Scripture Verse

This Man receiveth sinners. Luke 15:2

Introduction

portrait
Charles Gabriel (1856–1932)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns on God’s Ev­er­last­ing Love 1741.

Music: As­pin­wall Charles H. Ga­bri­el, 1912 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Anecdote

Mrs. Ell­en Ince, of Low­ton, Lan­ca­shire…was born in 1769, and in ear­ly life was con­vinced of sin…In re­ply to her in­qu­iry af­ter the way of sal­va­tion, she was ta­ken to a Me­tho­dist cha­pel, where she soon found peace through be­liev­ing in Je­sus. She walked in the fear of the Lord for six­ty-se­ven years.

Of her thir­teen child­ren, nine pre­ced­ed her to hea­ven. The death of her last sur­viv­ing son af­fect­ed her much. A few days be­fore her death, she said of her son, What a glo­ri­ous state he is in, free from his weak and suf­fer­ing bo­dy, in the pre­sence of his Lord! We shall not be part­ed long.

On the morn­ing of the day of the first an­ni­ver­sa­ry of her son’s in­ter­ment, she read the Scrip­tures for two hours, chief­ly in Isai­ah; and on clos­ing the book, she ex­claimed to her daugh­ter, Glo­ry be to God in the high­est for His great love in dy­ing for sin­ners! Lat­er in the day, ha­ving read her hymn book for some time, she re­peat­ed the lines—

We all are for­giv­en for Je­sus’ sake,
Our title to hea­ven, His mer­its we take,

And then she added, Now let me rest. I think I can go to sleep. And in a few min­utes she sweet­ly fell asleep in Je­sus, with­out ev­en a sigh, 2nd April, 1854, aged eighty-five years.

Stevenson, p. 19

Lyrics

Thy faith­ful­ness, Lord, each mo­ment we find,
So true to Thy Word, so lov­ing and kind!
Thy mer­cy so ten­der to all the lost race,
The vil­est of­fend­er may turn and find grace.

The mer­cy I feel, to oth­ers I show,
I set to my seal that Je­sus is true:
Ye all may find fa­vor, who come at His call,
O come to my Sav­ior, His grace is for all!

To save what was lost, from Hea­ven He came;
Come, sin­ners, and trust in Je­sus’ name.
He of­fers you par­don; He bids you be free;
If sin be your bur­den, O come un­to Me!

O let me com­mend my Sav­ior to you,
The pub­li­can’s friend and ad­vo­cate too,
For you He is plead­ing His mer­its and death,
With God in­ter­ced­ing for sin­ners be­neath.

Then let us sub­mit His grace to re­ceive,
Fall down at His feet and glad­ly be­lieve:
We all are for­giv­en for Je­sus’ sake:
Our ti­tle to Hea­ven His mer­its we take.