Baptism of the Lord Sunday

"Baptism of the Lord" by Joachim Patinir

  FATHER, our child we place
Where we Thy children kneel;
For Thou hast made the sign of grace
To Him, to us, the seal.

  

Thine own a moment claim,
Then lend Him to our love,
Marked as Thine own, - and bid the name
Be registered above.

Rites cannot change the heart,
Undo the evil done
Or with the uttered name impart
The nature of Thy Son.

  

To meet our desperate want,
There gushed a crimson flood:
O from His heart's o'erflowing font
Baptize this soul with blood!

Be grace from Christ our Lord,
And love from God supreme,
By the communing Spirit poured
In a perpetual stream!

  

So cleanse our offering;
Then will we, at Thy call,
This pledge accepted, daily bring
Ourselves, our house, our all. 

 Charles Wesley. A Collection of Hymns, for the Use of the People Called Methodists.

London: Wesleyan-Methodist Book-Room, 1856.