1 ’Twixt Jesus and the chosen race,
Subsists a bond of sovereign grace,
That hell, with its infernal train,
Shall ne’er dissolve nor rend in twain!
2 This sacred bond shall never break,
Though earth should to her centre shake;
Rest, doubting saint, assured of this,
For God has pledged his holiness.
3 [He swore but once; the deed was done;
’Twas settled by the great Three-One;
Christ was appointed to redeem
All that his Father loved in him.]
4 Hail, sacred union, firm and strong!
How great the grace! how sweet the song!
That worms of earth should ever be
One with incarnate Deity!
5 [One in the tomb; one when he rose;
One when he triumphed o’er his foes;
One when in heaven he took his seat,
While seraphs sang all hell’s defeat.]
6 This sacred tie forbids their fears,
For all he is or has is theirs;
With him, their Head, they stand or fall –
Their Life, their Surety, and their All.
7 [The sinner’s Peace, the Daysman he,
Whose blood should set his people free;
On them his fond affections ran,
Before creation-work began.]
8 Blessed be the wisdom and the grace,
The eternal love and faithfulness,
That’s in the gospel-scheme revealed,
And is by God the Spirit sealed.
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #405
Kent, John, was born at Bideford, Devonshire, Dec. 1766, and died Nov. 15, 1843. As a working shipwright his opportunities for acquiring the education and polish necessary for the production of refined verse were naturally limited. His hymns are strongly worded, very earnest and simple, and intensely Calvinistic. A few were published in Samuel Reece's Collection, 1799. The first edition of his Collection of Original Gospel Hymns, was published in 1803, and the 10th edition, with "The Author's Experience," in verse, 264 hymns, 15 longer pieces, and a Life by his Son in 1861. The Calvinistic teaching so prominent in his hymns has restricted their use to a limited number of collections. The greatest use made of them in modern hymnbooks has bee… Go to person page >
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