O Lord, Our Fathers Oft Have Told

54 O Lord, Our Fathers Oft Have Told

1 O Lord, our fathers oft have told,
   In our attentive ears,
   Thy wonders in their days perform'd,
   And in more ancient years.

2 ’Twas not their courage, nor their sword,
   To them salvation gave;
   ’Twas not their number, nor their strength
   That did their country save.

3 But thy right hand, thy pow'rful arm;
   Whose succor they implor'd—
   Thy Providence protected those,
   Who thy great name ador'd.

4 As thee, their God, our fathers own'd,
   So thou art still our King;
   O therefore, as thou didst to them,
   To us deliv'rance bring.

5 To thee, the glory we'll ascribe,
   From whom salvation came;
   In God our shield we will rejoice,
   And ever bless thy name.
                         Tate and Brady 1696
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Note that Tate and Brady refers to the Psalter collection of Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, which they published in 1696. Quite a few of their adaptations of the Psalms are still in use today.
</idle musing>

Give to the Winds They Fears

51 Give to the Winds They Fears

1 Give to the winds thy fears,
   hope and be undismayed;
   God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears;
   God shall lift up thy head.

2 Through waves and clouds and storms,
   He gently clears the way;
   wait thou His time, so shall this night
   soon end in joyous day.

3 Leave to His sov'reign sway
   to choose and to command,
   so shalt thou wond'ring own His way,
   how wise, how strong His hand!

4 Let us in life, in death,
   Thy steadfast truth declare,
   and publish with our latest breath
   Thy love and guardian care.
                         Paul Gerhardt
                         Trans. by John Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Be sure to take the time to read the short bio of the hymnwriter at the link above. This hymn occurs in about 500 hymnals. Hymnary.org inserts four verses:

3 Still heavy is thy heart,
   still sink thy spirits down?
   Cast off the weight, let fear depart,
   and every care be gone.

4 What though thou rulest not,
   yet heav'n, and earth, and hell
   proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
   and ruleth all things well.

6 Far, far above thy thought
   His counsel shall appear
   when fully He the work hath wrought,
   that caused thy needless fear.

7 Thou seest our weakness, Lord,
   our hearts are known to Thee;
   O lift Thou up the sinking heart,
   confirm the feeble knee.

</idle musing>

My God, I thank thee

50 My God, I thank thee

1. My God, I thank Thee, who hast made
   The earth so bright,
   So full of splendour and of joy,
   Beauty and light,
   So many glorious things are here,
   Noble and right.

2. I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made
   Joy to abound,
   So many gentle thoughts and deeds
   Circling us round,
   That in the darkest spot of earth
   Some love is found.

3. I thank Thee more that all our joy
   Is touched with pain,
   That shadows fall on brightest hours,
   That thorns remain,
   So that earth's bliss may be our guide,
   And not our chain.

4. For Thou, who knowest, Lord, how soon
   Our weak heart clings,
   Hast given us joys, tender and true,
   Yet all with wings,
   So that we see, gleaming on high,
   Diviner things.

5. I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast kept
   The best in store:
   We have enough, yet not too much
   To long for more,
   A yearning for a deeper peace
   Not known before.
                         Adelaide A. Proctor
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't recall ever singing this hymn. It isn't very popular, only occurring in 222 hymnals. Hymnary.org adds a sixth verse:

6. I thank Thee, Lord that here our souls,
   Though amply blest,
   Can never find, although they seek,
   A perfect rest,
   Nor ever shall, until they lean
   On Jesus' breast.

</idle musing>

What hath Sanders wrought?

What may we conclude from these heated and often confused debates in the wake of Sanders? In large measure, they revolve around unexamined assumptions and predetermined decisions concerning the meaning of the term “grace.” Even when a definition is provided, its historical and cultural roots are generally left unexamined, as if the concept had some essential meaning across all times and cultures. That Sanders meant by “grace” the priority of God’s initiative in election, but sometimes added the language of “unmerited” (that is, incongruous) grace, is one cause of the subsequent confusion. But it is also often the case that a particular definition, accorded a structural role in the thesis to be argued, is taken for granted as obvious, “typical,” or “common.”—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 174

Captain of Israel's Host

46 Captain of Israel's Host

1 Captain of Israel's host, and guide
   Of all who seek the land above,
   Beneath Thy shadow we abide,
   The cloud of Thy protecting love;
   Our strength, Thy grace; our rule, Thy word;
   Our end, the glory of the Lord.

2 By Thine unerring Spirit led,
   We shall not in the desert stray;
   We shall not full direction need,
   Nor miss our providential way;
   As far from danger as from fear,
   While love, almighty love, is near.
                         Charles Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Unusually for a Charles Wesley hymn, there are only two verses and I could find no variations.
</idle musing>

Theology or ethics?

While supportive of the emancipatory movements that have engaged the churches in America since the 1960s, Martyn is wary lest the church’s social and political action becomes disengaged from its source, God’s action in Christ. If it does, ethics takes the place of theology, and reliance is placed on human agency in a cosmos that is conflicted at a deeper and more intractable level than the church is apt to recognize. In the context of a church that he perceives to be weakened by a moralism neither founded in nor energized by the gospel, Martyn stresses both the priority and the efficacy of grace as a liberating vision that frees the church to act boldly without relying on itself, and also carries the hope that, despite setbacks, God’s gracious power will triumph in the end.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 150

O Lord, Our Lord, in All the Earth

44 O Lord, Our Lord, in All the Earth

1 O Lord, our Lord, in all the earth,
   how excellent Thy name!
   Thy glory Thou hast spread afar
   in all the starry frame.

2 When I regard the wondrous heav'ns,
   Thy handiwork on high,
   the moon and stars ordained by Thee,
   "O what is man?" I cry.

3 O what is man, in Thy regard
   to hold so large a place,
   and what the son of man, that Thou
   dost visit him in grace.

4 On man Thy wisdom hath bestowed
   a pow'r well nigh divine;
   with honor Thou hast crowned his head
   with glory like to Thine.

5 Thy mighty works and wondrous grace
   Thy glory, LORD, proclaim,
   O LORD, our Lord, in all the earth,
   How excellent Thy name.
                         Psalm 8
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Hymnary.org adds two verses:

2 From lips of children, Thou, O LORD
   hast mighty strength ordained,
   that adversaries should be stilled
   and vengeful foes restrained.

6 Thou hast subjected all to him,
   and lord of all is he,
   of flocks and herds, and beasts and birds,
   and all within the sea.

</idle musing>

Bultmann on grace

Influenced by both Luther and Barth, Bultmann makes the incongruity of grace the center of Pauline theology: this grace exposes, judges, and overcomes the perverted human desire to seek recognition and reward from our own resources. He likewise emphasizes the priority of grace, though distancing himself from the Augustinian understanding of predestination: God’s grace is prevenient (vorkommende) in opening up the possibility of a new self-understanding, not in determining how one will respond. Bultmann’s cautious treatment of Paul’s language of powers, and his emphasis on freedom, decision, and obedience, signal his reluctance to perfect the efficacy of grace, at least as found in the Augustinian and Calvinist traditions. Unlike Marcion and modern liberalism (but here like Augustine and Calvin), for Bultmann, grace is not singular in the sense that it is incompatible with notions of divine judgment and wrath: it is, rather, the paradoxical act of the righteous judge. Nor is it noncircular in the sense that it carries no demands: Bultmann’s emphasis on the demand of grace and the obedience of faith is markedly different from Luther’s, at least in tone. For Bultmann, to speak of “pure gift” or “radical grace” means above all one thing: there are no grounds for boasting before God, whose grace operates not in accordance with human effort but precisely to undercut the self-destructive human desire to establish our own righteousness and worth.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 140

Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns adore him

42 Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns adore him

1 Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns adore him;
   Praise him angels, in the height;
   Sun and moon, rejoice before him;
   Praise him, all ye stars of light.
   Praise the Lord! for he has spoken;
   Worlds his mighty voice obeyed;
   Laws which never shall be broken
   For their guidance he has made.

2 Praise the Lord! for he is glorious;
   Never shall his promise fail;
   God has made his saints victorious;
   Sin and death shall not prevail.
   Praise the God of our salvation!
   Hosts on high his pow'r proclaim;
   Heav'n, and earth, and all creation,
   Laud and magnify his name.
                         Psalm 148
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
While the Methodist hymnal doesn't list an author,Hymnary.org lists a Richard Mant as the translator from the Latin. They also add a verse:

3 Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
   Lord, we offer unto thee;
   Young and old, thy praise expressing,
   In glad homage bend the knee.
   All the saints in heav'n adore thee,
   We would bow before thy throne;
   As thine angels serve before thee,
   So on earth thy will be done.

</idle musing>

Integral, but not prior

Calvin insists, “Christ justifies no one whom he does not at the same time sanctify” ([Inst.] III.16.1). Calvin is unwilling to follow the Lutheran distinction between inner saving faith and outer works of service, because the believers good works are integral to participation in Christ, whose purpose is to conform believers into his image (Rom 8:29) and thus to transform them into some approximation of the holiness of God (Inst. IIl.8.1). Calvin’s task—and considerable achievement—is to position a life of good works within the scheme of salvation, without making these works instrumental in obtaining or “meriting” grace, that is, without compromising the priority and incongruity of grace. To the extent that he succeeded, he laid the foundation for a Protestant theology of grace that envisaged an extended narrative of moral progress as an integral element of the life of faith.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 124

Party on! (Tozer for a Tuesday)

We want to play and have no hesitation advertising our Bible conferences as religious playgrounds, which proves how carnal we are. We live a life of play and trifles. In order to get many Christians interested in Bible study or missions, it must be camouflaged as play to make it more palatable. A carnal Christian must be tricked into studying the Bible and it must be made out to be something that is fun.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 125

O How Glorious, Full of Wonder

41 O How Glorious, Full of Wonder

1. O how glorious, full of wonder
   Is thy name o’er all the earth;
   Thou who wrought creation’s splendor,
   Bringing suns and stars to birth!
   Rapt in reverence we adore thee,
   Marveling at thy mystic ways,
   Humbly now we bow before thee,
   Lifting up our hearts in praise.

2. When we see they lights of heaven,
   Moon and stars, thy power displayed,
   What is man that thou shouldst love him,
   Creature that thy hand hath made?
   Child of earth, yet full of yearning,
   Mixture strange of good and ill,
   From thy ways so often turning,
   Yet thy love doth seek him still.

3. Thou hast given man dominion
   O’er the wonders of thy hand,
   Made him fly with eagle pinion,
   Master over sea and land,
   Soaring spire and ruined city,
   These our hopes and failures show,
   Teach us more of human pity,
   That we in thine image grow.

4. O how wondrous, O how glorious
   Is thy name in every land!
   Thou whose purpose moves before us
   Toward the goal that thou hast planned.
   ‘Tis thy will our hearts are seeking,
   Conscious of our human need.
   Spirit in our spirit speaking,
   Make us sons of God indeed!
                         Curtis Beach
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
The story behind this hymn is interesting. Read it here.
</idle musing>

More on Luther and grace

The superabundance of divine grace (“the overwhelming goodness of God”) is identified by Luther first and foremost with the Christ—event, not with the gifts of creation or nature. As we have seen, the Pauline terminology of “grace” is taken to signify a relationship of favor, not a quality in the character of God nor, by infusion, a human quality or capacity. God’s favorable relation to humanity is embodied in the gift of Christ, who comes to us only as the Savior who gives, not as a Legislator or Judge who demands. In this respect, Luther’s theology tends toward perfecting the singularity of grace, though (unlike Marcion) only in dialectical relationship to the law of the same God, who is “hidden” behind apparent contradictions, and with his “other hand” threatens us with judgment. The priority of grace is also fundamental for Luther: his Augustinian tradition equips him to make strong statements about the predestination of the elect, but he is wary to enter this perplexing terrain since the essence of the gospel is its address to individual lives, not the eternal disposition of God toward the world. At the heart of the gospel is the gift of Christ, “the foundation and chief blessing of salvation.” In Aristotelian terms, it is not the works that make the person, but the person who makes the works; in Lutheran terms, persons are reconstituted when they receive the all-sufficient gift of God in Christ. Sola gratia thus preserves the sense that all that is essential to salvation has not just been started but has already been achieved by Christ (solus Christus).—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 110–11

Luther and imputation

As recent analysis has rightly shown, Luther thereby melds the Pauline themes of justification by faith and participation in Christ without the polarity that has often arisen in later readings of Paul. Where Luther uses the language of “imputation,” this is never a bare “forensic” metaphor, and certainly involves no “fiction,” since Christ’s righteousness is real and really shared by the believer.“ Believers are justified by union with Christ.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 107–8

Many and Great, O God (Dakota hymn)

40 Many and Great, O God

1 Many and great, O God, are your works, maker of earth and sky.
   Your hands have set the heavens with stars;
   your fingers spread the mountains and plains.
   Lo, at your word the waters were formed; deep seas obey your voice.

2 Grant unto us communion with you, O star-abiding One.
   Come unto us and dwell with us;
   with you are found the gifts of life.
   Bless us with life that has no end, eternal life with you.
                         American Folk Hymn
                         Paraphrase by Philip Frazier
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Actually, it isn't an "American Folk Hymn"; it's a Dakota hymn. Hymnary.org gives the original Dakota:

1 Wakantanka taku nitawa tankaya qa ota;
   mahpiya kin eyahnake ça,
   maka kin he duowanca;
   mniowanca śbeya wanke cin, hena oyakihi.

2 Woehdaku nitawa kin he minaġi kin qu wo;
   mahpiya kin iwankam yati,
   wicowaśte yuha nanka,
   wiconi kin he mayaqu nun, owihanke wanin.

According to hymnary.org, there is no information available about the translator. They also say the hymn only occurs in 46 hymnals. I don't recall ever singing it, or even hearing it sung.
</idle musing>