Church Book ‎#95

95. How helpless guilty nature lies

1 How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart unchanged can never rise
To happiness and God.

2 Can aught, beneath a power divine
The stubborn will subdue?
’Tis Thine, Almighty Saviour, Thine
To form the heart anew.

3 ’Tis Thine, the passions to recall,
And upward bid them rise;
To make the scales of error fall
From reason’s darkened eyes.

4 To chase the shades of death away,
And bid the sinner live,
A beam of heaven, a vital ray
’Tis Thine alone to give.

5 O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine!
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord,! be Thine.

Text Information

• First Line: How helpless guilty nature lies
• Author: Anne Steele (1780)
• Meter: C. M.
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1890
• Topic: Sin and Redemption; Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
• Notes: Now Public Domain. Alternate tune #105 or #151

Tune Information

• Name: SALISBURY
• Meter: C. M.
• Key: G Major
• Notes: Now Public Domain. Source from index: Revenscroft's Ps. 1621