The Darkness

O’er hill and vale and tem­ple proud

When Je­sus died for man

There hung in air a sa­ble shroud

To mark the bit­ter ban—

The ban of death on sin­ners laid

The dread­ful debt Em­ma­nu­el paid!

Well might the sun of na­ture hide

Its match­less lamp of light

And veil

while its cre­at­or died

All ra­di­an­cy in night:

How could the small­est star il­lume

The depth of such in­fer­nal gloom!

Oh! dire­ful dark­ness—un­al­loyed

Of hor­ror most pro­found—

Emblem of what the cross de­stroyed

And le­veled with the ground;

When

burst­ing through the reams of hell

It beamed with light in­ef­fa­ble!

Lord! by that dark­ness

from this soul

All dark­ness roll away—

Nor let a shade of sin con­trol

My pro­gress t’wards the day:

That day

with an un­cloud­ed sky

Of Heav’n—in full eter­ni­ty!