Introduction
Words: Frank Sewall (1837–1915).
Music: William W. Gilchrist, from his cantata Easter Idyll, 1907 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know when this hymn was written,
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Words: Frank Sewall (1837–1915).
Music: William W. Gilchrist, from his cantata Easter Idyll, 1907 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know when this hymn was written,
O wonder amazing! At earth’s midnight hour
The ages are gazing in awe at its power;
The great secret telling, how anguish is stilled,
The evil dispelling: The Word is fulfilled.
O hearts that have carried your sorrows untold,
The Helper that tarried come here and behold!
What prophets have spoken the trial ensures,
By tortures unbroken ’tis love that endures.
O love, ceasing never, from thee what can part?
What height or depth sever from thy bleeding heart?
Now opens the portal, O blest Jesu mine!
Of mansions immortal, of mercy divine.