Hymns, Selected and Original ‎#97

97. What are possessions, fame, and power

1 What are possessions, fame, and power
The boasted splendour of the great?
What gold, which dazzled eyes adore,
And seek with endless toils and sweat?

2 Express their charms, declare their use,
That we their merits may descry,
Tell us what good they can produce,
Or what important wants supply.

3 If, wounded with the sense of sin,
To them for pardon we should pray,
Will they restore our peace within,
And wash our guilty stains away?

4 Can they celestial life inspire,
Nature with power divine renew,
With pure and sacred transports fire
Our bosom, and our lust subdue?

5 When with the pangs of death we strive,
And yield all comforts here for lost,
Will they support us, will they give
Kind succour, when we need it most?

6 When at th' Almighty's awful bar
To hear our final doom we stand,
Can they incline the Judge to spare,
Or wrest the vengeance from his hand?

7 Can they protect us from despair,
From the dark reign of death and hell,
Crown us with bliss, and throne us where
The just, in joys immortal, dwell?

8 Sinners, your idols we despise,
If these reliefs they cannot grant;
Why should we such delusions prize,
And pine in everlasting want?

Text Information

• First Line: What are possessions, fame, and power
• Meter: L. M.
• Publication Date: 1828
• Topic: Fall and Depravity of Man; The Vanity of earthly Things

Tune Information

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