Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/127

And seers would mourn on Sion's hill
   Their Lord's averted face.

Vainly they tried the deeps to sound
   E'en of their own prophetic thought,
When of Christ crucified and crowned
   His Spirit in them taught:

But He their aching gaze repressed,
   Which sought behind the veil to see,
For not without us fully blest
   Or perfect might they be.

The rays of the Almighty's face
   No sinner's eye might then receive;
Only the meekest man found grace
   To see His skirts and live.

But we as in a glass espy
   The glory of His countenance,
Not in a whirlwind hurrying by
   The too presumptuous glance,

But with mild radiance every hour,
   From our dear Saviour's face benign
Bent on us with transforming power,
   Till we, too, faintly shine.

Sprinkled with His atoning blood
   Safely before our God we stand,
As on the rock the Prophet stood,
   Beneath His shadowing hand. -

Blessed eyes, which see the things we see!
   And yet this tree of life hath proved
To many a soul a poison tree,
   Beheld, and not beloved.

So like an angel's is our bliss
   (Oh! thought to comfort and appal)
It needs must bring, if used amiss,
   An angel's hopeless fall.