Sunday Hymn: All Creatures of Our God and King

All crea­tures of our God and king
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Al­le­luia!
Thou burn­ing sun with gold­en beam,
Thou sil­ver moon with soft­er gleam!

Refrain

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Al­le­luia! Al­le­luia!

Thou rush­ing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heav­en along,
O praise Him! Al­le­luia!
Thou ris­ing moon, in praise re­joice,
Ye lights of ev­en­ing, find a voice!

Thou flow­ing water, pure and clear,
Make mu­sic for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Al­le­luia!
Thou fire so mas­ter­ful and bright,
That giv­est man both warmth and light.

And all ye men of ten­der heart,
Forgiving oth­ers, take your part,
O sing ye! Al­le­luia!
Ye who long pain and sor­row bear,
Praise God and on Him cast your care!

And thou most kind and gen­tle death,
Waiting to hush our lat­est breath,
O praise Him! Al­le­luia!
Thou lead­est home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.

Let all things their cre­at­or bless,
And wor­ship Him in hum­ble­ness,
O praise Him! Al­le­luia!
Praise, praise the Fa­ther, praise the Son,
And praise the Spir­it, Three in One!

— St. Francis of Assisi, circa 1225, translated by William H. Draper

Theological Term of the Week: Order of God's Decrees

order of God’s decrees
The logical (not chronological) order of the plan made by God in eternity for his dealings with humankind, a plan that culminates in human salvation; sometimes called the plan of salvation.

• From Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, page 82:

Reformed Theologians have often argued about the order in which God decreed certain things to happen. The debate is not over the temporal order of the decrees. After all, we are talking about what God has determined in eternity. Time is not the issue. Instead, the debate is about the logical order of the decrees. In the mind of God, which decisions did God make first, second, third, and so on?

Specifically, which is logically prior: the decree of election and reprobation or the decree to create the world and permit the fall?

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham:

The lapsarian debate concerns the order of decrees in the mind of God. It is not a question of the relation of election to its historical outworking. Both sides—supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism—agree that the decree of election is prior to creation and the fall. The question relates to whether, in election, God contemplated humans as already falled, which was the infralapsarian claim (the decree of election being below—infra—the decree relating to the fall) or whether he considered them as not yet created and fallen (the decree of election being above—supra—the decree relating to the fall). 

Learn more:

1. Richard Phillips: Lapsarian Views
2. Robert Letham: Predestination and the Divine Decree
3. Phillip R. Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
4. C. Michael Patton: Calvinism and the Divine Decrees
5. B. B. Warfield: Chart of the Plan of Salvation

Related terms:

• infralapsarianism
• supralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Sunday Hymn: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Jesus, the ve­ry thought of Thee
With sweet­ness fills the breast;
But sweet­er far Thy face to see,
And in Thy pre­sence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the me­mo­ry find
A sweet­er sound than Thy blest name,
O Sav­ior of man­kind!

O hope of ev­ery con­trite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Je­sus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

Jesus, our on­ly joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus be Thou our glo­ry now,
And through eter­ni­ty.

O Je­sus, King most won­der­ful
Thou Con­quer­or re­nowned,
Thou sweet­ness most in­ef­fa­ble
In whom all joys are found!

When once Thou vis­it­est the heart,
Then truth be­gins to shine,
Then earth­ly va­ni­ties de­part,
Then kin­dles love di­vine.

O Je­sus, light of all be­low,
Thou fount of liv­ing fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can de­sire.

Jesus, may all con­fess Thy name,
Thy won­drous love ad­ore,
And, seek­ing Thee, them­selves in­flame
To seek Thee more and more.

Thee, Je­sus, may our voic­es bless,
Thee may we love alone,
And ev­er in our lives ex­press
The im­age of Thine own.

O Je­sus, Thou the beau­ty art
Of an­gel worlds above;
Thy name is mu­sic to the heart,
Inflaming it with love.

Celestial sweet­ness un­al­loyed,
Who eat Thee hun­ger still;
Who drink of Thee still feel a void
Which on­ly Thou canst fill.

O most sweet Je­sus, hear the sighs
Which un­to Thee we send;
To Thee our in­most spir­it cries;
To Thee our pray­ers as­cend.

Abide with us, and let Thy light
Shine, Lord, on ev­ery heart;
Dispel the dark­ness of our night;
And joy to all im­part.

Jesus, our love and joy to Thee,
The vir­gin’s ho­ly Son,
All might and praise and glo­ry be,
While end­less ag­es run.

— Ber­nard of Clair­vaux, 12th Cen­tu­ry