Scripture Verse

His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–23

Introduction

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Thomas Gibbons
1720–1785
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Tho­mas Gib­bons, in the Gos­pel Ma­ga­zine, 1775.

Music: Clap­ham, ano­ny­mous, in The Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by George Booth (Lon­don: Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Pub­lish­ing House, 1889) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Thy goodness, Lord, our souls confess,
Thy goodness we adore:
A spring, whose blessings ne­ver fail,
A sea without a shore.

Sun, moon and stars Thy love attest,
In every cheerful ray:
Love draws the curtains of the night,
And love restores the day.

Thy bounty every season crowns,
With all the bliss it yields;
With joyful clusters bend the vines,
With harvests wave the fields.

But chiefly Thy compassions, Lord,
Are in the Gos­pel seen;
There, like the sun, Thy mercy shines,
Without a cloud between.

Thy Son, Thy noblest, choicest gift,
Was from Thy bosom sent
To bear from off a sinking world
Its load of punishment.

Pardon, acceptance, peace and joy
Are published in His name;
Ours is the life, the glo­ry ours,
And His the death and shame.

Of sovereign grace how wide the reign;
How strong the current rolls
That bears to Heav’n’s unbounded bliss
Our hell-deserving souls!