Dear Chris­tians, one and all, re­joice,
With ex­ul­ta­tion spring­ing,
And, with unit­ed heart and voice,
And ho­ly rap­ture sing­ing,
Proclaim the won­ders God hath done,
How His right arm the vic­to­ry won;
Right dear­ly it hath cost Him.

Fast bound in Sa­tan’s chains I lay,
Death brood­ed dark­ly o’er me,
Sin was my tor­ment night and day,
In sin my mo­ther bore me;
Yea, deep and deep­er still I fell,
Life had be­come a liv­ing hell,
So firm­ly sin po­ssessed me.

My own good works av­ailed me naught,
No mer­it they at­tain­ing;
Free will against God’s judg­ment fought,
Dead to all good re­main­ing.
My fears in­creased till sheer des­pair
Left naught but death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suf­fered.

But God be­held my wretch­ed state
Before the world’s foun­da­tion,
And, mind­ful of His mer­cies great,
He planned my soul’s sal­va­tion.
A fa­ther’s heart He turned to me,
Sought my re­demp­tion fer­vent­ly:
He gave His dear­est trea­sure.

He spoke to His be­lov­èd Son:
’Tis time to have com­pass­ion.
Then go, bright Jew­el of My crown,
And bring to man sal­va­tion;
From sin and sor­row set him free,
Slay bit­ter death for him that he
May live with Thee for­ev­er.

The Son ob­eyed His Fa­ther’s will,
Was born of vir­gin mo­ther,
And God’s good plea­sure to ful­fill,
He came to be my bro­ther.
No garb of pomp or pow­er He wore,
A ser­vant’s form, like mine, He bore,
To lead the dev­il cap­tive.

To me He spake: Hold fast to Me,
I am thy rock and cas­tle;
Thy ran­som I My­self will be,
For thee I strive and wres­tle;
For I am with thee, I am thine,
And ev­er­more thou shalt be Mine:
The foe shall not di­vide us.

The foe shall shed my pre­cious blood,
Me of My life be­reav­ing.
All this I suf­fer for thy good;
Be stead­fast and be­liev­ing.
Life shall from death the vic­to­ry win,
My in­no­cence shall bear thy sin;
So art Thou blest for­ev­er.

Now to my Fa­ther I de­part,
The Ho­ly Spir­it send­ing
And, heav’n­ly wis­dom to im­part,
My help to thee ex­tend­ing.
He shall in trou­ble com­fort thee,
Teach thee to know and fol­low Me,
And in all truth shall guide thee.

What I have done and taught, teach thou,
My ways for­sake thou ne­ver;
So shall My king­dom flour­ish now
And God be praised for­ev­er.
Take heed lest men with base al­loy
The heav’n­ly trea­sure should de­stroy;
This coun­sel I be­queath thee.