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Narrator
And they came to a place naméd Gethsemane.
And Jesus said to his disciples,
“Sit ye here, while I
shall pray.”
The Agony in the Garden
Jesus
Could ye not watch with me, one brief hour?
Could ye not pity my sorest need?
Ah! If ye sleep while the tempests lower,
Surely, My friends, I am 'lone indeed.
People
Jesu, Lord Jesu,
bowed in bitter anguish,
and bearing all the evil we have done!
Oh, teach us, teach us how to love Thee for Thy
love.
Help us to pray, and watch, and mourn with Thee.
Jesus
Could ye not watch with Me one brief hour?
Did ye not say upon Kedron's slope
ye would not fall into the Tempter's power?
Did ye not murmur great words of hope?
People
Jesu, Lord Jesu,
bowed in bitter anguish,
and bearing all the evil we have done!
Oh, teach us, teach us how to love Thee for Thy
love.
Help us to pray, and watch, and mourn with Thee.
Jesus
Could ye not watch with Me...? Even so,
willing in heart, but the flesh is vain.
Back to Mine agony I must go.
Lonely to pray in bitterest pain.
Narrator
And they laid their hands on him, and took him,
and led Him away to the high priest.
And the high priest asked him and said unto Him.
High Priest
Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
Narrator
Jesus said,
Jesus
I am and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven!
Narrator
Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith:
High Priest
What need we any further witnesses?
Ye have heard the blasphemy!
Narrator
And they all condemned him, to be guilty of death.
And they bound Jesus
and carried Him away
And delivered Him to Pilate.
And Pilate, willing to content the people,
Released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus,
When he had scourged Him, to be crucified.
And the soldiers led
Him away.
The Processional to Calvery
People
Fling wide the gates,
For the Saviour waits to tread in His royal way
He has come from above in His power and love, to
die on this Passion day.
Fling wide the gates!
The Saviour waits!
Fling wide the gates!
The Saviour waits to tread in His royal way
His cross is the sign
of the love divine
His crown is the thorn-wreath of woe
He lays is load on the sorrowful road
And bends 'neath the burden throne.
Fling wide the gates!
He waits! The Saviour waits!
Fling wide the gates,
for the Saviour waits to tread in His royal way.
He has come from above in His power and love, to
die on this Passion day –
To die on this
Passion day.
Narrator
How sweet is the grace of his sacred face?
And lovely beyond compare?
Though weary and worn
With the merciless scorn
Of a world He has come to spare.
The burden of wrong
That earth bears along,
Past evil and evil to be.
All Sins of Man,
Since the world began,
They are laid –
Dear Lord –
On Thee.
People
Then on to the end,
My God and my Friend,
With Thy Banner lifted high!
Thou art come from
above
In thy power and love,
To endure and suffer and die.
Fling wide the gates!
He waits! The Saviour waits!
Then on to the end,
My God and my Friend,
To suffer, endure, and die.
To suffer, endure,
and die.
Narrator
And when they had come to the place called Calvary
There they crucified Him – they crucified Him.
And the malefactors – one on the right, and the
other on the left.
Hymn – The Mystery of the Divine Humiliation
Cross of Jesus, cross
of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed,
Perfect Man on thee was tortured,
Perfect God on thee has bled!
Here the King of all
the ages,
Throned in light ere worlds could be,
Robed in mortal flesh is dying,
Crucified by sin for me.
From the “Holy, Holy,
Holy,
We adore Thee, O most High,”
Down to earth’s blaspheming voices
And the shout of “Crucify.”
Cross of Jesus, cross
of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed,
Perfect Man on thee did suffer,
Perfect God on thee has bled!
Narrator
He made Himself of no reputation, and took up on
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a
man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
death ev'n the death of cross.
The Majesty of the Divine Humiliation
Narrator - tenor
King ever glorious!
The dews of death are gathering round Thee,
Upon the cross Thy foes have bound Thee.
Thy strength is gone!
Not in Thy Majesty,
Robed in Heaven's supremest splendour
But in weakness and surrender,
Thou hangest here.
Who can be like Thee?
Pilate high in Zion dwelling?
Rome with arms the world compelling?
Proud though they be!
Thou art sublime!
Far more awful in Thy
weakness,
More than kingly in Thy meekness,
Thou, Son of God!
Glory, and honour -
Let the world divided and take them;
Crown its monarchs and unmake them -
But Thou -
Thou it reign!
Here in abasement
Crownless,
Poor,
Disrobed,
And bleeding:
There, in glory
interceding,
Thou art the King!
Thou art the King!
Bass solo
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
widerness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up: that whosoever believeth in Him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
Mankind
God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son in to the world to
condemn the world;
But that the world through Him might be saved.
God so loved world.
Hymn – Litany of the
Passion
Holy Jesu, by thy
passion,
By the woes which none can share,
Bourne in more than kingly fashion
By thy love beyond compare:
Crucified I turn to Thee,
Son of Mary, plead for me.
By the treachery and
trial,
By the blows and sore distress
By desertion and denial
by thine awful loneliness:
Crucified I turn to Thee,
Son of Mary, plead for me.
By the Spirit which
could render
Love for hate and good for ill,
By the mercy, sweet and tender,
Poured upon Thy murderers still:
Crucified I turn to Thee,
Son of Mary, plead for me.
Narrator
Jesus said,
Jesus
“ Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do.”
Duet
So Thou liftest Thy divine petition,
Pierc’d with cruel anguish through and through
So Thou grievest o’er our lost condition,
Pleading, “Ah, they know not what they do.”
Oh ‘twas love, in
love’s divinest feature,
Passing o’er that dark and murd’rous blot,
Finding e’en for each low fallen creature,
Tho’ they slay Thee, one redeeming spot.
Yes! And still Thy
patient heart is yearning
With a love that mortal scarce can bear.
Thou in pity deep, divine, and burning
Liftest e’en for me Thy mighty prayer.
So Thou pleadest,
e’en for my transgression,
Bidding me look up, and trust, and live;
So Thou mumurest Thine intercession,
Bidding me look up, and trust, and live;
So Thou pleadest,
Yea, he knew not,
For My sake forgive.
Continued in
next column (here)
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The Crucifixion was dedicated
to Stainer's friend and pupil William Hodge, and
the choir of Marylebone Parish Church in London.
Its first performance was as part of a series of
Lenten services, and this was the way Stainer
intended it to be performed. Like a great deal
of his music, it was designed for a purpose,
suited to the forces for which it was being
composed. He evidently found it difficult to
turn down requests for music from 'parson after
parson, who received them as being just what was
wanted'. The simplicity of the music in The
Crucifixion is perhaps an indication of the
limited capability of the Marylebone Church
choir - after all, many of Stainer's other works
display his skill in, for instance, fugue
writing, which is usually more demanding for a
choir to sing than the homophonic writing here.
Also, it is scored for organ accompaniment only.
Though much more modest, The
Crucifixion is modelled on Bach's Passion music,
and intended generally for parish church choirs.
While some of the writing is typically
sentimental 'Victoriana', there are moments of
true beauty and significant choral writing
skill, God be in my Head being a popular anthem
in its own right. The five hymns are samples of
some 170 hymns written by Stainer, Cross of
Jesus being one of his most beautiful. These are
a direct parallel with Bach's chorale movements
in his Passions, and are meant for
congregational participation.
As mentioned, the first
performance went down very well, but criticism
leveled at the work in later years has been
strong: 'Sparrow Simpson's appalling doggerel
set to Stainer's squalid music is a monument to
the inane.It is almost frightening that it
should remain so popular'.
Little is known about the
collaboration between librettist W.J. Sparrow
Simpson and Stainer. His father had worked with
Stainer as succentor at St Paul's and they
shared a mutual admiration. Stainer approached
his son and the request to write a libretto was
seized upon, although it is unclear when exactly
it was written. Sparrow Simpson, the younger,
was born in 1859 and graduated from Cambridge
with first-class honours in the Theological
Tripos. After ordination he was a curate at
Christ Church, Albany Street, (just down the
road from Marylebone Parish Church). It is
presumed he wrote The Crucifixion words during
this period. In 1888 he became vicar of the
church we perform in this evening, St Mark's
Regents Park. From 1904 until his death in 1952
he was chaplain of St Mary's hospital, Ilford.
He was an effective preacher and a scholar of
some repute; but to most (outside this church),
he will be remembered primarily for what is
reckoned to be some of his least successful
writing, the libretto of The Crucufixion.
Despite often being taken for
something it simply is not, The Crucifixion
remains a solid favourite in churches around the
country. Its simple melodiousness does nothing
to hamper its beauty, and those who dismiss it
fail to recognize its (arguably sometimes
patchy) worth, which is surely indicated by its
seasonal staying power. As a Passiontide
meditation it surely lives on, in the role for
which it was intended. The Crucifixion's
memorable tunes are a hit, and are here to stay.
Nick Roberts 2005
Lyrics
(continued from bottom of left hand column)
Hymn – The Mystery of Intercession
Jesus, the Crucified pleads for
me,
While he is nailed to the shameful tree,
Scorned and forsaken, derided and curst,
See how His enemies do their worst!
Yet, in the midst of the torture and shame,
Jesus, the Crucified, breathes my name!
Wonder of wonders, oh! How can it be?
Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me!
Jesus is dying in agony sore,
Jesus is suffering more and more,
Jesus is bowed with the eight of His woe,
Jesus is faint with each bitter throe,
Jesus is bearing itall in my stead,
Pity Incarnate for me has bled;
Wonder of wonders it ever must be!
Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me!
Narrator
And one of the malefactors which were hanged
railed on Him saying:
First Malefactor
“ If thou be the Christ save thyself and us.”
Narrator
But the other answering rebuked him, saying:
Second Malefactor
“ Dost not thou fear God seeing thou art in the
same condemnation? And
we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward
for our deeds: but this man has
done nothing amiss.”
Narrator
And he said unto Jesus:
Second Malefactor
“Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy
Kingdom.”
Narrator
And Jesus said unto him:
Jesus
“Verily I say to thee, today shalt thou be with
Me in Paradise.”
Hymn – The Adoration of the
Crucified
I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!
Glorious ere the world began;
Yet more wonderful Thou shinest,
Though divive, yet still divinest
In Thy dying love for man.
I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!
Thankful at Thy feet to be;
I have heard Thy accent thrilling,
Lo! I come, for Thou art willing
Me to pardon, even me.
I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!
Born of woman, yet Divine:
Stained with sins I kneel before Thee,
Sweetest Jesu, I implore Thee,
Make me ever only Thine.
Narrator
When Jesus therefore saw his Mother and the
diciples standing by, whom he loved; He saith
unto His Mother:
Jesus
“Woman! Behold thy son.”
Narrator
Then saith He to the diciples:
Jesus
“Behold thy mother!”
Narrator
There was darkness over all the earth.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried
with a loud voice, saying,
Jesus
“My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Jesus
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto
My sorrow.
Which is done unto Me,
Wherein the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of
His fierce anger.
The Appeal of the Crucified
People
From the Throne of His Cross, the King of grief
Cries out to a world of unbelief:
Oh men and wmen, afar and nigh,
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
I laid My eternal power aside, I
came from the Home of the Glorified,
A babe in the lowly cave to lie.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by?
I wept for the sorrows and pains
of men,
I healed them and helped them and loved them,
But then, they shouted against Me,
“ Crucify!”
Is it nothing to you?
Behold Me and see: pierced thro’
and thro’ with countless sorrows,
and all is for you;
For you I suffer, for you I die.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by?
Oh men and women your deeds of
shame,
Your sins without reason and number and name,
I bear them all on the Cross on high,
Is it nothing to you?
Is it nothing to you that I bow My
Head?
And nothing to you that My Blood is shed?
Oh! Perishing souls to you I cry,
Is it nothing to you?
O come unto Me, by the woes I have
borne,
By the dreadful scourge, and the crown of
thorns,
By these I implore you to hear My cry,
Is it nothing to you?
O come unto Me, this awful price,
Redemption’s tremendous sacrifice,
Is paid for you.
Oh! Why will ye die?
O come unto Me!
For why will ye die?
Come to Me.
Narrator
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished saith,
Jesus
I thirst.
Narrator
When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said,
Jesus
It is finished.
Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit.
Narrator
And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Hymn
All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
This our song shall ever be,
For we have no hope, nor Saviour,
If we have not hope in Thee!
All for Jesus Thou wilt give us
Strength to serve Thee, hour by hour;
None can move us from Thy presence,
While we trust Thy love and power.
All for Jesus! Thou hast loved us;
All for Jesus! Thou hast died;
All for Jesus! Thou art with us;
All for Jesus Crucified.
All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
This the Church's song must be
till, at last, her sons are gathered
one in love and one in Thee!
Amen.
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