Well, it's been a joy to have
Brother Clay with us. A real blessing, hasn't it? Amen? Just wonderful. I love this man, Melinda. I hope she can come next time.
You've met her. Her father lives, does he still
live in Martinsville? Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge. Her father
lives in Oak Ridge, Virginia, right down the road here. So
she's very familiar with this area. But Brother Clay, it's
been a privilege and a pleasure and a joy to have you. Lord bless you. Well, I sure do thank you
for having me again. And thank Paul and Mindy for
the good time we've had. And thank you for the fellowship. hospitality, and you're a pleasure
to preach to. I like it when people interact
when I'm preaching. And I can tell you're enjoying
and rejoicing in what you're hearing. And that makes it so
much easier for a preacher. And I appreciate that very much.
Let's turn in our Bibles to Jeremiah 32. I really enjoyed the singing
too. That was really good. John, Paul. Jeremiah 32. Now, some time ago,
we began going through Scripture and looking at questions that
God asked a sinner. Now, you know, when God asks
a sinner a question, He's not asking for information. God knows
all things. I've discovered through these
questions that God is either asking to bring a confession
of sin out of the sinner, or He's asking the question to reveal
His glory. The first question God asked
a sinner was to Adam after he had fallen. After he had disobeyed
God, God came to him and said, Adam, where art thou? That's
a good question we need to be asked Quite often, where art
thou? He came to Cain whenever Cain
became angry because God received Abel's sacrifice. And God asked
Cain, why are you angry? Why are you angry? If you came
in the blood of a lamb, would you not be accepted? And then
he came to Hagar after Hagar had been cast out of Abraham's
house. And he said to her, whence camest
thou? And where wilt thou go? She was
leaving the one place where God had revealed Himself. Where are
you going to go? Where are you going to go? Now this morning I want to look
at a question that God asked Jeremiah here in Jeremiah 32,
26. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all
flesh. Is there anything too hard for
me? This is the great I Am. Our God is the great I Am. He's
the self-existent God. There's none like Him. He's the
Lord, the Lord of hosts. Everything that He's created
is under His power and He's using everything to work His will.
He's the God of all flesh. That means every sinner is fulfilling
the will of God, whether they know it or they don't. The wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder thereof shalt thou
restrain. He's the God of all flesh. He
says, is anything too hard for me? I want to look at three or
four questions here to answer that question, but let me give
you a little of the background first. Jeremiah was in prison
at this time for preaching the word of the Lord. He had come
and he told Zedekiah, king of Judah, that there was no point
in fighting against the king of Babylon because Zedekiah was
going to be taken captive. He was going to behold the king
of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, face to face. He was going to be carried
away captive to Babylon. And so was all Jerusalem, and
so was all the children of Judah. And so Zedekiah didn't like that
message, so he threw Jeremiah in prison. And the whole city
of Jerusalem is besieged. It's surrounded. And it has been
for years. They've already taken some of
them captive, but they're coming back now to strike the final
blow. And God has already told Jeremiah
they're going to be captive to Babylon for 70 years. And then God came to Jeremiah
and told him to purchase a piece of land in that besieged city,
in Anathoth, which was the little town that Jeremiah grew up in.
He said, you go there and purchase a piece of ground. And Jeremiah
did it. Now, if you were in this country
and this country was invaded by a foreign nation and they
had taken control of this entire nation and were burning all the
houses and burning the lands and you knew it was going to
be 70 years that this was going to be the case, would you take
the last bit of money you had and go buy a piece of land in
this place? Why did Jeremiah do that? He believed God. God commanded it. And he believed
God, and he believed there's nothing too hard for God. Now, I want to answer this question
with three or four questions here, but let's read. I have
a lengthy passage. I'd like to read the whole chapter,
but let me just read as much as I can to you here to give
you a feel for what's going on. Let's start verse 6. Jeremiah said, The word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shalem, thine
uncle, shall come unto thee. This is what the Lord told Jeremiah.
Your cousin's coming to you. He's going to say, Buy thee my
field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is thine
to buy it. So Hanamel, my uncle's son, came
to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the
Lord, and said unto me, by my field, I pray thee, that's in
Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin. For the right of
inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine. Buy it for
thyself. Jeremiah said then, I knew that
this was the word of the Lord. came to pass just as the Lord
said it would. And I bought the field of Hannah
Mill, my uncle's son, that was in Anathod, and I weighed him
the money, even 17 shekels of silver. And I subscribed the
evidence. They did a deed of transfer here
so that everybody knew the new owner had taken up possession
of this land. They sealed it, took witnesses,
weighed in the money and the balances. And so I took the evidence
of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law
and custom, and that which was open. They had two copies of
this. One was sealed, one was open so they could read it. And
I gave the evidence of the purchase under Baruch, the son of Nariah,
the son of Masiah, that's Jeremiah's scribe. And he said, I did it
in the sight of Hannah Meal, my uncle's son, and in the presence
of the witnesses that subscribe the book of the purchase before
all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I charged
Baruch before them saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase,
both which is sealed and this evidence, which is open and put
them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel." Now here's
why God told Jeremiah to do this. Houses and fields and vineyards
shall be possessed again in this land. They shall be possessed
again in this land. And I'll show you what all this
is picturing. Look over at Jeremiah chapter 33. God says there in verse 10, Well, first in verse 9, he says,
all this is going to be to me for a name, for a name of joy.
And he says in verse 10, again, there shall be heard in this
place where you saw it or say it's desolate without man, without
beast, even the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem
that are desolate without man, without inhabitant, without beast,
the voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom,
the voice of the bride. They're going to say, praise
the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth
forever. And of them that shall bring
the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord, for I
will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first,
saith the Lord. Now look right here, verse 14. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I promised
unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those
days, God says, this is when I'm going to perform it. At that
time will I cause the branch, Christ the branch, of righteousness
to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name
wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness."
That's what he's picturing here by telling Jeroboam to go. The right of redemption is yours.
Go and purchase this land. Purchase this land. And so now
go back to Jeremiah 32, verse 16. Jeremiah believed God and
he did as he was commanded. Verse 16. Now when I had delivered
the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Noriah,
I prayed unto the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast
made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched
out arms. and there is nothing too hard
for thee. Thou showest loving kindness
unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers unto
the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God,
the Lord of hosts, is his name, great in counsel and mighty in
work. For thine eyes are open upon
all the ways of the sons of men to give everyone according to
his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, which has
set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this
day, and in Israel, and among other men, and has made thee
a name as at this day, and has brought forth thy people Israel
out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and
with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with
great terror, and has given them this land, which thou didst swear
to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and
honey. And they came in and possessed it, but they obeyed not thy voice,
neither walked in thy law. They've done nothing of all that
thou commandest them to do. Therefore, thou has caused all
this evil to come upon them. Behold, the mounts, they're coming
to the city to take it. And the city's given it to the
hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it because of the sword
and of the famine and of the pestilence. And what thou has
spoken is come to pass. And behold, thou seest And thou
hast said unto me, O Lord God, buy thee the field for money
and take witnesses, for the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans. Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything
too hard for me? Christ answered this question
for us. He said, With men it's impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. Now let me ask you four questions.
First of all, is the rebellion and fall of God's people too
hard for God? When we fell in Adam and we came
under the captivity of the devil in the garden, was that too hard
for God? Was that out of His control? Now, we see here that
God delivered the children of Israel into the the land of milk
and honey, just like He promised them He would do. And He put
them in this land, and they rebelled against God. Nothing God told
them to do. They didn't obey anything God
told them to do. Nothing of all that God told
them to do. But now I want you to see something.
Look here in verse 31. It says, God says, this city has been
to me as a provocation of my anger and of my fury from the
day that they built it even until this day. Now catch this next
word. That, for this purpose, that
I should remove it from before my face. John Calvin said, it's
worded, this is what it means, the city has been destined to
me for my wrath and my indignation." The people sinned, and it was
all their sin. It was all their fault. God let
them do what was in their heart to do, and they sinned against
God. Every bit of it was according to God's purpose to destroy Jerusalem
and bring them into captivity. Brethren, God put us in the garden,
in Adam. We were in his loins, in this
perfect environment. And God said, when He put us
there, He told Adam, in the day that thou shalt eat. He didn't say, if you eat. He
said, in the day thou shalt eat, thou shalt truly die. And when
Adam rebelled, it was so that, it was for this purpose, that
God might cast us out into captivity under the captivity of the devil.
You think about this. God used the biggest, largest,
most powerful nation in the earth at that time, Babylon, the most
powerful king, Nebuchadnezzar. He moved that whole nation and
the individual hearts of men, including the individual heart
of that king, to take Israel captive for this purpose so that
God could give us an allegory of Christ redeeming His people
that were fallen in sin. And that's really no difficulty
at all to see because God did that in the garden. He permitted the devil to enter
in and to begow Eve and then Adam disobeyed
with his eyes wide open to plunge us into sin to fulfill the purpose
of God. that God might send forth His
Son and receive all the glory in redeeming us from our captivity.
Somebody will hear this and they'll say, well, I can't believe he's
saying that God permitted the devil to do that. Well, what's
the alternative? The alternative would be to say
that the devil did it on his own and God couldn't stop it. Which one do you want? Do you
want God to be in sovereign control of everything? You want the devil
to do his bidding and God bring glory to his name from it? Or
do you want the devil to be in control? God's in control. God's in control. He ruled Nebuchadnezzar
and he later, he even saved Nebuchadnezzar. I'm convinced he saved him. And
this is what Nebuchadnezzar said. He said, I bless the Most High,
the Most High. He said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand. Nobody can stop Him. Nobody can
question Him and say, what doeth that? There's nothing too hard
for our God. Whenever our Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross, that wasn't out of His control. Kings and
rulers and religious leaders were doing whatsoever God determined
before to be done. That's what they were doing.
We worship a sovereign God. We worship a God who is in absolute
control of His entire creation, including every man, woman, and
child on this earth. Alright, let me ask another question.
Is the redemption of God's people too hard for the Lord? Is the
redemption, can He deliver His captive people out from the hand
of our captors? Or is that too hard for the Lord?
If you listen to the world speak, they say it's too hard for the
Lord unless you let Him. Is that what Scripture says? Was God powerful enough to deliver
Israel? He told Jeremiah here in verse
6, the word of the Lord came to him, and he told him, he said,
buy thee this field that's in Anathoth, for the right of redemption
is thine to buy it. Just like God commanded Jeremiah
to buy that piece of besieged land before this world was ever
made, God commanded His Son. He gave His Son an everlasting
covenant command to go forth and redeem a people. And our
Lord Jesus entered willingly into this covenant to do it.
And when He entered covenant with the Father to redeem this
people that God knew were going to be besieged. He knew they
were going to be... He wouldn't have sent a Redeemer if He didn't
know they were going to be besieged. And yet He... When Christ entered
that covenant, he became the surety of his people right then.
He said what Judah said to his father about Benjamin. If I don't
bring him again, you can require my hand. And when he entered that covenant,
right then he became the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. We had a Savior, and the whole counsel of God was
ordered and sure in Christ Jesus before as yet we ever fell in
Adam. And that's what God's showing here. Before as yet this city
had been completely taken. God sent in Jeremiah to purchase
this piece of ground, this besieged piece of ground, and He's telling
him to do it beforehand. He's telling him before any of
it's ever come to pass. Because God's a God of purpose.
He's a God of sovereign purpose. He said in verse 9, Jeremiah
said, God is great in counsel and mighty in work. Counsel is
what God did before the world was made. He entered into counsel.
He determined the end from the beginning. Somebody will say,
well, you know, when you preach that God just saves through the
blood of Christ, and when you say that God only saves through
the preaching of the Gospel, you limit God's sovereignty.
Oh, no. No. If God, in His eternal counsel,
tells us beforehand, I'm going to limit myself, I'm going to
save this one way, I'm going to save through the blood of
my Son, and I'm going to reveal it in the hearts of my people
through the preaching of the Gospel, and then God brings it
to pass that way? That doesn't limit God's sovereignty,
that magnifies God's sovereignty. And that's exactly what God did.
When He entered into covenant with Christ, He declared the
end from the beginning, from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure. He's great in counsel and mighty
in work. Whatever He purposed, He brings
to pass. Everything. And just like this
right of redemption belonged to Jeremiah, that meant the right
to redeem this land was his. He was the near kinsman. And
Christ had the right of redemption. God whom he foreknew, he did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. He's the elder
brother. He's the near kinsman. He has
the right of redemption. the right of redemption. But
Jeremiah not only had to have the right, he had to have the
ability. He had 17 shekels of silver. It doesn't tell us this,
but I suspect that's probably about everything Jeremiah had
to his name. I suspect that because that's
how we best picture our Redeemer. But he took that 17 shekels. He had the ability. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, God, who is Spirit, became flesh. He became the God-man
so that as God, everything he accomplished is eternal. And
as a man, he could accomplish the whole work of redemption
in place of his people, his brethren who are men. He was made under
the law so that He could walk under that law and be proven
through and through to be without spot, totally, thoroughly without
spot. He did not sin, He knew no sin,
and He would never sin, and He did never sin. When our Redeemer
was on the cross, He never sinned. He never sinned. Read the Psalms. He constantly looked to the Father.
Constantly saying, though Father you can't speak to me now, though
you have to forsake me now, when justice is satisfied, you're
going to redeem me. And our Lord Jesus, I want you
to read Romans 5.13, and I want you to let this set in. After
God said, by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin,
and so, for this reason, Death passed upon all men. For that,
in Adam, all have sin. And the way God proved this,
in Romans 5.13, He says, for sin was in the world. Let me
read it. Let me go over here. I don't
want to mess it up. Romans 5. He said, for until the law, sin
was in the world. In other words, from Adam to
Moses, God had not given a law, yet sin was in the world. Now
listen to this next phrase, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law. That's how God imputes. God won't
impute sin to somebody unless they've been made sin under law
by prior act. That's how God imputes. And his
point here is, is nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression. Even over them, they didn't have
a known law that God had given like Adam had, God still imputed
sin to them. How was he just to do that? Because
in Adam, we really did sin. God didn't impute sin to us.
I've said this. God didn't impute sin to us to
make us sin. He imputed sin to us because
Adam made us sin. If you look up the definition
of imputation in the Greek lexicon, it's the imputation of fact.
That's what it is. It's the imputation of fact.
It's the imputation of what is the reality. He imputed sin to
us. That can't be clearer. And Adam
there is a picture of Christ. He knew no sin. He would do no
sin. He would not sin. But the Lord
took all the sin of all His elect people and laid it on our Lord
Jesus Christ. He took all the sin of His people
and laid it on the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a difference
between Him making Him sin and Christ being made a curse. I'm
not trying to split hairs, but it's so. Adam was made sin and
then God came to him and pronounced the curse upon him. They brought
that lamb spotless And they killed the Lamb. No, they laid the sin
on the Lamb. And then the Lamb became a curse. They killed the Lamb. And our
Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane and
the Father made Him sin for us. And that's why the Father numbered
Him with the transgressors. That's why the Father imputed
sin to Him. And that's why He made Him a
curse. above everything else that our Lord Jesus Christ came
to declare. He came to declare the righteousness
of God. We would never say anything to
take away the glory of our Redeemer. We're not saying He was made
a sinner. We're not saying He ever sinned. But what we are
saying is the most important thing He was
manifesting was that God only judges right. That's what he
was manifesting. And so he was fit, he was able
to put away the sin of his people because he really, really took
our place. He really, truly That was me
there. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. And so the good news of this,
brethren, is Romans chapter 6. God doesn't say to you and me,
He doesn't say, now, imputation is you going to charge yourself
to be as if you're righteous now, and God's treating you as
if you're righteous, but really you're not, but He's just treating
you that way. That's not what Paul said. Because that's not
how God judges. Look at this, Romans 6. He says, verse 6, Knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for
he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with
Christ, we believe we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead doth no more. Death has no more dominion
on him. over him, for in that he died, he died unto sin once,
but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." Now listen to this
good news. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin. Impute yourself the way God imputes
you. He accounts you to be dead to
sin. Indeed. Paul's like, I can't
make it as emphatic as I want to make it. You're dead indeed
to sin, and you're alive unto God. We count it like God counts
it. That's how it is. That's how
it is. That's the good news of imputation.
And just as God won't impute sin when there is no law, God
won't impute righteousness unless a man has kept the righteousness
of the law perfectly. And so when God imputes righteousness
to a believer, it's because in Christ we kept it perfectly. Perfectly. That's what Jeremiah
paid that 17 shekels of silver. When he paid it, he paid everything
he had. Christ paid everything he had.
He said the kingdom of heaven is like a man who, when he finds
treasure in a field, he goes and he sells everything he had
to buy that field to have that treasure. And the treasure in
this field was God's elect. And Christ Jesus gave everything
he had to buy this field. And he purchased his people.
And there's been a deed of transfer. Ephesians says we're His purchased
possession. He owns us now. He owns us now. Oh no, redemption's not too hard
for our Lord. He accomplished the redemption
of His people. Not anything's been out of His
control at any point in time. Last question. Well, one more
question. Is the calling of God's people
too hard for the Lord? Is it too hard for Him to call
His people and to make them hear this good news and bring them
to faith in Christ? Let's read this, verse 37. Behold,
I will gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven
them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath. And
I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause
them to dwell safely. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. And I will plant them in this
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
But thus saith the Lord, like as I have brought all this great
evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good
that I promised them. And fields shall be bought in
this land wherever you say it's desolate without man or beast.
It's given unto the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields
for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses
in the land of Benjamin, and in places about Jerusalem, and
in the cities of Judah, and the cities of the mountains, and
the cities of the valleys, and the cities of the south. For
I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord. Now whose will are we saved by? I like the fact that God doesn't
say, you will. Is that what you said earlier,
Paul? I couldn't hear you. He doesn't say, you will. He
says, I will and you shall. And how does this come about?
Remember he told Jeremiah, he said, now when you've done this
deed of transfer and you've sealed this, the sealed version and
the open version, he said, I want you to take both of them. I want
you to give them to your scribes. and your scribe is going to put
them in an earthen vessel. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our great
Redeemer, He sends forth His servant, just like Baruch was
the servant of the Lord, and He preaches this gospel. And
our Lord, He who spoke and said, Let there be light, He shined
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus right here in our heart. And we have this treasure. Where? In an earthen vessel. And God said, I'll bring them.
I'll bring them. Now, with all that in mind, knowing
that our Lord Jesus is not going to... The sin was not out of
His power. It was according to His purpose.
Redemption was not out of His power. He accomplished the redemption
of His people. Calling His people is not out
of His purpose. He shall not lose one. They shall
all be taught of God. And everyone that's taught of
Him comes to Christ. Now, with this in mind, is anything
too hard for God concerning whatever trial you're in right now? If
you don't know the Lord, if you've never cast your care on Him,
if you've never believed on Him, He says, Believe on My Son and
you shall be saved. Does that sound like a strange
thing to you? Does it sound strange to you
like it sounded to Jeremiah to go and purchase a besieged piece
of land? Does it sound strange to you
to put all your hope of eternal salvation in the hands of that
One who looks to you like a besieged land on the cross and looks like
He is conquered by the enemy? Is that strange to you? God says,
Believe Me. Believe Me and you'll be saved.
Do like Jeremiah did. He believed God. He went and
bought the land. You go buy this land without
money and without price. Our Lord said it won't cost you
a thing. You come and cast all your care on Him. And whatever trial it is that
we're going through in Providence, maybe it's with our brother or
sister in Christ, or maybe it's with a spouse or with a daughter
or whatever, and if that's a brother or sister, remember that relationship
comes before everything else. Ask your brother or your sister
in Christ before everything else. Anything too hard for the Lord?
Is anything too hard for the Lord when it comes to working
that out with a brother or sister? Here's what His command is. He
says, submit to one another. Submit to one another. And He
says, and bear their burden, considering them better than
ourselves. Does that sound like a strange command? How am I going
to fix this problem if I submit to this person and I just bear
with it and I consider them better than myself? How am I going to
fix it? That's not the world's way. The world's way is to use
some force to fix it. How am I going to fix it if I
submit to them and treat them better than myself and just bear
their burden? The point is you're not going
to fix it. The Lord is going to fix it. Anything too hard
for the Lord? Nothing. Nothing. And then whatever
trial of providence you may be encountering. Maybe you're out
in the world and you see it just looks like it's an uphill battle
and there's a mountain that there's no way you can move it. There's
one reason God brings us to mountains that we can't move. To teach
us we can't move them. And you believe on Christ, though.
He said, if you have faith just as a grain of mustard seed, this
mountain's going to be cast into the sea. Because He's the one
that removes it. Whatever the burden, nothing
is too hard for the Lord. Amen. Thank y'all so much. Thank you. That's a blessing.
Amen. He quoted that the Lord said,
the scripture says we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
this treasure. The Lord sent Barrett to preach
the gospel, which is the treasure of Christ in him, or he had all
the treasures. And this man, The Lord sent him
to preach the gospel. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. That means clay. Clay vessels. You tell me the Lord didn't ordain
him a preacher. And the Lord blessed us, didn't
he? He sure did. Thank you. Thank you, clay. Thank
you for coming. Thank the Lord for him. All right,
let's sing in closing, and I hope everybody will stay, really,
and come eat with us, but all you ladies, free to go prepare
the food. Number 13, hymn number 13, let's
stand. John, I'll, where's John? I'll lead this. There you are,
I'll lead this. I want to lead this. Number 13,
let's stand. OK, Jeanette, go ahead. Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation. O my soul, praise Him, for He
is thy help and salvation. O ye who hear, now to His temple
draw near, join me in glad adoration. Praise ye the Lord, who o'er
all things so wondrously reigneth, shelters thee under His wing,
be sustained. Hast thou not seen how thy desires
there have been granted in what we ordaineth? Praise ye the Lord who with marvelous
wisdom hath made thee Decked thee with health and with loving,
and guided and stayed thee. How oft in grief hath not he
brought thee relief, Spreading his wings for to chase thee?