Lord, Who Shall Come to Thee

Above:  John Scrimger

Image Source = The Presbyterian Church in Canada

Text by the Reverend John Scrimger (February 10, 1849-August 6, 1915), Canadian Presbyterian; he participated in the planning stages of the formation of The United Church of Canada (1925)

The Story of Our Hymns:  The Handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church (1952), by Armin Haeussler, contains an excellent biography of Scrimger.

Scrimger composed this text, based on Psalm 15, for The Psalter (1912), the committee of which he was a member.  The Psalter (1912) was a product of the United Presbyterian Church of North America; the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.; the Presbyterian Church in Canada; the Reformed Church in America; the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America; the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod; the Christian Reformed Church in North America; the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church; and the Associate Presbyterian Church.

This text seems to have fallen out of favor, based on my survey of germane books in my extensive collection of hymnals.  The most recent volumes I have found to contain the text are the Trinity Hymnal (1961), Orthodox Presbyterian Church; and the Trinity Hymnal–Baptist Edition (1995), Regular Baptists.

Text Source = The Psalter (1914/1927), which is The Psalter (1912) with documents, some of them particular to the Christian Reformed Church in North America, appended

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 Lord, who shall come to Thee,

And stand before Thy face?

Who shall abide, a welcome guest,

Within Thy holy place?

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The man of upright life,

Sincere in word and deed,

Who slanders neither friend nor foe,

Nor idle tales will heed.

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Who honors godly men,

But scorns the false and vile,

Who keeps his promised word to all,

Tho’ loss be his the while.

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Who loves not usury,

Nor takes a base reward;

Unmoved forever he shall be,

And stand before the Lord.