SALVATION.
He that is our God, is the God of salvation.—Psalm lxviii. 20.
And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.—Isaiah, lii. 10.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.—I. Thessalonians, v. 9.
A cheerful confidence I feel,
My well-placed hopes with joy I see;
My bosom glows with heavenly zeal
To worship Him who died for me.
As man He pities my complaint;
His power and truth are all divine;
He will not fail, He cannot faint,
Salvation’s sure, and must be mine.
Cowper.
Almighty framer of the skies!
O let our pure devotion rise,
Like incense in thy sight!
Wrapt in impenetrable shade
The texture of our souls was made
Till Thy command gave light.
The Son of Glory gleamed the ray,
Refined the darkness into day,
And bid the vapours fly:
Impelled by his eternal love,
He left his palaces above
To cheer our gloomy sky.
How shall we celebrate the day,
When God appeared in mortal clay,
The mark of worldly scorn:
When the Archangel’s heavenly lays
Attempted the Redeemer’s praise,
And hail’d salvation’s morn.
Chatterton.
“Thy Spirit knows I love Thee.” Worthless wretch,
To dare to love a God! But, grace requires—
And grace accepts—Love divine
Constrains me; I am thine. Incarnate Love
Has seized and holds me in Almighty arms:
Here’s my salvation, my eternal hope,
Amidst the wreck of worlds and dying nature,
“I am the Lord’s; and He for ever mine.”
Watts.
Salvation! O the joyful sound!
’Tis pleasure to our ears;
A sov’reign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears.
Buried in sorrow and in sin,
At hell’s dark door we lay;
But we arise by grace divine
To see a heavenly day.
Salvation! let the echo fly
The spacious earth around,
While all the armies of the sky
Conspire to raise the sound.
Watts.
Jesus, transporting sound!
The joy of earth and heaven;
No other help is found,
No other name is given,
By which we can salvation have,
But Jesus came the world to save.
Wesley.
If the best Thy great salvation
Must attain with trembling fear,
Lord and Judge of all creation,
Where should sinful man appear?
God of love and mercies tender,
Stern to vice, to weakness mild,
Teacher, Saviour, Sire, Defender,
Save, O save Thy suppliant child!
By the claims which saints inherit
From Thy blood for converts pour’d,
By thy all-prevailing Spirit,—
By Thy covenanted Word,—
By Thy tears, in sorrow weeping,
Over harden’d sinners’ doom;
Take me to Thy gracious keeping,
Lead me to Thy glorious home!
Bishop Spencer.