This edition was prepared by Barry Johnston — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Baptism
Staff Notation • Sacred
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
SATB · Barry Johnston
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Baptism by William Billings — Lyrics
1. O! How doth God our souls surprise,
When He our conscience doth baptize
Into the holy nature;
Where, free from all offense and blame,
We now possess in Christ the Lamb,
The fullness of his stature.
Now free
Are we
And shall ever
In our Savior
Stand perfected;
With him to this grace elected.
2. Free from all Consciousness of Sin,
We live where none can enter in;
This when in Heart believed;
Our Conscience answers towards God,
As free from Sin, thro’ Jesu’s Blood,
Nor can we be deceived:
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About Baptism
William Billings’s Baptism explores the profound spiritual transformation that occurs through divine cleansing. The text marvels at how God surprises the soul, baptizing us into His holy nature and freeing us from all offense and blame. As the lyrics suggest, believers are clothed in Christ, now perfected and elected to His grace. The music captures this liberation, as we are made free from the consciousness of sin and dwell in a state of peace where none can enter in. The SATB voicing allows for rich harmonic exploration of this theological concept, emphasizing the completeness and eternal security found in salvation through Christ’s blood and in the Father’s glory.
