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Isaac Watts·Post-Reformation
Verse 1
Ah! how shall fallen man
Be just before his God?
If he contend in righteousness,
We fall beneath his rod.
Verse 2
If he our ways should mark
With strict inquiring eyes,
Could we for one of thousand faults
A just excuse devise?
Verse 3
All-seeing, powerful God,
Who can with thee contend?
Or who that tries the unequal strife,
Shall prosper in the end?
Verse 4
Ah! how shall guilty man
Contend with such a God?
None, none can meet him and escape,
But through the Savior’s blood.
Isaac Watts, “Ah! How Shall Fallen Man”
Otterbein 1890 No. 178 · S.M · Kentucky
Not yet anchored to a scripture passage
Anne Steele·Post-Reformation
Verse 1
How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart, unchanged, can never rise
To happiness and God.
Verse 2
Can aught, beneath a power divine,
The stubborn will subdue?
’Tis thine, almighty Spirit! thine,
To form the heart anew.
Verse 3
’Tis thine, the passions to recall,
And upward bid them rise;
To make the scales of error fall,
From reason’s darkened eyes.
Verse 4
Oh! change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine;
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord! be thine.
Anne Steele, “How Helpless Guilty Nature Lies”
Otterbein 1890 No. 181 · C.M · Downs
Not yet anchored to a scripture passage
Isaac Watts·Post-Reformation
Verse 1
Buried in shadows of the night
We lie, till Christ restores the light;
Till he descends to heal the blind,
And chase the darkness of the mind.
Verse 2
Our guilty souls are drowned in tears,
Till his atoning blood appears;
Then we awake from deep distress,
And sing the Lord our righteousness.
Verse 3
Jesus beholds where Satan reigns,
And binds his slaves in heavy chains;
He sets the prisoners free, and breaks
The iron bondage from our necks.
Verse 4
Poor, helpless worms in thee possess
Grace, wisdom, power, and righteousness
Thou art our mighty all, and we
Give our whole selves, O Lord, to thee.
Isaac Watts, “Buried in Shadows of the Night”
Otterbein 1890 No. 184 · L.M · Rockbridge
Not yet anchored to a scripture passage
Isaac Watts·Post-Reformation
Verse 1
Vain are the hopes, the sons of men
On their own works have built;
Their hearts by nature all unclean,
And all their actions, guilt.
Verse 2
Let Jew and Gentile stop their mouths,
Without a murm’ring word;
And the whole race of Adam stand
Guilty before the Lord.
Verse 3
In vain we ask God’s righteous law
To justify us now,
Since to convince, and to condemn,
Is all the law can do.
Verse 4
Jesus! how glorious is thy grace!
When in thy name we trust,
Our faith receives a righteousness,
That makes the sinner just.
Isaac Watts, “Vain Are the Hopes, the Sons of Men”
Otterbein 1890 No. 185 · C.M · Melody
Not yet anchored to a scripture passage