2 Cor 4 & 5

11's

Oh, Come dear children, and listen this day,
Draw near in Jesus, that we may now here pray;
In this body of sin and death, come I too,
For here death does work, that life may work in you.

When we see that we've received this ministry,
-Then will renounce the things of man's artistry,
And Christ in God, will not suffer us to faint;
But must manifest this truth to every saint;

But if the record of His Son here be hid
To those who are lost to love the world instead;
And the death in nature, their minds to so blind,
And the light of His dear Grace they cannot find;

Still, we dare not preach our own pow'r, you may see,
But to mercy in Jesus, must always flee;
And the Grace and Merits of Jesus the Lord,
With the sweet refrain, and with this Holy Chord;

For in the darkness of our old nature's hearts,
With power and truth, the Son of God has shined forth;
Who is the image, the brightness of the Lord;
To show to saints, the glory for them there stored;

Then this earthly house may here dissolve and shake;
Thy Power and Love may this earthen vessel break;
That the excellency all appear of God,
And not of us, who're only an earthly clod.

Here our troubles may arise on every side,
And find there fear of distress with every tide,
And often our perplexity, must abide,
But our Jesus will not leave us in despair;

For we that live in Him, must always first die,
That we shall be delivered from where we lie;
And new Life every day receive and forsake
Old self, and our daily cross with Jesus take;

O! Lord, Whom from death, my soul, Thou dost set free!
-Bow my knees for every cross you've placed on me;
Oh, believer, my heart is enlarged to thee;
That God does work Life in you, but death in me.

With my Jesus too, Who died to things of earth,
So I must daily die to receive new birth;
My mortal flesh, subject to this death of sin,
Must die, and again His Life to know and win.

Then I will gladly toil, though death work in me;
Go down, weary here, to leave this word with thee;
Oh, children, may we both be raised and believe,
And from His fullness, Grace and glory receive.

The same Pow'r that raised up Jesus from the dead,
As there in Paul's own writing, we have just read,
-By His same Spirit shall quicken us from death;
With the quick'ning breezes of it's heavn'ly breath.

For nothing to Christ's store-house can His saints add;
But, in Love, the gospel gave for their own sakes,
-A revenue of thanks to Christ' might abound;
With glory and honor, to His Name be found;

In glorious hope, this cause does lead us on,
We faint not, but still we look for a new dawn;
And though our outward man perish by the way,
Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

For these light afflictions cannot be compared,
Though, we here so often, feel we are impaired;
But, in a small moment, they vanish away,
Still, through Christ's Spirit, reveal Eternal Day.

While our faith looks not at the things that are seen,
But things eternal, and that have ever been;
All, now of time and sense must then pass away,
And things remaining, throughout all of our day.

If this earthly house should fall and be dissolved,
And all of the flesh, with time and sense involved;
That building of God, will there forever stand,
In the heavens, forever kept by Christ's Hand.

Oh, how we sometimes find ourselves, groaning now,
And in the tabernacle of this house bow;
-Our nakedness not show, but with clothes put on,
That Thy Life and immortality might don;

Now, He that works in us, both to will and do
The selfsame thing, is Jesus, the Lord God too;
The earnest of His Spirit, here we receive,
With groanings to Thee, which nature can't conceive.

In sweet confidence, faith and love oe'r us roll,
And still lives on, there deep down within our soul;
-Patiently waits to be present with the Lord;
Makes us labor on, to be in one accord;

Oh, children, then, I'll willing be gladly spent,
Trusting only, that in this way I am sent,
Though ups and downs, life and death may work in me;
That Jesus' life in our flesh will set us free;

Still long as our God ordained old Time to roll,
And Heav'n and earth shall fulfill their Master's Scroll;
And life and death through this mighty ocean flow,
When no more, the winds of Space and Time may blow;

That Eternal Covenant shall stand the same;
It is founded upon His Almighty Name,
His Shalls and Wills does it forever uphold;
May we rest in this, till there His face behold.

*Copyright Jan 2000


O. Allen Bailey