To Jor­dan came our Lord the Christ,
To do God’s plea­sure will­ing,
And there was by Saint John bap­tized,
All right­eous­ness ful­filling;
There did He con­se­crate a bath
To wash away trans­gress­ion,
And quench the bit­ter­ness of death
By His own blood and pas­sion;
He would a new life give us.

So hear ye all, and well per­ceive
What God doth call bap­tism,
And what a Chris­tian should be­lieve
Who er­ror shuns and schism:
That we should wa­ter use, the Lord
Declareth it His plea­sure;
Not simple wa­ter, but the Word
And Spi­rit with­out mea­sure;
He is the true Bap­tiz­er.

To show us this, He hath His Word
With signs and sym­bols given;
On Jor­dan’s banks was plain­ly heard
The Fa­ther’s voice from Hea­ven:
This is My well-be­lov­èd Son,
In whom My soul de­light­eth;
Hear Him. Yea, hear Him ev­ery one
Whom He Him­self in­vit­eth,
Hear and ob­ey His teach­ing.

In ten­der man­hood Je­sus straight
To ho­ly Jor­dan wend­eth;
The Ho­ly Ghost from Hea­ven’s gate
In dove­like shape des­cend­eth;
That thus the truth be not de­nied,
Nor should our faith e’er wa­ver,
That the Three Per­sons all pre­side,
At bap­tism’s ho­ly lav­er,
And dwell with the be­liev­er.

Thus Je­sus His dis­ci­ples sent:
Go teach ye ev­ery na­tion,
That lost in sin they must re­pent;
And flee from con­dem­na­tion:
He that be­lieves and is bap­tized,
Obtains a migh­ty bless­ing;
A new-born man, no more he dies,
Eternal life pos­sess­ing,
A joy­ful heir of Hea­ven.

Who in this mer­cy hath not faith,
Nor aught there­in dis­cern­eth,
Is yet in sin, con­demned to death,
And fire that ev­er burn­eth;
His ho­li­ness avails him not,
Nor aught which he is do­ing;
His in­born sin brings all to naught,
And mak­eth sure his ru­in;
Himself he can­not suc­cor.

The eye of sense alone is dim,
And no­thing sees but wa­ter;
Faith sees Christ Je­sus, and in Him
The Lamb or­dained for slaugh­ter;
She sees the cleans­ing foun­tain red
With the dear blood of Je­sus,
Which from the sins in­her­it­ed
From fall­en Ad­am frees us,
And from our own mis­do­ings.