216
MEDIÆVAL HYMNS.
For, if He had never died,
What could thee and all betide
But uttermost damnation?
If thus He bled, that Only Son
The Father held so dearly,
Thou wicked servant, faithless one,
O how much more severely!
If the green wood kindled, how
Shall not every sapless bough
Consume as fuel merely!
O mortal! heed these terrors well!
O sinner, flee from sinning!
Consider thou the woes of hell,
Ne'er ending, still beginning:
Bender thanks to Christ on high:
Thus with Him beyond the sky
Eternal glory winning. Amen.
[Inserted in Hymns Ancient and Modern, with the alteration of the two trochaic into iambic lines; an improvement on the original metre.]
