Easter Day by John Keble

"Faith At The Cross"

 

EASTER DAY 
BY JOHN KEBLE

O Day of days! shall hearts set free.
No "minstrel rapture" find for thee?
Thou art the Sun of other days.
They shine by giving back thy rays:

Enthroned in thy sovereign sphere
Thou shed'st thy light on all the year:
Sundays by thee more glorious break,
An Easter Day in every week:

And week days, following in their train,
The fullness of thy blessing gain.
Till all, both resting and employ,
Be one Lord's day of holy joy.

Then wake, my soul, to high desires.
And earlier light thine altar fires:
The world some hours is on her way.
Nor thinks on thee, thou blessed day:

Or, if she thinks, it is in scorn:
The vernal light of Easter morn
To her dark gaze no brighter seems
Than Reason's or the Law's pale beams.

" Where is your Lord? " she scornful asks
"Where is his hire? we know his tasks;
Sons of a King ye boast to be:
Let us your crowns and treasures see."

We in the words of truth reply
(An angel brought them from the sky),
" Our crown, our treasure is not here,
'Tis stored above the highest sphere:

" Methinks your wisdom guides amiss,
To seek on earth a Christian's bliss;
We watch not now the lifeless stone:
Our only Lord is risen and gone."

Yet even the lifeless stone is dear
For thoughts of him who late lay here;
And the base world, now Christ hath died,
Ennobled is and glorified.

No more a charnel-house, to fence
The relics of lost innocence,
A vault of ruin and decay —
The imprisoning stone is rolled away.

'Tis now a cell where angels use
To come and go with heavenly news.
And in the ears of mourners say,
" Come, see the place where Jesus lay ":

'Tis now a fane, where love can find
Christ everywhere embalmed and shrined:
Aye gathering up memorials sweet
Where'er she sets her duteous feet.

Oh, joy to Mary first allowed.
When roused from weeping o'er his shroud,
By his own calm, soul-soothing tone,
Breathing her name, as still his own !

Joy to the faithful Three renewed.
As their glad errand they pursued!
Happy, who so Christ's word convey.
That he may meet them on their way!

So is it still: to holy tears,
In lonely hours, Christ risen appears;
In social hours, who would Christ see
Must turn all tasks to charity.

The Crown of Thorns

And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. Luke 22:43 

The Agony in the Garden, Antonio da Correggio, c. 1524

Under the dark shadows of the trees, amid the interrupted moonlight, it seems to the disciples that there is an angel with Him, who supports his failing strength, who enables Him to rise victorious from those first prayers with nothing but the crimson traces of that bitter struggle upon His brow. Correggio's "Agony in the Garden" is one of his most admired pictures. It is a triumph of chiaroscuro. The figure of the Christ us lighted from heaven, and the angel is illuminated by light reflected from Him. The angel points upwards with one hand, and with the other points to the cross and the crown of thorns which are lying on the ground.--Farrar.

An angel ministered to our Lord when in Gethsemane He wrestled with His great and bitter sorrow. What a benediction to the mighty Sufferer was in the soft gliding to His side of that gentle presence, in the touch of that soothing, supporting hand laid upon Him, in the comfort of that gentle voice thrilling with sympathy as it spoke its strengthening message of love! Was it a mere coincidence that just at that time and in that place the radiant messenger came? No, it is always so. Angels choose such occasions to pay their visits to men. --J. R. Miller, D. D.

But in the Olive Mount, by night appearing

'Midst the dim leaves, your holiest work was done.

Whose was the voice that came, divinely cheering,

Fraught with the breath of God, to aid His Son?

Haply of those that, on the moonlight plains,

Wafted good tidings unto Syrian swains.

--Felecia Dorothea Hemans.

'Tis midnight: and from ether-plains

Is borne the song that angels know;

Unheard by mortals are the strains

That sweetly soothe the Savior's woe.

--William B. Tappan.

God only, and good angels, look

Behind the blissful screen

As when, triumphant o'er His woes,

The Son of God by moonlight rose,

By all but heaven useen.

--Keble.

Not cloud was visible, but radiant wings

Were coming with a silvery rush to earth,

And as the Savior rose, a glorious one,

With an illuminated forehead, and the light,

Whose fountain is the mystery of God,

Encalm'd within his eye, bowed down to Him

And nerved Him with a ministry of strength.

--N. P. Willis.

And the wearied heart grows strong

As an angel strengthened Him,

Painting in the garden dim,

'Neath the world's vast woe and wrong.

--Johann Rist.

In the garden of Gethsemane,

They say an angel waits

To watch beside the stricken souls

That enter in the gates.

--Susie E. Best.