Once through this world of sorrows a lonely Stranger trod -
An outcast in a manger—that One the Son of God.
Though Lord of all creation—of earth, and skies above -
For us became incarnate, that we might know His love.
Down from those heights of glory to this dark world of sin,
He trod life's rugged pathway, the sinner's heart to win.
By enemies surrounded, He trod that path alone
From Bethlehem to Calvary, from Calvary to the throne.
He grew from child to manhood; God's will was His delight;
God's word His meditation by day as well as night.
His words were words of kindness; His acts were acts of love;
He glorified His Father who sent Him from above.
But ah, this world despised Him, and nailed Him to a tree,
Rejected, slew, and hanged Him upon Mount Calvary.
And thus His path was ended—that path of doing good -
Begun in Bethlehem's manger, closed on a cross of wood.
O ever blessed Saviour, Thou dearest Friend to me,
I'm longing for that moment when I Thy face shall see,
When with Thee and like Thee ever, at Thy blest feet I fall,
And through eternal ages Thy blessed path recall.
To know in all its fullness Thy wondrous love to me,
Far deeper, deeper, deeper than the deepest, deepest sea,
To hear Thy welcome summons, on earth no more to stay,
To prove Thy love forever through one eternal day.