GOD THE FATHER >> GRACE & MERCY OF GOD
SDAH 109
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Text
1
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Refrain
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
2
Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold
Points to the Refuge, the mighty Cross.
3
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Rom 5:20 (b) Ps 46:16 (c) 2 Cor 9:14
Author
Julia H. Johnston (1849-1919)
Year Published
1911
Copyright
Copyright 1910. Renewal 1938 extended by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission
Metrical Number
9.9.9.9.Ref
Composer
Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919)
Year Composed
1911
Theme
GRACE & MERCY OF GOD
Notes
Get to know the hymns a little deeper with the SDA Hymnal Companion. Use our song leader’s notes to engage your congregation in singing with understanding. Even better, involve kids in learning this hymn with our homeschooling materials.
God’s willingness to forgive His people even though they have sinned and done evil. In one sense, we see here a powerful illustration of the gospel, of sinful people who have no merit of their own, nevertheless seeking grace that they don’t deserve and for forgiveness that they haven’t earned. (Lesson 10, 1st Quarter 2020 – Sunday, An Appeal to Grace, 3/2/2020)
Are there moments in your life when God delivers you? As you remember them, keep in mind the lyrics of this hymn, “Marvelous Grace”. No matter how we fail in the past, God’s grace and love will deliver and lead us still. (Lesson 5, 1st Quarter 2021 -Sunday, End of Gloom for Galilee, 1/24/2021)
This hymn made its first appearance in D. B. Towner’s Hymns Tried and True, 1911, published by the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. The first stanza is another way of saying what Paul said in Romans 5:20: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
Julia Harriette Johnston, born January 21, 1849, into a Presbyterian minister’s family in Salineville, Ohio, moved with her family to Peoria at age 6, where her father pastored the First Presbyterian Church the remainder of his life. She never married, and for more than 40 years she was the leader of the young children’s Sunday school in that church. For 20 years she was president of the Presbyterian Missionary Society of Peoria, which was founded by her mother. A prolific writer of materials for children, she published several books: School of the Master, 1880; Bright Threads, 1897; Indian and Spanish Neighbors, 1905; and Fifty Missionary Heroes, 1913. Some 500 hymn poems came from her own pen, set to music by various composers. She died in Peoria March 6, 1919.
Daniel Brink Towner was born March 5, 1850, in Rome, Pennsylvania, and received his early musical training from his music teacher-father. When he was a teenager, his beautiful bass-baritone voice earned for him the title “Wonderful Boy Bass” as he sang the popular bass solos in concerts and did oratorio work. He studied music with George Root and George Webb and began to write songs even before he studied harmony. From 1 870 to 1885 he served as music director for Methodist churches in New York, Ohio, and Kentucky. He did solo work for evangelist Dwight L. Moody in many of the large cities of America before assuming the presidency of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Here he helped to train and influence the work of a large number of noted American gospel singers. In his later years he used his talent as a leader of congregational singing in great evangelistic meetings in England.
Towner wrote the music for more than 2,000 gospel songs published all over the world and had a part in editing 14 song books, three of which were for male voices. He was at Longwood, Missouri, when he died October 3, 1919. Other songs by him in SDAH are No. 508, “Anywhere With Jesus,” and No. 590, “Trust and Obey.”
-from Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White
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