Author: Martin Luther; Elizabeth R. Charles Hymnal: The Cyber Hymnal #16217 Meter: 8.7.87.8.8.7 First Line: Dear Christian people, all rejoice Lyrics:
1 Dear Christian people, all rejoice,
Each soul with joy upspringing;
Pour forth one song with heart and voice,
With love and gladness singing.
Give thanks to God, our Lord above—
Thanks for His miracle of love;
Dearly He hath redeemed us!
2 The devil’s captive bound I lay,
Lay in death’s chains forlorn;
My sins distressed me night and day—
The sin within me born;
I could not do the thing I would,
In all my life was nothing good,
Sin had possessed me wholly.
3 My good works could no comfort shed,
Worthless must they be rated;
My free will to all good was dead,
And God’s just judgments hated.
Me of all hope my sins bereft:
Nothing but death to me was left,
And death was hell’s dark portal.
4 Then God saw with deep pity moved
My grief that knew no measure;
Pitying He saw, and freely loved—
To save me was His pleasure.
The Father’s heart to me was stirred.
He saved me with no sovereign word,
His very best it cost Him.
5 He spoke to His belovèd Son
With infinite compassion,
"Go hence, My heart’s most precious crown,
Be to the lost salvation;
Death, his relentless tyrant, slay,
And bear him from his sins away,
With Thee to live for ever."
6 Willing the Son took that behest,
Born of a maiden mother,
To His own earth He came a guest,
And made Himself my brother.
All secretly He went His way,
Veiled in my mortal flesh He lay,
And thus the foe He vanquished.
7 He said to me, “Cling close to Me,
Thy sorrows now are ending;
Freely I gave Myself for thee,
Thy life with Mine defending;
For I am thine, and thou art Mine,
And where I am there thou shalt shine,
The foe shall never reach us.
8 “True, He will shed My heart’s life blood,
And torture Me to death;
All this I suffer for thy good,
This hold with earnest faith.
Death dieth through My life divine;
I sinless bear those sins of thine,
And so shalt thou be rescued.
9 “I rise again to Heav’n from hence,
High to My Father soaring,
Thy Master there to be, and thence,
My Spirit on thee pouring;
In every grief to comfort thee,
And teach thee more and more of Me,
Into all truth still guiding.
10 "What I have done and taught on earth,
Do thou, and teach, none dreading;
That so God’s kingdom may go forth,
And His high praise be spreading;
And guard thee from the words of men,
Lest the great joy be lost again;
Thus my last charge I leave thee."
Languages: English Tune Title: NUN FREUT EUCH
Dear Christian People All, Rejoice
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