300. Baptismal Regeneration Hymn

Not quite the milestone the numbering above might suggest – see explanation here – the push toward getting Edifying Hymns: Sneak Peek Edition into publishable shape continues with this long-meditated-upon piece of catechetical-slash-polemical hymnody. It does mean that, since 201 original hymns (nos. 0-201 minus no. 14 as numbered on this blog) were published in Useful Hymns, the projected sequel has now (with nos. 202-300 plus 14) reached the 100-hymn mark.

I've had in mind to do this particular hymn since way back here and here. My previous Baptism Hymn is one of those "scratch and dent" specimens, so it's a topic I've wanted to revisit for years. Excuse its polemical tone, but I think a hymn like this is needed in certain contexts. As for the length of this hymn, I feel it can be justified by the idea of using it in a multi-session study about the biblical teaching of Holy Baptism.

The tune, which I composed and harmonized today when I only had a few lines of the following in mind (but the overall plan was there, clearly), is titled REGENERATION. I wrote it with the idea of tone-painting rippling water, and I intentionally made the harmony a little weird in reference to Jesus' words in John 3 about no one knowing where the Spirit comes from or is going.

Christ said: "Go, make disciples,
Baptizing every clan" –
Here making no distinctions
Within the race of man –
"Teach them all I commanded;
I'll always be with you."
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Christ sealed this rite of washing
In God's three-personed name,
Recalling His own baptism,
Attested by the same:
Where, no sins to repent of,
Ours on His soul He drew.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Saint Paul thus tells the Romans
This holiest of rites
Slays and entombs the sinner
With Christ, and then unites
Us with His Easter rising,
That new life shall ensue.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

"Believers, yes, the baptized,"
Christ promised, "shall be saved."
Does this require conversion
Before one dare be laved?
How then does Christ's commission
Rank teaching number two?
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Saint Peter therefore likened
The flood, which saved eight souls,
To baptism, which now saves us
And consciences consoles.
Not only dirt concerns us;
Regarding sin we sue.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Christ riddled Nicodemus:
"One must be born again
By water and the Spirit" –
A testimony plain
That in baptismal water
God fashions us anew.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

So Paul exhorts each husband
His wife love, as the Lord
Bled for His Bride, and cleansed Her
By water and the word,
That She might have in heaven
A flawless, bright debut.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Christ chided His disciples:
"Hold back no child from Me!
For who would see the Kingdom
Like little babes must be."
How can the font exclude them
To whom such grace is due?
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

On Pentecost, Saint Peter
Bade all whose hearts were rent
By his account of Jesus:
"Be baptized and repent."
His promise of forgiveness
Included children, too.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

On hearing the apostles,
Whole households were baptized;
Wives, servants, even children
To faith were energized;
For faith is God's to grant us,
As is repentance, too.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Both Paul and David tell us
What truly lies within,
With every child of Adam
Conceived and born in sin;
Saved while yet dead and helpless,
No good equipped to do.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

But Paul tells the Galatians
The baptized put on Christ;
Compares it, in Colossians,
To being circumcised:
Both put to death and quickened,
Forgiven through and through.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Again, Paul writes to Titus
That this bath of rebirth
Renews us in the Spirit,
Through Jesus' ample worth;
That, freely counted righteous,
Life's birthright we accrue.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

From baptism comes communion;
Thus Paul bids Corinth think:
In baptism, Jew and Gentile
Alike one Spirit drink.
And through Paul, the Ephesians
One faith, one baptism knew.
The Spirit has borne witness:
This is most surely true.

Now, you who would be counted
With the disciples' breed,
Receive the word implanted,
Imperishable seed;
Be born again through baptism,
That in Christ you may hew.
The Spirit has borne witness;
So say the faithful, too.