Christ — Life and Character

How beauteous were the marks divine

No. 302
Words A. Cleveland Coxe.
Singing key B♭ major
6 stanzas

Sung to SESSIONS (hymn 168)

Words

How beauteous were the marks divineThat in thy meekness used to shine,That lit thy path, O Son of God!The lonely path thy feet have trod.

Oh, who like thee, so calm, so mild,So patient, pure, and undefiled?Oh, who like thee did ever goSo sinless through a world of woe?

Oh, who like thee so humbly boreThe scorn, the scoffs of men, before?So meek, so lowly, yet so high,So glorious in humility?

A suffering life by thee was led;Thou hadst not where to lay thy head;And since, O Lord, 't was all for me,Shall I not gladly follow thee?

And death, that sets the prisoner free,Was pang, and scoff, and scorn to thee;Yet love through all thy torture glowed,And mercy with thy life-blood flowed.

O wondrous Lord, my soul would beStill more and more conformed to thee,And learn of thee, the lowly One,And like thee, all my journey run.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «302» (large) with the reference line «168, 223, 542.» in italics beside it (sing to the tune of hymn 168, 223 or 542), in the left column of p. 100 below the end of hymn 301 and «Isaac Watts.»; stanzas 1–4 in the left column, stanzas 5–6 at the top of the right column, then «A. Cleveland Coxe.» in italics. The first word «How» is set in ordinary capital and lower case (not in small capitals as in hymn 303). The stanza numbers are printed without a period («1» … «6»). The print sets a thin space before «!», «?» and «;» («God !», «undefiled ?», «woe ?», «before ?», «led ;», «head ;», «thee ?»); it is closed up here. The printer's curly apostrophe is written straight («'t was», with the space of the print). «life-blood» is hyphenated in mid-line in the print. No meter is printed (the text is L. M., like the referenced tunes). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.