Christ My Song - 1436
We need not be ashamed to own
(Thomas Kelly/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
We need not be ashamed to own.
"A friend of publicans and sinners." (Matthew 11,19)
1. We need not be ashamed to own
that he, on whom our hopes depend,
though now he fills the highest throne,
was styled on earth "the sinner's friend". PDF - Midi
2. The title came from those who sought
to bring dishonour on his name;
but Jesus then refused it not,
nor sought to vindicate his fame.
3. And now, though yonder throne is his,
he bears the gracious title still;
Jesus, "the friend of sinners" is,
he owns the charge, and ever will.
4. The title that was meant in scorn,
he takes and binds upon his brow;
and thus the guilty and forlorn
are taught his character to know.
5. And while his name is set at nought,
by those who on their worth depend,
the wretched and the vile are taught,
to bless him as "the sinner's friend".
Thomas Kelly, Hymns on various passages of Scripture, ca. 1853, Hymn 698.