Joseph’s Coat

Why should a wretch God’s presence try,
Or to such danger run;
Presume His justice won’t reply,
But that He bid us come?

How full the warrant debtors find
Where promise has conceived!
There hope relieves the troubled mind,
Its love & worship freed.

If you your peril never feared,
Nor wounded conscience plumbed,
The blood that flowed for sin’s arrears
Has never bid you come.

None but the guilty mercy hear,
To none but they it speaks:
Their desperate need has turned their ear
To love what none else seek.

You saints who know your wound and trial,
Born from above and sealed;
Who know within Your Father’s smile,
By grace divine revealed:

God’s word, by everlasting love
Has kissed your brow with hope,
There lighted with the heavenly dove
And warmed with Joseph’s coat.

Charles Church
1/31/23