Counsels of Love

Father, our ransomed souls would bless Thy name,
As all Thy purposes before us shine;
Conceived before the earth or starry frame
Burst into being at Thy word divine.
Before Thy works of old Thine eyes beheld
That radiant sphere in which Thy love should rest,
And where Thy glorious triumphs should be swelled
In endless song by souls supremely blest.
’Twas Man that filled Thy vision, not the host
Which flame before Thy throne in splendour bright;
Thyself the Object of His holy boast,
Thy love of His rejoicing heart the light.
Chosen in Christ, Thy well beloved Son,
Blameless in holiness before Thy face;
One in the oneness of the Godhead one,
One in the greatness of Thy heavenly grace.
With Him who, here where Thou dishonoured wast,
Thy name and nature fully glorified,
And, lest the foe should triumph to Thy cost,
Upon a gibbet as a felon died.
No creature knows how dear He is to Thee,
Nor Thine appraisement of the work He wrought;
We who a little know, on bended knee
Desire in this to be more deeply taught.
With Thee He lives, and we rejoice to know
That gloom and grief and passion are all o’er;
The sorrow and the shame, the cross and woe,
Have no admittance through the heavenly door.
And there our place is ready even now,
In Thine own home, in love’s unclouded light,
Where glory circles every sinless brow,
To Thy deep satisfaction and delight.
And there that love that prompted Thee to send
Thy Son to succour us, and Him to die,
Shall be our portion, where shall never end
The joys which power of praise or speech defy.
O holy, living Father, God of light,
And love, and peace, and truth, and righteousness,
With heart and soul, and strength,
Thy saints unite Thy name unto eternity to bless.