'Twas for thy sake, eternal God

'Twas for thy sake, eternal God,
Thy Son sustained that heavy load
Of base reproach and sore disgrace,
And shame defiled his sacred face.

The Jews, his brethren and his kin,
Abused the Man that checked their sin;
While he fulfilled thy holy laws,
They hate him, but without a cause.

"My Father's house," said he, "was made
A place for worship, not for trade:"
Then scatt'ring all their gold and brass
He scourged the merchants from the place.

Zeal for the temple of his God
Consumed his life, exposed his blood;
Reproaches at thy glory thrown
He felt, and mourned them as his own.

His friends forsook, his followers fled,
While foes and arms surround his head;
They curse him with a sland'rous tongue,
And the false judge maintains the wrong.

His life they load with hateful lies,
And charge his lips with blasphemies;
They nail him to the shameful tree:
There hung the Man that died for me.

Wretches with hearts as hard as stones
Insult his piety and groans;
Gall was the food they gave him there,
And mocked his thirst with vinegar.

But God beheld, and from his throne
Marks out the men that hate his Son;
The hand that raised him from the dead,
Shall pour the vengeance on their head.