Election Sovereign and Free

Verse 1

Behold the potter and the clay; He forms his vessels as he please; Such is our God, and such are we, The subjects of his high decrees.

Verse 2

[Does not the workman’s power extend O’er all the mass, which part to choose, And mould it for a nobler end, And which to leave for viler use?]

Verse 3

May not the sovereign Lord on high Dispense his favours as he will? Choose some to life, while others die, And yet be just and gracious still?

Verse 4

[What if, to make his terror known, He let his patience long endure, Suffering vile rebels to go on, And seal their own destruction sure?]

Verse 5

[What if he mean to show his grace, And his electing love employs, To mark out some of mortal race, And form them fit for heavenly joys?]

Verse 6

Shall man reply against his Lord, And call his Maker’s ways unjust, The thunder of whose dreadful word Can crush a thousand worlds to dust?

Verse 7

But O, my soul, if truths so bright Should dazzle and confound thy sight, Yet still his written will obey, And wait the great decisive day.

Verse 8

Then shall he make his justice known, And the whole world before his throne, With joy or terror shall confess The glory of his righteousness.