Gratitude to God for Redemption

1 Shall Jesus descend from the skies,
To atone for our sins by his blood,
And shall we such goodness despise,
And rebels still be to our God?

2 [No brute could be ever so base!
Shall man thus ungrateful then prove?
Forbid it, O God of all grace;
Forbid it, thou spirit of love!

3 The devils would laugh us to scorn,
For folly so shameful as this;
O let us to God then return,
Sure never was goodness like his.]

4 He sav'd us, or we had been lost,
Nor comfort nor hope had e'er known;
Yet he knew this salvation would cost
No less than the blood of his son.

5 Thro' him we forgiveness shall find,
And taste the sweet blessings of peace,
If contrite and humbly resign'd,
We trust in his promised grace,

6 This world then with all its gay joy,
That its thousands has snar'd and undone,
May tempt, but shall never destroy,
Whom Jesus has mark'd for his own.

7 While here thro' the desert we stray,
Our God shall be all our delight,
Our pillar of cloud in the day,
And also of fire in the night:

8 'Till, 'th' Jordan of death safely pass'd,
We land on the heavenly shore,
Where we the hid manna shall taste,
Nor hunger nor thirst any more.

9 And there while his glories we see,
And feast on the joys of his love,
We chang'd to his likeness shall be,
And then shall all gratitude prove.

Source: A Selection of Hymns: from the best authors, intended to be an appendix to Dr. Watt's psalms and hymns. (1st Am. ed.) #LXXIII