Baptism

Representative Text

1 By what amazing ways
The Lord vouchsafes to explain
The wonders of his sovereign grace
Towards the sons of men!

2 He shows us first how foul
Our nature’s made by sin;
Then teaches the believing soul
The way to make it clean.

3 Our baptism first declares
What need we’ve all to cleanse;
Then shows that Christ to all God’s heirs
Can purity dispense.

4 Water the body laves;
And, if ’tis done by faith,
The blood of Jesus surely saves
The sinful soul from death.

5 Water no man denies;
But, brethren, rest not there;
’Tis faith in Christ that justifies,
And makes the conscience clear.

6 Baptized into his death,
We rise to life divine;
The Holy Spirit works the faith,
And water is the sign.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #863

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Author: J. Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

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