Once, Only Once

Once

on­ly once

and once for all

His pre­cious life He gave;

Before the cross in faith we fall

And own it strong to save.

One off’ring

sin­gle and com­plete

With lips and hearts we say;

But what He nev­er can re­peat

He shows forth day by day.

For as the priest of Aar­on’s line

Within the ho­li­est stood

And sprin­kled all the mer­cy shrine

With sac­ri­fi­cial blood;

So He

who once atone­ment wrought

Our priest of end­less pow­er

Presents Him­self for those He bought

In that dark noon­tide hour.

His man­hood pleads where now it lives

On Heav­en’s eter­nal throne

And where in mys­tic rite He gives

Its pre­sence to His own.

And so we show Thy death

O Lord

Till Thou again ap­pear

And feel

when we ap­proach Thy board

We have an al­tar here.