Hymn #98.
This hymn first appeared in the 1881 Little Flock hymn book. It was not in the 1856 edition of G. V. Wigram. Miss Thompson went to gaze more fully on the Lord in glory about the year 1909. Her poems were published then under the title of “Songs of Praise.” She had long resided at Clapham, England, with a Miss E.J. Elwood who was also a writer of hymns. This is all we could learn of this saint of God at this time.
We read in Ephesians 4:9-109(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:9‑10), “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.” How touchingly and beautifully does hymn 98 express these truths! How at the remembrance of the Savior on Lord’s Day morning have we been solemnly impressed by this hymn! It gives the depths of His sufferings as now answered to by the present heights of glory to which the Son of God in manhood is now exalted. Where could we find “lower parts of the earth” than at the cross and in the death of Christ, the Lord of glory?
“Gazing on the Lord in glory,
While our hearts in worship bow,
There we read the wondrous story
Of the cross—its shame and woe.
“Every mark of dark dishonor
Heaped upon the thorn-crowned brow,
All the depths of Thy heart’s sorrow
Told in answering glory now.
“Did Thy God e’en then forsake Thee,
Hide His face from Thy deep need?
In Thy face once marred and smitten
All His glory now we read.
“Rise our hearts, and bless the Father,
Ceaseless song e’en here begun.
Endless praise and adoration
To the Father and the Son.”