Christ My Song - 771

From the palace of his glory - The joy that was set before him
(Frances Bevan/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)

The joy that was set before him.

1 Timothy 1,15.

1. From the palace of his glory,
from the radiance and the rest,
came the Son of God to seek me,
bear me home upon his breast. (PDF - Midi)

2. There from that eternal brightness
did his thoughts flow forth to me –
he in his great love would have me
ever there with him to be.

3. Far away, undone, forsaken,
not for him my heart was sore;
but for need and bitter hunger –
Christ desired I nevermore.

4. Could it be that in the glory,
ere of him I had a thought,
he was yearning o'er the lost one,
whom his precious Blood had bought?

5. That it was  h i s  need that brought him
  down to the accursed tree,
deeper than his deep compassion,
  wondrous thought! his need for me.

6. Trembling, I had hoped for mercy,
some low place within his door –
but the crown, the throne, the mansion,
he made ready long before.

7. And in dim and distant ages,
in those courts so bright and fair,
ere I was, was he rejoicing,
all he won, with me to share.

Frances Bevan, Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso and others 1, 1899, 133-134.