Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice

Dear Christ­ians

one and all

re­joice

With ex­ul­ta­tion spring­ing

And

with unit­ed heart and voice

And ho­ly rap­ture sing­ing

Proclaim the won­ders God hath done

How His right arm the vic­to­ry won;

Right dear­ly it hath cost Him.

Fast bound in Sa­tan’s chains I lay

Death brood­ed dark­ly o’er me

Sin was my tor­ment night and day

In sin my mo­ther bore me;

Yea

deep and deep­er still I fell

Life had be­come a liv­ing hell

So firm­ly sin po­ssessed me.

My own good works av­ailed me naught

No mer­it they at­tain­ing;

Free will against God’s judg­ment fought

Dead to all good re­main­ing.

My fears in­creased till sheer des­pair

Left naught but death to be my share;

The pangs of hell I suf­fered.

But God be­held my wretch­ed state

Before the world’s foun­da­tion

And

mind­ful of His mer­cies great

He planned my soul’s sal­va­tion.

A fa­ther’s heart He turned to me

Sought my re­demp­tion fer­vent­ly:

He gave His dear­est trea­sure.

He spoke to His be­lov­èd Son:

’Tis time to have com­pass­ion.

Then go

bright Jew­el of My crown

And bring to man sal­va­tion;

From sin and sor­row set him free

Slay bit­ter death for him that he

May live with Thee for­ev­er.

The Son ob­eyed His Fa­ther’s will

Was born of vir­gin mo­ther

And God’s good plea­sure to ful­fill

He came to be my bro­ther.

No garb of pomp or pow­er He wore

A serv­ant’s form

like mine

He bore

To lead the dev­il cap­tive.

To me He spake: Hold fast to Me

I am thy rock and cas­tle;

Thy ran­som I My­self will be

For thee I strive and wres­tle;

For I am with thee

I am thine

And ev­er­more thou shalt be Mine:

The foe shall not di­vide us.

The foe shall shed my pre­cious blood

Me of My life be­reav­ing.

All this I suf­fer for thy good;

Be stead­fast and be­liev­ing.

Life shall from death the vic­to­ry win

My in­no­cence shall bear thy sin;

So art Thou blest for­ev­er.

Now to my Fa­ther I de­part

The Ho­ly Spir­it send­ing

And

heav’n­ly wis­dom to im­part

My help to thee ex­tend­ing.

He shall in trou­ble com­fort thee

Teach thee to know and fol­low Me

And in all truth shall guide thee.

What I have done and taught

teach thou

My ways for­sake thou nev­er;

So shall My king­dom flour­ish now

And God be praised for­ev­er.

Take heed lest men with base al­loy

The heav’n­ly trea­sure should de­stroy;

This coun­sel I be­queath thee.