HAIL, SOVEREIGN LOVE

The following beautiful poem was written by Major Andre, a few days before his execution:

Hail, sovereign love, which first began

The scheme to rescue fallen man!

Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,

Which gave my soul a Hiding Place.

Against the God who built the sky,

 I fought with hands uplifted high,

 Despised the mention of His grace,

 Too proud to seek a Hiding Place.

 Enwrapt in thick Egyptian night,

 And fond of darkness more than light,

Madly I ran the sinful race,

Secure, without a Hiding Place.

And thus the eternal counsel ran,

Almighty love, arrest that man!

I felt the arrows of distress,

And found I had no Hiding Place.

Indignant justice stood aview

To Sinai's fiery mount I flew;

But justice cried. with frowning face:

"This mountain is no Hiding Place."

Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,

And Mercy's angel soon appeared;

He led me at a placid pace,

To Jesus as a Hiding Place.

On Him almighty vengeance fell

Which must have sunk a world to Hell.

He bore it for a sinful race,

And thus became their Hiding Place.

Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll,

And shake this globe from pole to pole,

No thunderbolt shall daunt my face,

For Jesus is my Hiding Place.

A few more rolling suns at most,

Shall land me on fair Canaan's coast,

When I shall sing the song of grace,

And see my glorious Hiding Place.

John Andre.