1 John: Obedience to our Lord's commands

Obedience to our Lord's commands,
This, only this can prove
The steadfast ground on which it stands,
The truth of solid love:

By works our loving faith we show,
Our sense of sin forgiven,
And walking in His steps we go
After our Head to heaven.

OBEDIENCE Is the' effect of love;
We see the fountain from above
In the pellucid stream;
The active principle receive
With Jesus manifest, and live
To serve and honour Him.

But till the love of Christ we gain,
We promise, vow, and strive in vain,
And never can succeed;
Our righteousness as rags unclean,
Our virtue is but splendid sin,
And our best works are dead.
Jesus, Redeemer of mankind,
Give me Thy precious Self to find
In purest love reveal'd;
The love surpassing human thought,
The love which my salvation bought,
And speaks my pardon seal'd.

O might it now my heart o'erflow,
And bring me power in peace to go
Where'er my Pattern trod;
All the commandments to fulfil,
And execute the perfect will
Of a forgiving God.