Yea, as I live, Je­ho­vah saith,
I would not have the sin­ner’s death,
But that he turn from er­ror’s ways,
Repent, and live through end­less days.

To us there­fore Christ gave com­mand:
“Go forth and preach in ev­ery land;
Bestow on all My par­don­ing grace
Who will re­pent and mend their ways.

“All those whose sins ye thus re­mit
I tru­ly par­don and ac­quit;
And those whose sins ye do re­tain
Condemned and guil­ty shall re­main.

What ye shall bind, that bound shall be;
What ye shall loose, that shall be free;
Unto My church the keys are giv’n
To ope and close the gates of Heav’n.

The words which ab­so­lu­tion give
Are His who died that we might live;
The min­is­ter whom Christ has sent
Is but His hum­ble in­stru­ment.

When min­is­ters lay on their hands,
Absolved by Christ the sin­ner stands;
He who by grace the Word be­lieves
The pur­chase of His blood re­ceives.

All praise, eter­nal Son, to Thee
For ab­so­lu­tion full and free,
In which Thou show­est forth Thy grace;
From false in­dul­gence guard our race.

Praise God the Fa­ther and the Son
And Holy Spir­it, Three in One,
As ’twas, is now, and so shall be
World with­out end, eter­ni­ty!