Part I.
FATHER of highest majesty,
Remember all thy love,
That gave this wretched world thy Son
From thy bright throne above;
Down from the seat of Godhead sent
To this poor place of banishment!
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Remember Jesus Christ, to Thee
Coequal though begot,
Took on Himself a servantâs form.
When born in lowly cot,
And Circumcisionâs law of sin
Obeyâd, our ruinâd souls to win!
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Remember how, when He was born,
And on mean straw was laid,
From distant East the royal three
Him mystic honor paid;
And aged Simeonâs prophecy, â
His Motherâs sword when he should die!
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Remember Herod, who his God
Like criminal pursued,
Sad mothers of their babes bereft
In day that Rama rued;
The anguish that his parents wrought
The hours their truant Son they sought.
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Remember, Father meek, the thirst,
The hunger, cold, and heat,
That weighâd upon his mortal Frame,
And wore his weary Feet:
His faintness through long toiling hours,
Each day exposed to winds and showârs!
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Remember all the pains that He
Endured in laborâs round,
To teach thy ways to little ones,
Who in them wisdom found:
The sick relieved, till eveningâs close,
His nights of prayer denied repose!
Part II.
Remember how their Master knelt
At his disciplesâ feet,
And washing them, a lesson taught
For loveâs sweet service meet:
How, all devoted to their good,
He gave Himself to be their food!
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Remember all his sorrow, when
He in the garden prayâd,
The grief, the anguish, and the dread,
Upon his spirit laid;
Was ever agony so sore,
That sweated Blood from evâry pore!
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Remember by what treachârous craft,
And soldiersâ armâd array,
With meekest look that gentle Lamb
Was led in cords away;
Like doer vile of envious wrong,
Draggâd prisâner by the guards along!
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Remember, Jesus blindfold stood,
Mid fierce and cruel bands,
Who, mocking, bade Him prophesy,
And struck with impious hands;
How buffeted He lay forlorn,
Stretchâd on the pavement, bruised and torn!
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Remember what a crown they pressâd
Upon his sacred Head, â
That Head, which evâry gift enfolds,
With thorny cincture bled;
How spit on, strippâd, with scourges flayâd,
In purple robe He stood arrayâd!
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Remember how He walkâd despised,
In modest robe of white,
By naughty men accused for naught,
His bounty to requite;
How they deliverâd the unjust
Barabbas, and condemnâd the Just!
Part III.
Remember what a weight the Cross
Upon His shoulder lay,
So vast the crime of all the world,
The load He bore away:
How impious men the Cross upon
Nailâd ruthlessly the guiltless One!
Remember, He, like helpless worm,
Not man, was raised on high,
Mark for each finger, left as one
No pity claimâd, to die:
Like one accurst, with anguish wrung,
Unconquerâd conquâror, thus He hung!
Remember how thy Heaven-sent Son
Burnâd with devouring zeal,
And all our shame endured, that He
Our shameful guilt might heal:
Of Motherâs love, how great the grief,
To see her Son past all relief!
Remember with what wondrous love
The robber He received,
Blest partner of his Passion made,
Its power who believed!
His cup of vinegar and gall, â
The dregs of woe, He drank them all!
Remember all his fluttering dread,
Of comfort when bereft,
âWhy thus, my God,â the Saviour cried,
âForsaken am I left?â
How shook the earth, day turnâd to night,
When from the world death took its Light!
Remember what a gory stream
Burst from her dear Sonâs Heart,
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