119. O Head! Once Full of Bruises

7,6.
by Bernard of Clairvaux
1
O Head! once full of bruises,
 
So full of pain and scorn,
 
Mid other sore abuses
 
Mocked with a crown of thorn;
 
O Head! e’en now surrounded
 
With brightest majesty,
 
In death once bowed and wounded
 
On the accursèd tree.
2
Thou Countenance transcendent!
 
Thou life-creating Sun!
 
To worlds on Thee dependent — 
 
Yet bruised and spit upon:
 
O Lord! what Thee tormented
 
Was our sin’s heavy load,
 
We had the debt augmented
 
Which Thou didst pay in blood.
“Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands.” (Matthew 26:67)
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
3
We give Thee thanks unfeignèd,
 
O Savior! Friend in need,
 
For what Thy soul sustainèd
 
When Thou for us didst bleed;
 
Grant us to lean unshaken
 
Upon Thy faithfulness;
 
Until to glory taken,
 
We see Thee face to face.
“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)
“And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4)
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Little Flock Hymnbook Index