The Tempted Christ

With hunger wasted, and distress,

Behold Him in the wilderness,

The Christ who came to save and bless.

Alone! What solitude so drear!

And God’s own foe draws softly near

To whisper in His holy ear.

All present bribes of earth and sense

He brings to lure his victim thence;

Those white lips answer, “Get thee hence!”

What anguish hangs upon His brow;

His fainting limbs refuse to bow,

Jesus, all tempted, sinless Thou!

O Victor—Victim! Hear us call;

Low at Thy feet we sinners fall;

Our sins, Thy sorrows, us appall!

Those sins, our sins, Thy sorrows wrought;

Our guilt Thy awful conflict brought;

In Thee the foe our weakness fought.

Nor were Thy sufferings measured yet:

Thine agony and bloody sweat;

Thy cross whereon all sorrows met;

The torture and the mockery;

The desolation of that cry

That rent the earth and hid the sky.

Oh, one by one we tell Thy woes

That we may feel the bitter throes

Of grief the sinner only knows;

Thus, thus alone, to learn how vast

Thy love that counts our guilt o’erpast

To win and keep us Thine at last!