Part 17
3. Thus, with Thy blessing on each hand, Will peace and plenty fill the land And righteousness spring from the earth And life below have higher worth.
4. All praise to Thee, O King of kings, Whose grace to us such blessings brings; Thee, with the Father, we adore, And Holy Ghost, forevermore.
Anon.
301
7s 6 l
What our Father does is well: Blessed truth His children tell! Though He send, for plenty, want, Though the harvest-store be scant, Yet we rest upon His love, Seeking better things above.
2. What our Father does is well: Shall the wilful heart rebel If a blessing He withhold In the field or in the fold? Is He not Himself to be All our store eternally?
3. What our Father does is well: Though He sadden hill and dell, Upward yet our praises rise For the strength His Word supplies. He has called us sons of God; Can we murmur at His rod?
4. What our Father does is well: May the thought within us dwell; Though nor milk nor honey flow In our barren Canaan now, God can save us in our need, God can bless us, God can feed.
5. Therefore unto Him we raise Hymns of glory, songs of praise. To the Father and the Son And the Spirit, Three in One, Honor, might, and glory be Now and through eternity.
B. Schmolck, 1720; H. W. Baker, tr., 1861.
302
C. M.
Lord, while for all mankind we pray, Of every clime and coast, Oh, hear us for our native land, The land we love the most!
2. Oh, guard our shores from every foe, With peace our borders bless, With prosperous times our cities crown, Our fields with plenteousness!
3. Unite us in the sacred love Of knowledge, truth, and Thee; And let our hills and valleys shout The songs of liberty.
4. Here may religion, pure and mild, Smile on our Sabbath hours And piety and virtue bless The home of us and ours.
5. Lord of the nations, thus to Thee Our country we commend; Be Thou her Refuge and her Trust, Her everlasting Friend.
John R. Wreford, 1837.
303
C. M.
Almighty Lord, before Thy throne Thy mourning people bend; ’Tis on Thy grace in Christ alone Our failing hopes depend.
2. Dark judgments from Thy heavy hand Thy dreadful power display; Yet mercy spares our guilty land, And still we live to pray.
3. How changed, alas! are truths divine For error, guilt, and shame! What impious numbers, bold in sin, Disgrace the Christian name!
4. O turn us, turn us, mighty Lord! Convert us by Thy grace; Then shall our hearts obey Thy Word And see again Thy face.
5. Then, should oppressing foes invade, We will not yield to fear, Secure of all-sufficient aid, When God in Christ is near.
Anne Steele, † 1778.
304
6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8 (H. M.)
To Thee, our God, we fly For mercy and for grace; Oh, hear our lowly cry And hide not Thou Thy face! O Lord, stretch forth Thy mighty hand And guard and bless our Fatherland.
2. Arise, O Lord of hosts, Be jealous for Thy name, And drive from out our coasts The sins that put to shame. O Lord, stretch forth Thy mighty hand And guard and bless our Fatherland.
3. Thy best gifts from on high In rich abundance pour That we may magnify And praise Thee more and more. O Lord, stretch forth Thy mighty hand And guard and bless our Fatherland.
4. The powers ordained by Thee With heavenly wisdom bless; May they Thy servants be And rule in righteousness. O Lord, stretch forth Thy mighty hand And guard and bless our Fatherland.
5. The Church of Thy dear Son Inflame with love’s pure fire; Bind her once more in one And life and truth inspire. O Lord, stretch forth Thy mighty hand And guard and bless our Fatherland.
W. W. How, 1871.
305
6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 6, 4
God bless our native land! Firm may she ever stand Through storm and night; When the wild tempests rave, Ruler of wind and wave, Do Thou our country save By Thy great might!
2. For her our prayer shall rise To God above the skies; On Him we wait: Thou, who art ever nigh, Guarding with watchful eye, To Thee aloud we cry, God save the State!
C. T. Brooks, 1834; J. S. Dwight, 1844.
FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION.
306
L. M. 6 l
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
2. When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
3. His oath, His covenant, and blood Support me in the sinking flood; When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
4. When I shall launch to worlds unseen, Oh, may I then be found in Him, Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne! On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
Edward Mote, 1836.
307
C. M.
Lord, we confess our numerous faults, How great our guilt has been: Foolish and vain were all our thoughts, And all our lives were sin.
2. But, O my soul, forever praise, Forever love, His name, Who turns thy feet from dangerous ways Of folly, sin, and shame.
3. ’Tis not by works of righteousness Which our own hands have done, But we are saved by love and grace Abounding through His Son.
4. ’Tis from the mercy of our God That all our hopes begin; ’Tis by the Water and the Blood Our souls are washed from sin.
5. ’Tis through the purchase of His death Who hung upon the tree The Spirit is sent down to breathe On such dry bones as we.
6. Raised from the dead, we live anew; And justified by grace, We shall appear in glory too And see our Father’s face.
Isaac Watts, 1709.
308
C. M.
All that I was, my sin, my guilt, My death, was all my own; All that I am, I owe to Thee, My gracious God, alone.
2. The evil of my former state Was mine, and only mine; The good in which I now rejoice Is Thine, and only Thine.
3. The darkness of my former state, The bondage, all was mine; The light of life in which I walk, The liberty, is Thine.
4. Thy grace first made me feel my sin, It taught me to believe; Then, in believing, peace I found, And now I live, I live!
5. All that I am, e’en here on earth, All that I hope to be When Jesus comes and glory dawns, I owe it, Lord, to Thee.
H. Bonar, 1853.
309
L. M.
Blest is the man, forever blest, Whose guilt is pardoned by his God, Whose sins with sorrow are confessed And covered with his Savior’s blood.
2. Blest is the man to whom the Lord Imputes not his iniquities; He pleads no merit of reward And not on works, but grace relies.
3. From guile his heart and lips are free, His humble joy, his holy fear, With deep repentance well agree And join to prove his faith sincere.
4. How glorious is that righteousness That hides and cancels all his sins, While a bright evidence of grace Through his whole life appears and shines!
Isaac Watts, 1719.
310
8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7
Dear Christians, one and all rejoice, With exultation springing And with united heart and voice And holy rapture singing. Tell how our God beheld our need And sing His sweet and wondrous deed; Right dearly it hath cost Him.
2. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay, Death brooded darkly o’er me, My sin oppressed me night and day, Therein my mother bore me; And ever deeper yet I fell, Life had become a living hell, So firmly sin possessed me.
3. My good works could avail me naught, For they with sin were stainèd; Free will against God’s judgment fought And dead to good remainèd; Grief drove me to despair, and I Had nothing left me but to die, To hell I fast was sinking.
4. Then God beheld my wretched state With deep commiseration; He thought upon His mercy great And willed my soul’s salvation; He turned to me a Father’s heart— Not small the cost!—to heal my smart, He gave His best and dearest.
5. He spake to His beloved Son: “’Tis time to have compassion; Then go, My heart’s most Precious One, And bring to man salvation; From sin and sorrow set him free, Slay bitter death for him that he May live with Thee forever.”
6. The Son His Father did obey, And, born of virgin mother, He came a while on earth to stay That He might be my Brother. His mighty power He hidden bore, A servant’s form like mine He wore To lead the devil captive.
7. He spake to me: “Hold fast by Me, I am thy Rock and Castle; I wholly give Myself for thee, For thee I strive and wrestle; For I am thine, and thou art Mine, Henceforth My place is also thine; The foe shall never part us.
8. “The foe shall shed My precious blood, Me of My life bereaving. All this I suffer for thy good; Be steadfast and believing. Life shall from death the victory win, Mine innocence shall bear thy sin, So art thou blest forever.
9. “Now to My Father I depart, From earth to heaven ascending, Thence heavenly wisdom to impart, The Holy Spirit sending; He shall in trouble comfort thee, Teach thee to know and follow Me, Into all truth shall guide thee.
10. “What I have done and taught do thou To do and teach endeavor; So shall My kingdom flourish now And God be praised forever. Take heed lest men with base alloy The heavenly treasure should destroy; This counsel I bequeath thee.”
Martin Luther, 1523.
311
9, 8, 9, 8, 8, 8
By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless! My heart, believ’st thou this or not? Why tremblest thou with terror groundless? Has Scripture e’er a falsehood taught? Then this word also true must be: By grace there is a crown for thee.
2. By grace! Our works are all rejected, All claims of merit pass for naught; The mighty Savior, long expected, To us this blissful truth has brought, That He by death redeems our race And we are saved alone by grace.
3. By grace! Mark well these words’ true meaning, When thou dost sorrow sin-opprest. When Satan tempts with pride o’erweening, When troubled conscience sighs for rest. What reason cannot comprehend It pleases God by grace to send.
4. By grace His Son, on earth appearing, Vouchsafed beneath thy woe to bend; Hadst thou, damnation justly fearing, Done aught to render Him thy Friend? Was’t not that He thy welfare sought And but by grace deliverance wrought?
5. By grace! This ground of our salvation, As long as God is true, endures; What saints have penned by inspiration, What God by His own Word assures, What all our faith must rest upon, Is grace, free grace, through His dear Son.
6. By grace! But think not, thou who livest Securely on in godless ways, That thou—though all are called—receivest The promised rest that wakes our praise. By grace none find in heaven a place Who live in sin in hope of grace.
7. By grace! They who have heard this sentence Must all hypocrisy forego; For only after deep repentance Can any soul this treasure know; To sin free grace a trifle seems, To faith it bright with glory beams.
8. By grace the timid hearts that languish Find access to the Father’s heart, When conflicts fierce and bitter anguish Bid all their joy and hopes depart. Where ofttimes should I strength obtain, Did grace my anchor not remain!
9. By grace! On this in death I’ll rest me, Rejoicing e’en though feeling naught; I know my sin,—it oft oppressed me,— But Him, too, who salvation brought. My heart exults, grief flees apace, Because my soul is saved by grace.
10. By grace! May sin and Satan hearken! I bear my flag of faith in hand And pass—for doubts my joy can’t darken— The Red Sea to the Promised Land. I cling to what my Savior taught And trust it, whether felt or not.
C. L. Scheidt, 1742; M. Loy, tr., a.
312
9, 8, 9, 8, 8, 8
Now I have found the sure foundation Where evermore my anchor grounds. It lay there ere the world’s creation, Where else but in my Savior’s wounds? Foundation, which unmoved shall stay When earth and heaven pass away.
2. It is that mercy never-ending, Which all conception far transcends, Of Him who, with love’s arms extending, To wretched sinners condescends; Whose heart with pity still doth break Whether we seek Him or forsake.
3. Our ruin God has not intended, Salvation He would fain bestow; For this His Son to earth descended And then to heaven again did go; For this so loudly evermore He knocketh at our heart’s closed door.
4. O depth of love, in which, past finding, My sins through Christ’s blood disappear; This is for wounds the safest binding, There is no condemnation here; For Jesus’ blood through earth and skies Forever Mercy! Mercy! cries.
5. I never will forget this crying, In faith I’ll trust it all my days, And when o’er all my sins I’m sighing, I towards my Father’s heart will gaze; For there is always to be found Free mercy without end and bound.
6. Though I be robbed of every pleasure That soul and body can make glad, Bereft of every earthly treasure, Forlorn, forsaken, lone, and sad,— However far His help may be, His mercy yet is left to me.
7. Though earthly cares and want oppress me And cause me sorrow and regret That things so vain can still distress me And give me so much trouble yet, Though I am bowed down to the dust, Still in His mercy I will trust.
8. Though in the best of all my actions, In works that are admired the most, I must perceive great imperfections, I surely have no right to boast; Yet this sweet comfort doth abide: In mercy only I confide.
9. Be it with me as He is willing, Whose mercy is a boundless sea; May He Himself my heart be stilling That this may ne’er forgotten be; Then it will rest, in joy and woe, On mercy while it beats below.
10. On this foundation I unshrinking Will stand while I on earth remain; This shall engage my acting, thinking, While I the breath of life retain; Then I will sing eternally, Unfathomed Mercy, still of Thee.
J. A. Rothe, † 1758.
313
L. M.
Who shall the Lord’s elect condemn? ’Tis God who justifies their souls, And mercy, like a mighty stream, O’er all their sins divinely rolls.
2. He lives! He lives! and sits above, Forever interceding there: Who shall divide us from His love, Or what should tempt us to despair?
3. Shall persecution or distress, Famine or sword or nakedness? He who hath loved us bears us through And makes us more than conquerors too.
4. Not all that men on earth can do, Nor powers on high nor powers below, Shall cause His mercy to remove Or wean our hearts from Christ, our Love.
Isaac Watts, 1707, a.
314
8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7
Salvation unto us has come By God’s free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom, They help and save us never: Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is the Mediator.
2. What God doth in His Law demand No man to Him can render, And so He draws His flaming brand To punish the offender: Our flesh has not those pure desires Which first of all the Law requires,— We are in condemnation.
3. It was a false, misleading dream That God His Law had given For us to keep and merit claim And earn our way to heaven. God’s Law is but a mirror bright To bring the inbred sin to sight That lurks within our nature.
4. By our own strength to put aside God’s wrath and win His blessing Is useless task, by many tried, Is only guilt increasing. For God hypocrisy abhors; Flesh with the spirit ever wars, For ’tis by nature evil.
5. And yet the Law fulfilled must be, Or we were lost forever; Therefore God sent His Son that He Might us from death deliver; He all the Law for us fulfilled And thus His Father’s anger stilled Which over us impended.
6. Since Christ hath full atonement made And brought to us salvation, Each Christian therefore may be glad And build on this foundation. Thy grace alone, dear Lord, I plead. Thy death my life now is indeed, For Thou hast paid my ransom.
7. Not doubting this, I trust in Thee, Thy Word cannot be broken; Thou all dost call, “Come unto Me!” No falsehood hast Thou spoken. “He that believes and is baptized, He shall be saved,” say’st Thou, O Christ, “And he shall never perish.”
8. He’s just ’fore God, and he alone, Who by this faith is living; This faith will by good works be known, To God the glory giving. Faith gives thee peace with God above, But thou thy neighbor, too, wilt love If thou art a new creature.
9. The Law reveals the guilt of sin And makes man conscience-stricken; The Gospel then doth enter in The sinful soul to quicken. Come to the Cross, trust Christ and live; The Law to you no peace can give With all its good endeavors.
10. From faith in Christ, whene’er ’tis right, Good works are surely flowing; The faith is dead that shuns the light, No good works ever showing. By faith alone the just shall live, Good works alone the proof can give Of love, which true faith worketh.
Paul Speratus, 1523, abr. Composite tr. 1910.
315
7s 6 l
Blessed are the sons of God, They are bought with Christ’s own blood; They are ransomed from the grave, Life eternal they shall have. With them numbered may we be Here and in eternity!
2. They are justified by grace, They enjoy the Savior’s peace; All their sins are washed away, They shall stand in God’s great Day. With them numbered may we be Here and in eternity!
3. They are lights upon the earth, Children of a heavenly birth; One with God, with Jesus one, Glory is in them begun. With them numbered may we be Here and in eternity!
J. Humphreys, 1743.
316
8, 8, 6, 8, 8, 6 (C. P. M.)
I do not come because my soul Is free from sin and pure and whole, And worthy of Thy grace; I do not speak to Thee because I’ve ever justly kept Thy laws And dare to meet Thy face.
2. I know that sin and guilt combine To reign o’er every thought of mine And turn from good to ill; I know that when I try to be Upright and just and true to Thee, I am a sinner still.
3. I know that often when I strive To keep a spark of love alive For Thee, the powers within Leap up in unsubmissive might And oft benumb my sense of right And pull me back to sin.
4. I know that, though in doing good I spend my life, I never could Atone for all I’ve done; But though my sins are black as night, I dare to come before Thy sight Because I trust Thy Son.
5. In Him alone my trust I place, Come boldly to Thy throne of grace, And there commune with Thee. Salvation sure, O Lord, is mine, And, all unworthy, I am Thine, For Jesus died for me.
F. B. St. John, 1878.
317
8, 7, 7, 8, 7, 7
O how great is Thy compassion, Faithful Father, God of grace, That upon our wretchedness, That upon man’s sinful station Thou took’st pity, so that we Might be saved eternally!
2. Thy great love for this hath striven That man from all pain shall free And forever blessed be. Yea, Thy Son Himself hath given And extends an earnest call To His Supper unto all.
3. And for this our soul’s salvation Voucheth Thy good Spirit, Lord, In Thy Sacraments and Word; He doth prosper Thy vocation, Granteth us the gift of faith That we fear nor hell nor death.
4. Lord, Thy mercy will not leave me,— Truth doth evermore abide,— Then in Thee I will confide; Since Thy Word cannot deceive me, My salvation is to me Well assured eternally.
5. I will praise Thy great compassion, Faithful Father, God of grace, That upon my wretchedness, That upon my sinful station Thou took’st pity graciously; Evermore be praise to Thee!
J. Olearius, 1671; A. Crull, tr.
318
L. M.
Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
2. Just as I am and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot, To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
3. Just as I am, though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
4. Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, Yea, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
5. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
6. Just as I am, Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down; Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Charlotte Elliott, 1836, a.
319
S. M.
Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.
2. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away; A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they.
3. My faith would lay her hand On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand And there confess my sin.
4. My soul looks back to see The burdens Thou didst bear When hanging on the cursed tree, And knows her guilt was there.
5. Believing, we rejoice To see the curse remove; We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice And sing His bleeding love.
Isaac Watts, 1709.
320
S. M.
Not what these hands have done Can save this guilty soul; Not what this toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.
2. Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God; Not all my prayers and sighs and tears Can bear my awful load.