His Cross a Ladder

How desperately we try to build
     A ladder to the sky—
To heaven storm by our self-will
     And in the end we die.

When we at last abandon all
     And ask for grace to see,
Our eyes behold a ladder tall;
     To it we bend our knee.

For ladder is a Cross with Him
     Who came to all us save;
He’s for us born in Bethlehem—
     With Cross descends to grave.

And when He rises with His Cross,
     A ladder it becomes
To save the world that we had lost,
     And our sin is undone.

Then on His back He each one lifts
     With Him to ladder climb,
And we receive the greatest gift
     As earth and heaven rhyme.