Scripture Verse

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Introduction

portrait
John H. Tenney (1840–1918)

Words: Mrs. A. H. Dix­on, in The In­ter­na­tion­al Les­son Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by Da­vid C. Cook (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Da­vid C. Cook, 1878), num­ber 158.

Music: Hal­land John H. Ten­ney (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Dix­on’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of her (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Wonderful be­yond all tell­ing
Is the love the Fa­ther bears,
Every hu­man love ex­cel­ling,
T’ward the crea­tures of His care.
Have I heard aright the sto­ry,
Of the pre­cious gift He gave?
How He sent His Son from glo­ry,
Our poor dy­ing souls to save?

Refrain

Children of the King are we,
Royalty pos­sess­ing,
Bonds are brok­en, we are free,
With His choic­est bless­ing.

All the years since the cre­ation
Have been guid­ed by His love;
Every tribe and ev­ery na­tion
Owes its strength to God above;
But the love which gave us Je­sus
Was the crown­ing love di­vine;
Gilds our work with a new glo­ry,
Makes the Chris­tian life to shine.

Refrain

Thoughts of mer­cy had He for us,
Ere we drew our earth­ly breath;
Mercy still will be about us,
When we close our eyes in death;
Let us give Him, then, for­ev­er,
Praise from young hearts all aglow,
Love our God, and love each oth­er,
For He loved us first, you know.

Refrain