lmighty God, when He had raised the frame
Of heaven and earth, and furnished the same
With works of equal wonder, framed then
A piece of greater excellence, called “man.”

Gave him a comprehensive soul, that soared
Above the creatures, and beheld his Lord;
Inscribed him with His image, and did fill
The compass of his intellect and will,

With truth and good; gave him the custody
Of His own bliss and immortality.
And justly now his Sovereign might demand
Subjection and obedience at his hand.

Were only being given, ’twere but right
His debt of duty should be infinite.
But here was more, a super-added dress
Of life, perfection, and happiness.

Yet this great King, for an experiment
Of man’s deserved allegiance, is content
To use an easy precept, such as stood
Both with His creature’s duty and his good.

Forbids one fruit on pain of death, and gives
Freely the rest, which he might eat and live.
But man rebels, and for one taste doth choose
His life, his God, his innocence to lose.

And now death-stricken, like a wounded deer,
Strictly pursued by guilt, and shame, and fear,
He seeks to lose himself; from God he flies,
And takes a wilderness of miseries.

A land of new transgression, where his curse
Is closer bound, his nature growing worse.
And while in this condition mankind lay,
A man should think his injured God should say,

“There lies accursed man, and let him lie
Entangled in that web of misery
Which his own sin has spun! I must be true
And just; unthankful man, thou hast thy due.”

But ’twas not so. Though man the mastery
With his Creator’s power and will dares try,
And being over-matched with power, disdains
To seek a pardon from his Sovereign.

The great and glorious God, the mighty King
Of heaven and earth, despised by such a thing
As man, a worm of his own making, breaks
The rules of greatness, and His creature seeks,

His froward creature – not in such a way
As once He did in the cool of that day
Wherein man sinned, and hid – such majesty
Had been too great for man’s necessity.

But the eternal Son of God, the Word,
By which all things were made, the mighty Lord,
Assumes our flesh, and under that He lays,
And hides His greatness, and those glorious rays

Of majesty, which had been over bright,
And too resplendent for poor mortal’s sight;
And under this disguise, the King of kings,
The message of His Father’s mercy brings.

Solicits man’s return; and pays the price
Of his transgression by the sacrifice
Of His own soul; and undertakes to cure
Their sin, their peace and pardon to procure.

To conquer death for him, and more than this,
To settle him in everlasting bliss.
And now, O man, could this excess of love,
Thy thankfulness to such a height improve,

That it could fire thy soul into one flame
Of love, to only Him that bought the same
At such a rate, yet still it were too small
To recompense thy Savior’s love withal.

Once did He give thee being from the dust,
And for that only being, ’twere but just
To pay thy utmost self; but when once more
Thy being and thy bliss He did restore

By such a means as this, it doth bereave
Thy soul of hopes of recompense, and leaves
Thy soul insolvent. Twice to Him this day
Thou owest thyself, yet but one self can pay.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

1 Heare my voyce, O God, in my prayer: preserue my life from feare of the enemie.
2 Hide me from the conspiracie of the wicked, and from the rage of the workers of iniquitie.
3 Which haue whette their tongue like a sword, and shot for their arrowes bitter wordes.
4 To shoote at the vpright in secrete: they shoote at him suddenly, and feare not.
5 They encourage themselues in a wicked purpose: they commune together to lay snares priuilie, and say, Who shall see them?
6 They haue sought out iniquities, and haue accomplished that which they sought out, euen euery one his secret thoughtes, and the depth of his heart.
7 But God will shoote an arrowe at them suddenly: their strokes shalbe at once.
8 They shall cause their owne tongue to fall vpon them: and whosoeuer shall see them, shall flee away.
9 And all men shall see it, and declare the worke of God, and they shall vnderstand, what he hath wrought.
10 But the righteous shalbe glad in the Lord, and trust in him: and all that are vpright of heart, shall reioyce.