Christ My Song - 615
I need no priest save him who is above - My High Priest
(Horatius Bonar/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
My High Priest.
1. I need no priest save him who is above,
no altar but the heavenly mercy-seat;
through these there flows to me the pardoning love,
and thus in holy peace my God I meet. (PDF - Midi)
2. I need no blood but that of Golgotha,
no sacrifice save that which, on the tree,
was offered once, without defect or flaw,
and which, unchanged, availeth still for me.
3. I need no vestments save the linen white
with which my High Priest clothes my filthy soul;
he shares with me his seamless raiment bright,
and I in him am thus complete and whole.
4. I leave to those who love the gay parade,
the gold, the purple, and the scarlet dye;
mine be the robe which cannot rend or fade,
for ever fair in the eternal eye.
5. I need no pardon save of him who says,
"Neither do I condemn thee, go in peace;"
my Counsellor, Confessor, Guide he is,
my joy in grief, in bondage my release.
6. Forgiven through him who died and rose on high,
my conscience from dead works thus purged and clean,
I serve the service of true love and joy,
and live by faith upon a Christ unseen.
Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope III, 1878, 89-90.