On Our Saviour’s Passion is a sacred song for voice and basso continuo with a text by Francis Quarles. It was first published in 1688.
On
Our
Saviour’s
Passion
The
Earth
trembled,
and
Heav’n’s
clos’d
Eye
Was
loth
to
see
the
Lord
of
Glory
die;
The
Sky
was
clad
in
Mourning,
and
the
Spheres
Forgot
their
harmony;
the
Clouds
drop’d
Tears:
Th’ambitious
Dead
arose
to
give
him
room,
And
ev’ry
Grave
did
gape
to
be
his
Tomb.
Th’affrighted
Heav’ns
sent
down
Elegious
Thunder;
The
World’s
Foundation
loos’d
to
lose
its
Founder.
Th’impatient
Temple
rent
her
Veil
in
two,
To
teach
our
Hearts
what
our
sad
Hearts
should
do.
Can
senseless
things
do
this,
and
shall
not
I
Melt
one
poor
drop,
to
see
my
Saviour
die?
Drill
forth
my
Tears,
and
trickle
one
by
one,
‘Till
you
have
pierc’d
this
Heart
of
mine,
this
Stone.
–Francis
Quarles
(1688)