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

Words: A. A. G., in Echo to Hap­py Voic­es (New York: Am­eri­can Tract So­ci­ety, 1869), num­ber 110.

Music: Ga­ra­ban­dal A. A. G., 1869 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know the au­thor’s name, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Hark! the her­ald angels sing­ing,
In the night o’er Ju­dah’s plain;
Messages of mer­cy bring­ing
To a realm of sin and pain.
Glory be to God above you,
Peace to mor­tals here be­low;
God the Fa­ther stoops to love you,
And His rich­est gift be­stow.

Far above the hosts in glo­ry
Lived and reigned th’eter­nal Son,
Praised in rap­tur­ous song and sto­ry,
Served as God’s be­lov­èd One;
But ’twas He the Fa­ther gave us—
Gave to weep, to bleed, to die,
With His pre­cious blood to save us,
And our hearts to sanc­ti­fy.

To achieve the soul’s sal­va­tion,
Must the Lord of glo­ry die?
Would no oth­er rich obla­tion
Truth and jus­tice sa­tis­fy?
Could not some less obla­tion
Quench the wrath and stay the blow?
No; to pur­chase our sal­va­tion
Blood di­vine must free­ly flow.

On a cross of shame and ang­uish
Must that pre­cious blood be spilt;
There the Son of God must lang­uish,
Bleed and die for hu­man guilt.
Yes, though Hea­ven bows be­fore Thee,
Sinners nailed Thee to the cross;
Ours the shame, but Thine the glo­ry,
Ours the gain, but Thine the loss.