(ASKED ON BLACKHEATH)
“ON WHAT REASONABLE BASIS, CAN A SENSIBLE MAN TRUST IN A CRUCIFIED CHRIST?”
You ask on what basis our reason can rest
For boast of a Saviour in Whom we are blest!
We answer with gladness, Christ died in our stead,
Whom God has in righteousness raised from the dead.
All, all is of God, the gospel’s so plain;
The Seed of the woman on Calvary was slain.
The promised Messiah, the Fountain of good,
Once died for our sins, and we’re saved by His blood.
This then is the work upon which we rely,
And boast of a Saviour Whose love cannot die;
His death proves a rock that no tempest can shake;
We love Him, we praise Him, Who died for our sake.
No forced obligation—when judgment He bore—
The plan of salvation was purposed before;
Immanuel, “God with us,” came forth here to do
A work of salvation for me and for you.
In Him we have found a real fountain of grace,
So fresh and so sweet, as His path we retrace;
The God Whom we worship—His counsels,
His will, His dictates of mercy, Christ came to fulfill.
And since He has come, as the prophets foretold,
We taste of His blessings more precious than gold;
Through faith in His merits, new life we obtain,
And those who possess it, its worth may proclaim.
The Lord is our portion, we joy in His love;
We boast of a Saviour now living above;
Though men may reject Him, the Faithful, the True!
He died as a ransom for me and for you.
We rest on His merits. ‘Tis this makes us bold;
We are saved through His blood—let the message be told—
As debtors to mercy we love to proclaim
That all is of God through the Lamb that was slain.
What more can we say—what more can we do?
But tell of our Saviour to sinners like you;
We pray that God’s love may now enter your heart—
That you in these blessings may thus have a part.
If you reason with God, He will open your eyes,
And in grace He will teach you where true wisdom lies;
His love and His word your dark minds will unlock,
And, like sensible men, you will rest on a rock.
E. T.