Scripture Verse

This man receiveth sinners. Luke 15:2

Introduction

Words: Le­o­pold F. F. Lehr, cir­ca 1731, cen­to (Mein Hei­land nimmt die Sün­der an); com­po­site trans­la­tion.

Music: Mein Hei­land Mu­si­kal­isch­er Chris­ten­schatz (Ba­sel, Swit­zer­land: 1745) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Lehr (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive
Who find no rest and no sal­va­tion,
To whom no man can com­fort give,
So great their guilt and con­dem­na­tion;
For whom the world is all too small,
Their sins both them and God appall;
With whom the law itself hath brok­en,
On whom its judg­ment hath been spok­en—
To them the Gos­pel hope doth give:
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth receive.
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.

A love more deep than mo­ther-love,
With which His heart was ov­er­flow­ing,
Drew Him on earth from Heav’n above,
On sin­ners bound­less grace be­stow­ing,
He in their stead a curse be­came,
He bore the cross with all its shame;
Brought full atone­ment by His suf­fer­ing,
Gave up His life for them an of­fer­ing.
This com­fort doth the Gos­pel give:
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.

His lov­ing bosom still re­mains
A ha­ven for the hea­vy la­den;
Christ frees them from their guil­ty stains,
Their bur­dened hearts doth ease and glad­den.
He casts in­to th’un­fathomed sea
The load of their ini­qui­ty;
He gives as­sur­ance by His Spi­rit
That they are saved through His own mer­it.
Yea, they shall live who this be­lieve:
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.

Say not: My sins are far too great,
His mercy I have scorned and slight­ed,
Now my re­pent­ance is too late;
I came not when His love in­vit­ed.

O trem­bling sin­ner, have no fear;
In pe­ni­tence to Christ draw near.
Come now, though con­science still is chid­ing;
Accept His mer­cy, e’er abid­ing.
Come; blest are they who this be­lieve:
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.
My Sav­ior sin­ners doth re­ceive.

Oh, draw us ev­er un­to Thee,
Thou friend of sin­ners, gra­cious Sav­ior;
Help us that we may fer­vent­ly
Desire Thy par­don, peace and fa­vor.
When guil­ty con­science doth re­prove,
Reveal to us Thy heart of love.
May we, our wretch­ed­ness be­hold­ing,
See then Thy par­don­ing grace un­fold­ing
And say: To God all glo­ry be:
My Sav­ior, Christ, re­ceiv­eth me.
My Sav­ior, Christ, re­ceiv­eth me.