Scripture Verse

Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26

Introduction

portrait
Thomas Kelly (1769–1855)

Words: Tho­mas Kel­ly, Hymns on Va­ri­ous Pas­sag­es of Scrip­ture, 1804.

Music: Perth in The Sab­bath Hymn and Tune Book, ed­it­ed by Lo­well Ma­son, Ed­wards A. Park & Aus­tin Phelps (New York: Ma­son Bro­thers, 1859), page 205 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

And art Thou, gra­cious Mas­ter, gone,
A man­sion to pre­pare for me?
Shall I be­hold Thee on the throne,
And there for ev­er sit with Thee?
Then let the world ap­prove or blame,
I’ll tri­umph in Thy glo­ri­ous name.

Should I to gain the world’s ap­plause,
Or to es­cape its harm­less frown,
Refuse to coun­te­nance Thy cause,
And make Thy peo­ple’s lot my own:
What shame would fill me in that day,
When Thou Thy glo­ry wilt dis­play!

And what is man, or what his smile?
The ter­ror of his an­ger, what?
Like grass he flour­ish­es a while,
But soon his place shall know him not.
Thro’ fear of such a one shall I
The Lord of Heav’n and earth de­ny?

No! let the world cast out my name,
And vile ac­count me if they will;
If to con­fess the Lord be shame,
I pur­pose to be vil­er still.
For Thee, my God, I all re­sign,
Content if I can call Thee mine.

What trans­port then shall fill my heart,
When Thou my worth­less name wilt own;
When I shall see Thee as Thou art,
And know as I my­self am known!
From sin and fear and sor­row free,
My soul shall find its rest in Thee.