Monday, July 23, 2007

Beneath the Cross of Jesus

This hymn is in honor of Mary Magdalene who kept vigil "beneath the cross of Jesus" during the Crucifixion, and posted now because yesterday, July 22, is her feast day on the Church calendar.

This hymn was written in 1868 by Elizabeth C. Clephane, and published posthumously in 1872 in the "Family Treasury", a Scottish Presbyterian magazine. The editor introduced the hymn with the following: "These lines express the experiences, the hopes and longings of a young Christian lately released. Written on the very edge of life, with the better land fully in view of faith......".

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Verse 1:
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand----
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.
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Verse 2:
O safe and happy shelter
O refuge tried and sweet.
O trysting place where
Heaven's love and Heaven's justice meet!
As to the holy patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior's cross to me,
A ladder up to Heaven.
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Verse 3:
Upon the cross of Jesus
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart with tears
Two wonders I confess----
The wonders of redeeming love
And my unworthiness.
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Verse 4:
I take, O cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine
Than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the Cross.
AMEN
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