This hymn by Irish native Charitie Lees Smith (1841–1923) was first published in “The Praise of Jesus”, a collection compiled by William Reid of Edinburgh. The text in this edition was in six stanzas of four lines, unattributed, without music, headed “Within the Vail with Jesus.” This hymn was repeated in Smith’s own collection, “Within the Vail and Other Sacred Poems”. In the preface to her collection, she offered this blessing: “may these verses find an echo in other hearts, and be of help, especially in hours of trial, by reminding of a Saviour’s sympathy and a Father’s love. May they help some to take humbly and patiently the chastisement which is sent, not less in tenderness than in wisdom. We are ‘not as yet come to the rest, and the inheritance.’ Thank God, we shall soon enjoy both!”¹

Before the Throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there! The risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless Righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased with His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ, my Saviour and my God
With Christ, my Saviour and my God.

¹hymnologyarchive.com/before-the-throne-of-god-above

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This modern hymn is written by Eric Schumacher & David L. Ward. “A Christian is one who has been set free from the power and penalty of sin, both in this life and in the next, through the only means that God has given for such redemption, the substitutionary death of Jesus who took the awful punishment for sin that we deserved. (1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2) This central message of the Christian faith is our deepest delight and surest anchor and deserves to be on our hearts and lips every day”. This message is also the central theme of this song; enjoy!

There is no sin that I have done
That has such height and breadth
It can’t be washed in Jesus’ blood
Or covered by His death.
There is no spot that still remains,
No cause to hide my face,
For He has stooped to wash me clean
And covered me with grace.

There is no wrath that I will know,
No wormwood and no gall;
For though such wounds and grief I earned
My Saviour bore them all.
There is no work that I must add
To stand before His throne.
I only plead His life and death
Sufficient on their own.

There is no love that I desire
But Jesus’ warm embrace.
While now I know His love by faith
I long to see His face.
There is no song that I will sing,
No melody but this,
That my Beloved, He is mine,
For He has made me His.

¹hymni.city/hymns/there-is-no-sin-that-i-have-done

This hymn was written by reformer Martin Luther in 1524 as “Aus Tiefer Not” and translated by Richard Massie in the 1800s. This hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 130, and was a great favourite of Luthers, calling it a Pauline Psalm —along with Psalm 32, 51, and 143_¹. Martin Luther highly encouraged the singing of Psalms and included them in his liturgical reforms. He began writing hymns in 1523 and composed them until his death in 1546². Under his Roman Catholic theology, Martin Luther’s struggle with understanding how could a sinful man as himself be accepted by a righteous God is well documented; until he finally came to the right understanding by the Spirit of God of Romans 1:17 “the righteous shall live by faith”. You can hear the echoes of relief from the burden of our sins by the grace and mercy of God in this Psalm and song. Enjoy!

From depths of woe I raise to thee
the voice of lamentation;
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me
and hear my supplication:
if thou iniquities dost mark,
our secret sins and misdeeds dark,
O who shall stand before thee?

To wash away the crimson stain,
grace, grace alone, availeth;
our works, alas! are all in vain;
in much the best life faileth:
no man can glory in thy sight,
all must alike confess thy might,
and live alone by mercy.

Therefore my trust is in the Lord,
and not in mine own merit;
on him my soul shall rest, his Word
upholds my fainting spirit:
his promised mercy is my fort,
my comfort, and my sweet support;
I wait for it with patience.

What though I wait the live-long night,
and ’til the dawn appeareth,
my heart still trusteth in his might;
it doubteth not nor feareth:
do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
ye of the Spirit born indeed;
and wait ’til God appeareth.

Though great our sins and sore our woes,
his grace much more aboundeth;
his helping love no limit knows,
our utmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is he,
who will at last his Israel free
from all their sin and sorrow.

¹hymnary.org/text/from_depths_of_woe_i_raise_to_thee
²umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-out-of-the-depths-i-cry-to-you

The song was written by Daniel Herbert (1751-1833), a congregational minister who served at Sudbury in Suffolk. Not much is known about him, apart from a few volumes of hymns he wrote, and what information can be gleaned from his obituary. The editor of Gospel Magazine said of him after his death in 1833: “He was a plain, unadorned, though faithful and honest, messenger to dispense the word of eternal life to the helpless family of Zion.” In the preface to his 1801 volume of hymns, Herbert says: “I flatter myself that the hymns will be received by those who know the plague of their own hearts and have felt the power of efficacious grace. While the poor saved sinner, who is enabled to credit the report of the gospel of salvation, full and free, without money and without price, will find satisfaction in reading these lines, whatever the man untaught of God may say will give the writer no concern”¹.

Come boldly to a throne of grace,
Ye wretched sinners come;
And lay your load at Jesus’ feet,
And plead what he has done.

“How can I come?” some soul may say,
“I’m lame, and cannot walk;
My guilt and sin have stopped my mouth;
I sigh, but dare not talk.”

Come boldly to the throne of grace,
Though lost, and blind, and lame;
Jehovah is the sinner’s Friend,
And ever was the same.

He makes the dead to hear his voice;
He makes the blind to see;
The sinner lost he came to save,
And set the prisoner free.

Come boldly to the throne of grace,
For Jesus fills the throne;
And those he kills he makes alive;
He hears the sigh or groan.

Poor bankrupt souls, who feel and know
The hell of sin within,
Come boldly to the throne of grace;
The Lord will take you in.

¹breadforbeggars.com/2013/07/come-boldly-to-the-throne-of-grace-performed-by-jason-waller/

This song taken from CityAlight’s 2016 album “Only a Holy God”, is a simple account of the goodness and uniqueness of the grace of God. With a 4 part harmony, this song sounds beautiful, but equally sounds as delightful if you sing this by yourself, making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Your grace that leads this sinner home
From death to life forever;
And sings the song of righteousness
By blood and not by merit.

Your grace that reaches far and wide
To every tribe and nation;
Has called my heart to enter in
The joy of Your salvation.

Refrain
By grace I am redeemed
By grace I am restored
And now I freely walk
Into the arms of Christ my Lord

Your grace that I cannot explain
Not by my earthly wisdom;
The prince of life, without a stain
Was traded for this sinner.

Refrain

Let praise rise up and overflow
My song resound forever;
For grace will see me welcomed home
To walk beside my Saviour.

Refrain

Brought up as an Anglican, Frederick Faber was ordained in the Church of England. But, at the age of 31, he converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Catholic priest. In 1849, Frederick decided to open an oratory – a place of prayer in London. The word “oratory” comes from the Latin word oratorio – which is often used to describe a composition uniting a biblical text with music. Frederick was concerned that British Roman Catholics did not have a heritage of hymn-writers like Isaac Watts. So he began writing hymns so Catholics could also be a hymn-singing people. Just as there is “a wideness in God’s mercy”, so there was a width to Frederick’s hymns… which soon became more familiar to Protestants than to Catholics¹.

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good.
There is mercy with the Saviour,
There is healing in his blood.

But we make God’s love too narrow
By false limits of our own,
And we magnify its strictness
With a zeal God will not own.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of the mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple,
We should rest upon God’s word,
And our lives would be illumined
By the presence of our Lord.

¹thescottspot.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/theres-a-wideness-in-gods-mercy-written-in-1862/