Scripture Verse

As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

Introduction

portrait
Nikolaus Hermann
(1500–1561)

Words: Ni­ko­laus Her­mann, 1560 (So wahr ich leb’, spricht Gott der Herr). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Mat­thi­as Loy in the Ev­an­ge­li­cal Lu­ther­an Hym­nal (Co­lum­bus, Ohio: 1880).

Music: St. Luke (Clarke) Je­re­mi­ah Clarke, 1701 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Matthias Loy (1828–1915)

Lyrics

Yea, as I live, Je­ho­vah saith,
I would not have the sin­ner’s death,
But that he turn from er­ror’s ways,
Repent, and live through end­less days.

To us there­fore Christ gave com­mand:
“Go forth and preach in ev­ery land;
Bestow on all My par­don­ing grace
Who will re­pent and mend their ways.

“All those whose sins ye thus re­mit
I tru­ly par­don and ac­quit;
And those whose sins ye do re­tain
Condemned and guil­ty shall re­main.

What ye shall bind, that bound shall be;
What ye shall loose, that shall be free;
Unto My church the keys are giv’n
To ope and close the gates of Heav’n.

The words which ab­so­lu­tion give
Are His who died that we might live;
The min­is­ter whom Christ has sent
Is but His hum­ble in­stru­ment.

When min­is­ters lay on their hands,
Absolved by Christ the sin­ner stands;
He who by grace the Word be­lieves
The pur­chase of His blood re­ceives.

All praise, eter­nal Son, to Thee
For ab­so­lu­tion full and free,
In which Thou show­est forth Thy grace;
From false in­dul­gence guard our race.

Praise God the Fa­ther and the Son
And Holy Spir­it, Three in One,
As ’twas, is now, and so shall be
World with­out end, eter­ni­ty!