Sunday Hymn: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Jesus, the ve­ry thought of Thee
With sweet­ness fills the breast;
But sweet­er far Thy face to see,
And in Thy pre­sence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the me­mo­ry find
A sweet­er sound than Thy blest name,
O Sav­ior of man­kind!

O hope of ev­ery con­trite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Je­sus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

Jesus, our on­ly joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus be Thou our glo­ry now,
And through eter­ni­ty.

O Je­sus, King most won­der­ful
Thou Con­quer­or re­nowned,
Thou sweet­ness most in­ef­fa­ble
In whom all joys are found!

When once Thou vis­it­est the heart,
Then truth be­gins to shine,
Then earth­ly va­ni­ties de­part,
Then kin­dles love di­vine.

O Je­sus, light of all be­low,
Thou fount of liv­ing fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can de­sire.

Jesus, may all con­fess Thy name,
Thy won­drous love ad­ore,
And, seek­ing Thee, them­selves in­flame
To seek Thee more and more.

Thee, Je­sus, may our voic­es bless,
Thee may we love alone,
And ev­er in our lives ex­press
The im­age of Thine own.

O Je­sus, Thou the beau­ty art
Of an­gel worlds above;
Thy name is mu­sic to the heart,
Inflaming it with love.

Celestial sweet­ness un­al­loyed,
Who eat Thee hun­ger still;
Who drink of Thee still feel a void
Which on­ly Thou canst fill.

O most sweet Je­sus, hear the sighs
Which un­to Thee we send;
To Thee our in­most spir­it cries;
To Thee our pray­ers as­cend.

Abide with us, and let Thy light
Shine, Lord, on ev­ery heart;
Dispel the dark­ness of our night;
And joy to all im­part.

Jesus, our love and joy to Thee,
The vir­gin’s ho­ly Son,
All might and praise and glo­ry be,
While end­less ag­es run.

— Ber­nard of Clair­vaux, 12th Cen­tu­ry 

Theological Term of the Week: Infralapsarianism

infralapsarianism
The view that in the plan God made in eternity for the salvation of humankind, his decree to permit the fall logically preceded his decree of election, so that when God chose some people to receive eternal life, he was choosing them from the whole mass of humanity, all regarded as fallen creatures.

• Scripture used to support infralapsarianism:

…he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV).

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy … .” (Romans 9:15 ESV).

• From the Westminster Shorter Catechism: 

Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

A. God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. 

Learn more:

1. Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
2. Simply Put: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
3. Richard Phillips: Lapsarian Views
4. John Frame: Infralapsarianism
5. Phillip R. Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism

Related terms:

• order of God’s decrees
• supralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Sunday Hymn: The God of Abraham Praise

The God of Ab­ra­ham praise,
Who reigns en­throned above;
Ancient of ev­er­last­ing days,
And God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM!
By earth and Heav’n con­fessed;
I bow and bless the sac­red name
Forever blessed.

The God of Ab­ra­ham praise,
At whose su­preme com­mand
From earth I rise—and seek the joys
At His right hand;
I all on earth for­sake,
Its wis­dom, fame, and pow­er;
And Him my on­ly por­tion make,
My shield and tow­er.

The God of Ab­ra­ham praise,
Whose all suf­fi­cient grace
Shall guide me all my hap­py days,
In all my ways.
He calls a worm His friend,
He calls Him­self my God!
And He shall save me to the end,
Thro’ Je­sus’ blood.

He by Him­self has sworn;
I on His oath de­pend,
I shall, on ea­gle wings up­borne,
To Heav’n as­cend.
I shall be­hold His face;
I shall His pow­er adore,
And sing the won­ders of His grace
Forevermore.

Tho’ na­ture’s strength de­cay,
And earth and hell with­stand,
To Ca­naan’s bounds I urge my way,
At His com­mand.
The wa­tery deep I pass,
With Je­sus in my view;
And thro’ the howl­ing wil­der­ness
My way pur­sue.

The good­ly land I see,
With peace and plen­ty blessed;
A land of sac­red li­ber­ty,
And end­less rest.
There milk and ho­ney flow,
And oil and wine abound,
And trees of life for­ev­er grow
With mer­cy crowned.

There dwells the Lord our king,
The Lord our right­eous­ness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin
The Prince of peace;
On Si­on’s sac­red height
His king­dom still main­tains,
And glo­ri­ous with His saints in light
Forever reigns.

He keeps His own se­cure,
He guards them by His side,
Arrays in gar­ments, white and pure,
His spot­less bride:
With streams of sac­red bliss,
With groves of liv­ing joys—
With all the fruits of pa­ra­dise
He still sup­plies.

Before the great Three-One
They all ex­ult­ing stand;
And tell the won­ders He hath done,
Through all their land:
The list­en­ing spheres at­tend,
And swell the grow­ing fame;
And sing, in songs which nev­er end,
The wond­rous name.

The God who reigns on high
The great arch­an­gels sing,
And Holy, ho­ly, ho­ly! cry,
Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same,
And ev­er­more shall be:
Jehovah—Fa­ther—great I AM,
We wor­ship Thee!

Before the Sav­ior’s face
The ran­somed na­tions bow;
O’erwhelmed at His al­migh­ty grace,
Forever new:
He shows His prints of love—
They kin­dle to a flame!
And sound thro’ all the worlds ab­ove
The slaugh­tered Lamb.

The whole tri­umph­ant host
Give thanks to God on high;
Hail, Fa­ther, Son, and Ho­ly Ghost,
They ev­er cry.
Hail, Ab­ra­ham’s God, and mine!
(I join the heav’n­ly lays)
All might and ma­jes­ty are Thine,
And end­less praise.

—Da­ni­el ben Ju­dah, cir­ca 1400