CHRIST’S grave is vacant now,
Left for the throne above;
His cross asserts God’s right to bless,
In His own boundless love.
‘Twas there the blood was shed,
‘Twas there the life was pour’d,
There mercy gain’d her diadem,
While justice sheath’d her sword.
And thence the child of faith
Sees judgment all gone by,
Perceives the sentence fully met,
“The soul that sins shall die;”—
Learns how that God in love
Gave Christ the sins to bear
Of all who own His Lordship now,
That they His place might share;—
And cries with wondering joy, “As He is so am I,
Pure, holy, loved as Christ Himself, —
Who shall my peace destroy?”
Reach my blest Savior first,
Take Him from God’s esteem,
Prove Jesus bears one spot of sin,
Then tell me I’m unclean!
Nay! for He purged my guilt
By His own precious blood,
And such its virtue, not a stain
E’er meets the eye of God.