Christ…hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
1 Peter 3:18
Words: Anne Steele, Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional 1760, number 175. The wonders of redemption.
Music: Salzburg (Haydn) arranged from Johann M. Haydn (1737–1806) (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Steele (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
And did the holy and the just,
The Sovereign of the skies,
Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
That guilty worms might rise?
Yes, the Redeemer left His throne,
His radiant throne on high,
(Surprising mercy! love unknown!)
To suffer, bleed and die.
He took the dying traitor’s place,
And suffered in his stead;
For man (O miracle of grace!),
For man the Savior bled!
Dear Lord, what heav’nly wonders dwell
In Thy atoning blood?
By this are sinners snatched from hell,
And rebels brought to God.
Jesus, my soul, adoring, bends
To love so full, so free;
And may I hope that love extends
Its sacred power to me?
What glad return can I impart,
For favors so divine?
O take my all—this worthless heart,
And make it only Thine.