Hymn of the Week. I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus

Tomorrow, God Willing, at Ballymacashon Congregational Church, our Scripture reading will be from Matthew 2:12-23. it’s the account of the threat on the life of the Infant Jesus by Herod, the slaughter of the children and his flight into Egypt. The passage finishes with the verse,
And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Which made me think of this hymn, written by Charles H Gabriel…

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Saviour’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

Charles H Gabriel was the music editor for The Rodeheaver Company from 1912, and a church organist and choirmaster. He edited a number of hymn collections and song books and was a prolific writer and composer, often writing under a pseudonym. He died in 1932 in Los Angeles.