Hail Sovereign Love that first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man
Hail matchless, free eternal grace
That gave my soul a hiding place.

Against the God that built the sky
I fought with hands uplifted high
despised the mention of His grace
Too proud to seek a hiding place.

Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night
And fond of darkness more than light
Madly I ran a sinful race
Secure without a hiding place.

But thus the eternal council ran
“Almighty Love, arrest that man!”
I felt the arrows of distress
And found I had no hiding place.

Eternal justice stood aview
So to Sinai’s fiery mount I flew
But justice said with frowning face,
“The law is not a hiding place.”

Thus I wandered ’lone and feared
Till mercy’s angel soon appeared
And led me at a placid pace
To Jesus for a hiding place.

On Him Almighty vengeance fell
That would have sent a world to hell
He bore it for a sinful race
And thus became our hiding place.

Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll
And shake this globe from pole to pole
No thunderstorm can daunt my face
For Jesus is my hiding place.

A few more days at most
We’ll land me on fair Canaan’s coast
Where I shall sing the songs of grace
And see my glorious hiding place.

- Major John Andre

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