1 “By covenant transaction and blood,”
Says Jesus, “my people are mine;
Their sin-bearing Victim I stood;
Yea, for them my life did resign.
The curse of the law I sustained,
Did them from all cursings set free,
That when by stern Justice arraigned,
The sinner should look unto me.
2 “When darkness envelops the mind,
And troubles rush in as a flood,
Protection in me they shall find,
And peace in my peace-speaking blood.
For wisdom their course to direct,
As well as their danger to see,
My sheep, by my Father elect,
I’ll teach them to look unto me.
3 “When thirsty, or faint in the way,
Or groping ’twixt hope and despair,
To faith I’ll my fulness display,
And bid the poor sinner look there.
When lost in themselves and undone,
Like doves to my wounds they shall flee;
For all that the gospel makes known,
The sinner shall look unto me.
4 “By crosses I’ll scourge them for sin,
Not flowing from wrath, but in love;
Yet, while they the furnace are in,
The strength of my grace they shall prove.
And when at my footstool at last,
They come with the suppliant knee,
Their sorrowful eyes they shall cast,
And look for salvation in me.”
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #183
Kent, John, was born at Bideford, Devonshire, Dec. 1766, and died Nov. 15, 1843. As a working shipwright his opportunities for acquiring the education and polish necessary for the production of refined verse were naturally limited. His hymns are strongly worded, very earnest and simple, and intensely Calvinistic. A few were published in Samuel Reece's Collection, 1799. The first edition of his Collection of Original Gospel Hymns, was published in 1803, and the 10th edition, with "The Author's Experience," in verse, 264 hymns, 15 longer pieces, and a Life by his Son in 1861. The Calvinistic teaching so prominent in his hymns has restricted their use to a limited number of collections. The greatest use made of them in modern hymnbooks has bee… Go to person page >
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