It is my Saviour’s sufferings
My song will now proclaim,
That High King’s life of humbleness
In birth and death of shame;
The miracle most wonderful
That e’er to men was told:
God who was from eternity—
An infant born behold!
The poet then rehearses in tender and mellifluous strains the more suggestive events of the Lord’s earthly life, and ends in a few verses of extreme beauty, pathos, and simplicity, detailing the agonizing circumstances of His death and crucifixion. The air to which the hymn is usually sung is very pretty and plaintive, and is a great favourite in the Highlands. At a time when living Gospel preaching was far from general, the rehearsal of this and other similar productions on Sunday in many humble Highland homes, helped to keep alive the flame of spiritual life.
The next is the greatest of his poems or hymns—The Day of Judgment. The poet begins in his usual Scriptural simple style, but as he proceeds the treatment and the language become elevated and majestic. We seem to see the dramatis personæ acting their gorgeous parts on the canvass of the poet’s grand conceptions. The verses beginning with “’N sin fàsaidh rudhadh anns an speur,” are regarded as very sublime. But there is no translation of this poem that will convey anything like a fair impression of the original. The following verses may give some idea of the manner of the poem:—