierce Jerusalem;

See the Christ, His Cross up-bearing,

See Him stricken, spit on, wearing

The thorn-plaited diadem!

Not the crowd whose cries assail’d Him,

Not the hands that rudely nail’d Him,

Slew Him on the cursed tree;

Ours, the sin, from Heaven that call’d Him,

Ours, the sin, whose burden gall’d Him,

In the green Gethsemane!

For our sins, of glory emptied,

He was fasting, lone, and tempted,

He was slain on Calvary;

Yet He for His murderers pleaded,

Lord! by us that prayer is needed,

We have pierc’d, yet trust in Thee.

In our wealth and tribulation,

By Thy precious cross and passion,

By Thy blood and agony;

By Thy glorious resurrection,

By Thy Holy Ghost’s protection,

Make us Thine eternally!

‘And with His stripes we are healed.”—ISAIAH LIII. 5.