'Twas with an everlasting love
That God His own elect embraced,
Before He made the worlds above,
Or earth on her huge columns placed.

Long ere the sun's refulgent ray
Primeval shades of darkness drove,
They on His sacred bosom lay,
Loved with an everlasting love.

Then, in His love and His decrees,
Christ and His bride appeared as one;
Her sin, by imputation, His,
While She in spotless splendor shone.

O love! how high thy glories swell!
How great, immutable, and free;
Ten thousand sins as black as hell,
Are swallowed up, O love, by thee.

Believer, here thy comfort stands
From first to last salvation's free;
And everlasting love demands,
An everlasting song from thee.