The Hymnal and Order of Service ‎#412

412. 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 upwards bid them rise;
And 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.

Amen.

Text Information

• First Line: How helpless guilty nature lies
• Title: How Helpless Guilty Nature Lies
• Author: Anne Steele (1769)
• Meter: C. M.
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1937
• Topic: Way of Salvation: Repentance; Trinity, Eleventh Sunday

Tune Information

• Name: ST. ANNE
• Composer: William Croft (1708)
• Meter: C. M.
• Key: C Major