ALL hail! O glorious Son of God,
In triumph risen again—
All heaven resounds with joyful laud
The songs of ransomed men;
The mighty chains of death are riven,
The Risen Christ is throned in Heaven.
Before thee all the shining hosts
The mighty Angels bend;
Thy saved ones from a thousand coasts
Their psalms of victory blend—
I join that song so passing sweet,
I cast my crown before Thy Feet.
O joy! the second Adam stands
Within God's Paradise—
No longer barred by flaming brands
The shining pathway lies—
Within, the glorious Head has passed;
Each member must be there at last.
Behind us lie the cross and grave,
Before, eternal bliss;
There blossoms from the garden cave
The Tree of Righteousness,
The Face that shame and spitting bore
Is crowned with radiance evermore.
With Mary, O my Lord, I bow
In rapture at Thy Feet;
In spirit humbly kiss them now
And soon in presence sweet;
My name upon Thy lips divine
The lips that tell me "Thou art mine.”
Thou livest far from earthly strife
In God's eternal peace—
And there with Thee is hid my life,
And there my wanderings cease;
The secret place where still and blest
I rest in Thine eternal rest.
G. Ter Steegen.