As you meditate on the biblical texts about Christ’s passion this week, consider also these two poems. Written by friends and published together in 1779, in quite different ways they bring out key biblical truths about the death of our Lord.<\/p>\n
“Jesus, Whose Blood So Freely Streamed” by William Cowper:<\/p>\n
Jesus, whose blood so freely streamed
\nTo satisfy the law\u2019s demand;
\nBy Thee from guilt and wrath redeemed,
\nBefore the Father\u2019s face I stand.<\/p>\n
To reconcile offending man,
\nMake Justice drop her angry rod;
\nWhat creature could have formed the plan,
\nOr who fulfill it but a God?<\/p>\n
No drop remains of all the curse,
\nFor wretches who deserved the whole;
\nNo arrows dipped in wrath to pierce
\nThe guilty, but returning soul.<\/p>\n
Peace by such means so dearly bought,
\nWhat rebel could have hoped to see?
\nPeace by his injured Sovereign wrought,
\nHis Sovereign fastened to a tree.<\/p>\n
Now, Lord, Thy feeble worm prepare!
\nFor strife with earth and hell begins;
\nConform and gird me for the war;
\nThey hate the soul that hates his sins.<\/p>\n
Let them in horrid league agree!
\nThey may assault, they may distress;
\nBut cannot quench Thy love to me,
\nNor rob me of the Lord my Peace.<\/p>\n
“In Evil Long I Took Delight” by John Newton:<\/p>\n
In evil long I took delight,
\nUnawed by shame or fear,
\nTill a new object struck my sight,
\nAnd stopp’d my wild career:<\/p>\n
I saw One hanging on a Tree
\nIn agonies and blood,
\nWho fix’d His languid eyes on me.
\nAs near His Cross I stood.<\/p>\n
Sure never till my latest breath,
\nCan I forget that look:
\nIt seem’d to charge me with His death,
\nThough not a word He spoke:<\/p>\n
My conscience felt and own’d the guilt,
\nAnd plunged me in despair:
\nI saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
\nAnd help’d to nail Him there.<\/p>\n
Alas! I knew not what I did!
\nBut now my tears are vain:
\nWhere shall my trembling soul be hid?
\nFor I the Lord have slain!<\/p>\n
–A second look He gave, which said,
\n“I freely all forgive;
\nThis blood is for thy ransom paid;
\nI die that thou may’st live.”<\/p>\n
Thus, while His death my sin displays
\nIn all its blackest hue,
\nSuch is the mystery of grace,
\nIt seals my pardon too.<\/p>\n
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
\nMy spirit now is fill’d,
\nThat I should such a life destroy,
\nYet live by Him I kill’d!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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