Field Stone Cottage Blog

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday's Hymn: How Vast the Benefits Divine

How vast the benefits divine
Which we in Christ possess!
We are redeemed from guilt and shame
And called to holiness.
But not for works which we have done,
Or shall hereafter do,
Hath God decreed on sinful men
Salvation to bestow.

The glory, Lord, from first to last,
Is due to thee alone;
Aught to ourselves we dare not take,
Or rob thee of thy crown.
Our glorious Surety undertook
To satisfy for man,
And grace was given us in him
Before the world began.

This is thy will, that in thy love
We ever should abide;
That earth and hell should not prevail
To turn thy Word aside.
Not one of all the chosen race
But shall to heav'n attain,
Partake on earth the purposed grace
And then with Jesus reign.

Augustus M. Toplady, 1774
Tune: St. Matthew, William Croft, 1678-1727

4 comments:

rosemary said...

What a wonderful hymn--and I've never heard it until now!

Willow said...

It's a new one for me as well. I love the truths--so many--that the hymns states!

ellen b. said...

Love the words and the fact that we are redeemed!

John said...

I'm glad that you include the tunes. Lately, we've been using non-traditional tunes to sing traditional hymns. It's always a disappointment to me when I see that we're going to sing one of my favorites, but then we start off on an unknown tune. This is more than just a matter of preference; people who are not very musical (like me) need a familiar, easy tune in order to be able to sing along.