Scripture Verse

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Introduction

Words: Tho­mas H. Gill, Gold­en Chain of Praise 1869.

Music: Ma­no­ah ar­ranged from Gio­a­chi­no A. Ros­si­ni in Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic, by Hen­ry W. Great­or­ex, 1851 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Giaochino A. Rossini (1792–1868)

Lyrics

O mys­te­ry of love di­vine
That thought and thanks o’er­pow­ers!
Lord Je­sus, was our por­tion Thine,
And is Thy por­tion ours?

Emmanuel, didst Thou take our place
To set us in Thine own?
Didst Thou our low es­tate em­brace
To lift us to Thy throne?

Didst Thou ful­fill each right­eous deed,
God’s per­fect will ex­press,
That we th’un­faith­ful ones might plead
Thy per­fect faith­ful­ness?

For Thee the Fa­ther’s hid­den face?
For Thee the bit­ter cry?
For us the Fa­ther’s end­less grace,
The song of vic­to­ry?

Our load of sin and mi­se­ry
Didst Thou, the sin­less, bear?
Thy spot­less robe of pu­r­ity
Do we the sin­ners wear?

Lord Je­sus, is it even so?
Have bee been lov­èd thus?
What love can we on Thee be­stow
Who hast ex­changed with us?

Thou, who our ve­ry place didst take,
Dwell in our ve­ry heart:
Thou, who Thy por­tion ours dost make,
Thyself, Thy­self im­part.