Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Matchless Condensension

    “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” Isa. 40. 5
    1    O what matchless condescension
            The eternal God displays;
        Claiming our supreme attention,
            To his boundless works and ways.
                    His own glory
            He reveals in gospel days.

    2    In the person of the Saviour,
            All his majesty is seen!
        Love and justice shine for ever;
            And, without a veil between,
                    Worms approach him,
            And rejoice in his dear name.

    3    Would we view his brightest glory,
            Here it shines in Jesus’ face;
        Sing and tell the pleasing story,
            O ye sinners saved by grace;
                    And with pleasure,
            Bid the guilty him embrace.

    4    In his highest work, redemption,
            See his glory in a blaze;
        Nor can angels ever mention
            Aught that more of God displays;
                    Grace and justice
            Here unite to endless days.

    5    True, ’tis sweet and solemn pleasure,
            God to view in Christ the Lord;
        Here he smiles and smiles for ever;
            May my soul his name record;
                    Praise and bless him,
            And his wonders spread abroad.

This is a hymn of highest praise. It concentrates our minds on the eternal glory of God as it is seen particularly in the redemption of his people, in gospel days. In Jesus Christ we see his brightest glory. In contrast to God we are spoken of in lowly terms , "worms approach Him"," guilty" and "sinners".
Gadsby reminds us of the wonderful invitation to embrace God.

4 comments:

  1. Delighted to have found this blog. Thank you for posting on this subject - I shall follow you. I am toying with the idea of starting my own blog, to deal mainly with hymns, so your enterprise is encouraging to me too.

    Brian

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  2. MFH: Presumably you are familiar with HymnQuest, which lists seven hymns by Gadsby. But I also recommend the Praise! website, which you can access for just £10 p.a.; you will find there a fairly detailed biography by Christopher Idle. Praise! itself includes three of Gadsby's hymns. But you probably know all that already.

    Brian

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  3. sorry to take so long to reply.
    try
    http://www.gracegems.org/C/Gadsby.htm
    from hymn no 514 onwards

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MFH: Thanks for this reference - what a collection! It will take me some while to scroll through it, but I shall try; glad also to see other hymn-writing worthies like Hart so well represented.

      Brian

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