Scripture Verse

God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

Introduction

portrait
Christian I. Latrobe (1758–1836)

Words: From the La­tin Je­sus Chris­tus, Nos­tra Sal­us The ver­sion be­low was trans­lat­ed by Chris­tian I. La­trobe in the Mo­ra­vi­an Hymn Book, 1789, num­ber 557.

Music: Red­head Ri­chard Red­head, Church Hymn Tunes, An­cient and Mo­dern (Lon­don: 1853) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Richard Redhead
(1820–1901)

This hymn has been as­cribed to [John] Hus, and is in­clud­ed in the Monu­men­to­rum Jo­an­nis Hus al­te­ra pars, Nürn­berg, 1558, but his au­thor­ship is doubt­ful.

Wackernagel, vol i. gives three forms, No. 367, in 10 st. from a Mun­ich Ms. of the 15th cent; No. 369 from Lei­sen­tritt’s G. B. (R. C.), 1584, in 7 st. The last text is al­so in Da­ni­el, ii. 370.

In his Can­ti­on­es Bo­he­mi­cae, Leip­zig, 1886, pre­face, pp. 22, 31, 43. & c., G. M. Dreves dis­cuss­es the au­thor­ship, and cites it as in 10 st., in a MS. cir. 1410, be­long­ing to the Ab­bey of Hoh­en­furth [now Vyš­ší Brod, Czech­ia] in a Gra­du­al, cir. 1420, in the Bo­he­mi­an Mu­se­um at Prag, &c.

Julian, p. 598

Lyrics

To av­ert from men God’s wrath,
Jesus suf­fered in our stead;
By an ig­no­mi­ni­ous death
He a full atone­ment made;
And by His most pre­cious blood
Brought us, sin­ners, nigh to God.

Hither each af­flict­ed soul
May re­pair, though filled with grief;
To the sick, not to the whole,
The Phy­si­cian brings re­lief;
Fear not, there­fore, but draw nigh;
Christ will all your wants sup­ply.

But ex­am­ine first your case,
Whether you be in the faith;
Do you long for par­don­ing grace?
Is your on­ly hope His death?
Then, how­e’er your soul’s op­pressed,
Come, you are a wor­thy guest.

He who Je­sus’ mer­cy knows
Is from wrath and en­vy freed.
Love un­to each other shows
That we are His flock in­deed;
Thus we may in all our ways
Show forth our Re­deem­er’s praise.