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HYMN XVI.

Free Grace.

Come, let us join our friends above,
The God of our salvation praise,
The God of everlasting love,
The God of universal grace.
'Tis not by works that we have done,
'Twas grace alone His heart inclined,
'Twas grace that gave His only Son
To taste of death for all mankind.
For every man He tasted death;
And hence we in His sight appear,
Not lifting up our eyes beneath,
But publishing His mercy here.
94

This is the ground of all our hope,
The fountain this of all our good,
Jesus for all was lifted up,
And shed for all His precious blood.
His blood, for all a ransom given,
Has wash'd away the general sin;
He closed His eyes to open heaven,
And all, who will, may enter in.
He worketh once to will in all,
Or mercy we could ne'er embrace;
He calls with an effectual call,
And bids us all receive His grace.
Thou drawest all men unto Thee,
Grace doth to every soul appear;
Preventing grace for all is free,
And brings to all salvation near.
Had not Thy grace salvation brought,
Thyself we never could desire;
Thy grace suggests our first good thought,
Thy only grace doth all inspire.
By nature only free to ill,
We never had one motion known
Of good, hadst Thou not given the will,
And wrought it by Thy grace alone.
'Twas grace, when we in sin were dead,
Us from the death of sin did raise;
Grace only hath the difference made;
Whate'er we are, we are by grace.
When on Thy love we turn'd our back,
Thou wouldst not shut Thy mercy's door,
The forfeiture Thou wouldst not take,
Thy grace did still our souls restore.
95

When twice ten thousand times we fell,
Thou gav'st us still a longer space,
Didst freely our backslidings heal,
And show'dst Thy more abundant grace.
'Twas grace from hell that brought us up;
Lo! to Thy sovereign grace we bow,
Through sovereign grace we still have hope,
Thy sovereign grace supports us now.
Grace only doth from sin restrain,
From which our nature cannot cease;
By grace we still Thy grace retain,
And wait to feel Thy perfect peace.
Kept by the mercy of our God,
Through faith, to full salvation's hour,
Jesu, we spread Thy name abroad,
And glorify Thy gracious power.
The constant miracle we own
By which we every moment live,
To grace, to Thy free grace alone,
The whole of our salvation give.
Strongly upheld by Thy right hand,
Thy all-redeeming love we praise;
The monuments of Thy grace we stand,
Thy free, Thine universal grace.
By grace we draw our every breath;
By grace we live, and move, and are;
By grace we 'scape the second death;
By grace we now Thy grace declare.
From the first feeble thought of good
To when the perfect grace is given,
'Tis all of grace; by grace renew'd,
From hell we pass through earth to heaven.
96

We need no reprobates to prove
That grace, free grace, is truly free;
Who cannot see that God is love,
Open your eyes, and look on me,
On us, whom Jesus hath call'd forth
To' assert that all His grace may have,
To vindicate His passion's worth
Enough ten thousand worlds to save.
He made it possible for all
His gift of righteousness to' embrace;
We all may answer to His call,
May all be freely saved by grace.
He promised all mankind to draw;
We feel Him draw us from above,
And preach with Him the gracious law,
And publish the Decree of Love.
Behold the all-atoning Lamb;
Come, sinners, at the gospel call;
Look, and be saved through Jesu's name;
We witness He hath died for all.
We join with all our friends above,
The God of our salvation praise,
The God of everlasting love,
The God of universal grace.
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