Theology

Verse 1

Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme,
And speak some boundless thing;
The mighty works or mightier name
Of our eternal King.

Verse 2

Tell of his wondrous faithfulness,
And sound his power abroad;
Sing the sweet promise of his grace,
And the performing God.

Verse 3

His very word of grace is strong,
As that which built the skies;
The voice that rolls the stars along,
Speaks all the promises.

Verse 4

Oh, might I hear thy heavenly tongue
But whisper, “Thou art mine!”
Those gentle words should raise my song
To notes almost divine.

Verse 1

Blest be the Father and his love,
To whose celestial source we owe
Rivers of endless joy above,
And rills of comfort here below.

Verse 2

Glory to thee, great Son of God!
From whose dear, wounded body rolls
A precious stream of vital blood--
Pardon and life for dying souls

Verse 3

We give the sacred Spirit praise,
Who, in our hearts of sin and woe,
Makes living springs of grace arise,
And into boundless glory flow.

Verse 4

Thus, God, the Father, God, the Son,
And God, the Spirit, we adore;
That sea of life and love unknown,
Without a bottom or a shore.

Verse 1

Come, let us all unite to sing,
God is love;
Let heav’n and earth their praises bring,
God is love;
Let every soul from sin awake,
Each in his heart sweet music make,
And sing with us for Jesus’ sake,
For God is love.

Refrain

God is love,
God is love.
Come, let us all unite to sing
That God is love.

Verse 2

Oh, tell us to earth’s remotest bound,
God is love;
In Christ we have redemption found,
God is love;
His blood has washed our sins away,
His Spirit turned our night to day,
And now we can rejoice to say
That God is love.

Verse 3

How happy is our portion here,
God is love;
His promises our spirits cheer,
God is love;
He is our sun and shield by day,
Our help, our hope, our strength, and stay;
He will be with us all the way;
Our God is love.

Verse 1

Come, thou Almighty King!
Help us thy name to sing,
Help us to praise;
Father all glorious!
O’er all victorious,
Come and reign over us,
Ancient of days!

Verse 2

Come, thou incarnate Word!
Gird on thy mighty sword;
Our prayer attend:
Come, and thy people bless,
And give thy word success;
Spirit of holiness,
On us descend.

Verse 3

Come, holy Comforter!
Thy sacred witness bear
In this glad hour:
Thou who almighty art,
Now rule in every heart,
And ne’er from us depart,
Spirit of power!

Verse 4

To the great One in Three,
The highest praises be,
Hence, evermore!
His sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity
Love and adore.

Verse 1

Come, ye that know and fear the Lord,
And lift your souls above;
Let every heart and voice accord,
To sing that--God is love.

Verse 2

This precious truth his word declares,
And all his mercies prove;
Jesus, the Gift of gifts, appears,
To show that--God is love.

Verse 3

Behold his patience lengthened out
To those who from him rove,
And calls effectual reach their hearts,
To teach them--God is love.

Verse 4

The work begun is carried on
By power from heaven above;
And every step from first to last,
Declares that--God is love.

Verse 1

Ere mountains reared their forms sublime,
Or heaven and earth in order stood,
Before the birth of ancient time,
From everlasting thou art God.

Verse 2

A thousand ages in their flight
With thee are as a fleeting day;
Past, present, future, to thy sight
At once their various scenes display.

Verse 3

But our brief life’s a shadowy dream--
A passing thought, that soon is o’er;
That fades with morning’s earliest beam,
And fills the musing mind no more.

Verse 4

To us, O Lord, the wisdom give,
Each passing moment so to spend,
That we at length with thee may live
Where life and bliss shall never end.

Verse 1

Eternal Wisdom! thee we praise,
Thee the creation sings;
With thy loved name, rocks, hills, and seas,
And heaven’s high palace rings.

Verse 2

Thy hand, how wide it spread the sky!
How glorious to behold!
Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,
And starred with sparkling gold.

Verse 3

Infinite strength and equal skill
Shine through the worlds abroad;
Our souls with vast amazement fill,
And speak the builder--God.

Verse 4

But the sweet beauties of thy grace
Our softer passions move;
Pity divine, in Jesus’ face,
We see, adore, and love.

Verse 1

God is love; his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes, and woe he lightens:
God is wisdom, God is love.
Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays and ages move;
But his mercy waneth never;
God is wisdom, God is love.

Verse 2

E’en the hour the darkest seemeth
Will his changeless goodness prove;
From the gloom his brightness streameth:
God is wisdom, God is love.
He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above;
Everywhere his glory shineth:
God is wisdom, God is love.

Vast numbers of men are pleased with the seemingly new idea that “dogma” is of no great importance … The consequences of this widespread dislike to “dogma” are very serious in the present day. Whether we like to allow it or not, it is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and specially among young people. It creates, fosters, and keeps up an immense amount of instability in religion. It produces what I must venture to call, if I may coin the phrase, a “jelly-fish” Christianity in the land: that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. A jelly-fish, as every one knows who has been much by the sea-side, is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. Yet the same jelly-fish, when cast on the shore, is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defence, or self-preservation. Alas! it is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is,—“No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.”—We have hundreds of “jelly-fish” clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have no definite opinions; they belong to no school or party: they are so afraid of “extreme views” that they have no views at all.—We have thousands of “jelly-fish” sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or a corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint.—We have legions of “jelly-fish” young men annually turned out from our Universities, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what is Christian truth … And last, and worst of all, we have myriads of jelly-fish worshippers,—respectable church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than colour-blind people can distinguish colours. They think everybody is right and nobody wrong, everything is true and nothing is false, all sermons are good and none are bad, every clergyman is sound and no clergyman unsound. They are “tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine;” often carried away by any new excitement and sensational movement; ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old; and utterly unable to “render a reason of the hope that is in them.” All this, and much more, of which I cannot now speak particularly, is the result of the unhappy dread of “dogma” which has been so strongly developed, and has laid such hold on many Churchmen, in these latter days.