Come, Heav’nly Love, Inspire My Song

Come

heav’n­ly love

in­spire my song

With thy im­mor­tal flame

And teach my heart

and teach my tongue

The Sav­ior’s love­ly name.

The Sav­ior! O what end­less charms

Dwell in the bliss­ful sound!

Its in­flu­ence ev­ery fear dis­arms

And spreads sweet com­forts round.

Here par­don

life and joys di­vine

In rich ef­fu­sion flow

For guil­ty re­bels

lost in sin

And doomed to end­less woe.

In our first par­ents’ crime we fell;

Our blood

our vi­tal breath

Deep tinged with all the seeds of ill

Sad heirs to sin and death.

Black o’er our wrath-de­vot­ed heads

Avenging jus­tice frowned;

While hell dis­closed her deep­est shades

And hor­rors rose around.

Wrapped in the gloom of dark des­pair

We help­less

hope­less lay:

But sov­er­eign mer­cy reached us there

And smiled des­pair away.

God’s on­ly Son (stu­pen­dous grace!)

Forsook His throne above;

And swift to save our wretch­ed race

He flew on wings of love.

Th’Almighty form­er of the skies

Stooped to our vile abode;

While an­gels viewed with won­der­ing eyes

And hailed th’in­car­nate God.

The God in heav’n­ly strains they sung

Arrayed in hu­man clay:

Mysterious love! what an­gel tongue

Thy won­ders can dis­play?

Mysterious love

in ev­ery scene

Through all His life ap­pears:

His spot­less life ex­posed to pain

And mi­se­ries and tears.

What bless­ings on a thank­less race

His boun­te­ous hand be­stowed!

And from His tongue what won­drous grace

What rich in­struct­ion flowed!

The dumb

the deaf

the lame

the blind

Confessed His heal­ing pow­er;

Disease and death their prey re­signed

And grief com­plained no more.

Infernal le­gions trem­bling fled

Awed by His pow­er­ful word:

And winds and seas His voice ob­eyed

And owned their sov­er­eign Lord.

But man

vile man

His love ab­used

Blind to the nob­lest good;

Blasphemed His pow­er

His word re­fused

And sought His sac­red blood.

Still His un­wear­ied love pur­sued

Salvation’s glo­ri­ous plan;

And firm th’ap­proach­ing hor­rors viewed

Deserved by guil­ty man.

What pain

what soul-op­press­ing pain

The great Re­deem­er bore;

While bloody sweat

like drops of rain

Distilled from ev­ery pore!

And ere the dread­ful storm des­cends

Full on His guilt­less head

See Him by His fa­mil­iar friends

Deserted and be­trayed!

While ruf­fi­an bands the Lord sur­round

Relentless

mur­der­ous foes;

Meek

as a lamb for slaugh­ter bound

The pa­tient Suf­fer­er goes.

Arraigned at Pi­late’s im­pi­ous bar

(Unparalleled dis­grace!)

See spot­less in­no­cence ap­pear

In guilt’s de­test­ed place!

When per­ju­ry fails to stain His name

The mob’s en­ven­omed breath

Extorts His sen­tence

Pub­lic shame

And pain­ful lin­ger­ing death.

Patient

the cru­el scourge He bore:

The In­no­cent

the Kind!

Then to the rab­ble’s law­less pow­er

And rud­est taunts con­signed.

With thorns they crown that aw­ful brow

Whose frown can shake the globe;

And on their king in scorn be­stow

The reed and pur­ple robe.

Ah! see

the fa­tal cross ap­pears

Heart-wound­ing

dread­ful scene!

His sac­red flesh rude ir­on tears

With ago­niz­ing pain.

Exposed with thieves

to pub­lic view—

Could na­ture bear the sight?

The blush­ing sun his beams with­drew

And wrapped the globe in night!

Then

Oh! what loads of wrath un­known

The glo­ri­ous Suf­fer­er felt;

For crimes un­num­bered to atone

To ex­pi­ate mor­tal guilt!

The Fa­ther’s bliss­ful smile with­drawn

In that tre­men­dous hour;

Yet still the God sus­tained the Man

With His al­migh­ty pow­er.

’Tis fin­ished

now aloud He cries

No more the law re­quires;

And now (amaz­ing sac­ri­fice!)

The Lord of life ex­pires.

Earth’s firm foun­da­tion felt the shock

With uni­vers­al dread;

Trembled the mount­ain

rent the rock

And waked the sleep­ing dead!

Now breath­less in the si­lent tomb

His sac­red bo­dy lies:

Thither His loved dis­ci­ples come

With sor­row-stream­ing eyes.

But see the pro­mised morn ap­pear!

Their joy re­vives again;

The Sav­ior lives: adieu to fear

To ev­ery anx­ious pain.

His kind­est words their doubts re­move

Confirm their wa­ver­ing faith;

He bids them teach the world His love

Salvation by His death.

Triumphant He as­cends on high

The glo­ri­ous work co­mplete;

Sin

death

and hell

low van­quished lie

Beneath His aw­ful feet.

There with eter­nal glo­ry crowned

The Lord

the Con­quer­or

reigns;

His praise the heav’n­ly choirs re­sound

In their im­mor­tal strains.

Amid the splen­dors of His throne

Unchanging love ap­pears;

The names He pur­chased for His own

Still on His heart He bears.

Still with pre­vail­ing pow­er He pleads

Their cause

for whom He died;

His Spir­it’s sac­red in­flu­ence sheds

Their com­fort­er and guide.

For them

re­serves a ra­di­ant crown

Bought with His dy­ing blood;

And worlds of light

and joys un­known

Forever near their God.

O the rich depths of love di­vine!

Of bliss

a bound­less store:

Dear Sav­ior

let me call Thee mine;

I can­not wish for more.

I yield

to Thy dear con­quer­ing arms

I yield my cap­tive soul:

O let Thy all-sub­du­ing charms

My in­most pow­ers con­trol!

On Thee alone my hope re­lies;

Beneath Thy cross I fall

My Lord

my life

my sac­ri­fice

My Sav­ior

and my all.