Gadsby #24

24 C.M. Isaac Watts
The Witnessing and Sealing Spirit. Rom. 8:14, 16

1 Why should the children of a King
Go mourning all their days?
Great Comforter! descend and bring
Some tokens of thy grace.

2 Dost thou not dwell in all the saints,
And seal them heirs of heaven?
When wilt thou banish my complaints,
And show my sins forgiven?

3 Assure my conscience of her part
In the Redeemer’s blood;
And bear thy witness with my heart,
That I am born of God.

4 Thou art the earnest of his love,
The pledge of joys to come;
And thy soft wings, celestial Dove,
Will safe convey me home.

I have sometime heard salvation by Christ described as "fire insurance". I find this description of salvation entirely deficient and quite repugnant. For one, as this hymn makes plain, the "fire insurance" moniker completely ignores the Holy Spirit, God Himself, who proceeded from the Father because of the Son, made His dwelling in the hearts of the Church, touched our conscience with assurance of regeneration, and guaranteed for us a indescribable heavenly hope. Much more than fire insurance.

Gadsby #23

23 C.M. J. Hart
Christ Very God and Man. John 1:29; Isa. 9:6

1 A Man there is, a real Man,
With wounds still gaping wide,
From which rich streams of blood once ran,
In hands, and feet, and side.

2 [’Tis no wild fancy of our brains,
No metaphor we speak;
The same dear Man in heaven now reigns
That suffered for our sake.]

3 This wondrous Man of whom we tell,
Is true Almighty God;
He bought our souls from death and hell;
The price, his own heart’s blood.

4 That human heart he still retains,
Though throned in highest bliss;
And feels each tempted member’s pains;
For our affliction’s his.

5 Come, then, repenting sinner, come;
Approach with humble faith;
Owe what thou wilt, the total sum
Is cancelled by his death.

6 His blood can cleanse the blackest soul,
And wash our guilt away;
He will present us sound and whole,
In that tremendous day.

Verse two: Jesus is real. He is not just an idea. He is not an impersonal force. He is a person and He is God. We can relate with Him and He can relate with us. I miss this often. I have only begun to get to know Jesus.

"That day" will be a tremendous day indeed. I love hymns like this, but I love what they point to more.

Gadsby #22

22 L.M. Isaac Watts
Christ Dwells in Heaven, but Visits on Earth. Song. 6:1

1 When mourners stand and hear me tell
What beauties in my Saviour dwell,
Where he is gone they fain would know,
That they may seek and love him too.

2 My best Beloved keeps his throne
On hills of light, in worlds unknown;
But he descends and shows his face
In the young gardens of his grace.

3 [In vineyards, planted by his hand,
Where fruitful trees in order stand,
He feeds among the spicy beds,
Where lilies show their spotless heads.]

4 He has engrossed my warmest love;
No earthly charms my soul can move;
I have a mansion in his heart,
Nor death nor hell shall make us part.

5 [He takes my soul, ere I’m aware,
And shows me where his glories are;
No chariots of Amminadib
The heavenly rapture can describe.]

6 O may my spirit daily rise
On wings of faith above the skies;
Till death shall make my last remove,
To dwell for ever with my Love.

Even though the inspiration for this song likely stems from an allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon, I think it still carries much value.

The fourth verse intrigues me. We see the heart believers long after in the first two lines and the immovable heart of Christ for his own in the last two lines. Christ' love for his people is far greater than they realize and are engrossed by the very thing that engrosses them: the love of Christ. Lest we wonder how we taste of such love, we have the answer here in this hymn: by "wings of faith" which take us above the skies. Because we would need to go above the skies to begin to grasp the heights of His love (Ps. 103:11).

Gadsby #21

21 L.M. Isaac Watts
A Description of Christ, the Beloved. Song. 5:9-16

1 The wondering world inquires to know
Why I should love my Jesus so;
“What are his charms,” say they, “above
The objects of a mortal love?”

2 Yes, my Beloved to my sight
Shows a sweet mixture, red and white:
All human beauties, all divine,
In my Beloved meet and shine.

3 White is his soul, from blemish free;
Red with the blood he shed for me;
The fairest of ten thousand fairs;
A sun amongst ten thousand stars.

4 [His head the finest gold excels;
There wisdom in perfection dwells;
And glory, like a crown, adorns
Those temples once beset with thorns.

5 Compassions in his heart are found,
Hard by the signals of his wound;
His sacred side no more shall bear
The cruel scourge, the piercing spear.]

6 [His hands are fairer to behold
Than diamonds, set in rings of gold;
Those heavenly hands that on the tree
Were nailed, and torn, and bled for me.]

7 [Though once he bowed his feeble knees,
Loaded with sins and agonies,
Now on the throne of his command,
His legs like marble pillars stand.]

8 [His eyes are majesty and love,
The eagle tempered with the dove;
No more shall trickling sorrows roll
Through those dear windows of his soul.]

9 [His mouth, that poured out long complaints,
Now smiles, and cheers his fainting saints;
His countenance more graceful is
Than Lebanon, with all its trees.]

10 All over glorious is my Lord;
Must be beloved, and yet adored;
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole world would love him too!

Though some of this hymn surely may have some uncommon lyrical content compared to our churches' music soaked in Contemporary Christian Music, this is the type of hymn we should be seeking to bring into our hearts, individually and corporately. Why? It helps us see Jesus as more believable and beautiful (as Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace, has so often said).

Gadsby #20

20 L.M. Isaac Watts
Deity and Humanity of Christ. Col. 1:16; 1 Tim. 3:16

1 Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad,
From everlasting was the Word;
With God he was; the Word was God;
And must divinely be adored.

2 By his own power were all things made;
By him supported all things stand;
He is the whole creation’s Head,
And angels fly at his command.

3 [Ere sin was born, or Satan fell,
He led the host of morning stars;
(Thy generation who can tell,
Or count the number of thy years?)]

4 But lo! he leaves those heavenly forms;
The Word descends and dwells in clay,
That he may hold converse with worms,
Dressed in such feeble flesh as they.

5 Mortals with joy behold his face,
The eternal Father’s only Son;
How full of truth! how full of grace!
When through his eyes the Godhead shone.

6 Blest angels leave their high abode,
To learn new mysteries here, and tell
The loves of our descending God,
The glories of Immanuel.

Immanuel - God with us. The early church rightly waged many battles with heretics over the divinity of Christ. This is a paramount doctrine to the Christian faith. And lest we get bogged down in doctrine talk, let me state things a little more colloquially: if Jesus is not God, the world should rightfully mock and disregard Christianity. But if Jesus is God, but if he was "vindicated by the Spirit" (1 Tim. 3:16) and actually checked out of the grave, then Christianity is the dominant, all-encompassing, true worldview. Again, to make things clear, this all depends on who Jesus is.

So, who is Jesus? What say you?

Gadsby #19

19 C.M. Isaac Watts
A New Song to the Lamb that was Slain. Rev. 5:6-12

1 Behold the glories of the Lamb,
Amidst his Father’s throne;
Prepare new honours for his name,
And songs before unknown.

2 Let elders worship at his feet;
The church adore around;
With vials full of odours sweet,
And harps of sweeter sound.

3 Those are the prayers of the saints,
And these the hymns they raise –
Jesus is kind to our complaints,
He loves to hear our praise.

4 [Eternal Father, who shall look
Into thy secret will?
Who but the Son shall take that book,
And open every seal?

5 He shall fulfil thy great decrees;
The Son deserves it well;
Lo! in his hands the sovereign keys
Of heaven, and death, and hell.]

6 Now to the Lamb that once was slain,
Be endless blessings paid;
Salvation, glory, joy remain
For ever on thy head.

7 Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood,
Hast set the prisoners free,
Hast made us kings and priests to God,
And we shall reign with thee.

8 The worlds of nature and of grace
Are put beneath thy power;
Then shorten these delaying days,
And bring the promised hour.

I wish I had my guitar with me so I could piece together a melody to the sixth and seventh stanzas. What a wonderful chorus to sing to Jesus!

If I were to point you to one thing from this hymn, it would be the text it is based on. Go read Revelation 5. There is a certain kind of soul-strengthening that occurs in us when we consider the unthinkably heavy and glorious future in store for us and all creation. We need to be more heavenly-minded. Is there a more heavenly picture of what the future will look like outside of the book of Revelation? I don't think there is. Tolle lege!

Gadsby #18

18 L.M. Isaac Watts
Glory and Grace in the Person of Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

1 Now to the Lord a noble song!
Awake, my soul; awake, my tongue!
Hosanna to the eternal name,
And all his boundless love proclaim!

2 See where it shines in Jesus’ face,
The brightest image of his grace!
God, in the person of his Son,
Has all his mightiest works outdone.

3 The spacious earth and spreading flood
Proclaim the wise, the powerful God;
And thy rich glories from afar
Sparkle in every rolling star.

4 But in his looks a glory stands,
The noblest labour of thy hands;
The pleasing lustre of his eyes
Outshines the wonders of the skies.

5 [Grace! ’tis a sweet, a charming theme!
My thoughts rejoice at Jesus’ name!
Ye angels, dwell upon the sound!
Ye heavens, reflect it to the ground!]

6 O may I live to reach the place
Where he unveils his lovely face,
Where all his beauties you behold,
And sing his name to harps of gold!

The fourth verse reminds me of a hymn by Anne Steele, "Thou Lovely Source Of True Delight", specifically, this verse:

Thy glory o'er creation shines,
But in thy sacred word,
I read in fairer, brighter lines,
My bleeding, dying Lord. 

We are spiritually dumb and blind if we cast a look on Christ and don't see the most beautiful thing (person) in the universe. True beauty is spiritual.

But what is there to say about the beauties of creation? Specifically, the heavens? I mean, have you seen images like this or this? I'm a self-confessed astronomy nerd, so perhaps I find such images of deep space more awe-inspiring than others. Anyways, my point is this: the entire universe, in all its beauty and complexity, is a sign. And what do signs do? They point to something greater.

An interesting thing to ponder is, "Are we humans really the only life in this universe? If so, why then is the universe so big?" (For the record, I believe that earth is the only place where life exists in this universe.) What is the point of the universe having no measurable limit, and being full of wonderful things, big and small? I proffer that all that exists, the universe in its mind-boggling scale, has been created to show how great God is (Ps. 19:1). If the universe is so magnificent, then what does that mean its Creator is like? I think it means that He is higher than our thoughts can reach.

All this is to say that Jesus "outshines the wonders of the skies".

Gadsby #17

17 L.M. W. Tucker
Harmony of the Perfections of God. Rom. 3. 26

1 O Love, beyond conception great,
That formed the vast stupendous plan,
Where all divine perfections meet,
To reconcile rebellious man.

2 There wisdom shines in fullest blaze
And justice all her rights maintains;
Astonished angels stoop to gaze,
While mercy o’er the guilty reigns.

3 Yes, mercy reigns, and justice too;
In Christ they both harmonious meet;
He paid to justice all its due,
And now he fills the mercy-seat.

4 Such are the wonders of our God,
And the amazing depths of grace,
To save from wrath’s vindictive rod,
The chosen sons of Adam’s race.

Not much to comment on in this hymn. I think it stands quite well on its own. The center of God's wisdom and revelation, and the universe itself, is Jesus.

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Rom. 11:33)

Gadsby #16

16    C.M.    R. Burnham
Holiness. Lev. 19:2; 1 Sam. 2:2; Heb. 12:14

1 The Father is a holy God;
His holy Son he gave;
Who freely shed atoning blood,
A guilty world to save.

2 The Spirit brings the chosen race,
A holy Christ to view;
And while by faith they see his face,
Their souls grow holy too.

3 In holiness the saints delight,
While here on earth they dwell;
By faith they wrestle day and night,
More holiness to feel.

4 The Holy Spirit leads them on,

His holy truth to know;
Inscribes his laws in every son,
And works obedience too.

5 He makes them feel the cleansing grace,
That flows through Jesus’ blood;
Unites in love the holy race –
The new-born sons of God.

God, and everyone united to Him, is wrapped up in holiness. "Holy" is His very name (Luke 1:49).

What is the secret of sanctification? How is one made holy - set apart for God's possession and purpose? The secret for men to progress in holiness is seeing Jesus - "while by faith they see his face, their souls grow holy too" (2 Cor. 3:18).

I confess that my life is seldom characterized as a battle where I fight by faith in God against the world so that I may have "more holiness to feel". Nevertheless, here are our marching orders: "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2, cf. 1 Pt. 1:16).

Gadsby #15

15 C.M. Isaac Watts & J. Needham
The Holiness of God. Ps. 111:9; 145:17

1 How shall I praise the eternal God,
That infinite Unknown?
Who can ascend his high abode,
Or venture near his throne?

2 Heaven’s brightest lamps, with him compared,
How mean they look, and dim!
The holy angels have no spots,
Yet can’t compare with him.

3 Holy is he in all his works,
And truth is his delight;
But sinners, and their wicked ways,
Shall perish from his sight.

4 None but his favourites may draw near,
Who stand in Christ complete;
Those holy ones shall all appear
And worship at his feet.

5 In Jesus’ image shining bright
With rapture they adore
The holy, holy, holy Lord,
In glory evermore.

If any human would desire to get to know God and who He is, they will quickly run into a rather big problem. You see, God dwells in "unapproachable light" (1 Tim. 6:16), a kind of light that doesn't have "opaque" in its dictionary. This light penetrates the dark hearts of men and luminates their murky contents. So if we would try to approach God - and there is no way to sneak up on Him - we will have all our sin exposed for God to see. Our problem is God's response to our sin. It is not a favorable response. God always recoils against sin with wrath. He can do nothing else. "But sinners, and their wicked ways, shall perish from his sight."

Now I am not ignorant of God's grace, but consider this - has there been or will there ever be a situation where God will not respond to sin by unleashing His righteous wrath? Our conundrum boils down to this: either we will face God's wrath for our sin, head on, or someone else will for us. Or perhaps I should say it as the hymnwriters say, we need God to shine His light on someone else's image. An Image who is "shining bright" by Himself. You could call it the ultimate mirror-image. But it, He, is more than a mirror, He is also a prism.