Kind Is the Speech of Christ Our Lord

¹Kind is the speech of Christ our Lord,
Affection sounds in every word,
"Lo, thou art fair, my love, he cries,
Not the young doves have sweeter eyes.

²"Sweet are thy lips, thy pleasing voice
Salutes mine ear with secret joys,
No spice so much delights the smell,
Nor milk nor honey taste so well.

³"Thou art all fair, my bride, to me,
I will behold no spot in thee."
What mighty wonders love performs,
And puts a comeliness on worms!

⁴Defil'd and loathsome as we are,
He makes us white, and calls us fair;
Adorns us with that heavenly dress,
His graces and his righteousness.

⁵"My sister, and my spouse," he cries,
"Bound to my heart by various ties,
Thy powerful love my heart detains
In strong delight and pleasing chains."

⁶He calls me from the leopard's den,
From this wild world of beasts and men,
To Sion where his glories are;
Not Lebanon is half so fair.

⁷Nor dens of prey, nor flowery plains
Nor earthly joys, nor earthly pains
Shall hold my feet, or force my stay,
When Christ invites my soul away.