Praise for Redemption
God put at first in Adam’s power
Not fixed’ nature, but free-will.
He could not change necessity,
But he could choose the [good or] ill.
God, though most holy, did permit
Man’s trial and his [odious] fall;
But wisdom hath improved it,
And [mercy’s] glorified by all.
Grace as the sun before it rise
Did first send forth some [beams of] light, Which more increased by degrees,
Till the sun rose to [human] sight.
O wond’rous mystery of grace,
That God [as man] in flesh doth dwell,
To save a self-destroying race
From sin, [themselves], Satan, and Hell.
‘Twas God himself who thus appear’d [Inflesli] though not to it confin’d;
Yet there to do a Saviour’s work,
By [wond’rous] union assign’d.
God walk’d with men; he heal’d the sick, [The lame] the blind, he raised the dead:
Innumerable wonders wrought:
[Thousands] by miracle he fed.
To sinners he repentance preach’d,
Call’d man from [worldly] vanity:
Faith, hope, and love, he plainly taught, And [fleshly] lust to mortify.
Not needless trifling arts, or rites;
But how fallen man [may be] restor’d How sav’d from sin and misery,
In [endless] life may see the Lord.
Divine love is man’s blessedness: Lost love must be [by love] repair’d
Christ came to draw, man’s love to God, By God’s great [wondrous] love declar’d,
He lov’d his enemies more than life: Suffer’d [reproach], died on a cross,
A sacrifice to God for sin,
[Reviv’d] and on the third day rose,
He seal’d and sent the law of grace: [On earth] he forty days abode;
Promis’d to send the Holy Ghost,
[And then] ascended up to God,
Heav’n is the place of blessedness,
In Heav’n [it’s meet] our head must be;
There his great glorious kingdom is, [And there] his glory we must see.
Head over all things to his church
[In Heav’n] he reigns at God’s right hand: Our great high priest, teacher, and king,
[The world] all is at his command.
Worship him, all ye glorious hosts;
Praise him, ye [holy] angels all; Praise him his church throughout the earth;
His foes before him [down shall] fall.
He intercedes from God with man,
Communicating [lift, light ,] love,
He intercedes for man with God,
Presents our case [to him’] above.
By him we have access to God,
Through him God’s now our [dearest] friend; To him our souls with quiet trust
[Inlife^X&t death we do commend.
Glory be to the God of love,
For [these strange’] miracles of grace;
Who sent a Saviour from above,
And shews [to man] his pleased face.
God’s great works must be like himself, His pow’r by this [great world”] we know;
Wisdom and goodness equal it,
And [equal] wonders these must shew.
Christ is the Lord of life and death,
He ’11 [raise and] judge the world at last.
The just he ’11 take to joyful bliss The wicked [he] to hell [will] cast.
Come, glorious Lord, in thee we trust, The conqueror of [death and] hell,
Receive our souls, raise jts from dust, In [love and] joy with thee to dwell.
BAXTER’S POEMS. l’fo