by Elisabeth Charles, 1828–96
1 Never further than Thy cross, never higher than Thy feet; here earth's precious things seem dross, here earth's bitter things grow sweet. 2 Gazing thus our sin we see, learn Thy love while gazing thus; sin which laid the cross on Thee, love which bore the cross for us. 3 Here we learn to serve and give, and, rejoicing, self deny; here we gather love to live, here we gather faith to die. 4 Symbols of our liberty and our service here unite; captives, by Thy cross set free, soldiers of Thy cross, we fight. 5 Pressing onwards as we can, still to this our hearts must tend; where our earliest hopes began, there our last aspirings end. 6 Till amid the hosts of light we, in Thee redeemed, complete, through Thy cross made pure and white, cast our crowns before Thy feet. Amen.
SIDEBAR
Holy Week
This hymn was posted as an aid to meditation for Holy Week 2010
< next (Tuesday) | 2010 | next (Maunday Thursday) >
All the hymns chosen focus our thoughts on the cross of Christ, which is the only thing in which a Christian may boast (Galatians 6:14). They remind us of our sin, the reason for Christ's death. But they point us forward to his coming in glory, the hope of heaven. We need both the backward look to Calvary lest we forget our purification from our former sins (2 Peter 1:9), and the forward look to glory that motivates us to purify ourselves, just as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3).
