The Gospel Stated

530 Justification by Faith, not by works 1 VAIN are the hopes the sons of men On their own works have built; Their hearts by nature are unclean, And all their actions guilt.

2 Let Jew and Gentile stop their mouths Without a murmuring word; And the whole race of Adam stand Guilty before the Lord.

3 In vain we ask God's righteous law To justify us now;

Since to convince and to condemn, Is all the law can do.

4 Jesus, how glorious is Thy grace! When in Thy name we trust, Our faith receives a righteousness That makes the sinner just.

Isaac Watts, 1709.

531 The Gospel worthy of all Acceptation 1 JESUS, th' eternal Son of God, Whom seraphim obey, The bosom of the Father leaves, And enters human clay.

2 Into our sinful world He comes, The Messenger of grace, And on the bloody tree expires, A victim in our place.

3 Transgressors of the deepest stain In Him salvation find: His blood removes the foulest guilt, His Spirit heals the mind.

4 That Jesus saves from sin and hell, Is truth divinely sure; And on this rock our faith may rest Immovably secure.

6 Oh let these tidings be received With universal joy, And let the high angelic praise Our tuneful powers employ!

6 "Glory to God who gave His Son To bear our shame and pain;

Hence peace on earth, and grace to men, In endless blessings reign."

Thomas Gibbons, 1769.

532 Himself He could not save 1 HIMSELF He could not save, He on the cross must die, Or mercy cannot come To ruin'd sinners nigh;

Yes, Christ, the Son of God, must bleed, That sinners might from sin be freed.

2 Himself He could not save, For justice must be done; And sin's full weight must fall Upon a sinless one; For nothing less can God accept, In payment for the fearful debt.

3 Himself He could not save, For He the surety stood For all who now rely Upon His precious blood;

He bore the penalty of guilt, When on the cross His blood was split.

4 Himself He could not save, Yet now a Saviour He:

Come, sinner, to Him come, He waits to welcome thee;

Believe in Him, and thou shalt prove His saving power, His deathless love.

Albert Midlane, 1865.

533 Faith conquering 1 THE moment a sinner believes, And trusts in his crucified God, His pardon at once he receives, Redemption in full through His blood;

Though thousands and thousands of foes Against him in malice unite, Their rage he through Christ can oppose Led forth by the Spirit to fight.

2 The faith that unites to the Lamb, And brings such salvation as this, Is more than mere notion or name: The work of God's Spirit it is; A principle, active and young, That lives under pressure and load; That makes out of weakness more strong And draws the soul upward to God.

3 It treads on the world, and on hell;

It vanquishes death and despair; And what is still stranger to tell, It overcomes heaven by prayer;

Permits a vile worm of the dust With God to commune as a friend; To hope His forgiveness as just, And look for His love to the end.

4 It says to the mountains, Depart, That stand betwixt God and the soul;

It binds up the broken in heart, And makes wounded consciences whole;

Bids sins of a crimson-like dye Be spotless as snow, and as white, And makes such a sinner as I As pure as an angel of light.

Joseph Hart, 1759.

534 The Work is done 1 CHRIST has done the mighty work;

Nothing left for us to do, But to enter on His toil, Enter on His triumph too.

2 He has sow'd the precious seed, Nothing left for us unsown:

Ours it is to reap the fields, Make the harvest joy our own.

3 His the pardon, ours the sin—

Great the sin, the pardon great; His the good and ours the ill, His the love and ours the hate.

4 Ours the darkness and the gloom, His the shade-dispelling light:

Ours the cloud and His the sun, His the day-spring, ours the night.

5 His the labour, ours the rest, His the death and ours the life:

Ours the fruits of victory, His the agony and strife.

Horatius Bonar, 1856

535 Believe and live

1 WHEN the Saviour said "'Tis finish'd,"

Every thing was fully done;

Done as God himself would have it—

Christ the victory fully won.

Vain and futile the endeavour To improve or add thereto;

God's free grace is thus commended— To "believe," and not "to do."

2 All the doing is completed, Now 'tis "look, believe, and live:"

None can purchase His salvation, Life's a gift that God must give;

Grace, through righteousness, is reigning, Not of works, lest man should boast:

Man must take the mercy freely, Or eternally be lost.

Albert Midlane, 1862.

536

Substitution.

1 SURELY Christ thy griefs hath borne, Weeping soul, no longer mourn;

View Him bleeding on the tree, Pouring out His life for thee:

There thy every sin He bore;

Weeping soul, lament no more.

2 Cast thy guilty soul on Him, Find Him mighty to redeem; At His feet thy burden lay;

Look thy doubts and cares away;

Now by faith the Son embrace;

Plead His promise, trust His grace.

3 Lord, Thy arm must be reveal'd, Ere I can by faith be heal'd;

Since I scarce can look to Thee, Cast a gracious eye on me! At Thy feet myself I lay;

Shine, oh shine my fears away!

Augustus M. Toplady, 1759.

537 "Jesus only"

1 WHEN wounded sore the stricken soul Lies bleeding and unbound, One only hand, a pierced hand, Can salve the sinner's wound.

2 When sorrow swells the laden breast, And tears of anguish flow, One only heart, a broken heart, Can feel the sinner's woe.

3 When penitence has wept in rain Over some foul dark spot, One only stream, a stream of blood, Can wash away the blot.

4 'Tis Jesus' blood that washes white, His hand that brings relief, His heart that's touch'd with all our joys, And feeleth for our grief.

5 Lift up Thy bleeding hand, O Lord;

Unseal that cleansing tide;

We have no shelter from our sin, But in Thy wounded side.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1858.

538 The Life-Look

1 THERE is life for a look at the Crucified One;

There is life at this moment for thee;

Then look, sinner—look unto Him, and be saved—

Unto Him who was nail'd to the tree.

2 It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers. But the blood that atones for the soul: On Him, then, who shed it, believing at once Thy weight of iniquities roll.

3 His anguish of soul on the cross hast thou seen? His cry of distress hast thou heard?

Then why, if the terrors of wrath He endured, Should pardon to thee be deferr'd?

4 We are heal'd by His stripes;—wouldst thou add to the word? And He is our righteousness made: The best robe of heaven He bids thee put on:

Oh! couldst thou be better array'd?

5 Then doubt not thy welcome, since God has declared, There remaineth no more to be done; That once in the end of the world He appear'd, And completed the work He begun.

6 But take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once The life everlasting He gives: And know, with assurance, thou never canst die, Since Jesus, thy righteousness, lives.

7 There is life for a look at the Crucified One;

There is life at this moment for thee:

Then look, sinner—look unto Him and be saved, And know thyself spotless as He.

Amelia Matilda Hull, 1860

539 The Brazen Serpent

1 SO did the Hebrew prophet raise The brazen serpent high; The wounded felt immediate ease, The camp forbore to die.

2 "Look upward in the dying hour, And live," the prophet cries: But Christ performs a nobler cure When faith lifts up her eyes.

3 High on the cross the Saviour hung, High in the heavens He reigns;

Here sinners, by th' old serpent stung, Look, and forget their pains.

4 When God's own Son is lifted up, A dying world revives: The Jew beholds the glorious hope, The expiring Gentile lives.

Isaac Watts, 1709

540 "What must I do to be Saved?"

1 NOTHING, either great or small, Nothing, sinner, no;

Jesus did it, did it all,

Long, long ago.

2 When He from His lofty throne, Stoop'd to do and die, Everything was fully done:

Hearken to His cry:—

3 "It is finish'd!" Yes, indeed, Finish'd every jot:

Sinner, this is all you need, Tell me, is it not?

4 Weary, working, plodding one, Why toil you so?

Cease your doing; all was done

Long, long ago.

5 Till to Jesus' work you cling By a simple faith, "Doing" is a deadly thing, "Doing" ends in death.

6 Oast your deadly "doing" down, Down at Jesus' feet, Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete!

James Procter, 1858

541

Grace is free

1 GRACE! how good, how cheap, how free;

Grace how easy to be found!

Only let your misery In the Saviour's blood be drown'd!

2 Wishful lie before His throne:

Say, "I never will be gone, Never, till my suit's obtain'd, Never, till the blessing's gain'd."

Count Zinzendorf, 1736. tr. by Charles Kinchin, 1742

542 Why those fears?

1 WHY those fears, poor trembling sinner?

Why those anxious, gloomy fears?

Doubts and fears can never save thee, Life is never won by tears;

'Tis believing, Which the soul to Christ endears.

2 Tears, though flowing like a river, Never can one son efface;

Jesus' tears would not avail thee—

Blood alone can meet thy case;

Fly to Jesus!

Life is found in His embrace.

3 Songs of triumph then resounding, From thy happy lips shall flow; In the knowledge of salvation, Thou true happiness shalt know.

Look to Jesus!

He alone can life bestow.

Albert Midlane, 1865.

543 Hope for Sinners.

1 SINNER, where is room for doubting? Has not Jesus died for sin? Did He not in resurrection Victory over Satan win?

2 Hear Him on the cross exclaiming—

"It is finish'd," ere He died;

See Him in His mercy saving One there hanging by His side.

3 'Twas for sinners that He suffer'd Agonies unspeakable;

Canst thou doubt thou art a sinner?

If thou canst—then hope farewell.

4 But, believing what is written—

"All are guilty"—"dead in sin,"

Looking to the Crucified One Hope shall rise thy soul within.

5 Hope and peace, and joy unfailing, Through the Saviour's precious blood, All thy crimson sins forgiven, And thy soul brought nigh to God.

Albert Midlane, 1862.

544 Mercy for the Guilty 1 MERCY is welcome news indeed To those that guilty stand;

Wretches, that feel what help they need, Will bless the helping hand.

2 Who rightly would his alms dispose Must give them to the poor;

None but the wounded patient knows The comforts of his cure.

3 We all have sinn'd against our God, Exception none can boast; But he that feels the heaviest load Will prize forgiveness most.

4 No reckoning can we rightly keep, For who the sums can know?

Some souls are fifty pieces deep, And some five hundred owe.

5 But let our debts be what they may, However great or small, As soon as we have nought to pay, Our Lord forgives us all.

6 'Tis perfect poverty alone That sets the soul at large;

While we can call one mite our own, We have no full discharge.

Joseph Hart, 1759.

545 Just as thou art 1 JUST as thou art, without one trace Of love, or joy, or inward grace, Or meetness for the heavenly place, O guilty sinner, come!

2 Thy sins I bore on Calvary's tree! The stripes, thy due, were laid on Me, That peace and pardon might be free:

O wretched sinner, come!

3 Burden'd with guilt, wouldst thou be blest?

Trust not the world; it gives no rest:

I bring relief to hearts oppress'd:

O weary sinner, come!

4 Come, leave thy burden at the cross;

Count ail thy gains but empty dross: My grace repays all earthly loss:

O needy sinner, come!

5 Come, hither bring thy boding fears, Thy aching heart, thy bursting tears;

'Tis mercy's voice salutes thine ears, O trembling sinner, come.

6 "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come;"

Rejoicing saints re-echo, Come; Who faints, who thirsts, who will, may come:

Thy Saviour bids thee come.

Russell Sturgis Cook, 1850.