He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Isaiah 53:3
Words: Arthur P. Stanley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, December 1872.
Music: Jordan Joseph Barnby, 1872 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Hymn for Advent. The accompanying hymn is offered as a sequel to the two which have already appeared in this Magazine, April 1870 [incorrect; was June 1862], on the Ascension, and the Transfiguration [April 1870].
The first four stanzas run parallel to the Gospels of the four Sundays in Advent, and the two last on the Gospels and Epistles for Christmas.
Arthur Stanley
The Lord is come! On Syrian soil,
The child of poverty and toil;
The Man of Sorrows, born to know
Each varying shade of human woe:
His joy, His glory, to fulfill,
In earth and Heav’n, His Father’s will;
On lonely mount, by festive board,
On bitter cross, despised, adored.
The Lord is come! In Him we trace
The fullness of God’s truth and grace;
Throughout those words and acts divine
Gleams of th’eternal splendor shine;
And from His inmost Spirit flow,
As from a height of sunlit snow,
The rivers of perennial life,
To heal and sweeten nature’s strife.
The Lord is come! In every heart
Where truth and mercy claim apart;
In every land where right is might,
And deeds of darkness shun the light;
In every church where faith and love
Lift earthward thoughts to things above;
In every holy, happy home,
We bless Thee, Lord, that Thou hast come.