Sovereign Grace Church

Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words

(DEUTERONOMY 33:3)

And why did He love them? Because He foreknew

That the people He chose would be loyal and true?

Or was there more native integrity found

In Israel of old than the nations around?

O no! They were rebels, corrupt from their birth;

The Lord they forsook for the gods of the earth.

Although by His bounty protected and fed,

They left Him, and bow’d down to demons instead.

I often have wonder’d their hearts were so base;

Yet find in myself the same desperate case.

No cause for His goodness and mercy to me,

Through the whole of my life to this hour can I see.

My sins, since He brought me to trust in His name,

And grievous backslidings, o’erwhelm me with shame;
And had He not loved for some reason unknown,

My hope, in despair, would have long been o’erthrown.

Adored be the Father, the fountain of grace,

Who gave all His chosen a name and a place

In the church of the Firstborn, and loved them so well,

That He sent His own Son to redeem them from hell.

And blessings for ever ascribe to the Lamb!

By grace and free favour I am what I am!

The price of my pardon He paid with His blood,

And gave me His Spirit to bring me to God.

Before the round world on its axis was hung,

Or the morning stars their first anthem had sung,

His people were loved; and they ever shall be

The loved of His heart, for no changes knows He.

Rejoice, then, believers! For [the Lord] Jesus is yours;

The covenant of peace your salvation secures.

The work of eternal redemption is done, 

Commenced and completed by [Christ] Jesus alone.

—W.S.R. (Written in 1869)