Glory to God! We Were in Bitter Need

Glory to God! We were in bit­ter need

We sat in dark­ness long and wea­ry days;

But now our light is come

the Light in­deed

And we may rise and shine with kin­dred rays;

The God-Man comes down so we can now as­cend

The Guilt­less drinks guilt’s woes to work their end.

O mys­tic gift of God Om­ni­po­tent!

O hap­pi­ness for man

most deep

most dear!

This is no theme for sub­tle ar­gu­ment

No lore of earth hath lot or por­tion here;

That the Great God should so abas­èd be—

We speak

we can­not search

the mys­te­ry.

The dew of God is on the parch­èd fleece

The sap­less rod blooms with im­mor­tal flow­ers

The vir­gin bears a Son

our ut­ter peace

Nor knows pol­lu­tion in her tra­vail’s hours;

We can­not speak that birth

but we con­fess

Most great the mys­te­ry of god­li­ness.

Though it may chance the ship­men toil and row

With count­less wrecks far strewn on ei­ther hand

They see a star ab­ove the wa­ters glow

There is an ark which sights the plea­sant land;

There is a door of life set wide

which none

Can op­en to lorn souls

can shut

save One.

O not with ob­ser­va­tion came He then

Into our world

but soon the day shall be

When with great glo­ry He shall come again

With all His saints

and ev­ery eye shall see

Him whom they pierc­èd. When we meet Thee thus

Let there be mer­cy

O our God

on us.